Maybe if Mr Sanders doesn’t win the US Primary, it would be nice if he might immigrate to NZ and lead the Labour Party, we need a gentleman like this, I watched his speech in Senate opposing TPP, he spoke for at least 45 mins only barely referrring to his notes… currently our guys have to have notes to ask 3 questions…. I miss Sir David Lange I really do.
Let’s hope Bernie Sanders is a lot sharper than poor old David Lange was. Remember that it was Lange, an economic illiterate, who let Douglas, Prebble, De Cleene and their ideological masters like Roger Kerr run riot in 1984.
I doubt that Bernie Sanders would go about wrecking the education system like Lange did either.
He was. But that is not enough to run a country, sadly.
He was a man of and for the people.
He certainly was conflicted when he saw the effects of his government’s actions on working people. So he was a better person by far than the likes of Moore, Douglas, Prebble and De Cleene, who actually ran the country or, more accurately, ran down the country for six years.
For a good man, he didn’t show much empathy for teachers as his ideologically driven “reforms”—clearly the product of the fevered brains of the Business Round Table rather than Lange himself—were imposed over serious protests from those in the education sector. In fact, he publicly expressed his contempt for them on at least one occasion.
Why are you blaming him for how other people used and abused his goodness.
He was the prime minister. He allowed himself to be manipulated and used by the Douglas-Moore-Prebble faction.
Not even Key has been credited with this much power by lefties such as yourself.
Key is on board with National’s agenda of flogging off our assets, attacking public institutions and destroying dissenting journalists. Unlike Lange vis a vis Douglas, Moore and Prebble, he is not unaware of, or uninterested in, what the likes of Bill English and Steven Joyce are doing.
Where was the rest of Labour? At a perpetual smoko?
Yes. They were organizing their boroughs to be nuclear-free, and left Douglas and his cronies to take care of the boring stuff. Like Lange, the rest of us—except for a few like Bruce Jesson and Jane Kelsey—had little or no idea what they were up to.
He was a good man let down by his party.
No, he was a good man who allowed a small gang of ideologically fanatical theorists to seize control of his party.
The art deco buses that were a financial disaster for Napier City Council have proved a great success for their new owner
The council bought the two converted American school buses for $837,000 in 2011 then spent a further $300,000 repairing numerous faults and getting them shipped from California.
The council then incurred a further $323,000 in operating losses.
When sold last year, bids of around just $25,000 for each bus were accepted
The biggest problem was the NCC was running the buses on an almost identical route run by the HBRC who control the commuter bus network. The deco buses were charging $15 a ride where the commuter buses were around $3.50. No-brainer really.
This is a REALLY big deal, and, in my opinion, these gutsy and persistent members of the Mangawhai Residents and Ratepayers’ Association (MRRA) deserve the full support of every decent New Zealander who supports the ‘Rule of Law’ equally applying to Councils / territorial authorities.
What has happened to members of the MRRA is an absolute disgrace to democracy and proves that New Zealand’s ‘perceived’ status as ‘the second least corrupt country in the world’ is a massive crock of the steaming proverbial.
I for one, will be at the NZ Court of Appeal in support of these fellow New Zealand CITIZENS – not SLAVES.
————————————————————————————————-
Democracy on the Line
The Mangawhai Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association in Northland has been challenging the Kaipara District Council ( run since 2013 by a government-appointed commission ) through a Judicial Review in the High Court over illegal borrowing and illegal rates
The issues affect every ratepayer in New Zealand because they centre around a council’s ability to set rates to fund illegal activities.
The High Court effectively says they can, and we are asking the Court of Appeal to reconsider that question.
But Democracy is also on trial here, because Parliament trampled on the community’s civil rights.
The German-American Philosopher Hannah Arendt famously said “Nobody has the right to obey bad orders”
In our context that means “Nobody should uncomplainingly pay illegal taxes”
The people of Mangawhai are law-abiding decent and mostly elderly.
We will pay our rates the instant they are lawful.
Before that can happen there has to be a full independent investigation to ascertain who caused the loss of over $57,000,000.
Without that, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
If we fold, we consign every ratepayer in the country to tyranny at the hands of their councils.
If you can, please come and hear the arguments. 10:00am Tuesday 25/08/2015,
in Wellington at the Court of Appeal Molesworth St. Courtroom 2.
– or in Auckland at Level 11 280 Queen St (opposite Smith & Caughey) where we have a dedicated video link
Guy Williams – Key “Protesters don’t know what they’re talking about because they don’t know what’s in the TPPA.” Protesters “THAT’S WHAT WE’RE PROTESTING”
John Pilger advises a shoddy Kim Hill: “Read. Just read.” Face to Face, Television One, Thursday 20 March 2003
Later this morning Wallace Chapman is going to interview John Pilger. Let’s hope Chapman’s done a bit more prep. than one of his colleagues did a decade ago, otherwise we could be subjected to the unedifying sounds of someone being keelhauled—metaphorically of course.
Intellectually and morally superior journalists like Glenn Greenwald always humiliate lazy and poorly informed chatterers like Bill Maher, Stephen Sackur and Kirsty Wark. This is why the likes of Greenwald are kept off the screens as much as possible.
In 2003, another of the world’s top journalists, John Pilger, in Sydney, was interviewed by a poorly prepared Kim Hill (in Wellington). Now we all know that Kim Hill is a smart, well read woman. But she’s sometimes a little lazy, and doesn’t always do her due diligence. That’s fine in those cases when she’s far smarter than the person she’s interviewing, as she usually is.
Unfortunately, however, shoddy thinking is not going to work when you try to confront someone like John Pilger….
Face to Face, Television One, Thursday 20 March 2003
Pilger was critical from the beginning, correcting Hill’s lead-in statement and saying he had to “deconstruct” her questions….
KIM HILL: All this time, then, the United Nations and weapons inspectors have been some kind of puppets of the US. JOHN PILGER: Are you saying that? KIM HILL: I am asking you whether that is what you are implying? JOHN PILGER: That’s a leading question, I wouldn’t …
KIM HILL: How would you describe the activities of the United Nations up until this point? JOHN PILGER: Which area of the United Nations? It’s a very big organisation.
