Open mike 23/10/2019

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, October 23rd, 2019 - 117 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

117 comments on “Open mike 23/10/2019 ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. francesca 1
    23 October 2019 at 8:15 am

    Greywarshark

    You were interested in current news of Assange.

    News isn't great, for him, human rights, or journalism in general, but at least some Australian politicians are starting to stir

    Assange in court

    https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/

    and 10 Aussie MPs raising their objections ….too little too late,… the guy is gone

    https://consortiumnews.com/2019/10/21/judge-denies-assange-extension-on-extradition-hearing/

    • ianmac 1.1
      23 October 2019 at 9:14 am

      A very nasty story of Assange's deterioration Francesca. The cause of his crash mentally and physically may never know only conjectured. A blow to democracy.

    • xanthe 1.2
      23 October 2019 at 10:46 am

      A very interesting phenomenon. There is now a huge industry of independent "truth tellers/independent journalists" who endlessly recycle social media posts and write "exposes" recycling same while at the same time touting for donations to support their noble struggle often with large "click farms" of associated url's and social media accounts. The one truth about these operators is that their business plan depends on Assanges continued incarceration. They contribute nothing and their wall of white noise and misdirection impedes Assange in his struggle

      • greywarshark 1.2.1
        23 October 2019 at 11:53 am

        I didn't realise that xanthe but I shouldn't be surprised. Everybody can present themselves as a journalist these days it seems. It is bad enough with people in the Fairfax papers with big Bylines giving Opinions and not even a sentence of background information on them. So nothing to advise you as to why they should lay their opinions on you and what line of career, education, culture or experience has built their perceptions and facts they have chosen to accept.

    • greywarshark 1.3
      23 October 2019 at 11:18 am

      Thanks francesca – I feel guilty letting his welfare drop out of sight. So have to remember to keep thinking of him. At present I seems to be like a rabbit in the headlights watching Boorish and his Rubber Band play their discordant music in the UK. Need a good dose of Spitting Images I think to illustrate the Farrago of it all.

  2. marty mars 2
    23 October 2019 at 8:16 am

    Yes good call – a childrens author just has a view like anyone else and shouldn't have a platform imo especially when the opinion is yucky,

    A popular children's author has been asked not to speak at a retreat for Catholic school principals in Central Otago, after defending a disgraced bishop's sexual relationship with a young woman.

    Joy Cowley hit the headlines last week, after writing a column in defence of former Catholic Bishop of Palmerston North, Charles Drennan, who resigned earlier this month after admitting a sexual relationship with a young woman.

    …Last week, in an RNZ interview, she went further, saying the sexual relationship between an older bishop and a young woman – even if aged in her late teens – was not an abuse of power.

    The relationship would also help ''make him a much better bishop'', she told RNZ.

    ''He would know how to work with women, wouldn't he? As a man, he wouldn't be just hopping on one foot.''

    https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/defence-bishop-too-controversial

  3. Tony Veitch (not etc.) 3
    23 October 2019 at 8:32 am

    Just been, for my sins, listening to Soimun on RNZ – and the lack of logic he displays is quite exceptional.

    In his monotone monologue he accused Andrew Little of only wanting to make NZers half safe by not extending the supervision period and not lowering the age to 14 years.

    But does this mean National won't support the bill? And if that's the case, will NZ be not at all safe?

    I hope Andrew calls his bluff on this and makes National support the bill, or risk being accused to endangering all NZers. Surely, "the reality is" half safe is better than no safe?

  4. Agora 4
    23 October 2019 at 10:07 am

    NASA’s Curiosity Rover finds an ancient oasis on Mars
    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191007112956.htm

  5. Sabine 5
    23 October 2019 at 10:18 am

    and now for something nice

    accousting version of 'i feel for you' from Prince (as a twenty year old) Chaka Khan made it a hit in the early 80s.

    time flies.

    https://www.npr.org/2019/10/18/771266727/hear-princes-acoustic-i-feel-for-you-demo-fresh-from-the-vault?utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr

    • I feel love 5.1
      23 October 2019 at 12:06 pm

      The first couple Prince albums are stunning, I love later Prince but the early albums are so different and interesting, I Feel For You is on his 2nd album but the acoustic version is awesome! Thanks for sharing.

  6. marty mars 6
    23 October 2019 at 12:02 pm

    swamp's too nice for this toxic creature

    The former US homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, repeatedly defended her decision to separate thousands of children from their parents at the southern border, in her first public interview since she resigned in April.

    At Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Woman summit in Washington DC on Tuesday, the PBS NewsHour correspondent Amna Nawaz asked Nielsen four times if she regretted signing off on the family separation policy, before Nielsen responded: “I don’t regret enforcing the law.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/22/kirstjen-nielsen-summit-family-separation-policy

  7. The Chairman 7
    23 October 2019 at 12:18 pm

    Interesting.

    Back in Feb 2017, KiwiSaver architect Sir Michael Cullen joined the board of variable annuity company Retirement Income Group. Former retirement commissioner Diana Crossan is also on the board.

    Now, interim Retirement Commissioner Peter Cordzt is taking public submissions on an annuity scheme (called KiwiSpend) before he decides which recommendations will make it into his review of retirement incomes.

    The final report will be presented to Government in December.

    It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

    Submissions are open until October 31.

    [Again, you did not provide a link so that readers could follow-up (e.g. to make a submission) and gain more insight into the context/background. To label it “interesting” is pretty vanilla (beige?) too IMO and you might as well have asked “should we be concerned?” Please provide a link – Incognito]

  8. marty mars 8
    23 October 2019 at 12:18 pm

    Save our waterways – make a submission

    Action for healthy waterways – consultation

    Have your say

    The Government is asking New Zealanders for their views on proposals to stop freshwater health getting worse and to restore waterways to a healthy state in a generation. We have prepared a discussion document setting out the proposals, which is available on our website. We recommend you refer to the discussion document when completing your submission.

    We have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders to develop the proposals and are keen to hear your views on them.

    We have grouped the questions from the discussion document by theme, but if you want to answer a specific question, please note the question number from the discussion document in your submission. You do not need to answer all of the questions. Notes boxes are provided under each question for your comments. Supporting documents may also be attached at the end of the form.

    https://submissions.mfe.govt.nz/consultations/essential-freshwater-f483240c-4b48-4713-acaa-539915e31f4e/make-a-submission

  9. indiana 9
    23 October 2019 at 12:22 pm

    …have to agree Russel Norman's tweet puts him to the class of being an A-Grade dork…

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12278896

    • ScottGN 9.1
      23 October 2019 at 12:44 pm

      I quite liked that tweet. It was exactly what I was thinking…

      • Naki man 9.1.1
        23 October 2019 at 1:48 pm

        Not something i would admit to Scott.

        Noddy Norman's tweet make him look like nasty bitter scumbag,

        • ScottGN 9.1.1.1
          23 October 2019 at 1:55 pm

          Only if you’ve succumbed to the manufactured outrage from the usual suspects. Otherwise it’s just the usual to-and-fro in the Twittersphere.

      • Anne 9.1.2
        23 October 2019 at 2:03 pm

        It was exactly what I was thinking…

        Me too ScottGN.

        Just because Russell Norman told the truth doesn't mean either he – and those of us who agree with him – have no sympathy for those directly affected like the inner city dwellers who have had 24 hrs of toxic smoke to contend with.

        You rwnjs are an incredibly stupid lot sometimes.

