Mentioned yesterday, the NON- story deputy Leader, King v Ardern got traction in MSM purely to distract from Key’s flacid flagpole, what will they conjure up next? Be prepared, it will be even more ridiculous….I can’t wait
They already have. Their most noxious female minister, Paula Bennett is on the benny bashing trail again. This time it’s state house tenants. That should be good C/T fodder for the Tory media. Let’s give the bludgers a miserable Xmas… it’s all they deserve.
I hear people saying they won’t vote National (any more) because of her, so let’s hope she keeps it up. She is all that is National, in fact all those dreadful female National Ministers are from the same “mould”!
Declining water quality and increasing emissions.
We have too many cows.
‘But there has been a decline in water quality and a 42 percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions between 1990 and 2013.
It also found damage to land from more intensive dairy farming was a significant problem.
Prime Minister John Key said farmers needed to continue to work on reducing their environmental footprint.
“They are doing that – you are seeing them fencing off all of their waterways and by 2017 that will be compulsory, you are seeing dramatic changes in the way they treat effluent playing out so there is clearly more work to be done.”‘
“It’s just incredible to me. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
That’s what Jessica Blunden, a climate scientist with the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told the New York Times in an interview following the agency’s release on Wednesday of new figures showing that last month was the hottest September since records began and offered further confirmation that 2015 will ultimately be the hottest year experienced in modern human history.” http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/10/22/never-seen-anything-2015-set-be-hottest-year-record
Article shows graphs of monthly temperatures of last few years
shows list of Billion dollar weather disasters around the world for this year SO FAR.
Thanks Paul. Watched all of the first three. Like all big big problems it is not only hard to get our heads around but even harder to figure out what we little unimportant people can do about it. Government will not act on long term solutions because it would upset the business of market forces.
Deforestation. Dairying. Fossil fuels. Ugh!
Government will not act on long term solutions because it would upset the business of market forces.
It’s not that it would upset market forces but that a few people wouldn’t be able to get rich from doing the same thing that they’ve always done. They’d have to actually spend money on developing the industry.
It’s a pity because the points that it raises about livestock being a major problem is a serious concern and we need to address it but telling lies and misrepresenting other peoples actual position detracts from that message. It leaves people asking Well, if they lied about that then what else did they lie about? rather than them taking on the message and working to produce solutions.
Yep. And it’s a real shame to see the promotion it’s getting by people who are unwilling to look at the film critically. This is the problem with starting from a place of dogmatic ideology, it skews one’s ability to assess things.
1. “TPP sets time limit on corporate suits against states”
The Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact limits the period for foreign companies to file damages lawsuits against host states over sudden regulatory changes to 3½ years, it was learned Wednesday.
The limit, included in a TPP provision on investor-state dispute settlement, is designed to prevent abuse of litigation by multinational businesses.
The provision also states that member governments will not be forced to change regulations even if they lose lawsuits from foreign businesses.”
*The last sentence means that countries can retain their sovereignty- but they might have to pay dearly for it!
2. Connolly To Press WH For Early 2016 TPP Vote; Fears GOP Defections
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) said Wednesday (Oct. 21) that he plans to drive home the message to the Obama administration that it must bring a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) implementing bill to a congressional vote within the first two or three months of 2016 or risk delaying the vote until the lame-duck session after the November elections. http://insidetrade.com/
The political tradeoffs have been done and the text has now been sent to Tokyo to undergo the ‘legal scrubbing’ process. I guess the Japan Times were given the info.
TPPA . “As we expected there are very few trade benefits, while the deal gives corporates and foreign investors a lot of power to run roughshod over our democracy.”
But it hasn’t been signed, and the fight continues!
14 November is another Nationwide Day of Action against the TPPA!”
Kerikeri – 2:30pm at Kerikeri Library
Auckland – 1:00pm at Myers Park
Hamilton – 1:00pm by Cock and Bull Te Rapa
Tauranga – 11:00am at Red Square
Rotorua – 1:00pm, location TBC
Gisborne – 1:00pm, location TBC
Palmerston North – 1:00pm, location TBC
Wellington – 1pm at Midland Park
Christchurch – 1pm, location TBC
More locations to come http://itsourfuture.org.nz/campaigns/its-not-over-14-november-nationwide-day-of-action/
“The provision also states that member governments will not be forced to change regulations even if they lose lawsuits from foreign businesses.”
Yes. Devil in the detail.
Take-home message: Russians much better at getting away with war crimes than Americans.
Mind you, the Syrian “government” is no slouch:
Physicians for Human Rights said it had documented 313 attacks on medical facilities and the deaths of 679 medical personnel in Syria since protests against the regime of Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011 until the end of August 2015. “Syrian government forces have been responsible for more than 90% of these attacks,” the organisation said.
What a complete shambles, very depressing we can only imagine how bad it must be for those living there while we continuing to bleat about our lot back in NZ.
Is that the measure we set for ourselves Doc? As long as we are not Syria or India we should shut up and question nothing? I know how lucky I am to be here in NZ Doc, but I also know a number for whom each day is a struggle in NZ.
Nothing more irritating than the old “you should be more grateful, at least you’re not living in India/Syria/Afghanistan/ add-any-impoverished- war-torn country- here”.
A stock standard line for the RWer. Not only does it insult the citizens of that country named, it suggests a person is incapable of standing up to attempt to get their own needs met AND have compassion for others who are suffering in different circumstances from themselves.
A classic example of dichotomous thinking. The logic behind this kind of thinking is “I struggle week to week, I am depressed and unwell and can’t get help but I should just STFU because there are people in other countries worse off than me.”
Northshore Doc: It’s possible for a person to consider both their own needs, their country’s needs and the needs of others in other countries while understanding that they differ greatly and all suffering is relative.
+1 Rosie
I shall use your “suffering isn’t a contest” next time I hear someone bleating on about how it is so much worse in other countries. Those of us who are concerned about the poor and disadvantaged in NZ are also the ones who are concerned about injustice and poverty elsewhere in the world.
There’s no need to be nasty and I don’t know what you are saying “diddums” too. I don’t know what part of my comment would provoke a “diddums”. Can you please explain?
You know, sometimes, for someone in the health profession you have some strange ideas about compassion. I hope you don’t tell your patients who are unwell, and struggling to cope with their financial situations “don’t worry, it could be worse, you could be a Syrian refugee”.
Kia kaha Rosie. You are one of the few “must read” contributors on the Standard for me.
[lprent: For me as well. However Dr Mengele is actually keeping within the policy bounds for OpenMike. His comment(s) express his opinion even if they are pointed abuse. ]
It’s quite funny, doc’s last comment. I think he spends more time on TS than I do. I don’t know when he spend time with his patients.
(Glad I don’t have someone like him for a Doctor. We both went into a mini period of mourning after last years election defeat, during a consult. He knows what harm this govt has done. He see’s it in his surgery)
Take-home message: Russians much better at getting away with war crimes than Americans. Mind you, the Syrian “government” is no slouch:
Very good point. I’ve seen a few reports on tv and in online news articles that Russia and/or Syrian forces have bombed hospitals of late. But they don’t get anything like the days of tv and newspaper reports of follow up interviews, demands for explanations & apologies, calls for independent investigations that the US airforce’s attack on Kunduz did. Curious really, you’d think the Western press would be all over these situations.
It’s still a situation where Russia and Assad have the initiative and are controlling events there though. The West still has a problem determining how much support they can safely give the “moderate” opposition fighters, because there really aren’t too many “moderates” there from what I can see
Although all the analysts I’ve read say that win or lose Assad has no future, the sad reality is nobody yet has been able to describe any realistic form of stable unitary government that might succeed him. And ISIS has firmly embedded itself into the communities of the areas it controls. Driving them out must necessarily involve yet more masses of refugees and civilian casualties.
Assad’s Regime and Putin’s Russia don’t much pretend to be better than they are. Evil bastards doing evil things in the pursuit of power doesn’t have far to go as a story. However, with the hypocrisy of the US claiming to be all for; democracy and human rights, then bombing hospitals and weddings, that story just has more legs for a journalist.
[edit] Also the rendition of US captives to Assad’s Syria last decade for the purposes of torture just adds to the hypocrisy.
