“Beijing rights activist Hu Jia said the station has been set up with the aim of exporting China’s ideology beyond its borders.”
“The Voice of China is under the control of the Central Propaganda Department,” Hu said. “This is an important tactic on Xi Jinping’s part, and a huge weapon in his hands to change the world’s opinion of this dictator and his autocratic one-party rule.”
“Xi has the self-confidence of a czar following the constitutional amendments, and now he wants to bravely lead the fight against mainstream values in the rest of the world,” he said.
“He will use authoritarian power to make Chinese lies sound nice, and engage in ideological infiltration and indoctrination.”
Many on here have commented on Russia Today as a propaganda agent of the Russian Federation – yet we don’t get RT as a Freeview channel in this country.
” yet we don’t get RT as a Freeview channel in this country.”
I am sure we used to be able to get it on Freevew
Not surprised that we no longer can get this channel, Yes it is Putin’s propaganda outlet, you don’t need a degree to work that one out, but it did have some interesting programmes on it providing you looked at them with an opened mind.
Max Kaiser was one good programme. Once again had to keep an open mind but he did have some very interesting guests like Steve Keen, who had a lot of economic alternatives to this Neo shit they appear to teach in universities.
But hey the powers to be are “saving” us from making up our own minds and really why do we need RT when we have so many unbiased media outlets like Fox News The Daily Fail The Torygraph and our own very unbiased press like the Granny and reporters Hoskins, Gower, Gardner just to name a few.
By saving what they would have otherwise spent on mortgage, rates, maintenance and insurance minus rent, Mary says renters might come out as well or better off than their home-buying friends, she says.
The advantages of renting:
Better savings diversification
Less responsibility
No need to do (or pay someone else to do) maintenance
May be easier to live close to downtown
Can move easily and cheaply
Can use long-term savings for a business or other investment
That’s the way it should be. However, profiteers and price gougers have skewed the system.
I have always been happy to rent. And would welcome changes to shift the balance of power away from landlords.
I have a pretty good landlord at the moment. Rent rises are once a year and at the lower end of rises I’ve heard about. I live in a well maintained secure unit.
But even this landlord raises the rent yearly a bit above average income rises.
That housing is too expensive full stop.
Housing investment for the home owner is tax free unless you are flipping in less than 2 years.
On the average family income there is no money left over for investment.
She’s been inoculated with the Neo Liberal Bullshit. They all say that the Neo’s want the peasantry brought to heel and know their place and renting is just one other control to achieve this.
There are more people coming in than houses being built. We have had the same rental system for decades and seemed to be fine with little shortages, now it’s dramatically changed because for the last decade and in particular the last few years, there are 70+ new residents pa, 180,000 work permits given out for new residents pa, and massive tourism. Then how easy it is for other nations to invest in ‘gold bricks’ in NZ and how everyone is expected to have multiple mansions around the world. (Look where that has got Queenstown).
So you have raise taxes, have no rental fees etc etc but it will not change the fundamental problem.
There are too many people for the amount of houses and the houses being built are generally beyond the reaches of those on NZ wages.
So there is very little hope, unless the government fundamentally change immigration and neoliberalism because that is what is increasing the prices of things like building. We export logs, bring them back as wood, and end up paying more than other countries for building materials for examples even when we produce a lot of the raw products. We have plenty of skilled and unskilled local labour, but the way the industry has gone, has been to ignore those people because they don’t want to train them and instead get paid to provide a work permit or pay well below the going wage for industry AND be able to work people longer and harder which they have to put up with because they can’t change jobs.
Right there savenz,
And there are more trucks bigger longer and heavier than ever now entering our rural dirt roads now and we see less repairs to them every week until some are going to become impassable soon.
This lack of regional funding of our dirt roads will soon be stopping the farming communities in their tracks, so we are all being setup for a big fall.
Pineapple lumps to you Asleep.
Thank Warren Buffet.
Next rationalization is Watties Heinz Cerebos Gregg’s .
Same owners different vehicle.
Monopolization of food production is allowed to happen no international regulation.
I liked whittackers, but then someone said they weren’t labour-friendly (lowercase “L”).
Donovan’s does some nice confectionary, dunno much about them and their practises though.
Waiting for Ocho to make some round orange-coated chocolate balls. Chocolate with percentages is all well and good, but gimme some pineapple chumps, sniffies, Byzantine brilliantines, orange aucklanders, and other generic names for movie staples…
You heard Whitaker’s weren’t? They’re still here and employing aren’t they? Some of their employees have been there 30 years and more. Low brow, even for you
Goodby to mass and bulk production, hello to the higher-quality, fair-trade, artisan chocolate factory. Also in Dunedin. Fully crowd-sourced from locals:
Not sure why the system went down at 0652. I was already at work and there is nothing in the logs. Looked like the CPU had a temperature shutdown – but there is nothing in the logs, and it isn’t exactly summer at 0652 at this time of year even in Auckland.
Also not sure why my phone isn’t alarming me when it can’t see the website.
Bill had to send a message through to my phone (Thanks Bill).
My windows 10 computer has frequently shut down without warning. I googled it and it seems to be something that happens with windows 8-10 – some say it started suddenly on their computers last year. Various fixes are recommended online – some too technical, and delving into code, for me.
I unticked enabling quick start in power options – one of the suggestions. And that seemed to work til it ticked itself again.
However the particular computer that it normally runs on is getting pretty old. I suspect I need to have a look at the fans and cooling systems again. Or upgrade.
It is a 8 core AMD FX9590 from 2013 which was when I brought it to assemble as a workstation box. It’s most distinguishing characteristic is that it runs up to 225W on the CPU – effectively it is factory overclocked.
So it runs bloody hot and has a rather large stock water cooler with some large very silent but high volume fans on the radiator. This throws heat out of the back.
Even so when the conversation gets warm on the site, you can keep a coffee pretty warm by placing it on the top of case above the radiator. And in winter, your conversation provides my apartment’s heating.
Not so good in summer when we need open windows to prevent the apartment and the computer from cooking us or itself.
The backup server was meant to be the new server last year but wound up as being my workstation.
It is a Ryzen 7 1700 8 core (with 8 virtuals). Way more computing power, but a different design that only runs at 65W. It barely gets warm. I don’t even run it with a water cooler.
However neither the Linux kernel and ASUS motherboard firmware was really ready for it on release. It spent the first 5 months rebooting too frequently (ie about as much as a normal windows computer). It is pretty stable now – which I define as I have to think about actually manually rebooting it every few months..
But I have gotten used to its speed when building code.
I’m not going back to a AMD Piledriver. And since I have to get a new motherboard, memory and cooling system so I can upgrade TS’s server, then something like a AMD Threadripper 1960X could do some severe improvements in my compilation speeds….
But that may have to wait for a while. My partner is trying to build her own business (on one of my older discards from 2011 🙂 and her even older mac laptop). So I’m paying the mortgages and living costs while she gets it off the ground. Upgrading my already over powered workstation is low on the priority list.
I suppose I could consider Intel again – but they are always frigging overpriced and because of their builtin obsolescence policies with form factors for their sockets, too expensive to maintain.
Basically The Standard has been running since 2014 on my old development systems. Good thing that I’m an active programmer eh?
My windows 10 shut my 8 month old computer down and next time we tried to start it we had no windows 10 operating system any more; – so we had to buy a new program and get Microsoft to reload all my stuff we lost.
Dear gods. I still trust my macbook more than the windows laptop – and my second hand ubuntu one.
Edit: it’s interesting that so many windows 8 and 10 pcs started shutting down without warning around the same time. And microsoft seems to blame everything else but it’s OS.
I’ve had no issues at all, apart from some people sitting in front of the screen, with windows seven, eight and ten.
Keep up with updates and windows defender seems to do the trick.
And don’t let any geeks near them. They always want to fix something that isn’t broke.
