News reports appearing for some months past since January 2018 , have indicated thinking of the US trade with rest of the world , more so with China. A news report which appeared on 20 January , 2018 , had said : -“ It seems that the US erred in supporting China’s entry into the WTO on terms that have proven to be ineffective in securing China’s embrace of an open , market-oriented trade regime”. Later , on 24 February , 2018 , news reports from the US had also said : “ While ties have improved but China is killing US on trade”. These perceptions in the US these days has culminated into announcement of Donald Trump on 22 March , 2018 , imposing tariff on about US 50 billion dollars in Chinese imports to retaliate against the alleged theft of American intellectual property.
These happenings on the eve and during mid- March 2018 , look to be corresponding to one of predictions of this Vedic astrology writer on 11 October 2017 in article – “ Astrological probable alerts for the United States in 2018” – published last year in monthly Webzine of Wisdom Magazine from US at wisdom-magazine.com/Article.aspx/4647/ on 1 December 2017. The related text in the said article reads as :- “ Near mid- March to 30 April 2018. US economy looks to be presenting a happy picture while some kind of hidden or behind the scene areas of substantial concern may remain. PAST ERRORS OR SLIPS ARE LIKELY TO IMPACT TRADING OR COMMERCIAL ASPECTS IN SOME WAY”.
Thus , it can be said that the alert prediction of this writer substantially prior on 11 October , 2017 , has been confirmed precisely and closely accurate during beginning of 2018 , more so 22 March , 2018.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Sarkozy receives money from Libya and its corruption. Nats receive money from Chinese interests , ex National MPs have ties and postings to Chinese interests and we are the least corrupt nation on earth.
Howzat work?
Because the corruption index is a self indicating survey. Essentially is seems to be based on how people ‘feel’ their corruption levels are. Clearly our MSM never reports a thing because the royals, car crashes and kitten stories are more important news, so most people are not even aware what is going on.
Because behind Chinese business is Chinese government.
In case it needs spelling out, having ties to a foreign government while in power is considered corruption in most countries.
Yes I agree with having business ties with a foreign government while in power is a little shady to put it lightly but Draco said “after” politics, not while in politics
From whence came the business ties such that on finishing as an MP, someone goes straight to work for a Chinese company?
What about Collins the minister for Oravida?
A Chinese spy National MP?
You actually wilfully have to shut your eyes and block your ears not to see an issue.
I’m not talking about the Chinese government. You said ex-MP’s should have jobs like “Teachers, police, rest home workers, builders, restaraunt workers, fruit pickers, dairy farm workers.” so I am asking you if Russell Norman’s post at Greenpeace was acceptable to you given what you stated.
My word you are hard work, I’m going to give the benefit if the doubt that it’s not intentional:
I’m fine with Russel Norman joining Greenpeace thanks for asking.
Brownlee was a woodwork teacher. Now he’s the ‘architect’ of Chch. Maybe we would all have been better off, if he had stuck to teaching woodwork and why there is a shortage.
In his yoof, i suspect brownlee mught have smoked a few too many of those dovetail joints, and given himself a permanent case of the munchies.
You’re lucky you never had to catch one of those aircraft we used to call ‘pencil planes’ with him.
Brownlee has always needed some serious rebalanxing
voluntary fire fighters, we have a shortage of them especially in places where we also have rampant housing insecurity.
voluntary ambulance driver, we have a shortage of them, again especially in places where we also have rampant housing insecurity.
cafe managers, i hear we have such a shortage that we must import them from elsewhere.
fruit picker, also a severe shortage here according to the businesses.
Surely there are more then enough jobs out there in our Rock Star Economy.
Oh, that was a myth you say? Just like the housing crisis is a myth? Just like the wading in a river is a myth?
Maybe they should try to file for an unemployment benefit? 🙂
I agree in some circumstances but not all.
John Key went to ANZ but then again he spent his entire life outside of politics as a banker so not surprising he went back into it. Russell Norman went to Greenpeace but he has a track record of being very involved in Environmental Issues so again not surprising.
There is a difference between “leaving politics and picking up where you left off” and “becoming a lobbyist” which can be very shady indeed.
What are MP’s supposed to do when they leave? Never work again? Stay in politics for life?
John Key went to ANZ but then again he spent his entire life outside of politics as a banker so not surprising he went back into it.
You do know that hes was a member of the board of the NY Reserve right? And that’s more of a political position than an expert position?
There is a difference between “leaving politics and picking up where you left off” and “becoming a lobbyist” which can be very shady indeed.
Depends upon where you left off and where you went back. If both have connection to politics then we can honestly say that it’s just going back to what they were doing?
What are MP’s supposed to do when they leave? Never work again? Stay in politics for life?
Many do stay in politics for life. Many could go into a public service role like Russel Norman.
What we don’t want is them going into high paid, high power private sector roles that are pretty much designed around their political careers.
EDIT: BTW, is there really two JohnSelways or do you just keep changing email addresses?
Sure but there is a difference between “going into the private sector” and “becoming a lobbyist” (for example).
I mean – Key spent most of life as a banker and left politics when he was quite young so became a banker again. Norman is heavily involved in environmental issues so went to Greenpeace. They gotta do something and generally end up doing what they did before becoming MP’s
What are MP’s supposed to do when they leave politics? Never work again? Stay MP’s for life?
We need to print some just to repair our rotting infrastructure now as we cant afford to borrow any more from overseas at 8% plus from a communist country anyway.
Else we will become another Greece that is owned by EU oligarchs now.
I think all private money in politics is a bad idea. From right and the left.
Just look at cluster-fucks like Citizens United in the States or, actually, just the states in general. You can pretty much buy your own congressman and write the laws for them
What do you think about Parliamentary Services funding an Auckland office for Labour (headed up by Matt McCarten), when that was most likely used for campaigning? Private contributions are made to most, if not all parties in NZ. Long may that be the case.
In the event that Simon Lusk is telling the truth, and National MPs are ‘trading on their time as MPs to build a lucrative business career’, it makes sense to at least limit their criminal behaviour to corruption rather than full-blown treason.
Do you have any actual evidence for that, or are you suddenly a convert of Lusk? Mind you, Clark is alleged to have traded her time as PM for a lucrative job with the UN.
In the event that Simon Lusk is telling the truth, and National MPs are ‘trading on their time as MPs to build a lucrative business career’, it makes sense to at least limit their criminal behaviour to corruption rather than full-blown treason.
Just to see if you can actually stay on topic, Ad Nauseam.
Using your time as an MP to cultivate business links is one thing (I.e – becoming an MP with the sole purpose of landing a highly paid private sector job) but leaving politics and taking a job because it’s in your area of expertise is another (I.e Russell Norman or John Key).
The former is pretty shady, the latter is just being a private citizen again
Well there seems to be a hoo ha over the Russian links in the USA and their President. Nope not following that one, we have enough issues in NZ but most people just ignore them. Not sure an ex Chinese (or Russian) agent would be welcome in the Republican Party like they are in the National party where the MSM says ‘kittens anyone’?
They can’t vote. That’s How we have a say. If they can’t vote, they have no say. If people are stupid enough to be influenced by their money, then they get the government they deserve-of either stripe.
I know you will deny that but it does and we need to stop that influence. And it’s not the voters who are influenced but the politicians – and that is corruption.
In other words, foreign money in politics is corruption.
But why should a US citizen be prevented from contributing to a NZ political party any more than a NZ political party can steal from the public to fund, eg a pledge card.
Because they’re not a NZ citizen, don’t live here and don’t vote here and thus have no right to have a say in our governance.
How do you know they don’t live here? They could be a NZ resident. They may have invested in NZ. You have no idea. Even so, who cares? Why shouldn’t they be able to support a NZ based political movement simply because they aren’t citizens?
In the middle of the night in a bout of insomnia I came across two posts on yesterday’s Open Mike with three very interesting links to articles well worth reading IMO. They had attracted only one comment, so I thought I would repost them here in the hopes others might see them and check them out. I will post them separately as they cover completely different subjects.
Very interesting comparing the general wailing and gnashing of molars in Granny by Mike Hosking and Matthew Hooton and then whoosh – a wee gem by ex Nat MP for Whanganui, Chester Borrows headed ‘Politicians bailed Air N Z out – the airline can’t now complain about Shane Jones’. It’s worth a read. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12018271
Actually Draco, I was simply pointing out the fact that Mike Hosking and Matthew Hooton (both National fanbois extraordinaire) were venting forth in their Herald slots about how bad it is for Shane Jones to be as much as commenting on where Air New Zealand operates domestically and that the airline should only be beholden to its shareholders and the end of year balance sheet with no concern for regional NZ. It was a surprise to me to see Chester Borrow’s column which pretty much agreed with Shane Jones – Chester was until last year the National MP for Whanganui which made it all a bit weird. I suppose it was Granny’s way of trying to look balanced. I have flown some of the secondary routes several years ago in what I called 18 seater flying sardine tins which were OK, but not terribly comfortable – at least we could see the pilots at work!! Bit of a come down from the Boeing 737s on the main routes. It’s interesting to see that the Mayors of the towns and cities concerned are more than happy with Shane’s support. Bring back the DC3s I tells ya.
I download the podcasts from the Wings over New Zealand Forum site and I will have to say Dave Homeward has at an outstanding job interviewing some extraordinarily women and gentleman of NZ Aviation History over the years. They worth downloading and like listening to the per WW2, through the War especially the Pacific stuff as I had a great uncle up in the solly’s with 3 NZ Div and post war stuff the Ag Pilots, The Fred Ladd’s and Bryan Cox who I believe this NZ’s remaining Air Ace from WW2 who flew in the Pacific.
Reading the Richard Waugh books on West Coast Airways, pre and post war early Airlines. One of course must not forget NAC and what they did to regional NZ from post WW2 until 1978.
A blog site call 3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com is worth having a look.
My father used to own a Tiger Moth and I not only got many a flight in one but I was allowed to fly it myself once and did a few aerobatics with one of NZ’s best stunt pilots. It was great fun
What a wonderful thread this has ended up being! I am so pleased you put up the link, Jilly Bee. Fox Moths, Tiger Moths, Biplanes, Harvards – those were the days! And Spitfires – I am with you JS. Blimey and Biggles indeed!
Back to ground, I was initially surprised by Burrows, but then when I remembered his background, it did not surprise me. He has been known to do similar surprising declarations of his views before.
Sorry Draco T Bastard, your question is a very good and serious one but I have been told off by adam today for putting up two essays – again – in response to assertions by him. Kill ’em by boring them to death, says I.
And I assure you I can write an essay on the role of national airlines – more like a book. But I am also bound by certain confidentiality agreements that went with my public service employment. So, I must be an observer only on discussion on your question. (Everyone sighs a sigh of relief!)
Yep, JohnSelway, a flight in a Tiger Moth would be OK for me, though at my age I probably need a wee crane to get me in and out of the cockpit! Also I’d also love to have a ride in a Spitfire (complete with loop the loop and a victory roll). I’m of the age where the Battle of Brittain is still a moment in history for me, we have the DVD of the film in our archives which needs to be dragged out again on a rainy afternoon. I live close to the Waharoa Airfield and we see a great variety of flying machines flying overhead at times, including the odd TMs. We recently had a massive four-engine transporter military style behemoth fly overhead recently and return half an hour later having landed at Waharoa! I came to the conclusion it was a promotion flight by either an Embraer or a Lockheed Martin aircraft to replace the Hercules fleet. Absolutely no publicity about what was happening – which made it a bit scary.
I want to go on Biggles plane ”the halifax” on a trip to the Gobi dessert.
“Biggles in the Gobi” was the best of all by Captain WE Johns books I ever read at 11yrs old in 1955. An awesome story.
Biggles (a wing commander) having hit an eagle with the Halifax and shot down a MIG fighter plane during the communist war in China.
That’s on my bucket for sure.
Here is the intro to the amazing book of “action”
Biggles is able to return, after shooting down a Mig plane, just as a final battle is taking place at the caves. He is able to rescue everybody and get them away.
Book First Published on 8th October 1953 – 160 pages
This story was first published, in seventeen weekly parts, as BIGGLES IN THE GOBI in The Eagle Volume 4, issue 17 to Volume 4 issue 33, dated 31st July 1953 to 20th November 1953
Biggles is asked by Air Commodore Raymond to travel to the middle of Asia to rescue some missionaries from Communist China. Taking Algy, Ginger and Bertie with him, plus a Chinese man by the name of Feng-tao (who speaks virtually no English), Biggles flies in an unmarked Halifax from Pakistan to the Gobi desert.
I think I’d have to go P51D – same engine sound, bubble cockpit, looks like a greyhound. The early spits’ noses were too stubby for my taste 🙂
As for passenger aircraft, is there such a thing as a quiet plane for passengers? The turboprobs especially give me a damned headache. In fact, the discomfort of air travel is one of the two things that mean I have absolutely no desire to travel – dealing with customs and immigration is the other. Especially the yanks.
I have to travel. I hate flying but travel is something the recuperates my soul.
Airports fuck me off to no end. There’s always some asshole in the queue whose luggage is too heavy. Then they hold everyone up while they open the suitcase and rearrange everything. I want to scream – “it doesn’t matter how you repack it, fuck-face, it still has the same mass!”
For me it’s the security screening with people **** assing around or some muppet guard trying explain to me Air Security btw that’s not a dig at the NZ Airport Security officers, but the Australian airports as the Kiwi ones don’t muck about.
On the Base was once station at, had a Mustang that dragged out every now and then for the flying days at the museum. It was bloody hard trying to a range brief with that cut laps around the Airfield. It was bad enough when the P40 powered Merlin pop in for a flying day or any other WW2 fighter and I must say that P40 sounds far better than Alison powered one.
If you ever return to NZ EKF then you must drop down here to Thames – birth place of Sir Keith Park “Defender of London”. A mate of mine (ex war bird pilot and wingman to Air Marshal Sir Kenneth Hayr) down the road still has his PPL – I had lost mine when I had a grumbling appendix for 2 years and by the time I had recovered life had moved on. But to cut to the chase – we went to see the Mossie up at Ardmore being rebuilt and flown again for the first time – I have a video of the flight . Awesome. They are rebuilding two more at the moment – and they will stay in the country. There is a spit and mustang in the hanger there as well.
A cousin of mine reckons he holds the record for the fastest flight from Ohakea to Wigram in a Harvard. Took off from Ohakea, and found a standing wave over the Ruahina’s , Tararua’s and Kaikora’s and effectively dove the whole way. 🙂 Have been in one of those myself flying out of Hood Airfield at Masterton. The altimeter went to 10,000 ft in about 1 minute! and that was in a Cessna 150.
There was or still going on a low level tactical Flying Ex involving C130’s from the RNZAF, RAAF and USAF Special Operations Forces so wouldn’t be surprise if it was them dropping into Waharoa Airfield.
I once had the money to fly Concorde after mate bet me to it, but I ended up buying a house instead as knew at the time they still very low hrs on them and they going stop in a hurry until….
So the bucket list now is a flight in a Lac in Canada, a spit or Me 109 over the white cliffs of Dover, landing on Glacier in NZ and flying around the Alps/ Hasst and Southland area.
