The general police approach of using force to resolve problems with mentally ill people seems totally wrong. I think the approach should be compassion and containment first, not rushing in and in some cases traumatising people further.
I think this is an appropriate song to go with your comment maui,
There is no depression in NZ with blam blam and views of the country we love to love. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HVogejKx_c
(Mods still haven’t looked into my computer’s mind to see why it is caught up in pending. This will be the last one I put through today so that’s good to hear I bet.)
Prof Schofield said the fact some schools sent children home with 60 chocolate bars for their families to sell showed there remained a “systemic failure” in attitudes towards food.
I would interpret that a systematic failure of the ATTITUDES towards FUNDING for schools!!!!
I’ve looked at various options for fundraising by selling food and other products, and most of them make far more money for the manufacturer than a club or school would.
How much of this fundraising is for trips overseas? and not for important stuff like new sports equipment, computer gear, etc.
I was talking to one parent and their intermediate child went on two (could have been three?) last year and they’re currently fundraising for another one this year, apparently, this is not that uncommon.
How would you find out what % of school fundraisers are for “nice things” and not for important equipment that will help children get a better education?
I don’t think you can bag a government for underfunding schools without knowing what this fundraising is going towards.
Yeah you never know until you find out BM. Bet you don’t even want to find out though. Just want to be a naysayer. How come you’re no naysayer about Kings College being the Middlemore franchise of the Koru Club ? Equal education for all ?
Personally I dont really see the point in overseas trips, aside from sporting tours, etc. For example, a French language class is probably better off getting members of the local French community around for tea and biscuits.
I would rather see school trips overseas be for academic reasons then sporting reasons. There are plenty of sports teams around the country for school kids to play against. There is no need to go overseas to get competition – they seem more like junkets for the parents rather than for gaining sport skills.
At least a trip for academic reasons has some merit in a school setting. A school I know has a trip to Europe and they travel through Italy, France and England visiting museums, art galleries, etc, etc. As well as talking to the locals and eating locally.
Goodness me. First school trip South Island 1963. Cup of tea with Holyoake in Wellington (fascinating!). Second ‘school’ trip China 1977. Both more memorable in so many aspects for being a group away from its common base NZ. And you know……..the camaraderie and all that.
Strongly disagree with you there millsy. I went to a decile 4 school and was fortunate enough to participate in a cultural exchange with Japanese student. Being able to live and breathe the culture, if only for a short time, taught me so much and it’s something I will treasure forever. Likewise when the students came to stay with us. There were 1-2 overseas trips per year, usually the Japanese or French language class. We did all sorts of fundraising, odd jobs and such. I remember it was a major effort for the families but so worth it.
How much of this fundraising is for trips overseas?
All of it, in my case. Have only ever been offered fundraising chocolate by a school to help pay for overseas trips. If Dr Schofield’s school is sending him unsolicited chocolate bars he’s expected to sell, he should take it up with the board of trustees.
lol I suspect it depends largely on the school decile, having had friends’ kids plying me with chocolate bars and cheese rolls. Just seems wrong somehow lol – teach them not to take candy from strangers, then get them to get strangers to take candy from them…
I dont think schools should be going cap in hand to corporates for this sort of thing anyway. They have heaps of assets they can use as revenue streams, for example leasing out school houses on AirBNB, starting a school garden and selling the produce (teach the kids some good schools), leasing out schools and classrooms to community groups, hiring the hall out, evening having some sort of op-shop. The list can go on,
Do you know how much time and effort would be required to make enough produce to sell regularly? The adult time wouldn’t be worth it. That’s why commercial growing isn’t done in a 10m by 2m garden. Being outside, all the produce comes on line at the same time as all the local home gardener’s so prices are low.
Schools have stuff in classrooms they don’t want moved or stolen (microphones, speakers, phones, computers, specialised equipment for the disabled) or broken or vandalised. That’s why they don’t lease them out (even the Saturday Morning Music School got kicked out of a school because they were creating too much hassle). There is usually a community hall about the place that is cheaper to hire and has all the facilities – kitchen, toilets etc – in the right places and meets legal standards. And the MoE has got a bit shitty over using school grounds as money making schemes – they shut down a Saturday market at Newtown School (IIRC) because of some dispute over it – I think it was running again although I assume it’s stopped now because of the new building work.
Most schools are getting out of school fairs e.g. op shop type sales, because trademe has killed the market. At one school fair I was at people were shoplifting stuff that was on sale for $1 or $2 so they could put it on trademe. And the storage cost of stuff that doesn’t sell, sorting of junk and dumping of junk racks up costs. It’s ok-ish when it’s for a fair because people will donate their time but as a full time activity people have better things to do.
(As you can probably tell, I’m involved somewhat with a parent’s support group for a school – we spend a lot of time looking at *efficient* ways to do fundraising. People are getting asked to fork over money for fundraising all the time, from many directions, so it’s quite challenging. )
One of my boys was sent home with Easter eggs and ate half of them himself. So that cut down the hard work of traipsing and door knocking, only vaguely enjoyable if you have a mate with you.
And the secondary school they went to had a trip to California to study geology particularly earthquake faults. Considering we are riddled with them I thought this was over the top. Schools with high decile attitudes and wants make it hard for children from ordinary homes.
It puzzles me that these landowners have been there for several decades, seen the same thing happening consistently right across that coast, and done either nothing about their own property, or built temporary walls knowing that they would be knocked down by the sea a few months later. Could they not figure out something was happening and act?
thinking is NOT action – it may be a precursor to action but it is not action ad – you may have hit on the big issue for today though – “hey I’m thinking about climate change so it’s sweet, in fact I’m getting a bit of a sweat up with all my thinking and stuff.” see, it is ridiculous
The whole framing of the article cited was about individual property rights and how everyone else through the taxpayer in some unspecified form has to defend that single individual’s major asset for as long as they need and for as much as it costs.
Every other point and action and story that stems from that framing will come to the same sets of futile responses.
Which as you know will be repeated in all the other low-lying areas of New Zealand. “Managed retreat” does not mean wait until it’s too late.
It’s as if someone forgot to imagine anything different.
Changing the framing from one of victimhood to one of action responding to facts is a really really hard act.
i suggested a plan of action at the start , it was you who came in on your high horse named personal responsibility , what is the point of paying fuckers to sit in government if they won’t preempt ruin for their people. shift the houses it’s cheap and simple , which is why the fools won’t do it.
That’s pretty much what will have to happen to South Dunedin. I don’t see how individuals can be left to sort that out themselves, any more than people living on the fault line will be left to it.
I agree with some of that, but you still haven’t said what someone in that situation could actually do. Are you suggesting that they sold earlier? Or what?
i guess forward thinking people would get out while the getting is good , but it’s still going to leave you with people in houses that won’t last, i think a managed retreat saving /shifting what houses can be will still be cheaper than cramming coastal refugees into cities they most likely don’t want to live in.
so yes bm it will cost but everything costs , of course there is no shortage of money but that’s another yarn.