    • Drowsy M. Kram 9.2
      23 October 2019 at 1:28 pm

      How quickly, and conveniently 'they' forget.

      There was much hoopla and some political concessions made at the time – maybe the government of the day aimed to make political capital out of it. ‘Bum deal’? Scam? A bit of both? Will taxpayers ever get will get the full story?

      "PM Key defends govt support for Sky City convention centre, says can't expect shareholders to invest for 6 years without certainty" [June 2011]
      https://www.interest.co.nz/news/53845/pm-key-defends-govt-support-sky-city-convention-centre-says-cant-expect-shareholders

      "UPDATED: Key refuses to rule out convention centre taxpayer top-up The government is "spinning faster than a roulette wheel", says Taxpayers' Union." [Feb 2015]
      https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/key-refuses-rule-out-convention-centre-taxpayer-top-ng-168452

      Don't know the real extent of public or private costs, although some major private companies got burned, 'going forward'. There was a remarkable dearth of good news stories about the project in 2016/17 – funny that.

      "In 2015, Skycity announced Fletcher Construction would be building the new international convention centre in Auckland. Nobody then suspected it would lead to over $400m of losses to Fletcher Building."

      https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/101433375/roll-call-of-fletcher-buildings-massive-lossmaking-construction-projects

      A case of 'Big Smoke' and mirrors? Better that than 'all up in smoke', which has (alas) now eventuated.

      "SkyCity to remove aluminium cladding from International Convention Centre"

      https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/110551367/sky-city-expects-395-million-from-fletchers-in-compensation-for-building-delays

      • tc 9.2.1
        23 October 2019 at 3:21 pm

        It's a case of a global gaming organisation up against the kids running Fletchers currently who swallowed nationals dead rat convention centre.

        It's one of a few projects the kids thought they knew better about that’s gnawing away

    • Sabine 9.3
      23 October 2019 at 7:48 pm

      selective outrage.

      after all they want plausible deniability when the firefighters/first responders come to ACC with health issues caused by the job. Toxic fires are quite common, and the guys putting them out are more often then not unpaid volunteers.

      so yeah, how dare he talk about the toxic fumes, he should thank the fire fighters for their service instead! It is simply not polite from him to point out all the toxic smoke, debris and waste water. 🙂

  10. Ad 10
    23 October 2019 at 12:34 pm

    Interesting to see that the owners of Tiwai Point Aluminium have requested talks with the government.

    As a result Meridian dropped 7.75% in a morning's market trade, and others like Mercury also fell down a chunk as well.

    I sure feel for the people of Southland who are having to go through this again.

    But it is surely one of the greatest gifts that Minister Wood could have dropped on her, if she wanted to require Meridian to divert that power supply from Tiwai Point to the national grid.

    That would be a considerable shift in our energy carbon emissions, and hopefully put a really hard floor under our energy price with that much constant supply on tap.

    • Andre 10.1
      23 October 2019 at 1:14 pm

      I sure feel for the people of Southland who are having to go through this again.

      Until Tiwai Point is shut down, they will forever be pawns in Rio Tinto's game of extorting the cushiest deal they can out of the government of the day. This government needs to develop a hostage rescue plan, and come up with alternatives for those workers.

      If it isn't already in Rio Tinto's interest to move out of Southland, it will be very soon. The estimates I've seen for what Rio Tinto pays for electricity in NZ are around 6 cents/kWhr (vs around 25 cents/kWhr average for residential consumers). Plus the alumina has to be shipped here, then the refined aluminium shipped elsewhere. But new solar power projects are being built to supply electricity at under US 3 cents/kWhr, and the Weipa bauxite mine is quite handy to one of the best solar resources in the world.

      • Dukeofurl 10.1.1
        23 October 2019 at 3:51 pm

        "But new solar power projects are being built to supply electricity at under US 3 cents/kWhr"

        No solar power plant does that…. and the other problem for a smelter which runs day and night is what ?

        The UK solar power stations have a government guarantee of minimum price ( called a Contract for Difference CFD) well above what yo mention

        • McFlock 10.1.1.1
          23 October 2019 at 4:04 pm

          Solar during the day, hydro at night.

        • Andre 10.1.1.2
          23 October 2019 at 4:21 pm

          Portugal just contracted for 14.76 euro per MWhr, or 1.476 euro cents per kWhr

          https://www.energyglobal.com/solar/12082019/portugal-awards-worlds-lowest-cost-solar-pv-contract/

          Concentrating solar power schemes which can keep supplying into the night aren't quite that low yet, but they're not that far off. Here's a scheme from 2017 in Australia contracting to supply for 78 dingodollars/MWhr.

          https://www.solarpaces.org/solarreserve-breaks-csp-price-record-6-cent-contract/

          Or the new scheme at Ouarzazate in Morocco is around the same price.

          https://www.solarpaces.org/morocco-breaks-new-record-with-800-mw-midelt-1-csp-pv-at-7-cents/

          The idea that capital equipment must be kept running 24/7 is a managerialist axiom, but it's not necessarily the lowest cost way to produce a product.

          In the case of aluminium smelting after there's a reasonable waste disposal fee placed on carbon emissions, it may turn out most cost effective to just smelt during the day using extremely cheap PV electricity and just do the minimum to keep them hot and ready to go overnight. Or it may be cheaper to pay a bit more on the electricity side for concentrating solar with a shitload of storage. Or something else. Whatever the outcome may be, that should be Rio Tinto's problem, not ours.

          But what's going to be really stupid for New Zealand is to continue paying a premium for fossil generated electricity for the rest of the country while continuing to give Rio Tinto extremely cheap clean hydro electricity.

          • Dukeofurl 10.1.1.2.1
            23 October 2019 at 4:55 pm

            "Capital equipment must be kept running 24/7 is a managerialist axiom, but it's not necessarily the lowest cost way to produce a product.

            Its a smelter, the Al pot lines will solidify. Plenty of production processes are continuous for technical reasons and off peak power is cheaper for the very big customers.

            Theres 2 reasons the Smelter power is cheap .

            1) Only a short distance from Manapouri to Bluff , so Transpower lines charges are low

            2) They are a heavy bulk power under contract, not a flick the switch user like a home or small to medium business. They can drop power for short periods to help with small spikes in demand or sudden system failures.

            Portugal has always subsidized its Solar power. The latest one isnt publicly subsidized ( a first) but the price is fixed and confidential. Public outcry over the existing subsidies. of course Portugal can get Power from Spain as well. Good luck with NZ having an interconnector with another Grid – although the North And South islands are run like that with the Cook St cable connecting Benmore and Haywards in Upper Hutt

            Solar power has many issues, the biggest is the sun doesnt shine when the morning and evening peaks occur. The second is the power production isnt synchronous at 50Hz, so some sort of rotating generator is needed to stabilise the frequency. In NZ we have hydro power stations around the country to do that , otherwise its thermal , either coal or gas.

            • Andre 10.1.1.2.1.1
              23 October 2019 at 5:35 pm

              Yes a smelting pot needs to be kept hot so it doesn't solidify, but that doesn't mean it needs to be running at full production. It just needs to be kept hot. Keeping it hot requires a lot less power if you aren't dumping cold alumina in the top and tapping molten aluminium out the bottom.

              There's a third reason Rio Tinto gets it cheap, they successfully apply pressure on the government using Southland employment as hostages for leverage.

              If that continuous 600ish MW continuous draw from Tiwai Point went away, I'm sure the grid and generators would work out how to manage the extra available power. Y'know, it could supply base load for the rest of the country that is currently coming from sources that can quite happily operate in a variable mode. Meridian might even find they get more for it by selling most of it at higher variable rates rather than just a continuous low rate.

