As cultures break down, alcohol consumption rises, so I've read recently. Saying goodbye to a culture and it's practices will be like farewelling a very, very close friend.
"A culture faces and interprets pain, deviance and death. It endows them with meaning; it illuminates how they are a part of the whole and thereby makes them tolerable … The widespread use of alcohol and other central nervous system anaesthetics is directly linked to a decline in culture. The wider their use, the harder it becomes to preserve, renew and invigorate the wisdom that a culture should hold. This doubles back and escalates. Alcoholism spreads when a culture is dying, just as rickets appears when there is no Vitamin D."
I know it's a quote, but that makes no sense. A declining culture promotes alcoholism, and the decline will reverse if people drink less alcohol? That's like saying it's getting cold and people dress warmer. If only they didn't, the weather would get warmer again. Cause and effect…
I think it's like saying it's getting cold and people drink more alcohol. They feel good for a while but are more likely to suffer death from exposure. Also, a clear mind, rather than one anaesthetisedone, is more likely to make a life-saving decision, imo.
It reminded me of ACT welfare policy. Persistent unemployment causes benefit dependency. So if we take away the benefit, there is no unemployment.
Won’t argue re decision making
Being clever, they had performed the u-turn from exclusive to inclusive, realised the best way to include typical Labour voters was to operate at their mental level of capability, so they used a method suitable for kindergarten children.
"You take a deck of Heartwork cards: these are thin, circular, like coasters in mid-range wine bars, only instead of inspirational quotes or vineyard logos they’re printed with sun feelings, moon feelings and needs. You think about a confrontation you’ve had, or a meeting you’re doing to have, and you pick three cards to represent your needs."
Heartwork is the business consultancy who supplied the method. It "is also a game… in which you learn to talk about your feelings and emotional needs, and this aims to solve the problems of the DEVUCA world by building empathy and psychological safety creating organisational win-win-wins through people-centered product, service and policy design via system leadership."
"Next you pick three cards to represent the needs of the other person. There are 50 to choose from. They might want (random shuffle): Stability, or Understanding, or Sense-of-team, or Clarity. Now that you’ve defined everyone’s needs – “all human behaviour is a strategy to meet our needs,” Rousseau explains – you simply envision a win-win-win scenario in which everyone’s needs are met."
"Treasury is working hard to return New Zealand to a pre-neoliberal, prelapsarian state. Next month the government will release its first “Wellbeing Budget”’ It uses the Treasury’s Living Standards Framework, a world leading concept which, Ross informs us, the department has been working on for 18 years. Instead of focusing purely on economic capital the public service, led by Treasury, will seek to grow the country’s human, social and environmental capital."
Nice curve ball there, Danyl. Prelapsarian is indeed a word. Google defines it thus: characteristic of the time before the Fall of Man; innocent and unspoilt. I'll leave readers to puzzle over whether the definition is sexist or not. Gender equality has gotten ever so complicated after trending non-binary, so I suggest keeping it simple. Would the Fall of Woman be a suitable political topic nowadays, or should we leave as is?
So you still haven't figured out the difference between practice & praxis?? Even though I gave you the explanation in a single sentence with no long words? Give some thought to the old adage `if at first you don't succeed, try harder'.
As regards how it works, rebels tend not to get into management so I can't help you from the perspective of operational experience. Best guess: tell them what to do. Always worked perfectly with Labour voters, eh? Anyone else asks why, of course.
"Gaelic's attentiveness to place is reflected in its topographical precision. It has a plentiful vocabulary to describe different forms of hill, peak or slope (beinn, stob,dún, cnoc, sròn), for example, and particular words to describe each of the stages of a river's course from its earliest rising down to its widest point as it enters the sea. Much of the landscape is understood in anthropomorphic terms, so the names of topographical features are often the same as those for parts of the body. It draws a visceral sense of connection between sinew, muscle and bone and the land. Gaelic poetry often attributes character and agency to landforms, so mountains might speak or be praised as if they were a chieftain; the Psalms (held in particular reverence in Gaelic culture) talk of landscape in a similar way, with phrases such as the 'hills run like a deer.' In both, the land is recognized as alive."
Question: “Following the Christchurch terrorist attack, do you think the Crusaders rugby team should change their name?”
Yes …………. 14%
No ………….. 76%
DK …………… 8%
Refused …… 1%
Above Average: No
▪Those living in Otago and Southland (90%)
▪National Party supporters (87%)
▪Those aged 18-29 (85%).
Above Average: Yes
▪Those with annual household income $150,000+ (25%).
▪Labour Party supporters (22%).
.
So … very strong Public support for the Government's Gun Law changes (About Right … 61%, … Not Far Enough … 19% (= 80%), … Goes Too Far … 14%) … but minimal endorsement of Crusaders name change. (Yes, by all means take the necessary practical steps … but Don’t fuck with the Rugby / Don’t fuck with the Culture, basically)
You'd be surprised how many there are in that category – a lot of couples with both working in the public sector bring in upwards of $150,000, and plenty of them are Labour or Green voters.
Whoaaaa there, Compardre, Don’t be quite so quick on the draw !
The category is: 150k Plus !!!
That 25% might come entirely from the 300K brigade, nested deep within that particular demographic.
The New Middle Class are precisely the people I'd expect to be most supportive of a name change. Affluent Moral Liberals / Craft Beer Hipsters / People with unusually refined sensibilities who insist on Minimalist Interior Design and the like.
Of which ours is one, well until this year when retirement will change that a bit. Earning as much as possible – mainly from my husband's hard work, he likes it fortunately and it keeps him fit – has become a must over recent years so that we can genuinely trickle it down to move people forward. Car repairs, dental visits, bonds for rentals were clear to us not easily obtainable to many young hard workers trying to get traction in the world or those who faced unforeseen "hiccups". Being on one end of "it is better to give than receive" too is not something I am unaware of aware of that an element of "sefishness" is normal in wanting to see good outcomes and to sleep peacefully at night.
If anyone needs to see National Party desperation and complete cynicism at work page five of our local paper below a heartfelt obituary for local man Tommy Gear and co-founder of NZ First at the outset is somewhat conveniently placed an electoral advert for the National Party. As a consequence our long term subscription has been cancelled and a full discussion had with the staff member who took the cacellation as to why.
Past experience has me 100% certain, I read the paper daily and these local adverts are now rare, that in no way was the placement "accidental".
It confirmed all the dislike I have for a political party clearly, to me, interested in votes to retain the parliamentary benches and nothing about working for NZ.
We're pacing it, money is not "god" but it does have it's uses, beyond that you can't take it with you thought some seem to adhere to that thought. Best are the times we have had along the way and long may that continue:)
Awww sad for those people – don't wanna keep their stupid made up name for their made up team – I can't say I'm going to be sorry seeing all these people eat the shit sandwich of change.
Perhaps the respondents had a better understanding of the wider meaning of the words 'crusader' or 'crusade'. Or maybe, just maybe, people can scoff at the stupidity of all the fuss over events that happened almost 1,000 years ago?
I don’t know how closely everyone is following the US elections for next year but I have been following the potential nominees are am really liking that Pete Buttigieg. Do you think the US is ready for an openly gay president?
Also I’m wondering if the Republicans think they’ll lose with Trump will they step-in to remove him (say if his tax returns so him to be a shameless crook)?
That's very democratic approach. Anyone can be President – and so anyone who has the funding to make a name for himself or her, is having a go. That's the spirit. Perhaps the term should be divided up into quarters like they do in business, and at that time they report their activity and their effectiveness and then get voted in or out, with a sort of list of waiting opportunists who want a turn and are ready to step up if called.
I reckon the states where being openly gay would reduce his vote are states that are currently solid Repug anyway. That opinion is based on working with manufacturing workforces in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania (admittedly the more liberal parts of those states) and even a couple of decades ago openly gay staff seemed totally accepted.
So I don't reckon that will directly affect his chances, but the electoral downside in solid red states may be more on tight House and Senate races. If there's a population that leans Dem but are unenthusiastic about the prez candidate, then it's so much harder to deal with the incredible hassle and time-suck involved in voting so it's a whole lot more tempting to just not bother.
As a candidate for prez, seems to me he needs to learn to spend more time considering the downsides to his policies. This HuffPo piece goes into some detail about issues with the housing policies he came up with and implemented as mayor.
The natural successor to the Trump presidency would be a Toon. Daffy Duck has the drive but seems aggressive. Jessica Rabbit might make a decent contender – not bad, but drawn that way.
Also I’m wondering if the Republicans think they’ll lose with Trump will they step-in to remove him (say if his tax returns so him to be a shameless crook)?
Let's look at the numbers. Impeachment in the House should probably work, the Dems have a comfortable majority. But to convict Darth Drumpf in the Senate requires 67 votes, and the Dems only have 47 senators, and up to maybe 4 of those might not have the spine to vote for conviction. So between 20 and 25 Repug senators would need to vote for conviction.
Right now, Mitt Romney probably would vote for conviction, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins are definite maybes. The rest of them would look at their political futures, ponder the examples of Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, Mark Sanford and others, and weigh the risk of getting primaried by vengeful Drumpfkins versus the risk of losing to a Democrat in the election.
There's a maximum of 8 Repug Senators at risk of losing to a Dem in 2020 (Collins being one), and 7 in 2022 (Murkowski being one). So even if all 15 Repugs that could conceivably be at risk of losing to a Dem in their next election plus Mitt Romney plus all Dems vote for conviction, that's still only 63.
The only way I see Il Douche out of the Oval Office before the 2020 election is either a medical event, or enough info comes out about his criminal exposure to actually penetrate the Supreme Orange Ego's consciousness and he realises he genuinely needs a legitimate pardon, so he negotiates his exit and pardon with Pence.
Its a funny thing..in this household we don't have a TV, so rely on RNZ to keep us in the loop on NZ news…so I was somewhat relieved to hear this the other morning..
"The New Zealand Disability Support Network says it is thankful to ministers who stepped in to prevent sector-wide funding cuts."..though as we all know, avoiding cuts never actually means that much as costs and demand inevitably rises.
But then I looked into it further..and sure enough..
'Every hour is questioned' – Advocates say Health Ministry quietly reducing funding for disabled after ruling out big cuts….
"Every hour of support is being questioned," said Community Care Trust (CCT) chief executive Mike Brummitt, whose Dunedin-based organisation looked after 280 people. "If someone gets 12 hours, they are saying do you need 10, or eight hours?"
Brummitt said he was recently informed by email that an intellectually disabled man in his 20s would have his funding cut in half – from $415 a day to $210.
"We know nobody has seen him since early 2017. No one spoke to our staff, his parents, advocate, no assessment. I've written back and said this is totally unsustainable."
CCT would continue to provide the same support to him, but at a financial loss.
The man's needs were complex and he required around-the-clock care, Brummitt said. When the organisation first took him on, he would not sleep in a bed, and curled up on the floor in the fetal position.
Anyone who can read that, and feel we are on the right path, has no heart.
"incrementalism" and Budget Responsibility Rules are going to be the death of some of us. Its a shame the disabled don't offer nice photo ops. in the minds of Labour Party spin doctors and publicists.
And if you can judge a society and people by how it treats its weakest and most vulnerable citizens..how well are we doing?
I was going to suggest copious amounts of alcohol (see @ 2) because our culture is breaking down but then realised that this has been ‘our culture’ for yonks …
She wants it fixed, not ignored. If you send something like this to the Minister it will go straight into the round filing cabinet on the floor by the Minister's desk.
Now in 1999 the industry recognised there was a slight problem in that there was a small but significant number of people needing home based disability supports who needed a higher level of care than would normally be provided by unregulated carers. More registered/enrolled nurse level. My partner and I knew that the Miserly had not yet sorted this issue but had not seen anything in writing that actually defined the problem. Until I found that 1999 document…and until I got a dump of emails from the Misery in response to my OIA request. This was 2017.
And the bastards still hadn't sorted the problem. Now these are the super efficient bureaucrats Macro was lauding the other day. /open-mike-21-04-2019/#comment-1609899
I still haven't stopped laughing/crying/beating my fists against the wall.
I wish I could share with you those emails…the file is huge unfortunately…but these are the people on the big salaries getting backslaps from the Commonwealth Fund for their efficiency.
What the problem boils down to is that these Advanced Personal Cares attract 'risk' if performed by unqualified carers. And the funder (the Miserly) would be liable if for adverse events. So providers most often than not refuse to provide this level of care at the rate at which the MOH funds HCSS. And when challenged, the Ministry bureaucrats just say "we don't fund x,y or z." , even if the client would die without these tasks being performed. Hence family care, or incarceration in a residential facility where theoretically there is RN oversight…
ACC, on the other hand, get round this problem (I think) by funding 1/2 hour per week per client of RN oversight. The RN does not have to be there…just be available. And to my knowledge, this works.
But it is a simple solution that is way beyond the ability of those super efficient MOH bureaucrats to accept or implement for those eligible clients that need that level of care.
But this is super-efficient… as many of those needing this level of care have no option but to turn to family…who are paid nothing (as in my case) or a pittance compared to the NZDSN employed carers.
This is my world Siobahn, and those people have no heart.
Someone described them as sociopaths…I tend to agree.
And it is unlikely to change under this government.
Rosemary – I completely agree with you about the plight of disabled people in this country, and the lack of care that they receive, and the huge load that that places upon family and friends. The NGO's I know are struggling to make ends meet and the continual lack of funding that has been given to the sector over the years just makes things worse.