It’s an interesting problem to have to think through. At what point should an individual be held solely responsible. I think if anyone builds a house in a stupid place from now on, that’s their loss. But people that bought a place say 5 years ago, what choices to they have other than if they’re lucky passing the problem to someone else? Such is the reality of the property market.
Can you give us one good reason then why CHCH was not evacuated and left to rot after the earth quakes, or at least after the second earth quake?
and could they not figure out that there might be another earthquake in the future and just move somewhere else?
How many times do you want the EQC to bail out irresponsible landowners, who have been there for several decades, seen the same thing happen a few times now at least, and either do nothing about their own properties, or ‘earthquake proof’ their properties knowing that they would be knocked down again by another big earthquake in the future?
Have you been to Christchurch recently and seen where the Red Zones were?
Have you been there and seen how much of the city is now permanently evacuated?
Do you really as a taxpayer want to keep underwriting people from doing the same dumb thing again and again to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, when all kinds of environmental signals are saying to them for years and years:
Do Something Different?
The difference is that most people in Chch got some kind of insurance payout (albeit hugely stressful ones). But you still haven’t said what an existing homeowner on the coast could actually do. Keeping saying ‘do something different’ doesn’t help.
Building new on the coast, that’s a different thing, and those people can lose their money/equity.
” Could they not figure out something was happening and act?”
acting costs money ,they can’t insure the houses , the section would be unsalable .
a simple house shift costs $15k , be a good way to upgrade the sewerage etc.
If after that severity of environmental signal over that many years they can’t save or pay off $15k over 20 years to shift their foundations, and EQC and private insurance has come to its limit, and the community hasn’t figured out a way to approach this together, then seriously they can’t afford a house.
just pointing out your simplistic right wingness that shines through sometimes . small government do it ya self ness works if you are agile minded or rich ,
What you were pointing out was the standard position of those who have lost all credibility to their answers: a simple ad hominem attack.
I don’t need to do that.
It amazes me that after hundreds of posts on The Standard about climate change, floods, earthquakes, and sea level rises, you still can’t get nature’s message.
i get it and i just got you, survival of the fittest in wanaka if the shit hits the fan , that’s not an attack btw , i like the central north island for the same reason.
As requested, start with my reply to Weka. Start from:
“Respect that nature is stronger than you are.”
Or have a few alternatives to this:
“If after that severity of environmental signal over that many years they can’t save or pay off $15k over 20 years to shift their foundations, and EQC and private insurance has come to its limit, and the community hasn’t figured out a way to approach this together, then seriously they can’t afford a house.”
Maybe they could figure out exactly what it’s going to cost to move their house.
Maybe they could ask family for help.
Maybe they could band together as neighbors, or even as a community.
Maybe there are friendly farmers who can help with land.
Maybe both settlements need to move.
Maybe they could step out of the little realm of single tiny bits of uneconomic private property and form a collective or two.
Maybe it’s time to link this to New Zealand’s broader responsiveness to environmental change on a lot of fronts over the last decade.
All would have made excellent investigations.
But, no, none of that suited the framing of the article.
Or band together and sell all the houses for whatever they can get – maybe $20k each. Pool the money to buy one 2-bedroom furnished apartment in Auckland and and them all 200-odd people could move in and work as baristas on round the clock shifts so there are no more than 5 people to a bed at any one time.
I abhor their idleness and lack of initiative for not acting on this or any number of similarly brilliant ideas.
i like how they point out the median wages….63.000 NZ total vs 36.000 – 38.000 local.
which may explains why people don’t just up and go, cause a. all their worth is in the house, b. jobs, c. age, d. all the other shit that people hang on to cause its life, and then really, where should they move to?
It is however a good study of what is going to come to a coastal area near you, and I am looking at the huge developments near papamoa and the likes and yeah, words fail.
Waikato health leaders are at odds over the key drivers of mental illness, with the DHB chair disagreeing with a report that inequality is behind many issues.
Bob Simcock was a National Party backbencher who was told he wasnt going to get any further than he was so he stood for the Hamilton mayoralty and drowned the city in debt paying for a car race. Debt that had to payed by selling off social housing.
That wasn’t Bob Simcock, that was a chap called Michael Redman, who then decided he didn’t want to be mayor halfway through his first term and become the Hamilton CEO instead.
The US now admits to paying mercenaries to fight in Syria. Of course, they’ll be ‘good’ mercenaries 🙄
I kind of love how they’re selling this line that they’re paying people to fight against headchoppers (not the Syrian Arab Army or the Syrian government) when they’ve been busy funding, arming and training headchoppers to undermine the Syrian government and giving them unprecedented access to western media into the bargain.
Bill your misplaced sympathies are well known, no matter what you put up still won’t justify supporting Assad, Russia and RT spin,nor will dropping F bombs improve a line of arguement
Explain or take a stab at those sympathies in the context of a worthwhile debating point Red and stop trolling.
Hint: – they aren’t for Assad or Russia, and as I just told your wee twinset mate on the other thread, I can’t access rt, so…
And F bomb. What?
edit – have just noticed the piece is from 2015 – which leads me to wonder what became of it all and if it still survives in any way, shape or form today. I know an incurious knuckle-head like yourself just wouldn’t care one way or another, so see this edit as in no way applying to you.
From July 2015 CBS NewsWASHINGTON — The U.S. military’s program to train and equip thousands of moderate Syrian rebels is faltering, with fewer than 100 volunteers, raising questions about whether the effort can produce enough capable fighters quickly enough to make a difference in the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
And from Sept 2015, the New Yorker – The U.S. campaign to create a new ground force to fight the Islamic State appears to be a flop. The program, designed to train some fifteen thousand Syrians in the course of three years—at a cost of five hundred million dollars—has only a handful of fighters in Syria. “We’re talking four or five,” General Lloyd J. Austin III told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. Austin heads Central Command, which runs U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, a position made famous by former General David Petraeus. Austin conceded that the rebel program is “off to a slow start.”
And yet….we still keep being told there are ‘moderate rebels’ fighting in Syria. Now sure, maybe there are indeed thousands of them but they just thought they’d pass on receiving paid training. Or not.
When arguing with a war luster…, here at the standard …… I was told that after the NATO led destruction of Libya …. its people were better off …. as they were free from Mad Dog Qaddafi …
Sounded like bullshit ….. given the loss of life, invasion by extremist head choppers … A failed state with religious warlords.
I did a search on mad dog Qaddafi … just to see how bad he was …
Was he anything like Saddam? …. a murderous man installed by a cia coup to kill the communist party members in Iraq … “The CIA also played a central role in preparing the death lists of those who were to be eliminated after the coup by squads from the Ba’ath party” ….