In the end, the interview dissolved into the journalists talking and shouting over the top of each other.
JOHN PILGER: You waste my time because you have not prepared for this interview, as any journalist does, and I’ve done many interviews. The one thing is to prepare for them and this interview, frankly, is a disgrace. KIM HILL: What preparation would you have cared for, Mr Pilger? JOHN PILGER: To read. Read. It takes time. KIM HILL: It’s a pity you wasted a lot of your time tonight, Mr Pilger. I was looking forward to … JOHN PILGER: No, I haven’t. I’m quite pleased with my answers. I hope you broadcast them as I’ve given them. KIM HILL: We broadcast you exactly as you are. It’s been interesting to speak with you. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3251418
And sure enough, Chapman has put his foot in it. At 9:48 a.m. he said something really careless and an irritated Pilger pulled him up for it.
But Chapman had the grace to admit he’s not really up to speed on the situation, and he let Pilger clarify for him. A stark contrast to what happened twelve and a half years ago, when poor old Kim Hill foolishly tried to match wits with him.
STOP PRESS!
Incredibly, Chapman continues to put his foot in it. He’s just stated that Jeremy Corbyn is far to the left of the mainstream Labour Party. Pilger politely, but devastatingly, corrected him.
POINT TO PONDER:
Why do radio interviewers like Chapman not do their homework?
Oh dear. I missed this because I was out, but from the sounds, it was a good thing to miss. I have become very disillusioned with the aptly-initialed W.C.
Actually Vicky, or friend Wallace did a pretty good job—far better than Kim Hill’s foolish performance twelve and a half years ago. When a clearly irritated Pilger pounced on him for lazily recycling the lies against Assange, he accepted it in good grace.
what an incredibly cheap shot vicky perhaps yr initials should be sb….i thought the whole show was excellent and didnt wallace have to ask the questions that are on so many misinformed minds anyway ?
“The internationally renowned investigative journalist and filmmaker discusses WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his bid for his own freedom – and for freedom of information. John Pilger also gives us his take on Jeremy Corbyn’s bid for leadership of the UK Labour Party”.
Also worth listening to is ‘Media Watch’ on bias in NZ journalism…eg. Mike Hoskings
( sound links yet to come up)
(@ Morrissey…I thought it a pretty fair and good interview …interviewers can not be experts or perfect on ALL subjects…nor can they be perfect interviewers….As long as they tackle the BIG ISSUES with courage …and engage and stand corrected …that is all that matters!….and Pilger is notoriously tetchy)
A couple of embarrassing slips by a well-intentioned but poorly prepared Chapman. Still, it’s better than nothing—which is the amount of time John Pilger will receive on our media for the rest of this year.
By comparison, this fellow is on virtually non-stop….
(@ Morrissey…I thought it a pretty fair and good interview …interviewers can not be experts or perfect on ALL subjects…nor can they be perfect interviewers….As long as they tackle the BIG ISSUES with courage …and engage and stand corrected …that is all that matters!
Fair comment, Chooky. I agree that it was a pretty fair interview. However, I was annoyed—as Pilger clearly was—to hear Chapman recycling the brutal, discredited smears against Assange.
….and Pilger is notoriously tetchy)
No, he is not tetchy. He simply does not suffer fools—as anyone who watched the Kim Hill interview will acknowledge. And Wallace Chapman, nice guy that he is, was a fool to come not fully briefed into an interview with a rigorous thinker like Pilger.
When quizzed days later, those with perfect scores earn a virtual award proclaiming, “I’m Peculiar” — the company’s proud phrase for overturning workplace conventions.
Ah, the conformity of capitalism forced upon the workers.
“Conflict brings about innovation,” he said.
Yep, it can do. It can also bring about stagnation as new ways of thinking and looking at things get shouted down. Cooperation can actually bring more because even the smallest voice will be heard.
After reading the NYTimes piece it’s obvious that it’s hard out competition with the message of kill, kill, kill.
From 2 to 4 months old, babies begin their primary course of vaccinations. This is also the peak age for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The timing of these two events has led some people to believe they might be related. However, studies have concluded that vaccinations are not a risk factor for SIDS
The Hib vaccine is very safe, and it is effective at preventing Hib disease. Vaccines, like any medicine, can have side effects. Most children who get the Hib shot have no side effects.
What are the side effects?
The most common side effects are usually mild and last 2 or 3 days. They include the following:
Redness, swelling, and warmth where the child got the shot
Fever
VAERS received 29,747 reports after Hib vaccines; 5179 (17%) were serious, including 896 reports of deaths. Median age was 6 months (range 0-1022 months). Sudden infant death syndrome was the stated cause of death in 384 (51%) of 749 death reports with autopsy/death certificate records. The most common nondeath serious AE categories were neurologic (80; 37%), other noninfectious (46; 22%) (comprising mainly constitutional signs and symptoms); and gastrointestinal (39; 18%) conditions. No new safety concerns were identified after clinical review of reports of AEs that exceeded the data mining statistical threshold.
CONCLUSION
Review of VAERS reports did not identify any new or unexpected safety concerns for Hib vaccines
“Underreporting” is one of the main limitations of passive surveillance systems, including VAERS. The term, underreporting refers to the fact that VAERS receives reports for only a small fraction of actual adverse events. The degree of underreporting varies widely
* USA – Most vaccinated babies on earth
* USA – Highest rates of infant mortality in developed world
Oh, I found your information most interesting, especially the way you highlighted insufficient information in order to justify your sarcastic last sentence.
But really, the best bit was you asking CV to see what stands out from his “perspective”. That’s like asking a Cantabrian to ref a rugby match.
The CDC statement that Hib vaccine is ‘very safe’ is quite correct as is their conclusion that no new or unexpected safety concerns have been identified.
That you misunderstand the data and try to raise an argument that Hib vaccination is causative in SIDS is due to your inability to understand the information.
One can only be thankful that you aren’t also raising false allegations and conspiracy theories about fluoridation and the twin towers.