I think you get the wrong end of the stick when you think that I am not supportive of you, and when I say that despite all the problems you and others face, it may not be the bureaucrats who are completely at fault here. Now I too ,agree that many in the upper echelons of the MoH are in ordinary terms overpaid. But that doesn't mean that they are not doing their job properly within the funding constraints that they are given. They are the managers of the system – the governance of the system falls on the government of the day – and unfortunately over the past couple of decades NZers have elected governments that have failed to place a high priority on funding Health and Disability services in particular.
Looking at this from a macro level there are essentially 3 ways for a country to administer its Health services
A fully funded Public Health service (eg UK)
A mix of Public and Private Insurance (eg Australia)
A completely Private system of Health supported by Insurance (eg the USA)
The first Labour Govt introduced a health system in the 1935 along the lines of the first model. Over the years that model has been watered down as more affluent individuals have taken out Private Health Insurance. The effect of that has been to reduce pressure on the Government to fully fund Health in this country and over the years the effect has been that Governments fund as minimally as they can, and rely on the Private sector and individuals to pick up the slack. Australia has now a similar system but the difference is that they ensure that all (or most) can afford to back up their Health Insurance so that there is more equity within the system. There is also greater funding available across the Health service.
We certainly do not want devolve into the Health system of the US which has one of the highest costs and poorest outcomes of any health system in the developed world. Even on Faux News the other day – when Bernie proposed a Medicare for all ( a complete anathema to the Trump administration) he was met with resounding applause.
“…it may not be the bureaucrats who are completely at fault here. Now I too ,agree that many in the upper echelons of the MoH are in ordinary terms overpaid. But that doesn’t mean that they are not doing their job properly within the funding constraints that they are given. They are the managers of the system – the governance of the system falls on the government of the day – and unfortunately over the past couple of decades NZers have elected governments that have failed to place a high priority on funding Health and Disability services in particular.”
Hmmm…funny how governments have changed but the culture within the Ministry has largely remained the same?
I too used to blame ‘the Government’, until reading about the estimated cost of paying family carers should we “all come out of the woodwork” and demand to be paid like any other carer providing assessed supports. In 2008…under Labour…the estimated cost (as told to the HRRT) of paying family carers was between $17-593 million dollars.
Now let that sink in a minute…this is the very best the Ministry of Health could do by way of a guesstimate? This was 2006-2008…not exactly the dark ages and even then the NASCs were collecting data on all clients.
Even when all was lost through the Judicial system, (under National now, in 2012) and with the omnipotent Socrates database well established, the Minister was still making dire predictions of fiscal apocalypse should there be unrestrained payment of family members providing assessed care of those with high and very high support needs.
I almost, (but not quite) felt sorry for Ryall as he demonstrated to the media cameras his appalling lack of knowledge of New Zealand’s disability system. ‘Eek, shriek!”, he implied,’..and if you factor in ACC, you’ll see how the costs just go up and up!’..Stupid bugger didn’t even know that ACC had been paying family carers for over a decade…in fact 50% of the paid carers of ACC clients were family. So who was feeding this pile of twaddle to the Government Minister?
Yet it was next door to impossible to even get anything close to an actual number of MOH:DSS clients, over the age of 18 with assessed high and very high support needs who were not receiving any funding for their care because family were providing most or all of their care. It wasn’t that the information wasn’t there…it was that the Ministry wasn’t offering it willingly and the Government seemed unable to ask the right questions of the Ministry.
There was talk of there being 30,000….(the latest count of the total number of DSS clients is 33,000.https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/report-clients-allocated-dss-funding-jul17.pdf) Frustrated, I asked a few specific questions of MOH DSS in late 2012 to try to get a more accurate picture of the situation, and it transpired that the number of very high needs over 18 year old DSS clients with little or no hourly based funding for their care was 1286.
And if you’ve followed this particular case…through the many court hearings and discussions etc you will know that the National Government opted to fund 1600 parent carers.
And if you also followed up you’ll know that the number of DSS clients who chose the option of Funded Family Care was less than 400. One quarter of the number budgeted for…so what happened to the rest of the $$$?
Some of us have kept track over the years, through different governments and different Ministers. There have been two constants…one, the Ministers have been largely ignorant ineffectuals and two, the same old names keep being mentioned in MOH dispatches.
Only a complete purge of MOH bureaucrats will bring about the necessary culture change. The Ministry needs to be staffed by actual Public Servants.
And I do think you do the NZ voter a disservice by implying that we keep voting in Governments that fail to “… to place a high priority on funding Health and Disability services in particular.”
How about we have a referendum..”Would you be willing to pay an extra 1.5-2.5% tax which would be dedicated solely to rehabilitating our health and disability system, in addition to the current Vote Health budget?”
"In talks, I would tell the story of the Natufians. Late in the last Ice Age, in the territory marked on our maps as Israel and Palestine, they lived in year-round villages. They were among the first people anywhere to settle and they lived like this for 1,500 years, fifty generations, long enough for any memory of their ancestors’ wanderings to pass into the dreamtime of gods and culture heroes. Then came the Younger Dryas, the 1,200-year cold snap that turned Europe back to tundra and broke the pattern of the seasons which watered the wooded valleys in which they had made their homes. They knew nothing of the processes by which this climate change had come upon them; it was not a consequence of their actions, only a shift in the weather. Within a short time, they abandoned their settled way of life and became wandering gatherers and hunters, returning to the old villages only to rebury the bones of their dead in the ruins of the houses.
Then I would recall a passage in After the Ice, Stephen Mithen’s history of the prehistoric world, where I first learned about the Natufians. He sends a time-traveller to walk unobserved through the lives of the people he is writing about: coming upon a band of late Natufian nomads, he follows them to a gathering in one of the ruined villages. The interment of bones is accompanied by storytelling, feasting and celebration; the connection between past and present is reaffirmed. In Mithen’s reconstruction, these days of festival offer a respite from the hardships of the present. Yet afterwards, as the people go back out onto the land, they do so gladly: ‘They are all grateful for the return to their transient lifestyle within the arid landscapes of the Mediterranean hills, the Jordan valley and beyond. It is, after all, the only lifestyle they have known and it is the one that they love.’"
I got that Mithen book last year, haven't started it yet. "If everyone does X, then all this scary stuff will go away" is typical leftist thought. Proceeds from a false assumption. Since when have humans ever acted in unison?? Anyway, moving on, we could liken the climate-change impact on expectations to oceanic navigation of old.
I'm no sailor, but I know plain sailing only lasts awhile. Adaption to changing weather is essential. Using ocean currents is intelligent. People don't usually do it unless they have a plan, or at least an imagined destination of sorts, so when there's a small tribe in the waka collective intent drives the enterprise.
This is turning into a typical `how to get there' post so I'll just finish by pointing out how suitable the analogy seems to be. Despair isn't part of the scenario!!
Yet more leftist hypocrisy? Only if the prof is a leftist. Mentally-ill folk are now part of the community. We're meant to view them as normal citizens, ever since politically-correct decision-making deemed this stance proper in the nineties. As such, they have citizens' rights, including the right to be a political leader. It's how democracy works.
The prof may get brain police knocking on his door sometime soon, taking him away to a re-education camp, where some kind person will explain the facts of life to him, and he will be required to write this line a thousand times: I must not discriminate against the mentally ill, not even Trump.
"Mentally-ill folk are now part of the community."
They always were dennis you just ignored and pretended they weren't there. You do seem to have some major prejudice against those you deem to have mental health issues and your writing on this subject is woeful. Even here in defending you make snide asides about those trying to protect the many many people with mental health issues. You should be ashamed imo.
Crap, Marty. Everyone knows they were institutionalised until the closing of the mental hospitals. And don't insinuate prejudice where none exists. That's unethical. You know perfectly well that I did not criticise any victim. Any reader can see for themselves that I was criticising the prof!
"We're meant to view them as normal citizens, ever since politically-correct decision-making deemed this stance proper in the nineties."
These type of statements from you indicate a strange attitude imo. You love 'othering' those with mental health issues using language like 'them' and 'they' and you don't even get it – possibly an age thing but whatever – not a good attitude imo
Not strange unless you have no empathy with victims. When that guy was killed with an axe by his flatmate (a mental-health patient released into the community) while in bed (asleep, I presume), a story that made headlines back then, it made the policy seem insane to me. Not to you??
In regard to hitting the red button, you have a point. I vaguely recall there's a fail-safe design around that though (chain-of-command operational consensus).
In all other respects, you're wrong. If it were obvious, there would already be high-level discussions on a bipartisan basis, reported in the media. So you're just doing the same jerk-off as the prof. Evidence to the contrary required!
I vaguely recall there's a fail-safe design around that though (chain-of-command operational consensus).
No. There isn't. There really isn't.
When Nixon was showing obvious signs of stress leading those around him to fear a breakdown, Schlesinger committed an act of gross insubordination and instructed those further down the chain of command to check with him or Kissinger before acting on any orders from Nixon. Thank fuck it was never tested what would actually happen if Nixon tried to launch nukes.
There's a good chance Mattis did the same, and I'd guess it would be fairly likely those down the chain of command would actually check with Mattis before launching.
But Mattis is gone, and the acting Secretary of Defense is ex-Boeing swampthing Shanahan. Who almost certainly wouldn't dare do anything that might be construed as standing up to Grand Generalissimo Bonespurs. Nor would he have any standing or respect from those further down the chain, so it would be very unlikely Shanahan would be able to stop a madman launch order even if he wanted to.
Everyone knows “they” were institutionalised’
No. “they” were not.
The vast majority of people with mental health issues led normal functional contributing lives.
DF. You are full of prejudice and misinformation. Otherwise known as full of shit.
Just to change the topic for a break. some kind person will explain the facts of life to him, and he will be required to write this line a thousand times:
That made me think of Bart Simpson and his frequent interaction with lines written on the blackboard. (Did you know he leapt up in ballet showing amazing talent. You might wait for the same to happen with Trump, but truth is stranger than fiction.)
Heh. I'm going to be off-line awhile. My laptop has developed sleep problems halfway thro its 6th year, so I got a cheap notebook as insurance policy & now have to get all my useful stuff duplicated onto it in case the laptop decides to die as well. Fortunately my local computer dudes always seem able to solve my problems quickly at reasonable cost…
The UK government’s active support for fossil fuels and airport expansion is “beyond absurd”, Greta Thunberg has told MPs.
The 16-year-old Swedish student, who sparked a global youth-based movement when she began a “climate strike” outside Sweden’s parliament last year, gave a typically blunt speech. She told MPs: “This ongoing irresponsible behaviour will no doubt be remembered in history as one of the greatest failures of humankind.”
The dreaming continues from the rear guard protecting their world from the inevitable change occuring. They will be remembered all right as will we. What will they say about what you/we did to change?
Why don't you tell us the rest of the story? After talking to the MPs she went straight back to the Airport and caught her next flight to a place where she could spread the word that flying must stop.
You know. Just like James Shaw it is a case of don't do what they do. Do what they tell you to do because they know better.
"After talking to the MPs she went straight back to the Airport and caught her next flight to a place where she could spread the word that flying must stop."
Did she? Can you link to this information, because AFAIK she attends meetings by land-based travel.
And also, your criticism – well used by practised diverters, fails to recognise that current society and systems support and encourage individual choices both financially and in convenience, that are detrimental to the environment and community wellbeing.
The premise that the system needs to change stands – separate from individual instances.
After talking to the MPs she went straight back to the Airport and caught her next flight to a place where she could spread the word that flying must stop.
If you actually bother to go and read the article, it includes a graphic: "Greta's train journey through Europe." Electric trains, at that.
She may have arrived in London by train as that diagram shows. However you don't think she was going to remain there did you?
I was assured, by someone who heard her, that she was heading back to Sweden by plane. As I said "After talking to MPs." I'll admit that the statement "went straight back to the airport" rather condenses the time scale.
Do you have any actual evidence or link? Or are you just repeating a hearsay smear?
If there were any factual basis to that claim, it would be astonishing for right-wing media to be silent, they would be much more likely to scream it from the front page as hypocrisy to try to discredit her. But so far … zip.
Māori television showed a documentary on the work of photographer Sebastião Salgado a couple of nights ago. I missed seeing it at the International Film Festival, and was hooked when I found it while channel surfing.
It documents his decades of travelling and immersion into some of the most undeveloped and/or deprived communities. As well as capturing some of the most atrocious human behaviours and crimes. A harrowing but very informative watch, which also records his understandably bleak conclusion of the irredeemable nature of the human race.
The final project is his personal redemption – a trite description – moving into nature photography and planting millions of trees on an inherited drought ridden family farm.
A very minor observation – disappointed to hear Lisa Owen (RNZ Checkpoint, ~5:24 pm, 23 April 2019) refer to the Government's 'Provincial Growth Fund' as "Shane Jones' regional money bag" (@00:25).
It would help if Jones stopped giving people excellent reasons for assuming the provincial growth fund is being used as an influence-peddling fund for NZ First in general and Jones in particular.
Dunno if this is really a reality thing. Seems more like perceptions to me. I agree that his style of operating encourages the perception. But he's just doing his job.
If his allocations were unreasonable, evidence of that would be accumulating. I've seen no such compilation in the media, so I'm inclined to think DMK has a valid point. She ought not to be seen as recycling National's spin.
