Yes about time the opposition warned the buyers as to expectations and buy back at their purchase price, our state housing stock is far too low for a developed nation for this transfer to occur.
The creep of councils flogging public housing is off the radar on this issue.
Labour and every other left party needs to come out and say that they will be rebuilding social housing stock levels. They also need to put in place a law that prevents sales of state assets.
They need to make it clear to the National Party’s owners that Parliament will not be bound by bribes, and that every single time they buy legislation that socialises losses or privatises profits they will lose their shirts.
Assets will be repatriated and there will be no compensation.
There is no alternative.
Then this group report says it takes a pro-market rather than a free-market tack! And refers to the Rachman scandal (1960’s) which will be important to note when thinking about the downward path that the present UNACT NZ government is following. http://www.smf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Publication-The-Politics-of-Housing.pdfThe affordability problem dominates England’s housing market: an … total annual completions since the 1970s, and the private sector alone has not built this level …. provided by housing associations which are heavily dependent on benefit ….. exploitation of unscrupulous landlords – epitomised by the Rachman scandal.37.
Very disappointed Phil Twyford as Labours Transport spokesperson was missing in action. You would think Labour (Phil) would back up Peters who is championing this issue, a lost opportunity to get some runs on the board over the importance of stopping further RMA changes by National.
Yes as was wannabe Mayor Phil Goff, however Twyford is transport is he not. The Northland Line and the rail link to Marsden Point is something Labour need to keep the acid right on National, rail does not fit where their roading plans and they are quietly under funding rail to the point where they can close the line.
The other thing is creating a bit of solidarity with NZF/Peters who is doing all the heavry lifting on the issue. Therefore a bit of action from Twyford is not too much
too ask surely.
I think you’re putting the cart before the horse Skinny. It seems to me Sunday’s protest was less about politics and all about a gut reaction from Aucklanders to what they see as a threat to their harbour. For Labour to have rolled out Twyford with a baldfaced political attack on the government and their transport policies would have been a mistake. It’s enough at the moment for Labour to be lining up alongside the views of Aucklanders (National will be trying to do this too of course). The politics can come later.
Aucklanders fighting the council over the loss of their harbour is 100% political. It is a perfect opportunity for Twyford to mention Marsden Point and rail as a solution to the problem. To not do so is dereliction of duty.
Is it churlish to suspect that this harbour protest will get an excellent level of media coverage, on the score that $40,000,000 worth of motor/sail vessels turned out……and yeah, quite alot of people ?
For the avoidance of doubt I am with the people and I thank the vessels.
Mike the Peg, with his extra leg … a Northland children’s delight. I think Osborne is lying anyway. Standing behind NAct ministers doesn’t wear the shoe leather much at all.
The claim from Osborne that he has worn out one and a half pairs of shoes is a preposterous claim.
Those roads of Northland must really be atrocious!
His candidacy was announced on 1st March. So, in about 20 days, he has worn out 1.5 pairs. i.e, 3 shoes! At this unbelievable rate, by election day this coming Saturday, he would have worn out about 2.5 pairs=5 shoes!…in just 30 days! The shoe companies would be thrilled and won’t believe their luck!
But somehow I think Osborne has been a bullshitter about the shoes and quite untrustworthy.
Having a rather weird sense of humour, I have been wondering why he only seems to have two casual shirts – both blue checks although slightly different.
Osborne’s political hero – JOHN KEY ! That’s right……Mr “Anything Is Possible” according to Osborne.
Osborne a sincere, fearless representative of the people of Northland ? Up against the dons Key and Joyce ? No. This is not an “anything”. Can you see Steven Joyce if Osborne wins ? – “Listen boy…….we turned you from Mr Laughing-Stock to Mr Limp-In so get outa my office. And in future……breath through your nose !”
Good God. Northlanders roped into “ShonKey Python’s Flying-Jerk-Us”. Expect a breach of copyright claim additional to Eminem’s.
…and further notes on the tabloid Herald’s bias, the collapse of the government’s social housing policy is (online) listed below articles on Netflix’s charges, McCaw’s girlfriend and a bloke hassling drivers outside a school.
Winston just has to win — apart from obvious reason, but how unbearable will be the increased boasting and OTT arrogance of Key and Joyce in self congratulation … ugh.
The really funny thing to happen would be if Peters were to win the seat in the by-election.
He then resigns his list seat to get another NZF MP into the house.
There is an electoral petition which Winston loses.
He is out of the house until at least 2017.
And no, it wouldn’t help to have another NZF MP being coerced into resigning to open up another vacancy. Winston would not be eligible to take it.
Actually, I think that if Winston was to win in the by-election, and I don’t think it will happen, he won’t resign his list seat. He wouldn’t even consider allowing the above scenario to occur. He doesn’t really give a damn about his party or about Parliament. His sole interest is Winston the 1st.
I think you misunderstand the process.
A recount, if called for, takes place before the final result is declared. This would be the confirmed result. It appears that Winston would have to have resigned his list seat prior to this happening if he was going to be replaced on the list.
An electoral petition is a later thing and normally takes place after the new MP has taken their seat in Parliament. This is what happened when Winston got into Parliament way back in the dark ages. He came out on the right side of an electoral petition against Malcolm Douglas who had won the seat.
So no, although it is not very likely it could happen if Winston hopes to be replaced by another NZF list MP.
Hate to say it, but to a degree Alwyn is possibly correct – but the scenario he paints is highly unlikely but not impossible.
The situation re resignation etc to get in another NZF member is apparently not set in stone in the electoral rules. The Electoral Commission have a view as to what the procedures should be; as do other electoral law experts such as Graeme Edgeler. Don’t have time to find links, but there was considerable Twitter discussion (Edgeler and others) a few weeks ago when Winston Peters first declared he would run in Northland.
National have been pushing the line a win for Winston would benefit Southland with another seat as the next person on the NZF is an Invercargill hairdresser, Ria Bond.
But according to the Herald article by Claire Trevett on Saturday, Ria Bond is no longer living in Invercargill but has bee in Wellington working for NZF since August 2014.
Thank you.
You’ll note that I never said it was likely. I only said it would be funny if it should happen.
I’m sure that Winston would find it equally hilarious.
ScottGN, a little bit further down. quotes an opinion from Pundit about ACT possibly taking up an Electoral Petition on the grounds that Winston winning would disturb the proportionality of the house. Like Pundit, I don’t think he has any grounds at all.
Somebody living in the electorate, or a losing candidate in the by-election could however bring one on the grounds, (and this is hypothetical), that Winston had spent more than he is legally allowed to on his campaign, or something of that ilk.
Hilarious would be if Osborne won and had to resign to deal with the same type of family problems as Sabin. A vote for Winnie is a vote for a guy with no secrets, we know he’ll stay on.
But according to the Herald article by Claire Trevett on Saturday, Ria Bond is no longer living in Invercargill but has bee in Wellington working for NZF since August 2014.
And the National Party would know that very well as their staffers would see Ria frequently…
Exactly! The Parliamentary Precinct is a rather small place in reality, where people working there or visiting frequently (eg government officials) know one another and who they are.
Jon Reeves is the most likely person the come through on the NZF list. Very solid chap promoting public transport, be good to add the term silver/green voter.
Reeves may be a solid chap etc, but he is at No 15 on the NZF list.
Ria Bond is at No12, and even if she decided not to come in as a list MP, there is Mataroa Paroro at No 13 (who seems keen according to the Herald article) and Romuald Rudzki at No 14, before Reeves.
Reeves has been very good with NZF’s transport policy. He may leap frog the others since Peters is advocating a port & rail strategy in Northland. He goes alright with media and public speaking too. I maybe a little bias he is a mate.
The rules relating to the filling of a list MP position do not allow leap-frogging – in principle anyway.
The party concerned does not get to pick and choose who they put in the position. The Electoral Commission goes to each person on that Party’s list as set prior to the last General Election in the sequence set in the list and asks them if they want to take up the vacancy. As I noted, there are three people ahead of Reeves – one of whom has apparently expressed interest according to the Herald article.
I can’t see much boasting in the event National holds on to what was a very safe seat with a narrow win. I imagine they’ll just be relieved to have avoided disaster and will be happy to move forward with their numbers restored in the parliament.
Yeah……I’m taking the precaution of travelling to Auckland Friday afternoon……having early voted for the only man in New Zealand right now who can prick the fetid-air balloon of the supreme heister of this entire nation, bar none. Whatever the outcome I need to be in the company of my closest.
If Peters wins it is decidedly the start of the end of TheGodKey. Even if not…..still it is underway. Increasingly we have an entilted little PonceKey in our faces. It will not go beyond 2017. Indeed my appreciation is that significantly before 2017, seeing the writing on the wall, and rather than take electoral defeat, this gutless, narcissistic one will take his baubles, his honorofic, unblind his trusts, and slide off somewhere else.
Wasn’t there some “New Zealander” of some importance (apparently) meant to be having their name suppression lifted around about now, and aren’t the eyes of speculation glancing in the direction of a certain former……………..
If it is to do with Mike Sabin and it all comes out after the by-election instead of before then it will go down very very badly with the electorate…..