Very good point. I’ve seen a few reports on tv and in online news articles that Russia and/or Syrian forces have bombed hospitals of late. But they don’t get anything like the days of tv and newspaper reports of follow up interviews, demands for explanations & apologies, calls for independent investigations that the US airforce’s attack on Kunduz did.
Firstly, Russia has declared that it will not airstrike civilian targets like mosques and hospitals, *even if they are being used as military bases or staging points by Islamists*.
Secondly, the reason that western media has not been “all over” the reports of such attacks is that most of them won’t stand up to scrutiny.
Thirdly, the United States and its allies have funded and equipped a destructive, multi-year proxy war against Assad, completely against international norms and international law.
The West still has a problem determining how much support they can safely give the “moderate” opposition fighters, because there really aren’t too many “moderates” there from what I can see
Well the US has changed its strategy from “training and equipping” fighters in Syria to simply equipping them – via blind parachute drops of munitions and hoping they don’t fall into the wrong hands. Ridiculous.
Firstly, Russia has declared that it will not airstrike civilian targets like mosques and hospitals, *even if they are being used as military bases or staging points by Islamists*.
Secondly, the reason that western media has not been “all over” the reports of such attacks is that most of them won’t stand up to scrutiny.Hard to say
For starters: how exactly does a small volunteer group of medics can tell whether it was an American, French, UK or Russian airstrike which hit a hospital. Especially as Russian planes are staying above 5000m altitude during missions in order to avoid MANPAD fire from infantry.
Secondly this statement from their press release:
“Bashar al-Assad’s forces have been relentlessly attacking Syria’s health care system for the past four years and the Russian government is now following in their footsteps,” said Widney Brown, PHR’s director of programs. –
These are weasel words. Assad and his father *built* Syria’s public health system. The US and its allies Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar have been fuelling a massive war against Assad.
By the way I have no doubt that Assad’s forces have shelled medical facilities previously – just as I have no doubt that the Islamists have done so. After all, entire towns in Syria have been levelled to roughly 1m high.
Assad doesn’t have any fighter-bombers. The only bombs his forces have been able to drop have been barrel bombs, dropped from helicopters. If bombs are hitting these hospitals, they’ve come from bombers. And at times when the Russians have confirmed they were conducting air operations in those locations.
So describe to me again how medical doctor volunteers for PHR managed to conclusively decide – and then definitively state- that the airstrikes were Russian, but not US, French, or UK?
Or is it just as you say – the Russians have started bombing, so these bombs must have been Russian?
To cut to the chase – PHR might very well be an NGO funded by the US Gov. I have not seen any other group corroborate their claims about multiple hospitals being hit by Russian forces.
How do they know the strikes were not by US, French or UK aircraft? Because they’re hitting areas where and when the Western coalition’s aircraft are not operating. How do we know they’re not operating there? Because the Russians would be telling everybody if they were.
The Russians only operate a few SU-35s in Syria; the bulk of their attack force are much older SU-24 and Su-25s.
How do we know they’re not operating there? Because the Russians would be telling everybody if they were.
?
I’m surprised that you think you know what info the Russians would release about US airstrikes and what they wouldn’t, but OK.
By the way the Russians have brought high tech surveillance and recon gear to Syria (via Foreign Policy journal). I agree that if hospitals were hit by the Russians, it would have been a fully deliberate and conscious choice.
I’m surprised you think the Russians would keep quiet about seeing Western Alliance aircraft in the vicinity of where they were operating, and then not mention it when they were being accused of bombing hospitals. But then, there you go. I suppose if everything is a devious US plot that would be a logical conclusion.
(Looks like there were four SU-30SM’s sent to Syria, not SU-35’s. They do look a bit alike.)
you’ll notice that Russia doesn’t bother to respond directly to most of the noise in the western MSM.
Re: “devious US plot”
the US has confirmed CIA backed anti-Assad fighters in the field, and wilkileaks has produced US diplomatic cables detailing how best to destabilise Syria.
Yes, sure, it most certainly does count in your favour in the situation we’re discussing if those diplomatic cables suggest that to destabilise Syria the US and/or allied aircraft should bomb hospitals at the exact same time and location as Russian aircraft are carrying out ground attacks.
Basically, PHR claims to know for certain that all those hospitals were definitely hit by Russian airstrikes, and not by any US, UK, or French planes. In fact they don’t even mention the possibility.
I have a very simple question – where did an organisation of volunteer medics on the ground get that information from?
How can you tell a “good” airstrike from a “bad” airstrike?
From the War Nerd:
Now for the next accusation, that the Russian strikes are brutal.
Well, yeah, they are. That’s the general idea. I don’t mean to be flippant here, but air strikes only look neat when you stay up there and watch from the pilot’s angle…
As a rule, you can tell when the media approve of air strikes by the angle. If it’s all nice clean pilot’s-view of distant explosions, it’s a good strike. If they show you funerals, weeping relatives, blasted apartments, it’s a bad strike. So you can tell, just from the headline—“This Is What the Russian Air Strikes in Syria Look Like from the Ground”—that it’s a bad strike…When the strike is done by our own airforce, you still don’t see them unless you go to foreign or marginal leftist sites. But boy do they start popping up when it’s the Russians playing their air-to-ground video games.
There are a total of 29 photographs here, and three-quarters of them are of the pity-inspiring variety. First photo, a ruined neighborhood; second, column of smoke; third, weeping old woman; fourth, civilian car covered with rubble; fifth, horrible scythe-shaped cluster munitions; sixth, a wounded civilian being carried to hospital…
It’s not that there’s anything false about these images. They’re a pretty good montage of the horror of an air strike…Russians are bombing more or less the way all the other foreign air forces in Syria are bombing.
Check out this PHR press release on the Kunduz MSF incident where US forces assaulted the hospital for over half an hour.
1) Count how many times PHR rhetorically attacks the US Government or US military for the incident by name. (None).
2) Note how the last 1/3 of the PHR press release on the Kunduz MSF incident in AFGHANISTAN somehow manages to turn into an attack on the SYRIAN Government.
Read it. The fact it came out too soon, bought the original US line about “collateral damage” and was never followed up by another one specifically condemning the yanks once the US admitted it was them, and that they’d attacked the hospital for an hour, doesn’t mean they are wrong about the Russians and Syrian forces attacking Syrian hospitals.
The US and Western alliance in Syria has been completely stymied which is hardly surprising as they have no idea what they’re doing there or all the forces in play. But Assad and the Russians are going to kill thousands taking back control of people who don’t want to be under his control. The place has become a hell-hole with no discernible satisfactory outcome likely.
Edit: Putin’s bottom line is that the Western Alliance must stop supporting the opposition forces attacking Assad’s forces before Russia will join them in joint attacks on ISIL forces. He is so far most in control of the situation there, apart from the Kurds in the North.
Yes, the Russians and the Syrian Army are going to kill a lot of people in the next few weeks. It will be very unpleasant.
Worth remembering that perhaps 2/3 of the people who have fled the fighting in Syria have fled to Assad-controlled areas.
My view is that Russia/Assad are trying to build a viable coastal Alawite/minorities sector of Syria and that they will leave the inland areas to ISIL/Al Nusra.
Read it. The fact it came out too soon, bought the original US line about “collateral damage” and was never followed up by another one specifically condemning the yanks once the US admitted it was them
The line in that press release which fingered it as BS was where PHR called on “all parties” in the conflict to show restraint. When the incident could only have been a US airstrike, deliberate or accidental.
And the last 1/3 of a press release on Afghanistan pivoting to become an attack on the Syrian Government.
I will go with the War Nerd’s conclusions around this – only Russia currently has an air campaign which makes any strategic sense. The US/coalition air campaign doesn’t have strategic cohesion which is why it has accomplished so little against ISIL in the last year plus.
btw I suspect Putin will not be counting on the West and its allies to stop supporting anti-Assad fighters, and will instead just burn them out, sector by sector, including with heavy weapons such as illegal cluster munitions.
Worth remembering that perhaps 2/3 of the people who have fled the fighting in Syria have fled to Assad-controlled areas.
Yes, I read that somewhere too a few days ago, but only in one article, and I haven’t been able to find it again. I found it a bit hard to believe to be honest. I’m not saying it’s wrong but I’ve not had much success in finding any source that shows where all the reported 11 million internally displaced refugees have gone.