Northland, Tree planting, Logging Companies, The Semenoff Family long long history', Family connections, filipino workers, Sand, DOC, Talleys, political donations…How Things are Done 'up North'….nothing to see here of course
His habit of intervening on behalf of his donors and his spurning conflict-of-interest mitigation measures all by themselves should rule him out of being put in charge of distributing a billion dollars, let alone when an electorate he plans to contest is likely to be a major beneficiary of the funding decisions. In other words, it's a real thing – his demonstrated lack of integrity, not media bias, is prompting the cynicism.
Not only but also – today's Herald "Barry Soper: Killing capital gains tax the painful part of politics for Jacinda Ardern" no it wasn't, well I bet it wasn't, but fools like Soper can't see or will admit it.
You a bit out of sorts today? Simon getting to be a bit much for you perhaps. He seems to have Psycho problems like yourself.
Even so, advising the Regions that you hate them receiving Funds for Major works and Projects – could mean that you dislike Aoteraroa from top to bottom. You will be no Loss.
I am pleased to see that there is consistency in the complaints about racist behaviour. Here we have someone, rightfully, being shamed because he claimed that he wouldn't allow his children to go out with a Maori.
I wonder if the protesters were the same ones who complained about Hone Harawira expressing the view that he wouldn't allow his children to go out with a Pakeha? I hope they were the same people involved in both protests about the bigoted actions.
Immigration New Zealand has created a special visa category for those directly impacted by the shootings at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood mosque, as well as their families…
The government says the Christchurch Response 2019 category has been created to realise the impact of the tragedy and to give people currently on temporary and resident visas some certainty.
Applications can be made from tomorrow by anyone who was present at either mosque during the attacks and their immediate families.
The special circumstances mean the definition of "immediate family" also includes dependent children, someone's partner's parents and grandparents of children under 25.
Immigration NZ, on their website, state they will confirm those present at the mosque attacks by checking police records.
The UN has backed a resolution on combatting rape in conflict but excluded references in the text to sexual and reproductive health, after vehement opposition from the US.
The resolution passed by the security council on Tuesday after a three-hour debate and a weekend of fierce negotiations on the language among member states that threatened to derail the process.
The vote was carried 13 votes in favour. China and Russia abstained. On Monday, the US had threatened to veto the resolution but it is understood that last minute concessions on Tuesday morning got the US on side
We have to CHANGE the way we do everything this is a good idea that the local and central government should be championing a place were you can rent tool & equipment for little cost. All so I had to DUMP a good washing machine and fridge because they couldn’t fit in my pocket as that’s the only storage that was available. I would have had a garage sale as we call it here and sold some items a give some away but the sandflys have scared all the people away . I say local council needs to have a place well advised to drop off good still going fine like whiteware kitchen ware anything that can be used by other.
We need to get away from the USE and toss it culture we need to make things last 20 years or longer paper packaging to.
Aristotle House in Oxford is not as grand as it sounds. A commercial block built by the canal in the 1960s, it is no longer fit for paying tenants, so its owner, Wadham College, allows a group of social enterprises to stay there, like official squatters. And there’s evidence of their enterprise everywhere outside, from the drop-box for returning poetry books, to the compost heaps built from old pallets, and the young Victoria plum tree blossoming in a pot by the door. Inside, for those who know about it, is the Oxfordlibrary of things. It sounds like the setting for a Philip Pullman novel, and represents a vision of humanity that’s nearly as fantastical – an idea so simple and so brilliant that, the first time you hear it, you wonder why it hasn’t conquered the world already. Then you wonder if it’s just about to change. Imagine you have a grimy old picnic table that needs sanding after a winter in the garden. Or you want to host a Eurovision party, but your TV is too small for everyone to see. Commercially renting a belt sander for the weekend costs about £40, and a projector much more, so unless you’re on good terms with a well-equipped neighbour, you either spend money on a device you will hardly use, or you give up. But what if someone volunteered to be that neighbour, as people now have in Frome, Crystal Palace, Stirling, Edinburgh, Totnes, Oxford and in growing numbers around the world? If they could just gather a collection of extremely, but only occasionally, useful items, and find a place to keep them, there would be no need for everyone else to buy their own. Even paying a small fee to cover costs, we would save money, and space in our homes, and the benefits to the environment in waste prevented would be enormous. Indeed, as you browse for Oxford’s belt sander (£8 a week) and projector (£10 a night), you might decide, while you’re at it, to borrow a pressure washer for the patio (£10 a day), and add a disco ball (£5 a week) and chocolate fountain (ditto) for the party. You’ll live a cheaper, cleaner, more enjoyable and more sustainable life Ka kite ano link below. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/24/library-of-things-borrowing-scheme-conquer-world
Here you go Whanau we have people who treat water like a gravy train instead of the respecting WAI water as a life giving and taking source and force it is they need to protect Wai water for our next generation our Mokopuna grandchildren rights to a happy healthy life need to be respected.
The Queensland minister for water, Anthony Lynham, also strongly denied his government had backed EAA’s sale of overland flows, as Joyce claimed.
“What we had supported in 2015 was completely different,” he said. Queensland proposed the Commonwealth buy both of EAA’s farms and all its water, including river water rights, he said.
A desktop review had put the price at $123m, and would have yielded 57,000ML of water including more secure water rights, he said.
Instead Joyce proceeded to buy half the volume of a less reliable type of water entitlement for $80m
Queensland minister for water, Anthony Lynham, also strongly denied his government had backed EAA’s sale of overland flows, as Joyce claimed.
“What we had supported in 2015 was completely different,” he said. Queensland proposed the Commonwealth buy both of EAA’s farms and all its water, including river water rights, he said.
A desktop review had put the price at $123m, and would have yielded 57,000ML of water including more secure water rights, he said.
Instead Joyce proceeded to buy half the volume of a less reliable type of water entitlement for $80m
Meanwhile the Guardian has learned that the energy minister, Angus Taylor, was listed in the annual report of the Australian company as a director of the Caymans parent, Eastern Australia Irrigation, at least until some time in the 2012-13 financial year. He was also a director of a second Caymans company, Agricultural Managers Ltd, which served as the management company for the fund.
Agricultural Managers Ltd, which is separate from Eastern Australian Agriculture and Eastern Australian Irrigation, provided management services to the complex investment structure that included several overseas investorsUsually management companies in these sort of securitised structures undertake the financing, advise on tax, prepare documentation and send investors payments. For that they are paid a management fee and in some cases a fee based on the performance of the fund. This can occur during the life of the fund or when it was wound up.
Eco Maori can see this huge problem unfolding before my EYES The wealthy made most of their money from burning CARBON. The effects of climate change is going to CAUSE huge problems for the common poor people that is WHY the WEALTHY nations need to step up and help the poor Nation it is the correct way to help lesson the damage caused by the climate change on the POOR.
The wealthy have to realise that we are all HUMANS geneticly identical. If they don't help a super bug could develop in the places we're the poor people are living in unhumane places that could effect people that are close to them.
The Great old saying is its better cheaper not to make a MESS that it is to make a big MESS and try to CLEAN IT UP not rocket science just LOGIC Hence helping thy NABOUR the super wealth just have to do more to help mitigate Climate change 9
While the rich world braces for future climate change, the poor world is already being devastated by it
(CNN) — "Upside down" are the only words Manush Albert Alben has to describe life after the powerful Cyclone Idai.
Nearly two weeks since the powerful cyclone destroyed most of the city of Beira, Mozambique, it is a long way from normal. "There's no money, no groceries," Alben, a fisherman, said while sitting in his wooden pirogue on a local beach. "We are suffering but trying to hold on
Known for its busy port and views of the Indian Ocean, the 19th-century city used to be the fourth largest in the country. Now Beira will go down in history as being "90% wiped out" by global warming, said Graça Machel, a former Mozambican freedom fighter, politician and deputy chair of The Elders, who spoke to CNN on the phone after visiting the city
Here is a story of poor country's being badly effected by HUMAN CAUSED CLIMATE CHANGE. We have to help them all.
South Africa floods claim 60 lives after Durban rains
'We couldn't save the children'
One man, who lost eight of his family members when a mudslide swallowed their home, has spoken to Nomsa Maseko about the moments leading up to the tragedy
Thamsanqa Dlamini said that he heard a loud bang first before water came "gushing" into their house through the walls.
"I heard my children screaming from the bedroom," he recalled.
"I tried to rush to help them but the strong water current forcefully pushed me into another room and I was under the collapsed wall.
Ka kite ano P.S don't let all the other stories drown out our fight against climate change deniers
Its cool the Prince is visiting Aotearoa. Those Kiwis cycling around Turkey look a bit worn out ANZAC day has been cool .
The helicopter rescue crew that were on the one that crashed in the Auckland islands were extremely lucky if they were a few km out in Tangaroa they would have been much worse off I no the waters cold there its was snowing at sea when I was last there . The Karapeoro shooting is a sham Iv been in that pie shop a few times over the years .
Britain getting some of Huawei 5G equipment no I don't think NZ have ban Huawei totally from building our 5G network ???????.
Bad luck on the moon landing in 3s there are a lot of Phenomenon that scientists can not explain or give the fact on .
Yes tamariki need to have boundaries on screen time on cellphone tablet use the same as everything. Ka kite ano
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...
by Philip Ferguson This weekend just past marks the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the most famous of the great 1960s music festivals. It was held over the weekend (Friday-Monday) of August 15-18, 1969. Woodstock was a highpoint of the US ‘counter-culture’, and also the beginning of its end. When exploring the ...
It looks like the government has won over the public on its vehicle feebate scheme:A feebate scheme that would transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from buyers of higher-emission cars into the pockets of people buying EVs and other more fuel-efficient vehicles has been winning favour with submitters, the Government ...
When people suggest lowering the voting age, others argue that the young are too uneducated or silly to exercise the duties of citizenship. Australian John Quiggin has just blown that argument out of the water:Looking at the array of ignorant and vindictive old men attacking Greta Thunberg and other young ...
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...
Back in May, Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki launched another political party. Despite consisting entirely of followers of their religion, they grandly called it "Coalition New Zealand", in a vain effort to suggest it was something broader. But when they applied for registration, submitters opposed the name, as ...
The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...
The Pacific is on the front line of climate change, and if we don't cut emissions quickly, some countries are literally going to be underwater. Because of this, small Pacific states had tried to use this week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting to get Pacific countries to agree to ending coal ...
To Limit Another's Rights Is To Limit One's Own: Is it too much to expect senior members of our Government to be capable of explaining that we protect the rights of human-beings precisely because not even the most depraved act can cancel-out the fact that its perpetrator is also a ...
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...
This section builds on Part 1 of this series to provide a theoretical basis for the final instalment (part 3 – to come). Self-determination: law or resurgence — or both? International law promotes the principal of equal treatment and self-determination, which includes peoples’ rights to freely pursue their social, cultural and ...
Everyone was outraged yesterday to learn that the Christchurch shooting accused had been able to send mail from prison to his Nazi fans, apparently pushing more hate. "How could this possibly happen", people asked. Simple: because New Zealand is a civilised country, and so we let prisoners send and receive ...
If we are to avoid dangerous anthropogenic climate change, we need to rapidly decarbonise our transport fleet. The good news: its starting to happen:The number of electric vehicles on New Zealand's roads have nearly tripled in the past two years. There are currently 15,453 registered electric vehicles (EVs), up ...
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
AN OPEN LETTER FOR SIGN ON BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE WORLD, ALLIED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY. This letter was released at the UN Political Forum on 9 July, where the Sustainable Development Goal on inequality was reviewed. The purpose of the letter is to call out the ...
We asked a young gay science student and critic of trans ideology and the trans activists’ assault on women’s and gay rights to outline his views on Redline. Thanks to him for his article. by Cian Ó Catháin Gender identity ideology (Gender ID) is ripping through western society at full ...
The Environment Committee is currently hearing submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, and Stuff is reporting on the submissions. Today, they're covering yesterday they heard from "NZ" Steel:NZ Steel has told MPs it may be forced to close with the loss of thousands of jobs if changes aren't made to ...
Students are striking against climate change on September 27. And this time, they're asking everyone to join them:Students are taking to the streets, beaches and parks on 27 September, and we're inviting everyone to join us. That's right, this is an intergenerational issue, and you're all invited to put pressure ...
Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
Source: Unknown, twitter user Recently, I wrote a (relatively) short paper titled as above, to explore what self-determination could like in a practical sense. Maybe I’m a bit of an international trade truther or something, but I absolutely believe trade is at the heart of achieving peace and self-determination. Since ...
In the 1960s, after I had graduated with a first-class Oxford postgraduate law degree, I joined the British Foreign Office as the top entrant of my year. There, I worked for a couple of years on European affairs and was eventually posted to the Embassy in Brussels. After this exposure ...
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...
I heard a 45 minute interview with Monica Lewinsky talking to TED’s Chris Anderson on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, and have listened to it another two times out walking. I recommend it. Highly. Man, I am so impressed with how this woman has integrated her life experiences and ...
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure, London, Penguin, 2019, 352pp; reviewed by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s book The Coddling of the American Mind is a timely book, whose ...
When the Justice Committee reported back on the Administration of Justice (Reform of Contempt of Court) Bill, free speech advocates breathed a sigh of relief. As originally introduced, the Bill reitered the ancient offence of "scandalising the court" - basicly, a special sedition law protecting judges from criticism. The select ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. Since then - crickets. Which raises the obvious question: are they actually going to do this, ...
Back in March, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act. 285 people submitted on it. Now, Stuff has trawled through those submissions, and the case for reform is strong:The Justice Ministry asked Kiwis what they thought was ...