National Library of Medicine – Study rationalized VAERS stats around vaccine related injury and deaths confirming the CDC lie
Nope.
From the VAERS paper:
VAERS generally cannot assess whether a vaccine caused an AE. VAERS does not collect data on the number of individuals vaccinated; therefore, with no denominator data, it is
not possible to calculate incidence rates of AEs.
So your comment “VAERS stats around vaccine related injury and deaths ” is pretty misleading – if someone had been hit by an asteroid after vaccination, you’d call that a “vaccine related injury”? Nope.
You’re a fucking moron, but good on you for not letting that get in the way of your belief in your own brilliance.
Abstract
The infant mortality rate (IMR) is one of the most important indicators of the socio-economic well-being and public health conditions of a country. The US childhood immunization schedule specifies 26 vaccine doses for infants aged less than 1 year—the most in the world—yet 33 nations have lower IMRs. Using linear regression, the immunization schedules of these 34 nations were examined and a correlation coefficient of r= 0.70 (p<0.0001) was found between IMRs and the number of vaccine doses routinely given to infants. Nations were also grouped into five different vaccine dose ranges: 12–14, 15–17, 18–20, 21–23, and 24–26. The mean IMRs of all nations within each group were then calculated. Linear regression analysis of unweighted mean IMRs showed a high statistically significant correlation between increasing number of vaccine doses and increasing infant mortality rates, with r=0.992 (p=0.0009). Using the Tukey-Kramer test, statistically significant differences in mean IMRs were found between nations giving 12–14 vaccine doses and those giving 21–23, and 24–26
doses.
A closer inspection of correlations between vaccine doses, biochemical or synergistic toxicity, and IMRs is essential.
Quite a stunning summary.
As I read it, the researchers suggest a very strong mathematical relationship between the countries utilising the highest numbers of vaccination doses on infants and those same countries having higher rates of infant mortality.
One imagines that countries which can afford to mandate the most vaccination doses to their populations are the richest countries in the world where infant mortality should be lower, not higher.
Given recent advances in understanding how individually safe chemicals can combine in effect to be toxic (i.e. synergistically toxic) in the human body, I think it can be said that the recommendation of the researchers to pursue “closer inspection” is well taken.
“The current study joins a long list of poorly planned, poorly executed, poorly analyzed studies that purport to show that vaccines cause autism, neurological diease, or even death. It is not the first, nor will it be the last. The question is: How do we respond to such studies? First off, we as skeptics have to be very careful not to become so jaded that knee-jerk hostility predominates. As unlikely as it is, there is always the possibility that there might be something worth taking seriously there. Next off, we have to be prepared to analyze these studies and explain to parents, when appropriate (which is the vast majority of the time) exactly why it is that they are bad science or why their conclusions are not supported by the data presented. Finally, we have to be prepared to provide these analyses fast. The Internet is speed. Already, if you Google the terms “infant mortality” and “vaccine,” anti-vaccine blogs gloating over Miller and Goldman’s study and the study itself appear on the very first page of search results.”
How much of a dishonest wanker must you be to continually use that website
Not only that, but you actively fight to ‘debunk’ every and any study that might remotely threaten the establishments doctrine which you have been pushing on behalf, for christ knows how long
What sort of arsehole claims to be a medical professional carrying the way you do on this blog site. I suspect there is no amount of ‘evidence’ which would sway you from the blind belief
Fuck the deaths and injury, seems to be your position, and I imagine that Paul Offit is an idol of yours
Here is the news for you dickhead. The world as you believe it to be is currently coming under the most intense scrutiny courtesy of your ‘colleagues’ in the USA who are fronting the ‘mandatory agenda’
I concur with OAB, and hope that those whose lies maim and kill are prosecuted, one way or another
No amount of diversion will prevent the crumbling wall created by the lies and bullishit, about ‘benefits’ of vaccination
It is phenomenal to me, that the same types who put such stock in ‘scientific method’, are seemingly oblivious to the hypocrisy they peddle via their willingness to accept with little more than a shrug, the continual exposure of corruption and fraud seeping from the cesspool CDC/FDA and the networks which they ‘oversee’
The drive towards compulsion, is going to expose the death and injury causing fraudulent entities, by putting the industry structures under the microscope like nothing previously witnessed in the history of modern medicine. This is where the ‘scientific method’ is going to be shown has having been utterly bastardized for profit
Staggering is the juvenile attitude by some, who (must) deliberately refuse to see the gaping holes, which even the most fundamental techniques in logical thinking can drive a truck through
I do agree with the comment from One Anonymous Bloke. People that tell lies which kill, maim and injure, should be prosecuted…
Starting with war criminals, and swiftly followed by medical professionals who have accepted lies as knowledge, and uncritically pushed the amoral, and unethical establishments medical agenda, onto unwitting yet trusting populace
The drive towards compulsion, is going to expose the death and injury causing fraudulent entities, by putting the industry structures under the microscope like nothing previously witnessed in the history of modern medicine. This is where the ‘scientific method’ is going to be shown has having been utterly bastardized for profit
So you’re in favour of compulsion then, as it’s the quickest way to expose teh liez…
I do agree with the comment from One Anonymous Bloke. People that tell lies which kill, maim and injure, should be prosecuted…
Starting with war criminals, and swiftly followed by medical professionals who have accepted lies as knowledge, and uncritically pushed the amoral, and unethical establishments medical agenda, onto unwitting yet trusting populace
lol
You’ve just completely slipped off Sanity Hill, haven’t you…
Oh there is no confusion from Mr Leitch and his possie of Demo Creds. Caught out again ‘same confused excuse’. Bit of cannon fodder for Peters who will be looking to add Whangarei to his Northern Kingdom. His loyal Greypower command post crew in Wellsford will be keeping their eyes peeled for the fleet of Ministers limo’s racing North in a hurry.
Subject: Mr Reti Challenged To Come Clean On TPPA
Democrats for Social Credit Deputy Leader and Whangarei candidate Chris Leitch, has called on MP Shane Reti to “come clean or resign” over his attempt to mislead constituents on the ability of the public to have input to the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement.