As my network engineer cousin says. 90% of computer problems can be fixed by a restart. 9% by changing he person on the keyboard. 1% is caused by trying to make software work, in a way it is not designed to do.
SCL group (Strategic Communication Laboratories) is very intertwined with UK Tories and aristocrats. It’s the parent company for Cambridge Analytica.
SCL is another political propaganda enterprise, focusing on manipulation of people’s views by targeting emotions (like Cambridge Analytica and Crosby Textor). It has some security clearance which gives it access to confidential documents. It has done work for the UK MOD.
(SCL Group) – an organisation with its roots deeply embedded within the British political, military and royal establishment.
Indeed, as the Observer article which broke the scandal said “For all intents and purposes, SCL/Cambridge Analytica are one and the same.”
…
In 2005, SCL went public with a glitzy exhibit at the DSEI conference, the UK’s largest showcase for military technology.
It’s ‘hard sell’ was a demonstration of how the UK government could use a sophisticated media campaign of mass deception to fool the British people into the thinking an accident at a chemical plant had occurred and threatened central London. Genuinely.
Board members include an array of Lords, Tory donors, ex-British army officers and defense contractors.
…
We finally have the most concrete evidence yet of shadowy actors using dirty tricks in order to rig elections. But these characters aren’t operating from Moscow intelligence bunkers.
Instead, they are British, Eton educated, headquartered in the city of London and have close ties to Her Majesty’s government.
The NZ Defence Service has been told it has to release the details of it’s contractual arrangements with Palantir, the intelligence gathering data base company owned by none other than our very own ‘citizen’, Peter Thiel. Should be interesting in light of what we have learned about Cambridge Analytica.
This month the firm [Palantir] won a billion-dollar contract to provide software to the United States Army, and the company has in recent years sought to expand its client base beyond the western military and spy community to include police forces, immigration enforcement agencies and Wall Street.
These data base companies – whether they’re based in Britain or the US – are all related and doing much the same thing. At least that is the way it appears on the surface.
France: Mass protests against Macron’s economic policies
Protesters march across the country to protest against government plans to change labour law, scrap social benefits.
As usual even the Daily Mail is keeping me better informed on World events than RNZ and the msm…for those who don’t want to go there, i’ve included Al Jazeera’s coverage..
But…but…but..not another poster child – a saviour no less if I remember the French Presidential campaign coverage correctly – turning out to be just another fucking liberal bastard? Surely not!
Le Pen would have the most powerless President France has had. And please, let’s not forget how the liberal media, in turn, denigrated and ignored the threat to their preferred poster boy coming from the left while simultaneously playing up ye olde fascist canard to get people to herd in the centre.
I’m guessing the argument got through then, if all you got is an ad-hominem.
I like my politics to have a bit more morality/body/do actual good not just nice words – to it, than the other guy is a little less evil than that guy. Because that road just leads to more evil guys and you end up with pig skewers and trump. (the pig skewers and trump are probably interchangeable at this point) I think the last what 35 years have proven that if you vote that way all your getting is worse and a little more worse. The last 2 PM’s anyone.
And note I said guys, because that all it ever is – le pen was just more male macho politics as well.
Bridge had a good point about this post – nothing has really changed even though the law changed for the last 30 odd years.
Someone here nailed it by recalling the expression “the perfect is the enemy of the good”. In a democracy, those who are relentlessly negative about policy (except for their preferred candidate) leave the election open to nobody except demagogues. Not even Bernie could switch off the hate some supporters have for the ideologically nearest-but-one candidates.
So yeah, Macron is better than a fucking nazi. And maybe if the left vote weren’t always so fractured by idealogues, France would have someone better than Macron. If Hamon and Mélenchon hadn’t split each other’s vote in the first round, you’d have to find something else to bitch about.
Your doing that make up an argument from what I said, so you can knock it down again. You do that a lot.
I’m not arguing for perfect, never have, nor did I go with negatives except to prove your argument is exactly that, negative. Your argument is a negative argument, which continues to have negative consequences.
How the hell did we get to nazi’s running for office in the first place, sure wasn’t via socialist policies. 35 years of hard liberalism, anyone.
That said, the left isn’t so fractured in France, see protests.
Nazis always run for office. Why are they becoming more popular?
Every time a bunch of lefties run for office, the ones who are less popular throw more shit at the others than the tories do. Every time the right wing run for office, they get past their differences and vote as their favoured candidate or group directs. Epsom, anyone?
The more ‘neoliberalism’ fails, the more extreme people want the change to be. If you knew next to fuckall about an issue other than something was seriously fucked up, would you choose:
option A (extreme but you have reservations),
option B) business as usuall but they look clean and responsible, or
option C) a random selection from indistinguishable but apparently extreme alternatives that all bitterly hate each other and are constantly throwing shit?
Because that’s what most voters are faced with when trying to figure out what party would make life better for them. So, yeah, keep being a bile-spitting depressive all you want, but unless you actually do something constructive you’re just part of the problem.
“Ordinary folk reading might think he is impartial.”
Especially as it not bylined as an opinion piece. His second sentence is blatant RW spin,
“Those of us who still believe in mainstream economics have Shane Jones to thank for again highlighting the lunacy of a government minister owning 51.9 per cent of Air New Zealand.
See, Shane Jones is part of the terrible loony left who want to destroy the economy. Which is classic Hooton. Undermine the target, mindfuck the Overton Window, mess with the left, and that’s all in the first nine words.
He really is very good at his job, but it’s not journalism.
It’s incredibly heartening to see the Prime Minister write about energy transition planning. I’ve been interested in the transition towns movement for a while and I think it’s a great step for this sort of thing to be on a national policy level.
And has taken on John Bolton. Interesting how Trump’s fans were thinking he would be such a departure from US foreign policy and now he’s taking on the most severe hawk from the GWB administration.
A new Greenpeace investigation has exposed the environmental risks of the fast-growing krill industry in one of the most pristine parts of the Antarctic Ocean.
The krill fishing industry removes a vital species from the Antarctic food web – tiny shrimp-like krill – eaten by blue whales, penguins, seals and other wildlife.
We Thestandard site shut down for a couple of hours apologies about my earlier comments it seems strange that there is not actual explanation why. Because the sandflys have been blocking me in the past I checked it at 5pm and I could get to the site come 8.30am no go. PS ECO MAORI does not mind admitting when he is wrong. I trust no one Kia kaha Ka kite ano
Very interesting comparing the general wailing and gnashing of molars in Granny by Mike Hosking and Matthew Hooton and then whoosh – a wee gem by ex Nat MP for Whanganui, Chester Borrows headed ‘Politicians bailed Air N Z out – the airline can’t now complain about Shane Jones’. It’s worth a read. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12018271
Nice dig by Garner in the Dominion at Hosking. (About the Obama dinner.)
“Some of the more miserable or perhaps unhappier grumps among us confused this for boring. They should stay at home and read car manuals next time or a book about themselves.”
Hosking’s column showed him to be an unhappy grump who found the visitor boring.
Newshub just helping son-in-law fix a trough. The Chief Highlanders will be a good Game. Mike you would have had a good time last night Ka pai. I’m on the farm and have to try and get a TV off the Mokopunas to watch the new lol. So I missed most of your new Ka kite ano
The project the sandflys have got anxiety now they no I ain’t no pushover.