…. simply reinforces the lack of honesty and integrity associated with John Key
BG – I am going to be a pedant and say that :having had a request for name suppression refused” does not seem to be the actual situation from the little we know.
Name suppression appears to have been in place prior to 30 January, when a total suppression order was put on by the judge on all details of the case – including the actual location of the court! Then in mid-February some details of the case were released; and the defendant was given four weeks to appeal a lifting of name suppression on 19 March.
As I understand it, this procedure is not the same legally as having had a request for name suppression refused.
I find it hard to imagine that the thing in question would not have asked for a continuation of suppression in February. If they hadn’t, it would have just lapsed and we would have seen it all over the tv. Hence a request was refused, but time was given to appeal the decision. This time has been abused as badly as the innocent children involved.
I don’t necessarily disagree, MR. But we do not know whether that was the case/ But being a pendant, I could not allow a bald statement that name suppression had been refused to go – when we do not know that that was actually the case.
I actually think that the procedures followed by the judge/court which are apparently in accordance with the law is actually in the best interests of justice in the longer term – by not allowing this to be used as a technicality to close the case down.
The by election is therefore a fraud, details surrounding the reasons why it is being called should be made public. Non disclosure has corrupted democracy, I have no doubts that people who have or are going to vote in the Northland electorate will not have/will vote/d for National.
Not when we are hearing of people already casting a vote for Osbourne and then hearing the reason Sabin resigned and the fact Osbourne was a key member of the National Northland electorate executive team. Tarred by association as they say. I am referring to some elderly church folk. People have the right to know the truth surrounding the murky resignation and cast their vote making an informed decision, especially when the timeline of who knew what is being disputed so widely in the media and so publicly.
Another thing insulting is Osbourne claiming he still knows nothing, which then becomes a matter of trust. If he came out and admitted he has heard the rumour’s but doesn’t operate on rumours, instead of blatantly saying ” he still doesn’t know anything regarding Sabin’s resignation”.
So this guy professes to have his finger on the pulse of Northland and is totally blind to what is going on right under his nose. Incredibly insulting to the electorate there are no other words for it.
Yeah – Skinny is right, James. And if the Nats don’t win, then Shon Key’s stuff-up in not replacing Sabin with a proper candidate in the 2014 election will be humiliating for them. Maybe a Winston win will be the end of the Key government ? ? ? hopefully ……
There was no court order in place either before the last election, or even maybe the 2011 election, or on the morning when Sabin resigned. Key has had plenty of chances to be honest with us. He has never taken a single one.
“Another thing insulting is Osbourne claiming he still knows nothing, which then becomes a matter of trust”
Both Key and Osborne have claimed that they knew nothing about Sabin’s stuff at all!
If you believe that, I think there are lots and lots of three way bridges in Northland which this government is happily giving away for voters to take away on Trade-me with absolutely No Reserve!
A couple of weeks ago I linked to a news article which described how the death rate for white women in the USA was exploding because of the use of prescribed pharmaceutical drugs. We are talking around a million excess White female deaths in the last few years and climbing. Such an upward shift in mortality is seen by experts as “historic.”
Now here is research which shows that White lower educated women in the USA are experiencing a massive explosion in out of wedlock births. (While Black university educated womens’ out of wedlock birth figures fall dramatically). In other words, while upper class women enjoy traditional family structures more than ever, lower class women are getting smashed with increased family instability and poorer outcomes.
Among the educated elite the traditional family is thriving: fewer than 10% of births to female college graduates are outside marriage—a figure that is barely higher than it was in 1970…However the non-marital birth proportion among high-school-educated whites has quadrupled, to 50%, and the same figure for college-educated blacks has fallen by a third, to 25%. Thus the class divide is growing even as the racial gap is shrinking.
Apparently there was such a thing as the “First Seige” of Sevastapol and over a 120,000 Russians died there defending Crimea from the West and Turkey. I’d only known about the “Second Siege” where the defenders of Sevastapol were eventually ground into dust by the Wehrmacht.
There was a whole war going on at the time. If you’ve ever heard references to Florence Nightingale, or the Charge of the Light Brigade – “Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die: Into the valley of Death, Rode the six hundred” – they’re references to that war.
There have probably been more than two over the years, but the other famous one was of course during the Crimean War, which gave us poetry about senseless death, a lady with a lamp, cardigans, and maybe even sandwiches. The senseless death of British cavalrymen was blamed on inferior Turkish infantry rather than English upper class imbecility and the Victoria Cross came into being for excessive zeal in the killing of wogs. Willie Apiata got one for the same thing not long ago and the English lies about Turkish infantry saw our young men die stupidly on the cliffs of Gallipoli. Key will be going this year to show he has guts. It was not gutlessness that made him keep Sabin on, not at all.
Yemen falls into sectarian chaos as yet another US project loses the plot in the ME
The Americans have been conducting regular drone strilkes in Yemen since 2002 in support of the US friendly government there.
Since the fall of that government, hundreds of millions of dollars of modern American made military equipment has now gone to new unapproved owners. ISIS and Al Qaeda recruitment is surging.
US diplomats and US troops have abandoned Yemen as the security situation has gone down the toilet over the last couple of years.
Another great Middle East project “Made in the USA.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20171978
Beverley Forrester – Vocal champion of Wool ( 30′ 41″ )
10:06 Beverley Forrester is a farmer, sheep breeder, fashion designer, yarn manufacturer, tourism operator and a vocal champion of wool. She says a generation of consumers have been bombarded with cheap, mass produced, synthetic alternatives, but she believes there’s a resurgence in demand for the living fibre, and for knitting, which she describes as “the new yoga”. After the sudden death of her farmer husband Jim Forrester just before his 54th birthday, Beverley found herself running their Hurunui farm and sheep stud. She’s developed a successful brand of natural coloured, undyed yarns, which are now sold internationally, as well as her own fashion label. Beverley Forrester talks with Kathryn Ryan about her love of what she believes is New Zealand’s best primary product.
Wools one of the best products in the world: renewable , fire proof , biodegadible any self respecting greeny wouldn’t be caught dead in poly prop clothing or on a synthetic carpet.!!
hi b waghorn, i couldnt agree more, i have been a vocal enthusiast (?) for wool for many a year.
go to the local saleyards in feilding and you would be lucky to get 10% of sheep farmers wearing their own product. most of them are wandering round in recycled milk bottles.
makes me blood boil.
I have noticed that plenty myself. I think the problems is lack of r’n d around making wool products that can compete with plastic clothes . but our government s aren’t big on backing there own.
mmm.. yes, and primary producers not putting their money where their mouth is.
i read on stephanies blog (boots theory) about the rich man who bought expensive shoes while the poorer man bought cheap shoes.
in the lifetime of the better quality footwear the poor man had spent twice as much on his shoes.
while r n d is part of it, the whole economy around wool is screwed up. when it costs the farmer more to remove the wool from the sheep than what the wool is worth, something is rotten.
i was talking to a farmer who says back in the ’50s he was getting a pound for a pound of wool.
The Korean war caused the great wool boom in 1950-51.
And most farmers will tell you there’s no money in wool but the wool clip on the property I work on pays our fertilizer bill which is in the 150k range.
to me wool is a panacea for our times, it grows on less than ideal land, labour intensive to harvest and process (jobs), and as you have mentioned earlier, heaps of uses, clothing, insulation, mulch/fertilizer…
the foxton feltex factory is closed. with a simple stroke of a legislators pen, making wool carpets mandatory in state housing and government offices, it can be reopend and we reinvest in a kiwi town and kiwi resources, win win.
A majority of Auckland councillors are now opposed or want a rethink on port expansion.
The majority was achieved this afternoon when councillor Denise Krum joined councillors Cameron Brewer and Sharon Stewart in calling for the issue to be re-examined.
Auckland’s mayor, Len Brown, who does not want to stop Ports of Auckland plans to build two massive wharf extensions next month, is now in the minority.
………………………………..
A core of eight councillors – Chris Darby, Cathy Casey, Ross Clow, Chris Fletcher, Mike Lee, Wayne Walker, John Walker and George Wood – directly oppose the port expansion into the Waitemata Harbour.
Mr Brown has ignored the message from yesterday’s protest of about 2000 people and 300 boats in the city who want an immediate stop to the extensions to Bledisloe Wharf.
However, he said today he would set up a study of the economic, social and environmental impact of the port on wider Auckland, which he promised in August 2013.
Ms Krum said she was unclear about the council’s position on the wharf extensions and whether legally the council can get back into the trenches on planning provisions for the port precinct in the Unitary Plan.
She said things had changed over the past three weeks and the council would be negligent to bury its head in the sand.
“We need some leadership with this issue. There is no singular leadership driven, ‘let’s take councillors on a journey here’. Let’s have all the information,” she said.
“I’m also really quite miffed. I have heard nothing from the ports themselves. As someone who wants to back their business because I see the contribution they need to make to Auckland. As a shareholder, where are they in this foray?”
The Ports of Auckland board is meeting today but it is unclear if the the board, chaired by Graeme Hawkins, will make a public statement in response to the public outcry over the plans.
Mr Brewer has today written to Mr Brown asking him to convene a meeting of the governing body to reconsider the council’s position on reclamation rules in the Unitary Plan for mediation.