If I do move back to NZ is to find the two aircraft crash site one in upper Buller/ Seddonville areas and one in the Golden Bay.
“Never fly straight and level in a combat zone for more than 30s or else you will get shot down understand!!!
As Skipper from Rabbit SQN is trying to teach a young sprog the art of finding the Hun in the sun.
Pretty much every flight is subsidised by another flight in some way. That’s how aviation works. It’s highly unlikely that the person in the seat next to you paid the same as you did.
What changed here is that New Zealand’s domestic route structure has changed. Previously, from the NAC days, the domestic routes were to serve the domestic market and economy, so had a shared Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch focus. Now the domestic routes are to serve the international routes, taking punters to and from the international hub in Auckland.
The first of Ovid’s links in that post goes to this Stuff article by the PM, Jacinda Ardern on her surprise move to personally accept the Greenpeace petition a few days ago, and her position on climate change and fossil fuel transition planning:
Our focus right now is putting in place a plan to achieve this. That will involve everyone. Industry, communities, scientists, unions and the Government all need to work together. All of our futures are at stake on this issue.
After years of dictatorial leadership it’s refreshing to see JA’s cooperative approach.
I find it fascinating that when framed as cooperation because
All of our futures are at stake on this issue.
it seems to be generally well received and welcomed although with the usual trepidation; after all, it is about change and the unknown.
On the other hand, when it is framed in terms of a delicate balance of economic, environmental, and social issues because they are all integrated into a inseparable whole, because everything (and everyone!) is connected, then it is panned as radical, out of touch, or (much) worse …
Often, it is not even the framing but the source, the messenger, i.e. the one who speaks.
Merit is not enough; persuasion (not ‘spin’) is an art that requires skills and mastery, in addition to compassion, emotional intelligence, and super-human listening, to name a few.
Well a co-operative approach yes. But to see fast change as essentially negative based on the 1980’s experience – not so much.
There was fast change under the Savage government & under Whitlam in Australia – good out comes. Where there is a reasonable consensus (don’t sign TTTP!) moving fast will give more time to settle down and less time for wealthy opposition.
I am praying very hard Jacinda holds to her word and saves us here to shut down the massive 6% annual increased truck use increase of using truck freight everywhere.
When we already now know how rail can carry the freight from 5 to eight times less fuel used to move the same freight by rail rather than road, and rail only emits only a fraction of climate change emissions.
And one more further to 3 and 4 above, Ovid’s post yesterday also provided this link to a very interesting website on transition planning in a different context – a transition towns movement. This is fascinating and well worth some time having a look!
An unreconstructed advocate of regime change after repeated failures in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, Bolton favors a lower threshold for the use of military force than prevailed under most Republican presidents prior to George W. Bush. He would like a more confrontational posture toward Syria, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, following up Bush-era talk of the “Axis of Evil” with warnings about a “Moscow-Tehran-Damascus-Hezbollah axis.”
[…]
We are once again seeing a GOP-controlled Washington growing government and billowing red ink and a foreign policy fed by threat inflation, whereby tough talk belies a lack of confidence in America’s ability to dominate weak foes without shooting first and asking questions later.
Now John Bolton is getting that old band Axis of Evil back together.
John Bolton: "I have said for over ten years that the declared policy of the United States of America should be the overthrow of the Mullah's regime in Tehran."Daily reminder that Bolton got us into war in Iraq. And he's proud of it. pic.twitter.com/h7xIA0ijrz— #MarchForOurLives (@KaniJJackson) March 23, 2018
John Bolton Op-Ed NYT 2015 re need to attack Iran:"Only military action like Israel’s 1981 attack on Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor in Iraq or its 2007 destruction of a Syrian reactor, designed and built by North Korea, can accomplish what is required." https://t.co/NouShzUx5o— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) March 23, 2018
John Bolton, WSJ, Op-Ed Feb 2018: "The Legal Case for Striking North Korea First" https://t.co/ClIGiSMyJL— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) March 23, 2018
“One way to avoid preemptive military force is to bring the regime down — frankly it’s something that China should help us with,” Bolton said on Fox News March 11. In the same segment, he recalled a joke he’s fond of telling: “How can you tell when the North Koreans are lying? When their lips are moving.”
My bold.
Bolton downplayed the significance of his past public statements in an interview with Fox News shortly after the appointment was announced, saying he would defer to the president’s judgment.
Year Right! Why was he hired?
Because he’s a Fox contributor – and Faux News is all that the chump listens too. The Doomsday clock just move a little closer to midnight.
* Yesterday Trump hired Bolton, who wants both war with Iran and pre-emptive nuke strikes
* Pentagon now says the US can use nukes in response to major cyberattacks— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) March 23, 2018
On Friday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictment of nine Iranians for conspiring to hack and defraud American universities and businesses on behalf of the Iranian government. Rosenstein vowed harsh repercussions for the Iranian hackers, including their extradition to the United States and imprisonment if convicted.
[…]
Bolton is an apocalyptic appointment, one who endangers not only Iran but the entire world. Bolton’s bloodlust, bad temper, and blind faith in military solutions previously rendered him unhireable, but for Trump, whose most maniacal instincts will be validated, he is a gift—a like-minded sadist who, unlike Trump, knows how to effectively navigate bureaucracy.
I’m on the same wave length as Audrey Young this week. Shane Jones has succeeded in getting NZ First back up to 5%. He’s now on track to be the ‘heir apparent’ should Winston choose to step down and the end of this term.
It’s interesting seeing the tone of postings in TS and TDB, NZ first may be taking the mantle of preferred leftist party as we see time and again the greens are self absorbed idiots.
I’m not a fan of Shane jones – at all, but he succeeded where labour failed miserably in speaking for the public against corporate interest. Now the fisheries Shane.
Loved her reference to Jones as a combine harvester:
Jones is like a political combine harvester. Let loose on a controversy, he wanders all over the paddock reaping and threshing but usually producing something that is valuable.
BUT re Jones as heir apparent – sorry, nah. He has indicated on a number of occasions that he is not interested. I think he has found his niche in his role as Champion of the Regions, and would hate the constraints that being Leader of a Party brings.
I have been watching NZF closely for years and IMO the heir apparent was chosen a couple of years ago and has been groomed over that period – Fletcher Tabuteau.
Despite his young age (44/5?) he has been involved with NZF since its beginning when he was quite young, and as well as now being Deputy Leader, he is also Under Study to both Peters and Jones as Parliamentary Under Secretary for both Foreign Affairs and Regional Development. Those roles could have been split over two MPs but weren’t.
Interesting and timely given I’ve just been assisting with the TOTAL reconditioning of an actual combine harvester (every bearing on the thing, plus its very sucky motor with new barrels and eings)
I’m bloody sure a Shane is capable of adaptation/repurpose/rearrangement as any political expediency kicks in.
Now is the time for the Green Party, the only party of principle in our parliament, as far as I can see, to stand up for New Zealand.
They disagree with CPTTA and will not vote for it. But that is simply not good enough. With National’s backing the so-called free trade treaty will pass.
But (relying on reports) climate change is not mentioned once in the entire 5000 page document! And the ISDS provisions still allow overseas corporations to sue NZ government if any climate change legislation gets in the way of their profits.
If this is indeed so, it is not enough for the Green to vote against CPTTA. That will achieve nothing, except ensure their right to say ‘I told you so!’ sometime in the future.
No, they must DEMAND a climate change assessment of the CPTTA and threaten to withdraw Confidence and Supply if this doesn’t happen.
The ‘troughers’ in Labour and NZ First will be appalled by the prospect of another election and a possible National victory (as so would I) but it is great leverage.
The Greens, a party of principle, MUST act in the interests of all the people in this country.
Labour and NZF have already said they are supporting the CPTPPA. In government keeping ones word is supposed to mean something. People and other nations rely on it.
So there is nothing the Greens can do (other than terminating the government) that can stop NZ ratifying the CPTPPA. And if they did terminate the government a new National/Act government would be the likely outcome
Against the wishes of the majority of voters the braindead Gnats have locked us into a remarkably bad deal – at the same time reducing faith in the democratic process – a win for the forces of infamy!
“All too late.” – what’s in it for Wayne, I wonder?
Would keeping one’s word extend to pre-election ‘promises’?
If (and it’s a big IF) NZ is still a sovereign country, then the Government is free to act at anytime in the evolving ‘balanced best interests’ of all citizens. Signing the CPATPP serves the interests of very few NZers.
The EU seems to have dodged their own TTIP bullet, at least for now, but corporates, like rust, never sleep.
The agreement has been criticized and opposed by some unions, charities, NGOs and environmentalists, particularly in Europe.
The Independent describes common criticisms of TTIP as “reducing the regulatory barriers to trade for big business, things like food safety law, environmental legislation, banking regulations and the sovereign powers of individual nations”, or more critically as an “assault on European and US societies by transnational corporations”.
The Guardian noted the criticism of TTIP’s “undemocratic nature of the closed-door talks”, “influence of powerful lobbyists”, TTIP’s potential ability to “undermine the democratic authority of local government”, and described it as “the most controversial trade deal the EU has ever negotiated”.
Our note to Government today on the sixth anniversary of the washout that closed Gisborne rail.
Protecting our environment & health.
In association with other Community Groups, and all Government Agencies since 2001.
Public COMMUNITY letter; : 6th Anniversary of Gisborne rail washout 24th March 2012.
24th March 2018; – On this day the sixth anniversary of the rail washout that closed Gisborne rail link to the rest of NZ.
Dear rail stakeholders,
Please review these past considerations of NZ Rail for your re-consideration to re-open the Gisborne rail link to the rest of NZ.
We should curtail trucking as now it is harming the environment and use * General Manager of NZ Rail Trevor Haywood’s plan to use rail for “social benefit” again. 1971.
Read below, History of rail.
In 1971, the Government commissioned United States consultancy firm Wilbur Smith & Associates to look at Railways. It also recommended that road transport meet the “resource costs” incurred and social costs such as accidents, pollution and the loss of utility caused by heavy vehicles.
We must use these considerations also when restoring Gisborne’s rail freight again.
Our justification is;
As we say it is justified that rail services must resume, because Gisborne is the most isolated community of its size in NZ without a rail service; – ministers please note.
Hi Cleangreen (9) … have you by any chance contacted Shane Jones about restoring rail to your region?
As you know, Jonesy is on a roll at the moment with regional air transport, which is proving very popular. Could well be a good time to contact him and tell him your case re Gisborne rail, while he’s fired up championing regional transport.
Good for you Cleangreen for keeping this issue out there. All the best in getting a positive outcome.
I have sent 10 emails to all senior Labour NZ First and green party ministers including Shane and Winston.
Once was Tim; – is absolutely correct they have had so many emails from us they are having trouble handling them since they were jammed with thousands of emails from national at the beginning of the parliament so national have caused a “email road block” we were told by the MP’s PA’s.
But we every second day now call the parliamentary office requesting for those appropriate ministers to come to HB/Gisborne to discuss the rail issue with all our community groups now before they make final decisions here.
As we all are representative as the most affected amongst the regions without rail and roads now “gridlocked with trucks” it is ruining our narrow windy roads and makes driving very dangerous now so rail is needed seriously now more than ever.
Please heed our community call to return our gisborne rail as you did other regions as our regions are now booming and truck traffic is raising annually at a staggering 6% a year. This is unsustainable for our environment and our futures..
Remember the dire warnings about state abuse of collected meta-data.
Well, Silicon Valley’s tech billionaires have been hard at it.
Downloaded my facebook data as a ZIP fileSomehow it has my entire call history with my partner's mum pic.twitter.com/CIRUguf4vD— Dylan McKay (@dylanmckaynz) March 21, 2018
metadata about every text message I've ever received or sentspoiler: I don't use messenger for SMS pic.twitter.com/ehWXhpnrrV— Dylan McKay (@dylanmckaynz) March 21, 2018
Facebook’s mounting image problems hit a whole other orbit on Friday.
Tech icon Elon Musk appeared to delete the official Facebook pages for two of his companies, SpaceX and Tesla, Inc.
Musk’s moves come days after a whistleblower revealed that a data analysis firm tied to President Donald Trump’s campaign had harvested data off Facebook, resulting in widespread criticism and sparking government investigations.
Fuck yea!!!!
We might actually get to real, rather than virtual community where humans interact in real time. A place (oops…. I mean ‘space’) where humans interact in real time and between one another. Sometimes, like the most exotic of animal, their lives depend on it (going forward, to coin a phrase, ez a meta a fek, ekshully)
A couple of days ago I made a comment on the “Russian to Judgment” post, pointing to an article on globalresearch.ca which reported that Russian Army chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, claimed to have received reliable information that the US was planning an attack on Damascus, and which seemed to be connected to the Salisbury incident. A more recent article on voltairenet claims that this was in fact a plot concocted by the British government in collusion with Rex Tillerson, but without the knowledge of either Donald Trump or the Pentagon, and which seems to be the reason for Tillerson’s sacking.
voltairenet.org/article200232.html
The plan seems to have been for the British to fabricate a nerve gas attack on Skripal blaming it on the Russians, and then follow it up with a nerve gas attack in Ghouta, blaming that one on Assad. Gerasimov apparently contacted his American counterpart, General Dunford, with the information. From there it went to General Mattis, and then to Trump. CIA director Pompeio confirmed that the report was authentic. Tillerson was immediately recalled.
So… not only are we to believe that the Skripal attack was a false flag, but the Brits are to have been running black labs in Ghouta.
This is fatuous nonsense of the highest degree. May simply wouldn’t dare – one leaker anywhere in the chain and her government would fall and her career would end.
Russia and Assad have been dropping gas for years – if we look at other areas of British deployment they do not correlate with the use of gas. So what’s so special about Syria? Not the Brits.
“if we look at other areas of British deployment they do not correlate with the use of gas.”
Sure, but nerve gas didn’t really seem to be a thing in recent Afghanistan and Iraq wars that the Brits have been involved with. It’s has only cropped up since Syria was accused of using it on its own people and a basis to invade was formed.
May simply wouldn’t dare – one leaker anywhere in the chain and her government would fall and her career would end.”
Do you remember our very own “get some guts” moment, and how many times our public has been told bare faced lies. But she wouldn’t? You only need a couple of people at the top to form a lie and everyone else follows in behind, its not that hard.
For all that they currently have a pretty useless set of self-serving assholes in power, British democracy has greater institutional resilience than NZ – members regularly cross the floor and a frankly rotten piece of shit like Carter could never have been speaker.
You may point to Blair with some justice, but even at peak arrogance he never dabbled in chemical weapons – neither the public nor the press would have approved. He sought a mandate for the Iraq war, in large part to dilute his own culpability, but he would not have entered Iraq except as a ‘very close ally’ of George Bush.