              Aluminium smelting pots don't run on 50Hz AC, they're only roughly 2V DC. It is possible to convert AC to DC and back again – the Cook Strait cables are DC.

              You sure that Portugal price is subsidised? It's a couple of years on from the unsubsidised US 1.79 cents/kWhr in Saudi in 2017, and PV prices have fallen significantly from 2017 to now.

              https://cleantechnica.com/2017/10/07/the-birth-of-a-new-era-in-solar-pv-record-low-cost-on-saudi-solar-project-bid/

              • Dukeofurl …
                24 October 2019 at 8:20 am

                So much wrong with what you are saying. You clearly have half a clue about a lot of things.

                The pot lines are DC but the power generated at Manapouri which is fed to the Grid is AC at 50hz. Its a single grid , that the smelter changes the power for its purposes doesnt matter for the grid.

                Cheapest power production is from large load thermal stations, mainly coal and gas, then come hydro. They can provide power on demand day or night. Then comes wind which is intermittant and last comes solar.

                Carbon taxes deliberately push up the cost of creating thermal power, but its still the cheapest because of scale and it can be used as a base load

    • Pat 10.2
      23 October 2019 at 1:20 pm

      There would be many positives if the corporate blackmail ceased…..unless you live in Invercargill where Tiwai smelter employs around 10 % of the workforce.

      Another political difficulty this government could do without at this time

    • weka 10.3
      23 October 2019 at 2:11 pm

      "I sure feel for the people of Southland who are having to go through this again."

      maybe it's time that NZ started considering what sustainability is, and applying that to economics. Not the co-opted meaning of the word, but the regenerative, nature-based meaning, where something is able to be sustained over long periods of time without causing damage or stealing rersources from other communities. This is going to be an ongoing issue with climate transition, may as well get used to it now. When dairy and tourism contract, how will Southland and NZ make a living?

      "That would be a considerable shift in our energy carbon emissions, and hopefully put a really hard floor under our energy price with that much constant supply on tap."

      Likewise, might be a good time to learn about the limits of nature and make good use of the freed up resource for transition and essential goods and services rather than wasting it.

      • The Al1en 10.3.1
        23 October 2019 at 2:19 pm

        Agreed. The time of climate change is upon us, and one day, petrol station staff are gonna be out of jobs, like most miners will be and combustion engine mechanics. Sometime the bullet has to be bitten, and what's needed is not outrage, but a plan to move employees into sustainable jobs outside the norm.

        As a petty political aside, Surely Invercargil is a true blue region, so no loss to the government should a hard decision needs to be made?

        • Pat 10.3.1.1
          23 October 2019 at 4:32 pm

          "As a petty political aside, Surely Invercargil is a true blue region, so no loss to the government should a hard decision needs to be made?"

          You may wish to consider we have MMP now and there remain considerable party votes on offer regardless of the colour of the electorate MP

          https://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2017/electorate-details-19.html

        • weka 10.3.1.2
          23 October 2019 at 4:39 pm

          Invercargill has had Labour and National MPs. They consistently vote in Shadbolt for Mayor, fwiw.

          But yeah, just transition can be coupled with designing sustainable systems and that needs to include security around making a living, and local economies. The old rhetoric of jobs vs environment needs to be changed to seeing jobs as a benefit of the environment.

        • Sabine 10.3.1.3
          23 October 2019 at 7:55 pm

          As a petty political aside, Surely Invercargil is a true blue region, so no loss to the government should a hard decision needs to be made?

          so they don't deserve jobs and care? they don't deserve true representation from their elected government?

          this is snark?

          • The Al1en 10.3.1.3.1
            23 October 2019 at 8:04 pm

            and what's needed is not outrage, but a plan to move employees into sustainable jobs outside the norm.

            People will lose jobs because of dealing to global warming. It's a fact.

            • Sabine 10.3.1.3.1.1
              23 October 2019 at 9:14 pm

              this is not what your statement was about.

              i asked you about this – the rest of your comment i had no issue with,

              As a petty political aside, Surely Invercargil is a true blue region, so no loss to the government should a hard decision needs to be made?

              Care to elaborate on 'true blue region, so no loss"? is loss now measured by party affiliation – or what would 'blue region' mean?

              • The Al1en …
                23 October 2019 at 9:26 pm

                It's exactly as I wrote – If the hard decision is to be taken, then in a tory area, the hit to the government will be minimal, so less of a barrier to making the call. That doesn't mean those people are disposable or collateral damage, to me or the government, which is why twice I've posted about replacement sustainable jobs, but these type of job cuts will be more common in the future as we combat cutting emissions to save the planet.

                I don't see that as a big issue in the big scheme of things.

  11. marty mars 11
    23 October 2019 at 12:41 pm

    I am worried for the people inhaling the smoke in Auckland. I wonder where all the drainage goes – into the normal system? Into a special system? Pollution? I spose the toxic firefighting foam is no longer used which is good. Anyway I hope everyone and the environment stays safe.

    • AB 11.1
      23 October 2019 at 6:20 pm

      I expect the water hosed on the fire ends up in the harbour – a place where in a month's time or so I expect to be catching dinner occasionally. Interesting that something that makes Auckland a brilliant place (catching fish within sight of downtown) could theoretically be jeopardised by something that makes it a sh*thole (Skycity and all its doings).

      Which leads to a larger question – why is a trashy private fiefdom like Skycity allowed any influence over our cityscape, or our lives in general?

  12. Blazer 12
    23 October 2019 at 12:54 pm

    ain't this the truth…

    '

    But Massey University lecturer Ralph Bathurst disagreed.

    "The thing that is surprising about the David Hisco case is that it is unsurprising. We as citizens should be outraged by CEOs, and board members receiving astronomical salaries and benefits under the pretence that they are talented. The primary talent that these senior so-called business 'leaders' have in common is that they can fool us into believing that they are talented," he said.-Stuff.

    • Sacha 12.1
      23 October 2019 at 1:32 pm

      Please add the link when you quote something. Here's one for free: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/116782789/hisco-wants-privacy-but-what-could-he-do-next

      • Incognito 12.1.1
        23 October 2019 at 1:55 pm

        yes

      • Blazer 12.1.2
        23 October 2019 at 2:11 pm

        Your sarcasm is unnecessary.I quoted the part I wanted to and attributed it to Stuff.

        [Little things like adding links to quoted text take a few seconds and do lift the quality of discourse. If everybody do their bid we will all benefit – this is not sarcasm but a fact. In addition, it is about appropriate attribution of the originator of the quoted text or info – Incognito]

        • Incognito 12.1.2.1
          23 October 2019 at 2:37 pm

          See my Moderation note @ 2:11 PM.

        • Blazer 12.1.2.2
          23 October 2019 at 2:43 pm

          'university lecture Ralph Bathurst'…'Here's one for free'…is definitely sarcasm.

          Stop being a prick.And your opinion is just that=not fact at all.

          [Please refrain from making personal insults and please provide links in future, thanks – Incognito]

          • Incognito 12.1.2.2.1
            23 October 2019 at 2:57 pm

            See my Moderation note @ 2:43 PM.