The Pink and White terraces was a beautiful sight what a shame to have lossed them. That Westpack bank ad looks like another attack on brown people dont you think from ECO MAORI view Ka kite ano
Iv been getting the run around by my bank since my idiot nabour sandflys started his personal vendetta against me they won’t give me life insurance they stop my truck insurance payments I had no problem with this till the idiot stepped up his harresment. I wonder what their intentions are there is malic in his intentions in my view and some people know that they have malicious intentions against me and they still assist them?????? So I will get my Utu for there treatment of ECO MAORI. Ana to kai PS And they no I’m a good person
Ausome sounds on the radio this afternoon enough said some people mite have thought I thought that those 2 Super Rugby team that I would like to see play each other was on this weekend. I know we’re OUR Rugby team are playing I am a Kiwi after all. I Back the League as well ECO MAORI does not chose side enough said Kia kaha players Ka kite ano I have my favourite but the kumara never say how sweet it is
Newshub it was good having Obama here more Good publicity for Aotearoa one thing I noticed was he was not to comfortable around shonky I would not be comfortable around shonky ether. Global warming is hear and now we have to CHANGE OUR culture and start living in a sustainable way. I seen some other person who now knows ECO MAORI is not a pushover now. Kia kaha Ka kite ano P.S Some other people are paying back their backers with good publicity for Aotearoa to ka pai
There you go Judges bulling in my view they are bullying people to do as they are told so that they don’t question there rulings or judgements. When counsel sees bull___going down they don’t question it I say here’s the link.
Many thanks to Jacinda for letting everyone know her intention of a transition to a carbon neutral economy and OUR Coalition Government for backing her.
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Do the 31,000 signatures of the OISM Petition Project invalidate the scientific consensus on climate change? Climatologists made up only 0.1% of signatories ...
In the 1980s and early 1990s when I wrote about Argentine and South American authoritarianism, I borrowed the phrase “cultura del miedo” (culture of fear) from Juan Corradi, Guillermo O’Donnell, Norberto Lechner and others to characterise the social anomaly that exists in a country ruled by a state terror regime ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
Chris Bishop has unveiled plans for new roads in Tauranga, Auckland and Northland that will cost up to a combined $10 billion. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from Aotearoa political economy around housing, poverty and climate in the week to Saturday, April 26:Chris Bishop ploughed ahead this week with spending ...
Unless you've been living under a rock, you would have noticed that New Zealand’s government, under the guise of economic stewardship, is tightening the screws on its citizens, and using debt as a tool of control. This isn’t just a conspiracy theory whispered in pub corners...it’s backed by hard data ...
The budget runup is far from easy.Budget 2025 day is Thursday 22 May. About a month earlier in a normal year, the macroeconomic forecasts would be completed (the fiscal ones would still be tidying up) and the main policy decisions would have been made (but there would still be a ...
On 25 April 2021, I published an internal all-staff Anzac Day message. I did so as the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, which is responsible for Australia’s civil defence, and its resilience in ...
You’ve likely noticed that the disgraced blogger of Whale Oil Beef Hooked infamy, Cameron Slater, is still slithering around the internet, peddling his bile on a shiny new blogsite calling itself The Good Oil. If you thought bankruptcy, defamation rulings, and a near-fatal health scare would teach this idiot a ...
The Atlas Network, a sprawling web of libertarian think tanks funded by fossil fuel barons and corporate elites, has sunk its claws into New Zealand’s political landscape. At the forefront of this insidious influence is David Seymour, the ACT Party leader, whose ties to Atlas run deep.With the National Party’s ...
Nicola Willis, National’s supposed Finance Minister, has delivered another policy failure with the Family Boost scheme, a childcare rebate that was big on promises but has been very small on delivery. Only 56,000 families have signed up, a far cry from the 130,000 Willis personally championed in National’s campaign. This ...
This article was first published on 7 February 2025. In January, I crossed the milestone of 24 years of service in two militaries—the British and Australian armies. It is fair to say that I am ...
He shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.Age shall not weary him, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morningI will remember him.My mate Keith died yesterday, peacefully in the early hours. My dear friend in Rotorua, whom I’ve been ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on news New Zealand abstained from a vote on a global shipping levy on climate emissions and downgraded the importance ...
Hi,In case you missed it, New Zealand icon Lorde has a new single out. It’s called “What Was That”, and has a very low key music video that was filmed around her impromptu performance in New York’s Washington Square Park. When police shut down the initial popup, one of my ...
A strategy of denial is now the cornerstone concept for Australia’s National Defence Strategy. The term’s use as an overarching guide to defence policy, however, has led to some confusion on what it actually means ...
The IMF’s twice-yearly World Economic Outlook and Fiscal Monitor publications have come out in the last couple of days. If there is gloom in the GDP numbers (eg this chart for the advanced countries, and we don’t score a lot better on the comparable one for the 2019 to ...
For a while, it looked like the government had unfucked the ETS, at least insofar as unit settings were concerned. They had to be forced into it by a court case, but at least it got done, and when National came to power, it learned the lesson (and then fucked ...
The argument over US officials’ misuse of secure but non-governmental messaging platform Signal falls into two camps. Either it is a gross error that undermines national security, or it is a bit of a blunder ...
Cost of living ~1/3 of Kiwis needed help with food as cost of living pressures continue to increase - turning to friends, family, food banks or Work and Income in the past year, to find food. 40% of Kiwis also said they felt schemes offered little or no benefit, according ...
Hi,Perhaps in 2025 it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the CEO and owner of Voyager Internet — the major sponsor of the New Zealand Media Awards — has taken to sharing a variety of Anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories to his 1.2 million followers.This included sharing a post from ...
In the sprint to deepen Australia-India defence cooperation, navy links have shot ahead of ties between the two countries’ air forces and armies. That’s largely a good thing: maritime security is at the heart of ...
'Cause you and me, were meant to be,Walking free, in harmony,One fine day, we'll fly away,Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day?Songwriters: Paul David Godfrey / Ross Godfrey / Skye Edwards.I was half expecting to see photos this morning of National Party supporters with wads of cotton ...
The PSA says a settlement with Health New Zealand over the agency’s proposed restructure of its Data and Digital and Pacific Health teams has saved around 200 roles from being cut. A third of New Zealanders have needed help accessing food in the past year, according to Consumer NZ, and ...
John Campbell’s Under His Command, a five-part TVNZ+ investigation series starting today, rips the veil off Destiny Church, exposing the rot festering under Brian Tamaki’s self-proclaimed apostolic throne. This isn’t just a church; it’s a fiefdom, built on fear, manipulation, and a trail of scandals that make your stomach churn. ...
Some argue we still have time, since quantum computing capable of breaking today’s encryption is a decade or more away. But breakthrough capabilities, especially in domains tied to strategic advantage, rarely follow predictable timelines. Just ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Pearl Marvell(Photo credit: Pearl Marvell. Image credit: Samantha Harrington. Dollar bill vector image: by pch.vector on Freepik) Igrew up knowing that when you had extra money, you put it under a bed, stashed it in a book or a clock, or, ...
The political petrified piece of wood, Winston Peters, who refuses to retire gracefully, has had an eventful couple of weeks peddling transphobia, pushing bigoted policies, undertaking his unrelenting war on wokeness and slinging vile accusations like calling Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick a “groomer”.At 80, the hypocritical NZ First leader’s latest ...
It's raining in Cockermouth and we're following our host up the stairs. We’re telling her it’s a lovely building and she’s explaining that it used to be a pub and a nightclub and a backpackers, but no more.There were floods in 2009 and 2015 along the main street, huge floods, ...
A recurring aspect of the Trump tariff coverage is that it normalises – or even sanctifies – a status quo that in many respects has been a disaster for working class families. No doubt, Donald Trump is an uncertainty machine that is tanking the stock market and the growth prospects ...
The National Party’s Minister of Police, Corrections, and Ethnic Communities (irony alert) has stumbled into yet another racist quagmire, proving that when it comes to bigotry, the right wing’s playbook is as predictable as it is vile. This time, Mitchell’s office reposted an Instagram reel falsely claiming that Te Pāti ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
In a world crying out for empathy, J.K. Rowling has once again proven she’s more interested in stoking division than building bridges. The once-beloved author of Harry Potter has cemented her place as this week’s Arsehole of the Week, a title earned through her relentless, tone-deaf crusade against transgender rights. ...
Health security is often seen as a peripheral security domain, and as a problem that is difficult to address. These perceptions weaken our capacity to respond to borderless threats. With the wind back of Covid-19 ...