It’s true that there is a certain amount of institutional fatigue in the armed forces at present, and some of them would quite like an option that simply made the enemy go away. May would never be so adventurous however – she’s only PM because Cameron quit, and that flakiness carries all the way through the command chain. Supposing you were a mid level organic chemist – would you travel to Ghouta to run black labs for May? You can bet she’d shaft you without a thought if things became sticky. May Breaks Bad would make a splendid sitcom, but Syria simply isn’t important enough to England to justify such extraordinary risks, even were she an espiophile like John Key.
And, one ought to limit one’s dependency on the Russian propaganda chain as a news source. It’s not produced for our benefit. RT’s days appear to be numbered, and Global Research seems set to take its place. I tolerated them when they limited their advocacy to telling the inconvenient parts of essentially truthful narratives – but now they are vehicles for barefaced lies – propaganda that only the hysterical could entertain for a moment.
Yes.
I’ve read similar. I can’t find the link atm. There is one common interest, and that the person charged with testing the so called evidence from Syria, and his involvement with nerve agent propaganda.
Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Nikki Haley et al are such a source of hilarity. Tragic as it is.
So the headlines in the WP, NYT, Grudian and independent over coming days (if not about facebook and whatever else) – celebrating peoples’ liberation and the defeat of terrorists? Or accusing Syria of crimes against humanity for guaranteeing terrorists and their families safe passage?
Well. Thinking Aleppo and so thinking the latter.
And again I’m going to point out that the so-called “Free Syrian Army” that western governments have openly backed, promoted and funded, is killing people from multiple ethnic and religious backgrounds in Rojava – Rojava where neither the Syrian government nor the Syrian Arab Army have any presence.
And as I can not reply to the lies spouted by Stuart Munroe in his reference to the alleged chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun on April 4th 2017, on the Russian to Judgement page, again I will quote the OPCW report
“The FFM’s mandate is to determine whether chemical weapons or toxic chemicals as weapons have been used in Syria; it does not include identifying who is responsible for alleged attacks. An advance team for the FFM was deployed within 24 hours of being alerted to the incident. For security reasons, the FFM was unable to visit Khan Shaykhun. The rapid deployment to a neighbouring country, however, enabled the team to attend autopsies, collect bio-medical samples from casualties and fatalities, interview witnesses and receive environmental samples. ”
The report explicitly states that FFM was unable to visit the site.
But without any challenge to the veracity of the samples, accepted them without question.
Samples supplied by ….well we aren’t told that, but considering the area was too dangerous for the OPCW mission to enter we can only deduce that they were supplied by the mercenary NATO Saudi, US funded terrorist headchoppers.
And what? You read the comment from Exkiwiforces that undermines that narrative so you decided to start the whole bullshit up somewhere that comment isn’t current? Did you think people would forget what ExKF said and give you the benefit of the doubt?
You’re suspiciously selective in which generals you believe and which ones you don’t. Lift your game.
I placed my comment here because “Russian to Judgment” was no longer on the front page. I thought no one would see my comment if I placed it on that posting.
I guess followers of this website can read our respective omments and make up their own minds. I won’t be commenting further unless I come across new information.
Besides that, my tablet’s battery needs recharging.
I hadn’t been aware of exkiwiforces comment, so thanks for the pointer.
The comment you linked to was a direct response to me pointing out that the canister containing the chemicals at Khan Sheikhoun had ruptured inwards, not outwards as happens with missiles, mortars etc.
Exkiwiforces comment doesn’t actually address that point (of how the casing of a delivered munition shows obvious signs of having being imploded – ie, punctured by an external explosive force)
Nothing in exkiwiforces comment (not the one you link to anyway) has anything to do with the narrative mikesh has linked to above.
In my opinion, ExKF’s knowledgeable comment undermines Gerasimov’s propaganda. Not to mention the various massive holes in it already identified by McFlock and Stuart Munro.
So…I get that you’ve been following whatever is being reported about what Gerasimov’s saying more closely than I have.
What has he said about the chemical delivery system at Khan Sheikhoun (which was all exkiwiforces comment was about) and how does whatever Gerasimov say about that marry up to any claims about eastern Ghouta and whatever allegations being made about expected chemical attacks there?
He didn’t say anything about the chemical delivery system at Khan Sheikhoun. What he did do though is tell stories about the UK and its allies readiness to use chemical weapons as false flag attacks.
ExKF’s said “the chemical weapon system had delay action fuse to off after the raid to off after the raid catching everyone in the open as it went off thence the small impact carter”.
Mikesh was using his truther beliefs about Khan Sheikhoun to support Gerasimov’s dubious credibility. ExKF undermined those beliefs.
Actually, Stuart was using Khan Sheikhoun to undermine Gerasimov’s claims. I attempted to refute his rebuttals relying on my own less than perfect memory. The event occurred a long time ago. However I’ve since remembered that, at the time, the Russians claimed to have bombed a warehouse which they believed contained weapons, not knowing that the weapons were in fact chemical weapons. Whatever. I don’t think that Khan Sheikhoun is particularly relevant to the present discussion.
Gerasimov’s claims have since been confirmed by CIA chief, Pompaeo, and they seem to have been the reason for Tillerson’s sacking.
You need to decide which bullshit story to tell – “A young woman associated with the rebels said that the gas was released as a result of a cock-up by the rebel forces” or “Russia bombed a warehouse”.
Gerasimov’s claims have since been confirmed by CIA chief, Pompaeo[sic].
[Citation needed]
Quote Pompeo (spelling his name correctly may help you) directly, please, and use a reputable source if you can.
The source of my information that Pompeo hasn’t said something? Are you on drugs? I don’t have any photos of your pet goat either, in case you were wondering.
No it isn’t. The non availability of a citable source doesn’t prove the truth or falsity of an alleged “fact”. However, if that “fact” is coherent with other known facts, it’s reasonable to believe it, with or without a citation.
Both of you strayed from any political exchange hours ago. How’s about you both call it a day before things degenerate any further and one or the other of you step over a line?
At the moment you’re both just filling up space with lots of nothing.
Not quite – Gerasimov’s claims are not based on evidence beyond his claim of “information”, thus they do not need to be rebutted.
If you could have produced something to substantiate his allegations you might have had a credible argument – but you asserted the presence of some female informant that you could not (or chose not to) produce.
I’ve been banned before now for not providing sources – I don’t see why you should be exempt from that requirement.
The High Court judgement was in response to a request to take more blood samples from the comatose Skripals (there’s no-one with authority to give such permission, given the Skripals certainly can’t).
The evidence presented was thus:
17….
i)
CC: Porton Down Chemical and Biological Analyst
Blood samples from Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal were analysed and the findings indicated exposure to a nerve agent or related compound. The samples
tested positive for the presence of a Novichok class nerve agent or closely related agent.
So “closely related agent” somewhat widens the possibility of where the nerve agent actually came from.
Any other conclusion from such evidence can probably be in the realms of fantasy.
These Tories do seem to have some fantastical ideas, but whether they actually would lead to them being put into practice is another matter.
This article from 2005, outlines a fantasy scenario floated as a promo for Strategic Communication Laboratories (SLC). They demonstrated how they could produce some psy-ops propaganda, and pass it off as real.
[SLC with strong Conservative Party connections, later spawned Cambridge Analytica.]
SLC’s propaganda scenario works to contain a small pox outbreak in London. SLC showed they could fabricate a fictitious scenario that would be put out to the media and online, to stop Londoners venturing outdoors.
Rather than alert the public to the smallpox threat, the company sets up a high-tech “ops center” to convince the public that an accident at a chemical plant threatens London. As the fictitious toxic cloud approaches the city, TV news outlets are provided graphic visuals charting the path of the invisible toxins. Londoners stay indoors, glued to the telly, convinced that even a short walk into the streets could be fatal.
Why anyone would bother with such an elaborate subterfuge is beyond me.
Russian Army chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, has received reliable information that the US working with the saucer people are planning an attack on Damascus, connected to the Salisbury incident. In fact the plan was concocted by the British government in collusion with Rex Tillerson, utilising the Black Helicopters to carry it out.
And if you believe that, then you probably also believe globalresearch.ca claim that the Tens of millions of protesters throughout the Arab World protesting the totalitarian regimes of Ben Ali, Mubarak and Assad were working for the CIA.
Asked why she has decided to speak out, Kaiser flares: “Why should we make excuses for these people? Why? I’m so tired of making excuses for old white men. Fucking hell.”
Brittany left CA a couple of weeks ago – I’m pretty sure I read she left due to an employment dispute. So she may have an ax to grind.
Well I suppose it’s pretty easy to identify what scares old white English and American men and motivates them to vote … loss of power and authority over how society is organised and in whose interest. Using their vote to freeze the nation back in time (nostalgic remembering) to how society was when they were young – thus heightened fear of change. Thus Brexit or Trump’s American first or we go isolationist.
Since it seems we are to be bombarded with Lavrov’s witless speculations about false flag attacks, it might pertinent to look at the modern event that popularized them for this generation.
Restricted By YouTube, Gun Enthusiasts Are Taking Their Videos To Pornhub
[…]
Starting next month, YouTube will ban videos that offer instructions on how to make firearms and accessories such as silencers and bump stocks. It will prohibit content in which firearms and accessories are sold, both directly and through other websites. Videos on how to install firearms modifications will also be barred.
[…]
InRangeTV, which has some 144,000 subscribers on its YouTube channel, has chosen to publish videos on an adult website called Pornhub, Bloomberg reported. A search on the site yields five videos currently uploaded by InRangeTV. Visitors can watch a video where hosts compare a Glock 19 and a Hudson H9, just as it appears on YouTube.
Nation this sexual harassment and bullying of Lady’s in our legal profession is unacceptable this day and age. This behaviour will stop Alot of Lady’s from entering this profession we need Lady’s in our legal professions to give that industry a more humane approach to the LAW OF THE LAND many thanks Lisa for having the courage to have this conversation on live TV3
KIA KAHA KA KITE ANO P.S It is a bad culture
Nation I’m a big fan of TED TALKs to that was a good interview on Education there is a lot of talented mokos missed by the education system at the minute.
Many thanks to all the the mokos around the World who are protesting the lack of good gun laws in America and because of this phenomenon alot of people are dieing. Kia kaha mokos Ka kite ano
Nation I totally agree with Liya opinions on the ttp11 and the unknown implications on the Internet and social media and your other people about the big Internet companies being almost God like in influence and power Ka pai Ka kite ano
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This week we moved into the second half of 2020 - and our Government delivered another week of big changes and major progress for New Zealanders. Read below for a wrap of the key things moments from the week - from extending paid parental leave, to making major investments in ...
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development A regional freight hub for the lower North Island will be built just northeast of Palmerston North, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Government is investing $40 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to designate and buy land and design ...
Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson is calling for the introduction of a Guaranteed Minimum Income to lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty and prevent more families entering into further debt with the Ministry of Social Development. ...
There has been renewed focus on New Zealand First acting as a handbrake on the Government after our decision to not support Auckland light rail. We are a handbrake for bad ideas, that istrue, but our track record since 2017 has seen New Zealand First constructively also serve as an ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP New Zealand First’s Fair Residency for Superannuation Bill passed its First Reading in Parliament today. The Bill makes a significant change to NZ Super by raising the minimum residency requirement from 10 to 20 years, after age 20. “Currently, a migrant of ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order A New Zealand First member’s bill in the name of Darroch Ball introducing a six-month minimum prison sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its second reading in Parliament. The new offence of "injuring a first responder or corrections officer with ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Deputy Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First welcomes the launch of the new Criminal Cases Review Commission, gifted with the name from Waikato-Tainui - Te Kāhui Tātari Ture, announced in Hamilton today by Justice Minister Andrew Little. “New Zealand First has long believed in and ...
The Green Party is celebrating over $800m in new funding for green projects, which will get people into jobs while solving New Zealand’s long-term challenges. ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is appalled that Meridian seems to have been unnecessarily spilling water from its dams to drive up its profits."While New Zealanders have been coming together in some of our darkest hours, we don’t expect power gentailers to waste water and ...
We wrapped up the first half of 2020 with a busy month, taking additional steps to support New Zealanders as we continue with our economic recovery. We rolled out targeted packages to support key industries like tourism and construction, helped create jobs in the environmental and agriculture sectors, and set ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has welcomed the appointment of Maurice Davis and his deep infrastructure and construction experience to the board of the Infrastructure Commission. Mr Davis (Ngāti Maniapoto), is the seventh and final appointment to the board led by former Reserve Bank Governor ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand’s click bait journalism is taking a turn for the worse, with yet another example of sensationalist, wilful-misrepresentation of the facts. “New Zealand First has worked constructively with its Coalition partner on hundreds of pieces of legislation and policy, and ...
The Green Party is today unveiling its Poverty Action Plan, which includes a Guaranteed Minimum Income to ensure people have enough to live with dignity. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Rotorua Museum redevelopment and Whakarewarewa and Tokorangi Forest projects will be accelerated thanks to a $2.09 million Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) boost, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
This week, we rolled out the next steps of our recovery plan, with new infrastructure investment, extra support for tourism operators, and a new programme to get Kiwis into agriculture careers. The global economic consequences of COVID-19 will continue to be a challenge, but we have a detailed plan to ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its final reading in Parliament today fulfilling a coalition agreement commitment. “This is an important step in saving the lives of New Zealanders and delivers a key coalition commitment ...
Whakatāne has been given a $2.5 million boost to speed up previously funded projects and create more than 450 jobs in the next decade. Of those, the equivalent of 160 full-time jobs could be delivered in the next six weeks. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is in town to make ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $2.5 million to accelerate three infrastructure projects in Whakatāne, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “This package is about ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is throwing his weight behind a bid by the Auckland Council to fast-track the more than doubling of the city's water allowance from the Waikato River. And he's coming out strongly against anyone who plans on getting in the way of this campaign. "It is my ...
The Green Party is thrilled to see changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that mean consents for large projects can be declined if they will have significant climate change implications that are inconsistent with the Zero Carbon Act and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Paris Agreement obligations. ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence The Royal New Zealand Navy’s new ship, Aotearoa, set sail for New Zealand on 10 June from the Republic of Korea, and is due to arrive in Auckland tomorrow, announced Minister of Defence Ron Mark. “Aotearoa is the Royal New Zealand Navy’s new fleet ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters has today welcomed the Racing Industry Bill passing its third reading, creating the legislative framework for revitalising the racing industry while limiting the need for future government intervention. “For too long our domestic racing industry has ...
The Green Party has today put forward an amendment to the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill to ensure all people in prisons can vote in general elections. ...
The Green Party welcomes the decision to not proceed with Public Public Investment (PPI) delivery of Auckland’s light rail project and to instead run the process through the public service. ...
Hon Ron Mark, New Zealand First List MP based in the Wairarapa New Zealand First List MP Hon Ron Mark welcomes the announcement of Provincial Growth Funding investment of $1.4 million to help secure the Wairarapa’s water supply. The funding boost will allow the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), and ...
New Zealand First list MP Mark Patterson has been selected to represent the party in the newly formed Taieri electorate at the upcoming election. Mr Patterson, his wife Jude and two daughters farm sheep and beef at Lawrence and Waitahuna. He previously stood in the Clutha-Southland electorate however boundary changes ...