            • veutoviper 12.1.2.2.1.1
              23 October 2019 at 3:20 pm

              Do each of the following comments here on Open Mike today also fall into the same category as those of The Chairman and Blazer and require links to be provided to the statements made:

              1. Tony V @ 3 re what Simon Bridges said on RNZ this morning
              2. Ad @10 re the owners of Tiwai Point Aluminium requesting talks with the government
              3. The Al1en @ 13 claiming that Jono and Ben have fled Mediaworks for TVNZ
              4. Newsense @ 15 re political party support for light rail.
              • The Al1en …
                23 October 2019 at 3:26 pm

                Not speaking for Incognito but the mod note said if you quote, provide a link. You'll note in my post I didn't quote, just made an observation. Though I'm happy to provide a link, if required, it'll have to be when I get home from work and can stop using this shitty tablet.

              • Incognito …
                23 October 2019 at 3:39 pm

                Nothing is B&W and set in stone but my personal take is:

                1. Yes, a link would have been helpful here too; it makes a specific reference to a broadcast.
                2. Idem.
                3. No, not really; this comment is almost completely a statement of personal opinion and doesn’t seem to depend/rely much on actual facts.
                4. A supporting link(s) would have been helpful here.

                HTH

    • Jimmy 12.2
      23 October 2019 at 1:39 pm

      Theo Spierings springs to mind. Obscene salary package (and bonus) NOT based on performance. I would have no problem if he was earning say, $3 million a year and the company was performing.

    • Andre 12.3
      23 October 2019 at 1:46 pm

      Oddly enough, it seems there is indeed a relationship between CEO pay and company performance: they're inversely correlated.

      https://cooleypubco.com/2016/07/25/new-study-shows-inverse-correlation-between-ceo-pay-and-performance-over-the-long-term/

  13. The Al1en 13
    23 October 2019 at 12:57 pm

    Those seriously unfunny or unoriginal pillocks Jono and Ben have fled the sinking ship that is mediaworks and got a gig at tvnz. Whilst not being the absolute worst examples of what passes for kiwi man's humour, though it's close, it still won't make them any less Rattus rattus.

    Much hope for Mark Richardson than he deserves, then, if that’s the level they’re prepared to stoop to at the national broadcaster.

    • McFlock 13.1
      23 October 2019 at 1:35 pm

      What's wrong with J&B? They're not my cup of tea, but they're not tory chatbots like hosking or richardson AFAIK

    • Jimmy 13.2
      23 October 2019 at 1:43 pm

      I guess its a matter of opinion, I don't mind them but I just do not find their off sider Guy Williams funny at all.

      • The Al1en 13.2.1
        23 October 2019 at 1:53 pm

        Ill admit to switching channels when any of them are on TV, I dislike the act so much, but of course it's each to their own and all that.

        I have recently been re watching The thick of it, about a spin doctor for the last labour gov, starring the better jock doctor who, so my taste in comedy is probably a bit different to b&j's world view.

    • tc 13.3
      23 October 2019 at 7:10 pm

      Here we go with jobs for the Boyz n girlz. Tvnz needs a clear out from the top down.

      Unfunny and unoriginal….how about something new and interesting.

  14. McFlock 14
    23 October 2019 at 1:44 pm

    I love the concern tories have for charity.

    So ACT's David Seymour signed a MAGA hat to be auctioned, originally for a donation to the kidsline charity. The MAGA hat was made by a right wing nutter.

    Seymour told Newsroom that he worried the auction would politicise the charity, which he supports as a local MP, and asked Allen to change the recipient of the funds to ACT.

    Yup, you read that "right": Seymour was so concerned for the reputation of the charity that he bravely suggested that his organisation should bear the brunt of the donation. Such a fine humanitarian lol

  15. newsense 15
    23 October 2019 at 1:48 pm

    Surely the minister for wasting time and burning political capital is on thin ice?

    Before the election there was two party consensus on light rail, and Labour was promising 2 lines, plus high speed rail Auckland to Tauranga in 9 years.

    Now we are down to the Nats and NZ First not supporting light rail and there has been sod all progress of any kind.

    If this was encouraged because a PPP looks better…grr

    • ScottGN 15.1
      23 October 2019 at 2:02 pm

      When you say 2 party consensus do you mean Labour and Greens? Cos the National Party hasn’t ever supported light rail. Just like they didn’t support the Northern Busway when Clark announced that or the CRL until Key gave in on that or the Waterview tunnel or had the commonsense to build the northwestern busway infrastructure while they were widening that motorway.

  16. joe90 16
    23 October 2019 at 2:21 pm

    tl;dr 'Murica's been as racist AF forever.

    https://twitter.com/michaelharriot/status/1186468302400507904

    Racial terrorism is actually normal in American history but I believe we talk about in the wrong way. These are not isolated incidents , nor are they rare.

    This is the story of how a national campaign by whites terrorists overthrew the US government

    A few weeks ago, Donald Trump tweeted that there would be a coup if he was ousted from the presidency and media outlets portrayed him as crazy. It it is NOT crazy to think that a race war is possible.

    It has happened FOUR TIMES in history.

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1186468302400507904.html

  17. Graeme 17
    23 October 2019 at 3:24 pm

    A good day for the Otago region with Marion Hobbs elected as chairman of Otago Regional Council, with Michael Laws as deputy.

    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/labour-minister-orc-chairwoman

    The Council has a huge job ahead of it sorting out the demise of the old mining water rights, water quality issues that are going to hit like a sledge hammer when the dairy waste reaches ground water and streams in Central, public transport needs throughout the region and public dis-engagement with a council that seemed only interested in building a Dunedin centric empire.

    Get to work people.

  18. Rosemary McDonald 18
    23 October 2019 at 4:44 pm

    Jesse Mulligan (afternoons on Natrad) had former Herald columnist Rachel Stewart as a guest today. Stewart shared her favourite music, books and movie….and for at least a short while created an oasis of quality listening in this usually bland timeslot.

    Sorry, can't do the link thing from my phone….but this is well worth a listen.

  20. greywarshark 20
    23 October 2019 at 5:08 pm

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018717779/nz-s-low-unemployment-rate-is-hiding-huge-inequity

    Social Development minister Carmel Sepuloni says the issue of disabled unemployment has been overlooked for too long.

    “It’s our responsibility to ensure that we are breaking down the barriers and providing opportunities to work,” she says.

    Issues range from mental health issues, to sight or hearing impairments, intellectual disabilities and autism.

    It’s also not a stagnant group – people are going off and on the benefit, many taking up employment for a short time. Sepuloni says 74 percent of them do want to work.

    “We want them to thrive, and they want to thrive,” she says. (How can people believe this sort of bumf.)

    It's a mirage. How many people who are employed are getting a decent wage so that they can do sufficient hours during the hours of daylight to fulfil their roles and lives as advanced human beings? People are sick, they are stressed, and the jobs that are available largely depend on basic neds , providing health, or catering for tourists who need to be from overseas, or are old age pensioners. Too many young and; middle aged people are making do on a knife-edge, very uncomfortably. Thriving? Even our bacteria can't thrive and people need faecal inputs; there is a fog of stats around employment.

    What we need is work along demography strata age=group lines – and show about five different measures per 100,000 like full-time in normal working periods of a 5 day weeks b 6day weeks c revolving flexible weeks where the hours are tacked in here and there and no guaranteeed 2 day break.

    Etc – Possibly not drawn up by the OECD because they make up the stats so countries can lie to their populations.

    • Descendant Of Smith 20.1
      23 October 2019 at 9:13 pm

      The public service used to pick up many of those with disabilities as employees. The profit imperative of business means the private sector will never create sufficient employment for this group.