In August 2013, the council voted for tough “non-complying” rules for reclamation in the Unitary Plan, but twice in the past five weeks it has voted to ease these rules to “discretionary” status requiring public notification.
The council has argued it has not voted for more lenient rules on reclamation, saying the new “discretionary” status and other regulations are tougher than the current rules in the regional coastal plan.
“I have yet to change my vote,” Mr Brewer says in the letter. “But like others, I am calling for these matters to be formally revisited by the governing body in a calm and collected way with all the information new and old presented without fear of favour.
“Given the significant level of public interest, we at least owe that to Aucklanders.”
Earlier today, Mr Brewer reversed his support for the expansion, saying he now wanted a rethink on the issue.
“I invite the mayor to bring this back to the council table and give this another go,” he told the Herald.
The Orakei councillor took part in a secret vote last month on the side of Mr Brown and his deputy Penny Hulse to ease the August 2013 rules for port expansion.
“I thought I was doing the right thing by supporting tightening the old reclamation rules that were in existence from 1987 to 2013, but it’s clear that’s still not going far enough to appease the Auckland community.
“If Aucklanders want no reclamation whatsoever, then lets at least have the debate again with the public sentiment now clearly known.
“It is massive public sentiment. Len Brown needs to look it again,” Mr Brewer said.
______________________________________________________________________________________
The actual article in the Herald had an invite to email them your views on the subject. I sent the following :-
I am totally opposed to any extensions until a full and independent assessment is completed with full and open discussion.
The arrogant attitude by those involved directly in the Ports of Auckland has happened because of the way the governance of this vital infrastructure was set up by the Key Government through their delegated front man , Rodney Hide, who threw out a carefully considered scheme for Auckland City prepared over several years by three knowledgable and experienced Commissioners and replaced it with his hastily prepared alternative devised in about 6 months.
Largely ignored by the citizens of Auckland was the dispute between Ports Of Auckland (POA) and the Maritime Union which has recently been settled after several years of negotiation. The Mayor & the Council that is the elected Councillors refused to get involved in that problem because they were effectively 3 times removed from the POA because of the way that the lines of authority had been set up when the Auckland City plan was devised..
The Mayor of Auckland and the Auckland City Councillors were Democratically elected by the citizens of Auckland to manage the affairs of the City, all the other people in the chains of command of POA including the CEO of POA ( and there are quite a few) are appointed, not elected.
The elected representatives of the citizens of Auckland need to manage this matter effectively NOW or resign and let us elect some new faces who are prepared to sort out this problem.
In the meantime there needs to be an embargo on any expansion whatsoever in my opinion
Well said, John Shears. Hope it gets read, and considered.
And the really stupid part about all of this is that Whangarei – Marsden Point – has the best deep water harbour in NZ, is little used, because both Auckland and Tauranga Ports have not only competing interests in Marsden Port, but their own interests which keeps their ports operating and Marsden lingering at the edges …….. Auckland Port needs to revise their thinking, and make use of Marsden for the bigger vessels coming – instead of trying to squeeze them into what has become a relatively narrow Waitemata harbour and Hauraki Gulf.
Press Release Sue Henry Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby:
“Stop the privatisation of State Housing!”
“The wheels are finally falling off the Government’s scheme to use charity and Iwi groups as a trojan horse to privatise the $18 billion worth of State Housing assets,” says Sue Henry, Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby:
“If it was ‘untenable’ for the Salvation Army to use existing State Housing stock for the failed ‘social housing’ experiment, other NGOs and consortiums will never have the capacity as providers, unless they are bankrolled by foreign property development companies, for speculative gain, which still equates to privatisation.”
“The public were told prior to the 2014 election there would be no further asset sales.”
“There is no electoral mandate for the privatisation of State Housing.”
“The Housing Lobby are calling on the Government to scrap the charity housing model and repeal the 2013 Social Housing, Housing Restructuring and Tenancy Matters Act.”
“Housing New Zealand must be reinstated as the ‘one stop shop’ State Housing provider, under the ‘public service’ model,” Sue Henry concluded.
The war on workers continues – an Aussie compnay in auckland wants to remove tea breaks from an industrial site. This is why we need tea breaks abd corporate homicide charges. Forklifts and fatigue don’t mix in a happy way.
“The Prime Minister reassured New Zealanders that ‘post the passing of this law, will you all of a sudden find thousands of workers who are denied having a tea break? The answer is absolutely not’. We now know the Prime Minister’s assurance was misleading,” Mr Reid said today.
Of course, Key and National knew that this would happen. It’s why they changed the law.
hi draco, hate to do this but i have to point out our dear leader was right.
the laws was passed (like a bowel motion) in october, its now march, so that is not sudden.
also this effects dozens not thousands of workers.
all good on planet key. carry on.
Legal action “not taken lightly” indeed ! Well no, but of course the daddies had the 8-10 grand it would have cost. The considerations were constitutional and justice based were they ? Nothing to do with their wedged-up daddies’ determination to pass on down to their offspring the privilege they themselves enjoy. Nah, course not !
If they were a couple of little Maori boys in Kaikohe, one’d be appearing in the Youth Court, one’d be in the District Court……and the 17 year old particularly would be on bail terms so oppressive that he’d be bound to breach……and then who knows ? Night in the cells in Whangarei before he’s ‘let off’ with a formally recorded bail warning ? Another meaningless breach. Oh God, not custody……then on down to UK investor owned/profiting, Serco/Mt Eden/”The Jungle”.
In our justice system you’re sweet if you’re white with a wedged up daddy. I know that to be a freakish and disgusting truth. During 40 years with the opportunity to observe it I’ve seen it countless times. It’s this; the actors in the justice system ‘sign-up’, not consciously or wittingly, but it’s ‘sign-up’ nevertheless.
Just when you think New Zealand has a monopoly on greedy/ignorant/criminally insane politicians, get a load of Mike Baird…
It starts off rather light-hearted, but gets grimmer and grimmer as it goes along. Anyone who cares at all about the environment will be vomiting blood by the end.
Of course this was always going to happen. Greed, like rust, never sleeps. The wicked thing is that its promoters don’t even see it is as greed, it is no-brainer rationality. Of course one will operate one’s undertaking to the outer edge of what is lawful. Why would one not ? And under ThePonceKey greed is increasingly encouraged never to sleep. Apologies for any mixed metaphors there. Like ThePonceKey ‘m not verrr lit-rit, ecksshilly !
It looks as though we are getting closer and closer to a situation where the victims must take a serious stand. Strikes, pickets, appealing to the souls of would-be-scabs, defiance of legal process proscribing the standing up for essential rights……a network of moral and financial support for those on PlanetPonceKey with the ‘temerity’ to say “No – Enough !” Hit them in the very place from which prances forth the lusty greed…….the pocket. Hopefully that will have them (an unintended consequence of course) the financial pariahs they are in moral terms.
The more the people do nothing the harder they’ll go. There are no moral questions come into play with these people. Greed (sorry, ‘maximisation of profit”) just never sleeps !
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This discussion is from a Twitter thread by Martin Kulldorff on 20 December 2020. He is a Professor at Harvard Medical School specialising in disease surveillance methods, infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety. His Twitter handle is @MartinKulldorff #1 Public health is about all health outcomes, not just a single ...
The Treasury forecasts suggest the economy is doing better than expected after the Covid Shock. John Kenneth Galbraith was wont to say that economic forecasting was designed to make astrology look good. Unfair, but it raises the question of the purpose of economic forecasts. Certainly the public may treat them ...
Q: Will the COVID-19 vaccines prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and bring about community immunity (aka herd immunity)? A: Jury not in yet but vaccines do not have to be perfect to thwart the spread of infection. While vaccines induce protection against illness, they do not always stop actual ...
Joe Biden seems to be everything that Donald Trump was not – decent, straightforward, considerate of others, mindful of his responsibilities – but none of that means that he has an easy path ahead of him. The pandemic still rages, American standing in the world is grievously low, and the ...
Keana VirmaniFrom healthcare robots to data privacy, to sea level rise and Antarctica under the ice: in the four years since its establishment, the Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund has supported over 30 projects.Rebecca Priestley, receiving the PM Science Communication Prize (Photo by Mark Tantrum) Associate Professor ...
Nothing more from me today - I'm off to Wellington, to participate in the city's annual roleplaying convention (which has also eaten my time for the whole week, limiting blogging despite there being interesting things happening). Normal bloggage will resume Tuesday. ...
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weaponscame into force today, making the development, possession, use or threat of use of nuclear weapons illegal in international law. Every nuclear-armed state is now a criminal regime. The corporations and scientists who design, build and maintain their illegal weapons are now ...
"Come The Revolution!" The key objective of Bernard Hickey’s revolutionary solution to the housing crisis is a 50 percent reduction in the price of the average family home. This will be achieved by the introduction of Capital Gains, Land, and Wealth taxes, and by the opening up of currently RMA-protected ...
by Daphna Whitmore Twitter and Facebook shutting down Trump’s accounts after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill is old news now but the debates continue over whether the actions against Trump are a good thing or not. Those in favour of banning Trump say Twitter and Facebook are private companies and ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Democrats now control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade, albeit with razor thin Congressional majorities. The last time, in the 111th Congress (2009-2011), House Democrats passed a carbon cap and trade bill, but it died ...