The biggest use of chemical warfare in modern times … killing thousands … but it was ok …….as they were Iranians ….. Untermensch
” would the Americans and British dare touch a trial in which we would have not only to describe how Saddam got his filthy gas but why the CIA – in the immediate aftermath of the Iraqi war crimes against Halabja – told US diplomats in the Middle East to claim that the gas used on the Kurds was dropped by the Iranians rather than the Iraqis (Saddam still being at the time our favorite ally rather than our favorite war criminal ” http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-this-was-a-guilty-verdict-on-america-as-well-423147.html
Qaddafi could not have been more different…..
Starting with his bloodless coup …. when he outed a corrupt king …. and British petroleum, BP . … stealing as the british do.
He took over one of poorest, undeveloped, barren backward countries in the world … Nelson Mandela stated…”One could not but be struck by the sights of poverty from the moment of arrival, with all of its usual corollaries: hunger, illness, lack of housing and of health-care facilities, etc.”
Qaddafi promoted economic democracy and used the nationalized oil wealth to sustain progressive social welfare programs for all Libyans …
Things like … Lowered baby mortality from 105 per 1000 live births … to 18 … (pre-Nato
Free health-care and free education .. Illiteracy rates in Libya had fallen from 61 per cent in 1971 to 14 per cent in 2001.
The United Nations Human Rights Council praised Gaddafi for his promotion of women’s rights…. One of the first laws Qaddafi passed in 1970 was an equal pay for equal work law….in 1969, few women went to university. Today, more than half of Libya’s university students are women.
Libya had the highest GDP per capita and life expectancy on the continent….
Had helped Africa fund its own telecommunication satellite …
‘Mad dog Qaddafi ‘had done far more for his people than any other ‘free’ Africn states … like any who dealt with western corporations ,,, and their ‘”off shore tax structures” ….
Qaddafi supported freedom elsewhere …. “the actual close and crucial alliance between Mandela and Qaddafi. Back in the 70s and 80s, when the West refused to allow sanctions against Apartheid in South Africa and used to call Mandela a terrorist, it was none other than Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi who kept supporting him.” http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37301.htm
He also spoke out for the Palestinians … Israelis hated him for this.
I read somewhere – sorry, can’t give a source – that the real reason Qaddafi had to be overthrown was his attempt to set up an alternative international currency opposed to the US dollar.
Understanding a little how the oligarchy in the states works, this makes sense to me!
Libya had billions in gold …….and was looking at helping to fund an African currency …… with a true investment fund/Bank
It would have curtailed predatory lending …
“Christoffer Guldbrandsen reveals how one Swiss company, Glencore, is making billions from copper mining in Zambia while the country remains one of the poorest in the world. You won’t be surprised to learn that……. the IMF and World Bank…… were involved in the sale of the mines that led to this situation. https://www.themindfulword.org/2013/stealing-africa-resources-poor/
And those dirty french foreign legion pirates wanted to loot and dominate …
“Rye denied a news report that the group withdrew because its members did not want to sign a contract agreeing not to fight the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad.
He said that, while U.S. officials had been clear the program was to train fighters to combat Islamic State, the only document participants had to sign was one committing them to promote respect for human rights and the rule of law, a mandate issued by the U.S. Congress.”
more disinformation from the head burners?
wouldn’t good mercenaries WANT to have permission to fight assad under your scenrio bill? Seems so under your last paragraph. Seems like anything that is said is spun into what is already believed and somehow some people believe THEY know the truth – silly head knockers.
What’s the dis-information? I assume you’re not suggesting that reuters could ever be guilty of spreading false-hoods? It would be good to know what report suggested they withdrew because they didn’t want to not fight against the Syrian Army.
Regardless, it seems odd – it actually doesn’t make any sense – to claim that the US was looking to train up moderate rebels to fight on the same side of the government/terrorist divide as the Syrian Army when the US is repeatedly banging on about “regime change” and has (along with the UK) been reasonably open about how it funds and helps those it calls ‘moderates’ in their opposition to the Syrian government.
The funding and whatever isn’t “my” scenario marty. It’s the scenario.
Mercenaries fight for who-ever pays them on whatever terms their employers want. In that respect there are no ‘good’ mercenaries – they are all just people who are willing to kill others for the sake of money.
edit – in lieu of the links above given in addition to Joe 90s comment…so there are apparently no moderate rebels to be found for the sake of training, but the AQ and Al Nusra affiliated White Helmets, who openly operate in ISIS held territory; who openly carry guns; who openly spout sectarian muck – they’ve received in excess of $100 million from the US and UK, been feted by Hollywood, given ‘no questions asked’ access to western media outlets and awarded an alternative Nobel Peace Prize after their nomination for the recognised one fell short.
And that’s not “my” scenario either marty. You can look it all up – it’s either verifiable or on official record.
surely it just shows the utter confusion of trying to understand what is happening there from here.
Fifty years ago a South East Asian nation was on fire. An elitist regime was under attack by their ideological opponents but a deeply unpopular government enjoyed financial support from the west and initial military support in the form of advisors.
After several years of a worsening insurgency further military support was forthcoming and following an off-shore engagement with the regime’s Imperialist backers, a large body of foreign troops and their allies were deployed.
The conflict deepened and a year later the regime’s Imperialist backer doubled the number of troops deployed.
A year later and with an increasingly popular insurgency controlling even larger portions of the country, the regime’s backers poured more troops into a worsening security environment.
Two years later the popular insurgency began a major offensive with a direct assault on the nation’s capital with the Imperialist occupiers suffering heavy losses.
Civilian casualties mounted.
The same year, with worsening losses and news of alleged war crimes dominating domestic headlines, the regime’s Imperialist backers were losing popular support at home and once muted opposition was becoming increasing vocal in efforts to end the war.
Two years later peace talks began and after a further five years of bloodshed the Imperialist dogs packed up and fucked off home with their tail between their legs.
Only if you take things at face value, but not if you pick your way through with an eye out for consistences and contradictions.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s difficult to understand at all. There are large and powerful contingents within a number of western democracies who view the overthrow of the Syrian government as being more important than the defeat of ISIS, Al Nusra, AQ.
The rationale (according to Clinton emails on wikileaks which are probably only reflective of a broader or widely held perspective ) is that Israel is absolutely adamant that it remains the sole nuclear power in the region. That’s why the whole hullabaloo about an Iranian nuclear programme (scrapped). And with the state of Syria out of the way, western powers get to ‘knock on the door’ of Iran while Israel gets to live with a greatly diminished and probably terminal Hezbollah in Lebanon.
And Wahhabism takes root in Iraq and Syria as well as Libya.
For my money, none of it can end well and ought to be exposed and opposed at every turn.
Or, a large enough number of Syrians got sick enough of living in a murderous hereditary dictatorship that a civil war started and has continued due to various local and global powers having interests in the matter. Singling out the western democracies only marginally involved in the conflict for criticism is ridiculous, given the wide range of more eligible candidates.