      Same with young school leavers.

      She should put her money where her mouth is and fund the public service to do this on top of their existing funding – ring fenced so the funding doesn't get siphoned off elsewhere.

      Busy telling private sector employers to do this when she needs to look closer to home.

      In my view the public service should look like the local communities they serve.

      • greywarshark 20.1.1
        23 October 2019 at 9:30 pm

        Agreed. I was amazed to listen to the very fluent Sepuloni go on and on in such a well-modulated voice, like she has been programmed. These tertiary institutions really fill you up with rhetoric and on just a tiny reservoir of energy, the information can go for hours. Turned her off after a short while.

        There may be good reason for a disabled person to go and do a wage job, or not. They might want one and get a real burst of determination to achieve something that takes them to the peak of their own Mt Aoraki (analogy). I heard nothing said about setting up opportunity groups to do volunteer work, and class that as alternative employment so it is listed in separate statistics from the usual employment figures.

        The relish that they announce how good it is for everyone to be working, ie in a paid job, is an example of saturation programming. It has been picked up from somebody's paper/s as reliable and honourable as the material on anti-vaxxers. I am all for people contributing to society, and I mean all, evem just coaching one person in reading, teaching music, making scones, permaculture, learning extra skills even the best way to use garden tools (as done in big hardware shops) etc.

        Have joint classes for mothers with young children, encourage the availability of jobs during school hours. One thing that I think I did hear this morning was that mothers were encouraged to share a job, so the other could cover with child care, or when there is sickness. If I heard right that was an innovative step for a start.

  21. A 21
    23 October 2019 at 5:42 pm

    Accounting and Law are similar fields to my mind. At least it is an overseas example, and yes it did happen recently

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/116814057/ey-seminar-claims-women-have-smaller-brains-than-men-less-ambition

    Per Peck, some of the more bizarre practices of the EY [Ernest & Young] Power-Presence-Purpose training (as it was called) included:

    – Women were encouraged to "signal fitness and wellness" by getting manicures and wearing flattering clothing – yet were told not to "flaunt their body."

    – Attendees had to rate how "masculine" or "feminine" they were before the training. Masculine adjectives included "ambitious" and "has leadership abilities"; feminine adjectives included "shy" and "childlike."

    – Women were told to sit cross-legged and not to make face-to-face contact with men at work.

    – The presenter claimed women had smaller brains than men, a former EY executive director who wished to remain anonymous told HuffPost. She added that the presentation said women absorbed information "like pancakes," making it hard for them to focus.

    The presentation also had a breakdown describing differences between men's and women's speaking styles, saying women ramble and "miss the point" when they communicate and "think men hog air time."

  22. Exkiwiforces 22
    23 October 2019 at 5:48 pm

    Well it’s this time of the year I start look for books to read or reference books for my 1/700 model ships that I build during the summer period (the Northern Australian Wet Season) while listening to the summer of cricket on ABC radio except for the Boxing Day Test as I will be there in person with the old man over from NZ.

    Anyway I find this new book on poor old Neville Chamberlain while looking for a book on the WW2 Illustrious Class Carriers line drawings and camouflage markings. This book looks like it could be a good read, for example he has a butterfly named after him, enjoyed bird watching and was a bit of a greenie/ naturalist among other things. Model ship building does leads me down to some interesting paths like the why, who, where, when and how these ships came to be built.

    https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Neville-Chamberlains-Legacy-Hardback/p/16537

    Plus a couple of books from the New Zealand Rail Society on the rebuilding the SIMT Line after the Kaikoura earthquake and one on the Hillside workshops, where I drank a few ales with some of the old boys in the pubs around Hillside workshops and it was also close to KAH Barracks during the 90’s.

    • halfcrown 22.1
      23 October 2019 at 7:34 pm

      Nice one Ex Kiwi I have noted those for future reading. As an ex-engineer at one stage involved in the Aircraft Industry, well, that is when Britain had an aircraft industry before it was destroyed by inept politicians and management. I can highly recommend the following books "Empire of the Clouds" by James Hamilton-Paterson about the demise of the British Aircraft industry, EXACTLY by Simon Winchesterly, how precision engineering made the modern world. Great stories from automating the pulley block making for Nelson's navy to why that RR Engine blew apart on that Qantas flight. and lastly, a book I am reading now which gives great insight into the development of the U2 and stealth aircraft by Lockheeds highly secretive department called Skunk Works, written by the CEO Ben R Rich and Leo Jonos. Great insights into brilliant engineers and in the book Empire of the Clouds cretinous fuckwit politicians who should have been put down at birth

      • Dukeofurl 22.1.1
        24 October 2019 at 8:33 am

        Britain was spending 10% of its government budget on Defence in the middle 50s, plus paying for development of the civil aviation industry, which largely ended with the most expensive of all – Concorde

        Thats what the cuts made by successive governments from Conservatives in late 50s to labour in mid 60s and later was all about reducing

        • halfcrown 22.1.1.1
          24 October 2019 at 7:01 pm

          “Thats what the cuts made by successive governments from Conservatives in late 50s to labour in mid 60s and later was all about reducing “

          We all know that, but they didn't save or reduce on this little exercise did they, fact it cost the UK dearly in more ways than one. This is just one example of many, I could mention like Sandys and his fetish for missiles and how much that cost the taxpayer and the UK aircraft industry. Also, like Cleese, I won't mention the war or the Miles 52 project, a complete irreparable incompetent criminal stuff up by politicians who did not have a clue how to open a bottle of milk let alone minister an aircraft industry.

          From the book Empire of the Clouds

          “Thus ended TSR.2 and with it all hopes that Briton could remain in the major league of aircraft manufacturing countries. 195 million in development costs were written off. The immediate effect on BAC and particularly on English Electric's Warton workforce was devasting, with large numbers of redundancies and general demoralisation that hit the RAF and spread throughout the industry. For TSR,2 was not the only project prat (my words) Healey had cancelled that fateful day. With it went Fairey's project Rotodyne feeder helicopter for ferrying passengers from airports to city centres(21 Million written off); Hawkers P.1154 projected supersonic version of what was to be the Harrier verticle take-off fighter (my words again something the Yanks have just managed to achieve in the last decade at enormous costs) another 21 million; and the Hawkers Siddeley/Armstrong Whitworth 681 military freighter much the same cost (my words again, would have made the Hercules look pathetic) There was widespread disbelief at both the policy and the crassness with which it was implemented, but this quickly turned to real anger when the full irony was revealed: that the 150 F-111's ordered for the RAF because they would have been so much cheaper than 150 TSR.2's turned out – when the equivalent F-111s were delivered to the Australian Airforce – to be even MORE expensive because their recurrent bugs and teething problems ( my opinion, another heap of American shit something Australia found out). “ Eventually the UK order for the F-111's was cancelled in 1968 at a cost of 46.4 million.”

          Great "reducing" there aye mate, it certainly “reduced” the British Aircraft Industry

          • Exkiwiforces 22.1.1.1.1
            25 October 2019 at 6:37 pm

            The TSR.2 is one of my favourite planes of the 50-60's along the Avro Canada's CF-105. The TSR.2 shit fight is something I still to this day can't get my head around as it was basically an EE design Aircraft, but the lead builder was Vickers out of Weybridge which had no SME on building Supersonic Military aircraft, but EE had all the knowledge etc from the Lighting, long a enough runway etc and other research design at Warton was made the a secondary partner. Vickers only post war military AC was Valiant Bomber and had been more focus on Civil AC.