Session thirty-three was highly abbreviated, via having to move house in a short space of time. Oh well. The party decided to ignore the tree-monster and continue the attack on the Giant Troll. Tarsin – flying on a giant summoned bat – dumped some high-grade oil over the ...
Last night I stayed up till 3am just to see then-President Donald Trump leave the White House, get on a plane, and fly off to Florida, hopefully never to return. And when I woke up this morning, America was different. Not perfect, because it never was. Probably not even good, ...
Watching today’s inauguration of Joe Biden as the United States’ 46th president, there’s not a lot in common with the inauguration of Donald Trump just four destructive years ago. Where Trump warned of carnage, Biden dared to hope for unity and decency. But the one place they converge is that ...
Dan FalkBritons who switched on their TVs to “Good Morning Britain” on the morning of Sept. 15, 2020, were greeted by news not from our own troubled world, but from neighboring Venus. Piers Morgan, one of the hosts, was talking about a major science story that had surfaced the ...
Sara LutermanGrowing up autistic in a non-autistic world can be very isolating. We are often strange and out of sync with peers, despite our best efforts. Autistic adults have, until very recently, been largely absent from media and the public sphere. Finding role models is difficult. Finding useful advice ...
Doug JohnsonThe alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden to see one of their corpse flowers bloom. More than ...
Getting to Browser Tab Zero so I can reboot the computer is awfully hard when the one open tab is a Table of Contents for the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and every issue has more stuff I want to read. A few highlights: Gugler et al demonstrating ...
Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts AmherstTo mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors – many ...
Israel chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...
Orla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Nathaniel ScharpingIn March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply — the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today announced three diplomatic appointments: Alana Hudson as Ambassador to Poland John Riley as Consul-General to Hong Kong Stephen Wong as Consul-General to Shanghai Poland “New Zealand’s relationship with Poland is built on enduring personal, economic and historical connections. Poland is also an important ...
Work begins today at Wainuiomata High School to ensure buildings and teaching spaces are fit for purpose, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Minister joined principal Janette Melrose and board chair Lynda Koia to kick off demolition for the project, which is worth close to $40 million, as the site ...
A skilled and experienced group of people have been named as the newly established Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board by Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis today. The Board will provide independent advice and assurance to the Minister for Children across three key areas of Oranga Tamariki: relationships with families, whānau, and ...
The green light for New Zealand’s first COVID-19 vaccine could be granted in just over a week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. “We’re making swift progress towards vaccinating New Zealanders against the virus, but we’re also absolutely committed to ensuring the vaccines are safe and effective,” Jacinda Ardern said. ...
The Minister for ACC is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members to join the Board of ACC on 1 February 2021. “All three bring diverse skills and experience to provide strong governance oversight to lead the direction of ACC” said Hon Carmel Sepuloni. Bella Takiari-Brame from Hamilton ...
The Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced. The grant for Waihōpai Rūnaka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
He has the perfect moustache, an exceptional mullet, and he uses terms like ‘face hole’ on national TV. Who or what is Dr Joel Rindelaub?I was drawn in by the moustache, but it was the mullet that really kept me there. Watching TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning I was fixated. Often, ...
After a raft of inquiries delving into and recommending what should be done about the politically beleaguered Orangi Tamaraki, along with the briefing papers we suppose he has been given, we imagined Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis would have no more need for expert advice. Wrong. He has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University There’s a common assumption men take longer than women to poo. People say so on Twitter, in memes, and elsewhereonline. But is that right? What could explain it? And if ...
Just as sexuality is a spectrum, so too is asexuality. In Ace of Hearts, members of New Zealand’s asexual community talk about the challenges and misconceptions of identifying as ace.First published November 17, 2020.Ace of Hearts is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff.“A ...
Sam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time.My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda. “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian ...
“The Government’s failure to even conduct a standard cost-benefit analysis for the most expensive infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history is mind-bogglingly arrogant,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “A ...
The Ministry of Health is today drawing backlash from the local New Zealand vaping industry following its release of proposed regulations for the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. Vaping Trade Association New Zealand (VTANZ) President, ...
Sophie Gilmour and Simon Day are joined by special guest Hugo Baird, co-owner of Grey Lynn’s Honey Bones and Lilian, to talk about opening new pub Hotel Ponsonby.Auckland is a city of many bars but few really good pubs – the kind of places you’d be just as comfortable going ...
The appointment of an advisory board for Oranga Tamariki is welcome and should be a step toward a total transformation of the care and protection system to a by Māori, for Māori approach, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said today. Minister ...
Taking control of your financial wellbeing can have cascading positive impacts for your life and it can also be fun. With the help of the team at Kiwi Wealth, we’ve compiled some simple tricks for balancing your books in 2021. There’s something about the beginning of a new year, especially after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology As we know, getting into New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult. There are practicalities, such as high airfare and managed isolation costs. And there are legal requirements, including pre-flight testing, mandatory ...
New Zealand faces the risk of a generation being locked out of the housing market unless land is freed up and more houses built, National Party leader Judith Collins says. ...
On Sunday, Stuff published a months-long investigation by Alison Mau detailing allegations of harassment and exploitation within the local music industry.The piece, ‘Music industry professionals demand change after speaking out about its dark side’, includes allegations of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power by male artists, international acts and executives; ...
“The Government is all at sea on timelines for Australia and New Zealand’s respective vaccine roll-outs, with the worst news coming from the mouth of Pfizer Australia CEO Anne Harris,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Yesterday, under increasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised the US would demonstrate “global leadership on refugees”. Once elected, he pledged to vastly increase refugee resettlement in the US. If history is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Among the many hard truths exposed by COVID-19 is the huge disparity between the world’s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world’s billionaires increased their already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Lanicek, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History and Jewish History, UNSW On January 27 communities worldwide commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz — the largest complex of concentration camps and extermination centres during the Holocaust. This is the first year the International ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lorinda Cramer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Australian Catholic University The summer break is over, marking a return to the office. For some, this ends almost a year of working from home in lockdown. Some analysts are predicting it might also mark an enduring ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 27, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato New Zealand has a strong history of protecting and promoting human rights at home and internationally, and prides itself on being an outspoken critic and global leader in this area. So, when the most ...
Good morning and welcome to the Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins outlines the plan forward for National, no spread of Covid spotted yet in Northland, and students return for climate protest.In front of a Rotary Club at the Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, National leader Judith Collins yesterday set out her ...
*This articlefirst appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The tourism industry isn't holding its breath for a trans-Tasman travel bubble being in place after Australia temporarily closed its borders to New Zealand. New Zealanders could be waiting even longer for a full trans-Tasman bubble, with the ...
We continue our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with an essay by Anahera Gildea on cultural appropriation Every night at 7pm sharp, my Irish Catholic father and his eight siblings would have to kneel on the carpet of the living room, facing the freshly polished nudity of ...
Children's Minister Kelvin Davis will have independent eyes and ears across Oranga Tamariki over the next five months as the Government tries to change the work and practices of the ministry. The Government has created a Māori-led watchdog to oversee how the children's ministry, Oranga Tamariki, deals with parents and ...
A Covid reset will force costly and inflexible cities to take a hard look at their planning systems, or people will vote with their feet. Broken urban planning systems make for misery even in the best of times. If land use and housing regulations prevent metropolitan areas from growing up or out as ...
When an Auckland school classroom went up in flames in December last year, exploding asbestos over neighbouring houses, five separate government agencies were involved. Yet stressed residents dealing with the aftermath on their homes say the response felt chaotic and uncoordinated; even local MPs who got involved couldn't get the information they wanted. Hundreds of thousands of ...
The pandemic has accelerated the trend of doing our banking online instead of in person. This rapid digital embrace has, in turn, sped up the closure of many smaller bank branches. But, as Mark Jennings writes, there are new branches springing up with a different look and purpose. Auckland’s Wynyard ...
Corrina Gage has represented New Zealand in a trio of water sports. But it's her love for waka ama - and the opportunities it gives paddlers from 5 to 85 - that keeps her racing and coaching around the world. Lake Karāpiro is quiet and still now. But last week, it was all noise ...
Telling a Rotary Club audience that housing is a serious problem and they should care deeply about it landed flat but took some daring from the National leader, writes Justin Giovannetti.Judith Collins’ level of control over the National Party is still a question best answered by a shrug.Elevated to her ...
A gang turf war gripped the South Auckland suburb in late 2020, forcing schools to lock down and armed police to patrol the streets. Community leaders are now warning the cycle of violent retribution could continue in 2021, unless radical interventions are made.The violent altercations that loomed large in Ōtara ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Véronique Duché, A.R. Chisholm Professor of French, University of Melbourne In this series, writers pay tribute to fictional detectives on the page and on screen. When I first heard that Rowan Atkinson was to put on Maigret’s velvet-collared overcoat, I wondered ...