National's prisoner voting ban has gone down as one of the worst laws in New Zealand history. Passed after a farcical debate (including this farcial speech from ACT MP Hilary Calvert), it has subsequently been found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by the High Court, Court ...
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
Last week, the ongoing democracy protests in Hong Kong saw a pro-Hong Kong student assaulted at the University of Auckland. The Chinese consulate in Auckland followed this up with a press release "express[ing] its appreciation to the students for their spontaneous patriotism" - effectively condoning the assault and inciting further ...
Only those who close their eyes and minds to the evidence can still be in any doubt that we are facing a climate change crisis. The evidence is conclusive that the world is not only getting inexorably hotter, but also that the rising temperatures are creating a number of other ...
Rural communities are wailing about forestry conversions "taking land out of production" and putting it into locking up carbon. Its driven purely by economics: there's more money and lower costs in carbon than in sheep or beef, and if carbon prices rise, there'll be more net money than dairy even. ...
This week, the government introduced its (underwhelming) Abortion Legislation Bill. And despite having negotiated the text of the bill through the coalition process, Winston Peters is now suggesting that he will demand a referendum on it:NZ First leader Winston Peters has hinted that his party may only support the Government's ...
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...
Last night the police dramatically incresed their numbers at Ihumātao, shoving over protestors and threatening them with arrest. Despite police talk about the need to maintain "public order" and prevent a "breach of the peace", there appeared to be absolutely no justification for this: the protest camp is, was, and ...
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...
Today's abortion reform announcement is just the latest in a long line of disappointing decisions or outright failures from the Labour government. The 90-day law. KiwiBuild. A capital gains tax. Climate change. Every time they make one of those decisions, we hope for better next time. No repeal of the ...
The Greens used their party conference over the weekend to push for a rent-to-own scheme, where people would be able to work towards home ownership by renting from the government. Its a sensible policy, and one which could make a real difference to home ownership rates. But its also basicly ...
by Daphna Whitmore Over the past fortnight, thousands of people have come to the Ihumātao land protest in South Auckland. On 23 July police prepared to evict a few dozen people who had maintained the encampment at Ihumātao for the past three years. As hundreds of supporters arrived the ...
The following article is translated from an article in Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of the French revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle). The United States’ blacklisting of the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, which took shape in Google’s ban on Huawei using its systems on its phones, marks a ...
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...
The IMF issued a Report on the state of the Economy as it is at present. Some of it points out significant issues that certainly warrant attention, but that we know already exist. Some of it is very much tied to the very obvious context of global concerns, that everyone ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the report of the Small Business Council will help maintain the momentum for innovation and improvements in the sector. Mr Nash has thanked the members of the Small Business Council (SBC) who this week handed over their report, Empowering small businesses to aspire, succeed ...
Extra Police officers are being deployed from Northland to Southland with the graduation of a new wing of recruits from the Royal New Zealand Police College. “The graduation of 78 constables today means that 1524 new constables have been deployed since the government took office,” says Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Wellington, 20 August 2019 — Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders (LVNZ) has lent its support to the amendments proposed by MP Chris Penk to better protect vulnerable people from being coerced to end their lives under the End of Life Choice Bill, currently ...
The Government’s decision to establish and independent Parliamentary Budget Office, outside of Treasury, is a taxpayer victory and will improve democracy, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union . Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It's ...
The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the cost-benefit analysis prepared by Ministry of Transport and used to advise Ministers on the Government’s Clean Car Standard and ‘Feebate’ policies has serious flaws which undermine justifications for the ...
The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) welcomes new proposals for prison reform put forward by the Minister of Corrections and non-government organisations recently. ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called on the nation to address all forms of racism and not to shy away from an honest conversation about where it’s taking hold. The call comes after the Nelson Club decided to keep a member after his comments became ...
Wellington (20 August 2019): The New Zealand Initiative enthusiastically welcomes the Coalition Government’s announcement of an Independent Parliamentary Budget Office. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Associate Finance Minister James Shaw ...
Drs Say No agree with Chris Penk’s amendment to protect vulnerable patients from coercion, although the organisation still maintains that no safe euthanasia legislation can ever be drafted and continues to urge MPs to defeat the End of Life Choice Bill. ...
The Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier says the Northland Regional Corrections Facility is persisting with policies that are preventing it from achieving its full potential. ...
The second national hui in the Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki concluded yesterday ahead of schedule after a capacity audience formally ratified the terms of reference that determines the scope and purpose of the independent investigation ...
Forest & Bird says WWF-NZ's plan for protecting Māui dolphins is based on testing unproven methods on a species that is almost extinct, and is urging the Government to reject the proposal. ...
Primary and intermediate school principals have voted to accept a new settlement from the Ministry of Education, which includes entrenched pay parity with secondary principals. ...
Police acknowledge the findings of the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report into the 2014 search of a property belonging to Nicky Hager. ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that the Police's unlawful search of Nicky Hager's property in October 2014 resulted from an unwitting neglect of duty and did not amount to misconduct by any individual officer. Police policy at the ...
Tuesday, August 20: Greenpeace has labeled an overnight announcement by fishing company Sanford as a danger to Māui and Hector’s dolphins, and is calling on the Government to reject the ‘Sanford Plan’ immediately. ...
World Animal Protection describes an overnight announcement (19 August, embargoed until 6am 20 August), by fishing company Sanford as a cynical move to undermine growing support for full habitat protection for Māui and Hector’s dolphins. They called ...
When the combined tax on fuel hits over 50 percent in some parts of the country, it is hypocritical for the Government to blame corporates, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union . ...
A leading expert in suicide prevention has urged MPs not to confuse suicide with assisted dying as they consider the second reading of the End of Life Choice Bill. ...
Over the weekend Māoridom arrived in the Waikato for the annual Koroneihana Celebrations. Yesterday almost 300 attended a Hui in Hamilton to continue the Oranga Tamariki Review led by an independent Māori panel to coincide with the Koroneihana. The Hui confirmed ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) says the newly issued ‘price list’ for compensation of banned firearms reveals that haste in preparing the ban has led to an underestimation of the number of affected firearms and their value. ...
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis has admitted parts of the prison system are “extremely racist” and says that’s why the Government is asking Māori to work with it to make changes. ...
Ongoing drug-test sanctions contradicts Government’s rhetoric on drugs Reports that two-thirds of beneficiaries who fail drug tests are still having their benefit sanctioned contradicts the Government’s so-called health approach to drugs. Auckland ...
An Auckland Homelessness Collective is optimistic extra government support for sustaining tenancies signals a commitment to a multi-pronged approach to tackling homelessness. ...
Wanaka-based trust ONE New Zealand will be hosting six days of talks, workshops and hands-on activities with local and national experts to educate, inspire and enable grassroots action towards a sustainable future. ...
In last week’s episode of Politics in Full Sentences, David, Brooke and Ruwan discussed why Jacinda Ardern has been lecturing our friends overseas, why Andrew Little called ACT's three strikes law “fascism”, whether he will give prisoners the right to ...
“Community safety must be the paramount consideration when releasing an offender, and the only way for that to be achieved is for the offender to acknowledge their crimes.” ...
“District Health Boards are failing to foster a culture of distributed clinical leadership, despite its demonstrated benefits to the sector,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). ...
Ratepayers around Auckland were spitting out their morning coffees listening to Phil Goff’s incredible claims on breakfast radio today that this election is about ‘honesty’ and that Aucklanders can trust him on his promises. Auckland Ratepayers’ ...
The Hōkai Rangi plan for reducing Māori reoffending announced today fails to fulfil the Waitangi Tribunal’s recommendations, says justice organisation People Against Prisons Aotearoa. Minister Kelvin Davis announced the plan this morning, which aims ...
Waatea News at the invitation of the North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency will exclusively broadcast the next Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki starting today at 1pm. ...
Staff at the Ministry of Social Development say they are enthusiastic about the government’s $54 million investment in housing the homeless, with many describing it as a welcome change. ...
Today posters have gone up outside ANZ branches across New Zealand to expose ANZ’s sponsorship of an exclusive oil industry group, ‘The Petroleum Club’. The satirical posters play on ANZ’s recent ad campaigns, replacing the banks’ tagline ‘healthy ...
Imagine a country where children look forward to walking or cycling to school, parents arrive home safely, and the journeys we take for work or pleasure do more than leave us alive or uninjured, they also improve our lives. This is happening now in countries ...
Sunday, 18 August, 2019 - Environmental groups and well known New Zealanders are preparing to deliver a 55,000 strong petition to the steps of Parliament tomorrow, calling on the Government to protect the world’s smallest dolphin. ...
The Government’s proposed rescue plan must be strengthened because it is the last chance to save Māui dolphins from extinction and secure the future for Hector’s dolphins, Forest & Bird says. ...
Simon Shepherd: Roads, schools, hospitals, prisons, the building blocks that keep society functioning. And we don't have enough. It's called the infrastructure deficit and will be the focus of a major conference this coming week. The man charged with ...
New Zealand has been issued a stark challenge from Pacific leaders to dramatically upscale its action to address climate breakdown, Oxfam says, after a clear rallying cry from nations at this week’s Pacific Islands Forum. ...
Support for Recreational Dope Going ‘Up in Smoke’ Family First NZ is welcoming yet another poll showing plummeting support for legalising cannabis in New Zealand. The Horizon Research poll shows support for legalising has plummeted from 60% last ...
The prospect of ending wider cannabis prohibition looks increasingly unlikely. Over the last nine months, the percentage of New Zealanders who would vote for legalising the personal use of cannabis has declined at a near linear rate of around 10% per ...
“It’s disappointing that news out of the United States of hospitalisations linked to illegal street drugs is somehow seen as relevant to the New Zealand vaping scene,” says Ben Pryor, Director of Alt New Zealand – the largest Kiwi-owned vaping company. ...
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) welcomes the successful passing of Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill through parliament, by the New Zealand Government. ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Papua New Guinea’s EMTV news and current affairs manager Neville Choi has been sacked after six years of service in this role, triggering strong protests from staff in the country’s main television news service. EMTV staff called for the reinstatement of Choi and for the ...
The problem of political parties disputing each others costing was highlighted in the 2017 election and now an independent entity to ensure parties aren't fudging their figures is a step closer. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bradley L Garrett, Research Fellow, University of Sydney A small plane looped through the tranquil and cloudless Sydney sky today, spewing engine-heated liquid paraffin from its exhaust, creating puffy tracers. As people all over the city watched from rooftop bars, beach towels ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Howard, Deputy Section Editor: Arts + Culture You might picture a book club around your neighbour’s coffee table, or over beers at the local pub – but what if it took place in Parliament House? This is the question being asked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carly Osborn, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Adelaide If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.What makes us cry? – Claudia, age 7.5, Victoria. Hi Claudia. Thank you for this very sensible ...
In the third episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect AI has on our lives, Te Aroha Grace talks to host Russell Brown about the Iwi Algorithm.Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below.To download this episode right click and save.At ...
Colson Whitehead won the 2017 Pultizer Prize for Fiction for The Underground Railroad, a depiction of slavery and resistance in 19th century Georgia. Now he’s back with a similarly grim premise, following two boys through the horrors of a real-life reform school in Florida. Our reviewer is Aaron Smale, whose ...
Two recent scientific discoveries rocked us to our fossily core, but there’s a bigger, more shocking story to be told. Who are the silhouette people? Tara Ward finds out. It’s been a big month for bones. First, New Zealand scientists uncovered evidence that a giant parrot once roamed the country around ...
From tennis champions to dance craze inventors, Scratched celebrates New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. This month, aerobics world champion and creator of Jump Jam, Brett Fairweather. Every New Zealander under the age of 30 knows at least one ...
Life in the wee hours could be made safer and better for business if New Zealand adopted the policies of cities such as Amsterdam, writes Natanael Rother.It would be insane to do the same thing over and over again and still expect different results. It’s a lesson those embroiled in ...
Stranger Things owns all the oxygen for period-piece teen TV, but Ireland’s impossibly charming Derry Girls deserves as much acclaim, writes Duncan Greive.There’s a reason why high school is the backdrop to so much fantastic television. That cusp between childhood and the adult world is ripe with dramatic possibility. Relationships ...
The Commerce Commission has released preliminary findings from its market study into the retail fuel market, finding it not as competitive as it could be. ...
We’ve become used to Samoan characters as peripheral bad guys. But from the tatau Sāmoa on his chest to his relationships with his aiga, Hobbs & Shaw showed us someone who is us. And he kicks arse.When I was growing up, there were hardly any Sāmoan or Polynesian faces on ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Māori prison strategy, prisoner voting 1News: Kelvin Davis admits parts of prison system ‘extremely racist’ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Hopkins, Lecturer in conservation biology and microbial ecology, Edith Cowan University As most of the science community knows, the climate emergency is here now. Weather extremes such as droughts and heatwaves are increasing in frequency and intensity and are measurably exacerbated ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Krystian Seibert, Industry Fellow, Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of Technology Over the weekend, Prime Minister Scott Morrison launched a new assault on the campaigning group GetUp. At the Liberal Party’s state conference in Adelaide, he said GetUp needed to be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Archana Koirala, Paediatrician and Infectious Diseases Specialist, University of Sydney If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.How does our blood fight viruses like chicken pox, sickness and colds? – Teddy, 5, Oxfordshire, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Hemer, Principal Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere, CSIRO The rise in sea levels is not the only way climate change will affect the coasts. Our research, published today in Nature Climate Change, found a warming planet will also alter ocean waves ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Owain Emslie, Associate, Grattan Institute Inheritances can have an enormous impact on finances and lives. Yet in Australia we know surprisingly little about who gets them and how big they are. New Grattan Institute research provides some answers. Inheritances are big and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Pitt, PhD candidate, UNSW In April 2020, Australia will mark 250 years since James Cook sailed into Kamay (later known as Botany Bay) on the Endeavour, kicking off a series of events that resulted in the British arriving and staying uninvited ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Law changes likely over prison mail system, sharp drops in Northland vaccinations, and PM still has no plans to visit Ihumātao.Law changes are looking likely over what mail prisoners can send and receive. One News has reported on the announcement made by ...