Would our political parties pass muster under the Fair Trading Act?WHAT IF OUR POLITICAL PARTIES were subject to the Fair Trading Act? What if they, like the nation’s businesses, were prohibited from misleading their consumers – i.e. the voters – about the nature, characteristics, suitability, or quantity of the products ...
Rod EmmersonThank you to my subscribers and readers - you make it all possible. Tui.Subscribe nowSix updates today from around the world and locally here in Aoteaora New Zealand -1. RFK Jnr’s Autism CrusadeAmerica plans to create a registry of people with autism in the United States. RFK Jr’s department ...
We see it often enough. A democracy deals with an authoritarian state, and those who oppose concessions cite the lesson of Munich 1938: make none to dictators; take a firm stand. And so we hear ...
370 perioperative nurses working at Auckland City Hospital, Starship Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre will strike for two hours on 1 May – the same day senior doctors are striking. This is part of nationwide events to mark May Day on 1 May, including rallies outside public hospitals, organised by ...
Character protections for Auckland’s villas have stymied past development. Now moves afoot to strip character protection from a bunch of inner-city villas. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest from our political economy on Wednesday, April 23:Special Character Areas designed to protect villas are stopping 20,000 sites near Auckland’s ...
Artificial intelligence is poised to significantly transform the Indo-Pacific maritime security landscape. It offers unprecedented situational awareness, decision-making speed and operational flexibility. But without clear rules, shared norms and mechanisms for risk reduction, AI could ...
For what is a man, what has he got?If not himself, then he has naughtTo say the things he truly feelsAnd not the words of one who kneelsThe record showsI took the blowsAnd did it my wayLyrics: Paul Anka.Morena folks, before we discuss Winston’s latest salvo in NZ First’s War ...
Britain once risked a reputation as the weak link in the trilateral AUKUS partnership. But now the appointment of an empowered senior official to drive the project forward and a new burst of British parliamentary ...
Australia’s ability to produce basic metals, including copper, lead, zinc, nickel and construction steel, is in jeopardy, with ageing plants struggling against Chinese competition. The multinational commodities company Trafigura has put its Australian operations under ...
There have been recent PPP debacles, both in New Zealand (think Transmission Gully) and globally, with numerous examples across both Australia and Britain of failed projects and extensive litigation by government agencies seeking redress for the failures.Rob Campbell is one of New Zealand’s sharpest critics of PPPs noting that; "There ...
On Twitter on Saturday I indicated that there had been a mistake in my post from last Thursday in which I attempted to step through the Reserve Bank Funding Agreement issues. Making mistakes (there are two) is annoying and I don’t fully understand how I did it (probably too much ...
Indonesia’s armed forces still have a lot of work to do in making proper use of drones. Two major challenges are pilot training and achieving interoperability between the services. Another is overcoming a predilection for ...
The StrategistBy Sandy Juda Pratama, Curie Maharani and Gautama Adi Kusuma
As a living breathing human being, you’ve likely seen the heart-wrenching images from Gaza...homes reduced to rubble, children burnt to cinders, families displaced, and a death toll that’s beyond comprehension. What is going on in Gaza is most definitely a genocide, the suffering is real, and it’s easy to feel ...
Donald Trump, who has called the Chair of the Federal Reserve “a major loser”. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories shortest from our political economy on Tuesday, April 22:US markets slump after Donald Trump threatens the Fed’s independence. China warns its trading partners not to side with the US. Trump says some ...
Last night, the news came through that Pope Francis had passed away at 7:35 am in Rome on Monday, the 21st of April, following a reported stroke and heart failure. Pope Francis. Photo: AP.Despite his obvious ill health, it still came as a shock, following so soon after the Easter ...
The 2024 Independent Intelligence Review found the NIC to be highly capable and performing well. So, it is not a surprise that most of the 67 recommendations are incremental adjustments and small but nevertheless important ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkThe world has made real progress toward tacking climate change in recent years, with spending on clean energy technologies skyrocketing from hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars globally over the past decade, and global CO2 emissions plateauing.This has contributed to a reassessment of ...
Hi,I’ve been having a peaceful month of what I’d call “existential dread”, even more aware than usual that — at some point — this all ends.It was very specifically triggered by watching Pantheon, an animated sci-fi show that I’m filing away with all-time greats like Six Feet Under, Watchmen and ...
Once the formalities of honouring the late Pope wrap up in two to three weeks time, the conclave of Cardinals will go into seclusion. Some 253 of the current College of Cardinals can take part in the debate over choosing the next Pope, but only 138 of them are below ...
The National Party government is doubling down on a grim, regressive vision for the future: more prisons, more prisoners, and a society fractured by policies that punish rather than heal. This isn’t just a misstep; it’s a deliberate lurch toward a dystopian future where incarceration is the answer to every ...
The audacity of Don Brash never ceases to amaze. The former National Party and Hobson’s Pledge mouthpiece has now sunk his claws into NZME, the media giant behind the New Zealand Herald and half of our commercial radio stations. Don Brash has snapped up shares in NZME, aligning himself with ...
A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 13, 2025 thru Sat, April 19, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
“What I’d say to you is…” our Prime Minister might typically begin a sentence, when he’s about to obfuscate and attempt to derail the question you really, really want him to answer properly (even once would be okay, Christopher). Questions such as “Why is a literal election promise over ...
Ruth IrwinExponential Economic growth is the driver of Ecological degradation. It is driven by CO2 greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel extraction and burning for the plethora of polluting industries. Extreme weather disasters and Climate change will continue to get worse because governments subscribe to the current global economic system, ...
A man on telly tries to tell me what is realBut it's alright, I like the way that feelsAnd everybody singsWe are evolving from night to morningAnd I wanna believe in somethingWriter: Adam Duritz.The world is changing rapidly, over the last year or so, it has been out with the ...
MFB Co-Founder Cecilia Robinson runs Tend HealthcareSummary:Kieran McAnulty calls out National on healthcare lies and says Health Minister Simeon Brown is “dishonest and disingenuous”(video below)McAnulty says negotiation with doctors is standard practice, but this level of disrespect is not, especially when we need and want our valued doctors.National’s $20bn ...
Chris Luxon’s tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister has been a masterclass in incompetence, marked by coalition chaos, economic lethargy, verbal gaffes, and a moral compass that seems to point wherever political expediency lies. The former Air New Zealand CEO (how could we forget?) was sold as a steady hand, ...
Has anybody else noticed Cameron Slater still obsessing over Jacinda Ardern? The disgraced Whale Oil blogger seems to have made it his life’s mission to shadow the former Prime Minister of New Zealand like some unhinged stalker lurking in the digital bushes.The man’s obsession with Ardern isn't just unhealthy...it’s downright ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is climate change a net benefit for society? Human-caused climate change has been a net detriment to society as measured by loss of ...
When the National Party hastily announced its “Local Water Done Well” policy, they touted it as the great saviour of New Zealand’s crumbling water infrastructure. But as time goes by it's looking more and more like a planning and fiscal lame duck...and one that’s going to cost ratepayers far more ...
Donald Trump, the orange-hued oligarch, is back at it again, wielding tariffs like a mob boss swinging a lead pipe. His latest economic edict; slapping hefty tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, has the stench of a protectionist shakedown, cooked up in the fevered minds of his sycophantic ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
One pill makes you largerAnd one pill makes you smallAnd the ones that mother gives youDon't do anything at allGo ask AliceWhen she's ten feet tallSongwriter: Grace Wing Slick.Morena, all, and a happy Bicycle Day to you.Today is an unofficial celebration of the dawning of the psychedelic era, commemorating the ...
It’s only been a few months since the Hollywood fires tore through Los Angeles, leaving a trail of devastation, numerous deaths, over 10,000 homes reduced to rubble, and a once glorious film industry on its knees. The Palisades and Eaton fires, fueled by climate-driven dry winds, didn’t just burn houses; ...