Doesn’t wash with me. The Assad Government has overwhelming public support going by their last election result, although I guess you will say they rig the elections there. They also provided humanitarian corridors for fleeing civilians in Aleppo, and civilians were moving back to the Government held areas for safe haven. The other thing is that their Government is secular meaning that the mix of faiths within the country can safely coexist. While the rebels appear to align with an extremist Islamist ideology, something a populace you would think would be more willing to overthrow. From these factors I really don’t know how you come to the conclusion that a civil war was waiting to kickoff.
I guess there’s something about a forty year hereditary dictatorship, violently suppressed protests, and a wave of unrest sweeping the region at the time that just plain makes a chap suspicious about the results of an election, even if it weren’t happening well after the various (secular and non-secular) rebel lines had been drawn.
Yep funny how dictators are always well loved and voted for – guess people don’t want to end up with a bag on their head and a bullet in the face – like so many others have.
People who are of the impression that the Baathist government in Syria was the worst thing since “anything ever” might be a bit shocked at the results of a google search for between the years 2000 (when Assad became president) and 2010 (just before all this shit hit the fan).
Try it.
There is no extensive catalogue of endless abuses or extra judicial killings/murders. There is a HRW report from 2007 that comes off the back of mounting US pressure on Syria (Iraq had made allegations about Syria being used as a transit for jihadist types and had blamed Syria for a bombing that ISIS later claimed responsibility for).
The HRW report lists concerns I’d put in the ball-park of any HRW report on the UK before the peace accords in N Ireland. (90 political prisoners, mostly receiving sentences of five years or so)
(c) is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party;
(d) is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict;
Although FWIW, ISTR the yank’s last attempt at something like this was an expensive and dismal failure.
A couple of times now I’ve been sitting in a Labtest waiting room with not much to read but women’s magazines, magazines on caravans and some editions of a magazine called e-local. I have noticed two things; they often have a piece by Don Brash [or contact him about things] and they seem, to me, to be anti-treaty and are making an issue or Maori co-governance [that they are not being elected to their positions]. They also had a piece about farmers and, in particular, taking a dig at Dr Joy for blaming farming for the Havelock North water issues. I thought I’d do a search on them to see if there’s any bias and the first link I see is for an interview with David Fruitbat Icke!
Is anyone else familiar with this publication?
Every edition will have some form of anti-Māori diatribe. Living in Franklin, getting the free editions delivered in the letterbox is like being a unwilling recipient of a white-rights magazine subscription.
+ 1 yep they are very dim racist bulbs – good for laughing at, although it amazes me that the good people of franklin tolerate this constant hate speech in their letterboxes.
Bloody hell, I hadn’t heard of this ancient Celtic New Zealanders assertion as detailed in that link, this is this sort of drivel I’d expect to see on Infowars.
I guess the impressions I had on this magazine were rather accurate.
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 29 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 28 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
90% of prisoners have a mental health problem and one homeless man racks up 400 convictions without it seems getting the medical help he desperately needed. Brilliant journalism on the Nation.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows/2017/04/perpetrators-or-patients.html
The general police approach of using force to resolve problems with mentally ill people seems totally wrong. I think the approach should be compassion and containment first, not rushing in and in some cases traumatising people further.
I think this is an appropriate song to go with your comment maui,
There is no depression in NZ with blam blam and views of the country we love to love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HVogejKx_c
(Mods still haven’t looked into my computer’s mind to see why it is caught up in pending. This will be the last one I put through today so that’s good to hear I bet.)
This is a very interesting source of anti neoliberalism commentary from an irish perspective
https://t.co/Ze5pc8ikAe
Good article worth a read
http://www.thestranger.com/features/2017/04/19/25082450/the-heart-of-whiteness-ijeoma-oluo-interviews-rachel-dolezal-the-white-woman-who-identifies-as-black
So oab… what was it i said about nk?
Huh?
Infused doesn’t remember Ian.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/govt-adviser-takes-aim-chocolate-fundraising
Both.
I would suggest more funds are raised for the foreign owned confectionary corporation than for any school.
probably true.
I’ve looked at various options for fundraising by selling food and other products, and most of them make far more money for the manufacturer than a club or school would.
How much of this fundraising is for trips overseas? and not for important stuff like new sports equipment, computer gear, etc.
I was talking to one parent and their intermediate child went on two (could have been three?) last year and they’re currently fundraising for another one this year, apparently, this is not that uncommon.
Not a high decile school either.
Don’t know BM, perhaps you could find out.
There will be some fund raising to do nice things.
How would you find out what % of school fundraisers are for “nice things” and not for important equipment that will help children get a better education?
I don’t think you can bag a government for underfunding schools without knowing what this fundraising is going towards.
I dunno. Are Boards of Trustees or school accounts subject to the OIA?
Not sure, but if the money is raised via a PTA, that’s usually a charity, so the accounts are available online.
Yeah you never know until you find out BM. Bet you don’t even want to find out though. Just want to be a naysayer. How come you’re no naysayer about Kings College being the Middlemore franchise of the Koru Club ? Equal education for all ?
Personally I dont really see the point in overseas trips, aside from sporting tours, etc. For example, a French language class is probably better off getting members of the local French community around for tea and biscuits.
I would rather see school trips overseas be for academic reasons then sporting reasons. There are plenty of sports teams around the country for school kids to play against. There is no need to go overseas to get competition – they seem more like junkets for the parents rather than for gaining sport skills.
At least a trip for academic reasons has some merit in a school setting. A school I know has a trip to Europe and they travel through Italy, France and England visiting museums, art galleries, etc, etc. As well as talking to the locals and eating locally.
Goodness me. First school trip South Island 1963. Cup of tea with Holyoake in Wellington (fascinating!). Second ‘school’ trip China 1977. Both more memorable in so many aspects for being a group away from its common base NZ. And you know……..the camaraderie and all that.
Strongly disagree with you there millsy. I went to a decile 4 school and was fortunate enough to participate in a cultural exchange with Japanese student. Being able to live and breathe the culture, if only for a short time, taught me so much and it’s something I will treasure forever. Likewise when the students came to stay with us. There were 1-2 overseas trips per year, usually the Japanese or French language class. We did all sorts of fundraising, odd jobs and such. I remember it was a major effort for the families but so worth it.
How much of this fundraising is for trips overseas?
All of it, in my case. Have only ever been offered fundraising chocolate by a school to help pay for overseas trips. If Dr Schofield’s school is sending him unsolicited chocolate bars he’s expected to sell, he should take it up with the board of trustees.
lol I suspect it depends largely on the school decile, having had friends’ kids plying me with chocolate bars and cheese rolls. Just seems wrong somehow lol – teach them not to take candy from strangers, then get them to get strangers to take candy from them…
Sex sells.