Auckland writer Olivia Hayfield* explains how she resurrected 16th-century playwright Christopher Marlowe to star in her new novel, Sister to Sister. Olivia Hayfield is a pen name. Real name: Sue Copsey. When I’m planning my modern retellings of historical tales, I read widely on the characters and see who leaps out at ...
The Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine could be approved as early as next week, Marc Daalder reports Medsafe will be asked to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine against Covid-19 on February 2, the Government has announced. The Medicines Assessment Advisory Committee (MAAC) is an independent panel that provides advice on some medicine approvals in ...
COMMENT:By Bryan Kramer, PNG’s Minister of Police who has defended Commissioner Manning’s appointment today in The National My last article, announcing that I intend to make a submission to the National Executive Council (NEC) to amend the Public Service regulation to no longer require the Commissioner of Police to ...
The Point of Order Trough Monitor was triggered today by the announcement of a $9 million handout for Southlanders – sorry, some Southlanders. The news came from the office of Grant Robertson who, as Minister of Finance, prefers to invest public money rather than give it away – especially when ...
Few people outside of her campaign team gave Chlöe Swarbrick any chance of winning in Auckland Central this year – but the Green Party MP was too busy to listen. Here’s how they turned the electorate green.First published November 12, 2020.Three Ticks Chlöe is part of Frame, a series of short ...
Interactions between parents and healthcare providers could have a big impact on the wellbeing of our children, according to new research. The way parents and healthcare providers interact has lasting implications for children’s health, new research has found – and that includes immunisation uptake.Released today, the report is based on research ...
The Opposition starts the political year calling for emergency, temporary legislation to free up house building National leader Judith Collins has set five priorities for her party over the next three years - but excluded climate change, education and Crown-Māori relations. Giving her first 'state of the nation' speech as party ...
One of the biggest challenges facing the Ardern government is in public health. New Zealand may have escaped the pressures heaped on other health systems by the Covid-19 pandemic but its health service has had its problems, not least those exposed in the first report from Heather Simpson and her ...
New Zealand’s Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has revealed that 14 close contacts of the Northland community case have returned negative test results. Yesterday he announced two close contacts – her husband and hair dresser – were negative. In his tweet, Hipkins described the news as “encouraging”. However, New ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the arbitrary and opaque experiments that Google is conducting with its search engine in Australia, with the consequence that many national news websites are no longer appearing in the search results seen by some users. The Australian, ABC, Australian Financial ...
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta says councils can take stronger action against companies dumping contaminated waste water, even though they have identified loopholes in the law on fines. ...
Drag Race Down Under, part of the popular RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise, is filming in New Zealand. In their own words, local drag talent share what drag means to them and how it might be impacted by the show.RuPaul’s Drag Race is, quite simply, a television phenomenon. Love it or ...
For a long time, weighted blankets were considered a specialist device. Now they’re popular with even the most normal sleepers.Growing up, Temple Grandin spent time on her aunt’s cattle ranch in America, watching cow after stressed cow enter a squeeze chute and come out calm as the dead sea. She ...
Increased provisional tax thresholds, immediate low-value asset write offs and allowing the deferral of tax payments and use of money interest (UOMI) write offs were the most popular tax measures introduced by the Government to help businesses survive ...
The latest fleeing driver statistics show the numbers of incidents sky-rocketing out of control through 2020 with Police deciding the only tactic is to give up on chasing altogether, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The inconvenient truth is ...
With new revelations of the appalling racism behind Israel’s refusal to provide Covid-19 vaccines to 4.5 million Palestinians under its occupation and control, PSNA has renewed our call for the government to speak out alongside the United Nations ...
The Youth of NZ will be standing up for climate action once again, on January 26th outside of Parliament for School Strike 4 Climate NZ’s 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. “COVID-19 may have stopped us in our tracks in the past. However, I tend ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Parwinder Kaur, Associate Professor | Director, DNA Zoo Australia, University of Western Australia Koalas are unique in the animal kingdom, living on a eucalyptus diet that would kill other creatures and drinking so little their name comes from the Dharug word gula, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By S. Anna Florin, Research fellow, University of Wollongong Archaeological research provides a long-term perspective on how humans survived various environmental conditions over tens of thousands of years. In a paper published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, we’ve tracked rainfall in northern ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Binoy Kampmark, Senior Lecturer in Global Studies, Social Science & Planning, RMIT University Since 2005, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has been one of the most stable and enduring of political forces, both in Europe and on the global stage. During her 16 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Véronique Duché, A.R. Chisholm Professor of French, University of Melbourne In this series, writers pay tribute to fictional detectives on the page and on screen. When I first heard that Rowan Atkinson was to put on Maigret’s velvet-collared overcoat, I wondered ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Experts are calling for hotels with sub-par ventilation systems to no longer be used as managed isolation facilities as health officials investigate how a Northland woman became infected with Covid-19 while staying at the Pullman hotel, Rowan Quinn reports. ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 26, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur Members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Questions to be answered about case in the community, major companies flagrantly breaching wastewater consents, and Tenancy Tribunal decisions harming abuse survivors.As of this morning, we’re still waiting on some crucial information about the situation in Northland, after a person travelled ...
With democracy what now separates the US from its adversaries, Wellington can bet on more continuity than change in Washington’s hardline view of China. ...
We continue our week-long examination of writer Roderick Finlayson. Today: his daughter Kate on his doomed love for Poti Mita, whose family inspired him to write short stories about Māori life in the 1930s We all knew of Poti Mita and how important Pukehina was to Dad. He wanted ...
Snowden files: GCSB spies monitored diplomats in line for World Trade Organisation job http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11421371
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11421371
This is outrageous!
Yep post coming up.
On a side note-
Noticed the NZH managed to supply a link to the document, a link they failed to offer re the RoastBusters’ report last week 🙁
Salvation Army derail Key’s plan to sell off state houses.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11421462
They’ll be flogged off to his developer mates..
Was always the plan
Yes about time the opposition warned the buyers as to expectations and buy back at their purchase price, our state housing stock is far too low for a developed nation for this transfer to occur.
The creep of councils flogging public housing is off the radar on this issue.
+1
Labour and every other left party needs to come out and say that they will be rebuilding social housing stock levels. They also need to put in place a law that prevents sales of state assets.
Not exactly.
They need to make it clear to the National Party’s owners that Parliament will not be bound by bribes, and that every single time they buy legislation that socialises losses or privatises profits they will lose their shirts.
Assets will be repatriated and there will be no compensation.
There is no alternative.
Good idea but just as with the Genesis and MRP sell off, Labour is never going to alienate its upper middle class supporters in that way.
They get to look “reasonable” by suggesting a compromise then: no jailtime for anyone found to have a conflict of interest.
Umm no Paul, salvos do as expected allowing key to flog them to financiers and developers as was always the intention.
Here are keywords which will bring up a number of headings on google which look as if they would give worthwhile background to the social housing subject.
Here is a link to a study on what the Dutch did which is different to the Britisgh course of public housing which declined from the 1970’s largely because of their right-to-buy policy.
Why Dutch social housing did not follow the British path … dropped off from the 1970s onwards, whereas Dutch construction levels during the 1980s …. controlled by private non-profit housing associations rather than public organisations, and (2) ….. his predecessor succumbed to the massive financial scandal, and social …
Then this group report says it takes a pro-market rather than a free-market tack! And refers to the Rachman scandal (1960’s) which will be important to note when thinking about the downward path that the present UNACT NZ government is following.
http://www.smf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Publication-The-Politics-of-Housing.pdfThe affordability problem dominates England’s housing market: an … total annual completions since the 1970s, and the private sector alone has not built this level …. provided by housing associations which are heavily dependent on benefit ….. exploitation of unscrupulous landlords – epitomised by the Rachman scandal.37.
And this discusses the private landlord in Britain and gives part of a document on the time from post WW2 till now.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444329414.fmatter/pdf
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Rachman
Politicians from all spectrum attend protest against environmental vandalism, arrogance and greed of the Ports of Auckland.
We need our RMA.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11421470
Very disappointed Phil Twyford as Labours Transport spokesperson was missing in action. You would think Labour (Phil) would back up Peters who is championing this issue, a lost opportunity to get some runs on the board over the importance of stopping further RMA changes by National.
Labour was represented pretty well by the local List MP for Auckland Central Jacinda Adern.
Yes as was wannabe Mayor Phil Goff, however Twyford is transport is he not. The Northland Line and the rail link to Marsden Point is something Labour need to keep the acid right on National, rail does not fit where their roading plans and they are quietly under funding rail to the point where they can close the line.
The other thing is creating a bit of solidarity with NZF/Peters who is doing all the heavry lifting on the issue. Therefore a bit of action from Twyford is not too much
too ask surely.
I think you’re putting the cart before the horse Skinny. It seems to me Sunday’s protest was less about politics and all about a gut reaction from Aucklanders to what they see as a threat to their harbour. For Labour to have rolled out Twyford with a baldfaced political attack on the government and their transport policies would have been a mistake. It’s enough at the moment for Labour to be lining up alongside the views of Aucklanders (National will be trying to do this too of course). The politics can come later.
Aucklanders fighting the council over the loss of their harbour is 100% political. It is a perfect opportunity for Twyford to mention Marsden Point and rail as a solution to the problem. To not do so is dereliction of duty.