Hon Shane Jones, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises A new ‘super depot’ to be built for NZ Post in Wellington will create around 350 jobs during construction, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises Shane Jones says. Shane Jones today attended a ground-breaking and blessing ceremony for the parcel-processing depot ...
Our strong economic management prior to COVID-19 - with surpluses, low debt and near-record-low unemployment - put us in a good position to weather the impact of the virus and start to rebuild our economy much earlier than many other countries.Now we're putting our plan to recover and rebuild ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Law and Order Recently released Police fleeing driver statistics have shown yet another increase in incidents with another record-high in the latest quarter. “This new quarterly record-high is the latest in a string of record-high numbers since 2014. The data shows incidents ...
New Zealand First MP Fletcher Tabuteau is pleased to be confirmed today as the party’s candidate for the Rotorua electorate. Speaking at the Rotorua AGM for New Zealand First, Mr Tabuteau said this is an election that is incredibly important for the people of Rotorua. “The founding principles of New ...
The Human Rights Commission’s PRISM report on the issues impacting people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) provides an excellent programme of work for future governments to follow, say the Greens. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the trans-Tasman bubble had not been jeopardised after aborder botch-upresulted in New Zealand having two active cases of COVID-19. On Friday, Mr Peters told RNZ's Morning Report he had heard from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison that borders for trans-Tasman travel would open by ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said today he was pleased the army was now running the quarantine and isolation process - up until now it has been the Ministry of Health. Peters told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that the army knew how to introduce and follow protocols and instil discipline. ...
The Government is making immediate short-term changes to visa settings to support temporary migrants already onshore in New Zealand and their employers, while also ensuring New Zealanders needing work are prioritised, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. We are: Extending temporary work visas due to expire by the end of 2020 ...
Professor Peter Skelton CNZM has been appointed as Chief Freshwater Commissioner and Alternate Environment Court Judge Craig James Thompson as Deputy Chief Freshwater Commissioner for the newly established Freshwater Planning Process (FPP). Environment Minister David Parker today also announced the appointment of Chief Environment Court Judge Laurie Newhook as the ...
Auckland Queen’s Counsel Neil Campbell has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Campbell graduated with a BCom and LLB (Hons) from the University of Auckland in 1992. He spent two years with Bell Gully Buddle Weir in Auckland before travelling to the United ...
The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to better enable the development and operation of commercial film and video facilities in Christchurch. The Proposal, developed by Regenerate Christchurch in response to a request from Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section ...
The Government has launched a bold plan to boost primary sector export earnings by $44 billion over the next decade, while protecting the environment and growing jobs. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today released Fit for a Better World – Accelerating our Economic Potential, a 10-year roadmap to unlock greater value ...
A new approach to prevent family harm that encourages greater collaboration across government and community groups is being celebrated at the opening of a new facility in Auckland. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today opened the Multi-Disciplinary Family Harm Prevention Hub Te Taanga Manawa in Lambie Road in Manukau. The facility ...
The Government has released a major new report on the options for relocating the Port of Auckland’s freight operations while deferring any decision on the issue. “That decision needs to be informed by policy analysis that is still to be completed. As a result it will be up to a ...
The history of Rāpaki is being restored through the inclusion of te reo in thirteen official place names on Te Pātaka-o-Rākaihautū / Banks Peninsula and around Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō, the Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage, announced today. “I am pleased to approve the proposals from Te Hapū o Ngāti ...
Bookings for seats on Air New Zealand flights into New Zealand will be managed in the short term to ensure the Government is able to safely place New Zealanders arriving home into a managed isolation or quarantine facility, says Housing Minister Megan Woods. “Last week Air Commodore Darryn Webb and I ...
Grant Robertson has today announced the first major release of funding from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced at Budget 2020. “Today we’re setting out how $80 million will be invested, with $54 million of that over the 2020/2021 financial year for organisations from community level through to elite ...
The Government is maintaining current levy rates for the next 2 years, as part of a set of changes to help ease the financial pressures of COVID-19 providing certainty for businesses and New Zealanders, ACC Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “New Zealanders and businesses are facing unprecedented financial pressures as a ...
Small businesses are getting greater certainty about access to finance with an extension to the interest-free cashflow loan scheme to the end of the year. The Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme has already been extended once, to 24 July. Revenue and Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says it will be ...
A package of 23 projects across the country will clean up waterways and deliver over 2000 jobs Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Environment Minister David Parker announced today. The $162 million dollar package will see 22 water clean-up projects put forward by local councils receiving $62 million and the Kaipara ...
Tena koutou katoa Nga tangata whenua o tenei rohe o Pōneke, tena koutou Nau mai, haere mai ki te hui a tau mo te roopu reipa Ko tatou! Ko to tatou mana! Ko to tatou kaupapa kei te kokiri whakamua Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa Welcome. I ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $1.5 million to ensure QE Health in Rotorua can proceed with its world class health service and save 75 existing jobs, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development, Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. The PGF funding announced today is in addition to the $8 million ...
A new programme, which sets a firm course for the Building and Construction sector to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has been announced by the Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa. “A significant amount of New Zealand’s carbon emissions come from the building and construction sector. If we’re serious ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing more than $7.5 million in Northland ventures to combat the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment is going to the Northern Adventure Experience and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins today announced significant funding for Auckland’s Northcote College as part of the first wave of a new nationwide school redevelopment programme to upgrade schools over the next 10 years. The $48.5 million project brings the total investment in Northcote College to ...
The Government has opened an urgent response fund to support schools and early learning services to get children and young people back on track after the Covid-19 lockdown. “While we are seeing improvements in attendance under Alert Level 1 Ministry of Education data shows that attendance rates in our schools ...
The law to boost the economic recovery from the impact of COVID-19 by speeding up resource consenting on selected projects has passed its second and third readings in the House today. “Accelerating nationwide projects and activities by government, iwi and the private sector will help deliver faster economic recovery and ...
Five port-related projects in Whanganui will receive a $26.75 million Provincial Growth Fund investment to support local economic recovery and create new opportunities for growth, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This is a significant investment that will support the redevelopment of the Whanganui Port, a project governed ...
Whanganui’s Sarjeant Gallery will receive an investment of up to $12 million administered by the Provincial Growth Fund to support its redevelopment, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The project is included in a $3 billion infrastructure pipeline announced by Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Shane Jones yesterday. ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing nearly $2.5 million into three Te Ara Mahi programmes to support Manawatū-Whanganui jobseekers and employees to quickly train and upskill, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Up to 154 local people will be supported into employment within the first year by these ...
This morning I have formally tendered my resignation as Minister of Health, which was accepted by the Prime Minister. Serving as Minister of Health has been an absolute privilege – particularly through these extraordinary last few months. It’s no secret that Health is a challenging portfolio. I have given ...
Scholarships for 57 early-career agricultural emissions scientists from 20 developing countries is another example of New Zealand’s international leadership in primary sector sustainability, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. Mr O’Connor, announcing the scholarships today, says hundreds of applications were received for this fourth round of the CLIFF-GRADS programme (Climate, Food ...
A project to help rejuvenate the Horowhenua town of Foxton will receive a Provincial Growth Fund investment of $3.86 million, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This funding for the Foxton Regeneration project will be used to make the well-known holiday town even more attractive for visitors and ...
Moa bones and other sub-fossil remains of extinct species are set to have improved protection with proposals to prevent the trade in extinct species announced the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today. “We have lost too many of our native species, but these lost species, such as moa, remain an ...
The Government’s free and healthy school lunches programme moves south for the first time creating jobs for around 30 people in Otago and Southland. “Eighteen schools with 3000 students are joining the programme – 11 have already begun serving lunches, and seven are preparing to start during Term 3. This is ...
Thousands of Kiwi jobs and investment in New Zealand productions will be protected through a screen sector support package announced today by Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford and Minister for Broadcasting Kris Faafoi. The package also includes investment in broadcasting ...
The Government has established a new $10 million fund for the domestic events sector to help save jobs and protect incomes as it recovers from the impacts of COVID-19, Minister of Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. This funding from Budget 2020 follows talks with the event sector designed to ...
The Government has taken another step in its commitment to making sure New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the petrol pump with the introduction of legislation to improve competition in the retail fuel market, says Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods. “The fuel market study that this Government ordered ...
New Zealand has joined a global initiative that aims to enable all countries to access a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters announced today. The COVAX Facility was recently launched by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The Alliance includes the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank ...
From today new legislation takes effect to both restore the right to legal representation at the start of a Care of Children (CoCA) dispute in the Family Court, and allow parties to those proceedings to access legal aid where eligible. During a visit to the Family Court in Auckland today, ...
Home-based early childhood education (ECE) subsidised by the government will transition to a fully qualified workforce by 2025 to ensure better and more consistent quality, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. “Quality early learning helps provide children with a strong foundation for their future,” Chris Hipkins said. From 1 January ...
The new Criminal Cases Review Commission | Te Kāhui Tātari Ture (CCRC) has started work and can now independently investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “Even though we have appeal rights and safeguards against unsafe convictions, from time to time our justice system does get things wrong. The design of the ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangatanga maha, tēnā koutou Ki a koutou Te Āti Awa, Taranaki Whānui, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, ngā mana whenua o te rohe nei, tēnā koutou Ko Te Whare Wānanga o Aotearoa ki ngā take o te Ao (NZIIA), Ko te Rōpū Tohu Tono ...
The Government’s increase to paid parental leave kicks in today with another 4 weeks taking New Zealand up to a full 6 months (26 weeks, up from 22 weeks) leave for new parents, and the maximum weekly payment will increase by $20pw, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. ...
A new package of infrastructure investments will help kick-start the post-COVID rebuild by creating more than 20,000 jobs and unlocking more than $5 billion of projects up and down New Zealand. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones today outlined how the $3 billion infrastructure fund in the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today expressed the New Zealand Government’s deep disappointment at the passage by China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee of a national security law for Hong Kong. “New Zealand has consistently emphasised its serious concern about the imposition of this legislation on Hong Kong without inclusive ...
More jobs and more family time with newborns are the centrepiece of a suite of Government initiatives coming into effect today. July 1 is a milestone day for the Government as a host of key policies take effect, demonstrating the critical areas where progress has been made. “The Coalition Government ...
How did the bizarre story of Hamish Walker trying to leak confidential Covid details to media all play out? Radio NZ’s Jo Moir was one of the journalists contacted by the MP, and wrote this timeline. In an extraordinary move National Party leader Todd Muller has had one of his own ...
By RNZ News The opposition National Party leader says he has written to the party’s board asking them to remove MP Hamish Walker from the party after it was revealed he leaked private health information to New Zealand media. It was revealed yesterday that former National Party president Michelle Boag ...
COMMENT:By Nasya Bahfen in Melbourne Australia’s Victorian state government told returned travellers to quarantine for two weeks. Some broke the rules. It then paid for them to stay in hotels with security guards. Some of the guards couldn’t keep their dicks in their pants. Some of the returned travellers ...
Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas on ministerial resignations in the recent and middle-distant past, a new book from Judith Collins, and the reinvention of Simon Bridges.This episode was recorded on Tuesday morning, before news broke that Hamish Walker and Michelle Boag were behind the Covid-19 data leak.The Gone ...
Fonterra will be greeted by drums, cow costumes, placards and a pile of coal on Thursday morning, 9 July, as Extinction Rebellion Ōtautahi ask the question, ‘Why are Fonterra still using coal in a climate emergency?’ The group will be gathering ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bjorn Sturmberg, Research Leader, Battery Storage & Grid Integration Program, Australian National University Electric vehicles can help keep the air clean in our cities – as we’ve seen recently with the reduction of traffic through COVID-19 lockdowns – but they face two ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.Today’s contentNational Party revealed as source of Covid-19 privacy leak Audrey Young (Herald): National’s failures on patient leak from top to bottom (paywalled) Luke Malpass (Stuff): National leader Todd Muller ...
Troy Mihaka , local Wellington Conservation Volunteer, Arts Manager and LGBTQ+ Advocate announces candidacy in the 2020 General Election. Standing in the Electorate of Rongotai , Mihaka will be representing the Integrity Party of Aotearoa New Zealand . A political ...
As universities around the world slash jobs and courses in response to the pandemic, Victoria University of Wellington is signalling its intention to introduce sweeping austerity measures, a group of concerned tutors write. A response from Victoria University of Wellington is at the end of this column.So far, 2020 has ...
New Conservative is appalled by the lack of consultation provided by DOC to stakeholders in the management of the New Zealand Tahr herd by not following protocol and not allowing all stakeholders to consult on the plan proposed. DOC released its new Tahr ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Haskell-Dowland, Associate Dean (Computing and Security), Edith Cowan University In an age of isolation, video sharing platform TikTok has emerged as a bonding force for many. But recent headlines allege the service, owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance, is feeding users’ data ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kingsley Dixon, John Curtin Distinguished Professor, Curtin University This article is a preview from Flora, Fauna, Fire, a multimedia project launching on Monday July 13. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s bushfire tragedy. Sign ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Shulmeister, Professor, University of Canterbury CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dallas Rogers, Associate Dean, School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney A target of 70% private and 30% public dwellings is an accepted standard for public housing renewal projects in several Australian states. This level of private ownership is said ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Lacey, Senior Lecturer in International Trade, University of Adelaide When the United Kingdom completed its telecom supply chain review last year it gave a green light to Huawei by concluding that nationality-based bans did nothing to improve network security and could ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison M Joubert, Lecturer in Marketing, The University of Queensland Cancel culture — withdrawing support for public figures when they do or say something offensive — has become so widespread it was Macquarie Dictionary’s 2019 word of the year. A practice where ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Fastnedge, Lecturer in Advertising Creativity, Auckland University of Technology When the New Zealand government wanted a campaign to keep kids safe online, naturally it turned to a couple of naked porn actors to get the message across. Actually the government turned ...
A grassroots campaign has launched this week calling on political party leaders to support the implementation of a gender-balanced Cabinet with 50 percent women and 50 percent men in this year’s election. The many vital issues discussed each ...
Air NZ shares fall as quarantine capacity stops it from selling new international tickets for at least three weeks and as Melbourne goes into complete lockdown ...
A flood of Kiwis returning home from Australia has overwhelmed quarantine capacity. Bernard Hickey reports the Government is looking at bringing in cruise ships to expand supply and a quarantine booking system to further restrict demand. Meanwhile, there is now no space for new guest workers, tourists or students for the foreseeable future. ...
The National Party leader says he has written to the party's board asking them to remove MP Hamish Walker from the party after it was revealed he leaked private health information to media. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Scandal for MP after leaking confidential Covid data, new bookings for return to country put on hold, and Islamic Women’s Council release evidence of being ignored.We now know exactly how the leak of private information of all active Covid-19 patients happened. National ...
Opinion: While the investigation into the security of patient data may still find the Government wanting, a rookie National MP’s spectacular own goal has put the opposition in the firing line, writes Laura Walters Political gameplay 101: If you're trying to highlight that another political party shouldn't be trusted with ...
A new survey supports fundamental changes to the country's criminal justice system, but a parallel study shows many still believe in a punitive system, Laura Walters reports A new survey suggests strong support amongst Kiwis for fundamental changes in the resourcing and funding of the criminal justice system, as well as a ...