Mr Leitch said he had a copy of the material Mr Reti had sent out and the claims in it were “blatantly untrue”.
“Putting it down to “bad grammar” is like a naughty child getting his hand caught in the cookie jar, and claiming “I was just counting them”, said Mr Leitch.
“As deputy chair of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, Mr Reti should know exactly what the government is proposing to allow in the way of public input and I challenge him to make a clear, definitive, detailed, public statement”.
The best way for him to do this would be at a public meeting where he could put his case for Whangarei voters to support the government’s stance on the TPPA, and explain the process.
“If his statement was honestly intended, this would give him an excellent opportunity to demonstrate his sincerity to the general public”, Mr Leitch said.
“In response, I would be keen to put the opposing point of view so the public could hear both sides of the debate, and get their questions answered”, he said.
If he would just name the day and time, I will book a hall and arrange advertising for a public meeting.
Failure on Mr Reti’s part to “fess up” and “front up” over his press statement would likely be seen by constituents as admission that he did indeed try to mislead them.
Ends
May I humbly note that Hib presents like the flu, however it is a bacterial infection that if not treated or immunised against in under 4yrs age (because child can’t tell diff between viral flu and bacterial Hib) it will kill them. As an “attached” parent, maybe an answer to SIDs being high in the US as opposed to say 3rd world country may lie in the lack of contact the baby has with its mother, being that the ‘norm’ in western world is to put them in their cot and let them cry themselves to sleep aka “self soothe”…in the “3rd world” babies are attached to mum day and night… no SIDs… coincidence too maybe. Of course there are many what ifs when a baby dies, but loneliness doesnt just kill babies. But being unvaccinated will definitely up the odds of your baby failing to reach 5.. and if you havent heard a small child with whooping cough then you are very lucky. Its not a sound you ever forget. We immunised our child and strongly recommend it. Just my opinion. And 100+ for comments re Lange, I forgot those bits.
From memory Haemophilius influenza used to cause death in around 3% or less of those who presented with an infection.
Before we used to vaccinate against it, it was the most common cause of meningitis in children, i can remember seeing 1-2 a week when I was training many years ago.
SIDs is considerably lower in the US than in any 3rd world country. The data that has been shown above is defective as countries measure things such as SIDs differently.
Importantly there are many studies and much information to show that immunising as per the schedule along with Hib immunisation lowers the risk of SIDs, indeed one of the studies that shows this to be the case was completed in NZ many years ago.
But being unvaccinated will definitely up the odds of your baby failing to reach5 .. and if you havent heard a small child with whooping cough then you are very lucky. Its not a sound you ever forget. We immunised our child and strongly recommend it
As a parent who has chosen to vaccinate, you HAVE TO believe that statement, because you have painted yourself into a corner through the choices you have made
Because of the choice you made, you have no control over the long term (unknown) outcomes which could seriously impact the health of your offspring. You have no choice but to emphatically believe the decision you took, was the best one
It is the ultimate conundrum for parents, which can leave them terribly exposed and vulnerable. Fear that vaccinating / not vaccinating will lead to their child experiencing pain, injury or death
I note that your ‘strong recommendation’, reads like an attempt to to validate and endorse the decision which you made. Making a recommendation on such a sensitive topic, is terribly ignorant, and a herd mentality tactic
Consequences are too serious on either side of the decision tree, to be making ‘strong recommendations’
“Consequences are too serious on either side of the decision tree, to be making ‘strong recommendations’”
No they aren’t, all sound medical and public health authorities strongly recommend vaccination as per the schedule for all those people as long as they don’t have contraindications to vaccination.
Was it Labour who enthusiastically closed down the mental institutions? Now many people who would have had care there are in prison. Or wandering the streets taking up police time, causing problems to the people they obssess about.
Caring for but limiting the freedom of people not in control of themselves must save money in the long run. And that was one of the reasons for deinstitutilisation, the other was to give people who would benefit from being on their own in the community that chance. But their was no place for those who needed to return to the closer environment. http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/71312457/public-menace-margaret-dodds-trespassed-again-in-christchurch
no must have been the Nats as it hit its straps in the early mid nineties…given some of the activities uncovered in the institutions over the years there is a case to be made for it, certainly in the majority of instances, but unfortunately the policy has never been able to implemented as intended due to chronic underfunding….what else is new. Dont worry Im sure Serco have a mental health division…they’ll do it better and cheaper…and still provide a return to their shareholders…..Tui moment.
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Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
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 ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 3 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Just received this on my facebook page… NZ ranks 3rd in the highest rates of child poverty in the western world… how Appalling… is this true???
https://berniesanders.com/issues/income-and-wealth-inequality/?source=facebook08222015&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=facebook08222015
Maybe if Mr Sanders doesn’t win the US Primary, it would be nice if he might immigrate to NZ and lead the Labour Party, we need a gentleman like this, I watched his speech in Senate opposing TPP, he spoke for at least 45 mins only barely referrring to his notes… currently our guys have to have notes to ask 3 questions…. I miss Sir David Lange I really do.
Let’s hope Bernie Sanders is a lot sharper than poor old David Lange was. Remember that it was Lange, an economic illiterate, who let Douglas, Prebble, De Cleene and their ideological masters like Roger Kerr run riot in 1984.
I doubt that Bernie Sanders would go about wrecking the education system like Lange did either.
+100…Lange sure did wreck and de professionalise the education system!…”Tomorrow’s Schools’ …was cost cutting, ignorance and arrogance
You would not put parents in charge of the legal system or the medical system…why put them in charge of schools and education?
Kiaora
Lange was a good man. He was a man of and for the people. Why are you blaming him for how other people used and abused his goodness.
Lange was a good man.
He was. But that is not enough to run a country, sadly.
He was a man of and for the people.
He certainly was conflicted when he saw the effects of his government’s actions on working people. So he was a better person by far than the likes of Moore, Douglas, Prebble and De Cleene, who actually ran the country or, more accurately, ran down the country for six years.
For a good man, he didn’t show much empathy for teachers as his ideologically driven “reforms”—clearly the product of the fevered brains of the Business Round Table rather than Lange himself—were imposed over serious protests from those in the education sector. In fact, he publicly expressed his contempt for them on at least one occasion.