Is it churlish to suspect that this harbour protest will get an excellent level of media coverage, on the score that $40,000,000 worth of motor/sail vessels turned out……and yeah, quite alot of people ?
For the avoidance of doubt I am with the people and I thank the vessels.
If that was well represented, I’d hate to see what a poor job was.
Osborne from Northland said that he has worn out one and a half pairs of shoes. Is that three shoes?
Does that mean he’s “Jake the Peg”?
Mike the Peg, with his extra leg … a Northland children’s delight. I think Osborne is lying anyway. Standing behind NAct ministers doesn’t wear the shoe leather much at all.
As ever Jane Bowron is quite funny on this
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/67473983/Sideways-glances-from-an-off-course-Osborne
@Scott
Interesting that Focus NZ (1,700 votes at the Gen Election) have been advised to vote for Peters. That could swing it.
The claim from Osborne that he has worn out one and a half pairs of shoes is a preposterous claim.
Those roads of Northland must really be atrocious!
His candidacy was announced on 1st March. So, in about 20 days, he has worn out 1.5 pairs. i.e, 3 shoes! At this unbelievable rate, by election day this coming Saturday, he would have worn out about 2.5 pairs=5 shoes!…in just 30 days! The shoe companies would be thrilled and won’t believe their luck!
But somehow I think Osborne has been a bullshitter about the shoes and quite untrustworthy.
Having a rather weird sense of humour, I have been wondering why he only seems to have two casual shirts – both blue checks although slightly different.
And would Osborne walk as much as he is driven by Joyce?
And it was no surprise to see Claire Trevett doing her bit for Osborne’s campaign in this morning’s Herald.
This article in the Herald precedes Trev’s pumping up of Osborne this morning. It’s bloody hilarious but very, very sadly, true.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11421110
Peters’ political hero – Churchill
Prime’s political hero – Michael Joseph Savage
Osborne’s political hero – JOHN KEY ! That’s right……Mr “Anything Is Possible” according to Osborne.
Osborne a sincere, fearless representative of the people of Northland ? Up against the dons Key and Joyce ? No. This is not an “anything”. Can you see Steven Joyce if Osborne wins ? – “Listen boy…….we turned you from Mr Laughing-Stock to Mr Limp-In so get outa my office. And in future……breath through your nose !”
Good God. Northlanders roped into “ShonKey Python’s Flying-Jerk-Us”. Expect a breach of copyright claim additional to Eminem’s.
@North
This article is a attempt by the Herald to promote the race as a 3-way affair and so split the anti-National vote.
A vote for Prime is a wasted vote.
…and further notes on the tabloid Herald’s bias, the collapse of the government’s social housing policy is (online) listed below articles on Netflix’s charges, McCaw’s girlfriend and a bloke hassling drivers outside a school.
Winston just has to win — apart from obvious reason, but how unbearable will be the increased boasting and OTT arrogance of Key and Joyce in self congratulation … ugh.
What da ya rekon
Peters will repeat history, and win on a judicial recount.
The really funny thing to happen would be if Peters were to win the seat in the by-election.
He then resigns his list seat to get another NZF MP into the house.
There is an electoral petition which Winston loses.
He is out of the house until at least 2017.
And no, it wouldn’t help to have another NZF MP being coerced into resigning to open up another vacancy. Winston would not be eligible to take it.
Actually, I think that if Winston was to win in the by-election, and I don’t think it will happen, he won’t resign his list seat. He wouldn’t even consider allowing the above scenario to occur. He doesn’t really give a damn about his party or about Parliament. His sole interest is Winston the 1st.
You sad hopeful scenario will not happen because the result has to be confirmed before anyone changes seat.
I think you misunderstand the process.
A recount, if called for, takes place before the final result is declared. This would be the confirmed result. It appears that Winston would have to have resigned his list seat prior to this happening if he was going to be replaced on the list.
An electoral petition is a later thing and normally takes place after the new MP has taken their seat in Parliament. This is what happened when Winston got into Parliament way back in the dark ages. He came out on the right side of an electoral petition against Malcolm Douglas who had won the seat.
So no, although it is not very likely it could happen if Winston hopes to be replaced by another NZF list MP.
Hate to say it, but to a degree Alwyn is possibly correct – but the scenario he paints is highly unlikely but not impossible.
The situation re resignation etc to get in another NZF member is apparently not set in stone in the electoral rules. The Electoral Commission have a view as to what the procedures should be; as do other electoral law experts such as Graeme Edgeler. Don’t have time to find links, but there was considerable Twitter discussion (Edgeler and others) a few weeks ago when Winston Peters first declared he would run in Northland.
National have been pushing the line a win for Winston would benefit Southland with another seat as the next person on the NZF is an Invercargill hairdresser, Ria Bond.
But according to the Herald article by Claire Trevett on Saturday, Ria Bond is no longer living in Invercargill but has bee in Wellington working for NZF since August 2014.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11420760
Thank you.
You’ll note that I never said it was likely. I only said it would be funny if it should happen.
I’m sure that Winston would find it equally hilarious.
ScottGN, a little bit further down. quotes an opinion from Pundit about ACT possibly taking up an Electoral Petition on the grounds that Winston winning would disturb the proportionality of the house. Like Pundit, I don’t think he has any grounds at all.
Somebody living in the electorate, or a losing candidate in the by-election could however bring one on the grounds, (and this is hypothetical), that Winston had spent more than he is legally allowed to on his campaign, or something of that ilk.
Hilarious would be if Osborne won and had to resign to deal with the same type of family problems as Sabin. A vote for Winnie is a vote for a guy with no secrets, we know he’ll stay on.
And the National Party would know that very well as their staffers would see Ria frequently…
Exactly! The Parliamentary Precinct is a rather small place in reality, where people working there or visiting frequently (eg government officials) know one another and who they are.
Jon Reeves is the most likely person the come through on the NZF list. Very solid chap promoting public transport, be good to add the term silver/green voter.
Reeves may be a solid chap etc, but he is at No 15 on the NZF list.
Ria Bond is at No12, and even if she decided not to come in as a list MP, there is Mataroa Paroro at No 13 (who seems keen according to the Herald article) and Romuald Rudzki at No 14, before Reeves.
Reeves has been very good with NZF’s transport policy. He may leap frog the others since Peters is advocating a port & rail strategy in Northland. He goes alright with media and public speaking too. I maybe a little bias he is a mate.
The rules relating to the filling of a list MP position do not allow leap-frogging – in principle anyway.
The party concerned does not get to pick and choose who they put in the position. The Electoral Commission goes to each person on that Party’s list as set prior to the last General Election in the sequence set in the list and asks them if they want to take up the vacancy. As I noted, there are three people ahead of Reeves – one of whom has apparently expressed interest according to the Herald article.
http://www.elections.org.nz/voting-system/mmp-voting-system/filling-vacancy-list-seat
Agree that Reeves sounds as though he would make a good choice, but it would take the three ahead to all decide not to take the position.
With ‘ I do things my way Peters’ it easy seeing a game of leap frog developing. Winston First does ring true from time to time.
Alwynger
Stop crying in your beersies
You couldn’t be grosser
Spying and lying PorKeys a poser
Winnie will win
And all the S..in will be exposed.
I think I’ll stick with Messrs Edgeler and Geddis on this actually:
http://publicaddress.net/legalbeagle/the-northland-by-election-or-the-so-called/
http://pundit.co.nz/content/if-were-gonna-go-that-way-youre-gonna-need-a-bigger-knife
I can’t see much boasting in the event National holds on to what was a very safe seat with a narrow win. I imagine they’ll just be relieved to have avoided disaster and will be happy to move forward with their numbers restored in the parliament.
Yeah……I’m taking the precaution of travelling to Auckland Friday afternoon……having early voted for the only man in New Zealand right now who can prick the fetid-air balloon of the supreme heister of this entire nation, bar none. Whatever the outcome I need to be in the company of my closest.
If Peters wins it is decidedly the start of the end of TheGodKey. Even if not…..still it is underway. Increasingly we have an entilted little PonceKey in our faces. It will not go beyond 2017. Indeed my appreciation is that significantly before 2017, seeing the writing on the wall, and rather than take electoral defeat, this gutless, narcissistic one will take his baubles, his honorofic, unblind his trusts, and slide off somewhere else.
Ka Ki Te !
Wasn’t there some “New Zealander” of some importance (apparently) meant to be having their name suppression lifted around about now, and aren’t the eyes of speculation glancing in the direction of a certain former……………..
yeah, what’s going on?
Usual authoritarian dirty tricks.
If it is to do with Mike Sabin and it all comes out after the by-election instead of before then it will go down very very badly with the electorate…..
…. simply reinforces the lack of honesty and integrity associated with John Key
Anything to do with palms being greased and astonishing powers of persuasion coming into effect among the elites and certain professions?
It feels we’re so corrupt now nothing would be beyond belief.
Dirt and slime is the New Black.
Eleventh hour filing of an appeal against the lifting of name suppression filed on Thursday afternoon before 5pm deadline.