The Covid-19 lockdown has only confirmed how vital New Zealand’s early childhood sector is to the future of this country. Now is the time to bed in a systemic policy infrastructure to support resilient children, write three experts. The Early Learning Action Plan (ELAP), released in December 2019, was barely ...
Picked as a star by one of the great women golfers of all time, Wellington teenager Darae Chung is preparing herself mentally and physically to play overseas again. When 16-year-old Darae Chung travels around the country – and eventually around the globe again – playing golf, she will have the ...
He has been in the job less than a week, but new Health Minister Chris Hipkins is already making his presence felt on some critical Covid-19 issues, Sam Sachdeva writes When it was revealed Chris Hipkins would replace David Clark as Health Minister, some observers wondered whether the role may stretch him ...
Matteo Di Maio takes a look at New Zealand’s most expensive rare books. Anah Dunsheath from Rare Books in Auckland knows how you ought to take an old book off the shelf, and how you ought not to. Novices will just pull the book out by the top of its ...
The incoming government needs to wake up and have a critical look at the child protection monster that is Oranga Tamariki, writes Dr Ian Hyslop There is always risk of a chronic disconnect between the policy and operational arms of public service organisations. This risk is particularly acute in excessively ...
The genetic secrets of New Zealand’s predatory 'lion' have been revealed with the mapping of the stoat genome, and there's hope better, kinder ways of getting rid of the introduced killing machines might be found A stoat’s spleen, liquid nitrogen, supercomputers, and 18 months of international effort has led to the mapping ...
Auckland 'move the port' studies have averaged out to at least two per year over the last decade with almost every one of them throwing out a different option or result. ...
The Covid-19 pandemic made us see the value of a life. Now the Team of Five Million needs to take that lesson and open its eyes to the value of the lives of Maori, Pasifika and People of Colour, writes Karamia Muller. This year, 2020, is asking everyone: What is ...
Power Play - Todd Muller is dreaming if he thinks saying no comment will wash after his MP leaked the private details of Covid-19 patients to the media. ...
The leak, we discovered last night, was the work of a first-term MP and a veteran National Party operator. What does it mean for the pair, and for the party, asks Ben Thomas.The latest whodunit in New Zealand politics was solved last night in a flurry of releases, as National’s ...
The Government wants to accelerate improvements to production and sustainability on the land to almost double export earnings in a decade. But big change will be needed, Tim Murphy reports. ...
Methamphetamine - or P - is now here to stay. But addicts of the destructive drug are so ashamed, they will wait up to 10 years to get help. In 2001, William Bell murdered three people in a meth-fuelled rampage at the Mt Wellington RSA in Auckland. He was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary-Louise McLaws, Professor of Epidemiology Healthcare Infection and Infectious Diseases Control, UNSW From midnight Wednesday, all of Metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire will return to Stage 3 lockdown for six weeks. There are only four reasons for residents to leave their homes: ...
After the Spinoff recounted Leave.EU heads telling Britain’s Daily Telegraph they had ‘dispatched’ a team to Auckland to work with NZ First, the party leader issued a deeply curious statement.The day began with news that the “bad boys of Brexit” were back and they were coming to New Zealand.The Daily ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Vaz, Senior Lecturer, Department of Banking and Finance, Monash University The reimposition of stage 3 restrictions on metropolitan Melbourne is, as Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says, a matter of life or death. That’s also true for small businesses. A further six ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By C Raina MacIntyre, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW After early success in suppressing COVID-19, we are facing a resurgence in Victoria, which is threatening disease control for the whole country. Outbreaks in northwestern ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin, 6 July 2020 Three Citizenships The concept of ‘citizenship’ has both general and specific meanings. Keith Rankin. The most specific and familiar I call passport citizenship. A passport citizen of a country is a person holding a passport for that country, or with unambiguous entitlement to ...
Minister of Health and State Services Chris Hipkins says he is disappointed the leak of Covid-19 patient details involved politicians, but he does not want to prejudice the investigation. ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is rejecting accusations he influenced the outcome of a report saying Ports of Auckland should shift to Northland. ...
Wellington’s newspaper, The Dominion-Post, gave it to its readers straight: “I’m no saviour”—Ardern rejects saintly status”. But would the crowd of 500 attending Labour’s Congress have believed it? They had stamped and cheered when, in opening the event, Peter Samuel Jackson (no, not the film director) had said: “We have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Victorian government will lock down all metropolitan Melbourne for six weeks from Wednesday night, as a new wave of the coronavirus takes hold in the city. The lockdown will also cover the Mitchell Shire, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, La Trobe University As the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, one question that keeps coming up is whether COVID-19 can be transmitted through the air. In fact, 239 scientists in 32 countries have written an ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Victorian government will lock down all metropolitan Melbourne for six weeks from Wednesday night, as a new wave of the coronavirus takes hold in the city. The lockdown will also cover the Mitchell Shire, ...
Transport Minister and senior Labour MP Phil Twyford has joined forces with his former colleague and now Auckland Mayor Phil Goff against New Zealand First and the party's push to move the port north. ...
The admissions by Walker and veteran spin doctor Michelle Boag follow the government’s announcement yesterday of a sweeping inquiry to find the source of the leak.National MP Hamish Walker has disclosed that he engineered a privacy breach over the weekend when he purposefully released the personal details of Covid-19 patients ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Russo, Associate Professor, Director Cabrini Monash University Department of Nursing Research, Monash University Metropolitan Melbourne and the shire of Mitchell will returned to Stage 3 stay-at-home restrictions as of midnight Wednesday, Premier Daniel Andrews has announced, after 191 new cases were ...
A National MP has outed himself as the source of media reports about a confidential Covid-19 patient data breach National's Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker has confessed to sharing the private information of Covid-19 patients with media, after the Government launched a high-powered inquiry to determine the source of the data breach. ...
"I have spoken to National Party Leader Todd Muller and informed him that I passed to members of the media, by email, information containing Covid-19 patient details that was given to me by a source." ...
I have spoken to National Party Leader Todd Muller and informed him that I passed to members of the media, by email, information containing Covid-19 patient details that was given to me by a source. I did this to expose the Government’s shortcomings ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeff Borland, Professor of Economics, University of Melbourne When a recession hits, no group of workers is immune. But some are harder hit than others. The latest labour market figures are giving us a good idea of who is being hardest hit ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Wilcox, Lecturer in Music and Sound Design, University of Technology Sydney Prolific composer Ennio Morricone has died in Rome at the age of 91. From his origins in Italian radio, Morricone became renowned internationally as a groundbreaking film composer. Composing over ...
One of the "bad boys of Brexit" who believes in political campaigns that are blunt and edgy has been hired to help with NZ First's election campaign, a UK newspaper is reporting. ...
Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson Jo Holmes says: “Auckland Council has released a statement to media boasting that, based on submissions to the Emergency Budget, a majority of Aucklanders support its rates increase. What the Council fails ...
The Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand said it repeatedly warned the government an attack like that on March 15 last year was possible. Today, it released the evidence.Within days of the March 15 mosque attacks, while the names of the dead were still being recorded, Anjum Rahman of the ...
In the 90s, the so-called information superhighway was more of a dirt road. Now it’s a multi-lane motorway. Vodafone NZ’s Sharina Nisha explains the technology that makes it all possible.They used to call it the information superhighway. Back in the heady days of the 1990s, the term was used to ...
Air New Zealand are temporarily suspending new international bookings to New Zealand to ensure that all arrivals can be accommodated in a managed isolation or quarantine facility. But as more countries open their borders to foreigners, including Kiwis, ...
Greenpeace says the newly released Government plan for the Primary Sector is a missed opportunity to build back better. The plan Fit for a Better World - Accelerating our Economic Potential , was released by Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday. It aims to map ...
Organisations representing a cross section of New Zealand industries are alarmed that no decision has been made on the fate of thousands of temporary workers with visas about to expire. ...
After three decades in existence, Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust has launched its own gallery on Auckland’s Karangahape Road.The first thing that hits you entering Tautai Gallery’s inaugural exhibition, Moana Legacy, is the range of works on show. On one huge wall is a mural of black humanoid crocodiles on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sue McIntyre, Honorary Professor, Australian National University Last week we learned woody vegetation in New South Wales is being cleared at more than double the rate of the previous decade – and agriculture was responsible for more than half the destruction. Farming ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chongyi Feng, Associate Professor in China Studies, University of Technology Sydney Chinese law professor Xu Zhangrun, who completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne, has become the latest high-profile critic of President Xi Jinping to be silenced for his views. It’s ...
If you’ve ever wondered what influencers have to offer to the world, look no further than Simone Anderson’s new recipe book So Delish!, which will revolutionise the way you put things on plates and in freezers.You know what I’m tired of? Professional cooks publishing cookbooks. Boring. If I ever fancy ...
The Electoral Commission has confirmed that the 'Aroha' posters of Jacinda Ardern, promoted by artists Weston Frizzell and advertiser Phantom Billstickers, does indeed constitute a party advertisement for the Labour Party. This judgment comes after ...
The Primary Land Users Group (PLUG) representing a cross-section of forestry, dairy, horticulture and dry-stock land-users has called out the Green Party, asking how they can reconcile their desire for legal cannabis with the negative environmental ...
Open Mike 24/03/2018 
So now we know, beyond all doubt. The National party has no interest in joining the “team of five million” in our fight against the pandemic but its priority is to take every opportunity it can to damage the government. The cynicism is breathtaking. It was prepared to leak the ...27 mins ago
Today’s content National Party revealed as source of Covid-19 privacy leak Audrey Young (Herald): National’s failures on patient leak from top to bottom (paywalled) Luke Malpass (Stuff): National leader Todd Muller found wanting in first real test of moral leadership Jo Moir (RNZ): How the Hamish Walker Covid-19 patient detail leak played out Mark ...3 hours ago
20 hours ago
If the government has not lined up behind a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum the way some reformers would have liked, one entirely laudable thing it did do was commission some science around the public's choice.That science landed today, in the form of the report from an expert ...20 hours ago
Almost two years ago, the government announced that it might take a look at OIA reform. After an attempt to do it in secret, they finally asked for public submissions, then summarised them for the Minister, who... sat on them for nine months. But today, after an almost two year ...23 hours ago
Associate Professor Sara Walton At the heart of the discussion on opening up our borders is the dichotomy of health and the economy – both of which are actually intertwined, like many things with our economy, as this epidemic has shown. If we think about our country as a system, ...1 day ago
This is a re-post from Carbon Brief by Josh Gabbatiss This year will see the largest ever drop globally in both investment and consumer spending on energy as the coronavirus pandemic hits every major sector, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The crisis is accelerating the shutdown of older fossil-fuelled ...1 day ago
...2 days ago
Is the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people? When in doubt, centralise‘ has been a persistent theme in New Zealand public policy throughout our history. The current government is no exception. Here are some examples. - The regional polytechs have been ...5 days ago
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Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency, I have landed in hospital so am not able to do a current update on the NZ blog statistics. Let’s hope I can get back to this in good time. ...6 days ago
When the Christchurch murderer pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder and a number of other violent assault charges a few months ago, he effectively closed the door on what the public will know about the lead up to and commission of the event. His plea means that no evidence ...1 week ago
Daphna Whitmore The Philippines is enduring one of the longest lockdowns in the world. For President Duterte the lockdown provides an opportunity to garner more powers and to push through a brazen assault on human rights. A new law called the Anti-Terror Bill has been passed under urgency and it ...1 week ago
There really is not much about Paula Bennett concerning her career trajectory, the policies she promoted, and most importantly, the socio-economic effect this had upon New Zealand (and particularly the most vulnerable in this, our oft-cited “egalitarian” society of this country) that can be said now that hasn’t already been ...1 week ago
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The Government is making immediate short-term changes to visa settings to support temporary migrants already onshore in New Zealand and their employers, while also ensuring New Zealanders needing work are prioritised, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. We are: Extending temporary work visas due to expire by the end of 2020 ...16 hours ago
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A National MP has outed himself as the source of media reports about a confidential Covid-19 patient data breach National's Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker has confessed to sharing the private information of Covid-19 patients with media, after the Government launched a high-powered inquiry to determine the source of the data breach. ...17 hours ago
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News reports appearing for some months past since January 2018 , have indicated thinking of the US trade with rest of the world , more so with China. A news report which appeared on 20 January , 2018 , had said : -“ It seems that the US erred in supporting China’s entry into the WTO on terms that have proven to be ineffective in securing China’s embrace of an open , market-oriented trade regime”. Later , on 24 February , 2018 , news reports from the US had also said : “ While ties have improved but China is killing US on trade”. These perceptions in the US these days has culminated into announcement of Donald Trump on 22 March , 2018 , imposing tariff on about US 50 billion dollars in Chinese imports to retaliate against the alleged theft of American intellectual property.
These happenings on the eve and during mid- March 2018 , look to be corresponding to one of predictions of this Vedic astrology writer on 11 October 2017 in article – “ Astrological probable alerts for the United States in 2018” – published last year in monthly Webzine of Wisdom Magazine from US at wisdom-magazine.com/Article.aspx/4647/ on 1 December 2017. The related text in the said article reads as :- “ Near mid- March to 30 April 2018. US economy looks to be presenting a happy picture while some kind of hidden or behind the scene areas of substantial concern may remain. PAST ERRORS OR SLIPS ARE LIKELY TO IMPACT TRADING OR COMMERCIAL ASPECTS IN SOME WAY”.
Thus , it can be said that the alert prediction of this writer substantially prior on 11 October , 2017 , has been confirmed precisely and closely accurate during beginning of 2018 , more so 22 March , 2018.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Sarkozy receives money from Libya and its corruption. Nats receive money from Chinese interests , ex National MPs have ties and postings to Chinese interests and we are the least corrupt nation on earth.
Howzat work?
Because the corruption index is a self indicating survey. Essentially is seems to be based on how people ‘feel’ their corruption levels are. Clearly our MSM never reports a thing because the royals, car crashes and kitten stories are more important news, so most people are not even aware what is going on.
Why do you assume all Chinese business people are corrupt?
You sound like a racist.
Actually, the implication was that the National Party were corrupt because they take foreign money.
All foreign money needs to be removed from NZ politics and that includes the cushy positions after politics.
Why can’t people take whatever job they are offered after their political career?
Because behind Chinese business is Chinese government.
In case it needs spelling out, having ties to a foreign government while in power is considered corruption in most countries.
Yes I agree with having business ties with a foreign government while in power is a little shady to put it lightly but Draco said “after” politics, not while in politics
From whence came the business ties such that on finishing as an MP, someone goes straight to work for a Chinese company?
What about Collins the minister for Oravida?
A Chinese spy National MP?
You actually wilfully have to shut your eyes and block your ears not to see an issue.
Well what jobs are ex-MP’s allowed to take then?
Teachers, police, rest home workers, builders, restaraunt workers, fruit pickers, dairy farm workers.
There is a shortage.
So Russell Norman shouldn’t have been allowed to be the Director of Greenpeace NZ?
I wasn’t aware Greenpeace had ties to the Chinese government.
Citation needed.
I’m not talking about the Chinese government. You said ex-MP’s should have jobs like “Teachers, police, rest home workers, builders, restaraunt workers, fruit pickers, dairy farm workers.” so I am asking you if Russell Norman’s post at Greenpeace was acceptable to you given what you stated.
My word you are hard work, I’m going to give the benefit if the doubt that it’s not intentional:
I’m fine with Russel Norman joining Greenpeace thanks for asking.
Given I wasn’t actually addressing you from the start I’m not surprised you are having difficulty.
I was wondering what Draco thought politicians should be doing after politics given he seems to have an issue with it
You asked me about Russel Norman. But yes off you go to shadow Draco around the internet some more, it’s been real
Will do, cheers
Brownlee was a woodwork teacher. Now he’s the ‘architect’ of Chch. Maybe we would all have been better off, if he had stuck to teaching woodwork and why there is a shortage.
In his yoof, i suspect brownlee mught have smoked a few too many of those dovetail joints, and given himself a permanent case of the munchies.
You’re lucky you never had to catch one of those aircraft we used to call ‘pencil planes’ with him.
Brownlee has always needed some serious rebalanxing
voluntary fire fighters, we have a shortage of them especially in places where we also have rampant housing insecurity.
voluntary ambulance driver, we have a shortage of them, again especially in places where we also have rampant housing insecurity.
cafe managers, i hear we have such a shortage that we must import them from elsewhere.
fruit picker, also a severe shortage here according to the businesses.
Surely there are more then enough jobs out there in our Rock Star Economy.
Oh, that was a myth you say? Just like the housing crisis is a myth? Just like the wading in a river is a myth?
Maybe they should try to file for an unemployment benefit? 🙂
“trading on their time as MPs to build a lucrative business career”
Simon Lusk.
In other words, the National Party is adept at post-hoc bribery.
The revolving door of politics to private sector look s remarkably like corruption. Best to prevent it in the first place.
I agree in some circumstances but not all.
John Key went to ANZ but then again he spent his entire life outside of politics as a banker so not surprising he went back into it. Russell Norman went to Greenpeace but he has a track record of being very involved in Environmental Issues so again not surprising.
There is a difference between “leaving politics and picking up where you left off” and “becoming a lobbyist” which can be very shady indeed.
What are MP’s supposed to do when they leave? Never work again? Stay in politics for life?
You do know that hes was a member of the board of the NY Reserve right? And that’s more of a political position than an expert position?
Depends upon where you left off and where you went back. If both have connection to politics then we can honestly say that it’s just going back to what they were doing?
Many do stay in politics for life. Many could go into a public service role like Russel Norman.
What we don’t want is them going into high paid, high power private sector roles that are pretty much designed around their political careers.
EDIT: BTW, is there really two JohnSelways or do you just keep changing email addresses?
Sure but there is a difference between “going into the private sector” and “becoming a lobbyist” (for example).
I mean – Key spent most of life as a banker and left politics when he was quite young so became a banker again. Norman is heavily involved in environmental issues so went to Greenpeace. They gotta do something and generally end up doing what they did before becoming MP’s
What are MP’s supposed to do when they leave politics? Never work again? Stay MP’s for life?
100% Draco T Bastard.
We need to print some just to repair our rotting infrastructure now as we cant afford to borrow any more from overseas at 8% plus from a communist country anyway.
Else we will become another Greece that is owned by EU oligarchs now.
I don’t want to see that happen.
“All foreign money needs to be removed from NZ politics…”
Why? Says who? Sounds like xenophobia to me.
I think all private money in politics is a bad idea. From right and the left.
Just look at cluster-fucks like Citizens United in the States or, actually, just the states in general. You can pretty much buy your own congressman and write the laws for them
What do you think about Parliamentary Services funding an Auckland office for Labour (headed up by Matt McCarten), when that was most likely used for campaigning? Private contributions are made to most, if not all parties in NZ. Long may that be the case.
Sorry – I don’t know enough about the Matt McCarten thing you speak to make a call on it.
But too much private money in politics causes way to many conflicts of interest.
In the event that Simon Lusk is telling the truth, and National MPs are ‘trading on their time as MPs to build a lucrative business career’, it makes sense to at least limit their criminal behaviour to corruption rather than full-blown treason.
Do you have any actual evidence for that, or are you suddenly a convert of Lusk? Mind you, Clark is alleged to have traded her time as PM for a lucrative job with the UN.
In the event that Simon Lusk is telling the truth, and National MPs are ‘trading on their time as MPs to build a lucrative business career’, it makes sense to at least limit their criminal behaviour to corruption rather than full-blown treason.
Just to see if you can actually stay on topic, Ad Nauseam.
So you don’t have any actual evdence.
Meanwhile, on Earth, Lusk’s statement is evidence. Whether he’s a reliable witness is open to question, but at least you’re reliably witless.
A statement of Simon Lusks opinion is not evidence. But you do believe anything. And I’m not aware of Lusk ever committing benefit fraud.
Whether he’s a reliable witness is open to question, Ad Nauseam.
It kinda depends on the situation.
Using your time as an MP to cultivate business links is one thing (I.e – becoming an MP with the sole purpose of landing a highly paid private sector job) but leaving politics and taking a job because it’s in your area of expertise is another (I.e Russell Norman or John Key).
The former is pretty shady, the latter is just being a private citizen again
It depends chiefly on the extent and nature of the conflict of interest involved.
At 2.2.1.3 Babayaga
Fair enough if our “trading partners” would not have printed their own money to buy our assets.
But did they all not print any money?
China certainly did as did japan and …………………..
Well there seems to be a hoo ha over the Russian links in the USA and their President. Nope not following that one, we have enough issues in NZ but most people just ignore them. Not sure an ex Chinese (or Russian) agent would be welcome in the Republican Party like they are in the National party where the MSM says ‘kittens anyone’?
Why?
Because they’re not NZers and how we govern ourselves is not for them to have a say in.
They can’t vote. That’s How we have a say. If they can’t vote, they have no say. If people are stupid enough to be influenced by their money, then they get the government they deserve-of either stripe.
Money has influence.
I know you will deny that but it does and we need to stop that influence. And it’s not the voters who are influenced but the politicians – and that is corruption.
In other words, foreign money in politics is corruption.
Of course money has influence. But why should a US citizen be prevented from contributing to a NZ political party any more than a NZ political party can steal from the public to fund, eg a pledge card. Or an Australian Political Party ( of the same stripe) steal from the taxpayer to fund an election campaign (https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/victorians-have-a-right-to-be-outraged-at-labor-mps-misuse-of-funds-20180321-p4z5gn.html).
Because they’re not a NZ citizen, don’t live here and don’t vote here and thus have no right to have a say in our governance.
BTW: The US does ban foreign money in politics and so does pretty much every other country in the world. NZ’s one of the few doesn’t. Think the rest of the world may be on to something there?
How do you know they don’t live here? They could be a NZ resident. They may have invested in NZ. You have no idea. Even so, who cares? Why shouldn’t they be able to support a NZ based political movement simply because they aren’t citizens?
A Naki man accusing somebody else of racism.
That’s hilarious.
Why do you assume all corrupt business people are Chinese, Nastiman?
Howzat work?
100% @ Answer; – With false reporting with our “junk media” Keepcalmcarryon
In the middle of the night in a bout of insomnia I came across two posts on yesterday’s Open Mike with three very interesting links to articles well worth reading IMO. They had attracted only one comment, so I thought I would repost them here in the hopes others might see them and check them out. I will post them separately as they cover completely different subjects.
First thanks to Jilly Bee for this post and link:
Very interesting comparing the general wailing and gnashing of molars in Granny by Mike Hosking and Matthew Hooton and then whoosh – a wee gem by ex Nat MP for Whanganui, Chester Borrows headed ‘Politicians bailed Air N Z out – the airline can’t now complain about Shane Jones’. It’s worth a read. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12018271
So, we should be subsidising people flying out of and into Whanganui?
Actually Draco, I was simply pointing out the fact that Mike Hosking and Matthew Hooton (both National fanbois extraordinaire) were venting forth in their Herald slots about how bad it is for Shane Jones to be as much as commenting on where Air New Zealand operates domestically and that the airline should only be beholden to its shareholders and the end of year balance sheet with no concern for regional NZ. It was a surprise to me to see Chester Borrow’s column which pretty much agreed with Shane Jones – Chester was until last year the National MP for Whanganui which made it all a bit weird. I suppose it was Granny’s way of trying to look balanced. I have flown some of the secondary routes several years ago in what I called 18 seater flying sardine tins which were OK, but not terribly comfortable – at least we could see the pilots at work!! Bit of a come down from the Boeing 737s on the main routes. It’s interesting to see that the Mayors of the towns and cities concerned are more than happy with Shane’s support. Bring back the DC3s I tells ya.
Come on Jilly Bee,
Where’s your sense of adventure? I say bugger the DC3’s and I say bring the back the DH 83 Fox Moths, DH 84’s, 86’s, 89’s and 90’s passenger Biplanes.
Chocks away Biggles.
Blimey Exkiwiforces, I didn’t think of those – must say though that a flight in a biplane is on my bucket list.
They are on bucket list as well.
You should have flown with Fred Ladd as my uncle did. A real character.
I download the podcasts from the Wings over New Zealand Forum site and I will have to say Dave Homeward has at an outstanding job interviewing some extraordinarily women and gentleman of NZ Aviation History over the years. They worth downloading and like listening to the per WW2, through the War especially the Pacific stuff as I had a great uncle up in the solly’s with 3 NZ Div and post war stuff the Ag Pilots, The Fred Ladd’s and Bryan Cox who I believe this NZ’s remaining Air Ace from WW2 who flew in the Pacific.
Reading the Richard Waugh books on West Coast Airways, pre and post war early Airlines. One of course must not forget NAC and what they did to regional NZ from post WW2 until 1978.
A blog site call 3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com is worth having a look.
My father used to own a Tiger Moth and I not only got many a flight in one but I was allowed to fly it myself once and did a few aerobatics with one of NZ’s best stunt pilots. It was great fun
What a wonderful thread this has ended up being! I am so pleased you put up the link, Jilly Bee. Fox Moths, Tiger Moths, Biplanes, Harvards – those were the days! And Spitfires – I am with you JS. Blimey and Biggles indeed!
Back to ground, I was initially surprised by Burrows, but then when I remembered his background, it did not surprise me. He has been known to do similar surprising declarations of his views before.
Sorry Draco T Bastard, your question is a very good and serious one but I have been told off by adam today for putting up two essays – again – in response to assertions by him. Kill ’em by boring them to death, says I.
And I assure you I can write an essay on the role of national airlines – more like a book. But I am also bound by certain confidentiality agreements that went with my public service employment. So, I must be an observer only on discussion on your question. (Everyone sighs a sigh of relief!)
Happy Saturday night – over and out.
Around 1952 for ten shillings I had a flight in a top dressing plane in Bennydale. I’m sorry, don’t know the make, but it made me love adventures.
Golly. Why yes VV.
A bloody nice thread this is turning out to be.
It’s certainly got me piqued with a dander on its brink…eh what?
I must say I so have a fondness for Tiger Moths and Harvards.
Though I wouldn’t mind flying from Wellington to Auckland in a Spitfire
Yep, JohnSelway, a flight in a Tiger Moth would be OK for me, though at my age I probably need a wee crane to get me in and out of the cockpit! Also I’d also love to have a ride in a Spitfire (complete with loop the loop and a victory roll). I’m of the age where the Battle of Brittain is still a moment in history for me, we have the DVD of the film in our archives which needs to be dragged out again on a rainy afternoon. I live close to the Waharoa Airfield and we see a great variety of flying machines flying overhead at times, including the odd TMs. We recently had a massive four-engine transporter military style behemoth fly overhead recently and return half an hour later having landed at Waharoa! I came to the conclusion it was a promotion flight by either an Embraer or a Lockheed Martin aircraft to replace the Hercules fleet. Absolutely no publicity about what was happening – which made it a bit scary.
Spitfires are my all time favourite (all because if that film too – The Battle of Britain)
I want to go on Biggles plane ”the halifax” on a trip to the Gobi dessert.
“Biggles in the Gobi” was the best of all by Captain WE Johns books I ever read at 11yrs old in 1955. An awesome story.
Biggles (a wing commander) having hit an eagle with the Halifax and shot down a MIG fighter plane during the communist war in China.
That’s on my bucket for sure.
Here is the intro to the amazing book of “action”
Biggles is able to return, after shooting down a Mig plane, just as a final battle is taking place at the caves. He is able to rescue everybody and get them away.
http://www.biggles.info/Details/46/
BIGGLES IN THE GOBI
Book First Published on 8th October 1953 – 160 pages
This story was first published, in seventeen weekly parts, as BIGGLES IN THE GOBI in The Eagle Volume 4, issue 17 to Volume 4 issue 33, dated 31st July 1953 to 20th November 1953
Biggles is asked by Air Commodore Raymond to travel to the middle of Asia to rescue some missionaries from Communist China. Taking Algy, Ginger and Bertie with him, plus a Chinese man by the name of Feng-tao (who speaks virtually no English), Biggles flies in an unmarked Halifax from Pakistan to the Gobi desert.
I think I’d have to go P51D – same engine sound, bubble cockpit, looks like a greyhound. The early spits’ noses were too stubby for my taste 🙂
As for passenger aircraft, is there such a thing as a quiet plane for passengers? The turboprobs especially give me a damned headache. In fact, the discomfort of air travel is one of the two things that mean I have absolutely no desire to travel – dealing with customs and immigration is the other. Especially the yanks.
Bring back airships, that’s what I say.
I have to travel. I hate flying but travel is something the recuperates my soul.
Airports fuck me off to no end. There’s always some asshole in the queue whose luggage is too heavy. Then they hold everyone up while they open the suitcase and rearrange everything. I want to scream – “it doesn’t matter how you repack it, fuck-face, it still has the same mass!”
I’m not good with patience…
For me it’s the security screening with people **** assing around or some muppet guard trying explain to me Air Security btw that’s not a dig at the NZ Airport Security officers, but the Australian airports as the Kiwi ones don’t muck about.
On the Base was once station at, had a Mustang that dragged out every now and then for the flying days at the museum. It was bloody hard trying to a range brief with that cut laps around the Airfield. It was bad enough when the P40 powered Merlin pop in for a flying day or any other WW2 fighter and I must say that P40 sounds far better than Alison powered one.
If you ever return to NZ EKF then you must drop down here to Thames – birth place of Sir Keith Park “Defender of London”. A mate of mine (ex war bird pilot and wingman to Air Marshal Sir Kenneth Hayr) down the road still has his PPL – I had lost mine when I had a grumbling appendix for 2 years and by the time I had recovered life had moved on. But to cut to the chase – we went to see the Mossie up at Ardmore being rebuilt and flown again for the first time – I have a video of the flight . Awesome. They are rebuilding two more at the moment – and they will stay in the country. There is a spit and mustang in the hanger there as well.
A cousin of mine reckons he holds the record for the fastest flight from Ohakea to Wigram in a Harvard. Took off from Ohakea, and found a standing wave over the Ruahina’s , Tararua’s and Kaikora’s and effectively dove the whole way. 🙂 Have been in one of those myself flying out of Hood Airfield at Masterton. The altimeter went to 10,000 ft in about 1 minute! and that was in a Cessna 150.
There was or still going on a low level tactical Flying Ex involving C130’s from the RNZAF, RAAF and USAF Special Operations Forces so wouldn’t be surprise if it was them dropping into Waharoa Airfield.
I once had the money to fly Concorde after mate bet me to it, but I ended up buying a house instead as knew at the time they still very low hrs on them and they going stop in a hurry until….
So the bucket list now is a flight in a Lac in Canada, a spit or Me 109 over the white cliffs of Dover, landing on Glacier in NZ and flying around the Alps/ Hasst and Southland area.
If I do move back to NZ is to find the two aircraft crash site one in upper Buller/ Seddonville areas and one in the Golden Bay.
“Never fly straight and level in a combat zone for more than 30s or else you will get shot down understand!!!
As Skipper from Rabbit SQN is trying to teach a young sprog the art of finding the Hun in the sun.
Or was that Sailor Malan???
Pretty much every flight is subsidised by another flight in some way. That’s how aviation works. It’s highly unlikely that the person in the seat next to you paid the same as you did.
What changed here is that New Zealand’s domestic route structure has changed. Previously, from the NAC days, the domestic routes were to serve the domestic market and economy, so had a shared Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch focus. Now the domestic routes are to serve the international routes, taking punters to and from the international hub in Auckland.
This is the downside of the amalgamation of NAC and Air New Zealand (ex TEAL) where NAC was the aggressive expanding and profitable airline and threatening Air New Zealand. NAC was also providing a comprehensive regional service to the country. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjOjN7IzYTaAhWMiLwKHaDXCB0QFgg7MAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FHistory_of_Air_New_Zealand&usg=AOvVaw1Z4NLQTCji1fCJ7P3hC0Vp
Further to add there is good book called NAC The illustrated history of New Zealand NAC 1947-1978 which talks about the charter to serve regional NZ.
As a follow-on to my comment at 3, my thanks also goes to Ovid for their post at 9 on yesterday’s OM.
The first of Ovid’s links in that post goes to this Stuff article by the PM, Jacinda Ardern on her surprise move to personally accept the Greenpeace petition a few days ago, and her position on climate change and fossil fuel transition planning:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/102498682/jacinda-ardern-i-lived-through-fast-economic-change-in-the-80s-we-wont-repeat-that-with-our-move-to-cleaner-energy-future
Our focus right now is putting in place a plan to achieve this. That will involve everyone. Industry, communities, scientists, unions and the Government all need to work together. All of our futures are at stake on this issue.
After years of dictatorial leadership it’s refreshing to see JA’s cooperative approach.
I find it fascinating that when framed as cooperation because
it seems to be generally well received and welcomed although with the usual trepidation; after all, it is about change and the unknown.
On the other hand, when it is framed in terms of a delicate balance of economic, environmental, and social issues because they are all integrated into a inseparable whole, because everything (and everyone!) is connected, then it is panned as radical, out of touch, or (much) worse …
Often, it is not even the framing but the source, the messenger, i.e. the one who speaks.
Merit is not enough; persuasion (not ‘spin’) is an art that requires skills and mastery, in addition to compassion, emotional intelligence, and super-human listening, to name a few.
Well a co-operative approach yes. But to see fast change as essentially negative based on the 1980’s experience – not so much.
There was fast change under the Savage government & under Whitlam in Australia – good out comes. Where there is a reasonable consensus (don’t sign TTTP!) moving fast will give more time to settle down and less time for wealthy opposition.
Thanks veutoviper,
I am praying very hard Jacinda holds to her word and saves us here to shut down the massive 6% annual increased truck use increase of using truck freight everywhere.
When we already now know how rail can carry the freight from 5 to eight times less fuel used to move the same freight by rail rather than road, and rail only emits only a fraction of climate change emissions.
And one more further to 3 and 4 above, Ovid’s post yesterday also provided this link to a very interesting website on transition planning in a different context – a transition towns movement. This is fascinating and well worth some time having a look!
https://transitionnetwork.org/
Thanks again Ovid and Jilly Bee.
Forever wars are on again.
An unreconstructed advocate of regime change after repeated failures in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, Bolton favors a lower threshold for the use of military force than prevailed under most Republican presidents prior to George W. Bush. He would like a more confrontational posture toward Syria, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, following up Bush-era talk of the “Axis of Evil” with warnings about a “Moscow-Tehran-Damascus-Hezbollah axis.”
[…]
We are once again seeing a GOP-controlled Washington growing government and billowing red ink and a foreign policy fed by threat inflation, whereby tough talk belies a lack of confidence in America’s ability to dominate weak foes without shooting first and asking questions later.
Now John Bolton is getting that old band Axis of Evil back together.
http://theweek.com/articles/762615/john-bolton-proof-that-trump-abandoned-best-campaign-promise
Have to agree, the swamp just got the old gang back together.
Seems that John Bolton is up to his eyeballs in Cambridge Analytica as well.
https://www.publicintegrity.org/2018/03/20/21623/john-bolton-eyed-trump-post-leads-super-pac-employed-cambridge-analytica
Prick’s determined to start another war.
And I’m sure he will get along famously with the North Koreans
My bold.
Year Right! Why was he hired?
Because he’s a Fox contributor – and Faux News is all that the chump listens too.
The Doomsday clock just move a little closer to midnight.
He promised.
Hehehe
Sounds about right.
Have you read this Joe?
https://www.thedailybeast.com/neil-young-sounds-off-on-trump-he-has-no-balls?ref=home
This is bad news all round.
Sarah Kendzior on Bolton’s pretext.
On Friday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictment of nine Iranians for conspiring to hack and defraud American universities and businesses on behalf of the Iranian government. Rosenstein vowed harsh repercussions for the Iranian hackers, including their extradition to the United States and imprisonment if convicted.
[…]
Bolton is an apocalyptic appointment, one who endangers not only Iran but the entire world. Bolton’s bloodlust, bad temper, and blind faith in military solutions previously rendered him unhireable, but for Trump, whose most maniacal instincts will be validated, he is a gift—a like-minded sadist who, unlike Trump, knows how to effectively navigate bureaucracy.
https://www.fastcompany.com/40549085/will-the-indictment-of-iranian-hackers-prove-the-pretext-for-john-boltons-war
Until Bolton contradicts Trump on some trivial matter and the narcissist sacks him, that is.
Yeah. He has quite a record!
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-white-house-staffing/
No doubt there’s a book open on how many Scaramuccis Bolton lasts.
Scaramucci
noun
scar-mōo-cheé
A unit of time, approximately 9.5-10 days.
I go through a pack of papertowels every Scaramucci.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Scaramucci
I’m on the same wave length as Audrey Young this week. Shane Jones has succeeded in getting NZ First back up to 5%. He’s now on track to be the ‘heir apparent’ should Winston choose to step down and the end of this term.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12018819
It’s interesting seeing the tone of postings in TS and TDB, NZ first may be taking the mantle of preferred leftist party as we see time and again the greens are self absorbed idiots.
I’m not a fan of Shane jones – at all, but he succeeded where labour failed miserably in speaking for the public against corporate interest. Now the fisheries Shane.
So am I – what a great summary.
Loved her reference to Jones as a combine harvester:
Jones is like a political combine harvester. Let loose on a controversy, he wanders all over the paddock reaping and threshing but usually producing something that is valuable.
BUT re Jones as heir apparent – sorry, nah. He has indicated on a number of occasions that he is not interested. I think he has found his niche in his role as Champion of the Regions, and would hate the constraints that being Leader of a Party brings.
I have been watching NZF closely for years and IMO the heir apparent was chosen a couple of years ago and has been groomed over that period – Fletcher Tabuteau.
Despite his young age (44/5?) he has been involved with NZF since its beginning when he was quite young, and as well as now being Deputy Leader, he is also Under Study to both Peters and Jones as Parliamentary Under Secretary for both Foreign Affairs and Regional Development. Those roles could have been split over two MPs but weren’t.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher_Tabuteau
Just read this …. Veutoviper, made me think of the Wurzel’s song …
“The Combine Harvester” on utube. LOL
Interesting and timely given I’ve just been assisting with the TOTAL reconditioning of an actual combine harvester (every bearing on the thing, plus its very sucky motor with new barrels and eings)
I’m bloody sure a Shane is capable of adaptation/repurpose/rearrangement as any political expediency kicks in.
Now is the time for the Green Party, the only party of principle in our parliament, as far as I can see, to stand up for New Zealand.
They disagree with CPTTA and will not vote for it. But that is simply not good enough. With National’s backing the so-called free trade treaty will pass.
But (relying on reports) climate change is not mentioned once in the entire 5000 page document! And the ISDS provisions still allow overseas corporations to sue NZ government if any climate change legislation gets in the way of their profits.
If this is indeed so, it is not enough for the Green to vote against CPTTA. That will achieve nothing, except ensure their right to say ‘I told you so!’ sometime in the future.
No, they must DEMAND a climate change assessment of the CPTTA and threaten to withdraw Confidence and Supply if this doesn’t happen.
The ‘troughers’ in Labour and NZ First will be appalled by the prospect of another election and a possible National victory (as so would I) but it is great leverage.
The Greens, a party of principle, MUST act in the interests of all the people in this country.
The problem with that idea is that the Left would be seen as unstable and National/ACT would romp home. Is that what you want?
The alternative is little effective progress on mitigating the effects of climate change – which is worse?
But I wouldn’t see the Greens shouting this from the rooftops – merely putting pressure on Labour and NZ First behind closed doors.
Labour/NZ First could simply announce a climate change audit of CPTPPA – and that would sink the treaty once and for all.
All too late.
Labour and NZF have already said they are supporting the CPTPPA. In government keeping ones word is supposed to mean something. People and other nations rely on it.
So there is nothing the Greens can do (other than terminating the government) that can stop NZ ratifying the CPTPPA. And if they did terminate the government a new National/Act government would be the likely outcome
Or a Labour/NZF government.
And don’t you love it you vile autocrat!
Against the wishes of the majority of voters the braindead Gnats have locked us into a remarkably bad deal – at the same time reducing faith in the democratic process – a win for the forces of infamy!
But NZ pays as usual.
Why can’t the TPPA legislation go through the same CC assessment as other legislation that affects the environment?
100% correct weka; – why not indeed?
You should make that an article soon.
I don’t know enough about it (hence the question to Wayne). Drop me some links if you find anything interesting 🙂
“In government keeping ones word is supposed to mean something.”
Well I never! You mean, like no asset sales?
He means like a Sir John Key kinda keeping one’s word.
In fact EVEN his own and a number of his colleagues
“All too late.” – what’s in it for Wayne, I wonder?
Would keeping one’s word extend to pre-election ‘promises’?
If (and it’s a big IF) NZ is still a sovereign country, then the Government is free to act at anytime in the evolving ‘balanced best interests’ of all citizens. Signing the CPATPP serves the interests of very few NZers.
The EU seems to have dodged their own TTIP bullet, at least for now, but corporates, like rust, never sleep.
Our note to Government today on the sixth anniversary of the washout that closed Gisborne rail.
Protecting our environment & health.
In association with other Community Groups, and all Government Agencies since 2001.
Public COMMUNITY letter; : 6th Anniversary of Gisborne rail washout 24th March 2012.
24th March 2018; – On this day the sixth anniversary of the rail washout that closed Gisborne rail link to the rest of NZ.
Dear rail stakeholders,
Please review these past considerations of NZ Rail for your re-consideration to re-open the Gisborne rail link to the rest of NZ.
We should curtail trucking as now it is harming the environment and use * General Manager of NZ Rail Trevor Haywood’s plan to use rail for “social benefit” again. 1971.
Read below, History of rail.
In 1971, the Government commissioned United States consultancy firm Wilbur Smith & Associates to look at Railways. It also recommended that road transport meet the “resource costs” incurred and social costs such as accidents, pollution and the loss of utility caused by heavy vehicles.
We must use these considerations also when restoring Gisborne’s rail freight again.
Our justification is;
As we say it is justified that rail services must resume, because Gisborne is the most isolated community of its size in NZ without a rail service; – ministers please note.
http://www.kiwirail.co.nz/about-us/history-of-kiwirail/150yearsofrail/stories/road-transport-regulation.html
Hi Cleangreen (9) … have you by any chance contacted Shane Jones about restoring rail to your region?
As you know, Jonesy is on a roll at the moment with regional air transport, which is proving very popular. Could well be a good time to contact him and tell him your case re Gisborne rail, while he’s fired up championing regional transport.
Good for you Cleangreen for keeping this issue out there. All the best in getting a positive outcome.
Clean mught miss the question, but rest assured he, and partners have done their bestEST to contact every1/body
Yes mary-a; – thanks for the question.
I have sent 10 emails to all senior Labour NZ First and green party ministers including Shane and Winston.
Once was Tim; – is absolutely correct they have had so many emails from us they are having trouble handling them since they were jammed with thousands of emails from national at the beginning of the parliament so national have caused a “email road block” we were told by the MP’s PA’s.
But we every second day now call the parliamentary office requesting for those appropriate ministers to come to HB/Gisborne to discuss the rail issue with all our community groups now before they make final decisions here.
As we all are representative as the most affected amongst the regions without rail and roads now “gridlocked with trucks” it is ruining our narrow windy roads and makes driving very dangerous now so rail is needed seriously now more than ever.
Please heed our community call to return our gisborne rail as you did other regions as our regions are now booming and truck traffic is raising annually at a staggering 6% a year. This is unsustainable for our environment and our futures..
Remember the dire warnings about state abuse of collected meta-data.
Well, Silicon Valley’s tech billionaires have been hard at it.
Die, Facebook.
Facebook’s mounting image problems hit a whole other orbit on Friday.
Tech icon Elon Musk appeared to delete the official Facebook pages for two of his companies, SpaceX and Tesla, Inc.
Musk’s moves come days after a whistleblower revealed that a data analysis firm tied to President Donald Trump’s campaign had harvested data off Facebook, resulting in widespread criticism and sparking government investigations.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/spacex-founder-elon-musk-piles-facebook-s-woes-continue-n859506
#deleteFacebook
I’d love it if FB died, and something ethical and functional replaced it. Not sure how possible that is.
I read McKay’s tweets. The thing that amazes me is that people are surprised FB have been doing this.
Fuck yea!!!!
We might actually get to real, rather than virtual community where humans interact in real time. A place (oops…. I mean ‘space’) where humans interact in real time and between one another. Sometimes, like the most exotic of animal, their lives depend on it (going forward, to coin a phrase, ez a meta a fek, ekshully)
Sadly this isn’t satire….
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/102559500/us-district-arms-teachers-with-rocks-in-case-of-school-shooter
If you have the time, a real story of a cab driver. The impact of deregulation and the cost on real people. Time 29 minutes long. The new Gig economy.