Four eighty-year-old books which are still vitally relevant today. Between 1942 and 1945, four refugees from Vienna each published a ground-breaking – seminal – book.* They left their country after Austria was taken over by fascists in 1934 and by Nazi Germany in 1938. Previously they had lived in ‘Red ...
Good Friday, 18th April, 2025: I can at last unveil the Secret Non-Fiction Project. The first complete Latin-to-English translation of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s twelve-book Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem (Disputations Against Divinatory Astrology). Amounting to some 174,000 words, total. Some context is probably in order. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) ...
National MP Hamish Campbell's pathetic attempt to downplay his deep ties to and involvement in the Two by Twos...a secretive religious sect under FBI and NZ Police investigation for child sexual abuse...isn’t just a misstep; it’s a calculated lie that insults the intelligence of every Kiwi voter.Campbell’s claim of being ...
New Zealand First’s Shane Jones has long styled himself as the “Prince of the Provinces,” a champion of regional development and economic growth. But beneath the bluster lies a troubling pattern of behaviour that reeks of cronyism and corruption, undermining the very democracy he claims to serve. Recent revelations and ...
Give me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundGive me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundSaid I don't want to leave you lonelyYou got to make me change my mindSongwriters: Tracy Chapman.Morena, and Happy Easter, whether that means to you. Hot cross buns, ...
Te Pāti Māori are appalled by Cabinet's decision to agree to 15 recommendations to the Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector following the regulatory review by the Ministry of Regulation. We emphasise the need to prioritise tamariki Māori in Early Childhood Education, conducted by education experts- not economists. “Our mokopuna deserve ...
The Government must support Northland hapū who have resorted to rakes and buckets to try to control a devastating invasive seaweed that threatens the local economy and environment. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill that would ensure the biological definition of a woman and man are defined in law. “This is not about being anti-anyone or anti-anything. This is about ensuring we as a country focus on the facts of biology and protect the ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
By Susana Suisuiki, RNZ Pacific presenter The doors of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican have now been closed and the coffin sealed, ahead of preparations for tonight’s funeral of Pope Francis. The Vatican says a quarter of a million people have paid respects to Pope Francis in the last ...
By Susana Suisuiki, RNZ Pacific presenter The doors of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican have now been closed and the coffin sealed, ahead of preparations for tonight’s funeral of Pope Francis. The Vatican says a quarter of a million people have paid respects to Pope Francis in the last ...
Once or twice a week, Dr Margaret Henley rolls up the door on a windowless storage locker in central Auckland, pulls her plastic chair up to a picnic table and sifts through the history of netball in New Zealand.She works alongside netball archivist and statistician Todd Miller, together trawling through ...
Corin DannThe time is 7:36am on Wednesday, April 23, and you’re listening to Morning Report, New Zealand’s voice of the educated left on good incomes. I’m joined now by acting Prime Minister Winston Peters. Good morning Mr Peters.Winston PetersIt was, until I saw you. I much prefer your brother.Corin DannLiam ...
When Professor David Krofcheck got an email congratulating him on winning the Oscar of the science world, he dismissed it as a hoax.“I thought it was a scam, I thought it was a phishing email,” recalls Krofcheck, nuclear physicist at Auckland University.“Yeah right, I’ve won the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was.I’ve been re-watching Girls lately, the HBO classic that perfectly captures millennial women in the most painful way. I highly recommend it especially if you haven’t watched it before. Every character on the show is deeply flawed and frustrating in their own ...
With the double-header long weekend comes a welcome chance to escape streaming slop, writes Alex Casey. Over Easter I texted my husband Joe a sentence that perhaps nobody in human history has ever texted: “hurry up geostorm is starting”. No punctuation, no capitalisation, not because I was trying to ...
April 27 is Moehanga Day, the anniversary of the day in 1806 when Ngāpuhi warrior Moehanga became the first Māori to visit England. This is his story. The wooden ship sailed down the River Thames, past smoke stacks and brick factories, until it reached a wharf in industrial south London. ...
Heidi Thomson on how her husband’s illness and Daniel Kalderimis’s book Zest have enhanced her understanding of George Eliot’s great novel.Sometimes a book finds you at just the right time. In early December my husband John had a stroke. At the time we were both reading George Eliot’s Middlemarch, ...
The musician, actor and star of upcoming documentary Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds takes us through his life in television. Musician Marlon Williams has been on our My Life in TV wish list ever since he revealed during his My Boy tour that he wrote ‘Thinking ...
When she walked dripping into the lounge, hair wet from the shower, she took one look at Hamish and dropped her towel.He was holding her phone.—How long has it been going on for?His blue eyes blazed. She wanted to pluck them out and blow on them gently, cool them off. ...
Comment: Democracy globally is in crisis. Around the world we are seeing the rise of nationalism and declining trust in democratic institutions. Politicians, even in Aotearoa, undermine the authority of core institutions like the media and the courts, which are critical for a functioning democracy. To live well together, in ...
Journalist Rod Oram, who died last year, would have been delighted to see the commitment to addressing climate change shown by the 23-year-old winner of a prize established in his memory.Mika Hervel, a student at Victoria University of Wellington, is today named winner of the Rod Oram Memorial Essay Prize, ...
A citizens’ assembly of 100 Porirua locals has provided the city council with more than a dozen recommendations about how to tackle climate change and make sure the region is resilient to worsening extreme weather events.Ranging from expanding access to renewable energy and incentivising the planting of native trees through ...
COMMENTARY:By Nour Odeh There was faint hope that efforts to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza would succeed. That hope is now all but gone, offering 2.1 million tormented and starved Palestinians dismal prospects for the days and weeks ahead. Last Saturday, the Israeli Prime Minister once again affirmed ...
An ocean conservation non-profit has condemned the United States President’s latest executive order aimed at boosting the deep sea mining industry. President Donald Trump issued the “Unleashing America’s offshore critical minerals and resources” order on Thursday, directing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to allow deep sea mining. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In this election, voters are more distrustful than ever of politicians, and the political heroes of 2022 have fallen from grace, swept from favour by independent players. A Roy Morgan survey has found, for ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor The former head of BenarNews’ Pacific bureau says a United States court ruling this week ordering the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to release congressionally approved funding to Radio Free Asia and its subsidiaries “makes us very happy”. However, Stefan Armbruster, who has ...
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 25, 2025. Labor takes large leads in YouGov and Morgan polls as surge continuesSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne With just eight days until the May 3 federal election, and with in-person early voting well under way, Labor has taken a ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Fourth Estate, $35) Fictionalised true crime for foodies. 2 Sunrise on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Taneshka Kruger, UP ISMC: Project Manager and Coordinator, University of Pretoria Healthcare in Africa faces a perfect storm: high rates of infectious diseases like malaria and HIV, a rise in non-communicable diseases, and dwindling foreign aid. In 2021, nearly half of ...
Australia and New Zealand join forces once more to bring you the best films and TV shows to watch this weekend. This Anzac Day, our free-to-air TV channels will screen a variety of commemorative coverage. At 11am, TVNZ1 has live coverage of the Anzac Day National Commemorative Service in Wellington. ...
Our laws are leaving many veterans who served after 1974 out in the cold. I know, because I’m one of them.This Sunday Essay was made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.First published in 2024.As I write this story, I am in constant pain. My hands ...
An MP fighting for anti-trafficking legislation says it is hard for prosecutors to take cases to court - but he is hopeful his bill will turn the tide. ...
NONFICTION1 No Words for This by Ali Mau (HarperCollins, $39.99)2 Everyday Comfort Food by Vanya Insull (Allen & Unwin, $39.99)3 Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw (Allen & Unwin, $39.99)
This Anzac Day marks 110 years since the Gallipoli landings by soldiers in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - the ANZACS. It signalled the beginning of a campaign that was to take the lives of so many of our young men - and would devastate the ...