I agree with your btw. I think Vlad the Lad is just twisting the knife there for a bit of fun. He knows he’s on stronger ground than they are.
Firstly, Russia has declared that it will not airstrike civilian targets like mosques and hospitals, *even if they are being used as military bases or staging points by Islamists*.
The country that declared it didn’t have any troops in the Crimea or in Ukraine also declares it doesn’t destroy hospitals, despite having bombed four of them? Quelle surprise.
Thirdly, the United States and its allies have funded and equipped a destructive, multi-year proxy war against Assad, completely against international norms and international law.
Your tinfoil hat is very fetching, but isn’t really relevant to the fact Assad and Putin have been bombing hospitals and other medical facilities.
To see the tinfoil hat, try seeing the American Revolution as “France funded and equipped a destructive, multi-year proxy war against George III” – there’s a way in which you could kind of see the conflict that way, but only if you have a very bizarrely misplaced sense of what’s significant.
So now you are arguing that Putin is adept in the art of deception.
Which makes Russia’s declaration “that it will not airstrike civilian targets like mosques and hospitals, *even if they are being used as military bases or staging points by Islamists*” at best unreliable.
It’s something they threw out for gullible little putinestas to regurgitate because if Fox News is bad, RT must be true. The hegemonic enemy of my hegemonic enemy must be the benevolent liberator of the oppressed…
McFlock, only one country in the world has “hegemonic” aspirations. Its the one with over 800 military bases (or almost double that number depending on how you categorise a ‘military base’) in over 50 countries.
only one country in the world has “hegemonic” aspirations
lol
So now I’m not sure whether you’re really that naive, or that you’re simply scurrying away from the two contradictory positions you’ve established.
Your first counter to the proposition”Russians [are] much better at getting away with war crimes than Americans” was that Russia has declared that it will not airstrike civilian targets like mosques and hospitals, yet a few comments later you are praising Putin’s willingness to deceive in order to further his (absolutely non-hegemonic /sarc) geopolitical interests as being akin to something out of Sun Tzu.
Neither Russia nor China have global imperial intentions.
Then why is China making aircraft carriers? Don’t need those for home waters defense. Why does Russia want to keep its port in the med? Doesn’t need that for home defense.
We both know I’m referring to the Russian soldiers operating without identifying badges who were involved in the annexation – although, I’m sure that for you they didn’t exist because the Russian government has said they didn’t.
Here is some reading for Hekia Parata and David Seymour.
“CHARTER SCHOOL BLACK HOLE: SPECIAL INVESTIGATION
REVEALS HUGE GAPS IN PUBLIC INFO ON TAXPAYER MONEY SPENT”
A REPORTERS’ GUIDE by the Center for Media and Democracy
“:The study attributes this lack of accountability “to the way the charter industry has been built by proponents, favoring ‘flexibility’ over rules.”
“That flexibility has allowed an epidemic of fraud, waste, and mismanagement that would not be tolerated in public schools,” CMD states, noting that charters “are often policed—if they are really policed at all—by charter proponents, both within government agencies and within private entities tasked with oversight.”
How many more times will the National Govt follow flawed policy from overseas even when the evidence of the failure of that policy is readily available! Why do National wilfully ignore any evidence that contradicts their chosen plan?
Is it stupidity or deceitfulness …or both?
Parata and Seymour are well aware of this as that’s why this policy exists and it’s pinned to the national subsidary ACT’s donkeys tail for spin and distancing purposes.
More enrichment of a select few at taxpayers expense and deliberately excluded from the OIA.
They’re not ingoring the evidence they’re relying on it.
Why do National wilfully ignore any evidence that contradicts their chosen plan?
Does it contradict their plan? Seems to me that it’s working as National would want it to as it transfers huge amounts of public money into private profit. They don’t seem to care if we get any services from that expenditure.
The end of an era.
The Tories yesterday voted to reduce the voting powers Scottish MPs in Westminster.
Since 1707, when Great Britain was formed from the Union of England and Scotland, every MP had an equal vote. Yesterday that ended. This will accelerate the campaign for full Scottish Independence.
“Labour’s Gerald Kaufman, the longest-serving member of the house, declared “a day of shame for the House of Commons”. He decried the debate as “one of the nastiest, most unpleasant I have attended in 45 years”, prompted by “a government with no respect for the House.”
Fantastic thanks Northsider. I’ll take a look when I get a chance this arvo. The Scots political blog Bella Caledonia might have some good commentary on this too, in a few days time:
The cynical bit in the whole thing is that if there is a Labour or Labour/ SNP government in Westminster, then said government may well be unable to pass legislation for England and Wales. ie, the Tory opposition in England and Wales might have the numbers to defeat any legislation that falls within the scope of EVEL. Any Labour or SNP/Labour government would essentially need a majority in excess of 59 (the number of Scottish seats).
It is what a number of Tory grandees want. Tim Bell, Thatcher’s AdMan, said as much in an interview during the recent election count. They see Northrn Ireland under joint governance with the Republic and Scotland no longer a source of oil income. Rather than wait for the constitutional reshape that will happen when NI and Scotland finally go, these Tories want to own all the levers of the constitutional process and shape the stand-alone England (including the county called Wales) into a Tory Valhalla.
The SNP knows this and will play it to their advantage. Many of those who voted to stay in the UK in the Independence Referendum will see this as a betrayal of the “Vow” made to them by Cameron and Brown, the Tories and Labour.
WHICH ‘developers, company directors, property valuers and lawyers’ are allegedly involved in this ‘large scale Auckland mortgage fraud’ being currently investigated by the SFO?
_______________________________________________________
‘Large scale’ Auckland mortgage fraud
Thursday, 22 October 2015
The New Zealand Herald
The Serious Fraud Office says Auckland’s property market and the scale of commercial developments is a ‘key environmental risk’.
The Serious Fraud Office is investigating large-scale mortgage fraud in the Auckland property market involving developers, company directors, property valuers and lawyers.
“Auckland’s property market and the scale of impending commercial developments represent a key environmental risk,” the SFO said in its 2015 annual report released this week.
“We have invested significant resources into investigating a large-scale mortgage fraud involving highly organised teams of property developers, shell company directors, property valuers and lawyers.”
The SFO, which aims to reduce the impact of serious financial crime on both the economy and the public, said the investigation is ongoing and declined further comment.
______________________________________________
Penny Bright
The Taranaki Daily News reported on Keys visit to New Plymouth yesterday. Having a close involvement in the oil & gas industry I was surprised by the contradictory quotes by our PM. My understanding is that there will be no off-shore “prospecting” activity around NZ this summer and very little land based “prospecting” activity.
I called the journalist at the newspaper and enquired as to what he believed the PM was referring to when he spoke about “prospecting” activity and how busy the industry would be. Surprise, surprise he couldn’t tell me, although he wrote the story!
Take a look for yourself and decide if our PM is simply full of it!
The issuing of exploration licences and the time-frame involved to utilise the licence is under review. Explorers – new or established – will not be coming here this summer. Yet Key had this to say yesterday;
” This summer is expected to be the biggest season in prospecting we’ve seen around NZ”.
Hmmm. Yeah, I dunno now. All I can find in that herald report is a one liner that says “New permits will be announced in December.” I thought maybe they’d be all set up to go on receipt of a licence but doesn’t sound right.
So, don’t know. Seems an odd thing to do to promise a busy summer of exploration if it’s not happening. PM’s a known fibber. But then, who knows what he said. The reporter doesn’t exactly sound like a bright spark either.
The reporter told me he had it all on tape, hence the quotation marks in his story. I suggested he call PEPANZ the industries lobby group – similar to Federated Farmers I would imagine – to clarify the PM’s comments.
He promised that he would along with enquiries to the PM’s office.
Once again a classic example of shoddy journalism.
The Prime Minister said it so it must be right.
I’ve been accused of being PC often enough when objecting to the more offensive utterences of others (retard, gay, slut, nigger etc). A lot depends on context, but it does seem to come down to basic courtesy, and recognising that others are as human as yourself. This Guardian article is a good examination of that term, though I feel that it is more; defense of privilege, and habit, rather than fear that lies at the heart for most.
if the antithesis of some dreaded oversensitivity is spewing vile, hateful and venomous rhetoric about people who are leading movements both big and small to strengthen and enhance all of humanity, then, at a bare minimum, we are going to need a little more sensitivity.