Is a second attempt at merging parts of Stuff and NZ Herald owner NZME planned, with a bid for political intervention to help the media industry? Tim Murphy reports. ...
Who should decide how many more tourists fly into Queenstown and Wanaka? Journalist and former district councillor, Cath Gilmour, argues local residents should, not the airlines. ...
How the NZ Superfund has drummed up $15 trillion to put pressure on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube giants over livestreaming following the Christchurch terror attacks. ...
Kiwi Jamie Greene has established herself as one of the fittest women on the globe in the fast-growing gruelling sport of CrossFit. And she wants to thank her runner sister for helping drive her. ...
Newsroom is delighted to welcome the University of Otago as our third university partner for the IdeasRoom section exploring issues of importance to society and the country’s future. ...
Phil Goff has kept a low profile compared with his headline-grabbing opponent in the early stages of the Auckland mayoral campaign. Hayden Donnell heads along to see if the mayor can win back the spotlight at his campaign launch.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to ...
Backed by businessman Eric Watson and launched in a blaze of publicity, online trader Fashbae disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Now its founder is traversing the globe in a jeep. Business editor Maria Slade tries to keep up with events.It had it all. A suave multi-millionaire investor and ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Rioting broke out in Manokwari, West Papua, today as local people – mostly university students – protested against racial abuse of Papuan students in East Java, reports TheJakarta Post. The protesters blocked a number of major streets in the city this morning, cutting down ...
By Ben Bilua in Suva Multimedia skills and innovation are key to adapting to the changing media landscape, said US academic Professor Debora Wenger as newsmakers around the world continue to grapple with challenges arising from the transformation of technology and social media. Speaking to journalists at a regional ...
The new RBNZ seems to crave the limelight and be known for advocacy of new causes, and that has not impressed macroeconomics professor Robert MacCulloch. ...
The prime minister won't meet with Ihumātao protesters before Thursday - the deadline given by the group to stop them marching to her Auckland electorate office. ...
Cabinet ministers will discuss possible law changes to what mail can be received and sent by prisoners, after the accused Christchurch gunman was able to send mail to supporters. ...
The Catholic and Anglican churches are still considering quashing legal agreements that may prevent abuse survivors from giving evidence to the inquiry investigating historical abuse in care. ...
The new joint from the team behind one of Wellington’s favourite craft beer bars is dedicated to minimal-intervention, organic wine – and more exciting things are coming to the heritage building it’s housed in.Before the Cadbury factory opened in Dunedin in 1930, New Zealanders ate Cadbury chocolate made in England. ...
Open mike 24/04/2019 
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...14 hours ago
Canada is having an election in the next few months, and (perhaps because their Prime Minister is so nice and reasonable) they have a party running on a platform of Trumpism and climate change denial. But there's a twist: the latter means that it will be illegal for anyone in ...17 hours ago
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...19 hours ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...3 days ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...3 days ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...4 days ago
5 days ago
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...5 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...6 days ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...6 days ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...7 days ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...7 days ago
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...7 days ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...7 days ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 7 days ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...1 week ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...1 week ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...1 week ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...2 weeks ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...2 weeks ago
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...2 weeks ago
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...2 weeks ago
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...2 weeks ago
The IMF issued a Report on the state of the Economy as it is at present. Some of it points out significant issues that certainly warrant attention, but that we know already exist. Some of it is very much tied to the very obvious context of global concerns, that everyone ...2 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...2 weeks ago
Wellington, 20 August 2019 — Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders (LVNZ) has lent its support to the amendments proposed by MP Chris Penk to better protect vulnerable people from being coerced to end their lives under the End of Life Choice Bill, currently ...12 hours ago
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Papua New Guinea’s EMTV news and current affairs manager Neville Choi has been sacked after six years of service in this role, triggering strong protests from staff in the country’s main television news service. EMTV staff called for the reinstatement of Choi and for the ...5 hours ago
Plans for an independent body to cost political policies seems sensible - Simon Bridges' opposition borders on dangerous. ...7 hours ago
Refugee leaders and advocacy groups call for an end to discriminatory refugee policy. ...8 hours ago
The problem of political parties disputing each others costing was highlighted in the 2017 election and now an independent entity to ensure parties aren't fudging their figures is a step closer. ...9 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bradley L Garrett, Research Fellow, University of Sydney A small plane looped through the tranquil and cloudless Sydney sky today, spewing engine-heated liquid paraffin from its exhaust, creating puffy tracers. As people all over the city watched from rooftop bars, beach towels ...10 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Howard, Deputy Section Editor: Arts + Culture You might picture a book club around your neighbour’s coffee table, or over beers at the local pub – but what if it took place in Parliament House? This is the question being asked ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Director, Health Program, Grattan Institute It was a key plank of what was dubbed the most significant package of private health insurance reforms in more than a decade. From April 1 this year, private health insurers have been permitted to ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carly Osborn, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Adelaide If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au. What makes us cry? – Claudia, age 7.5, Victoria. Hi Claudia. Thank you for this very sensible ...12 hours ago
The Commerce Commission recommends taking aim at Z Energy, BP and Mobil to make the fuel market more competitive. ...13 hours ago
Colson Whitehead won the 2017 Pultizer Prize for Fiction for The Underground Railroad, a depiction of slavery and resistance in 19th century Georgia. Now he’s back with a similarly grim premise, following two boys through the horrors of a real-life reform school in Florida. Our reviewer is Aaron Smale, whose ...14 hours ago
Two recent scientific discoveries rocked us to our fossily core, but there’s a bigger, more shocking story to be told. Who are the silhouette people? Tara Ward finds out. It’s been a big month for bones. First, New Zealand scientists uncovered evidence that a giant parrot once roamed the country around ...15 hours ago
Life in the wee hours could be made safer and better for business if New Zealand adopted the policies of cities such as Amsterdam, writes Natanael Rother.It would be insane to do the same thing over and over again and still expect different results. It’s a lesson those embroiled in ...16 hours ago
Stranger Things owns all the oxygen for period-piece teen TV, but Ireland’s impossibly charming Derry Girls deserves as much acclaim, writes Duncan Greive.There’s a reason why high school is the backdrop to so much fantastic television. That cusp between childhood and the adult world is ripe with dramatic possibility. Relationships ...17 hours ago
Chris Gallavin followed in the footsteps of James K Baxter when he staged a spectacular poetry event on the Whanganui River. ...17 hours ago
Falling wool prices in Australia and New Zealand are being attributed to trade tensions between the US and China. ...17 hours ago
The Commerce Commission has released preliminary findings from its market study into the retail fuel market, finding it not as competitive as it could be. ...17 hours ago
Mercury Energy has made a record annual profit as it generated more geothermal power and charged higher spot prices. ...18 hours ago
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Hopkins, Lecturer in conservation biology and microbial ecology, Edith Cowan University As most of the science community knows, the climate emergency is here now. Weather extremes such as droughts and heatwaves are increasing in frequency and intensity and are measurably exacerbated ...21 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Archana Koirala, Paediatrician and Infectious Diseases Specialist, University of Sydney If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au. How does our blood fight viruses like chicken pox, sickness and colds? – Teddy, 5, Oxfordshire, ...21 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Owain Emslie, Associate, Grattan Institute Inheritances can have an enormous impact on finances and lives. Yet in Australia we know surprisingly little about who gets them and how big they are. New Grattan Institute research provides some answers. Inheritances are big and ...21 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Pitt, PhD candidate, UNSW In April 2020, Australia will mark 250 years since James Cook sailed into Kamay (later known as Botany Bay) on the Endeavour, kicking off a series of events that resulted in the British arriving and staying uninvited ...21 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Law changes likely over prison mail system, sharp drops in Northland vaccinations, and PM still has no plans to visit Ihumātao.Law changes are looking likely over what mail prisoners can send and receive. One News has reported on the announcement made by ...22 hours ago
Pharmac’s model and budget is under intense scrutiny, as the Government prepares to announce its interim cancer action plan. ...23 hours ago
Is a second attempt at merging parts of Stuff and NZ Herald owner NZME planned, with a bid for political intervention to help the media industry? Tim Murphy reports. ...23 hours ago
Who should decide how many more tourists fly into Queenstown and Wanaka? Journalist and former district councillor, Cath Gilmour, argues local residents should, not the airlines. ...24 hours ago
How the NZ Superfund has drummed up $15 trillion to put pressure on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube giants over livestreaming following the Christchurch terror attacks. ...24 hours ago
Kiwi Jamie Greene has established herself as one of the fittest women on the globe in the fast-growing gruelling sport of CrossFit. And she wants to thank her runner sister for helping drive her. ...24 hours ago
Anna Rawhiti-Connell has no desire to see any further degradation of the news media in New Zealand, but something has to change. ...24 hours ago
Newsroom is delighted to welcome the University of Otago as our third university partner for the IdeasRoom section exploring issues of importance to society and the country’s future. ...24 hours ago
Phil Goff has kept a low profile compared with his headline-grabbing opponent in the early stages of the Auckland mayoral campaign. Hayden Donnell heads along to see if the mayor can win back the spotlight at his campaign launch. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to ...1 day ago
Backed by businessman Eric Watson and launched in a blaze of publicity, online trader Fashbae disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Now its founder is traversing the globe in a jeep. Business editor Maria Slade tries to keep up with events.It had it all. A suave multi-millionaire investor and ...1 day ago
China is looming large over Hong Kong, and residents know they must fight back now. ...1 day ago
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Rioting broke out in Manokwari, West Papua, today as local people – mostly university students – protested against racial abuse of Papuan students in East Java, reports The Jakarta Post. The protesters blocked a number of major streets in the city this morning, cutting down ...1 day ago
By Ben Bilua in Suva Multimedia skills and innovation are key to adapting to the changing media landscape, said US academic Professor Debora Wenger as newsmakers around the world continue to grapple with challenges arising from the transformation of technology and social media. Speaking to journalists at a regional ...1 day ago
The new RBNZ seems to crave the limelight and be known for advocacy of new causes, and that has not impressed macroeconomics professor Robert MacCulloch. ...1 day ago
After alleged Christchurch terrorist wrote to a supporter, Jacinda Ardern says our laws may need an update for the digital age. ...1 day ago
The Commerce Commission's first market study will wade into the complex fuel market - here's what you need to know. ...1 day ago
The new joint from the team behind one of Wellington’s favourite craft beer bars is dedicated to minimal-intervention, organic wine – and more exciting things are coming to the heritage building it’s housed in.Before the Cadbury factory opened in Dunedin in 1930, New Zealanders ate Cadbury chocolate made in England. ...1 day ago
“What if the culture you grew up in was broken in ways that you didn’t even have words for?”
https://aschoolcalledhome.org/finding-our-way-home/
As cultures break down, alcohol consumption rises, so I've read recently. Saying goodbye to a culture and it's practices will be like farewelling a very, very close friend.
"A culture faces and interprets pain, deviance and death. It endows them with meaning; it illuminates how they are a part of the whole and thereby makes them tolerable … The widespread use of alcohol and other central nervous system anaesthetics is directly linked to a decline in culture. The wider their use, the harder it becomes to preserve, renew and invigorate the wisdom that a culture should hold. This doubles back and escalates. Alcoholism spreads when a culture is dying, just as rickets appears when there is no Vitamin D."
I know it's a quote, but that makes no sense. A declining culture promotes alcoholism, and the decline will reverse if people drink less alcohol? That's like saying it's getting cold and people dress warmer. If only they didn't, the weather would get warmer again. Cause and effect…
I think it's like saying it's getting cold and people drink more alcohol. They feel good for a while but are more likely to suffer death from exposure. Also, a clear mind, rather than one anaesthetised one, is more likely to make a life-saving decision, imo.
It reminded me of ACT welfare policy. Persistent unemployment causes benefit dependency. So if we take away the benefit, there is no unemployment.
Won’t argue re decision making
Danyl dropped down the rabbit hole into the la-la land of Treasury, where the boffins had organised a group of 30 to crowd-source the design of the coalition's well-being budget policy: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/23-04-2019/peace-rest-and-the-monkey-emoji-moon-playing-heartwork-cards-at-treasury/
Being clever, they had performed the u-turn from exclusive to inclusive, realised the best way to include typical Labour voters was to operate at their mental level of capability, so they used a method suitable for kindergarten children.
"You take a deck of Heartwork cards: these are thin, circular, like coasters in mid-range wine bars, only instead of inspirational quotes or vineyard logos they’re printed with sun feelings, moon feelings and needs. You think about a confrontation you’ve had, or a meeting you’re doing to have, and you pick three cards to represent your needs."
Heartwork is the business consultancy who supplied the method. It "is also a game… in which you learn to talk about your feelings and emotional needs, and this aims to solve the problems of the DEVUCA world by building empathy and psychological safety creating organisational win-win-wins through people-centered product, service and policy design via system leadership."