A couple of days ago I made a comment on the “Russian to Judgment” post, pointing to an article on globalresearch.ca which reported that Russian Army chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, claimed to have received reliable information that the US was planning an attack on Damascus, and which seemed to be connected to the Salisbury incident. A more recent article on voltairenet claims that this was in fact a plot concocted by the British government in collusion with Rex Tillerson, but without the knowledge of either Donald Trump or the Pentagon, and which seems to be the reason for Tillerson’s sacking.
voltairenet.org/article200232.html
The plan seems to have been for the British to fabricate a nerve gas attack on Skripal blaming it on the Russians, and then follow it up with a nerve gas attack in Ghouta, blaming that one on Assad. Gerasimov apparently contacted his American counterpart, General Dunford, with the information. From there it went to General Mattis, and then to Trump. CIA director Pompeio confirmed that the report was authentic. Tillerson was immediately recalled.
So… not only are we to believe that the Skripal attack was a false flag, but the Brits are to have been running black labs in Ghouta.
This is fatuous nonsense of the highest degree. May simply wouldn’t dare – one leaker anywhere in the chain and her government would fall and her career would end.
Russia and Assad have been dropping gas for years – if we look at other areas of British deployment they do not correlate with the use of gas. So what’s so special about Syria? Not the Brits.
“if we look at other areas of British deployment they do not correlate with the use of gas.”
Sure, but nerve gas didn’t really seem to be a thing in recent Afghanistan and Iraq wars that the Brits have been involved with. It’s has only cropped up since Syria was accused of using it on its own people and a basis to invade was formed.
May simply wouldn’t dare – one leaker anywhere in the chain and her government would fall and her career would end.”
Do you remember our very own “get some guts” moment, and how many times our public has been told bare faced lies. But she wouldn’t? You only need a couple of people at the top to form a lie and everyone else follows in behind, its not that hard.
For all that they currently have a pretty useless set of self-serving assholes in power, British democracy has greater institutional resilience than NZ – members regularly cross the floor and a frankly rotten piece of shit like Carter could never have been speaker.
You may point to Blair with some justice, but even at peak arrogance he never dabbled in chemical weapons – neither the public nor the press would have approved. He sought a mandate for the Iraq war, in large part to dilute his own culpability, but he would not have entered Iraq except as a ‘very close ally’ of George Bush.
It’s true that there is a certain amount of institutional fatigue in the armed forces at present, and some of them would quite like an option that simply made the enemy go away. May would never be so adventurous however – she’s only PM because Cameron quit, and that flakiness carries all the way through the command chain. Supposing you were a mid level organic chemist – would you travel to Ghouta to run black labs for May? You can bet she’d shaft you without a thought if things became sticky. May Breaks Bad would make a splendid sitcom, but Syria simply isn’t important enough to England to justify such extraordinary risks, even were she an espiophile like John Key.
And, one ought to limit one’s dependency on the Russian propaganda chain as a news source. It’s not produced for our benefit. RT’s days appear to be numbered, and Global Research seems set to take its place. I tolerated them when they limited their advocacy to telling the inconvenient parts of essentially truthful narratives – but now they are vehicles for barefaced lies – propaganda that only the hysterical could entertain for a moment.
PS:I should have mentioned that the plan was to be followed up with a request that the US attack Damascus.
Yes.
I’ve read similar. I can’t find the link atm. There is one common interest, and that the person charged with testing the so called evidence from Syria, and his involvement with nerve agent propaganda.
Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Nikki Haley et al are such a source of hilarity. Tragic as it is.
An alternative link is http://www.voltairenet.org/en where the article is titled Four days t start a cold war.
Yep. Saw that too.
But there’s this happiness happening
Damascenes celebrating the liberation of #EasternGhouta from the Islamist terror groups. 23/03/2018
So the headlines in the WP, NYT, Grudian and independent over coming days (if not about facebook and whatever else) – celebrating peoples’ liberation and the defeat of terrorists? Or accusing Syria of crimes against humanity for guaranteeing terrorists and their families safe passage?
Well. Thinking Aleppo and so thinking the latter.
And again I’m going to point out that the so-called “Free Syrian Army” that western governments have openly backed, promoted and funded, is killing people from multiple ethnic and religious backgrounds in Rojava – Rojava where neither the Syrian government nor the Syrian Arab Army have any presence.
” Thinking Aleppo and so thinking the latter.”
Past practices are an insight into future practices.
Even this doesn’t seem to embarrass the BBC
https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201712291060412907-syria-documentary-fakery-bbc/
One Man’s Quest to Expose ‘Absolutely Historic’ BBC Panorama ‘Fakery’
And as I can not reply to the lies spouted by Stuart Munroe in his reference to the alleged chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun on April 4th 2017, on the Russian to Judgement page, again I will quote the OPCW report
“The FFM’s mandate is to determine whether chemical weapons or toxic chemicals as weapons have been used in Syria; it does not include identifying who is responsible for alleged attacks. An advance team for the FFM was deployed within 24 hours of being alerted to the incident. For security reasons, the FFM was unable to visit Khan Shaykhun. The rapid deployment to a neighbouring country, however, enabled the team to attend autopsies, collect bio-medical samples from casualties and fatalities, interview witnesses and receive environmental samples. ”
The report explicitly states that FFM was unable to visit the site.
But without any challenge to the veracity of the samples, accepted them without question.
Samples supplied by ….well we aren’t told that, but considering the area was too dangerous for the OPCW mission to enter we can only deduce that they were supplied by the mercenary NATO Saudi, US funded terrorist headchoppers.
Link please.
More details on the Khan Sheikhoun attack.
View at Medium.com
In fact you shouldn’t have mentioned any of this nonsense at all.
And what? You read the comment from Exkiwiforces that undermines that narrative so you decided to start the whole bullshit up somewhere that comment isn’t current? Did you think people would forget what ExKF said and give you the benefit of the doubt?
You’re suspiciously selective in which generals you believe and which ones you don’t. Lift your game.
I placed my comment here because “Russian to Judgment” was no longer on the front page. I thought no one would see my comment if I placed it on that posting.
I guess followers of this website can read our respective omments and make up their own minds. I won’t be commenting further unless I come across new information.
Besides that, my tablet’s battery needs recharging.
You presenting some information would be a good start. Thus far all you’ve done is pass on someone else’s massively conflicted reckons.
I see Lavrov now says the entire EU is ganging up on Russia, as though the vicious thieves he works for represent “Russia”.
Pot and kettle there OAB.
I hadn’t been aware of exkiwiforces comment, so thanks for the pointer.
The comment you linked to was a direct response to me pointing out that the canister containing the chemicals at Khan Sheikhoun had ruptured inwards, not outwards as happens with missiles, mortars etc.
Exkiwiforces comment doesn’t actually address that point (of how the casing of a delivered munition shows obvious signs of having being imploded – ie, punctured by an external explosive force)
Nothing in exkiwiforces comment (not the one you link to anyway) has anything to do with the narrative mikesh has linked to above.
Maybe you linked to the wrong comment?
In my opinion, ExKF’s knowledgeable comment undermines Gerasimov’s propaganda. Not to mention the various massive holes in it already identified by McFlock and Stuart Munro.
So…I get that you’ve been following whatever is being reported about what Gerasimov’s saying more closely than I have.
What has he said about the chemical delivery system at Khan Sheikhoun (which was all exkiwiforces comment was about) and how does whatever Gerasimov say about that marry up to any claims about eastern Ghouta and whatever allegations being made about expected chemical attacks there?
He didn’t say anything about the chemical delivery system at Khan Sheikhoun. What he did do though is tell stories about the UK and its allies readiness to use chemical weapons as false flag attacks.
ExKF’s said “the chemical weapon system had delay action fuse to off after the raid to off after the raid catching everyone in the open as it went off thence the small impact carter”.
Mikesh was using his truther beliefs about Khan Sheikhoun to support Gerasimov’s dubious credibility. ExKF undermined those beliefs.
Actually, Stuart was using Khan Sheikhoun to undermine Gerasimov’s claims. I attempted to refute his rebuttals relying on my own less than perfect memory. The event occurred a long time ago. However I’ve since remembered that, at the time, the Russians claimed to have bombed a warehouse which they believed contained weapons, not knowing that the weapons were in fact chemical weapons. Whatever. I don’t think that Khan Sheikhoun is particularly relevant to the present discussion.
Gerasimov’s claims have since been confirmed by CIA chief, Pompaeo, and they seem to have been the reason for Tillerson’s sacking.
You need to decide which bullshit story to tell – “A young woman associated with the rebels said that the gas was released as a result of a cock-up by the rebel forces” or “Russia bombed a warehouse”.
Gerasimov’s claims have since been confirmed by CIA chief, Pompaeo[sic].
[Citation needed]
Quote Pompeo (spelling his name correctly may help you) directly, please, and use a reputable source if you can.
“[Citation needed]”
I have given my own source above. I doubt whether a direct quotation from Pompeo is available. However I assume Thierry has his own informants.
Pompeo hasn’t confirmed it then. What a load of bullshit!
..You don’t know that. Or if you do let us know the source of your information.
I think your real problem is that if Pompeo did confirm then it tears to shreds your’s and Stuart’s claim that Gerasimov is lying.
The source of my information that Pompeo hasn’t said something? Are you on drugs? I don’t have any photos of your pet goat either, in case you were wondering.
I agree. Simply demanding a citation is just not an argument.
It is when it’s a response to an unsupported assertion like yours.
No it isn’t. The non availability of a citable source doesn’t prove the truth or falsity of an alleged “fact”. However, if that “fact” is coherent with other known facts, it’s reasonable to believe it, with or without a citation.
All you need now is a single fact then. So far you have zero. Lots of words but.
Both of you strayed from any political exchange hours ago. How’s about you both call it a day before things degenerate any further and one or the other of you step over a line?
At the moment you’re both just filling up space with lots of nothing.
OK
Not quite – Gerasimov’s claims are not based on evidence beyond his claim of “information”, thus they do not need to be rebutted.
If you could have produced something to substantiate his allegations you might have had a credible argument – but you asserted the presence of some female informant that you could not (or chose not to) produce.
I’ve been banned before now for not providing sources – I don’t see why you should be exempt from that requirement.
That all sounds a bit over-elaborate.
However, I do think the UK Tories took the Skripal poisoning as an opportunity to beat up the Russian regime is the ultimate evil.
The evidence shows that May and Johnson constantly exaggerated the novicok connection to Russia.
In fact, a High Court Judgement from a couple of days ago (22 March) includes evidence that states there was less certainty around the novichok nerve agent being responsible for the Skripal poisoning.
The High Court judgement was in response to a request to take more blood samples from the comatose Skripals (there’s no-one with authority to give such permission, given the Skripals certainly can’t).
The evidence presented was thus:
So “closely related agent” somewhat widens the possibility of where the nerve agent actually came from.
Any other conclusion from such evidence can probably be in the realms of fantasy.
These Tories do seem to have some fantastical ideas, but whether they actually would lead to them being put into practice is another matter.
This article from 2005, outlines a fantasy scenario floated as a promo for Strategic Communication Laboratories (SLC). They demonstrated how they could produce some psy-ops propaganda, and pass it off as real.
[SLC with strong Conservative Party connections, later spawned Cambridge Analytica.]
SLC’s propaganda scenario works to contain a small pox outbreak in London. SLC showed they could fabricate a fictitious scenario that would be put out to the media and online, to stop Londoners venturing outdoors.
Why anyone would bother with such an elaborate subterfuge is beyond me.
Russian Army chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, has received reliable information that the US working with the saucer people are planning an attack on Damascus, connected to the Salisbury incident. In fact the plan was concocted by the British government in collusion with Rex Tillerson, utilising the Black Helicopters to carry it out.
And if you believe that, then you probably also believe globalresearch.ca claim that the Tens of millions of protesters throughout the Arab World protesting the totalitarian regimes of Ben Ali, Mubarak and Assad were working for the CIA.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-arab-spring-made-in-the-usa/5484950
Dominion Post getting its editorials from Kiwiblog.
Just plain lazy, but also just goes to show what precious snowflakes old white men are, and how sensitive establishment privilege is to challenge.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/102544535/editorial-genter-on-gender-maybe-a-little-gentler
I thought of Julie Anne Genter when I read this article this morning.
A former Cambridge Analytic exec, Brittany Kaiser, has come out and said the CA people have been lying.
Among other things, she said:
Brittany left CA a couple of weeks ago – I’m pretty sure I read she left due to an employment dispute. So she may have an ax to grind.
However, she says Cambridge Analytica people lied about not being involved in the Brexit leave campaign.
Well I suppose it’s pretty easy to identify what scares old white English and American men and motivates them to vote … loss of power and authority over how society is organised and in whose interest. Using their vote to freeze the nation back in time (nostalgic remembering) to how society was when they were young – thus heightened fear of change. Thus Brexit or Trump’s American first or we go isolationist.
Since it seems we are to be bombarded with Lavrov’s witless speculations about false flag attacks, it might pertinent to look at the modern event that popularized them for this generation.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/11/22/finally-we-know-about-moscow-bombings/
I’m starting to understand Trump’s admiration for Putin. Trump …wish I could get away with doing all those things Putin does. Wouldn’t it be great. 👿
I’m pretty sure their conversation went something like “Let me show you how…”
A twofer for gun humpers.
Restricted By YouTube, Gun Enthusiasts Are Taking Their Videos To Pornhub
[…]
Starting next month, YouTube will ban videos that offer instructions on how to make firearms and accessories such as silencers and bump stocks. It will prohibit content in which firearms and accessories are sold, both directly and through other websites. Videos on how to install firearms modifications will also be barred.
[…]
InRangeTV, which has some 144,000 subscribers on its YouTube channel, has chosen to publish videos on an adult website called Pornhub, Bloomberg reported. A search on the site yields five videos currently uploaded by InRangeTV. Visitors can watch a video where hosts compare a Glock 19 and a Hudson H9, just as it appears on YouTube.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/22/596161899/restricted-by-youtube-gun-enthusiasts-are-taking-their-videos-to-pornhub
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/news
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12019434
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/02/kleptocracy-tours-russia-ukraine-london
Whats wrong with this picture?
Nation this sexual harassment and bullying of Lady’s in our legal profession is unacceptable this day and age. This behaviour will stop Alot of Lady’s from entering this profession we need Lady’s in our legal professions to give that industry a more humane approach to the LAW OF THE LAND many thanks Lisa for having the courage to have this conversation on live TV3
KIA KAHA KA KITE ANO P.S It is a bad culture
Nation I’m a big fan of TED TALKs to that was a good interview on Education there is a lot of talented mokos missed by the education system at the minute.
Many thanks to all the the mokos around the World who are protesting the lack of good gun laws in America and because of this phenomenon alot of people are dieing. Kia kaha mokos Ka kite ano
Nation I totally agree with Liya opinions on the ttp11 and the unknown implications on the Internet and social media and your other people about the big Internet companies being almost God like in influence and power Ka pai Ka kite ano