But there is the fear of “political correctness”, and then there is the reality of what’s considered politically acceptable. It is not politically correct to recognize and honor the lives of undocumented immigrants and their children in this day and age…
It is not politically correct to object to the gender pay gap…
It is not politically correct to highlight the fact that black and brown people are violently profiled, discriminated against and underrepresented in government and industry…
It is not politically correct to ensure that transgender people are the arbiters of their own experience, and believe that they should be deferred to on matters of their safety and livelihood…
We are more interesting and nuanced as a culture and a society when we both recognize and value our variances and seek to include rather than exclude.
Right now, that feels a little politically incorrect to say.
Gordon Campbell writes about the retrograde nature of the TPP wrt copyright.
” At a time when the US courts are making a case for the defence of “fair use” and “transformative” use” and are loudly re-stating the over-riding “public good” arguments for a limited copyright term, the US entertainment industry moguls – and their political cronies – are headed in the opposite direction, and are intent on maximising their commercial gains and elevating them above all other relevant issues.
The ‘free trade’ banner is being abused by these US companies to roll back the losses they’ve been suffering in court over the past decade. Regularly, the multinationals have lost even the civil actions they have taken – eg Viacom vs Youtube – over alleged copyright infringement.”
……
“Genius, as the writer Lewis Hyde once said, needs to “tinker in a collective shop”. In the misleading name of ‘free’ trade, the TPP is trying to shut that shop down to new entrants. ” http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1510/S00047/gordon-campbell-on-copyright-the-authors-guild-case-tpp.htm
TPP is NOT a free trade agreement! March on 14 November!
And more of Jo Moir’s anti-Labour mischief-making, repeating her baseless allegation that Andrew Little “snubbed” Ardern in reappointing Annette King as deputy.
Good read and ideas around organising, but I fear that unless industry agreements are reached – something along the lines of the old award bargaining system – the union movement will continue to chase it’s tail.
If my comment has been deliberately removed I’m amazed and amused. Clearly only certain types of agitation are acceptable (I will go away and read the about policy too).
The head post is not about the process but about the failure of the public to accept the PM’s enthusiasm to change the flag.
I simply pointed out that Labour had the same view that we should review the options. There is no difference except a fierce determination that no such nation(al) building should happen under Key.
[lprent: It was deliberately removed to OpenMike. We permit diversions. But when you are commenting on a post, then comment on the topic of the post. This one also moved to OpenMike becasue it appears to be all about your habit of self pleasuring while writing. That is the last time I will exert myself to educate a idiot troll. ]
Divisive characters tend to have that effect on people (Thirty percent of the electorate is not a consensus.) Your argument ignores other far more substantive concerns.
Will Jesse Mulligan give this monster the treatment he deserves?
Or will he let him dominate and chortle complicitly, as Paul Holmes did ten years ago?
in 2005, the massively over-rated British and Irish Lions coach Clive Woodward appointed Tony Blair’s disgraced hitman Alistair Campbell as manager of the team. At the team’s first training session, in Albany, Paul Holmes dared to ask him about his role in the death of Dr David Kelly. Campbell contemptuously brushed him off.
Now Campbell is back on our radar. This intriguing little notice appeared on the Radio NZ website recently….
COMING UP ON JESSE MULLIGAN, 1–4PM
3:10 pm Tuesday 27 October:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Alistair Campbell
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Strategy, leadership and teamship. This is the Holy Trinity of winning according to Alistair Campbell who helped Tony Blair win three terms as British Prime Minister as his press secretary His position gave him access to winning business leaders, athletes, artists and politicians. His new book, Winners: And How They Succeed examines the qualities of everyone from Richard Branson and Sir Clive Woodward to Bill Gates and the Queen to identify what it takes to win.
Trougher group spending up large on taxpayer as their sense of entitlement.
Key warns of excessive hotel bills coming up for MPs to be able to get to RWC.
Mmmmm we’re currently travelling around S.E. England and using Booking.com for our accommodation needs and securing Wonderful double rooms breakfast included for around $200 per night. Car hire is very reasonable so staying in the Home Counties increases accommodation choices.
How did these people manage to secure tickets in the first place anyway?
Prick never ‘packed down’ in his life. Making up for it with a feast of ‘packing off’ now.
What a piece of shit. This is Marie Antoinette stuff ! Mind you…..he’s a good man……giving us ‘fair warning’. Yeah Yeah Yeah…..Trev’ from the Herald knows…..she’s probably there too, as per…..where there’s a Key there’s always a Trev’.
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. 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 economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
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 ...
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. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
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 ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
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 ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
In 1995, Sally Clark went out on her own in a bold and unorthodox attempt to join an illustrious group of equestrian riders conquering the world. In the days of glovebox road maps, brick cell phones, and the hit song How Bizarre, Clark refused to follow Sir Mark Todd, Blyth ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Beaglehole, Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago niphon/Getty Images The number of people accessing medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Aotearoa New Zealand increased significantly between 2006 and 2022. But the disorder is still under-diagnosed and ...
To celebrate the start of New Zealand music month, we look back at the best local tuneage that managed to weasel its way into Hollywood productions. There’s nothing quite like the thrilling zap of recognition when New Zealand weasels its way into a glamorous Hollywood production. Crack open a Tui ...
People trust other people more than institutions. So how can the media gain that trust through journalists without losing what’s important about the institution? Anna Rawhiti-Connell reflects on two years of curating the news for The Bulletin.Amonth ago, armed cops descended on my neighbourhood as calls to “lock your ...
Opinion: PFAS – per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are a class of thousands of man-made chemicals used widely in everyday consumer items such as textiles, packaging, and cookware, popular for their water, grease and stain-repellent properties. However, the very properties that make PFAS so attractive to manufacturers are also what ...
NONFICTION 1 The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)’ This is the hottest book in New Zealand, number one with a bullet in its first week, selling more than any overseas title, and demand is so huge that it’s already been reprinted. A ...
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. ...
A warning – suicide is discussed in this podcast New Zealand’s own long-running soap Shortland Street doesn’t hesitate to kill off its much-loved characters. But would TVNZ dare to kill off our favourite soap? That’s the fear as times get tough in television – even though it’s been pointed out ...
Vanity project in trouble.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11533644
Time to find a new distraction?
And Bennett responds with a. ” Look over there Filthy HNZ tenants turning down houses, why? Because the birds sing too loudly”
Fark she is a nasty piece of work, the worst kind of Politician. The pull the ladder up behind me type.
Mentioned yesterday, the NON- story deputy Leader, King v Ardern got traction in MSM purely to distract from Key’s flacid flagpole, what will they conjure up next? Be prepared, it will be even more ridiculous….I can’t wait
… what will they conjure up next?
They already have. Their most noxious female minister, Paula Bennett is on the benny bashing trail again. This time it’s state house tenants. That should be good C/T fodder for the Tory media. Let’s give the bludgers a miserable Xmas… it’s all they deserve.
God, what a truly vile woman.
I hear people saying they won’t vote National (any more) because of her, so let’s hope she keeps it up. She is all that is National, in fact all those dreadful female National Ministers are from the same “mould”!
Declining water quality and increasing emissions.
We have too many cows.
‘But there has been a decline in water quality and a 42 percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions between 1990 and 2013.
It also found damage to land from more intensive dairy farming was a significant problem.
Prime Minister John Key said farmers needed to continue to work on reducing their environmental footprint.
“They are doing that – you are seeing them fencing off all of their waterways and by 2017 that will be compulsory, you are seeing dramatic changes in the way they treat effluent playing out so there is clearly more work to be done.”‘
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/287638/environment-report-depressing-opposition
New Zealand – beholden to Climate deniers since the 1990s.
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/hot-air-2014
We must gear rid of capitalism if we want to solve cliamte change.
Naomi Klein.
Naomi Klein at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas
“It’s just incredible to me. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
That’s what Jessica Blunden, a climate scientist with the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told the New York Times in an interview following the agency’s release on Wednesday of new figures showing that last month was the hottest September since records began and offered further confirmation that 2015 will ultimately be the hottest year experienced in modern human history.”
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/10/22/never-seen-anything-2015-set-be-hottest-year-record
Article shows graphs of monthly temperatures of last few years
shows list of Billion dollar weather disasters around the world for this year SO FAR.
Thanks Paul. Watched all of the first three. Like all big big problems it is not only hard to get our heads around but even harder to figure out what we little unimportant people can do about it. Government will not act on long term solutions because it would upset the business of market forces.
Deforestation. Dairying. Fossil fuels. Ugh!
It’s not that it would upset market forces but that a few people wouldn’t be able to get rich from doing the same thing that they’ve always done. They’d have to actually spend money on developing the industry.
The problem with Cowspiracy is that it misrepresents the positions of multiple organisations.
The more I hear about this film the worse its reputation gets. It’s also apparently plays fast and loose with the facts on many levels.
edit, just seen that that Greenpeace article is written by a long term vegan. Heh.
Didn’t yourself and Philip Ure have a real humdinger of an argument over this doco? I think thats where I remember the name from……..
Indeed Rosie, although it was more a case of me making an argument and phil posting a series of ad hominems 😉
Yes, I remember his style well…………………..
I also remember being put off watching Cowspiracy. Bit of a silly name too
It’s a pity because the points that it raises about livestock being a major problem is a serious concern and we need to address it but telling lies and misrepresenting other peoples actual position detracts from that message. It leaves people asking Well, if they lied about that then what else did they lie about? rather than them taking on the message and working to produce solutions.
Yep. And it’s a real shame to see the promotion it’s getting by people who are unwilling to look at the film critically. This is the problem with starting from a place of dogmatic ideology, it skews one’s ability to assess things.
1. “TPP sets time limit on corporate suits against states”
The Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact limits the period for foreign companies to file damages lawsuits against host states over sudden regulatory changes to 3½ years, it was learned Wednesday.
The limit, included in a TPP provision on investor-state dispute settlement, is designed to prevent abuse of litigation by multinational businesses.
The provision also states that member governments will not be forced to change regulations even if they lose lawsuits from foreign businesses.”
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/22/business/tpp-sets-time-limit-corporate-suits-foreign-states/#.Vikjln4rLDd
*The last sentence means that countries can retain their sovereignty- but they might have to pay dearly for it!
2. Connolly To Press WH For Early 2016 TPP Vote; Fears GOP Defections
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) said Wednesday (Oct. 21) that he plans to drive home the message to the Obama administration that it must bring a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) implementing bill to a congressional vote within the first two or three months of 2016 or risk delaying the vote until the lame-duck session after the November elections. http://insidetrade.com/
Sorry, no time to read your links at this stage, who leaked it do you think?
The political tradeoffs have been done and the text has now been sent to Tokyo to undergo the ‘legal scrubbing’ process. I guess the Japan Times were given the info.
TPPA . “As we expected there are very few trade benefits, while the deal gives corporates and foreign investors a lot of power to run roughshod over our democracy.”
But it hasn’t been signed, and the fight continues!
14 November is another Nationwide Day of Action against the TPPA!”
Kerikeri – 2:30pm at Kerikeri Library
Auckland – 1:00pm at Myers Park
Hamilton – 1:00pm by Cock and Bull Te Rapa
Tauranga – 11:00am at Red Square
Rotorua – 1:00pm, location TBC
Gisborne – 1:00pm, location TBC
Palmerston North – 1:00pm, location TBC
Wellington – 1pm at Midland Park
Christchurch – 1pm, location TBC
More locations to come
http://itsourfuture.org.nz/campaigns/its-not-over-14-november-nationwide-day-of-action/
“…while the deal gives corporates and foreign investors a lot of power to run roughshod over our democracy.”
and widens the door for increased corporate and foreign investor dominance of government funded contracts.
And why not?
According to Auntie “kick the ladder” Paula, these are “a “double A rated, Government guaranteed investment product”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11533295
Contracts loaded and locked, then sue our collective arses when they fail and we try, through democracy, to put them right.
Housing. Health Care. Disability Care. Child Protection. Early Childhood Education. Work Testing. Mental Health. ACC. Prisons.
There’s a recurring theme here….
Thanks TMM for the list of protest dates, times, locations.
So if you pass stuff that comes into effect in 3 and 3/4 years they can’t sue as they have had sufficent notice?
3.5 years is a long time for a company though. They can get proceedings issued in hours. I wonder what the definition of “sudden” is going to be?
“The provision also states that member governments will not be forced to change regulations even if they lose lawsuits from foreign businesses.”
Yes. Devil in the detail.
A good read for the blog’s resident Assad/Putin enthusiasts: Four Syrian hospitals bombed since Russian air strikes began, doctors say.
Take-home message: Russians much better at getting away with war crimes than Americans.
Mind you, the Syrian “government” is no slouch:
“Russians much better at getting away with war crimes than Americans.”
History suggest that they both are pretty adept at getting away with them. It’s all a fucking mess. And still the innocent keep dying.
@PM
What a complete shambles, very depressing we can only imagine how bad it must be for those living there while we continuing to bleat about our lot back in NZ.
Is that the measure we set for ourselves Doc? As long as we are not Syria or India we should shut up and question nothing? I know how lucky I am to be here in NZ Doc, but I also know a number for whom each day is a struggle in NZ.
Nothing more irritating than the old “you should be more grateful, at least you’re not living in India/Syria/Afghanistan/ add-any-impoverished- war-torn country- here”.
A stock standard line for the RWer. Not only does it insult the citizens of that country named, it suggests a person is incapable of standing up to attempt to get their own needs met AND have compassion for others who are suffering in different circumstances from themselves.
A classic example of dichotomous thinking. The logic behind this kind of thinking is “I struggle week to week, I am depressed and unwell and can’t get help but I should just STFU because there are people in other countries worse off than me.”
Northshore Doc: It’s possible for a person to consider both their own needs, their country’s needs and the needs of others in other countries while understanding that they differ greatly and all suffering is relative.
Suffering isn’t a contest.
+1 Rosie
I shall use your “suffering isn’t a contest” next time I hear someone bleating on about how it is so much worse in other countries. Those of us who are concerned about the poor and disadvantaged in NZ are also the ones who are concerned about injustice and poverty elsewhere in the world.
I think the word I’m looking for in response to you is diddums Rosie.
Or perhaps 🙄 will suffice.
Um. What?
There’s no need to be nasty and I don’t know what you are saying “diddums” too. I don’t know what part of my comment would provoke a “diddums”. Can you please explain?
You know, sometimes, for someone in the health profession you have some strange ideas about compassion. I hope you don’t tell your patients who are unwell, and struggling to cope with their financial situations “don’t worry, it could be worse, you could be a Syrian refugee”.
No I usually tell them something like…
‘Don’t worry things could be worse you could be a dreary moaner who spends their life on political blogs.”
Are there any moderators out there?
This is beyond offensive.
Kia kaha Rosie. You are one of the few “must read” contributors on the Standard for me.
[lprent: For me as well. However Dr Mengele is actually keeping within the policy bounds for OpenMike. His comment(s) express his opinion even if they are pointed abuse. ]
spot on rosie, thank you.
Yep good comment Rosie
I appreciated it too Rosie, well done.
Thanks for your comments folks.
It’s quite funny, doc’s last comment. I think he spends more time on TS than I do. I don’t know when he spend time with his patients.
(Glad I don’t have someone like him for a Doctor. We both went into a mini period of mourning after last years election defeat, during a consult. He knows what harm this govt has done. He see’s it in his surgery)
Tracey I don’t know why you felt the need to put words in my mouth that I didn’t say ?
“I know how lucky I am to be here in NZ Doc, but I also know a number for whom each day is a struggle in NZ.”
Me too …your point ?
Take-home message: Russians much better at getting away with war crimes than Americans. Mind you, the Syrian “government” is no slouch:
Very good point. I’ve seen a few reports on tv and in online news articles that Russia and/or Syrian forces have bombed hospitals of late. But they don’t get anything like the days of tv and newspaper reports of follow up interviews, demands for explanations & apologies, calls for independent investigations that the US airforce’s attack on Kunduz did. Curious really, you’d think the Western press would be all over these situations.
It’s still a situation where Russia and Assad have the initiative and are controlling events there though. The West still has a problem determining how much support they can safely give the “moderate” opposition fighters, because there really aren’t too many “moderates” there from what I can see
Although all the analysts I’ve read say that win or lose Assad has no future, the sad reality is nobody yet has been able to describe any realistic form of stable unitary government that might succeed him. And ISIS has firmly embedded itself into the communities of the areas it controls. Driving them out must necessarily involve yet more masses of refugees and civilian casualties.
Assad’s Regime and Putin’s Russia don’t much pretend to be better than they are. Evil bastards doing evil things in the pursuit of power doesn’t have far to go as a story. However, with the hypocrisy of the US claiming to be all for; democracy and human rights, then bombing hospitals and weddings, that story just has more legs for a journalist.
[edit] Also the rendition of US captives to Assad’s Syria last decade for the purposes of torture just adds to the hypocrisy.
France, UK, USA, Russia have been running military flights and airstrikes into and out of Syria.
Only one of those countries asked for permission from the Syrian Government – Russia.
The others just decided to invade the airspace of another country…because they could.
Firstly, Russia has declared that it will not airstrike civilian targets like mosques and hospitals, *even if they are being used as military bases or staging points by Islamists*.
Secondly, the reason that western media has not been “all over” the reports of such attacks is that most of them won’t stand up to scrutiny.
Thirdly, the United States and its allies have funded and equipped a destructive, multi-year proxy war against Assad, completely against international norms and international law.
Well the US has changed its strategy from “training and equipping” fighters in Syria to simply equipping them – via blind parachute drops of munitions and hoping they don’t fall into the wrong hands. Ridiculous.
Firstly, Russia has declared that it will not airstrike civilian targets like mosques and hospitals, *even if they are being used as military bases or staging points by Islamists*.
Secondly, the reason that western media has not been “all over” the reports of such attacks is that most of them won’t stand up to scrutiny.Hard to say
I’m no fan of the US military or its commanders. But I don’t see any reason to believe the Russians aren’t hitting hospitals in the face of reports they have hit hospitals. Physicians for Human Rights doesn’t seem to be the sort of organisation likely to just be making it up:
http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/press/press-releases/russian-warplanes-strike-medical-facilities-in-syria.html
And even if the Russians are not deliberately targeting hospitals, you can bet Assad’s forces would have no qualms about doing so.
I don’t trust PHR’s statement on this.
For starters: how exactly does a small volunteer group of medics can tell whether it was an American, French, UK or Russian airstrike which hit a hospital. Especially as Russian planes are staying above 5000m altitude during missions in order to avoid MANPAD fire from infantry.
Secondly this statement from their press release:
These are weasel words. Assad and his father *built* Syria’s public health system. The US and its allies Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar have been fuelling a massive war against Assad.
By the way I have no doubt that Assad’s forces have shelled medical facilities previously – just as I have no doubt that the Islamists have done so. After all, entire towns in Syria have been levelled to roughly 1m high.
Assad doesn’t have any fighter-bombers. The only bombs his forces have been able to drop have been barrel bombs, dropped from helicopters. If bombs are hitting these hospitals, they’ve come from bombers. And at times when the Russians have confirmed they were conducting air operations in those locations.
So describe to me again how medical doctor volunteers for PHR managed to conclusively decide – and then definitively state- that the airstrikes were Russian, but not US, French, or UK?
Or is it just as you say – the Russians have started bombing, so these bombs must have been Russian?
To cut to the chase – PHR might very well be an NGO funded by the US Gov. I have not seen any other group corroborate their claims about multiple hospitals being hit by Russian forces.
This article explains how the people being bombed know that it’s Russian SU-35 fighters doing the bombing. One doctor (now resident in Germany) suggests maybe the Russians aren’t deliberately bombing hospitals but are bombing based on information from the Syrian army.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/10/05/russians-blamed-for-attack-on-syrian-hospital.html
How do they know the strikes were not by US, French or UK aircraft? Because they’re hitting areas where and when the Western coalition’s aircraft are not operating. How do we know they’re not operating there? Because the Russians would be telling everybody if they were.
The Russians only operate a few SU-35s in Syria; the bulk of their attack force are much older SU-24 and Su-25s.
?
I’m surprised that you think you know what info the Russians would release about US airstrikes and what they wouldn’t, but OK.
By the way the Russians have brought high tech surveillance and recon gear to Syria (via Foreign Policy journal). I agree that if hospitals were hit by the Russians, it would have been a fully deliberate and conscious choice.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/10/06/spy-planes-signal-jammers-and-putins-high-tech-war-in-syria/
I’m surprised you think the Russians would keep quiet about seeing Western Alliance aircraft in the vicinity of where they were operating, and then not mention it when they were being accused of bombing hospitals. But then, there you go. I suppose if everything is a devious US plot that would be a logical conclusion.
(Looks like there were four SU-30SM’s sent to Syria, not SU-35’s. They do look a bit alike.)
you’ll notice that Russia doesn’t bother to respond directly to most of the noise in the western MSM.
Re: “devious US plot”
the US has confirmed CIA backed anti-Assad fighters in the field, and wilkileaks has produced US diplomatic cables detailing how best to destabilise Syria.
I presume that counts.
Yes, sure, it most certainly does count in your favour in the situation we’re discussing if those diplomatic cables suggest that to destabilise Syria the US and/or allied aircraft should bomb hospitals at the exact same time and location as Russian aircraft are carrying out ground attacks.
Do they do that, do you know?
I guess we’re going to keep doing this dance?
Basically, PHR claims to know for certain that all those hospitals were definitely hit by Russian airstrikes, and not by any US, UK, or French planes. In fact they don’t even mention the possibility.
I have a very simple question – where did an organisation of volunteer medics on the ground get that information from?
How can you tell a “good” airstrike from a “bad” airstrike?
From the War Nerd:
https://pando.com/2015/10/19/bombed-stupid/1a09532b73281d33b41afae34cc6d8cc1bf58b4c/
Sounds as ‘legitimate’ as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights’
That’s what I am thinking.
Check out this PHR press release on the Kunduz MSF incident where US forces assaulted the hospital for over half an hour.
1) Count how many times PHR rhetorically attacks the US Government or US military for the incident by name. (None).
2) Note how the last 1/3 of the PHR press release on the Kunduz MSF incident in AFGHANISTAN somehow manages to turn into an attack on the SYRIAN Government.
Make your own conclusions.
http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/press/press-releases/physicians-for-human-rights-condemns-attack-on-clinic-in-afghanistan.html
Read it. The fact it came out too soon, bought the original US line about “collateral damage” and was never followed up by another one specifically condemning the yanks once the US admitted it was them, and that they’d attacked the hospital for an hour, doesn’t mean they are wrong about the Russians and Syrian forces attacking Syrian hospitals.
They’re not so pro-US they don’t criticise them:
http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/issues/torture/us-torture/reports-on-torture.html
The US and Western alliance in Syria has been completely stymied which is hardly surprising as they have no idea what they’re doing there or all the forces in play. But Assad and the Russians are going to kill thousands taking back control of people who don’t want to be under his control. The place has become a hell-hole with no discernible satisfactory outcome likely.
Edit: Putin’s bottom line is that the Western Alliance must stop supporting the opposition forces attacking Assad’s forces before Russia will join them in joint attacks on ISIL forces. He is so far most in control of the situation there, apart from the Kurds in the North.
Yes, the Russians and the Syrian Army are going to kill a lot of people in the next few weeks. It will be very unpleasant.
Worth remembering that perhaps 2/3 of the people who have fled the fighting in Syria have fled to Assad-controlled areas.
My view is that Russia/Assad are trying to build a viable coastal Alawite/minorities sector of Syria and that they will leave the inland areas to ISIL/Al Nusra.
The line in that press release which fingered it as BS was where PHR called on “all parties” in the conflict to show restraint. When the incident could only have been a US airstrike, deliberate or accidental.
And the last 1/3 of a press release on Afghanistan pivoting to become an attack on the Syrian Government.
RE: your edit
I will go with the War Nerd’s conclusions around this – only Russia currently has an air campaign which makes any strategic sense. The US/coalition air campaign doesn’t have strategic cohesion which is why it has accomplished so little against ISIL in the last year plus.
btw I suspect Putin will not be counting on the West and its allies to stop supporting anti-Assad fighters, and will instead just burn them out, sector by sector, including with heavy weapons such as illegal cluster munitions.
Worth remembering that perhaps 2/3 of the people who have fled the fighting in Syria have fled to Assad-controlled areas.
Yes, I read that somewhere too a few days ago, but only in one article, and I haven’t been able to find it again. I found it a bit hard to believe to be honest. I’m not saying it’s wrong but I’ve not had much success in finding any source that shows where all the reported 11 million internally displaced refugees have gone.
I agree with your btw. I think Vlad the Lad is just twisting the knife there for a bit of fun. He knows he’s on stronger ground than they are.
A lot to Jordan, Iran, and Lebanon I think…relatively ‘few’ (though several hundred thousand) towards Europe.
Most internally displaced.
(AFAIK)
One presumes the people who have left Syria either had no choice or were mostly anti-Assad in inclination.
Firstly, Russia has declared that it will not airstrike civilian targets like mosques and hospitals, *even if they are being used as military bases or staging points by Islamists*.
The country that declared it didn’t have any troops in the Crimea or in Ukraine also declares it doesn’t destroy hospitals, despite having bombed four of them? Quelle surprise.
Thirdly, the United States and its allies have funded and equipped a destructive, multi-year proxy war against Assad, completely against international norms and international law.
Your tinfoil hat is very fetching, but isn’t really relevant to the fact Assad and Putin have been bombing hospitals and other medical facilities.
?
The Americans have made very well reported statements officially objecting to Russia hitting CIA backed forces in Syria.
To see the tinfoil hat, try seeing the American Revolution as “France funded and equipped a destructive, multi-year proxy war against George III” – there’s a way in which you could kind of see the conflict that way, but only if you have a very bizarrely misplaced sense of what’s significant.
And it remains irrelevant.
Correct – history will decide in 20, 50 or 100 years time what is significant out of this Syria issue.
?
Russia had 20,000 to 25,000 based troops in Crimea via treaty agreement with the Ukraine.
does that include the russian-speaking units who putin reckoned had been equipped by bulk shopping from army surplus stores?
Maybe Putin has been reading a copy of Sun Tzu gifted to him by Xi Jin Ping?
So now you are arguing that Putin is adept in the art of deception.
Which makes Russia’s declaration “that it will not airstrike civilian targets like mosques and hospitals, *even if they are being used as military bases or staging points by Islamists*” at best unreliable.
It’s something they threw out for gullible little putinestas to regurgitate because if Fox News is bad, RT must be true. The hegemonic enemy of my hegemonic enemy must be the benevolent liberator of the oppressed…
McFlock, only one country in the world has “hegemonic” aspirations. Its the one with over 800 military bases (or almost double that number depending on how you categorise a ‘military base’) in over 50 countries.
lol
So now I’m not sure whether you’re really that naive, or that you’re simply scurrying away from the two contradictory positions you’ve established.
Your first counter to the proposition”Russians [are] much better at getting away with war crimes than Americans” was that Russia has declared that it will not airstrike civilian targets like mosques and hospitals, yet a few comments later you are praising Putin’s willingness to deceive in order to further his (absolutely non-hegemonic /sarc) geopolitical interests as being akin to something out of Sun Tzu.
Neither Russia nor China have global imperial intentions.
As I said, only one world power does.
It is the one with over 800 military bases in over 50 countries.
Then why is China making aircraft carriers? Don’t need those for home waters defense. Why does Russia want to keep its port in the med? Doesn’t need that for home defense.
We both know I’m referring to the Russian soldiers operating without identifying badges who were involved in the annexation – although, I’m sure that for you they didn’t exist because the Russian government has said they didn’t.
oh yeah, the ‘little green men’ were pretty real…
Here is some reading for Hekia Parata and David Seymour.
“CHARTER SCHOOL BLACK HOLE: SPECIAL INVESTIGATION
REVEALS HUGE GAPS IN PUBLIC INFO ON TAXPAYER MONEY SPENT”
A REPORTERS’ GUIDE by the Center for Media and Democracy
“:The study attributes this lack of accountability “to the way the charter industry has been built by proponents, favoring ‘flexibility’ over rules.”
“That flexibility has allowed an epidemic of fraud, waste, and mismanagement that would not be tolerated in public schools,” CMD states, noting that charters “are often policed—if they are really policed at all—by charter proponents, both within government agencies and within private entities tasked with oversight.”
In fact, that oversight is so spotty that CMD’s investigation turned up dozens of “ghost” schools, where federal grants were awarded to charters that never even opened.”
http://www.prwatch.org/files/new_charter_school_black_hole_report_oct_21_2015.pdf
How many more times will the National Govt follow flawed policy from overseas even when the evidence of the failure of that policy is readily available! Why do National wilfully ignore any evidence that contradicts their chosen plan?
Is it stupidity or deceitfulness …or both?
+1
Parata and Seymour are well aware of this as that’s why this policy exists and it’s pinned to the national subsidary ACT’s donkeys tail for spin and distancing purposes.
More enrichment of a select few at taxpayers expense and deliberately excluded from the OIA.
They’re not ingoring the evidence they’re relying on it.
Does it contradict their plan? Seems to me that it’s working as National would want it to as it transfers huge amounts of public money into private profit. They don’t seem to care if we get any services from that expenditure.
The end of an era.
The Tories yesterday voted to reduce the voting powers Scottish MPs in Westminster.
Since 1707, when Great Britain was formed from the Union of England and Scotland, every MP had an equal vote. Yesterday that ended. This will accelerate the campaign for full Scottish Independence.
“Labour’s Gerald Kaufman, the longest-serving member of the house, declared “a day of shame for the House of Commons”. He decried the debate as “one of the nastiest, most unpleasant I have attended in 45 years”, prompted by “a government with no respect for the House.”
Interesting piece of news Northsider. Do you have a link/reference for that so we can learn more about it?
The new laws are called EVEL. English Votes for English Laws.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13890833.Tories_accused_of_driving_wedge_between_England_and_Scotland_with_new_Evel_rights_for_MPs/
http://beta.scotsman.com/news/politics/english-votes-for-english-laws-evel-passed-by-westminster-1-3925025
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11948829/MPs-back-English-only-votes-as-SNP-warns-it-will-trigger-end-of-union.html
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/22/commons-passes-english-vetoes-for-english-laws-plan
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Union_1707
Fantastic thanks Northsider. I’ll take a look when I get a chance this arvo. The Scots political blog Bella Caledonia might have some good commentary on this too, in a few days time:
http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/
This is a win-win for the Tories.
If Scotland is driven out of the Union, the rest of the UK will be ruled by Tories for decades.
The cynical bit in the whole thing is that if there is a Labour or Labour/ SNP government in Westminster, then said government may well be unable to pass legislation for England and Wales. ie, the Tory opposition in England and Wales might have the numbers to defeat any legislation that falls within the scope of EVEL. Any Labour or SNP/Labour government would essentially need a majority in excess of 59 (the number of Scottish seats).
It is what a number of Tory grandees want. Tim Bell, Thatcher’s AdMan, said as much in an interview during the recent election count. They see Northrn Ireland under joint governance with the Republic and Scotland no longer a source of oil income. Rather than wait for the constitutional reshape that will happen when NI and Scotland finally go, these Tories want to own all the levers of the constitutional process and shape the stand-alone England (including the county called Wales) into a Tory Valhalla.
The SNP knows this and will play it to their advantage. Many of those who voted to stay in the UK in the Independence Referendum will see this as a betrayal of the “Vow” made to them by Cameron and Brown, the Tories and Labour.
And No Right Turn:
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2015/10/a-tory-veto-in-uk.html
Forgotten history: if New Zealanders remembered the refugees that filled their roads in 1863 & 1933, they might empathise with today’s Syrians: http://readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2015/10/new-zealands-road-of-refugees.html
WHICH ‘developers, company directors, property valuers and lawyers’ are allegedly involved in this ‘large scale Auckland mortgage fraud’ being currently investigated by the SFO?
_______________________________________________________
‘Large scale’ Auckland mortgage fraud
Thursday, 22 October 2015
The New Zealand Herald
The Serious Fraud Office says Auckland’s property market and the scale of commercial developments is a ‘key environmental risk’.
The Serious Fraud Office is investigating large-scale mortgage fraud in the Auckland property market involving developers, company directors, property valuers and lawyers.
“Auckland’s property market and the scale of impending commercial developments represent a key environmental risk,” the SFO said in its 2015 annual report released this week.
“We have invested significant resources into investigating a large-scale mortgage fraud involving highly organised teams of property developers, shell company directors, property valuers and lawyers.”
The SFO, which aims to reduce the impact of serious financial crime on both the economy and the public, said the investigation is ongoing and declined further comment.
______________________________________________
Penny Bright
Duplicate of your post to Open Mike yesterday http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-22102015/#comment-1085517
The Taranaki Daily News reported on Keys visit to New Plymouth yesterday. Having a close involvement in the oil & gas industry I was surprised by the contradictory quotes by our PM. My understanding is that there will be no off-shore “prospecting” activity around NZ this summer and very little land based “prospecting” activity.
I called the journalist at the newspaper and enquired as to what he believed the PM was referring to when he spoke about “prospecting” activity and how busy the industry would be. Surprise, surprise he couldn’t tell me, although he wrote the story!
Take a look for yourself and decide if our PM is simply full of it!
http://WWW.Stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/73296265/no-increase-in-oil-prices-any-time-soon-says-pm
This probably matches up with this announcement:
Govt releases new areas for oil and gas exploration:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11425029
The issuing of exploration licences and the time-frame involved to utilise the licence is under review. Explorers – new or established – will not be coming here this summer. Yet Key had this to say yesterday;
” This summer is expected to be the biggest season in prospecting we’ve seen around NZ”.
Where?
Hmmm. Yeah, I dunno now. All I can find in that herald report is a one liner that says “New permits will be announced in December.” I thought maybe they’d be all set up to go on receipt of a licence but doesn’t sound right.
So, don’t know. Seems an odd thing to do to promise a busy summer of exploration if it’s not happening. PM’s a known fibber. But then, who knows what he said. The reporter doesn’t exactly sound like a bright spark either.
The reporter told me he had it all on tape, hence the quotation marks in his story. I suggested he call PEPANZ the industries lobby group – similar to Federated Farmers I would imagine – to clarify the PM’s comments.
He promised that he would along with enquiries to the PM’s office.
Once again a classic example of shoddy journalism.
The Prime Minister said it so it must be right.
At least he agreed to chase it up. Be interesting to see if he gets back to you. Did he say he would?
I’ve been accused of being PC often enough when objecting to the more offensive utterences of others (retard, gay, slut, nigger etc). A lot depends on context, but it does seem to come down to basic courtesy, and recognising that others are as human as yourself. This Guardian article is a good examination of that term, though I feel that it is more; defense of privilege, and habit, rather than fear that lies at the heart for most.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/22/fear-lies-at-the-heart-of-opposition-to-political-correctness
Gordon Campbell writes about the retrograde nature of the TPP wrt copyright.
” At a time when the US courts are making a case for the defence of “fair use” and “transformative” use” and are loudly re-stating the over-riding “public good” arguments for a limited copyright term, the US entertainment industry moguls – and their political cronies – are headed in the opposite direction, and are intent on maximising their commercial gains and elevating them above all other relevant issues.
The ‘free trade’ banner is being abused by these US companies to roll back the losses they’ve been suffering in court over the past decade. Regularly, the multinationals have lost even the civil actions they have taken – eg Viacom vs Youtube – over alleged copyright infringement.”
……
“Genius, as the writer Lewis Hyde once said, needs to “tinker in a collective shop”. In the misleading name of ‘free’ trade, the TPP is trying to shut that shop down to new entrants. ”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1510/S00047/gordon-campbell-on-copyright-the-authors-guild-case-tpp.htm
TPP is NOT a free trade agreement! March on 14 November!
Keep up with it guys. It simple shows the left are preparing for an occupation of the opposition benches rather than preparing to act as a government.
All I’m see is a policy that was effectively the same as Labour’s re the flag being opposed now simply because it’s being promoted by National.
No wonder the flip flop meme has disappeared.
[lprent: troll from 2008 repeats comment from 2008 that doesn’t have anything to do with post. Diverted to OpenMikr. ]
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11532921
Dribble and spin from Claire Trevitt
Gawd what a load of tripe. What an odious individual Trevett is.
And more of Jo Moir’s anti-Labour mischief-making, repeating her baseless allegation that Andrew Little “snubbed” Ardern in reappointing Annette King as deputy.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/73319715/jacinda-ardern-responds-to-being-called-pretty-bloody-stupid
Modern Union Tactics
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/trade-union-bill-unite-is-finding-new-ways-to-compel-employers-to-act-a6704881.html
Good read and ideas around organising, but I fear that unless industry agreements are reached – something along the lines of the old award bargaining system – the union movement will continue to chase it’s tail.
Jacinda Ardern: Breaking Silence. Jacinda responds to Hooton’s recent criticism.
interesting.
Especially the point about the main problem being commentator-led discussion.
Well, that puts a much different perspective on Hooton’s snide attack piece, doesn’t it.
As long as Hooten thinks he’s clever…..
If my comment has been deliberately removed I’m amazed and amused. Clearly only certain types of agitation are acceptable (I will go away and read the about policy too).
The head post is not about the process but about the failure of the public to accept the PM’s enthusiasm to change the flag.
I simply pointed out that Labour had the same view that we should review the options. There is no difference except a fierce determination that no such nation(al) building should happen under Key.
[lprent: It was deliberately removed to OpenMike. We permit diversions. But when you are commenting on a post, then comment on the topic of the post. This one also moved to OpenMike becasue it appears to be all about your habit of self pleasuring while writing. That is the last time I will exert myself to educate a idiot troll. ]
Divisive characters tend to have that effect on people (Thirty percent of the electorate is not a consensus.) Your argument ignores other far more substantive concerns.
“the Guardian” is that the British world for “Herald”
Designed to influence not inform.
Will Jesse Mulligan give this monster the treatment he deserves?
Or will he let him dominate and chortle complicitly, as Paul Holmes did ten years ago?
in 2005, the massively over-rated British and Irish Lions coach Clive Woodward appointed Tony Blair’s disgraced hitman Alistair Campbell as manager of the team. At the team’s first training session, in Albany, Paul Holmes dared to ask him about his role in the death of Dr David Kelly. Campbell contemptuously brushed him off.
Now Campbell is back on our radar. This intriguing little notice appeared on the Radio NZ website recently….
COMING UP ON JESSE MULLIGAN, 1–4PM
3:10 pm Tuesday 27 October:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Alistair Campbell
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Strategy, leadership and teamship. This is the Holy Trinity of winning according to Alistair Campbell who helped Tony Blair win three terms as British Prime Minister as his press secretary His position gave him access to winning business leaders, athletes, artists and politicians. His new book, Winners: And How They Succeed examines the qualities of everyone from Richard Branson and Sir Clive Woodward to Bill Gates and the Queen to identify what it takes to win.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/20151020
Key is a traitor to nz
[lprent: Why? Moved to OpenMike as being irrelevant to the topic of the post. ]
🙂
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/oct/23/tony-abbott-joins-global-speakers-circuit-as-one-of-worlds-greatest-minds
I guess JK will be there soon enough too!
In Abbott’s own wording, he is a “suppository” of knowledge.
Lol. I thought you were joking:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/13/tony-abbott-gaffe-world-stage
This is funny:
http://thesuppositoryofwisdom.com/
Trougher group spending up large on taxpayer as their sense of entitlement.
Key warns of excessive hotel bills coming up for MPs to be able to get to RWC.
Mmmmm we’re currently travelling around S.E. England and using Booking.com for our accommodation needs and securing Wonderful double rooms breakfast included for around $200 per night. Car hire is very reasonable so staying in the Home Counties increases accommodation choices.
How did these people manage to secure tickets in the first place anyway?
“Mr Key goes to London for a live wank over Richie !”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11534171
Prick never ‘packed down’ in his life. Making up for it with a feast of ‘packing off’ now.
What a piece of shit. This is Marie Antoinette stuff ! Mind you…..he’s a good man……giving us ‘fair warning’. Yeah Yeah Yeah…..Trev’ from the Herald knows…..she’s probably there too, as per…..where there’s a Key there’s always a Trev’.