Why are you blaming him for how other people used and abused his goodness.
He was the prime minister. He allowed himself to be manipulated and used by the Douglas-Moore-Prebble faction.
Teenaa koe, Morrisey
The Prime Minister is not the government. Not even Key has been credited with this much power by lefties such as yourself.
Where was the rest of Labour? At a perpetual smoko?
He was a good man let down by his party.
Not even Key has been credited with this much power by lefties such as yourself.
Key is on board with National’s agenda of flogging off our assets, attacking public institutions and destroying dissenting journalists. Unlike Lange vis a vis Douglas, Moore and Prebble, he is not unaware of, or uninterested in, what the likes of Bill English and Steven Joyce are doing.
Where was the rest of Labour? At a perpetual smoko?
Yes. They were organizing their boroughs to be nuclear-free, and left Douglas and his cronies to take care of the boring stuff. Like Lange, the rest of us—except for a few like Bruce Jesson and Jane Kelsey—had little or no idea what they were up to.
He was a good man let down by his party.
No, he was a good man who allowed a small gang of ideologically fanatical theorists to seize control of his party.
Agree, agree, agree. It is sad that the left in NZ is as bad as pure politicking is the only game in town. No humanities here I am afraid.
The art deco buses that were a financial disaster for Napier City Council have proved a great success for their new owner
The council bought the two converted American school buses for $837,000 in 2011 then spent a further $300,000 repairing numerous faults and getting them shipped from California.
The council then incurred a further $323,000 in operating losses.
When sold last year, bids of around just $25,000 for each bus were accepted
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/small-business/71272308/councils-disastrous-art-deco-buses-are-deco-duds-no-more
The biggest problem was the NCC was running the buses on an almost identical route run by the HBRC who control the commuter bus network. The deco buses were charging $15 a ride where the commuter buses were around $3.50. No-brainer really.
Coupled with the pitiful amount they secured selling the buses.
Yeah, $25k each was not a fair price no matter what the new owner thinks.
This is a REALLY big deal, and, in my opinion, these gutsy and persistent members of the Mangawhai Residents and Ratepayers’ Association (MRRA) deserve the full support of every decent New Zealander who supports the ‘Rule of Law’ equally applying to Councils / territorial authorities.
What has happened to members of the MRRA is an absolute disgrace to democracy and proves that New Zealand’s ‘perceived’ status as ‘the second least corrupt country in the world’ is a massive crock of the steaming proverbial.
I for one, will be at the NZ Court of Appeal in support of these fellow New Zealand CITIZENS – not SLAVES.
————————————————————————————————-
Democracy on the Line
The Mangawhai Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association in Northland has been challenging the Kaipara District Council ( run since 2013 by a government-appointed commission ) through a Judicial Review in the High Court over illegal borrowing and illegal rates
The issues affect every ratepayer in New Zealand because they centre around a council’s ability to set rates to fund illegal activities.
The High Court effectively says they can, and we are asking the Court of Appeal to reconsider that question.
But Democracy is also on trial here, because Parliament trampled on the community’s civil rights.
The German-American Philosopher Hannah Arendt famously said “Nobody has the right to obey bad orders”
In our context that means “Nobody should uncomplainingly pay illegal taxes”
The people of Mangawhai are law-abiding decent and mostly elderly.
We will pay our rates the instant they are lawful.
Before that can happen there has to be a full independent investigation to ascertain who caused the loss of over $57,000,000.
Without that, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
If we fold, we consign every ratepayer in the country to tyranny at the hands of their councils.
If you can, please come and hear the arguments. 10:00am Tuesday 25/08/2015,
in Wellington at the Court of Appeal Molesworth St. Courtroom 2.
– or in Auckland at Level 11 280 Queen St (opposite Smith & Caughey) where we have a dedicated video link
– and again on Wednesday the 26th of August 2015.
Approved by Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Association.
Mob: 02108180162 – e-mail: mangawhairatepayers@gmail.com
http://www.mrrainc.weebly.com
For more background on our case , go to http://www.kaiparaconcerns.co.nz/
==============================================
Penny Bright
+100 Go Penny!
These folks need all the support they can get
The implications of this are wide reaching, so it is expected the establishment will use every level of the corrupted frameworks at its disposal
All at tax payers expense of course
To the good people of the MRRA and their supporters – Give it heaps
Guy Williams – Key “Protesters don’t know what they’re talking about because they don’t know what’s in the TPPA.” Protesters “THAT’S WHAT WE’RE PROTESTING”
https://insightnz.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/thats-literally-why-theyre-protesting-guy-williams-reminds-pm-why-kiwis-are-angry-over-tpp-video/
+100…thanks
John Pilger advises a shoddy Kim Hill: “Read. Just read.”
Face to Face, Television One, Thursday 20 March 2003
Later this morning Wallace Chapman is going to interview John Pilger. Let’s hope Chapman’s done a bit more prep. than one of his colleagues did a decade ago, otherwise we could be subjected to the unedifying sounds of someone being keelhauled—metaphorically of course.
Intellectually and morally superior journalists like Glenn Greenwald always humiliate lazy and poorly informed chatterers like Bill Maher, Stephen Sackur and Kirsty Wark. This is why the likes of Greenwald are kept off the screens as much as possible.
In 2003, another of the world’s top journalists, John Pilger, in Sydney, was interviewed by a poorly prepared Kim Hill (in Wellington). Now we all know that Kim Hill is a smart, well read woman. But she’s sometimes a little lazy, and doesn’t always do her due diligence. That’s fine in those cases when she’s far smarter than the person she’s interviewing, as she usually is.
Unfortunately, however, shoddy thinking is not going to work when you try to confront someone like John Pilger….
Face to Face, Television One, Thursday 20 March 2003
Pilger was critical from the beginning, correcting Hill’s lead-in statement and saying he had to “deconstruct” her questions….
KIM HILL: All this time, then, the United Nations and weapons inspectors have been some kind of puppets of the US.
JOHN PILGER: Are you saying that?