The violent deportation of migrants is not new, and New Zealand forces had a hand in such a regime after World War II, writes historian Scott Hamilton. The world is watching the new Trump government wage a war against migrants it deems illegal. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.This Sunday Essay was made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
A new poem by Aperahama Hurihanganui, about the name of Aperahama and Abby Hauraki’s three-year-old son, Te Hono ki Īhipa (which translates to ‘The Connection to Egypt’). Te Hono ki Īhipa what’s in a name? te hono – the connection to your tīpuna, valiant soldiers of the 28th Māori Battalion ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Pacific Media Watch The Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network today condemned the Fiji government’s failure to stand up for international law and justice over the Israeli war on Gaza in their weekly Black Thursday protest. “For the past 18 months, we have made repeated requests to our government to do ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Michelle Grattan and Amanda Dunn discuss the fourth week of the 2025 election campaign. While the death of Pope Francis interrupted campaigning for a while, the leaders had another debate on Tuesday night and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Whatever the result on May 3, even people within the Liberals think they have run a very poor national campaign. Not just poor, but odd. Nothing makes the point more strongly than this week’s ...
I have to say, I found Jacinda’s reported child related question to Obama quite touching.
Her real values shining through.
One propaganda machine to rule them all!
“Beijing rights activist Hu Jia said the station has been set up with the aim of exporting China’s ideology beyond its borders.”
“The Voice of China is under the control of the Central Propaganda Department,” Hu said. “This is an important tactic on Xi Jinping’s part, and a huge weapon in his hands to change the world’s opinion of this dictator and his autocratic one-party rule.”
“Xi has the self-confidence of a czar following the constitutional amendments, and now he wants to bravely lead the fight against mainstream values in the rest of the world,” he said.
“He will use authoritarian power to make Chinese lies sound nice, and engage in ideological infiltration and indoctrination.”
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/china-propaganda-03212018140841.html
Many on here have commented on Russia Today as a propaganda agent of the Russian Federation – yet we don’t get RT as a Freeview channel in this country.
The same can’t be said about Chinese propaganda!
” yet we don’t get RT as a Freeview channel in this country.”
I am sure we used to be able to get it on Freevew
Not surprised that we no longer can get this channel, Yes it is Putin’s propaganda outlet, you don’t need a degree to work that one out, but it did have some interesting programmes on it providing you looked at them with an opened mind.
Max Kaiser was one good programme. Once again had to keep an open mind but he did have some very interesting guests like Steve Keen, who had a lot of economic alternatives to this Neo shit they appear to teach in universities.
But hey the powers to be are “saving” us from making up our own minds and really why do we need RT when we have so many unbiased media outlets like Fox News The Daily Fail The Torygraph and our own very unbiased press like the Granny and reporters Hoskins, Gower, Gardner just to name a few.
Here is the Wikipedia entry for Freeview.
It lists a string of defunct channels but doesn’t include RT in the list.
This article at least seems to think that RT was never on the service.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeview_(New_Zealand)#Defunct_channels
It is conceivable it was visible at the very beginning. There seems to have been problems with lots of odd channels showing up.
From 2007
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10481054
I felt like that when i found “Friend” a Japanese magazine in our school library, many years ago.
Mary Holm is out of touch with low to middle income earners.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018637268/is-home-ownership-the-only-way-to-go
By saving what they would have otherwise spent on mortgage, rates, maintenance and insurance minus rent, Mary says renters might come out as well or better off than their home-buying friends, she says.
The advantages of renting:
Better savings diversification
Less responsibility
No need to do (or pay someone else to do) maintenance
May be easier to live close to downtown
Can move easily and cheaply
Can use long-term savings for a business or other investment
Where should we begin?
That’s the way it should be. However, profiteers and price gougers have skewed the system.
I have always been happy to rent. And would welcome changes to shift the balance of power away from landlords.
I have a pretty good landlord at the moment. Rent rises are once a year and at the lower end of rises I’ve heard about. I live in a well maintained secure unit.
But even this landlord raises the rent yearly a bit above average income rises.
That housing is too expensive full stop.
Housing investment for the home owner is tax free unless you are flipping in less than 2 years.
On the average family income there is no money left over for investment.
She’s been inoculated with the Neo Liberal Bullshit. They all say that the Neo’s want the peasantry brought to heel and know their place and renting is just one other control to achieve this.
There are more people coming in than houses being built. We have had the same rental system for decades and seemed to be fine with little shortages, now it’s dramatically changed because for the last decade and in particular the last few years, there are 70+ new residents pa, 180,000 work permits given out for new residents pa, and massive tourism. Then how easy it is for other nations to invest in ‘gold bricks’ in NZ and how everyone is expected to have multiple mansions around the world. (Look where that has got Queenstown).
So you have raise taxes, have no rental fees etc etc but it will not change the fundamental problem.
There are too many people for the amount of houses and the houses being built are generally beyond the reaches of those on NZ wages.
So there is very little hope, unless the government fundamentally change immigration and neoliberalism because that is what is increasing the prices of things like building. We export logs, bring them back as wood, and end up paying more than other countries for building materials for examples even when we produce a lot of the raw products. We have plenty of skilled and unskilled local labour, but the way the industry has gone, has been to ignore those people because they don’t want to train them and instead get paid to provide a work permit or pay well below the going wage for industry AND be able to work people longer and harder which they have to put up with because they can’t change jobs.
Right there savenz,
And there are more trucks bigger longer and heavier than ever now entering our rural dirt roads now and we see less repairs to them every week until some are going to become impassable soon.
This lack of regional funding of our dirt roads will soon be stopping the farming communities in their tracks, so we are all being setup for a big fall.
I’m guessing you mean gravel roads.
Goodbye, fare thee well, and turn out the lights.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/353180/cadbury-s-dunedin-factory-turns-out-final-sweets-today
Now it’s all Aussie (until Singapore comes online) and palm oil.
So I’m going to say you can’t call them Kiwi anymore.
Look on the bright side – at least we still have Whittakers and Mayceys.
Cadbury chocolate is fucking shit anyway.
Pineapple lumps to you Asleep.
Thank Warren Buffet.
Next rationalization is Watties Heinz Cerebos Gregg’s .
Same owners different vehicle.
Monopolization of food production is allowed to happen no international regulation.
Cerebos’s was marked over 10 years ago in East Tamaki as EOL.
+1
I liked whittackers, but then someone said they weren’t labour-friendly (lowercase “L”).
Donovan’s does some nice confectionary, dunno much about them and their practises though.
Waiting for Ocho to make some round orange-coated chocolate balls. Chocolate with percentages is all well and good, but gimme some pineapple chumps, sniffies, Byzantine brilliantines, orange aucklanders, and other generic names for movie staples…
Brilliant
I thought Whittakers were meant to be one of the better ones ethically 🙁
better than cadbury’s. I could be wrong about them, I have no actual evidence. Just a someone said.
Thinking about it, it might only be some of the Whittakers range that is more ethical. Yep, better than Cadbury’s by some margin.
You heard Whitaker’s weren’t? They’re still here and employing aren’t they? Some of their employees have been there 30 years and more. Low brow, even for you
You know so much about ’em, what’s their unionisation rate? Are all their cocoa ethically sourced?
I clearly said that’s what I’d heard, and the strongest words I used were “weren’t labour friendly”.
If you think that’s low brow, you can suck my balls.
The fairtrade beans are just in their dark Ghana and creamy milk blocks, but they are GM and Palm Oil free acros all products.
E Tu represents people in the confectionery industry. They have no posts on their site for Whittakers, but quite a few for Cadbury.
fair call, I’ll go with that then.
Goodby to mass and bulk production, hello to the higher-quality, fair-trade, artisan chocolate factory. Also in Dunedin. Fully crowd-sourced from locals:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/101329158/otago-chocolate-company-finds-new-factory-site-on-dunedins-waterfront
Let a thousand flowers bloom.
Buy Whittakers always folks.