            Then we have Avro Canada's and the stuff that was coming out of the Company was leading edge stuff like its Avro Jetliner which then follow CF100 and lastly the doomed CF-105. Just reading Randall Whitcomb books on Avro Canada is just mind blowing

            As you said the Miles 52 project was an opportunely lost and having read Winkle Brown's book, does lead me to think they would've beat the Yanks by far margin and, again the Vickers with Barnes Wills got into the ear of the then Labour Government to say its rockets while alot safer and cheaper, a maned flight.

            The Fairey's Rotodyne was another excellent design, but again it was way a head of its time and a lot less complex than the US Osprey that flies over my house during the dry season when the Yanks are in town.

            The Joint British/ Australian Rocket programme is another subject, i still can't really get my head a round either, when one considers that the UK/ Aus were the third nation to put up a satellite and then pull the plug on it as some muppet called Roy Jenkins why do we need satellites and what's there use? All the work of the Black Arrow, Black Prince, Black Knight and Blue Streak along with Saro and co kicked into the scrap yard.

            The Civil Aircraft was no better either the V1000/ VC7 would've been the first widebody aircraft in world and would've been built in the 50's and then later the VC10 which if had been built to its original design spec's without BOAC sticking in fingers in pie would've been another world beating widebody. Then we have the sorry episode of DH's lovely Trident Tri Jet and again if it had been built to it original design without BEA sticking its fingers in the pie, it would beating the Boeing 727 hands down.

            The way Handley Page was treated during the 60's by then Labour Government is be on contempt and quite frankly fucking disgusting. It had a couple of good aircraft coming online, Victor Bomber upgrades would've been world class and it research dept at the time looking into carbon fibre/ composite materials back in the late 50's/ 60's before they became the rage in 90's.

            Boulton & Paul was mucking around with Radar Absorbent Material until it was caned in the 60's and today its research files are still class as for UK Eyes only. Just think if the B&P RAM was applied to the Vulcan which already had a very small radar cross section or the Blackburn Buccaneer (One blight spot among the chaos of the 60's and should've sold more if wasn't for the BS from the RAF)?

            The list is endless IRT to the UK Labour Government of the 60's, but don't get me started on the post war Churchill/ Eden Government.

            Then lastly the High Speed Train is a What if or could've been? which was in the in end scaled right back. And the same could be said of the Nimrod MR4 and there is some interesting chat over at the http://www.secretprojects.uk.com on the balls up by Big And Expensed and co.

            • Dukeofurl 22.1.1.1.1.1
              25 October 2019 at 7:26 pm

              The answer is simple the UK couldnt afford all this stuff and the over sized military forces that went with it. Even by this stage the US was winding back some of its development projects as too expensive. Was all the best decisions made to keep the best projects ? No but hindsight is a great thing they didnt have back then.

              Rather than reading fanboys stories of how great these planes were – they were generally shocking management and old and inefficent production plants and very long development times. Even some missile projects were cancelled.

              Tony Buttler has done some good recent reserach on the original papers covering aircraft and engines from that era ( 1957) showing how many competing and likely outdated by the time they were ready.

              Check out other defence cuts in Army and navy forces and programs at the time

              eg

              'There was to be a reduction in the number of regular infantry battalions from 64 to 49 "

              'The British Army was to be reduced in size and reorganised to reflect the ending of National Service and the change to a voluntary army, and to "keep the Army abreast of changing circumstances, policies, weapons and techniques of war". 51 major units and a large number of smaller ones were to be disbanded or amalgamated,"

              • Exkiwiforces …
                1 November 2019 at 5:23 pm

                I fully agree with what you are saying, but my issue is that TSR2 should've continue even just purely as research Aircraft, instead of backing Concorde when the TSR2 got canned and even back then there were doubts about Concorde even being a success. Especially what was on the drawing broads at Hatfield (DH125 and the DH148) and coming of Woodford (Arvo) two wide body Airliners which become the A300 &310, the FTA (Future Transport Airlifter) also known by the Woodford crew as FAT's which became the bases for the A400 and the replacement of the Avro 748 (the Mount Cook AC and the RNZAF Andover) or ATP. Where the then Labour Government should've supported as a backstop to Concorde and the TSR2.

                But if you ask anybody around Preston today about the TSR2? the punters would say we were stab in the back Labour as they said they would never cancel TSR2 as the now infamous Labour Party leaflet issued in the Preston South constituency before the 64 General Election say's:

                Harold Wilson Tells TSR2 workers "Your Jobs are Guaranteed Under Labour" etc etc.

                Ref: Pg 268 TSR2 Britain's Lost Bomber by Damien Burke

                There is a book on my wishlist on Frogpond on the Brit Army from 45- 1971, but it will cost a bomb to get around the $150 mark.

                And people wonder why the Working class/ Working poor in the Mildlands are going to give the UK Labour the two fingers in this election. I think the Blairites within the UK labour Party are going to be in for a rude shock this time round. The Australian Working Class give the Shorten and the Oz labour the two fingers, and the NZ Labour Party better watch themselves as well next year.

            • halfcrown 22.1.1.1.1.2
              25 October 2019 at 7:52 pm

              Thanks for that Kiwi I agree with you 300% I could have written more and thank you for adding what I wanted to say

              I have friends in NZ who worked on the TSR.2 The way they speak about this aircraft which they had great pride in I get the impression it was the last straw where they were concerned when it was scrapped. There is one airframe left and that is at Duxford Agree with you I feel English Electric should have built it as you said it was a EE design, but once again cretinous fuckwit politicians got in the way.

              You mentioned Avro of Canada another great design the Avro Arrow, that upset the Yanks scrapped within a couple of weeks and the then Canadian government had their arm twisted to buy a missile from the Yanks which once again was a heap of crap that did not work.

              A great quote from Sir Sydney Camm designer of the Hurricane and Hunter(I think)

              “All modern aircraft have four dimensions: Span, Length, Height and Politics. TSR2 simply got the first three right.” -……………………….. Sir Sydney Camm.

              • Exkiwiforces …
                1 November 2019 at 4:43 pm

                This book might be your up alley and does look to be quite interesting

                http://www.crecy.co.uk/britain-s-aircraft-industry-since-1909

                The three TSR2 Books I have are

                TSR2 Britain's lost bomber by Damien Burke,

                TSR2 Britain's lost cold war strike aircraft by Tim Mclelland,

                X Planes TSR2 Britain's lost cold war strike jet by Andrew Brookes who an Bomber Command/ Strike Command V Bomber Pilot

                Also this book called the Lost Eagle on the TSR2 is very good as well.

                I have two Diecast 1/72 models of both the TSR2 and the CF-105 and this book Avro Arrow put out by The Boston Mills Press http://www.bostonmillpress.com

                Then I also have Tony Butlers books called the British Secret Projects and two are on Rockets Hypersonic and Ramjets and Dan Sharp's Vol 5 of this is the UK Space Program Projects.

                Chris Gibson also has a Series where he breaks down all the various Operational Requirements (OR's) into

                Vulcan's Hammer (Bomber)

                Battle Flight (Fighters and Air Defence)

                Nimrod's Genesis (Maritime Patrol and Weapons)

                On Atlas shoulders (RAF Transport)

                Listening In (RAF Spookies/ Snoopy's aka Electronic Intelligence) and the new out is

                Typhoon to Typhoon (Close Air Support)

                Sir Sid Cam’s last jet fighter is also very interesting the Hawker P1121 which wouldn’t look out of place on a modern flightline in today’s airforce either. It’s remains are held at Canwell Aviation Centre for Aeronautical Research I believe

  23. Eco maori 23
    24 October 2019 at 8:51 am

    Kia Ora 1 News.