KIM HILL: I am asking you whether that is what you are implying?
JOHN PILGER: That’s a leading question, I wouldn’t …
KIM HILL: How would you describe the activities of the United Nations up until this point?
JOHN PILGER: Which area of the United Nations? It’s a very big organisation.
In the end, the interview dissolved into the journalists talking and shouting over the top of each other.
JOHN PILGER: You waste my time because you have not prepared for this interview, as any journalist does, and I’ve done many interviews. The one thing is to prepare for them and this interview, frankly, is a disgrace.
KIM HILL: What preparation would you have cared for, Mr Pilger?
JOHN PILGER: To read. Read. It takes time.
KIM HILL: It’s a pity you wasted a lot of your time tonight, Mr Pilger. I was looking forward to …
JOHN PILGER: No, I haven’t. I’m quite pleased with my answers. I hope you broadcast them as I’ve given them.
KIM HILL: We broadcast you exactly as you are. It’s been interesting to speak with you.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3251418
And sure enough, Chapman has put his foot in it. At 9:48 a.m. he said something really careless and an irritated Pilger pulled him up for it.
But Chapman had the grace to admit he’s not really up to speed on the situation, and he let Pilger clarify for him. A stark contrast to what happened twelve and a half years ago, when poor old Kim Hill foolishly tried to match wits with him.
STOP PRESS!
Incredibly, Chapman continues to put his foot in it. He’s just stated that Jeremy Corbyn is far to the left of the mainstream Labour Party. Pilger politely, but devastatingly, corrected him.
POINT TO PONDER:
Why do radio interviewers like Chapman not do their homework?
Oh dear. I missed this because I was out, but from the sounds, it was a good thing to miss. I have become very disillusioned with the aptly-initialed W.C.
Actually Vicky, or friend Wallace did a pretty good job—far better than Kim Hill’s foolish performance twelve and a half years ago. When a clearly irritated Pilger pounced on him for lazily recycling the lies against Assange, he accepted it in good grace.
what an incredibly cheap shot vicky perhaps yr initials should be sb….i thought the whole show was excellent and didnt wallace have to ask the questions that are on so many misinformed minds anyway ?
Great interview with John Pilger – Julian Assange this morning, on Wallace Chapman’s ‘Sunday Morning’ Radio New Zealand!
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
“The internationally renowned investigative journalist and filmmaker discusses WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his bid for his own freedom – and for freedom of information. John Pilger also gives us his take on Jeremy Corbyn’s bid for leadership of the UK Labour Party”.
Also worth listening to is ‘Media Watch’ on bias in NZ journalism…eg. Mike Hoskings
( sound links yet to come up)
(@ Morrissey…I thought it a pretty fair and good interview …interviewers can not be experts or perfect on ALL subjects…nor can they be perfect interviewers….As long as they tackle the BIG ISSUES with courage …and engage and stand corrected …that is all that matters!….and Pilger is notoriously tetchy)
A couple of embarrassing slips by a well-intentioned but poorly prepared Chapman. Still, it’s better than nothing—which is the amount of time John Pilger will receive on our media for the rest of this year.
By comparison, this fellow is on virtually non-stop….
@chooky +100 I thought Wallace did a good job.
(@ Morrissey…I thought it a pretty fair and good interview …interviewers can not be experts or perfect on ALL subjects…nor can they be perfect interviewers….As long as they tackle the BIG ISSUES with courage …and engage and stand corrected …that is all that matters!
Fair comment, Chooky. I agree that it was a pretty fair interview. However, I was annoyed—as Pilger clearly was—to hear Chapman recycling the brutal, discredited smears against Assange.
….and Pilger is notoriously tetchy)
No, he is not tetchy. He simply does not suffer fools—as anyone who watched the Kim Hill interview will acknowledge. And Wallace Chapman, nice guy that he is, was a fool to come not fully briefed into an interview with a rigorous thinker like Pilger.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock, of ‘global economic analysis’ on China’s economic woes
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.co.nz/
and on America’s economic woes…as interviewed on the Keiser Report on
http://www.rt.com/shows/keiser-report/312522-episode-max-keiser-797/
http://www.rt.com/shows/keiser-report/312709-%D1%81hicago-poor-communities-bankrupt/
This jackass will endorse ANYTHING…
And who in their right mind would use that jackass to endorse their product. Accumulating as much wealth as possible seems to be his endgame.
The future has arrived:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/22/amazon-brutal-work-culture
Some sad reading in the comments on Bezos’ rebuttal.
https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/3hadwi/amazon_ceo_jeff_bezos_responds_to_brutal_new_york/cu5py7r
Ah, the conformity of capitalism forced upon the workers.
Yep, it can do. It can also bring about stagnation as new ways of thinking and looking at things get shouted down. Cooperation can actually bring more because even the smallest voice will be heard.
After reading the NYTimes piece it’s obvious that it’s hard out competition with the message of kill, kill, kill.
CDC – No Link Between Vaccine and Infant Deaths
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/Concerns/sids.html
From 2 to 4 months old, babies begin their primary course of vaccinations. This is also the peak age for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The timing of these two events has led some people to believe they might be related. However, studies have concluded that vaccinations are not a risk factor for SIDS
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/hib/fs-parents.html
Is it safe?
The Hib vaccine is very safe, and it is effective at preventing Hib disease. Vaccines, like any medicine, can have side effects. Most children who get the Hib shot have no side effects.
What are the side effects?
The most common side effects are usually mild and last 2 or 3 days. They include the following:
Redness, swelling, and warmth where the child got the shot
Fever
http://www.globalresearch.ca/centers-for-disease-controls-cdc-own-data-shows-links-between-vaccines-and-sudden-infant-death-syndrome-sids/5426990
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25598306
RESULTS
VAERS received 29,747 reports after Hib vaccines; 5179 (17%) were serious, including 896 reports of deaths. Median age was 6 months (range 0-1022 months). Sudden infant death syndrome was the stated cause of death in 384 (51%) of 749 death reports with autopsy/death certificate records. The most common nondeath serious AE categories were neurologic (80; 37%), other noninfectious (46; 22%) (comprising mainly constitutional signs and symptoms); and gastrointestinal (39; 18%) conditions. No new safety concerns were identified after clinical review of reports of AEs that exceeded the data mining statistical threshold.