Not sure why the system went down at 0652. I was already at work and there is nothing in the logs. Looked like the CPU had a temperature shutdown – but there is nothing in the logs, and it isn’t exactly summer at 0652 at this time of year even in Auckland.
Also not sure why my phone isn’t alarming me when it can’t see the website.
Bill had to send a message through to my phone (Thanks Bill).
Heading back to work.
Is it a windows computer?
My windows 10 computer has frequently shut down without warning. I googled it and it seems to be something that happens with windows 8-10 – some say it started suddenly on their computers last year. Various fixes are recommended online – some too technical, and delving into code, for me.
I unticked enabling quick start in power options – one of the suggestions. And that seemed to work til it ticked itself again.
I’d say the server hosting this site isn’t running Windows software.
Definitely not. Both servers run linux.
However the particular computer that it normally runs on is getting pretty old. I suspect I need to have a look at the fans and cooling systems again. Or upgrade.
It is a 8 core AMD FX9590 from 2013 which was when I brought it to assemble as a workstation box. It’s most distinguishing characteristic is that it runs up to 225W on the CPU – effectively it is factory overclocked.
So it runs bloody hot and has a rather large stock water cooler with some large very silent but high volume fans on the radiator. This throws heat out of the back.
Even so when the conversation gets warm on the site, you can keep a coffee pretty warm by placing it on the top of case above the radiator. And in winter, your conversation provides my apartment’s heating.
Not so good in summer when we need open windows to prevent the apartment and the computer from cooking us or itself.
The backup server was meant to be the new server last year but wound up as being my workstation.
It is a Ryzen 7 1700 8 core (with 8 virtuals). Way more computing power, but a different design that only runs at 65W. It barely gets warm. I don’t even run it with a water cooler.
However neither the Linux kernel and ASUS motherboard firmware was really ready for it on release. It spent the first 5 months rebooting too frequently (ie about as much as a normal windows computer). It is pretty stable now – which I define as I have to think about actually manually rebooting it every few months..
But I have gotten used to its speed when building code.
I’m not going back to a AMD Piledriver. And since I have to get a new motherboard, memory and cooling system so I can upgrade TS’s server, then something like a AMD Threadripper 1960X could do some severe improvements in my compilation speeds….
But that may have to wait for a while. My partner is trying to build her own business (on one of my older discards from 2011 🙂 and her even older mac laptop). So I’m paying the mortgages and living costs while she gets it off the ground. Upgrading my already over powered workstation is low on the priority list.
I suppose I could consider Intel again – but they are always frigging overpriced and because of their builtin obsolescence policies with form factors for their sockets, too expensive to maintain.
Basically The Standard has been running since 2014 on my old development systems. Good thing that I’m an active programmer eh?
Thanks for the explanation. So does it require some increase in donations for an upgrade?
Oh, are you a programmer?
😉
We will probably learn that is when people lose their bitcoin… or something similar.
I am always suspicious. Paranoia!!
My windows 10 shut my 8 month old computer down and next time we tried to start it we had no windows 10 operating system any more; – so we had to buy a new program and get Microsoft to reload all my stuff we lost.
Dear gods. I still trust my macbook more than the windows laptop – and my second hand ubuntu one.
Edit: it’s interesting that so many windows 8 and 10 pcs started shutting down without warning around the same time. And microsoft seems to blame everything else but it’s OS.
I’ve had no issues at all, apart from some people sitting in front of the screen, with windows seven, eight and ten.
Keep up with updates and windows defender seems to do the trick.
And don’t let any geeks near them. They always want to fix something that isn’t broke.
As my network engineer cousin says. 90% of computer problems can be fixed by a restart. 9% by changing he person on the keyboard. 1% is caused by trying to make software work, in a way it is not designed to do.
microsoft seems to have lost interest in the consumer OS space. mass market windows PCs are going the way of the dinosaurs
Only in geek land.
you seem like an expert. 🙄
http://www.zdnet.com/article/todays-most-popular-operating-systems/
So, further down the rabbit hole we go. This post by Liam O’Hare” SCL – A very british coup.
SCL group (Strategic Communication Laboratories) is very intertwined with UK Tories and aristocrats. It’s the parent company for Cambridge Analytica.
SCL is another political propaganda enterprise, focusing on manipulation of people’s views by targeting emotions (like Cambridge Analytica and Crosby Textor). It has some security clearance which gives it access to confidential documents. It has done work for the UK MOD.
Posted this late yesterday on Daily Review:
The NZ Defence Service has been told it has to release the details of it’s contractual arrangements with Palantir, the intelligence gathering data base company owned by none other than our very own ‘citizen’, Peter Thiel. Should be interesting in light of what we have learned about Cambridge Analytica.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12014265
These data base companies – whether they’re based in Britain or the US – are all related and doing much the same thing. At least that is the way it appears on the surface.
Great decision. Note it is another of the long delayed processes which might have seen info released prior to or during the election..
France: Mass protests against Macron’s economic policies
Protesters march across the country to protest against government plans to change labour law, scrap social benefits.
As usual even the Daily Mail is keeping me better informed on World events than RNZ and the msm…for those who don’t want to go there, i’ve included Al Jazeera’s coverage..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5530905/French-public-sector-rail-workers-strike-test-Macron.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/france-mass-protests-macron-economic-policies-180322203829332.html
Instead of endless coverage of Trumps Tweets, imagine a news service that covered the people making a stand??
It seems lots of I Reckons is what passes for media in NZ now
+111
Facts are inconvenient in NZ for the political class right about now.
But…but…but..not another poster child – a saviour no less if I remember the French Presidential campaign coverage correctly – turning out to be just another fucking liberal bastard? Surely not!
And there were a few dissenters to the labelling him of some kind of breath of fresh new air
New air same as the old air(really old), punishing the middle class and working people. Because they are just not rich enough.
Same liberal bastards want to drag us into a war with Russia.
The rich have enough of our blood!
Still better than Le Pen.
Le Pen would have the most powerless President France has had. And please, let’s not forget how the liberal media, in turn, denigrated and ignored the threat to their preferred poster boy coming from the left while simultaneously playing up ye olde fascist canard to get people to herd in the centre.
Oh look take this pile of crap, becasue it’s better than that pile of crap.
But make sure you don’t complain about having to take that pile of crap, becasue we will pull out the other pile of crap if you do.
It can’t be healthy, being so fucking sour all the time.
I’m guessing the argument got through then, if all you got is an ad-hominem.
I like my politics to have a bit more morality/body/do actual good not just nice words – to it, than the other guy is a little less evil than that guy. Because that road just leads to more evil guys and you end up with pig skewers and trump. (the pig skewers and trump are probably interchangeable at this point) I think the last what 35 years have proven that if you vote that way all your getting is worse and a little more worse. The last 2 PM’s anyone.
And note I said guys, because that all it ever is – le pen was just more male macho politics as well.
Bridge had a good point about this post – nothing has really changed even though the law changed for the last 30 odd years.
https://libcom.org/blog/series-interviews-working-class-women-west-london-part-4-19032018
Oh bullshit.
Someone here nailed it by recalling the expression “the perfect is the enemy of the good”. In a democracy, those who are relentlessly negative about policy (except for their preferred candidate) leave the election open to nobody except demagogues. Not even Bernie could switch off the hate some supporters have for the ideologically nearest-but-one candidates.
So yeah, Macron is better than a fucking nazi. And maybe if the left vote weren’t always so fractured by idealogues, France would have someone better than Macron. If Hamon and Mélenchon hadn’t split each other’s vote in the first round, you’d have to find something else to bitch about.
Your doing that make up an argument from what I said, so you can knock it down again. You do that a lot.
I’m not arguing for perfect, never have, nor did I go with negatives except to prove your argument is exactly that, negative. Your argument is a negative argument, which continues to have negative consequences.
How the hell did we get to nazi’s running for office in the first place, sure wasn’t via socialist policies. 35 years of hard liberalism, anyone.