    Natural prouds are not extremely hard to extinguish when on ahi.

    I know who I won't tau toko.

    I did not know much
    about India culture.

    I don't think that statement should have been made.

    Its good that some reparation has been given to Parihaka Tangata Whenua of Tarakihi.

    I would like my day in Whare whakawa.

    Ka kite Ano.

  24. Eco maori 24
    24 October 2019 at 11:22 am

    No one is immune from the Greedy chasing putea $$$$$$$$$$$$$ cause all the problems of Te Papatuanuku. We must change the way we live or we are all going to be suffering.

    My rich town was poisoned by a corporation. Even the 1% isn't safe from pollution

    Environmental and political leaders in the US have decided the environment is worth compromising for private profit

    My son took his first breath in a place I never imagined would be potentially harmful for his health: Hinsdale, Illinois.

    Hinsdale is listed in the top 1% of the wealthiest towns in Illinois. It’s filled with multimillion-dollar mansions, Zook architectural masterpieces and upscale shops. But Hinsdale, despite its privileged position in Chicago’s western suburbs, has one unfortunate thing against it: like any other American town, it’s part of a country whose environmental and political leaders have decided that the environment is worth compromising for private profit.

    Somehow, many of the privileged among us, including myself, didn’t think the unfortunate choices of our political leaders could have the power to kill us. They might hurt the poor in Flint, Michigan, the migrant workers in Bakersfield, California, or those who don’t have the means to leave Louisiana’s Cancer Alley. But most of us living in Hinsdale and its neighboring well-to-do towns never considered that our villages could be a Flint or Cancer Alley.

    What is happening in America's Cancertown is tragic, immoral and evil | Rev William Barber

    Read more

    We were naive. Last year we learned that Sterigenics, a global medical sterilization company with a plant in Willowbrook, Illinois, quietly spewed insane amounts of ethylene oxide (EtO), a powerful carcinogen, into our air for 35 years.

    This was wishful thinking. Nothing was done. So enraged residents formed Stop Sterigenics, a group that is now is over 10,000 members strong. We staged protests, packed town hall meetings, signed witness slips and called for Illinois politicians to shut down the company for the sake of public health

    In February, the Illinois environmental protection agency issued a seal order temporarily banning Sterigenics from using EtO, but last month, the agency granted the company a permit to continue to use the chemical. The message to all of us was clear: the rights of Sterigenics to make a profit mattered more to the IEPA than the rights of thousands of people living in its vicinity not to be subjected to cancer-causing air. This really shouldn’t have been surprising to anyone reading the news, where every day there seems to be another disaster related to an environmental policy decision, but, until it happens to you, it is.

    Just as we were preparing to breathe toxic air again, the unthinkable happened: despite being given the green light to continue using EtO (albeit with certain emissions restrictions in place), Sterigenics announced it was leaving Willowbrook. They blamed their lease and the “unpredictable” regulatory landscape rather than the community activism that has fought them relentlessly for 14 months. But the question to the rest of the nation is: where are they going? They emit EtO in eight other locations nationwide, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Air Toxics Assessment has linked EtO to high cancer rates in Smyrna, Georgia, where Sterigenics also has a plant

    But the tough community activism of Stop Sterigenics proves that even in a world where the EPA protects corporations instead of people, people still do have power. Let’s use it to join the attorneys general of Illinois, California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin, who, on 10 October, wrote a letter asking the EPA to update its current emissions standards to protect the nation from the EtO the EPA knows is killing us

    Ka kite Ano link below.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/23/hinsdale-illinois-pollution-sterigenics-epa

    • greywarshark 24.1
      1 November 2019 at 5:40 pm

      ETO Eco Maori, another acronym to add to our list of confusing identification of harmful substances and practices. Glad they are leaving one part of Illinois, but where else are they going to go with their ill-ness producing methods?

  25. Eco maori 25
    24 October 2019 at 4:10 pm

    Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.

    https://youtu.be/gOsM-DYAEhY

  26. Eco maori 26
    24 October 2019 at 7:50 pm

    Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.

    https://youtu.be/SKprXO-f2pM

  27. Eco maori 27
    25 October 2019 at 8:27 am

    Kia Ora Breakfast.

    I think it's good that our government has given farmers 5 years to come up with a plan and show they are lowering their carbon footprint

    . That's good the Australians respecting Te Tangata of Australias views and banning people from climbing their Taonga moanga Uluru

    Te insurance industry in Aotearoa will kick Te little companies to touch. Greed and Prophets.

    Ka kite Ano

  28. Eco maori 28
    25 October 2019 at 10:33 am

    I agree no one would have thought that the intelligence tangata of Te Papatuanuku would strike for our futures Climate 10 years ago or even 3 years ago. Kia Kaha to all the Tangata who are doing the correct thing for our future.

    There are no excuses left': why climate science deniers are running out of rope

    Guardian environment correspondent Fiona Harvey recalls being heckled at the House of Commons and explains how attitudes to climate have shifted in 10 years

    The shouted words rang out across the packed parliamentary corridor: “Fiona Harvey is the worst journalist there is. She’s the worst journalist of them all, because she should know better.”

    They were the words of Lord Lawson, former UK chancellor of the exchequer, turned climate denier and now Brexiter, addressing a crowd of more than 100 people trying to cram into a House of Commons hearing on climate change. As listeners craned their necks to hear better, whispering and nudging, he elaborated at length on my insistence on reporting the work of the 97% of the world’s climate scientists whose work shows human responsibility for global heating, and failure to give equal weight to the tiny number of dissenters

    As the science of climate chaos has become vastly clearer in the past two decades, and the warnings more stark, the rearguard action fought by climate denialists has grown fiercer and their attacks more vicious. Fact-based arguments will never serve their purpose; trolling is the last refuge of the discredited. We can expect much more of the same.

    When I began writing full-time on the environment in 2004, climate change had hit a political impasse. George W Bush was in the White House, the US preoccupied with the war on terror and – as Bush admitted – “addicted to oil”. The 1997 Kyoto protocol was on ice, without the backing of enough countries to bring it into force, and international negotiations on greenhouse gases were stagnating as a result.

    Suddenly, like a glacier destabilising, small cracks turned into crevasses and whole edifices came avalanching down. First Russia played the unlikely hero: by ratifying Kyoto in late 2004 (cynically, in return for a favour at the World Trade Organization) the Duma rescued the treaty from the scrapheap of history. That was enough to galvanise the UN negotiations, loosening entrenched positions and giving the talks a point once more.

    Tony Blair did his bit by making climate change the main theme for the UK’s 2005 presidency of the G8, which forced world leaders to confront the issue. The EU’s emissions trading scheme came into being early that year, marking the first time companies were held responsible financially for their carbon output.

    Ka kite Ano link below.

  30. Eco maori 30
    25 October 2019 at 4:30 pm

    Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.

    https://youtu.be/tgIqecROs5M

  31. Eco maori 31
    25 October 2019 at 6:29 pm

    Kia Ora 1 News.

    What a mess.

    That's is cool a new drinking water quality monitor.

    Tawhirimate is Mana at Uluru.

    The 5 new Islands that the Russian have mapped looks like the wild life have made a whare there.

    Ringer for Mark

    SainBury

    Ka kite Ano.