But this obviously won’t work for school fundraising.
The next best thing to sex is chocolate. Arguably, chocolate is even better …
you mustn’t be doing it right
Any tips?
Warm Milo.
Can singe your willy though.
Havelock water.
Only for the particularly niche fetishist, though.
I dont think schools should be going cap in hand to corporates for this sort of thing anyway. They have heaps of assets they can use as revenue streams, for example leasing out school houses on AirBNB, starting a school garden and selling the produce (teach the kids some good schools), leasing out schools and classrooms to community groups, hiring the hall out, evening having some sort of op-shop. The list can go on,
There are all those class rooms too.
What school houses? What school is this?
Do you know how much time and effort would be required to make enough produce to sell regularly? The adult time wouldn’t be worth it. That’s why commercial growing isn’t done in a 10m by 2m garden. Being outside, all the produce comes on line at the same time as all the local home gardener’s so prices are low.
Schools have stuff in classrooms they don’t want moved or stolen (microphones, speakers, phones, computers, specialised equipment for the disabled) or broken or vandalised. That’s why they don’t lease them out (even the Saturday Morning Music School got kicked out of a school because they were creating too much hassle). There is usually a community hall about the place that is cheaper to hire and has all the facilities – kitchen, toilets etc – in the right places and meets legal standards. And the MoE has got a bit shitty over using school grounds as money making schemes – they shut down a Saturday market at Newtown School (IIRC) because of some dispute over it – I think it was running again although I assume it’s stopped now because of the new building work.
Most schools are getting out of school fairs e.g. op shop type sales, because trademe has killed the market. At one school fair I was at people were shoplifting stuff that was on sale for $1 or $2 so they could put it on trademe. And the storage cost of stuff that doesn’t sell, sorting of junk and dumping of junk racks up costs. It’s ok-ish when it’s for a fair because people will donate their time but as a full time activity people have better things to do.
(As you can probably tell, I’m involved somewhat with a parent’s support group for a school – we spend a lot of time looking at *efficient* ways to do fundraising. People are getting asked to fork over money for fundraising all the time, from many directions, so it’s quite challenging. )
One of my boys was sent home with Easter eggs and ate half of them himself. So that cut down the hard work of traipsing and door knocking, only vaguely enjoyable if you have a mate with you.
And the secondary school they went to had a trip to California to study geology particularly earthquake faults. Considering we are riddled with them I thought this was over the top. Schools with high decile attitudes and wants make it hard for children from ordinary homes.
Protest sine.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-Bk9FLVwAAmF1w.jpg
Transformers/alternative facts.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-CckLKV0AAqIW6.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-CWPGRXgAI3oH0.jpg
https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2017/04/eaten-alive/
the government should find some higher land handy to these peoples towns and provide a house moving company and shift these houses,
that would be in the too hard basket
Doesn’t EQC count as government action?
It puzzles me that these landowners have been there for several decades, seen the same thing happening consistently right across that coast, and done either nothing about their own property, or built temporary walls knowing that they would be knocked down by the sea a few months later. Could they not figure out something was happening and act?
What action do you suggest?
The first action would be:
Respect that nature is stronger than you are.
Then work out collective actions from there.
“Respect that nature is stronger than you are.”
is not an action
Thinking is an action.
Changing your attitude to nature is the hardest and most important act.
But I’m sure you already knew that.
thinking is NOT action – it may be a precursor to action but it is not action ad – you may have hit on the big issue for today though – “hey I’m thinking about climate change so it’s sweet, in fact I’m getting a bit of a sweat up with all my thinking and stuff.” see, it is ridiculous
The whole framing of the article cited was about individual property rights and how everyone else through the taxpayer in some unspecified form has to defend that single individual’s major asset for as long as they need and for as much as it costs.
Every other point and action and story that stems from that framing will come to the same sets of futile responses.
Which as you know will be repeated in all the other low-lying areas of New Zealand. “Managed retreat” does not mean wait until it’s too late.
It’s as if someone forgot to imagine anything different.
Changing the framing from one of victimhood to one of action responding to facts is a really really hard act.
i suggested a plan of action at the start , it was you who came in on your high horse named personal responsibility , what is the point of paying fuckers to sit in government if they won’t preempt ruin for their people. shift the houses it’s cheap and simple , which is why the fools won’t do it.
So recreate a portion of the town somewhere else?
Wouldn’t be that cheap, roading, utilities like phone, power, sewage, water, bit more than just slapping a house down in a paddock.
That’s pretty much what will have to happen to South Dunedin. I don’t see how individuals can be left to sort that out themselves, any more than people living on the fault line will be left to it.
It’s unfortunate but I think that’s what’s going to happen.
A bit like all those building owners been told they have to shell out a ton of money to get their buildings up to the new earthquake standards.
No government help, either do it or knock it down.
I agree with some of that, but you still haven’t said what someone in that situation could actually do. Are you suggesting that they sold earlier? Or what?
i guess forward thinking people would get out while the getting is good , but it’s still going to leave you with people in houses that won’t last, i think a managed retreat saving /shifting what houses can be will still be cheaper than cramming coastal refugees into cities they most likely don’t want to live in.
so yes bm it will cost but everything costs , of course there is no shortage of money but that’s another yarn.
It’s an interesting problem to have to think through. At what point should an individual be held solely responsible. I think if anyone builds a house in a stupid place from now on, that’s their loss. But people that bought a place say 5 years ago, what choices to they have other than if they’re lucky passing the problem to someone else? Such is the reality of the property market.
Can you give us one good reason then why CHCH was not evacuated and left to rot after the earth quakes, or at least after the second earth quake?
and could they not figure out that there might be another earthquake in the future and just move somewhere else?
How many times do you want the EQC to bail out irresponsible landowners, who have been there for several decades, seen the same thing happen a few times now at least, and either do nothing about their own properties, or ‘earthquake proof’ their properties knowing that they would be knocked down again by another big earthquake in the future?
Have you been to Christchurch recently and seen where the Red Zones were?
Have you been there and seen how much of the city is now permanently evacuated?
Do you really as a taxpayer want to keep underwriting people from doing the same dumb thing again and again to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, when all kinds of environmental signals are saying to them for years and years:
Do Something Different?
The difference is that most people in Chch got some kind of insurance payout (albeit hugely stressful ones). But you still haven’t said what an existing homeowner on the coast could actually do. Keeping saying ‘do something different’ doesn’t help.
Building new on the coast, that’s a different thing, and those people can lose their money/equity.
why wait till the houses are smashed ,
” Could they not figure out something was happening and act?”
acting costs money ,they can’t insure the houses , the section would be unsalable .
a simple house shift costs $15k , be a good way to upgrade the sewerage etc.