That said, the left isn’t so fractured in France, see protests.
Nazis always run for office. Why are they becoming more popular?
Every time a bunch of lefties run for office, the ones who are less popular throw more shit at the others than the tories do. Every time the right wing run for office, they get past their differences and vote as their favoured candidate or group directs. Epsom, anyone?
The more ‘neoliberalism’ fails, the more extreme people want the change to be. If you knew next to fuckall about an issue other than something was seriously fucked up, would you choose:
option A (extreme but you have reservations),
option B) business as usuall but they look clean and responsible, or
option C) a random selection from indistinguishable but apparently extreme alternatives that all bitterly hate each other and are constantly throwing shit?
Because that’s what most voters are faced with when trying to figure out what party would make life better for them. So, yeah, keep being a bile-spitting depressive all you want, but unless you actually do something constructive you’re just part of the problem.
Just lower your standards Bill. 🙂
I see HootOn is writing for the Herald.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12018308
No disclaimer no description of him as formerly working for the Nat Party etc…
Ordinary folk reading might think he is impartial.
AFAIK he hasn’t done work for National for years and has been criticisng Joyce since 2014, and Key for the last two to three years. Word has it that his firm, Exceltium has done more work for ACT over that period.
Eg
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/101989860/joyce-complains-to-nbr-about-critical-piece-by-nowaxed-columnist
https://nz.linkedin.com/in/matthewhooton
https://nz.linkedin.com/in/brookevanvelden
And look who was here at No 3 for ACT in 2017 – http://act.org.nz/act-unveils-party-list/
Ben Thomas seems to be Exceltium’s National man these days.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11917012
https://thespinoff.co.nz/author/ben-thomas/
https://nz.linkedin.com/in/ben-thomas-1325a9b5
Oops I was editing the above and checking something elsewhere and it went up uncorrected.
Re Ben Thomas – was amending this to read
Ben Thomas * seemed to be Exceltium’s National man for a while but then wrote these Herald articles immediately before the 2017 election:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11917012
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11921023
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11923730
* https://thespinoff.co.nz/author/ben-thomas/ and https://nz.linkedin.com/in/ben-thomas-1325a9b5
Back to Hooton, perhaps he has taken over Ben Thomas’ slot at the Herald. Who knows/cares?
Always like Peter Aranyi’s takes on Hooton, eg this from last Sept:
http://www.thepaepae.com/about-matthew-hootons-declared-loyalties/37847/
“Ordinary folk reading might think he is impartial.”
Especially as it not bylined as an opinion piece. His second sentence is blatant RW spin,
“Those of us who still believe in mainstream economics have Shane Jones to thank for again highlighting the lunacy of a government minister owning 51.9 per cent of Air New Zealand.
See, Shane Jones is part of the terrible loony left who want to destroy the economy. Which is classic Hooton. Undermine the target, mindfuck the Overton Window, mess with the left, and that’s all in the first nine words.
He really is very good at his job, but it’s not journalism.
It’s incredibly heartening to see the Prime Minister write about energy transition planning. I’ve been interested in the transition towns movement for a while and I think it’s a great step for this sort of thing to be on a national policy level.
Thanks for the transition towns link
“Donald Trump has ousted his national security advisor HR McMaster..”
Oh boy. Next…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/102531434
And has taken on John Bolton. Interesting how Trump’s fans were thinking he would be such a departure from US foreign policy and now he’s taking on the most severe hawk from the GWB administration.
Having campaigned on getting career people out he has soon realised their value. Running a country is not the same as running a business
Yeah, but he promised..
/
Yeah right said the Tui ad.
Apparently Natz are claiming that “Gas exports would reduce global emissions’ this is based on gas is better than coal.
Natz logic seem to ignore that solar and renewable energy is going to reduce global emissions even more than gas and coal.
But I guess you write what people pay you to write if you are a Nat and thinking or even researching does not even come into it.
Greedy and fucking stupid.
Goodbye whales…
A new Greenpeace investigation has exposed the environmental risks of the fast-growing krill industry in one of the most pristine parts of the Antarctic Ocean.
The krill fishing industry removes a vital species from the Antarctic food web – tiny shrimp-like krill – eaten by blue whales, penguins, seals and other wildlife.
http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/press/Licensed-to-krill-Greenpeace-report-exposes-Antarctic-fishing-industry/
We Thestandard site shut down for a couple of hours apologies about my earlier comments it seems strange that there is not actual explanation why. Because the sandflys have been blocking me in the past I checked it at 5pm and I could get to the site come 8.30am no go. PS ECO MAORI does not mind admitting when he is wrong. I trust no one Kia kaha Ka kite ano
LPrent commented on it above:
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-23-03-2018/#comment-1464758
Very interesting comparing the general wailing and gnashing of molars in Granny by Mike Hosking and Matthew Hooton and then whoosh – a wee gem by ex Nat MP for Whanganui, Chester Borrows headed ‘Politicians bailed Air N Z out – the airline can’t now complain about Shane Jones’. It’s worth a read. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12018271
Nice dig by Garner in the Dominion at Hosking. (About the Obama dinner.)
“Some of the more miserable or perhaps unhappier grumps among us confused this for boring. They should stay at home and read car manuals next time or a book about themselves.”
Hosking’s column showed him to be an unhappy grump who found the visitor boring.
Newshub just helping son-in-law fix a trough. The Chief Highlanders will be a good Game. Mike you would have had a good time last night Ka pai. I’m on the farm and have to try and get a TV off the Mokopunas to watch the new lol. So I missed most of your new Ka kite ano
The project the sandflys have got anxiety now they no I ain’t no pushover.
The Pink and White terraces was a beautiful sight what a shame to have lossed them. That Westpack bank ad looks like another attack on brown people dont you think from ECO MAORI view Ka kite ano
To the sandflys feel the THUNDER
https://youtu.be/fKopy74weus
Iv been getting the run around by my bank since my idiot nabour sandflys started his personal vendetta against me they won’t give me life insurance they stop my truck insurance payments I had no problem with this till the idiot stepped up his harresment. I wonder what their intentions are there is malic in his intentions in my view and some people know that they have malicious intentions against me and they still assist them?????? So I will get my Utu for there treatment of ECO MAORI. Ana to kai PS And they no I’m a good person
Disregard the statement of Utu I’m just upset at the bank for mucking me around on a service that is needed in this day and age insurance Ka kite ano
Ausome sounds on the radio this afternoon enough said some people mite have thought I thought that those 2 Super Rugby team that I would like to see play each other was on this weekend. I know we’re OUR Rugby team are playing I am a Kiwi after all. I Back the League as well ECO MAORI does not chose side enough said Kia kaha players Ka kite ano I have my favourite but the kumara never say how sweet it is
Newshub it was good having Obama here more Good publicity for Aotearoa one thing I noticed was he was not to comfortable around shonky I would not be comfortable around shonky ether. Global warming is hear and now we have to CHANGE OUR culture and start living in a sustainable way. I seen some other person who now knows ECO MAORI is not a pushover now. Kia kaha Ka kite ano P.S Some other people are paying back their backers with good publicity for Aotearoa to ka pai
There you go Judges bulling in my view they are bullying people to do as they are told so that they don’t question there rulings or judgements. When counsel sees bull___going down they don’t question it I say here’s the link.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/102562165/chief-justice-dame-sian-elias-rebukes-judges-after-revelations-of-widespread-bullying
Many thanks to Jacinda for letting everyone know her intention of a transition to a carbon neutral economy and OUR Coalition Government for backing her.
We’re planning for fossil fuel transition
OPINION: Accused of delivering confusion for businesses over oil and gas, Jacinda Ardern says her vision is clear.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/102498682/jacinda-ardern-i-lived-through-fast-economic-change-in-the-80s-we-wont-repeat-that-with-our-move-to-cleaner-energy-future
Kia kaha Ka kite ano