  32. Eco maori 32
    25 October 2019 at 6:47 pm

    Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.

    Its good that people are being caught a charged for pouching Kai Moana .

    Mike Smith that's the way we need to leave the carbon in Te Papatuanuku.

    Congratulations Hinerangi Goodman on your winning a seat on the Whakatane Council Awsome to see more Wahine and tangata whenua standing for Local government positions.

    Ka kite Ano

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 27

    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 hour ago
  • Ticket To Anywhere

    You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 hours ago
  • Stories of varying weight

    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on anything you may have missed. Share Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 hours ago
  • Balancing External Security and the Economy

    New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    19 hours ago
  • Weekly Climate Wrap: The unravelling of the offsets

    The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    24 hours ago
  • What makes us tick

    This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 day ago
  • Foreshore and seabed 2.0

    In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the Royal Commission report into abuse in care

    Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    1 day ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 26

    TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Weekly Roundup 26-July-2024

    Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 day ago
  • God what a relief

    1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago
  • Trust In Me

    Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • The Hoon around the week to July 26

    TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Care report released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 26

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced $802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Radical law changes needed to build road

    The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #30 2024

    Open access notables Could an extremely cold central European winter such as 1963 happen again despite climate change?, Sippel et al., Weather and Climate Dynamics: Here, we first show based on multiple attribution methods that a winter of similar circulation conditions to 1963 would still lead to an extreme seasonal ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago
  • First they came for the Māori

    Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

    Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Will the real PM Luxon please stand up?

    Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Will debt reduction trump abuse in care redress?

    Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Care report in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Olywhites and Time Bandits

    About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Why were the 1930s so hot in North America?

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters and Bob Henson Those who’ve trawled social media during heat waves have likely encountered a tidbit frequently used to brush aside human-caused climate change: Many U.S. states and cities had their single hottest temperature on record during the 1930s, setting incredible heat marks ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago
  • Throwback Thursday – Thinking about Expressways

    Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • The Possum: Demon or Friend?

    Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago
  • Not a story

    Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry published its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • A tougher line on “proactive release”?

    The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • 'Let's build a motorway costing $100 million per km, before emissions costs'

    TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Lester's Prescription – Positive Bleeding.

    I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Casey Costello gaslights Labour in the House

    Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone icon on the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    3 days ago
  • Why is the Texas grid in such bad shape?

    This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Headline from 2021 The Texas grid, run by ERCOT, has had a rough few years. In 2021, winter storm Uri blacked out much of the state for several days. About a week ago, Hurricane Beryl knocked out ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on a textbook case of spending waste by the Luxon government

    Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • LXR Takaanini

    As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    3 days ago
  • Four kilograms of pain

    Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Luxon gets caught out

    NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • A worrying sign

    Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Are we fine with 47.9% home-ownership by 2048?

    Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloitte report for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Let's Win This

    You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Waimahara: The Singing Spirit of Water

    There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
    Greater AucklandBy Connor Sharp
    4 days ago
  • A major milestone: Global climate pollution may have just peaked

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’s Oliver LewisScoop: Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announced the Board of Te Whatu Ora- Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • HealthNZ and Luxon at cross purposes over budget blowout

    Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • 2500-3000 more healthcare staff expected to be fired, as Shane Reti blames Labour for a budget defic...

    Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    4 days ago
  • Might Kamala Harris be about to get a 'stardust' moment like Jacinda Ardern?

    As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
    PunditBy Tim Watkin
    5 days ago
  • Solutions Interview: Steven Hail on MMT & ecological economics

    TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
    The KakaBy Steven Hail
    5 days ago
  • Reported back

    The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Vandrad the Viking, Christopher Coombes, and Literary Archaeology

    Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Biden Withdrawal

    History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    5 days ago
  • Joe Biden's withdrawal puts the spotlight back on Kamala and the USA's complicated relatio...

    This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    5 days ago
  • Why we have to challenge our national fiscal assumptions

    A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Existential Crisis and Damaged Brains

    What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • A speed limit is not a target, and yet…

    This is a guest post from longtime supporter Mr Plod, whose previous contributions include a proposal that Hamilton become New Zealand’s capital city, and that we should switch which side of the road we drive on. A recent Newsroom article, “Back to school for the Govt’s new speed limit policy“, ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #29

    A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago
  • I'd like to share what I did this weekend

    This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • For the children – Why mere sentiment can be a misleading force in our lives, and lead to unex...

    National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Order image, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • A friend in uncertain times

    Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • The Chaotic World of Male Diet Influencers

    Hi,We’ll get to the horrific world of male diet influencers (AKA Beefy Boys) shortly, but first you will be glad to know that since I sent out the Webworm explaining why the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was not a false flag operation, I’ve heard from a load of people ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • It's Starting To Look A Lot Like… Y2K

    Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 20

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Pharmac Director, Climate Change Commissioner, Health NZ Directors – The latest to quit this m...

    Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • Flooding Housing Policy

    The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • A Voyage Among the Vandals: Accepted (Again!)

    As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā's Chorus for Friday, July 19

    An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Roundup 19-July-2024

    Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Climate Wrap: A market-led plan for failure

    TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Tobacco First

    Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Trump’s Adopted Son.

    Waiting In The Wings: For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSA announced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • Joint statement from the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand

    Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue.  We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    18 hours ago
  • AG reminds institutions of legal obligations

    Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • More young people learning about digital safety

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views.  “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Speech to the Conference for General Practice 2024

    Tēnā tātou katoa,  Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    24 hours ago
  • Employers and payroll providers ready for tax changes

    New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts.  “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Experimental vineyard futureproofs wine industry

    An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Funding confirmed for regions affected by North Island Weather Events

    The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit

    Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.   “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Strengthening partnership with Ngāti Maniapoto

    He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Transport Minister thanks outgoing CAA Chair

    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Test for Customary Marine Title being restored

    The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says.  “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Opposition united in bad faith over ECE sector review

    Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet.  “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Kiwis having their say on first regulatory review

    After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks.  “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government upgrading Lower North Island commuter rail

    The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government moves to ensure flood protection for Wairoa

    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • PM speech to Parliament – Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Report into Abuse in Care

    Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.  At the heart of this report are the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges torture at Lake Alice

    For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges courageous abuse survivors

    The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Half a million people use tax calculator

    With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis.  “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Paid Parental Leave improvements pass first reading

    Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Rebuilding the economy through better regulation

    Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • ‘Open banking’ and ‘open electricity’ on the way

    New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Charity lotteries to be permitted to operate online

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Accelerating Northland Expressway

    The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Sir Don to travel to Viet Nam as special envoy

    Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.    “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Grant Illingworth KC appointed as transitional Commissioner to Royal Commission

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024.  “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • NZ to advance relationships with ASEAN partners

    Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane.    “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says.   “This will be our third visit to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Backing mental health services on the West Coast

    Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • NZ support for sustainable Pacific fisheries

    New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Students’ needs at centre of new charter school adjustments

    Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Commissioner replaces Health NZ Board

    In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today.  “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister to speak at Australian Space Forum

    Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum.  While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation.  “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Climate Change Minister to attend climate action meeting in China

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan.  “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Oceans and Fisheries Minister to Solomons

    Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Government launches Military Style Academy Pilot

    The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Nine priority bridge replacements to get underway

    The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Update on global IT outage

    Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • New Zealand, Japan renew Pacific partnership

    New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.    “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says.    “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • New infrastructure energises BOP forestry towns

    New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • 'Pacific Futures'

    President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests.    Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone.    Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-07-27T01:40:40+00:00