The decision to discontinue plans to dam the Mokihinui River for hydro power demonstrates the complete paucity of economic thinking that we are festooned with in this country. Lamentations and wails spring loud from the West Coast where they had expected cheaper power and jobs to be created. When examined more closely what we see is what is really a cargo cult mentality of the quick fix for short term gain, rather than a deeper analysis of what is sustainable and what is possible.
For example the big gripe, “Coasters pay more for power”. If we had not split up the national power generation and created an artificial market that has proven more costly might we not have been better able to provide Coasters with the same price as the rest of the country? Or perhaps, “This has cost us jobs”. How many of the construction workers would necessarily be local, when it was built how many would have stayed? And what cost would have to be sunk into this temporary arrangement.
All I am hearing is a lot of hot air. Not to mention a failure to note that the Stockton scheme is approved and will supply power and work. I think they complain tooo much.
Very much opposed, it is an economic liability on a natural resource that is worth far more. It is an environmental catastrophe and vandalism of the highest order. It is a disaster waiting to happen (there is a major fault line nearby). But most of all it represents bankrupt economic and social thinking, the howls of indignation being the audible demonstration of the symptom.
Your power bill is loaded with compliance costs and 4 layers (generator, transpower, lines company, retailer) of profit taking each with their own agenda.
Planning is done on a piecemeal basis not holistically as each layer protects its own self interests and brownlee made it worse with retailers cutting each others throats and genesis in the mix on South island hydro meridian used to look after.
the regulator is full of bean counters and lawyers with little understanding of the types of hard core engineering issues that need to be faced and dealt with so were in a bit if a pickle on the whole.
If ever an industry screamed out for nationalisation power is it, a failure from both sides of the political spectrum since NZEC days and too vital to be left run its course.
Energy policy will be the worlds key economic issue as the oil gets rare. Consequently for a small polity such as NZ ownership is a key issue: we would be very stupid to export the profit of what should be a strategic advantage. This is the primary reason the assets should not be sold.
As far a Labour goes it is about time they showed some backbone and announced as a primary policy the renationalisation of electricity supply and a total review of generation capacity and supply methodology. The Mokihinui fiasco clearly outlines the failure of the (“created artificial”) market to address the power security and pricing for regions such as the West Coast.
The left leaning parties should be coming to an agreement to nationalise all natural monopolies, i.e, banking (creation and control of the currency, the private sector can keep the speculative side), telecommunications, power, ports, airports etc. A definition spelling out what makes a natural monopoly would be good.
“Govt can spend by keystroke. It has a Treasury & the Reserve Bank as it’s intermediary with private banking…”
“Printing is misleading. Money of account is debt, accounted for using keystrokes that enter numbers into accounts. Govt spends money into existence. Private banks are licensed to lend money into existence. Currency may be printed..”
“NZ Govt doesn’t need really need to issue bonds in order to spend. NZ Govt doesn’t need to borrow money into existence, all that bond issuing is a free lunch for banking.
Not unless we start to properly question neoclassical economics and the right of private banks to lend money into existence.
So without total collapse, probably not.
The current irony of coarse being all this phobia around debt, yet a system that requires endlessly increasing debt to grow, given the last 30 years has been a ponzi scheme.
Renationalise it and get back to planning as a whole system that benefits the country in terms of reliable power where it’s required for rural, industry and residential use.
Removes the profit taking and unecessary emphasis on regulatory compliance shedding billions off the bottom line overall annually.
The model’s a failure it needs to be thrown away and return to what worked. A single SOE….FIFY.
John72’s reply demonstrates lucidly my whole contention: a total lack of imagination. Positive solutions such as you have noted are multitudinous so long as we don’t get hidebound in “conventional wisdom”.
Good example on the West Coast is that there is a plan to increase the Arnold hydro which could help them secure more power locally…it is not economically viable for the current energy “company” (nor would it be for a nationalised entity). It could be mandated as part of a regional supply security issue paid for across all users nationwide however. Lets face it we lose 25% of the power shipped from the Waitaki to Auckland yet we still disperse that cost….the issue is that we need a single large a scale of electricity supply entity in order to achieve this (as opposed to smaller units that have to make shareholders short term interests happen). Its planning as opposed to competition, it worked for most of our history, it can work again.
Another methodology is to enable and allow micro scale generators to feed into the grid, there is plenty of cheaply harnessed water and wind power available with very low environmental impact. The major issue here is that over production is easy, under production a problem (i.e micro producers need to use the grid as a battery when their wind does not blow or their water flow).
Driving down the Buller and the Grey a few years ago I noticed the huge flow of water that was being “wasted”. Has anybody thought about in-stream hydro (its what the first US electricity came from: waterwheels etc)? There are so many options, and we need to do this whilst we have time, before oil makes its exit.
Bored, may I point out that your posts today, (1, 1.1.1, 1.1.2 ) are devoted to criticism. No positive comment is of any value. Your lasr sentence in post “1” applies to you and many others.
Post 1 :- “I think they complain too much.”
Campaigns for a living wage should also be accompanied by campaigns for other related changes. Looking at the case studies with the article below, part of the problem is the cost of housing and rents.
Housing shouldn’t be a speculative market that those at the top use to get rich.
Furthermore, businesses shouldn’t be aiming for exorbitant profits in an economy focused on “growth”. And there should be a focus on supporting businesses that contribute to a steady-state economy, not on ones producing useless status-symbols and too many unnecessary luxuries.
A campaign has been launched for a “living wage” in New Zealand, inspired by policies in United States cities and London.
The Living Wage Aotearoa NZ campaign is drawing support from unions, churches, Pacific, women’s and community groups.
Organiser Annie Newman of the Service and Food Workers Union said it was inspired by “living wage” policies governing council contracts in more than 140 US cities and in London, where the rate of £8.30 ($17.35) an hour is 37 per cent above the £6.08 ($12.71) legal minimum wage.
[…]
A campaign has been launched for a “living wage” in New Zealand, inspired by policies in United States cities and London.
The Living Wage Aotearoa NZ campaign is drawing support from unions, churches, Pacific, women’s and community groups.
Organiser Annie Newman of the Service and Food Workers Union said it was inspired by “living wage” policies governing council contracts in more than 140 US cities and in London, where the rate of £8.30 ($17.35) an hour is 37 per cent above the £6.08 ($12.71) legal minimum wage.