"Next you pick three cards to represent the needs of the other person. There are 50 to choose from. They might want (random shuffle): Stability, or Understanding, or Sense-of-team, or Clarity. Now that you’ve defined everyone’s needs – “all human behaviour is a strategy to meet our needs,” Rousseau explains – you simply envision a win-win-win scenario in which everyone’s needs are met."
"Treasury is working hard to return New Zealand to a pre-neoliberal, prelapsarian state. Next month the government will release its first “Wellbeing Budget”’ It uses the Treasury’s Living Standards Framework, a world leading concept which, Ross informs us, the department has been working on for 18 years. Instead of focusing purely on economic capital the public service, led by Treasury, will seek to grow the country’s human, social and environmental capital."
Nice curve ball there, Danyl. Prelapsarian is indeed a word. Google defines it thus: characteristic of the time before the Fall of Man; innocent and unspoilt. I'll leave readers to puzzle over whether the definition is sexist or not. Gender equality has gotten ever so complicated after trending non-binary, so I suggest keeping it simple. Would the Fall of Woman be a suitable political topic nowadays, or should we leave as is?
How does it work n praxis franko? Sounds like the kind of management substitute guff you'd have great gnosis of.
So you still haven't figured out the difference between practice & praxis?? Even though I gave you the explanation in a single sentence with no long words? Give some thought to the old adage `if at first you don't succeed, try harder'.
As regards how it works, rebels tend not to get into management so I can't help you from the perspective of operational experience. Best guess: tell them what to do. Always worked perfectly with Labour voters, eh? Anyone else asks why, of course.
How very Prolapsarian of you franko.
"Gaelic's attentiveness to place is reflected in its topographical precision. It has a plentiful vocabulary to describe different forms of hill, peak or slope (beinn, stob, dún, cnoc, sròn), for example, and particular words to describe each of the stages of a river's course from its earliest rising down to its widest point as it enters the sea. Much of the landscape is understood in anthropomorphic terms, so the names of topographical features are often the same as those for parts of the body. It draws a visceral sense of connection between sinew, muscle and bone and the land. Gaelic poetry often attributes character and agency to landforms, so mountains might speak or be praised as if they were a chieftain; the Psalms (held in particular reverence in Gaelic culture) talk of landscape in a similar way, with phrases such as the 'hills run like a deer.' In both, the land is recognized as alive."
Substitute "Maori" for Gaelic.
https://www.terriwindling.com/blog/2019/04/a-language-of-land-and-sea.html
Or pretty much anything.
Well, that's pretty damn decisive:
Colmar Brunton (April 2019)
Crusaders name change
Question: “Following the Christchurch terrorist attack, do you think the Crusaders rugby team should change their name?”
Yes …………. 14%
No ………….. 76%
DK …………… 8%
Refused …… 1%
Above Average: No
▪Those living in Otago and Southland (90%)
▪National Party supporters (87%)
▪Those aged 18-29 (85%).
Above Average: Yes
▪Those with annual household income $150,000+ (25%).
▪Labour Party supporters (22%).
.
So … very strong Public support for the Government's Gun Law changes (About Right … 61%, … Not Far Enough … 19% (= 80%), … Goes Too Far … 14%) … but minimal endorsement of Crusaders name change. (Yes, by all means take the necessary practical steps … but Don’t fuck with the Rugby / Don’t fuck with the Culture, basically)
And well done to all those Labour supporters with households pulling in over $150,000.
🙂
You'd be surprised how many there are in that category – a lot of couples with both working in the public sector bring in upwards of $150,000, and plenty of them are Labour or Green voters.
Not surprised at all PM.
The New Middle Class (or Professional and Managerial Class (PMC))
Especially Public Servants (both Labour & Green voters … although I’m guessing the latter swung heavily to Labour 2017)
Not so fast. A $150 household is 1x$70k and 1x$80k.
That's not a new managerial anything.
The managerial class you are thinking of start with households pulling $300k from salaries, before you get to the rentals.
Whoaaaa there, Compardre, Don’t be quite so quick on the draw !
The category is: 150k Plus !!!
That 25% might come entirely from the 300K brigade, nested deep within that particular demographic.
The New Middle Class are precisely the people I'd expect to be most supportive of a name change. Affluent Moral Liberals / Craft Beer Hipsters / People with unusually refined sensibilities who insist on Minimalist Interior Design and the like.
It might.
But I think you're preparing to describe one of the 8 Tribes of New Zealand, that's the Grey Lynner tribe I think.
1st World prollims eh?
Such is the nature of NuZull's 'Left' these days.
It's possible/probable we might all be fucked in the not-too-distant, unless something ‘transformational’ happens [goan forwid]
Of which ours is one, well until this year when retirement will change that a bit. Earning as much as possible – mainly from my husband's hard work, he likes it fortunately and it keeps him fit – has become a must over recent years so that we can genuinely trickle it down to move people forward. Car repairs, dental visits, bonds for rentals were clear to us not easily obtainable to many young hard workers trying to get traction in the world or those who faced unforeseen "hiccups". Being on one end of "it is better to give than receive" too is not something I am unaware of aware of that an element of "sefishness" is normal in wanting to see good outcomes and to sleep peacefully at night.
If anyone needs to see National Party desperation and complete cynicism at work page five of our local paper below a heartfelt obituary for local man Tommy Gear and co-founder of NZ First at the outset is somewhat conveniently placed an electoral advert for the National Party. As a consequence our long term subscription has been cancelled and a full discussion had with the staff member who took the cacellation as to why.
Past experience has me 100% certain, I read the paper daily and these local adverts are now rare, that in no way was the placement "accidental".
It confirmed all the dislike I have for a political party clearly, to me, interested in votes to retain the parliamentary benches and nothing about working for NZ.
I knew there had to be more than could be counted on one hand out there. There's got to be a few of us on this site.
Good luck for falling off the income cliff.
We're pacing it, money is not "god" but it does have it's uses, beyond that you can't take it with you thought some seem to adhere to that thought. Best are the times we have had along the way and long may that continue:)
"Don’t fuck with the Culture" – see comment #2
Also, how about 'The Sythians" as an alternative?
Very sad. But kiwis political choices haven't been up to much lately. 9 years of steady as she goes destruction case in point.
Awww sad for those people – don't wanna keep their stupid made up name for their made up team – I can't say I'm going to be sorry seeing all these people eat the shit sandwich of change.
Warriors and Chiefs next in line right mardymardy?
lol oh dear – one is rugby and one is rugby league gabby – nevermind here is some knowledge to help you out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_football
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rugby_league
Perhaps the respondents had a better understanding of the wider meaning of the words 'crusader' or 'crusade'. Or maybe, just maybe, people can scoff at the stupidity of all the fuss over events that happened almost 1,000 years ago?
I reckon its also a push back on the constant need to please the minority .
Fight the fights worth fighting .
The left damages it self by chaseing every little cause .
Since you’re pretty good at wider meanings…. How about an american sports team called the 9 11ers or the WMD’s?
In 1,000 years, who would care?
I don’t know how closely everyone is following the US elections for next year but I have been following the potential nominees are am really liking that Pete Buttigieg. Do you think the US is ready for an openly gay president?
Also I’m wondering if the Republicans think they’ll lose with Trump will they step-in to remove him (say if his tax returns so him to be a shameless crook)?
2020 could be very interesting
They're not ready for an openly female president. I reckon they’ll go for a pro wrestler next.
That's very democratic approach. Anyone can be President – and so anyone who has the funding to make a name for himself or her, is having a go. That's the spirit. Perhaps the term should be divided up into quarters like they do in business, and at that time they report their activity and their effectiveness and then get voted in or out, with a sort of list of waiting opportunists who want a turn and are ready to step up if called.
Reminds me of Brewsters Millions.
I reckon the states where being openly gay would reduce his vote are states that are currently solid Repug anyway. That opinion is based on working with manufacturing workforces in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania (admittedly the more liberal parts of those states) and even a couple of decades ago openly gay staff seemed totally accepted.
So I don't reckon that will directly affect his chances, but the electoral downside in solid red states may be more on tight House and Senate races. If there's a population that leans Dem but are unenthusiastic about the prez candidate, then it's so much harder to deal with the incredible hassle and time-suck involved in voting so it's a whole lot more tempting to just not bother.
As a candidate for prez, seems to me he needs to learn to spend more time considering the downsides to his policies. This HuffPo piece goes into some detail about issues with the housing policies he came up with and implemented as mayor.
The natural successor to the Trump presidency would be a Toon. Daffy Duck has the drive but seems aggressive. Jessica Rabbit might make a decent contender – not bad, but drawn that way.
Also I’m wondering if the Republicans think they’ll lose with Trump will they step-in to remove him (say if his tax returns so him to be a shameless crook)?
Let's look at the numbers. Impeachment in the House should probably work, the Dems have a comfortable majority. But to convict Darth Drumpf in the Senate requires 67 votes, and the Dems only have 47 senators, and up to maybe 4 of those might not have the spine to vote for conviction. So between 20 and 25 Repug senators would need to vote for conviction.
Right now, Mitt Romney probably would vote for conviction, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins are definite maybes. The rest of them would look at their political futures, ponder the examples of Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, Mark Sanford and others, and weigh the risk of getting primaried by vengeful Drumpfkins versus the risk of losing to a Democrat in the election.
There's a maximum of 8 Repug Senators at risk of losing to a Dem in 2020 (Collins being one), and 7 in 2022 (Murkowski being one). So even if all 15 Repugs that could conceivably be at risk of losing to a Dem in their next election plus Mitt Romney plus all Dems vote for conviction, that's still only 63.
The only way I see Il Douche out of the Oval Office before the 2020 election is either a medical event, or enough info comes out about his criminal exposure to actually penetrate the Supreme Orange Ego's consciousness and he realises he genuinely needs a legitimate pardon, so he negotiates his exit and pardon with Pence.
Its a funny thing..in this household we don't have a TV, so rely on RNZ to keep us in the loop on NZ news…so I was somewhat relieved to hear this the other morning..
"The New Zealand Disability Support Network says it is thankful to ministers who stepped in to prevent sector-wide funding cuts."..though as we all know, avoiding cuts never actually means that much as costs and demand inevitably rises.
But then I looked into it further..and sure enough..
'Every hour is questioned' – Advocates say Health Ministry quietly reducing funding for disabled after ruling out big cuts….
"Every hour of support is being questioned," said Community Care Trust (CCT) chief executive Mike Brummitt, whose Dunedin-based organisation looked after 280 people. "If someone gets 12 hours, they are saying do you need 10, or eight hours?"
Brummitt said he was recently informed by email that an intellectually disabled man in his 20s would have his funding cut in half – from $415 a day to $210.
"We know nobody has seen him since early 2017. No one spoke to our staff, his parents, advocate, no assessment. I've written back and said this is totally unsustainable."
CCT would continue to provide the same support to him, but at a financial loss.
The man's needs were complex and he required around-the-clock care, Brummitt said. When the organisation first took him on, he would not sleep in a bed, and curled up on the floor in the fetal position.
Anyone who can read that, and feel we are on the right path, has no heart.
"incrementalism" and Budget Responsibility Rules are going to be the death of some of us. Its a shame the disabled don't offer nice photo ops. in the minds of Labour Party spin doctors and publicists.
And if you can judge a society and people by how it treats its weakest and most vulnerable citizens..how well are we doing?
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/387502/disability-sector-thankful-planned-funding-cuts-scrapped
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12212304
I was going to suggest copious amounts of alcohol (see @ 2) because our culture is breaking down but then realised that this has been ‘our culture’ for yonks …
That needs to be looked into Siobhan.
it is a disgraceful situation.
keep taking cases like that to the minister.
"keep taking cases like that to the minister.".
She wants it fixed, not ignored. If you send something like this to the Minister it will go straight into the round filing cabinet on the floor by the Minister's desk.
We had a wee chat about this the other day Siobahn…and I have read all the emails the reporter refers to.
I'll add them to the ones I got when I OIA'ed the Misery of Health for details of the work they had done in relation to a 1999 discussion paper called "DSS Advanced Personal Care…" http://www.moh.govt.nz/notebook/nbbooks.nsf/0/ACC68EB427015F0DCC256BF70071DECD/$file/DSS%20advanced%20personal%20care.pdf
Now in 1999 the industry recognised there was a slight problem in that there was a small but significant number of people needing home based disability supports who needed a higher level of care than would normally be provided by unregulated carers. More registered/enrolled nurse level. My partner and I knew that the Miserly had not yet sorted this issue but had not seen anything in writing that actually defined the problem. Until I found that 1999 document…and until I got a dump of emails from the Misery in response to my OIA request. This was 2017.
And the bastards still hadn't sorted the problem. Now these are the super efficient bureaucrats Macro was lauding the other day. /open-mike-21-04-2019/#comment-1609899
I still haven't stopped laughing/crying/beating my fists against the wall.
I wish I could share with you those emails…the file is huge unfortunately…but these are the people on the big salaries getting backslaps from the Commonwealth Fund for their efficiency.
What the problem boils down to is that these Advanced Personal Cares attract 'risk' if performed by unqualified carers. And the funder (the Miserly) would be liable if for adverse events. So providers most often than not refuse to provide this level of care at the rate at which the MOH funds HCSS. And when challenged, the Ministry bureaucrats just say "we don't fund x,y or z." , even if the client would die without these tasks being performed. Hence family care, or incarceration in a residential facility where theoretically there is RN oversight…
ACC, on the other hand, get round this problem (I think) by funding 1/2 hour per week per client of RN oversight. The RN does not have to be there…just be available. And to my knowledge, this works.