CONCLUSION
Review of VAERS reports did not identify any new or unexpected safety concerns for Hib vaccines
“Underreporting” is one of the main limitations of passive surveillance systems, including VAERS. The term, underreporting refers to the fact that VAERS receives reports for only a small fraction of actual adverse events. The degree of underreporting varies widely
* USA – Most vaccinated babies on earth
* USA – Highest rates of infant mortality in developed world
Must be, coincidence
Must be, right…
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3170075/
CV ,can you take a read through of the above link, and see what stand out from your perspective
Cheers
roger
🙄
I dunno. It’s strangely fascinating watching paranoiacs try their hand at sciencing.
Next they’ll discover that countries that vaccinate against polio have high polio rates, dun dun DUUUHHNN
No doubt you’re a total fuckwit
Use of ad homs deflection and ignoring the information in the links leaves little room for error with that call
Interpreting lies spin and outright bullshit is nothing related to science , dickhead
By all means keep flapping your ignorance
Oh, I found your information most interesting, especially the way you highlighted insufficient information in order to justify your sarcastic last sentence.
But really, the best bit was you asking CV to see what stands out from his “perspective”. That’s like asking a Cantabrian to ref a rugby match.
Wait on.
CDC says – HiB vaccine is safe
VAERS – Stats indicate CDC statement is a lie
National Library of Medicine – Study rationalized VAERS stats around vaccine related injury and deaths confirming the CDC lie
McFlock – Flings his own shit and can’t or won’t see that the CDC statement about safety of the HiB vaccine is a lie
Slow hand clap
The CDC statement that Hib vaccine is ‘very safe’ is quite correct as is their conclusion that no new or unexpected safety concerns have been identified.
That you misunderstand the data and try to raise an argument that Hib vaccination is causative in SIDS is due to your inability to understand the information.
One can only be thankful that you aren’t also raising false allegations and conspiracy theories about fluoridation and the twin towers.
After the Berlin Wall fell, West Germany ordered a halt to the water fluoridation that was occurring in Wast Germany.
Nope.
Nope.
From the VAERS paper:
So your comment “VAERS stats around vaccine related injury and deaths ” is pretty misleading – if someone had been hit by an asteroid after vaccination, you’d call that a “vaccine related injury”? Nope.
You’re a fucking moron, but good on you for not letting that get in the way of your belief in your own brilliance.
More so when they do their research.
Thanks, CV
Quite a stunning summary.
As I read it, the researchers suggest a very strong mathematical relationship between the countries utilising the highest numbers of vaccination doses on infants and those same countries having higher rates of infant mortality.
One imagines that countries which can afford to mandate the most vaccination doses to their populations are the richest countries in the world where infant mortality should be lower, not higher.
Given recent advances in understanding how individually safe chemicals can combine in effect to be toxic (i.e. synergistically toxic) in the human body, I think it can be said that the recommendation of the researchers to pursue “closer inspection” is well taken.
CV the information you’ve posted has been well and truly debunked.
https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/vaccine-schedules-and-infant-mortality-a-false-relationship-promoted-by-the-anti-vaccine-movement/
“The current study joins a long list of poorly planned, poorly executed, poorly analyzed studies that purport to show that vaccines cause autism, neurological diease, or even death. It is not the first, nor will it be the last. The question is: How do we respond to such studies? First off, we as skeptics have to be very careful not to become so jaded that knee-jerk hostility predominates. As unlikely as it is, there is always the possibility that there might be something worth taking seriously there. Next off, we have to be prepared to analyze these studies and explain to parents, when appropriate (which is the vast majority of the time) exactly why it is that they are bad science or why their conclusions are not supported by the data presented. Finally, we have to be prepared to provide these analyses fast. The Internet is speed. Already, if you Google the terms “infant mortality” and “vaccine,” anti-vaccine blogs gloating over Miller and Goldman’s study and the study itself appear on the very first page of search results.”
A lie runs the world around while truth is still strapping on its boots. An aphorism that surely predates the interwebz.
I think people who tell the lies that kill can be prosecuted. I hope they will be.
I agree with you.
How much of a dishonest wanker must you be to continually use that website
Not only that, but you actively fight to ‘debunk’ every and any study that might remotely threaten the establishments doctrine which you have been pushing on behalf, for christ knows how long
What sort of arsehole claims to be a medical professional carrying the way you do on this blog site. I suspect there is no amount of ‘evidence’ which would sway you from the blind belief
Fuck the deaths and injury, seems to be your position, and I imagine that Paul Offit is an idol of yours
Here is the news for you dickhead. The world as you believe it to be is currently coming under the most intense scrutiny courtesy of your ‘colleagues’ in the USA who are fronting the ‘mandatory agenda’
I concur with OAB, and hope that those whose lies maim and kill are prosecuted, one way or another
Macbeth.
lol
The self-awareness is weak in this one.
😆
Yeah, whoosh, I’m afraid.
Thanks for taking the time to read the link, CV
No amount of diversion will prevent the crumbling wall created by the lies and bullishit, about ‘benefits’ of vaccination
It is phenomenal to me, that the same types who put such stock in ‘scientific method’, are seemingly oblivious to the hypocrisy they peddle via their willingness to accept with little more than a shrug, the continual exposure of corruption and fraud seeping from the cesspool CDC/FDA and the networks which they ‘oversee’
The drive towards compulsion, is going to expose the death and injury causing fraudulent entities, by putting the industry structures under the microscope like nothing previously witnessed in the history of modern medicine. This is where the ‘scientific method’ is going to be shown has having been utterly bastardized for profit
Staggering is the juvenile attitude by some, who (must) deliberately refuse to see the gaping holes, which even the most fundamental techniques in logical thinking can drive a truck through
I do agree with the comment from One Anonymous Bloke. People that tell lies which kill, maim and injure, should be prosecuted…
Starting with war criminals, and swiftly followed by medical professionals who have accepted lies as knowledge, and uncritically pushed the amoral, and unethical establishments medical agenda, onto unwitting yet trusting populace
So you’re in favour of compulsion then, as it’s the quickest way to expose teh liez…
lol
You’ve just completely slipped off Sanity Hill, haven’t you…
Nope, I was talking about Mr. Andrew Wakefield et al.
Serco, soon to run our ‘social’ housing?
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/thenation/serco-interested-in-nz-state-housing-2015082210#axzz3jVKjWnVj
This sucks.
This is deliberately miss leading the public – well done Russell Norman on pulling the git up on his remarks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11500982
par for the course from this bunch of corrupt p***ks
Oh there is no confusion from Mr Leitch and his possie of Demo Creds. Caught out again ‘same confused excuse’. Bit of cannon fodder for Peters who will be looking to add Whangarei to his Northern Kingdom. His loyal Greypower command post crew in Wellsford will be keeping their eyes peeled for the fleet of Ministers limo’s racing North in a hurry.
Subject: Mr Reti Challenged To Come Clean On TPPA
Democrats for Social Credit Deputy Leader and Whangarei candidate Chris Leitch, has called on MP Shane Reti to “come clean or resign” over his attempt to mislead constituents on the ability of the public to have input to the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement.
Mr Leitch said he had a copy of the material Mr Reti had sent out and the claims in it were “blatantly untrue”.
“Putting it down to “bad grammar” is like a naughty child getting his hand caught in the cookie jar, and claiming “I was just counting them”, said Mr Leitch.
“As deputy chair of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, Mr Reti should know exactly what the government is proposing to allow in the way of public input and I challenge him to make a clear, definitive, detailed, public statement”.
The best way for him to do this would be at a public meeting where he could put his case for Whangarei voters to support the government’s stance on the TPPA, and explain the process.
“If his statement was honestly intended, this would give him an excellent opportunity to demonstrate his sincerity to the general public”, Mr Leitch said.
“In response, I would be keen to put the opposing point of view so the public could hear both sides of the debate, and get their questions answered”, he said.
If he would just name the day and time, I will book a hall and arrange advertising for a public meeting.
Failure on Mr Reti’s part to “fess up” and “front up” over his press statement would likely be seen by constituents as admission that he did indeed try to mislead them.
Ends
Plug for my long rebuttal of Karl du Fresne’s attack on Otago academics.
http://tewharewhero.blogspot.co.nz/2015/08/the-rise-of-industry-apologists-of.html
May I humbly note that Hib presents like the flu, however it is a bacterial infection that if not treated or immunised against in under 4yrs age (because child can’t tell diff between viral flu and bacterial Hib) it will kill them. As an “attached” parent, maybe an answer to SIDs being high in the US as opposed to say 3rd world country may lie in the lack of contact the baby has with its mother, being that the ‘norm’ in western world is to put them in their cot and let them cry themselves to sleep aka “self soothe”…in the “3rd world” babies are attached to mum day and night… no SIDs… coincidence too maybe. Of course there are many what ifs when a baby dies, but loneliness doesnt just kill babies. But being unvaccinated will definitely up the odds of your baby failing to reach 5.. and if you havent heard a small child with whooping cough then you are very lucky. Its not a sound you ever forget. We immunised our child and strongly recommend it. Just my opinion. And 100+ for comments re Lange, I forgot those bits.
Hi Gael
From memory Haemophilius influenza used to cause death in around 3% or less of those who presented with an infection.
Before we used to vaccinate against it, it was the most common cause of meningitis in children, i can remember seeing 1-2 a week when I was training many years ago.
SIDs is considerably lower in the US than in any 3rd world country. The data that has been shown above is defective as countries measure things such as SIDs differently.
Importantly there are many studies and much information to show that immunising as per the schedule along with Hib immunisation lowers the risk of SIDs, indeed one of the studies that shows this to be the case was completed in NZ many years ago.
But being unvaccinated will definitely up the odds of your baby failing to reach5 .. and if you havent heard a small child with whooping cough then you are very lucky. Its not a sound you ever forget. We immunised our child and strongly recommend it
As a parent who has chosen to vaccinate, you HAVE TO believe that statement, because you have painted yourself into a corner through the choices you have made
Because of the choice you made, you have no control over the long term (unknown) outcomes which could seriously impact the health of your offspring. You have no choice but to emphatically believe the decision you took, was the best one
It is the ultimate conundrum for parents, which can leave them terribly exposed and vulnerable. Fear that vaccinating / not vaccinating will lead to their child experiencing pain, injury or death
I note that your ‘strong recommendation’, reads like an attempt to to validate and endorse the decision which you made. Making a recommendation on such a sensitive topic, is terribly ignorant, and a herd mentality tactic
Consequences are too serious on either side of the decision tree, to be making ‘strong recommendations’
“Consequences are too serious on either side of the decision tree, to be making ‘strong recommendations’”
No they aren’t, all sound medical and public health authorities strongly recommend vaccination as per the schedule for all those people as long as they don’t have contraindications to vaccination.
Was it Labour who enthusiastically closed down the mental institutions? Now many people who would have had care there are in prison. Or wandering the streets taking up police time, causing problems to the people they obssess about.
Caring for but limiting the freedom of people not in control of themselves must save money in the long run. And that was one of the reasons for deinstitutilisation, the other was to give people who would benefit from being on their own in the community that chance. But their was no place for those who needed to return to the closer environment.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/71312457/public-menace-margaret-dodds-trespassed-again-in-christchurch
no must have been the Nats as it hit its straps in the early mid nineties…given some of the activities uncovered in the institutions over the years there is a case to be made for it, certainly in the majority of instances, but unfortunately the policy has never been able to implemented as intended due to chronic underfunding….what else is new. Dont worry Im sure Serco have a mental health division…they’ll do it better and cheaper…and still provide a return to their shareholders…..Tui moment.
Could angry andy get some tips from angry jeremy corbyn? At 8:00 minutes in for about 3 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZAn7ZEvwek
Straight talking and not taking any shit has it’s merits.