[…]
Low wages for the Kaufisis mean the children don’t go to school when there is no money for lunch.
Leo Kaufisi, of New Lynn, earns $14 an hour as a dispatcher for Pacific Inks in Avondale. His wife Lopaini earns the legal minimum of $13.50 an hour as a cleaner.
Four adults and eight children live in the three-bedroom house which they rent for $350 a week – Mr and Mrs Kaufisi, their six children aged between four and 12 , Mrs Kaufisi’s unemployed mother, her mother’s partner, her 12-year-old sister and 10-year-old brother.
Six children sleep in one cramped bedroom.- The other children sleep with their parents.
It’s good that this campaign is highlighting the struggle to survive by families living on low wages.
I think it’s a problem the overseas campaign focused on council contracts, which are limited by funding from taxes/rates. There should be more focus on private businesses that earn big profits while paying low wages.
There is also an accompanying article which looks at Auckland Council’s plan to reduce the city’s inequalities, and the causes for the growth in the extent of inequalities:
Similar increases in inequality have occurred across many developed countries.
The driving forces have been both technological changes, which have strengthened the power of the skilled at the expense of the unskilled; and policy changes, which have weakened unions, opened markets to free trade, cut taxes on the rich and imposed new taxes on spending that bear most heavily on the poor.
Some good points in there, but some things could be elaborated eg the “free trade” ethos, and the shift of unskilled jobs to low wage countries.
The article resorts to a bit of potted history with a focus on biblical times, in arguing that the tendency for small groups to accumulate wealth has always been countered by morality-based moves to limit such accumulation:
There is an inbuilt tension in any large-scale economic system. Natural variations in human capabilities and ambitions tend to accumulate according to what has been called the “Matthew effect” after the Bible verse: “For the one who has will be given more … But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”
But, as the rest of the Bible demonstrates, human societies have also struggled for thousands of years to set limits to accumulation for the kinds of reasons expressed in the draft Auckland Plan, as above.
Morally, we are programmed to care for others in need. And practically, we are stronger as a group if all members of the group contribute to their full potential, rather than being alienated and disaffected.
The article argues that the Auckland plan supports this moral programming by aiming to balance freedom with compassion, through balancing a competitive economy with “caring community”. So it aims to maintain free market capitalism by incorporating elements of a “caring community”. Of course, this falls short of a plan that will fix a broken system. But what would you expect from NZ’s MSM?
The article also correctly argues that the Auckland Council cannot fix the problems of extreme inequality without help from the central government.
Read the critique of this Third Way, or softening of the social impacts of the NeoLib agenda, in Growth Fetish by Clive Hamilton. After a post by U-Turn, the second best prose that I have read this month
Agree entirely Carol, been researching that myself lately. I’m not in disagreement with the principle of a living wage but I think wage rises is the wrong way to approach it. You never catch up. The wealthy are getting rich from asset inflation and the ever increasing rents that flow from it. Lifting the lowest wages tends to push asset values up and within a very short time it’s back to the same problem again, if not worse off.
Look at this chart for an example of where IMO the real problem lies;
The value of housing stock in NZ has gone from$236bn in 2001 to $605bn in 2011, that’s an increase of 290% in a decade. Some is due to building new houses but most of the increase is just asset inflation.
Now rents haven’t increased by the same amount as house prices but they will eventually and the poor will keep getting squeezed. It’s a transfer of wealth. Govt spends over $1bn on accommodation supplements already, and it will get worse.
It’s the union’s job to chase better wages & conditions for it’s workers but I really can’t see the living wage concept working without addressing asset inflation and that’s a Govt role.
Govt spends over $1bn on accommodation supplements already, and it will get worse.
And it would be better if the dropped the Accommodation Supplement and spent the $1b/year on building (high rise, high density) houses which could then be rented out for cost of maintenance.
Aye, think what the cash spent on roads could have achieved. Accommodation supplement is only a part of it too. Look at all the welfare the state pays out and there’s probably at least $4-5bn of it going straight into rents. And each year it gets worse as rents keep going up, we get further & further behind. Even our taxes are making the rich richer.
Major problem is that rents and the price of rental housing are currently intertwined with the price of the family home. They need to be separated and that’s not an easy task. Can be done but would take some smart thinking, would never win an election if every home owner thought their house values would fall significantly.
That could work although the freeholders still wouldn’t be happy.
My thinking was along the lines of creating a brand new housing market. Govt owns the land & leases it, people own or rent the house on the land. That would create a separation between freehold and leasehold; distinctly different markets. Would need controls over people simply selling the leases & recreating the same asset inflation but that’s not unachievable.
If Govt just provided the land it would cost the taxpayer a lot less and still enable people to buy their own homes, save money etc. And for renters, well lower rents are just as good as any pay rise, possibly better.
Hi Carol. Did you see the interview last night with John Campbell and John (John?) Ryall of the Service and Food Workers Union? Between them they made a strong case for the living wage campaign, and discussed the benefits an increased wage brings. Cleary obvious stuff but it did counter the argument of the right that increased wages means less job opportunities. There was also an accompanying article about the struggle for a mother on the minimum wage and her 3 children. The eldest had just turned 17 so he was working 25 hours an week also minimum wage to help the household costs, which was compromising his study.
I have to hand it to the Campbell show that they have made an effort this year to highlight social injustice and also to illustrate how individuals and families are living in poverty purely as a result of the recession and govt policy that affects the poor, working poor and middle class the most. It is refreshing that they are talking this and less about the fad diet of the week or neurotic rich parents problems that seem so inconsequential to anyone just trying to scrap enough money together the day before pay day to get a bottle of milk and some more bread (an example taken from my life, today being Wednesday!)
In a State in either the US, or Canada, economists studied the legislated lift of the minimum wage and found, wait….., that more people became employed and the quality and productivity of their work improved. Those, who were threatened by these outcomes severly demonised the research, which was found to be valid.
Indeed Sam. In low wage economies like ours, when the impact of minimum wage vs. living or good wage is studied the results always demonstrate in purely economic terms, putting aside improved health and social outcomes for individuals and communities, that a living/good wage always benefits society as a whole, bringing in more tax and increasing retail spending. Its a pretty flimsy argument the right put up when they claim that higher wages put business at a disadvantage
Yes. i saw CL last night and agree that it did a very good job in highlighting the problem and showing the unfairness. It was heart wrenching to see how hard that family is working just to stay afloat.
Such a Living Wage would ideally need to be defined as weekly income rather than an hourly wage. You’d then have it so that each hour worked increased the income. We could call it Universal Income.
Campaigns for a living wage should also be accompanied by campaigns for other related changes. Looking at the case studies with the article below, part of the problem is the cost of housing and rents.
Good to see Andrew Little and Trevor Mallard standing up to Crusher Collins. She’s just bluffing and it won’t get to court. Especially if she can’t get the papers served on them.
Her server will probably catch Mallard while on the toilet, a handy place of vulnerability – there doesn’t seem to be any protocol of respect for the private life of her detractors being shown in her approach.
Probably – but it still makes no sense to me why even bother hiding and trying to dodge getting the papers served it doesn’t achieve anything if the claims are as without merit as they claim.
In fact the only thing it does achieve is make it seem they are worried about the case.
But that’s my point I think by choosing to go this way it stops being so much about her and rather more about Little and Mallard and the fact they have a court case (easiest way to describe it rather than a case that will go to court for) they are trying to not get served for.
Is that really where they want the spotlight? Is there really any other way they thought it would go?
Yes I agree completely it is the end game that will be remembered that’s why I don’t understand this at all. Every story up till now has been them laughing at her and her saying nothing.
Now because of the way it is being played just the simple act of her serving papers is being seen as some kind of victory and puts the joke on them. Yesterday’s headline on stuff was an example ‘Andrew Little told: You’re served, no fries’ That really got her?
I know and I agree. I think Collins has been ridiculous, but that is part of the problem, because of the way Little and Mallard have acted it has taken the spotlight from that.
Was terrible work and a huge missed opportunity from them.
I visited your recommended site, ianmac. A great mind in the comments section complained that NZ education was in a crisis because half of the children’s marks fell below the median!
I think Bennett nails it well there, although I’m not so sure that the teacher everyone likes is necessarily the ‘best’ teacher. I got bored easy at school & it was the hard bastards who got the best results out of me. As he says, different teachers suit different people. I reckon any school could improve outputs quite a lot if the principal & deputies had better people management skills – matched students with the right teachers.
I don’t think there are many ‘bad’ teachers, don’t recall having had any myself.
I don’t think there are many ‘bad’ teachers, don’t recall having had any myself.
Me neither! And as with you, the ones I remember were the hard ones, such as our very scary 5th form maths teacher – a German woman who saw right through my terminological inexactitudes (her phrase! 🙂 )
But all my teachers were awesome, including the Intermediate one who saved my brother’s life when he was a baby (rugby tackled him in the supermarket because he was about to drink a bottle of bleach he’d found when he wandered away from my Mum…)
This morning Radionz interesting speaker.
10-11am: Urban agriculture advocate Michael Ableman
Canadian talking about initiatives they have done in food production. Touched on how they coped as the only farm left after subdvision for prissy townies. A common problem for all farmers.
He thought population growth had to be tackled, feels that the earth’s resources will not be able to feed the burgeoning numbers. Thinks that farmers may have to concentrate on protein provision particularly while soft perishable items be grown at home. Lots of points to think about.
I thought too that Canada could be a place to aspire to move to if there were jobs. They have been going through a right wing phase too I think but they are not stuck down here with a one idea government next to Australia with the same and far away from the rest of the world. On the other hand much of Canada is mighty cold and there is an energy shortage looming. Where to go??
Stay here and fight Prism! We have an awesome country beneath our feet. We are just blocked by idiots from being all that we can be. It would just take intelligent governance with a long term vision and an educated voter base to make this happen. Thats all! Too much to ask?
Just been kept up, on and off, all night but noisy cars, full beam car lights, and other reckless abandon of a few.
Tired, returning to the drink, I awoke to the Elliot guilty verdit. And could not help making the connection…
Do you ever get the feeling your living in a street of Elliots (Turners)? Invincible noisy cars driven by young (mostly) men who don’t, haven’t, can’t recognize where the self-training is taking them?
Emily-ruined-my-life-mum!Lacking all remorse@# Dehumanizing others. Disrespectful. Obsessive.
NZ needs to have more role models that show why destructive behavior harms growth, society and individuals who believe in themselves (and supported in their over inflated egos by family and friends).
Unfortunately we’ve chosen as role model people like John Key whose actions have always harmed society but he’s rich and well off. It’s not just a change of role models but a change of values that changes how we measure success.
After the Douglas years it was inevitable that the generation raised under those values would elect the likes of Key. He is their zeit geist in person, their alchemist who made a fortune trading digital nothings, making everything for himself and nothing for anybody else. A trader of ascribed values which cannot be made solid. A representative of a vapid generation who believe the nonsense that something can come from nothing, that they really can become wealthy without someone else becoming less so. A purveyor of lies representing a generation of greedy liars that would sell their own children’s future down the river if it meant they could buy another bigger SUV today. Rogers man, Rogers legacy.
The bard might have been thinking of the likes of Key..a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Narcism. Narcism is an attribute that is no longer discouraged and is increasingly visible in political leadership as in the JK example above but also within society. Elliot Turner has many markers of narcistic personality disorder and to a degree this was indulged by his parents. However the young ‘car enthusiast’s’ aerobubble refers to probably are not actively looking to JK as their role model, their awareness of them I should imagine may be fairly dim. Their behaviour is legitimised by a society whose boundaries around acceptable behaviour are becoming more blurred and where the good of the whole, the collective, in this a case a neighbourhood is no longer important.
..the good of the whole, the collective,… is no longer important. Exactly. JK does not have any inclination to be a role model either, he is too wrapped in his own narcissism to be anything other than egocentric. Interestingly I think the user pays principle is one of the drivers of this: where we used to pay collectively the expectation was that you were part of the collective. User pays makes you a stand alone “individual”, and you dont want to pay for anyone else, or be part of the herd. You become the island that nobody really can be.
aerobubble i used to think that self esteem would lead to more mature personalities but apparently you just get self centred smart alecs and alices. it seems that knowing where to stop is something to be learned just doesnt come with growing up. stat 80 per cent of crime is connected with intake of alcohol or drugs. controlling that would take us a good way forward to a happer society
i think in part its due to young men and women in work who can’t afford to buy a home, so they spend it on drilling holes in their exhaust, which the Police stop them because of the obvious noise, and they have to pay a very smart exhaust engineer (smart not for his skill as a car repairer) to fix the car again, and again.