If after that severity of environmental signal over that many years they can’t save or pay off $15k over 20 years to shift their foundations, and EQC and private insurance has come to its limit, and the community hasn’t figured out a way to approach this together, then seriously they can’t afford a house.
you live in auckland ? auckland at some point going to get flattened by a volcano , what are you doing about it?
Building in Wanaka.
Alpine fault shift?
Yup.
Spread your risk if you can.
Failing that, base isolators and a really stable foundation raft.
aah your right that’s what those fools from granity should do
I was asked what I would do, which had nothing to do with the article you cited, but out of politeness I answered anyway.
I replied to Weka about what they should do.
Start there.
just pointing out your simplistic right wingness that shines through sometimes . small government do it ya self ness works if you are agile minded or rich ,
What you were pointing out was the standard position of those who have lost all credibility to their answers: a simple ad hominem attack.
I don’t need to do that.
It amazes me that after hundreds of posts on The Standard about climate change, floods, earthquakes, and sea level rises, you still can’t get nature’s message.
i get it and i just got you, survival of the fittest in wanaka if the shit hits the fan , that’s not an attack btw , i like the central north island for the same reason.
As requested, start with my reply to Weka. Start from:
“Respect that nature is stronger than you are.”
Or have a few alternatives to this:
“If after that severity of environmental signal over that many years they can’t save or pay off $15k over 20 years to shift their foundations, and EQC and private insurance has come to its limit, and the community hasn’t figured out a way to approach this together, then seriously they can’t afford a house.”
Maybe they could figure out exactly what it’s going to cost to move their house.
Maybe they could ask family for help.
Maybe they could band together as neighbors, or even as a community.
Maybe there are friendly farmers who can help with land.
Maybe both settlements need to move.
Maybe they could step out of the little realm of single tiny bits of uneconomic private property and form a collective or two.
Maybe it’s time to link this to New Zealand’s broader responsiveness to environmental change on a lot of fronts over the last decade.
All would have made excellent investigations.
But, no, none of that suited the framing of the article.
got to have bushells of money for that waggy
granity people will have to move – all 216 of them – at least to over the road
Or band together and sell all the houses for whatever they can get – maybe $20k each. Pool the money to buy one 2-bedroom furnished apartment in Auckland and and them all 200-odd people could move in and work as baristas on round the clock shifts so there are no more than 5 people to a bed at any one time.
I abhor their idleness and lack of initiative for not acting on this or any number of similarly brilliant ideas.
lol – thinking outside the square there for sure
you mean 5 of them sleeping at any one time? lazy fuckers no body ever got to the top of the heap by sleeping
I can’t get past Stuff going all glossy magazine and then quoting the woman as saying “I looked out and went oh my f…ing God”
(and have given up reading now, that format is just too weird).
It is a good article.
i like how they point out the median wages….63.000 NZ total vs 36.000 – 38.000 local.
which may explains why people don’t just up and go, cause a. all their worth is in the house, b. jobs, c. age, d. all the other shit that people hang on to cause its life, and then really, where should they move to?
It is however a good study of what is going to come to a coastal area near you, and I am looking at the huge developments near papamoa and the likes and yeah, words fail.
i liked its format ,the pictures suit my short attention span
Waikato health leaders are at odds over the key drivers of mental illness, with the DHB chair disagreeing with a report that inequality is behind many issues.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/91762895/report-gives-snapshot-of-waikatos-mental-health-needs
Disagreeing with the obvious is a kind of madness isn’t it. But you have to know you’re mad to be sane, isn’t that how it goes?
Bob Simcock was a National Party backbencher who was told he wasnt going to get any further than he was so he stood for the Hamilton mayoralty and drowned the city in debt paying for a car race. Debt that had to payed by selling off social housing.
That wasn’t Bob Simcock, that was a chap called Michael Redman, who then decided he didn’t want to be mayor halfway through his first term and become the Hamilton CEO instead.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Redman_(politician)
He was also behind this $100+ million dollar white elephant.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/79396381/claudelands-event-centres-performance-under-spotlight
Helen Clark has been approached to come back to Parliament to talk about drug law reforms.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/91704252/stories-of-hardship-and-frustration-inspire-bigname-drug-summit
The US now admits to paying mercenaries to fight in Syria. Of course, they’ll be ‘good’ mercenaries 🙄
I kind of love how they’re selling this line that they’re paying people to fight against headchoppers (not the Syrian Arab Army or the Syrian government) when they’ve been busy funding, arming and training headchoppers to undermine the Syrian government and giving them unprecedented access to western media into the bargain.
Bill your misplaced sympathies are well known, no matter what you put up still won’t justify supporting Assad, Russia and RT spin,nor will dropping F bombs improve a line of arguement
Explain or take a stab at those sympathies in the context of a worthwhile debating point Red and stop trolling.
Hint: – they aren’t for Assad or Russia, and as I just told your wee twinset mate on the other thread, I can’t access rt, so…
And F bomb. What?
edit – have just noticed the piece is from 2015 – which leads me to wonder what became of it all and if it still survives in any way, shape or form today. I know an incurious knuckle-head like yourself just wouldn’t care one way or another, so see this edit as in no way applying to you.
Dated search – it never went anywhere.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-admits-paying-terrorists-for-services-rendered-in-syria/5459288
🙂
From July 2015 CBS News WASHINGTON — The U.S. military’s program to train and equip thousands of moderate Syrian rebels is faltering, with fewer than 100 volunteers, raising questions about whether the effort can produce enough capable fighters quickly enough to make a difference in the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
And from Sept 2015, the New Yorker – The U.S. campaign to create a new ground force to fight the Islamic State appears to be a flop. The program, designed to train some fifteen thousand Syrians in the course of three years—at a cost of five hundred million dollars—has only a handful of fighters in Syria. “We’re talking four or five,” General Lloyd J. Austin III told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. Austin heads Central Command, which runs U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, a position made famous by former General David Petraeus. Austin conceded that the rebel program is “off to a slow start.”
And yet….we still keep being told there are ‘moderate rebels’ fighting in Syria. Now sure, maybe there are indeed thousands of them but they just thought they’d pass on receiving paid training. Or not.
The last war ….
Mad dogs and englishmen
When arguing with a war luster…, here at the standard …… I was told that after the NATO led destruction of Libya …. its people were better off …. as they were free from Mad Dog Qaddafi …
Sounded like bullshit ….. given the loss of life, invasion by extremist head choppers … A failed state with religious warlords.
I did a search on mad dog Qaddafi … just to see how bad he was …
Was he anything like Saddam? …. a murderous man installed by a cia coup to kill the communist party members in Iraq … “The CIA also played a central role in preparing the death lists of those who were to be eliminated after the coup by squads from the Ba’ath party” ….
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/revealed-how-the-west-set-saddam-on-the-bloody-road-to-power-1258618.html
“Saddam Hussein, who had rushed back to Iraq from exile in Cairo to join the victors, was personally involved in the torture of leftists” ….