A number of media have filed for an urgent hearing of the appeal – otherwise it is unlikely to be heard for at least 3 – 4 weeks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=11419961
Thank you VV……………
There really is some heavy duty identity protection going on there. It has the whiff of desperation around it.
@Rosie But surely the “whiff” is drifting over the Northland electorate?
And having had a request for name supression refused what possible new grounds could there be?
BG – I am going to be a pedant and say that :having had a request for name suppression refused” does not seem to be the actual situation from the little we know.
Name suppression appears to have been in place prior to 30 January, when a total suppression order was put on by the judge on all details of the case – including the actual location of the court! Then in mid-February some details of the case were released; and the defendant was given four weeks to appeal a lifting of name suppression on 19 March.
As I understand it, this procedure is not the same legally as having had a request for name suppression refused.
@veuto Thanks for that, nicely clarified
I find it hard to imagine that the thing in question would not have asked for a continuation of suppression in February. If they hadn’t, it would have just lapsed and we would have seen it all over the tv. Hence a request was refused, but time was given to appeal the decision. This time has been abused as badly as the innocent children involved.
I don’t necessarily disagree, MR. But we do not know whether that was the case/ But being a pendant, I could not allow a bald statement that name suppression had been refused to go – when we do not know that that was actually the case.
I actually think that the procedures followed by the judge/court which are apparently in accordance with the law is actually in the best interests of justice in the longer term – by not allowing this to be used as a technicality to close the case down.
You pendants are all the same…
LOL! Some of us just cannot help ourselves!
The by election is therefore a fraud, details surrounding the reasons why it is being called should be made public. Non disclosure has corrupted democracy, I have no doubts that people who have or are going to vote in the Northland electorate will not have/will vote/d for National.
How can it be fraud?
He resigned – and now there is a by election.
Its pretty simple.
Not when we are hearing of people already casting a vote for Osbourne and then hearing the reason Sabin resigned and the fact Osbourne was a key member of the National Northland electorate executive team. Tarred by association as they say. I am referring to some elderly church folk. People have the right to know the truth surrounding the murky resignation and cast their vote making an informed decision, especially when the timeline of who knew what is being disputed so widely in the media and so publicly.
Another thing insulting is Osbourne claiming he still knows nothing, which then becomes a matter of trust. If he came out and admitted he has heard the rumour’s but doesn’t operate on rumours, instead of blatantly saying ” he still doesn’t know anything regarding Sabin’s resignation”.
So this guy professes to have his finger on the pulse of Northland and is totally blind to what is going on right under his nose. Incredibly insulting to the electorate there are no other words for it.
Yeah – Skinny is right, James. And if the Nats don’t win, then Shon Key’s stuff-up in not replacing Sabin with a proper candidate in the 2014 election will be humiliating for them. Maybe a Winston win will be the end of the Key government ? ? ? hopefully ……
how can it be fraud when the information was subject to a court order????
aresholes
deceivers
manipulators
but not illegal to not tell folks when it is in a suppression order, surely.
There was no court order in place either before the last election, or even maybe the 2011 election, or on the morning when Sabin resigned. Key has had plenty of chances to be honest with us. He has never taken a single one.
well said, murray, thank you …
“Another thing insulting is Osbourne claiming he still knows nothing, which then becomes a matter of trust”
Both Key and Osborne have claimed that they knew nothing about Sabin’s stuff at all!
If you believe that, I think there are lots and lots of three way bridges in Northland which this government is happily giving away for voters to take away on Trade-me with absolutely No Reserve!
Cool bananas!
https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=browse&cat=740
Good article on beer from Dom Post here by Dave Armstrong. Particularly like the last paragraph.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/67473832/Dave-Armstron-Craft-beers-doing-very-nicely
A couple of weeks ago I linked to a news article which described how the death rate for white women in the USA was exploding because of the use of prescribed pharmaceutical drugs. We are talking around a million excess White female deaths in the last few years and climbing. Such an upward shift in mortality is seen by experts as “historic.”
Now here is research which shows that White lower educated women in the USA are experiencing a massive explosion in out of wedlock births. (While Black university educated womens’ out of wedlock birth figures fall dramatically). In other words, while upper class women enjoy traditional family structures more than ever, lower class women are getting smashed with increased family instability and poorer outcomes.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-22/after-fed-crushed-middle-class-it-targeting-american-family
The Economist has a stark conclusion:
National Party Northland candidate plonker.
http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/northland-debate-mark-vs-winston-part-1-video-6260167
Russian propaganda doco on the history of Crimea
Apparently there was such a thing as the “First Seige” of Sevastapol and over a 120,000 Russians died there defending Crimea from the West and Turkey. I’d only known about the “Second Siege” where the defenders of Sevastapol were eventually ground into dust by the Wehrmacht.
There was a whole war going on at the time. If you’ve ever heard references to Florence Nightingale, or the Charge of the Light Brigade – “Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die: Into the valley of Death, Rode the six hundred” – they’re references to that war.
There have probably been more than two over the years, but the other famous one was of course during the Crimean War, which gave us poetry about senseless death, a lady with a lamp, cardigans, and maybe even sandwiches. The senseless death of British cavalrymen was blamed on inferior Turkish infantry rather than English upper class imbecility and the Victoria Cross came into being for excessive zeal in the killing of wogs. Willie Apiata got one for the same thing not long ago and the English lies about Turkish infantry saw our young men die stupidly on the cliffs of Gallipoli. Key will be going this year to show he has guts. It was not gutlessness that made him keep Sabin on, not at all.
Yemen falls into sectarian chaos as yet another US project loses the plot in the ME
The Americans have been conducting regular drone strilkes in Yemen since 2002 in support of the US friendly government there.
Since the fall of that government, hundreds of millions of dollars of modern American made military equipment has now gone to new unapproved owners. ISIS and Al Qaeda recruitment is surging.
US diplomats and US troops have abandoned Yemen as the security situation has gone down the toilet over the last couple of years.
Another great Middle East project “Made in the USA.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/22/yemen-sunnis-al-qaida-isis-islamic-state-shia-houthis-sanaa
NZs of current Note:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20171978
Beverley Forrester – Vocal champion of Wool ( 30′ 41″ )
10:06 Beverley Forrester is a farmer, sheep breeder, fashion designer, yarn manufacturer, tourism operator and a vocal champion of wool. She says a generation of consumers have been bombarded with cheap, mass produced, synthetic alternatives, but she believes there’s a resurgence in demand for the living fibre, and for knitting, which she describes as “the new yoga”. After the sudden death of her farmer husband Jim Forrester just before his 54th birthday, Beverley found herself running their Hurunui farm and sheep stud. She’s developed a successful brand of natural coloured, undyed yarns, which are now sold internationally, as well as her own fashion label. Beverley Forrester talks with Kathryn Ryan about her love of what she believes is New Zealand’s best primary product.
Wools one of the best products in the world: renewable , fire proof , biodegadible any self respecting greeny wouldn’t be caught dead in poly prop clothing or on a synthetic carpet.!!
hi b waghorn, i couldnt agree more, i have been a vocal enthusiast (?) for wool for many a year.
go to the local saleyards in feilding and you would be lucky to get 10% of sheep farmers wearing their own product. most of them are wandering round in recycled milk bottles.
makes me blood boil.
I have noticed that plenty myself. I think the problems is lack of r’n d around making wool products that can compete with plastic clothes . but our government s aren’t big on backing there own.
mmm.. yes, and primary producers not putting their money where their mouth is.
i read on stephanies blog (boots theory) about the rich man who bought expensive shoes while the poorer man bought cheap shoes.
in the lifetime of the better quality footwear the poor man had spent twice as much on his shoes.
while r n d is part of it, the whole economy around wool is screwed up. when it costs the farmer more to remove the wool from the sheep than what the wool is worth, something is rotten.
i was talking to a farmer who says back in the ’50s he was getting a pound for a pound of wool.
The Korean war caused the great wool boom in 1950-51.
And most farmers will tell you there’s no money in wool but the wool clip on the property I work on pays our fertilizer bill which is in the 150k range.
ahh! thats right, wool for uniforms.
to me wool is a panacea for our times, it grows on less than ideal land, labour intensive to harvest and process (jobs), and as you have mentioned earlier, heaps of uses, clothing, insulation, mulch/fertilizer…
the foxton feltex factory is closed. with a simple stroke of a legislators pen, making wool carpets mandatory in state housing and government offices, it can be reopend and we reinvest in a kiwi town and kiwi resources, win win.
What a government legislate for the good of small town NZ wash you’re mouth out 🙂
Knitting – also known as “Scottish Valium”. Relaxing and cheap.
‘Where the people lead – the politicians will follow’?
“Earlier today, Mr Brewer reversed his support for the expansion, saying he now wanted a rethink on the issue.”
Bernard Orsman Bernard Orsman is Super City reporter for the NZ Herald.
Len Brown loses support on Auckland port expansion
2:38 PM Monday Mar 23, 2015
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11421603
A majority of Auckland councillors are now opposed or want a rethink on port expansion.
The majority was achieved this afternoon when councillor Denise Krum joined councillors Cameron Brewer and Sharon Stewart in calling for the issue to be re-examined.