Its an easy life urging kids to be reckless and taking their money for unnecessary work.
Just watched David Shearer in the House in full flow ridiculing the Budget predictions from previous National budgets and that of tomorrows. Pretty good delivery. Reassuring.
Howev “er…..If you are researching values to continue coveting the commons a little bit longer,heres 3 you could do a lot worse than
Compassion Moderation and Humility.
EVERYBODY KNOWS in this modern age that game theorists have run computer simulations of adaptive evolutionary cultural strategies that “cheating/aggression” survives over “co-operating” in the short-term before the majority of the poulation perish and the remaining “co-operaters are left to rebuild.
Taxpayers paid for Prime Minister John Key to go to Australia to see the Warriors thrashed in last year’s NRL final.
While Mr Key’s overseas travel costs are understandably larger than most MPs, the NRL trip is the only one of Mr Key’s which was not an “official visit”.
But the really worrying thing is this bit:-
Free Rugby World Cup tickets – at prices beyond the reach of many Kiwi families – were dished out to 50 MPs by a range of generous corporate hosts including Sky City, Fonterra and a bunch of banks.
What, exactly, are the corporations hoping to buy with such largess?
Oh I’ve heard it all! TV3 reporters swanning around London, running after Elliott Turner’s parents, yelling questions and self-righteous abuse…
Correct me if I am wrong, but there’s some doubt as to whether she even was murdered, right? The coverage here has been very one-sided, and from what I have seen and heard on the BBC, it’s not the huge deal in the UK that TV3 girl just claimed…in fact I’ve not heard a word about it on the World Service.
Now, 3 News strikes again, with Shonkey enjoying screaming about Labour MPs getting rugby tickets from SKY TV… John Key grinning ear to ear about it, even though twice as many National MPs took tickets.
It is big news – it was front page yesterday. (Today it’s another young girl murdered by her parents on the front page). There doesn’t appear to be any doubt that Emily Longley was murdered by her classically narcissist boyfriend and the parents helped cover for him. Of course the coverage is OTT and sensationalist but girls need to know about men like this.
Oh, I didn’t know that (I rely on the World Service). I have just been put off by the TV coverage here – so one-eyed that it made me sceptical. I had also heard that there was some doubt that she had been murdered, that she might have died of natural causes as was originally thought…
It’s rather like the coverage of Wacko Jacko’s trial years ago – the media insisted poor wee Michael Jackson was just a poor misunderstood gay boy who never hurt anyone – when we all know (I hope) that he was guilty… biased coverage always makes me sceptical.
To be honest, New Zealand girl from comfortable background, English boy, how else would the NZ media play it?
He is a rich wealthy boy, with a nasty attitude, who has thought his wealth would mean his life wouldn’t take much of a knock if he was found guilty of murder. He’s stated, before and after the killing, that when he got out of jail he’d be rich and could have his pick of women…. along with the booze, posh cars etc. I have no sympathy for the likes of him, whatever their nationality.
A judge told a young man who strangled his aspiring model
girlfriend in a jealous rage to put away thoughts of “champagne,
Bentleys and girls” as she sentenced him to at least 16 years in jail.
I don’t have any particular sympathy for him (though I do for his parents, very much!) but the more I heard about her, the less I liked her. I have known girls like her – selfish, in love with their own beauty, driving boys to distraction playing one off against another, and another…
This shows it wasn’t all that clear cut! http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=10802879
Meanwhile, I am fed up with 3 News, gloating testerically about 16 Labour MPs getting rugby tickets (even though 28 National MPs did too).
I don’t see anything in that article that suggests she’s that sort of selfish girl. Turner’s jealously seems to have largely been unfounded – she was at home studying when he thought she was off flirting with other guys.
Turner also has a history of stalking earlier girlfriends. I’ve seen more measured descriptions of the evidence for this than the article linked below, but the evidence was cited in court.
The 20-year-old cocaine addict believed he would be cleared and released from jail to carry on treating women as sex objects who he would then subject to campaigns of terror when they dumped him.
[…]
And it was revealed that it is not the first time Turner has shown a violent attitude to women.
He stalked two former girlfriends after they dumped him, threatening to kill one of them.
He would also offer girls free coke in exchange for sex.
[…]
Liam told how obsessive and possessive Turner vowed to suffocate ex Laura Niven, 21, if he saw her again after she broke off their four-month relationship in 2009.
He added: “He didn’t take it at all well when they split up. One night he said that he was going to get her back into bed and stick a pillow over her face while they were having sex.
I have no sympathy for any MPs that take such corporate gifts. It’s a practice that should end.
I have probably missed it on here and other places and it has probably been said before…
The mantra of the Prime Minister and his henchmen, to the point of nausea.
It was predicated on one factor though. That the GST take would increase accordingly. However, while the top earners have creamed it, the economy has contracted and therefore the GST take has reduced. Therefore, no longer fiscally neutral.
Now as English said in the house today, the public purse is not bottomless and the public service has got to get used to retrenchment. Perhaps we might start with our elected members taking some major cuts (even redundancies) and stop their rorts on living allowances etc…
I just got a call from a friend who had left some comments on the NZ Tourist Safety facebook page created by the family of Bradley Coker. The aim of the page is to put international pressure on NZ regarding the safety in NZ tourism.
He said that when the site was first mentioned in our news and Mr Coker was on ITV breakfast telling people not to send there loved ones to NZ, he went to the site where the banner proclaims that (I think he said) around 2000 tourism had died in NZ in the (I think he said) 10 years. Of course, he refuted that as being ridiculous. His comment has been removed.
He goes back today and see that that statistic has been removed. He then made comments that they are in fact anti-NZ because they post links to articles that put NZ in an bad light but have nothing to do with tourism or aviation.
E.g. a link to this article on NZ’s high rate of teen suicide – apparently our teen suicide rate is linked to aviation safety regulations.
Well, he went back tonight and all his comments have been deleted.
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Tree sap can be a sticky, unsightly mess on your car’s exterior. It can be difficult to remove, but with the right techniques and products, you can restore your car to its former glory. Understanding Tree Sap Tree sap is a thick, viscous liquid produced by trees to seal wounds ...
The amount of paint needed to paint a car depends on a number of factors, including the size of the car, the number of coats you plan to apply, and the type of paint you are using. In general, you will need between 1 and 2 gallons of paint for ...
Jump-starting a car is a common task that can be performed even in adverse weather conditions like rain. However, safety precautions and proper techniques are crucial to avoid potential hazards. This comprehensive guide will provide detailed instructions on how to safely jump a car in the rain, ensuring both your ...
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
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 ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
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The decision to discontinue plans to dam the Mokihinui River for hydro power demonstrates the complete paucity of economic thinking that we are festooned with in this country. Lamentations and wails spring loud from the West Coast where they had expected cheaper power and jobs to be created. When examined more closely what we see is what is really a cargo cult mentality of the quick fix for short term gain, rather than a deeper analysis of what is sustainable and what is possible.
For example the big gripe, “Coasters pay more for power”. If we had not split up the national power generation and created an artificial market that has proven more costly might we not have been better able to provide Coasters with the same price as the rest of the country? Or perhaps, “This has cost us jobs”. How many of the construction workers would necessarily be local, when it was built how many would have stayed? And what cost would have to be sunk into this temporary arrangement.
All I am hearing is a lot of hot air. Not to mention a failure to note that the Stockton scheme is approved and will supply power and work. I think they complain tooo much.
Bored, I’m not clear whether you approve of axing of the dam plan or not. Is the Stockton scheme the same as the Mokihinui River hydro power scheme?
Very much opposed, it is an economic liability on a natural resource that is worth far more. It is an environmental catastrophe and vandalism of the highest order. It is a disaster waiting to happen (there is a major fault line nearby). But most of all it represents bankrupt economic and social thinking, the howls of indignation being the audible demonstration of the symptom.
OK. Thanks, Bored.
Your power bill is loaded with compliance costs and 4 layers (generator, transpower, lines company, retailer) of profit taking each with their own agenda.
Planning is done on a piecemeal basis not holistically as each layer protects its own self interests and brownlee made it worse with retailers cutting each others throats and genesis in the mix on South island hydro meridian used to look after.
the regulator is full of bean counters and lawyers with little understanding of the types of hard core engineering issues that need to be faced and dealt with so were in a bit if a pickle on the whole.
If ever an industry screamed out for nationalisation power is it, a failure from both sides of the political spectrum since NZEC days and too vital to be left run its course.
Energy policy will be the worlds key economic issue as the oil gets rare. Consequently for a small polity such as NZ ownership is a key issue: we would be very stupid to export the profit of what should be a strategic advantage. This is the primary reason the assets should not be sold.
As far a Labour goes it is about time they showed some backbone and announced as a primary policy the renationalisation of electricity supply and a total review of generation capacity and supply methodology. The Mokihinui fiasco clearly outlines the failure of the (“created artificial”) market to address the power security and pricing for regions such as the West Coast.
The left leaning parties should be coming to an agreement to nationalise all natural monopolies, i.e, banking (creation and control of the currency, the private sector can keep the speculative side), telecommunications, power, ports, airports etc. A definition spelling out what makes a natural monopoly would be good.
We can easily print money (or take that power away from the bankers).
“Govt can spend by keystroke. It has a Treasury & the Reserve Bank as it’s intermediary with private banking…”
“Printing is misleading. Money of account is debt, accounted for using keystrokes that enter numbers into accounts. Govt spends money into existence. Private banks are licensed to lend money into existence. Currency may be printed..”
“NZ Govt doesn’t need really need to issue bonds in order to spend. NZ Govt doesn’t need to borrow money into existence, all that bond issuing is a free lunch for banking.
MMT via @economicsNZ on twitter..
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/p/modern-monetary-theory-primer.html
In theory, yes we can but are any of the parties going to?
Not unless we start to properly question neoclassical economics and the right of private banks to lend money into existence.
So without total collapse, probably not.
The current irony of coarse being all this phobia around debt, yet a system that requires endlessly increasing debt to grow, given the last 30 years has been a ponzi scheme.
Do you have a positive solution to the power supply problems?
It is so easy to critisize.
Renationalise it and get back to planning as a whole system that benefits the country in terms of reliable power where it’s required for rural, industry and residential use.
Removes the profit taking and unecessary emphasis on regulatory compliance shedding billions off the bottom line overall annually.
The model’s a failure it needs to be thrown away and return to what worked. A single SOE….FIFY.
John72’s reply demonstrates lucidly my whole contention: a total lack of imagination. Positive solutions such as you have noted are multitudinous so long as we don’t get hidebound in “conventional wisdom”.
Good example on the West Coast is that there is a plan to increase the Arnold hydro which could help them secure more power locally…it is not economically viable for the current energy “company” (nor would it be for a nationalised entity). It could be mandated as part of a regional supply security issue paid for across all users nationwide however. Lets face it we lose 25% of the power shipped from the Waitaki to Auckland yet we still disperse that cost….the issue is that we need a single large a scale of electricity supply entity in order to achieve this (as opposed to smaller units that have to make shareholders short term interests happen). Its planning as opposed to competition, it worked for most of our history, it can work again.
Another methodology is to enable and allow micro scale generators to feed into the grid, there is plenty of cheaply harnessed water and wind power available with very low environmental impact. The major issue here is that over production is easy, under production a problem (i.e micro producers need to use the grid as a battery when their wind does not blow or their water flow).
Driving down the Buller and the Grey a few years ago I noticed the huge flow of water that was being “wasted”. Has anybody thought about in-stream hydro (its what the first US electricity came from: waterwheels etc)? There are so many options, and we need to do this whilst we have time, before oil makes its exit.
Bored, may I point out that your posts today, (1, 1.1.1, 1.1.2 ) are devoted to criticism. No positive comment is of any value. Your lasr sentence in post “1” applies to you and many others.
Post 1 :- “I think they complain too much.”
No problem, we can just run Huntly harder. It has higher marginal costs so that will push the power prices up. Excellent.
Campaigns for a living wage should also be accompanied by campaigns for other related changes. Looking at the case studies with the article below, part of the problem is the cost of housing and rents.
Housing shouldn’t be a speculative market that those at the top use to get rich.
Furthermore, businesses shouldn’t be aiming for exorbitant profits in an economy focused on “growth”. And there should be a focus on supporting businesses that contribute to a steady-state economy, not on ones producing useless status-symbols and too many unnecessary luxuries.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10807741
It’s good that this campaign is highlighting the struggle to survive by families living on low wages.