But it is a simple solution that is way beyond the ability of those super efficient MOH bureaucrats to accept or implement for those eligible clients that need that level of care.
But this is super-efficient… as many of those needing this level of care have no option but to turn to family…who are paid nothing (as in my case) or a pittance compared to the NZDSN employed carers.
This is my world Siobahn, and those people have no heart.
Someone described them as sociopaths…I tend to agree.
And it is unlikely to change under this government.
Thank you for that Rosemary.
I can well imagine the size of your document file.
And having read of this particular aspect of your life, I really do wish you, and your partner, all the best.
Rosemary – I completely agree with you about the plight of disabled people in this country, and the lack of care that they receive, and the huge load that that places upon family and friends. The NGO's I know are struggling to make ends meet and the continual lack of funding that has been given to the sector over the years just makes things worse.
I think you get the wrong end of the stick when you think that I am not supportive of you, and when I say that despite all the problems you and others face, it may not be the bureaucrats who are completely at fault here. Now I too ,agree that many in the upper echelons of the MoH are in ordinary terms overpaid. But that doesn't mean that they are not doing their job properly within the funding constraints that they are given. They are the managers of the system – the governance of the system falls on the government of the day – and unfortunately over the past couple of decades NZers have elected governments that have failed to place a high priority on funding Health and Disability services in particular.
Looking at this from a macro level there are essentially 3 ways for a country to administer its Health services
The first Labour Govt introduced a health system in the 1935 along the lines of the first model. Over the years that model has been watered down as more affluent individuals have taken out Private Health Insurance. The effect of that has been to reduce pressure on the Government to fully fund Health in this country and over the years the effect has been that Governments fund as minimally as they can, and rely on the Private sector and individuals to pick up the slack. Australia has now a similar system but the difference is that they ensure that all (or most) can afford to back up their Health Insurance so that there is more equity within the system. There is also greater funding available across the Health service.
We certainly do not want devolve into the Health system of the US which has one of the highest costs and poorest outcomes of any health system in the developed world. Even on Faux News the other day – when Bernie proposed a Medicare for all ( a complete anathema to the Trump administration) he was met with resounding applause.
“…it may not be the bureaucrats who are completely at fault here. Now I too ,agree that many in the upper echelons of the MoH are in ordinary terms overpaid. But that doesn’t mean that they are not doing their job properly within the funding constraints that they are given. They are the managers of the system – the governance of the system falls on the government of the day – and unfortunately over the past couple of decades NZers have elected governments that have failed to place a high priority on funding Health and Disability services in particular.”
Hmmm…funny how governments have changed but the culture within the Ministry has largely remained the same?
I too used to blame ‘the Government’, until reading about the estimated cost of paying family carers should we “all come out of the woodwork” and demand to be paid like any other carer providing assessed supports. In 2008…under Labour…the estimated cost (as told to the HRRT) of paying family carers was between $17-593 million dollars.
Now let that sink in a minute…this is the very best the Ministry of Health could do by way of a guesstimate? This was 2006-2008…not exactly the dark ages and even then the NASCs were collecting data on all clients.
Even when all was lost through the Judicial system, (under National now, in 2012) and with the omnipotent Socrates database well established, the Minister was still making dire predictions of fiscal apocalypse should there be unrestrained payment of family members providing assessed care of those with high and very high support needs.
I almost, (but not quite) felt sorry for Ryall as he demonstrated to the media cameras his appalling lack of knowledge of New Zealand’s disability system. ‘Eek, shriek!”, he implied,’..and if you factor in ACC, you’ll see how the costs just go up and up!’..Stupid bugger didn’t even know that ACC had been paying family carers for over a decade…in fact 50% of the paid carers of ACC clients were family. So who was feeding this pile of twaddle to the Government Minister?
Yet it was next door to impossible to even get anything close to an actual number of MOH:DSS clients, over the age of 18 with assessed high and very high support needs who were not receiving any funding for their care because family were providing most or all of their care. It wasn’t that the information wasn’t there…it was that the Ministry wasn’t offering it willingly and the Government seemed unable to ask the right questions of the Ministry.
There was talk of there being 30,000….(the latest count of the total number of DSS clients is 33,000.https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/report-clients-allocated-dss-funding-jul17.pdf) Frustrated, I asked a few specific questions of MOH DSS in late 2012 to try to get a more accurate picture of the situation, and it transpired that the number of very high needs over 18 year old DSS clients with little or no hourly based funding for their care was 1286.
And if you’ve followed this particular case…through the many court hearings and discussions etc you will know that the National Government opted to fund 1600 parent carers.
And if you also followed up you’ll know that the number of DSS clients who chose the option of Funded Family Care was less than 400. One quarter of the number budgeted for…so what happened to the rest of the $$$?
Some of us have kept track over the years, through different governments and different Ministers. There have been two constants…one, the Ministers have been largely ignorant ineffectuals and two, the same old names keep being mentioned in MOH dispatches.
Only a complete purge of MOH bureaucrats will bring about the necessary culture change. The Ministry needs to be staffed by actual Public Servants.
And I do think you do the NZ voter a disservice by implying that we keep voting in Governments that fail to “… to place a high priority on funding Health and Disability services in particular.”
How about we have a referendum..”Would you be willing to pay an extra 1.5-2.5% tax which would be dedicated solely to rehabilitating our health and disability system, in addition to the current Vote Health budget?”
"In talks, I would tell the story of the Natufians. Late in the last Ice Age, in the territory marked on our maps as Israel and Palestine, they lived in year-round villages. They were among the first people anywhere to settle and they lived like this for 1,500 years, fifty generations, long enough for any memory of their ancestors’ wanderings to pass into the dreamtime of gods and culture heroes. Then came the Younger Dryas, the 1,200-year cold snap that turned Europe back to tundra and broke the pattern of the seasons which watered the wooded valleys in which they had made their homes. They knew nothing of the processes by which this climate change had come upon them; it was not a consequence of their actions, only a shift in the weather. Within a short time, they abandoned their settled way of life and became wandering gatherers and hunters, returning to the old villages only to rebury the bones of their dead in the ruins of the houses.
Then I would recall a passage in After the Ice, Stephen Mithen’s history of the prehistoric world, where I first learned about the Natufians. He sends a time-traveller to walk unobserved through the lives of the people he is writing about: coming upon a band of late Natufian nomads, he follows them to a gathering in one of the ruined villages. The interment of bones is accompanied by storytelling, feasting and celebration; the connection between past and present is reaffirmed. In Mithen’s reconstruction, these days of festival offer a respite from the hardships of the present. Yet afterwards, as the people go back out onto the land, they do so gladly: ‘They are all grateful for the return to their transient lifestyle within the arid landscapes of the Mediterranean hills, the Jordan valley and beyond. It is, after all, the only lifestyle they have known and it is the one that they love.’"
https://dark-mountain.net/after-we-stop-pretending/
How did they make their alcohol?
Buried calabashes of fermented fruit, mapped with a story, retrieved when needed.
I got that Mithen book last year, haven't started it yet. "If everyone does X, then all this scary stuff will go away" is typical leftist thought. Proceeds from a false assumption. Since when have humans ever acted in unison?? Anyway, moving on, we could liken the climate-change impact on expectations to oceanic navigation of old.
I'm no sailor, but I know plain sailing only lasts awhile. Adaption to changing weather is essential. Using ocean currents is intelligent. People don't usually do it unless they have a plan, or at least an imagined destination of sorts, so when there's a small tribe in the waka collective intent drives the enterprise.
This is turning into a typical `how to get there' post so I'll just finish by pointing out how suitable the analogy seems to be. Despair isn't part of the scenario!!
The winds of change allowed polynesian colonization during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), A.D. 800–1300,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0031018283900871
https://www.pnas.org/content/111/41/14716
Trump's dementia is getting progressively worse –
Yet more leftist hypocrisy? Only if the prof is a leftist. Mentally-ill folk are now part of the community. We're meant to view them as normal citizens, ever since politically-correct decision-making deemed this stance proper in the nineties. As such, they have citizens' rights, including the right to be a political leader. It's how democracy works.
The prof may get brain police knocking on his door sometime soon, taking him away to a re-education camp, where some kind person will explain the facts of life to him, and he will be required to write this line a thousand times: I must not discriminate against the mentally ill, not even Trump.
"Mentally-ill folk are now part of the community."
They always were dennis you just ignored and pretended they weren't there. You do seem to have some major prejudice against those you deem to have mental health issues and your writing on this subject is woeful. Even here in defending you make snide asides about those trying to protect the many many people with mental health issues. You should be ashamed imo.
Crap, Marty. Everyone knows they were institutionalised until the closing of the mental hospitals. And don't insinuate prejudice where none exists. That's unethical. You know perfectly well that I did not criticise any victim. Any reader can see for themselves that I was criticising the prof!
"We're meant to view them as normal citizens, ever since politically-correct decision-making deemed this stance proper in the nineties."
These type of statements from you indicate a strange attitude imo. You love 'othering' those with mental health issues using language like 'them' and 'they' and you don't even get it – possibly an age thing but whatever – not a good attitude imo
Not strange unless you have no empathy with victims. When that guy was killed with an axe by his flatmate (a mental-health patient released into the community) while in bed (asleep, I presume), a story that made headlines back then, it made the policy seem insane to me. Not to you??
Talking out of your arse is what you were doing. Obviously having the POTUS suffering from dementia is an issue that would need addressing.
In regard to hitting the red button, you have a point. I vaguely recall there's a fail-safe design around that though (chain-of-command operational consensus).
In all other respects, you're wrong. If it were obvious, there would already be high-level discussions on a bipartisan basis, reported in the media. So you're just doing the same jerk-off as the prof. Evidence to the contrary required!
I vaguely recall there's a fail-safe design around that though (chain-of-command operational consensus).
No. There isn't. There really isn't.
When Nixon was showing obvious signs of stress leading those around him to fear a breakdown, Schlesinger committed an act of gross insubordination and instructed those further down the chain of command to check with him or Kissinger before acting on any orders from Nixon. Thank fuck it was never tested what would actually happen if Nixon tried to launch nukes.
There's a good chance Mattis did the same, and I'd guess it would be fairly likely those down the chain of command would actually check with Mattis before launching.
But Mattis is gone, and the acting Secretary of Defense is ex-Boeing swampthing Shanahan. Who almost certainly wouldn't dare do anything that might be construed as standing up to Grand Generalissimo Bonespurs. Nor would he have any standing or respect from those further down the chain, so it would be very unlikely Shanahan would be able to stop a madman launch order even if he wanted to.
Everyone knows “they” were institutionalised’
No. “they” were not.
The vast majority of people with mental health issues led normal functional contributing lives.
DF. You are full of prejudice and misinformation. Otherwise known as full of shit.
Just to change the topic for a break.
some kind person will explain the facts of life to him, and he will be required to write this line a thousand times:
That made me think of Bart Simpson and his frequent interaction with lines written on the blackboard. (Did you know he leapt up in ballet showing amazing talent. You might wait for the same to happen with Trump, but truth is stranger than fiction.)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9mUOKI5Y9Y
Heh. I'm going to be off-line awhile. My laptop has developed sleep problems halfway thro its 6th year, so I got a cheap notebook as insurance policy & now have to get all my useful stuff duplicated onto it in case the laptop decides to die as well. Fortunately my local computer dudes always seem able to solve my problems quickly at reasonable cost…
What a hero!!!
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/23/vacant-seat-for-may-as-party-leaders-meet-greta-thunberg
The dreaming continues from the rear guard protecting their world from the inevitable change occuring. They will be remembered all right as will we. What will they say about what you/we did to change?
Why don't you tell us the rest of the story? After talking to the MPs she went straight back to the Airport and caught her next flight to a place where she could spread the word that flying must stop.
You know. Just like James Shaw it is a case of don't do what they do. Do what they tell you to do because they know better.
I'd rather she flew than you and your ilk with your selfish overseas holidays and pretend work functions.
"After talking to the MPs she went straight back to the Airport and caught her next flight to a place where she could spread the word that flying must stop."
Did she? Can you link to this information, because AFAIK she attends meetings by land-based travel.
And also, your criticism – well used by practised diverters, fails to recognise that current society and systems support and encourage individual choices both financially and in convenience, that are detrimental to the environment and community wellbeing.
The premise that the system needs to change stands – separate from individual instances.
She doesn't fly, Alwyn. She only travels by train or someone else's electric car.
After talking to the MPs she went straight back to the Airport and caught her next flight to a place where she could spread the word that flying must stop.
If you actually bother to go and read the article, it includes a graphic: "Greta's train journey through Europe." Electric trains, at that.
She may have arrived in London by train as that diagram shows. However you don't think she was going to remain there did you?
I was assured, by someone who heard her, that she was heading back to Sweden by plane. As I said "After talking to MPs." I'll admit that the statement "went straight back to the airport" rather condenses the time scale.
caught out lying again alwyn to push your climate change denial agenda – what a fail
Do you have any actual evidence or link? Or are you just repeating a hearsay smear?
If there were any factual basis to that claim, it would be astonishing for right-wing media to be silent, they would be much more likely to scream it from the front page as hypocrisy to try to discredit her. But so far … zip.
Was Lardy Williams or the Horeskin that little someone wally?
Māori television showed a documentary on the work of photographer Sebastião Salgado a couple of nights ago. I missed seeing it at the International Film Festival, and was hooked when I found it while channel surfing.