Later on Saddam was sold the ingredients, the technology, and given detailed satellite information to launch Sarin Nerve gas attacks … repeatedly. …
” we supplied him with intelligence about what Iranian targets to hit with the expectation that he would attack with chemical weapons. We then proceeded to block Iranian attempts to bring a case against Iraq to the United Nations.” https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2013/08/26/us-supported-iraqs-use-of-chemical-weapons-even-as-it-inches-to-war-with-syria-on-lesser-allegations/
The biggest use of chemical warfare in modern times … killing thousands … but it was ok …….as they were Iranians ….. Untermensch
” would the Americans and British dare touch a trial in which we would have not only to describe how Saddam got his filthy gas but why the CIA – in the immediate aftermath of the Iraqi war crimes against Halabja – told US diplomats in the Middle East to claim that the gas used on the Kurds was dropped by the Iranians rather than the Iraqis (Saddam still being at the time our favorite ally rather than our favorite war criminal ” http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-this-was-a-guilty-verdict-on-america-as-well-423147.html
Qaddafi could not have been more different…..
Starting with his bloodless coup …. when he outed a corrupt king …. and British petroleum, BP . … stealing as the british do.
He took over one of poorest, undeveloped, barren backward countries in the world … Nelson Mandela stated…”One could not but be struck by the sights of poverty from the moment of arrival, with all of its usual corollaries: hunger, illness, lack of housing and of health-care facilities, etc.”
Qaddafi promoted economic democracy and used the nationalized oil wealth to sustain progressive social welfare programs for all Libyans …
https://globalciviliansforpeace.wordpress.com/
Things like … Lowered baby mortality from 105 per 1000 live births … to 18 … (pre-Nato
Free health-care and free education .. Illiteracy rates in Libya had fallen from 61 per cent in 1971 to 14 per cent in 2001.
The United Nations Human Rights Council praised Gaddafi for his promotion of women’s rights…. One of the first laws Qaddafi passed in 1970 was an equal pay for equal work law….in 1969, few women went to university. Today, more than half of Libya’s university students are women.
Libya had the highest GDP per capita and life expectancy on the continent….
Had helped Africa fund its own telecommunication satellite …
And was completing the largest fresh water infrastructure projects for Libya …. with plans to extend the benefits into arid africa … http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/30999-war-crime-nato-deliberately-destroyed-libya-s-water-infrastructure
‘Mad dog Qaddafi ‘had done far more for his people than any other ‘free’ Africn states … like any who dealt with western corporations ,,, and their ‘”off shore tax structures” ….
Qaddafi supported freedom elsewhere …. “the actual close and crucial alliance between Mandela and Qaddafi. Back in the 70s and 80s, when the West refused to allow sanctions against Apartheid in South Africa and used to call Mandela a terrorist, it was none other than Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi who kept supporting him.” http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37301.htm
He also spoke out for the Palestinians … Israelis hated him for this.
Lockerbie …. Qaddafi s main ‘crime’ …. would never get a conviction now …. with counterfeit evidence and million pound witnesses http://www.lockerbietruth.com/2017/01/lockerbies-28-year-lie-take-two.html
By design of Nato and Hillary …..Libya was destroyed and looted …
Women and children will especially suffer …. black Libyans and Africans have suffered a genocide ….. and have been ethnically culled from the land.
The war was based on lies….. by the same people who brought about the destruction …..and unnecessary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
None of these wars has finished ……….
Millions killed, wounded, starved and traumatized …. and millions made homeless refugees
Is it racism against Muslims …which allows us to accept and forget all this……
As they load up syria with HuGE amonts of weapons, explosives and trained up extremists…. with a bit of gas on the side.
It’s quite fitting that croation and ukraine nazis are involved in the weapons ‘ratlines’…… Untermensch indeed https://www.thetrumpet.com/13871-is-croatia-embracing-its-nazi-era-past
I read somewhere – sorry, can’t give a source – that the real reason Qaddafi had to be overthrown was his attempt to set up an alternative international currency opposed to the US dollar.
Understanding a little how the oligarchy in the states works, this makes sense to me!
I think your right there TVntpb3rb …..
Libya had billions in gold …….and was looking at helping to fund an African currency …… with a true investment fund/Bank
It would have curtailed predatory lending …
“Christoffer Guldbrandsen reveals how one Swiss company, Glencore, is making billions from copper mining in Zambia while the country remains one of the poorest in the world. You won’t be surprised to learn that……. the IMF and World Bank…… were involved in the sale of the mines that led to this situation. https://www.themindfulword.org/2013/stealing-africa-resources-poor/
And those dirty french foreign legion pirates wanted to loot and dominate …
” the huge threat that Qaddafi gold and silver reserves, estimated at “143 tons of gold, and a similar amount in silver,” posed to the French franc (CFA) circulating as a prime African currency.” https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/01/06/new-hillary-emails-reveal-true-motive-for-libya-intervention/
I think the young people of Libya wanted more freedom …. like night clubs, alcohol and ‘choice’ …
What they have been given ….is destruction and suffering in a horrible cruel deception …Tens of thousands dead
Nato U.s Freedom comes with ethnic or sectarian culling.. croaatia …. Kosovo ….right sector Ukraine….. division of Iraq.
What type of ideology is for ‘national purity’ and non mixing ????
This doco mentions Hitler & Satan …. or Putin and the Assad as war lusters call them ( but it does feature a genuine nazi ) ….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtvaNIQN0DY
As it shows one of the almost vital support structures … for corrupt dictators, regimes or warlords
It also shows the means to fatally wound and weaken All of them …. without the genocides …. or killing of anyone at all …
Apparently for Governments …. its a lot easier to go to war …. kill huge amounts of women, kids and civilians … lie like hell …
Than it is to clean up our collaboration corruption …..
..”an industry which has been painstakingly built up over the last 25 years or so” … In our (Nz) case
“Rye denied a news report that the group withdrew because its members did not want to sign a contract agreeing not to fight the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad.
He said that, while U.S. officials had been clear the program was to train fighters to combat Islamic State, the only document participants had to sign was one committing them to promote respect for human rights and the rule of law, a mandate issued by the U.S. Congress.”
more disinformation from the head burners?
wouldn’t good mercenaries WANT to have permission to fight assad under your scenrio bill? Seems so under your last paragraph. Seems like anything that is said is spun into what is already believed and somehow some people believe THEY know the truth – silly head knockers.
What’s the dis-information? I assume you’re not suggesting that reuters could ever be guilty of spreading false-hoods? It would be good to know what report suggested they withdrew because they didn’t want to not fight against the Syrian Army.
Regardless, it seems odd – it actually doesn’t make any sense – to claim that the US was looking to train up moderate rebels to fight on the same side of the government/terrorist divide as the Syrian Army when the US is repeatedly banging on about “regime change” and has (along with the UK) been reasonably open about how it funds and helps those it calls ‘moderates’ in their opposition to the Syrian government.
The funding and whatever isn’t “my” scenario marty. It’s the scenario.
Mercenaries fight for who-ever pays them on whatever terms their employers want. In that respect there are no ‘good’ mercenaries – they are all just people who are willing to kill others for the sake of money.
edit – in lieu of the links above given in addition to Joe 90s comment…so there are apparently no moderate rebels to be found for the sake of training, but the AQ and Al Nusra affiliated White Helmets, who openly operate in ISIS held territory; who openly carry guns; who openly spout sectarian muck – they’ve received in excess of $100 million from the US and UK, been feted by Hollywood, given ‘no questions asked’ access to western media outlets and awarded an alternative Nobel Peace Prize after their nomination for the recognised one fell short.
And that’s not “my” scenario either marty. You can look it all up – it’s either verifiable or on official record.
“Regardless, it seems odd – it actually doesn’t make any sense”
surely it just shows the utter confusion of trying to understand what is happening there from here.
Fifty years ago a South East Asian nation was on fire. An elitist regime was under attack by their ideological opponents but a deeply unpopular government enjoyed financial support from the west and initial military support in the form of advisors.
After several years of a worsening insurgency further military support was forthcoming and following an off-shore engagement with the regime’s Imperialist backers, a large body of foreign troops and their allies were deployed.
The conflict deepened and a year later the regime’s Imperialist backer doubled the number of troops deployed.
A year later and with an increasingly popular insurgency controlling even larger portions of the country, the regime’s backers poured more troops into a worsening security environment.
Two years later the popular insurgency began a major offensive with a direct assault on the nation’s capital with the Imperialist occupiers suffering heavy losses.
Civilian casualties mounted.
The same year, with worsening losses and news of alleged war crimes dominating domestic headlines, the regime’s Imperialist backers were losing popular support at home and once muted opposition was becoming increasing vocal in efforts to end the war.
Two years later peace talks began and after a further five years of bloodshed the Imperialist dogs packed up and fucked off home with their tail between their legs.
Fifty years later, same fight, different dogs.
Only if you take things at face value, but not if you pick your way through with an eye out for consistences and contradictions.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s difficult to understand at all. There are large and powerful contingents within a number of western democracies who view the overthrow of the Syrian government as being more important than the defeat of ISIS, Al Nusra, AQ.
The rationale (according to Clinton emails on wikileaks which are probably only reflective of a broader or widely held perspective ) is that Israel is absolutely adamant that it remains the sole nuclear power in the region. That’s why the whole hullabaloo about an Iranian nuclear programme (scrapped). And with the state of Syria out of the way, western powers get to ‘knock on the door’ of Iran while Israel gets to live with a greatly diminished and probably terminal Hezbollah in Lebanon.
And Wahhabism takes root in Iraq and Syria as well as Libya.
For my money, none of it can end well and ought to be exposed and opposed at every turn.
Or, a large enough number of Syrians got sick enough of living in a murderous hereditary dictatorship that a civil war started and has continued due to various local and global powers having interests in the matter. Singling out the western democracies only marginally involved in the conflict for criticism is ridiculous, given the wide range of more eligible candidates.
Doesn’t wash with me. The Assad Government has overwhelming public support going by their last election result, although I guess you will say they rig the elections there. They also provided humanitarian corridors for fleeing civilians in Aleppo, and civilians were moving back to the Government held areas for safe haven. The other thing is that their Government is secular meaning that the mix of faiths within the country can safely coexist. While the rebels appear to align with an extremist Islamist ideology, something a populace you would think would be more willing to overthrow. From these factors I really don’t know how you come to the conclusion that a civil war was waiting to kickoff.
I guess there’s something about a forty year hereditary dictatorship, violently suppressed protests, and a wave of unrest sweeping the region at the time that just plain makes a chap suspicious about the results of an election, even if it weren’t happening well after the various (secular and non-secular) rebel lines had been drawn.
Yep funny how dictators are always well loved and voted for – guess people don’t want to end up with a bag on their head and a bullet in the face – like so many others have.
People who are of the impression that the Baathist government in Syria was the worst thing since “anything ever” might be a bit shocked at the results of a google search for between the years 2000 (when Assad became president) and 2010 (just before all this shit hit the fan).
Try it.
There is no extensive catalogue of endless abuses or extra judicial killings/murders. There is a HRW report from 2007 that comes off the back of mounting US pressure on Syria (Iraq had made allegations about Syria being used as a transit for jihadist types and had blamed Syria for a bombing that ISIS later claimed responsibility for).
The HRW report lists concerns I’d put in the ball-park of any HRW report on the UK before the peace accords in N Ireland. (90 political prisoners, mostly receiving sentences of five years or so)
the msm is compromised bill – searching via google just buys into their narrative – why would I trust ANY report or article.
Not according to the laws of war they’re not. The list of characteristics required to be a mercenary include:
Although FWIW, ISTR the yank’s last attempt at something like this was an expensive and dismal failure.
A couple of times now I’ve been sitting in a Labtest waiting room with not much to read but women’s magazines, magazines on caravans and some editions of a magazine called e-local. I have noticed two things; they often have a piece by Don Brash [or contact him about things] and they seem, to me, to be anti-treaty and are making an issue or Maori co-governance [that they are not being elected to their positions]. They also had a piece about farmers and, in particular, taking a dig at Dr Joy for blaming farming for the Havelock North water issues. I thought I’d do a search on them to see if there’s any bias and the first link I see is for an interview with David Fruitbat Icke!
Is anyone else familiar with this publication?
E-Local is a privately owned publication, that is often used as a platform for anti-treaty, anti Māori articles written as “FACT”.
Scott Hamilton did a good article a few years back, on the misinformation they continue to post.
Every edition will have some form of anti-Māori diatribe. Living in Franklin, getting the free editions delivered in the letterbox is like being a unwilling recipient of a white-rights magazine subscription.
+ 1 yep they are very dim racist bulbs – good for laughing at, although it amazes me that the good people of franklin tolerate this constant hate speech in their letterboxes.
Goebbels theory: include just enough hate in an otherwise inoffensive publication, and it’ll slip through.
Rich bigots have an automatic advantage in getting their bullshit out over everyone else.
Bloody hell, I hadn’t heard of this ancient Celtic New Zealanders assertion as detailed in that link, this is this sort of drivel I’d expect to see on Infowars.
I guess the impressions I had on this magazine were rather accurate.
What is the best way to submit for a possible Guest Post nowadays? Don’t want to waste anybody’s time, least of all my own.
Either use the submit function on the site or send to me at dunedinjamsquirrel “at” gmail.com
Ta
I will try the ‘official’ way first and see how it goes; not so much success in the past though …
What if a tyrant comes to power…