I think it’s a problem the overseas campaign focused on council contracts, which are limited by funding from taxes/rates. There should be more focus on private businesses that earn big profits while paying low wages.
There is also an accompanying article which looks at Auckland Council’s plan to reduce the city’s inequalities, and the causes for the growth in the extent of inequalities:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10784783
The causes are explained thusly:
Some good points in there, but some things could be elaborated eg the “free trade” ethos, and the shift of unskilled jobs to low wage countries.
The article resorts to a bit of potted history with a focus on biblical times, in arguing that the tendency for small groups to accumulate wealth has always been countered by morality-based moves to limit such accumulation:
The article argues that the Auckland plan supports this moral programming by aiming to balance freedom with compassion, through balancing a competitive economy with “caring community”. So it aims to maintain free market capitalism by incorporating elements of a “caring community”. Of course, this falls short of a plan that will fix a broken system. But what would you expect from NZ’s MSM?
The article also correctly argues that the Auckland Council cannot fix the problems of extreme inequality without help from the central government.
Read the critique of this Third Way, or softening of the social impacts of the NeoLib agenda, in Growth Fetish by Clive Hamilton. After a post by U-Turn, the second best prose that I have read this month
Agree entirely Carol, been researching that myself lately. I’m not in disagreement with the principle of a living wage but I think wage rises is the wrong way to approach it. You never catch up. The wealthy are getting rich from asset inflation and the ever increasing rents that flow from it. Lifting the lowest wages tends to push asset values up and within a very short time it’s back to the same problem again, if not worse off.
Look at this chart for an example of where IMO the real problem lies;
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/keygraphs/Fig4.html
The value of housing stock in NZ has gone from$236bn in 2001 to $605bn in 2011, that’s an increase of 290% in a decade. Some is due to building new houses but most of the increase is just asset inflation.
Now rents haven’t increased by the same amount as house prices but they will eventually and the poor will keep getting squeezed. It’s a transfer of wealth. Govt spends over $1bn on accommodation supplements already, and it will get worse.
It’s the union’s job to chase better wages & conditions for it’s workers but I really can’t see the living wage concept working without addressing asset inflation and that’s a Govt role.
And it would be better if the dropped the Accommodation Supplement and spent the $1b/year on building (high rise, high density) houses which could then be rented out for cost of maintenance.
Aye, think what the cash spent on roads could have achieved. Accommodation supplement is only a part of it too. Look at all the welfare the state pays out and there’s probably at least $4-5bn of it going straight into rents. And each year it gets worse as rents keep going up, we get further & further behind. Even our taxes are making the rich richer.
Major problem is that rents and the price of rental housing are currently intertwined with the price of the family home. They need to be separated and that’s not an easy task. Can be done but would take some smart thinking, would never win an election if every home owner thought their house values would fall significantly.
What if their mortgage fell at the same time?
That could work although the freeholders still wouldn’t be happy.
My thinking was along the lines of creating a brand new housing market. Govt owns the land & leases it, people own or rent the house on the land. That would create a separation between freehold and leasehold; distinctly different markets. Would need controls over people simply selling the leases & recreating the same asset inflation but that’s not unachievable.
If Govt just provided the land it would cost the taxpayer a lot less and still enable people to buy their own homes, save money etc. And for renters, well lower rents are just as good as any pay rise, possibly better.
Hi Carol. Did you see the interview last night with John Campbell and John (John?) Ryall of the Service and Food Workers Union? Between them they made a strong case for the living wage campaign, and discussed the benefits an increased wage brings. Cleary obvious stuff but it did counter the argument of the right that increased wages means less job opportunities. There was also an accompanying article about the struggle for a mother on the minimum wage and her 3 children. The eldest had just turned 17 so he was working 25 hours an week also minimum wage to help the household costs, which was compromising his study.
I have to hand it to the Campbell show that they have made an effort this year to highlight social injustice and also to illustrate how individuals and families are living in poverty purely as a result of the recession and govt policy that affects the poor, working poor and middle class the most. It is refreshing that they are talking this and less about the fad diet of the week or neurotic rich parents problems that seem so inconsequential to anyone just trying to scrap enough money together the day before pay day to get a bottle of milk and some more bread (an example taken from my life, today being Wednesday!)
In a State in either the US, or Canada, economists studied the legislated lift of the minimum wage and found, wait….., that more people became employed and the quality and productivity of their work improved. Those, who were threatened by these outcomes severly demonised the research, which was found to be valid.
Indeed Sam. In low wage economies like ours, when the impact of minimum wage vs. living or good wage is studied the results always demonstrate in purely economic terms, putting aside improved health and social outcomes for individuals and communities, that a living/good wage always benefits society as a whole, bringing in more tax and increasing retail spending. Its a pretty flimsy argument the right put up when they claim that higher wages put business at a disadvantage
Yes. i saw CL last night and agree that it did a very good job in highlighting the problem and showing the unfairness. It was heart wrenching to see how hard that family is working just to stay afloat.
Such a Living Wage would ideally need to be defined as weekly income rather than an hourly wage. You’d then have it so that each hour worked increased the income. We could call it Universal Income.
Seconded, Carol!
Good to see Andrew Little and Trevor Mallard standing up to Crusher Collins. She’s just bluffing and it won’t get to court. Especially if she can’t get the papers served on them.
Papers have already been served on Little – Will not take that long to get to Mallard I assume, Mallard himself has said it wouldn’t be that hard.
Her server will probably catch Mallard while on the toilet, a handy place of vulnerability – there doesn’t seem to be any protocol of respect for the private life of her detractors being shown in her approach.
Probably – but it still makes no sense to me why even bother hiding and trying to dodge getting the papers served it doesn’t achieve anything if the claims are as without merit as they claim.
In fact the only thing it does achieve is make it seem they are worried about the case.
Actually, it also achieves keeping it in the spotlight and getting everybody to have a laugh at Crushers expense.
But that’s my point I think by choosing to go this way it stops being so much about her and rather more about Little and Mallard and the fact they have a court case (easiest way to describe it rather than a case that will go to court for) they are trying to not get served for.
Is that really where they want the spotlight? Is there really any other way they thought it would go?
Another way see it is that they are trying to not let her off the hook. Making the story as big as poss, means the end game is as big as poss.
It’s the end game that will be remembered. Every story so far has been them laughing at her, and her not saying anything.
Odd too, that she filed in Auckland where the waiting list is longest, rather than in Wellington where the comments were made.
Yes I agree completely it is the end game that will be remembered that’s why I don’t understand this at all. Every story up till now has been them laughing at her and her saying nothing.
Now because of the way it is being played just the simple act of her serving papers is being seen as some kind of victory and puts the joke on them. Yesterday’s headline on stuff was an example ‘Andrew Little told: You’re served, no fries’ That really got her?
Chris, it doesn’t matter what she does or says anymore.
She’s a Minister of The Crown spending all of her time (as far as the public knows) chasing a personal vendetta.
Out of her depth, out of control, and out of her office.
I know and I agree. I think Collins has been ridiculous, but that is part of the problem, because of the way Little and Mallard have acted it has taken the spotlight from that.
Was terrible work and a huge missed opportunity from them.
Joe Bennet’s column nails the Teacher Performance Pay issue. The first half is anecdotal but he highlights the impossibility that Parata has embarked upon.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/joe-bennett/6968947/Good-teaching-easy-to-recognise-hard-to-measure?comment_msg=posted#post_comment
I visited your recommended site, ianmac. A great mind in the comments section complained that NZ education was in a crisis because half of the children’s marks fell below the median!
I think Bennett nails it well there, although I’m not so sure that the teacher everyone likes is necessarily the ‘best’ teacher. I got bored easy at school & it was the hard bastards who got the best results out of me. As he says, different teachers suit different people. I reckon any school could improve outputs quite a lot if the principal & deputies had better people management skills – matched students with the right teachers.
I don’t think there are many ‘bad’ teachers, don’t recall having had any myself.
Me neither! And as with you, the ones I remember were the hard ones, such as our very scary 5th form maths teacher – a German woman who saw right through my terminological inexactitudes (her phrase! 🙂 )
But all my teachers were awesome, including the Intermediate one who saved my brother’s life when he was a baby (rugby tackled him in the supermarket because he was about to drink a bottle of bleach he’d found when he wandered away from my Mum…)
This morning Radionz interesting speaker.
10-11am: Urban agriculture advocate Michael Ableman
Canadian talking about initiatives they have done in food production. Touched on how they coped as the only farm left after subdvision for prissy townies. A common problem for all farmers.
He thought population growth had to be tackled, feels that the earth’s resources will not be able to feed the burgeoning numbers. Thinks that farmers may have to concentrate on protein provision particularly while soft perishable items be grown at home. Lots of points to think about.
I thought too that Canada could be a place to aspire to move to if there were jobs. They have been going through a right wing phase too I think but they are not stuck down here with a one idea government next to Australia with the same and far away from the rest of the world. On the other hand much of Canada is mighty cold and there is an energy shortage looming. Where to go??
Stay here and fight Prism! We have an awesome country beneath our feet. We are just blocked by idiots from being all that we can be. It would just take intelligent governance with a long term vision and an educated voter base to make this happen. Thats all! Too much to ask?
oh rosie – i hope it’s not too much to ask but i’m beginning to despair
Just been kept up, on and off, all night but noisy cars, full beam car lights, and other reckless abandon of a few.
Tired, returning to the drink, I awoke to the Elliot guilty verdit. And could not help making the connection…
Do you ever get the feeling your living in a street of Elliots (Turners)? Invincible noisy cars driven by young (mostly) men who don’t, haven’t, can’t recognize where the self-training is taking them?
Emily-ruined-my-life-mum!Lacking all remorse@# Dehumanizing others. Disrespectful. Obsessive.
NZ needs to have more role models that show why destructive behavior harms growth, society and individuals who believe in themselves (and supported in their over inflated egos by family and friends).
Unfortunately we’ve chosen as role model people like John Key whose actions have always harmed society but he’s rich and well off. It’s not just a change of role models but a change of values that changes how we measure success.
After the Douglas years it was inevitable that the generation raised under those values would elect the likes of Key. He is their zeit geist in person, their alchemist who made a fortune trading digital nothings, making everything for himself and nothing for anybody else. A trader of ascribed values which cannot be made solid. A representative of a vapid generation who believe the nonsense that something can come from nothing, that they really can become wealthy without someone else becoming less so. A purveyor of lies representing a generation of greedy liars that would sell their own children’s future down the river if it meant they could buy another bigger SUV today. Rogers man, Rogers legacy.
The bard might have been thinking of the likes of Key..a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Narcism. Narcism is an attribute that is no longer discouraged and is increasingly visible in political leadership as in the JK example above but also within society. Elliot Turner has many markers of narcistic personality disorder and to a degree this was indulged by his parents. However the young ‘car enthusiast’s’ aerobubble refers to probably are not actively looking to JK as their role model, their awareness of them I should imagine may be fairly dim. Their behaviour is legitimised by a society whose boundaries around acceptable behaviour are becoming more blurred and where the good of the whole, the collective, in this a case a neighbourhood is no longer important.
..the good of the whole, the collective,… is no longer important. Exactly. JK does not have any inclination to be a role model either, he is too wrapped in his own narcissism to be anything other than egocentric. Interestingly I think the user pays principle is one of the drivers of this: where we used to pay collectively the expectation was that you were part of the collective. User pays makes you a stand alone “individual”, and you dont want to pay for anyone else, or be part of the herd. You become the island that nobody really can be.
aerobubble i used to think that self esteem would lead to more mature personalities but apparently you just get self centred smart alecs and alices. it seems that knowing where to stop is something to be learned just doesnt come with growing up. stat 80 per cent of crime is connected with intake of alcohol or drugs. controlling that would take us a good way forward to a happer society
i think in part its due to young men and women in work who can’t afford to buy a home, so they spend it on drilling holes in their exhaust, which the Police stop them because of the obvious noise, and they have to pay a very smart exhaust engineer (smart not for his skill as a car repairer) to fix the car again, and again.
Its an easy life urging kids to be reckless and taking their money for unnecessary work.
Just hearing from a friend in the area of Italy struck by the quake this week, that oil companies have been fracking in the area.
Just watched David Shearer in the House in full flow ridiculing the Budget predictions from previous National budgets and that of tomorrows. Pretty good delivery. Reassuring.
Oh dear, really? That’s horrific… I have two friends in the area, both of whom were truly freaked out.
Do you fancy seeing The Spirit Level turned into a film?
They’re crowdsourcing funds here. You could even get your names in the credits… (or just buy your download of the film in advance)
Interesting – seems National isn’t the only one enjoying a friendship with Sky City:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6972710/Big-business-hosted-politicians-at-World-Cup
Just shows how there’s too much of this kind of lobbying of politicians by big business.
And too much of politicians listening to big business rather than the people resulting in policy that is good for big business but not for NZ.
excusee moi. Are you researching values to support the present distribution of commons? Do the “Aggressors” have a few more hands to play?
“When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you.”
Jones has been stood down by Shearer, great timing in budget week. Another head desk moment from Labour….
Howev “er…..If you are researching values to continue coveting the commons a little bit longer,heres 3 you could do a lot worse than
Compassion Moderation and Humility.
EVERYBODY KNOWS in this modern age that game theorists have run computer simulations of adaptive evolutionary cultural strategies that “cheating/aggression” survives over “co-operating” in the short-term before the majority of the poulation perish and the remaining “co-operaters are left to rebuild.
EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT in the 21st century.
Any particular link your thinking of or just any of these?
So, Key goes on a personal junket to Australia on our money:-
But the really worrying thing is this bit:-
What, exactly, are the corporations hoping to buy with such largess?
You think they’re only hoping to buy? I’d say they’re pretty sure of a return.
Oh I’ve heard it all! TV3 reporters swanning around London, running after Elliott Turner’s parents, yelling questions and self-righteous abuse…
Correct me if I am wrong, but there’s some doubt as to whether she even was murdered, right? The coverage here has been very one-sided, and from what I have seen and heard on the BBC, it’s not the huge deal in the UK that TV3 girl just claimed…in fact I’ve not heard a word about it on the World Service.
Now, 3 News strikes again, with Shonkey enjoying screaming about Labour MPs getting rugby tickets from SKY TV… John Key grinning ear to ear about it, even though twice as many National MPs took tickets.
It is big news – it was front page yesterday. (Today it’s another young girl murdered by her parents on the front page). There doesn’t appear to be any doubt that Emily Longley was murdered by her classically narcissist boyfriend and the parents helped cover for him. Of course the coverage is OTT and sensationalist but girls need to know about men like this.
Oh, I didn’t know that (I rely on the World Service). I have just been put off by the TV coverage here – so one-eyed that it made me sceptical. I had also heard that there was some doubt that she had been murdered, that she might have died of natural causes as was originally thought…
It’s rather like the coverage of Wacko Jacko’s trial years ago – the media insisted poor wee Michael Jackson was just a poor misunderstood gay boy who never hurt anyone – when we all know (I hope) that he was guilty… biased coverage always makes me sceptical.
To be honest, New Zealand girl from comfortable background, English boy, how else would the NZ media play it?
He is a rich wealthy boy, with a nasty attitude, who has thought his wealth would mean his life wouldn’t take much of a knock if he was found guilty of murder. He’s stated, before and after the killing, that when he got out of jail he’d be rich and could have his pick of women…. along with the booze, posh cars etc. I have no sympathy for the likes of him, whatever their nationality.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/elliot-turner-jailed-for-16-years-for-strangling-girlfriend-emily-longley-7778331.html?origin=internalSearch
I don’t have any particular sympathy for him (though I do for his parents, very much!) but the more I heard about her, the less I liked her. I have known girls like her – selfish, in love with their own beauty, driving boys to distraction playing one off against another, and another…
This shows it wasn’t all that clear cut!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=10802879
Meanwhile, I am fed up with 3 News, gloating testerically about 16 Labour MPs getting rugby tickets (even though 28 National MPs did too).
I don’t see anything in that article that suggests she’s that sort of selfish girl. Turner’s jealously seems to have largely been unfounded – she was at home studying when he thought she was off flirting with other guys.
Turner also has a history of stalking earlier girlfriends. I’ve seen more measured descriptions of the evidence for this than the article linked below, but the evidence was cited in court.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/elliot-turner-guilty–spoilt-843276
I have no sympathy for any MPs that take such corporate gifts. It’s a practice that should end.
A social networking tool that will change the world.
Our world in two.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/05/food_and_nutrition_crisis_in_s.html
http://cryptome.org/2012-info/drone-photos/drone-photos.htm
Confirmed.
http://freakoutnation.com/2012/05/22/study-fox-viewers-far-less-knowledgable-than-daily-show-viewers-or-even-those-who-watch-no-news-at-all/
Fiscally neutral tax changes.
I have probably missed it on here and other places and it has probably been said before…
The mantra of the Prime Minister and his henchmen, to the point of nausea.
It was predicated on one factor though. That the GST take would increase accordingly. However, while the top earners have creamed it, the economy has contracted and therefore the GST take has reduced. Therefore, no longer fiscally neutral.
Now as English said in the house today, the public purse is not bottomless and the public service has got to get used to retrenchment. Perhaps we might start with our elected members taking some major cuts (even redundancies) and stop their rorts on living allowances etc…
Fear grows out of the things we think; it lives in our minds.
Compassion grows out of the things that we are, and lives in our hearts.
I just got a call from a friend who had left some comments on the NZ Tourist Safety facebook page created by the family of Bradley Coker. The aim of the page is to put international pressure on NZ regarding the safety in NZ tourism.
He said that when the site was first mentioned in our news and Mr Coker was on ITV breakfast telling people not to send there loved ones to NZ, he went to the site where the banner proclaims that (I think he said) around 2000 tourism had died in NZ in the (I think he said) 10 years. Of course, he refuted that as being ridiculous. His comment has been removed.
He goes back today and see that that statistic has been removed. He then made comments that they are in fact anti-NZ because they post links to articles that put NZ in an bad light but have nothing to do with tourism or aviation.
E.g. a link to this article on NZ’s high rate of teen suicide – apparently our teen suicide rate is linked to aviation safety regulations.
Well, he went back tonight and all his comments have been deleted.
Peters on propaganda
After all why spoil a good story with the facts?
Tories so par for the course I suppose.
http://www.canada.com/life/Federal+cuts+called+disaster+Canadian+science/6614309/story.html
Anyone know what’s going on with Cam Slater (aka WhaleOil) and Debbie Brown?
That best portion of a good man’s life.
His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.
( q. Wordsworth.)