Auckland’s mayor, Len Brown, who does not want to stop Ports of Auckland plans to build two massive wharf extensions next month, is now in the minority.
………………………………..
A core of eight councillors – Chris Darby, Cathy Casey, Ross Clow, Chris Fletcher, Mike Lee, Wayne Walker, John Walker and George Wood – directly oppose the port expansion into the Waitemata Harbour.
Mr Brown has ignored the message from yesterday’s protest of about 2000 people and 300 boats in the city who want an immediate stop to the extensions to Bledisloe Wharf.
However, he said today he would set up a study of the economic, social and environmental impact of the port on wider Auckland, which he promised in August 2013.
Ms Krum said she was unclear about the council’s position on the wharf extensions and whether legally the council can get back into the trenches on planning provisions for the port precinct in the Unitary Plan.
She said things had changed over the past three weeks and the council would be negligent to bury its head in the sand.
“We need some leadership with this issue. There is no singular leadership driven, ‘let’s take councillors on a journey here’. Let’s have all the information,” she said.
“I’m also really quite miffed. I have heard nothing from the ports themselves. As someone who wants to back their business because I see the contribution they need to make to Auckland. As a shareholder, where are they in this foray?”
The Ports of Auckland board is meeting today but it is unclear if the the board, chaired by Graeme Hawkins, will make a public statement in response to the public outcry over the plans.
Mr Brewer has today written to Mr Brown asking him to convene a meeting of the governing body to reconsider the council’s position on reclamation rules in the Unitary Plan for mediation.
In August 2013, the council voted for tough “non-complying” rules for reclamation in the Unitary Plan, but twice in the past five weeks it has voted to ease these rules to “discretionary” status requiring public notification.
The council has argued it has not voted for more lenient rules on reclamation, saying the new “discretionary” status and other regulations are tougher than the current rules in the regional coastal plan.
“I have yet to change my vote,” Mr Brewer says in the letter. “But like others, I am calling for these matters to be formally revisited by the governing body in a calm and collected way with all the information new and old presented without fear of favour.
“Given the significant level of public interest, we at least owe that to Aucklanders.”
Earlier today, Mr Brewer reversed his support for the expansion, saying he now wanted a rethink on the issue.
“I invite the mayor to bring this back to the council table and give this another go,” he told the Herald.
The Orakei councillor took part in a secret vote last month on the side of Mr Brown and his deputy Penny Hulse to ease the August 2013 rules for port expansion.
“I thought I was doing the right thing by supporting tightening the old reclamation rules that were in existence from 1987 to 2013, but it’s clear that’s still not going far enough to appease the Auckland community.
“If Aucklanders want no reclamation whatsoever, then lets at least have the debate again with the public sentiment now clearly known.
“It is massive public sentiment. Len Brown needs to look it again,” Mr Brewer said.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Gosh!
That didn’t take long!
Excellent! 🙂
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
The actual article in the Herald had an invite to email them your views on the subject. I sent the following :-
I am totally opposed to any extensions until a full and independent assessment is completed with full and open discussion.
The arrogant attitude by those involved directly in the Ports of Auckland has happened because of the way the governance of this vital infrastructure was set up by the Key Government through their delegated front man , Rodney Hide, who threw out a carefully considered scheme for Auckland City prepared over several years by three knowledgable and experienced Commissioners and replaced it with his hastily prepared alternative devised in about 6 months.
Largely ignored by the citizens of Auckland was the dispute between Ports Of Auckland (POA) and the Maritime Union which has recently been settled after several years of negotiation. The Mayor & the Council that is the elected Councillors refused to get involved in that problem because they were effectively 3 times removed from the POA because of the way that the lines of authority had been set up when the Auckland City plan was devised..
The Mayor of Auckland and the Auckland City Councillors were Democratically elected by the citizens of Auckland to manage the affairs of the City, all the other people in the chains of command of POA including the CEO of POA ( and there are quite a few) are appointed, not elected.
The elected representatives of the citizens of Auckland need to manage this matter effectively NOW or resign and let us elect some new faces who are prepared to sort out this problem.
In the meantime there needs to be an embargo on any expansion whatsoever in my opinion
Well said, John Shears. Hope it gets read, and considered.
And the really stupid part about all of this is that Whangarei – Marsden Point – has the best deep water harbour in NZ, is little used, because both Auckland and Tauranga Ports have not only competing interests in Marsden Port, but their own interests which keeps their ports operating and Marsden lingering at the edges …….. Auckland Port needs to revise their thinking, and make use of Marsden for the bigger vessels coming – instead of trying to squeeze them into what has become a relatively narrow Waitemata harbour and Hauraki Gulf.
ps John S – I’ve lost your email address ? ??
shears82@gmail.com
FYI folks!
______________________________________________________________________________________
23 March 2015
Press Release Sue Henry Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby:
“Stop the privatisation of State Housing!”
“The wheels are finally falling off the Government’s scheme to use charity and Iwi groups as a trojan horse to privatise the $18 billion worth of State Housing assets,” says Sue Henry, Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby:
“If it was ‘untenable’ for the Salvation Army to use existing State Housing stock for the failed ‘social housing’ experiment, other NGOs and consortiums will never have the capacity as providers, unless they are bankrolled by foreign property development companies, for speculative gain, which still equates to privatisation.”
“The public were told prior to the 2014 election there would be no further asset sales.”
“There is no electoral mandate for the privatisation of State Housing.”
“The Housing Lobby are calling on the Government to scrap the charity housing model and repeal the 2013 Social Housing, Housing Restructuring and Tenancy Matters Act.”
“Housing New Zealand must be reinstated as the ‘one stop shop’ State Housing provider, under the ‘public service’ model,” Sue Henry concluded.
Sue Henry
Spokesperson,
Housing Lobby
…………………….
______________________________________________________________________________________
Kind regards
Penny Bright
The war on workers continues – an Aussie compnay in auckland wants to remove tea breaks from an industrial site. This is why we need tea breaks abd corporate homicide charges. Forklifts and fatigue don’t mix in a happy way.
That can’t be right.
John Key and every other right winger said no employer would ever want to take away smokos even if they could.
Must be a misprint. I’ll expect a retraction with the hour.
Yep, exactly as anticipated by the Left and denied by the RWNJs:
Of course, Key and National knew that this would happen. It’s why they changed the law.
hi draco, hate to do this but i have to point out our dear leader was right.
the laws was passed (like a bowel motion) in october, its now march, so that is not sudden.
also this effects dozens not thousands of workers.
all good on planet key. carry on.
Syriza, Podemos….
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/23/spanish-anti-austerity-party-podemos-wins-15-seats-andalusia
This would would explain the reluctance to do anything at all.
http://www.realclimate.org/images/climatesensitivity.001.jpg
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2015/03/climate-sensitivity-week/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11421666
Legal action “not taken lightly” indeed ! Well no, but of course the daddies had the 8-10 grand it would have cost. The considerations were constitutional and justice based were they ? Nothing to do with their wedged-up daddies’ determination to pass on down to their offspring the privilege they themselves enjoy. Nah, course not !
If they were a couple of little Maori boys in Kaikohe, one’d be appearing in the Youth Court, one’d be in the District Court……and the 17 year old particularly would be on bail terms so oppressive that he’d be bound to breach……and then who knows ? Night in the cells in Whangarei before he’s ‘let off’ with a formally recorded bail warning ? Another meaningless breach. Oh God, not custody……then on down to UK investor owned/profiting, Serco/Mt Eden/”The Jungle”.
In our justice system you’re sweet if you’re white with a wedged up daddy. I know that to be a freakish and disgusting truth. During 40 years with the opportunity to observe it I’ve seen it countless times. It’s this; the actors in the justice system ‘sign-up’, not consciously or wittingly, but it’s ‘sign-up’ nevertheless.
Just when you think New Zealand has a monopoly on greedy/ignorant/criminally insane politicians, get a load of Mike Baird…
It starts off rather light-hearted, but gets grimmer and grimmer as it goes along. Anyone who cares at all about the environment will be vomiting blood by the end.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11421805
Of course this was always going to happen. Greed, like rust, never sleeps. The wicked thing is that its promoters don’t even see it is as greed, it is no-brainer rationality. Of course one will operate one’s undertaking to the outer edge of what is lawful. Why would one not ? And under ThePonceKey greed is increasingly encouraged never to sleep. Apologies for any mixed metaphors there. Like ThePonceKey ‘m not verrr lit-rit, ecksshilly !
It looks as though we are getting closer and closer to a situation where the victims must take a serious stand. Strikes, pickets, appealing to the souls of would-be-scabs, defiance of legal process proscribing the standing up for essential rights……a network of moral and financial support for those on PlanetPonceKey with the ‘temerity’ to say “No – Enough !” Hit them in the very place from which prances forth the lusty greed…….the pocket. Hopefully that will have them (an unintended consequence of course) the financial pariahs they are in moral terms.
The more the people do nothing the harder they’ll go. There are no moral questions come into play with these people. Greed (sorry, ‘maximisation of profit”) just never sleeps !
Woohoo. I’ve just heard Andrew Little on Morning Report about Northland. He did well, referring to the polls and being realistic.