It documents his decades of travelling and immersion into some of the most undeveloped and/or deprived communities. As well as capturing some of the most atrocious human behaviours and crimes. A harrowing but very informative watch, which also records his understandably bleak conclusion of the irredeemable nature of the human race.
The final project is his personal redemption – a trite description – moving into nature photography and planting millions of trees on an inherited drought ridden family farm.
It is on demand for a week or so – if anyone wants to view: The Salt of the Earth
Quite tough to sit through, that.
Yes, did you watch it as well?
Yes, 2nd time for me, it was first shown on the MC about a year or so ago. Well worth the second look to remind me of the importance of his work.
We loved the movie. Most who take (serious) photos would get something out of it.
Another good movie about a photographer is Finding Vivian Maier: http://www.vivianmaier.com/film-finding-vivian-maier/
A very minor observation – disappointed to hear Lisa Owen (RNZ Checkpoint, ~5:24 pm, 23 April 2019) refer to the Government's 'Provincial Growth Fund' as "Shane Jones' regional money bag" (@00:25).
https://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018692048
It would help if Jones stopped giving people excellent reasons for assuming the provincial growth fund is being used as an influence-peddling fund for NZ First in general and Jones in particular.
Dunno if this is really a reality thing. Seems more like perceptions to me. I agree that his style of operating encourages the perception. But he's just doing his job.
If his allocations were unreasonable, evidence of that would be accumulating. I've seen no such compilation in the media, so I'm inclined to think DMK has a valid point. She ought not to be seen as recycling National's spin.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/111976628/shane-jones-called-on-to-resign-over-intervention-in-prosecution-of-a-northland-transport-company
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=12219902
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/05-04-2019/a-long-list-of-every-shane-jones-snafu/
http://breambaynews.co.nz/pdf/full_10-4-08.pdf
Northland, Tree planting, Logging Companies, The Semenoff Family long long history', Family connections, filipino workers, Sand, DOC, Talleys, political donations…How Things are Done 'up North'….nothing to see here of course
His habit of intervening on behalf of his donors and his spurning conflict-of-interest mitigation measures all by themselves should rule him out of being put in charge of distributing a billion dollars, let alone when an electorate he plans to contest is likely to be a major beneficiary of the funding decisions. In other words, it's a real thing – his demonstrated lack of integrity, not media bias, is prompting the cynicism.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/18-04-2019/how-an-oia-laid-bare-the-pork-barrel-shambles-that-is-shane-jones-provincial-growth-fund/
Not only but also – today's Herald "Barry Soper: Killing capital gains tax the painful part of politics for Jacinda Ardern" no it wasn't, well I bet it wasn't, but fools like Soper can't see or will admit it.
That's pretty much how the Potentate of Provincial Pomposity refers to it.
Jones is and always will be labours Achilles heal.
Lisa Owen is a grubby little number.
Could someone from RNZ unravel her cussed little tidbits ?
Or is that beyond the realms of the highly paid warts posing as unbiased creeps ?
The Nice Lady who gives Lisa Owen the news might lower her voice Pitch. Lower from squeaky high to Baritone. Please.
Hi Psycho Milt
You a bit out of sorts today? Simon getting to be a bit much for you perhaps. He seems to have Psycho problems like yourself.
Even so, advising the Regions that you hate them receiving Funds for Major works and Projects – could mean that you dislike Aoteraroa from top to bottom. You will be no Loss.
If you're going to capitalise nouns, please capitalise all of them (or better yet, just don't capitalise nouns – we're writing English, not German).
Just to clarify: billion-dollar regional growth fund = good, putting an influence-peddler in charge of deciding who gets the funding = bad.
I am pleased to see that there is consistency in the complaints about racist behaviour. Here we have someone, rightfully, being shamed because he claimed that he wouldn't allow his children to go out with a Maori.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/112204312/man-who-wont-let-his-children-date-mori-women-shamed-in-antiracism-campaign
I wonder if the protesters were the same ones who complained about Hone Harawira expressing the view that he wouldn't allow his children to go out with a Pakeha? I hope they were the same people involved in both protests about the bigoted actions.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10665449
Good.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/387611/christchurch-terror-attack-families-offered-option-to-stay-permanently
Immigration New Zealand has created a special visa category for those directly impacted by the shootings at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood mosque, as well as their families…
The government says the Christchurch Response 2019 category has been created to realise the impact of the tragedy and to give people currently on temporary and resident visas some certainty.
Applications can be made from tomorrow by anyone who was present at either mosque during the attacks and their immediate families.
The special circumstances mean the definition of "immediate family" also includes dependent children, someone's partner's parents and grandparents of children under 25.
Immigration NZ, on their website, state they will confirm those present at the mosque attacks by checking police records.
Trump and the USA show themselves as a dysfunctional government with conservative religiosity at its roots.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/apr/23/un-resolution-passes-trump-us-veto-threat-abortion-language-removed
The UN has backed a resolution on combatting rape in conflict but excluded references in the text to sexual and reproductive health, after vehement opposition from the US.
The resolution passed by the security council on Tuesday after a three-hour debate and a weekend of fierce negotiations on the language among member states that threatened to derail the process.
The vote was carried 13 votes in favour. China and Russia abstained. On Monday, the US had threatened to veto the resolution but it is understood that last minute concessions on Tuesday morning got the US on side
Changed the comment editor tool library and style again.
Pretty weird how the size of the control hasn’t changed… aaaaaaaaaaaaa bbbbbbbbbb ccccccccccc dddddddddd
Ok the wrapping works – fine – it just doesn’t have the right border???
Doesn’t do that on the test system.
Hi Lynne
I am only able to write very short sentences like this. Anything longer goes into the spam trap. Or once even directed back to the ‘Policy’.
I can put up links, but only if I make no supporting comment.
I suspect that this is some sort of technical glitch.
Any advice?
Not a few months ago, I was considering rejoining the Labour Parte
Then this struck me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SV85NVP1nc
Could just as easily be Pulla Bent’s Neshnool as Grunt Robitson’s Labia
At the mention of labia, I couldn’t resist:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B4437BxAHB4
I recall it being funny in the ’80s.
hah, so much for that, Hercules Returns was made in 1993.
a funny aussie movie.
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute .
We have to CHANGE the way we do everything this is a good idea that the local and central government should be championing a place were you can rent tool & equipment for little cost. All so I had to DUMP a good washing machine and fridge because they couldn’t fit in my pocket as that’s the only storage that was available. I would have had a garage sale as we call it here and sold some items a give some away but the sandflys have scared all the people away . I say local council needs to have a place well advised to drop off good still going fine like whiteware kitchen ware anything that can be used by other.
We need to get away from the USE and toss it culture we need to make things last 20 years or longer paper packaging to.
Aristotle House in Oxford is not as grand as it sounds. A commercial block built by the canal in the 1960s, it is no longer fit for paying tenants, so its owner, Wadham College, allows a group of social enterprises to stay there, like official squatters. And there’s evidence of their enterprise everywhere outside, from the drop-box for returning poetry books, to the compost heaps built from old pallets, and the young Victoria plum tree blossoming in a pot by the door. Inside, for those who know about it, is the Oxfordlibrary of things. It sounds like the setting for a Philip Pullman novel, and represents a vision of humanity that’s nearly as fantastical – an idea so simple and so brilliant that, the first time you hear it, you wonder why it hasn’t conquered the world already. Then you wonder if it’s just about to change. Imagine you have a grimy old picnic table that needs sanding after a winter in the garden. Or you want to host a Eurovision party, but your TV is too small for everyone to see. Commercially renting a belt sander for the weekend costs about £40, and a projector much more, so unless you’re on good terms with a well-equipped neighbour, you either spend money on a device you will hardly use, or you give up. But what if someone volunteered to be that neighbour, as people now have in Frome, Crystal Palace, Stirling, Edinburgh, Totnes, Oxford and in growing numbers around the world? If they could just gather a collection of extremely, but only occasionally, useful items, and find a place to keep them, there would be no need for everyone else to buy their own. Even paying a small fee to cover costs, we would save money, and space in our homes, and the benefits to the environment in waste prevented would be enormous. Indeed, as you browse for Oxford’s belt sander (£8 a week) and projector (£10 a night), you might decide, while you’re at it, to borrow a pressure washer for the patio (£10 a day), and add a disco ball (£5 a week) and chocolate fountain (ditto) for the party. You’ll live a cheaper, cleaner, more enjoyable and more sustainable life Ka kite ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/24/library-of-things-borrowing-scheme-conquer-world
Here you go Whanau we have people who treat water like a gravy train instead of the respecting WAI water as a life giving and taking source and force it is they need to protect Wai water for our next generation our Mokopuna grandchildren rights to a happy healthy life need to be respected.
The Queensland minister for water, Anthony Lynham, also strongly denied his government had backed EAA’s sale of overland flows, as Joyce claimed.
“What we had supported in 2015 was completely different,” he said. Queensland proposed the Commonwealth buy both of EAA’s farms and all its water, including river water rights, he said.
A desktop review had put the price at $123m, and would have yielded 57,000ML of water including more secure water rights, he said.
Instead Joyce proceeded to buy half the volume of a less reliable type of water entitlement for $80m
Queensland minister for water, Anthony Lynham, also strongly denied his government had backed EAA’s sale of overland flows, as Joyce claimed.
“What we had supported in 2015 was completely different,” he said. Queensland proposed the Commonwealth buy both of EAA’s farms and all its water, including river water rights, he said.
A desktop review had put the price at $123m, and would have yielded 57,000ML of water including more secure water rights, he said.
Instead Joyce proceeded to buy half the volume of a less reliable type of water entitlement for $80m
Meanwhile the Guardian has learned that the energy minister, Angus Taylor, was listed in the annual report of the Australian company as a director of the Caymans parent, Eastern Australia Irrigation, at least until some time in the 2012-13 financial year. He was also a director of a second Caymans company, Agricultural Managers Ltd, which served as the management company for the fund.
Agricultural Managers Ltd, which is separate from Eastern Australian Agriculture and Eastern Australian Irrigation, provided management services to the complex investment structure that included several overseas investorsUsually management companies in these sort of securitised structures undertake the financing, advise on tax, prepare documentation and send investors payments. For that they are paid a management fee and in some cases a fee based on the performance of the fund. This can occur during the life of the fund or when it was wound up.
Ka kite ano links below
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/apr/25/new-questions-raised-over-calculations-behind-80m-water-buyback
Eco Maori can see this huge problem unfolding before my EYES The wealthy made most of their money from burning CARBON. The effects of climate change is going to CAUSE huge problems for the common poor people that is WHY the WEALTHY nations need to step up and help the poor Nation it is the correct way to help lesson the damage caused by the climate change on the POOR.
The wealthy have to realise that we are all HUMANS geneticly identical. If they don't help a super bug could develop in the places we're the poor people are living in unhumane places that could effect people that are close to them.
The Great old saying is its better cheaper not to make a MESS that it is to make a big MESS and try to CLEAN IT UP not rocket science just LOGIC Hence helping thy NABOUR the super wealth just have to do more to help mitigate Climate change 9
While the rich world braces for future climate change, the poor world is already being devastated by it
(CNN) — "Upside down" are the only words Manush Albert Alben has to describe life after the powerful Cyclone Idai.
Nearly two weeks since the powerful cyclone destroyed most of the city of Beira, Mozambique, it is a long way from normal. "There's no money, no groceries," Alben, a fisherman, said while sitting in his wooden pirogue on a local beach. "We are suffering but trying to hold on
Known for its busy port and views of the Indian Ocean, the 19th-century city used to be the fourth largest in the country. Now Beira will go down in history as being "90% wiped out" by global warming, said Graça Machel, a former Mozambican freedom fighter, politician and deputy chair of The Elders, who spoke to CNN on the phone after visiting the city
Link below Ka kite ano
https://edition-m.cnn.com/2019/03/31/africa/poorest-hit-the-hardest-climate-change-mozambique-intl/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2F
Here is a story of poor country's being badly effected by HUMAN CAUSED CLIMATE CHANGE. We have to help them all.
South Africa floods claim 60 lives after Durban rains
'We couldn't save the children'
One man, who lost eight of his family members when a mudslide swallowed their home, has spoken to Nomsa Maseko about the moments leading up to the tragedy
Thamsanqa Dlamini said that he heard a loud bang first before water came "gushing" into their house through the walls.
"I heard my children screaming from the bedroom," he recalled.
"I tried to rush to help them but the strong water current forcefully pushed me into another room and I was under the collapsed wall.
Ka kite ano P.S don't let all the other stories drown out our fight against climate change deniers
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/387765/south-africa-floods-claim-60-lives-after-durban-rains
Kia ora Newshub .
Its cool the Prince is visiting Aotearoa. Those Kiwis cycling around Turkey look a bit worn out ANZAC day has been cool .
The helicopter rescue crew that were on the one that crashed in the Auckland islands were extremely lucky if they were a few km out in Tangaroa they would have been much worse off I no the waters cold there its was snowing at sea when I was last there . The Karapeoro shooting is a sham Iv been in that pie shop a few times over the years .
Britain getting some of Huawei 5G equipment no I don't think NZ have ban Huawei totally from building our 5G network ???????.
Bad luck on the moon landing in 3s there are a lot of Phenomenon that scientists can not explain or give the fact on .
Yes tamariki need to have boundaries on screen time on cellphone tablet use the same as everything. Ka kite ano
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute
Eco Maori viewers are not just Tamariki muppets why are you trying so hard to stop my post????
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute
Whanau I go outside a the elictric AVENUE starts up sandflys driving around the block
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute .