The scientific evidence is clear, reducing inequality with cash injections to the most disadvantaged gives them the resources they need to escape poverty benefiting and enriching the whole of society.
Where does the cash come?
It comes from government which gains its income from taxes on the more well off.
The political representatives of the more well off, like National and ACT are against taxing the well off for any sort of social programs even if those programs would benefit the whole of society. And so will campaign to oppose them.
Fundamental to this campaign is the promotion of the idea, that the poor are indigent, irresponsible, stupid and lazy, and responsible for their own distress and powerlessness.
Relentlessly the representatives of the rich will push the idea, that taxing the well off to fund social programs will only see the less well off spend more on drugs and booze and gambling and other social evils.
Again and again studies like this prove the opposite. That given the resources the poor will use them raise themselves and their families out of poverty.
There is more than one way that society's wealth can be distributed more equitably, While the benefits of governments doing this directly is backed by studies like this.
Governments are not the only agencies that have the power to redistribue the wealth of society more equitably. More traditionally, trade unions have played this role.
I am reminded here of the rise of South Korea to become the economic power house that it is today. This transformation began with the rise of powerful trade unions that led successful struggles to wrest more of that society's wealth for the working people. The increase in well being of the working population led to increases in productivity, the continuing rise in incomes and resources at the bottom of South Korean society led to higher achievement levels for South Korean children in schools leading to more children of working families to be more able to move up to receive the advantages of higher education. The struggle of the trade union movement in South Korea was also linked to the struggle for more democracy and openness in South Koran society.
These hard won advances were fought every step of the way. As will the proven benfits of government led redistribution will be too.
These experiments could lift millions out of dire poverty
Randomized trials are changing the way governments and aid organizations study — and deliver — measures to reduce inequality and poverty.
In 2012, the government of Niger began giving some of its poorest citizens free money. Over the next few years, around 100,000 participating households received 24 monthly payments of roughly US$16 — which more than doubled their typical spending power.
The programme was based on decades of evidence from carefully controlled trials, suggesting that simple cash infusions can transform lives…..
On Saturday Mickysavage, posted in praise of UK union leader Mick Lynch.
Attached to the bottom of his post, Mickysavage added the Green Day rendition of John Lennon's song 'Working Class Hero'.
The Green Day backing video features refugees from tyrannies where campaigns for social justice and against extreme inequality are suppressed with massive violence and oppression. Local ruling elites of these countries, quick to suppress any sort of trade union or democratic activity, are often supported and backed, (and also armed with military aid), by Western powers that benefit from the neo-colonial oppression, exploitation and looting of these countries in an international web of binding business contracts, trade deals and political and military partnership links.
What reminded me of your comment, Barry, and the link you provided to proven studies of how to relieve poverty, was the first line sung by Green Day,
"As soon as you're born, they make you feel small
By giving you nothing instead of it all"
Despite the proven success of the trials in relieving poverty by providing resources and funds to poor people, these trials will never be rolled out as government programs. The international links between the local ruling elites and the ruling elites in the West who in partnership also benefit from the inequality, poverty and low incomes in these countries, (possibly even more than the local elites), will simply not allow it.
It will take a hard fought campaign against these vested interests, the same for the struggle of the RMTU workers, led my Mick Lynch.
Royal Navy could escort grain ships through Odesa blockade
Tuesday May 24 2022, 12.15pm BST
Britain is in discussion with allies about sending warships to the Black Sea to protect freighters carrying Ukrainian grain. A “coalition of the willing” would aim to break Russia’s blockade in weeks by providing a “protective corridor” from Odesa through the Bosphorus….
…..the coalition could include some Nato countries and other countries reliant on the grain.
It is thought that Egypt, which has been hit hard by the wheat shortage, might be willing to take part….
While the US hegemon might regard the Pacific region as a US Lake.
(on a smaller scale), Russia regards the Black Sea as a Russian lake,
Moscow claims it sees ‘true’ plans behind Ukrainian grain coalition
RT – 23 Jun, 2022 13:16
Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
“The attempts to organize some kind of international coalition for the implementation of these procedures are aimed solely at interfering in the Black Sea region under the auspices of the UN. And we see this quite clearly,”
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Thursday also addressed the issue of helping Ukrainian grain leave the ports, saying that it would require “an international effort.”
Both war and climate change have the same drivers.
It follows, that if we can't stop the war, We can't stop climate change.
Stopping war, is stopping climate change.
…..Austria has already had to restart a mothballed power plant running on coal (which is much dirtier as a fuel than gas). Germany is also firing up its coal generators. That’s bitter for a country that had instead been planning to exit coal power altogether. It’s especially wrenching for the Greens, who are running the combined energy and commerce ministry and have to implement this policy U-turn.
Russian warlord Putin gloats at Europe's dependence on Russian fossil fuel supplies while mocking the urgent need to turn toward renewables. A turn which would undermine Europe's (and the world's), dependence on fossil fuels, and Putin's ability to use this dependence as a weapon.
Russian leader has buried the old world order and outlined his view on Russia’s and the world’s future, in a key address
…..“blindly believing in renewable sources” and abandoning long-term natural gas contracts with Russia led to the spike in energy prices last year, according to the Russian leader.
When asked why Mr Ross was allowed to run for election in Botany last year given the earlier complaint about his behaviour, Mr Goodfellow said the matter was simple.
"It was a matter that was raised by a couple of people and was dealt with – and actually to the satisfaction of the parties," he said.
At the time of the agreement Ross was the senior whip for the National Party and one of their best fundraisers. He went on to be promoted to the front bench after serving as Bridges' "numbers man" during the leadership election.
Happy Matariki to everyone. I have a question about the Commercialisation of the celebration. I know it has been discussed recently but, in my opinion, posed by bad faith actors on this site. Am watching the TVNZ Matariki Special and in ad breaks they are advertising a "Give me a Clue Matariki Special" If they can advertise that, why can't other commercial identities use Matariki in their advertising. I'm just asking about consistency. Cheers.
Only really caught up on yesterday's conversation later in the day.
I don't really understand the impulse to determine how others view this holiday, and pre-determine what significance it holds for all.
The Christians I know celebrate Christmas in both the commercialised cultural way, and with attendant church activities and sermons. They neither demand the same from others, or begrudge those that hold different faiths from not recognising the religious component.
I don't know any monarchists that have a particular form of celebration on Queen's Birthday, or unionists that hold particular celebrations on Labour Day. If they do, I've heard nothing from them about how everyone celebrated the same.
Isn't the point of any state holiday is a day to do what you wish, with those you want to share it with?
In response to any references to the commercialisation of a Māori holiday. Well, I view it as a holiday named in recognition of a Māori calendar event, which has been allotted in a multicultural society. The recognition and assignment of that name is enough.
An assumed world view about all Māori is not helpful.
Although, I choose to be a feminist, I have differing ideas about feminism than other feminists, and often disagree on feminism. As a Māori, I recognise that the diversity of individuals and their thoughts and perspectives – as with non-Māori – do not often align. As with other demographics, even if there is agreement on a topic, there remains diverse views on both outcomes and implementation.
In this region, Māori were the prime traders and were exporting produce to England, in the mid-late 1800's. To assume that they would be against trading on a holiday (if the concept of national holiday was understood) is just that… an assumption.
If to be treated and accepted equally is the goal, the the use of Matariki in advertising is an indicator.
Funny thing about this all is that i was asked by Maori – last year and this year – to make "Matariki Stars" for them to give away to children in foster care and children in school.
Should i have refused? Lol, of course not. As a native Caucasian /nonmale/nontrans/formerly known as woman person thingy from a country were we happily invent food to eat for special holidays it was a pleasure for me to make these chocolate stars and i will do them again last year.
Manawatia a Matariki to you Molly. My the ‘new’ year bring you many blessing and happiness.
You could call it commercialisation as it is literally the same as making Easter Bunnies for Easter or Santas for Christmas. It is a product made for sale for that particular day. It just depends on which step of the ideological purity ladder one stands.
To me any holiday needs a special food that you can only get that one day or few days during which the festival/holiday is feted. It makes it a celebration. But i am roman catholic and grew up with pretend drinking of blood and eating of flesh of Christ and thus have no issue with symbolism in food attached to ones culture. Food is part of celebrations.
I don't have a problem with people being paid, and I don't think this is commercialisation in this context either. Commercialisation would be a business making up some product to sell to take advantage of Matariki and putting on a big sale.
I view both to some extend as 'commercialisation, but i don't understand why we are ok with boxing day sales, Easter sales, Queens birthday sales but suddenly draw the line at this holiday. Either we do or we don't. Re- Community thing, making these stars cost money, and i no longer – like many other small businesses my size that used to support various charities fully and for free- can no longer afford to support these charities without at least charging for cost of making hte products that they would like to get from us. Premises, lisencing, material, etc all that costs money.
In fact i am open and working today. Just as i would do on any other holiday. Too poor to not work. 🙂
Boxing Day sales are evil, and a direct result of the whole global system that is killing the planet, enforcing slave labour in poor countries, and undermining worker rights in places like NZ.
I fully support shops to be closed on those days other than essentials.
Like I said, no problem with you making the stars as part of your business, it just wasn't apparent in the first comment where you talked about the stars being given away and I assumed it was a community thing.
and yes, yes, I understand poor people need sales to be able to buy stuff. However politically, we still have to argue against neoliberalism and for a better system. Otherwise we're just saying sorry underclass, this is the way it is, adapt if you can or die or whatever.
A Big Sale that happens to coincide with a public holiday when many flock to the shops & malls to kill time wandering with their heads bent down focussed on the little screens they hold in their hands and spend money to re-fill their materialistic needs. Viva la Commerce!
These neoliberal attitudes are almost impossible to shake. They have become normalised (as in normative), legalised & regulated, and embedded and permeate almost everything and everybody in our society. It took a few decades, but here we are.
Briefly toyed with the idea of a ‘quick’ Post but quickly running out of time, as usual 🙁
From my perspective, giving the role and responsibility of making a statement about neoliberalism and commercialism to this new Māori named state holiday is disrespectful to people as a whole, and a disservice to Māori long-term.
Address the issue across the board, instead of placing that whole conversation and burden on Māori concepts.
You’re accusing me of something I have not committed and reading way too much into it – I did not mention or imply anything specific about Māori and/or Matariki.
But since you provoked me, I’ll give you something to sink your teeth in.
Māori concepts and culture are being (mis-)appropriated all the time, usually for commercial (and political) reasons. At the same time, Māori concepts and culture are under permanent threat, socially, economically (e.g. tourism), and demographically and they are in chronic danger of being assimilated into our Westerns ways. To keep up, to get ahead, and to counteract past damages that have led and still lead to inequality and inequity in our society the answer/solution for some seems to be education, career, success, and then trying (out-)compete with Pākehā in the Pākehā world. In doing so, these Māori, with their heart and spirit in the right place, sell their soul to the Devil and lose their spirit in the process. It is a Catch-22 unless we, collectively as a society as a whole, come together and help their cause. The reaction to this is cries and outbursts and first twisting and then weaponising terms & concepts such as partnership and co-governance.
As you can see from the above rant, hopefully, I am not disrespectful to Māori and do not do a disservice to Māori long-term. Neither am I placing a burden on Māori concepts. You have turned it upside-down and back-to-front.
I don't want to quibble with much of what you say here. In particular I fully agree that culture can be easily misappropriated. We are for example seeing this play out as Putin steals the Russian memory of their honourable role in defeating Hitler, for a wholly debased purpose in Ukraine.
But it is also true that any living culture evolves all the time, adapting as the world around it shifts. We cannot and should not demand the Maori world remain frozen in a kind of fantasy pre-European aspic.
Yes, I agree completely, cultures evolve, which is something entirely different from being assimilated by a dominant and/or colonial culture. What I see happening is ‘Māori- washing’ thanks to the good intentions of PC warriors and the likes. It is superficial and commercial and only has the veneer of the culture it is supposed to represent but it is just empty hollow packaging and meaningless as such. Having good intentions is not the same as doing the right thing.
Te Ao Māori cannot remain frozen “in a kind of fantasy pre-European aspic” because: 1) it no longer exists; 2) who determines this way anyway? If we were to trust and respect and allow Māori some agency in determining these things for, by, and with themselves we would be on the right track, IMO. However, this seems to lead to absurd notions and equally absurd resistance, IMHO.
Final note: I guess that because some of the efforts feel so superficial and meaningless people feel more (easily) inclined to take a stance against them, i.e., they object and attack what they see as ‘virtue-signalling’ and ‘posturing’ rather than a genuine cause.
I apologise. My comment was not directed at you specifically. It was a generalised comment about the idea of treating this holiday in a different way to other state holidays, and addressing the reasons for doing so.
"In doing so, these Māori, with their heart and spirit in the right place, sell their soul to the Devil and lose their spirit in the process. It is a Catch-22 unless we, collectively as a society as a whole, come together and help their cause. The reaction to this is cries and outbursts and first twisting and then weaponising terms & concepts such as partnership and co-governance."
In some cases this may be true, in other cases individuals will make choices that are not congruent with Māori values, because of other reasons, including personal selfishness, ego and sometimes for reasons of opportunity. These universal impediments to collective thinking are also experienced and acted on by Māori and non-Māori individuals.
"As you can see from the above rant, hopefully, I am not disrespectful to Māori and do not do a disservice to Māori long-term. Neither am I placing a burden on Māori concepts."
As I said, this was not intended as being directed at you as an individual, just the general idea that Māori are assigned this responsibility, in such a way in regards to this holiday. I don't believe that is fair.
I'm going to have to re-read these conversations, because I have probably lost track of it as I've come back and forth over the last few hours. I do agree with what you have said above, but I don't think it is the whole picture in regards to Māori and this holiday.
Right. I apologise again. Was making the erroneous assumption that it was in reference to the original question regarding Matariki and the advertising, but it obviously was not.
(I'm leaving the start of this comment, where I got it all wrong, to show that I got it all wrong, and responded to something that you did not say.)
Just letting you know I’ve seen your reply and all is good 🙂
I appreciate and respect your views in general and specifically as Māori and look forward to future convos on this topic. I think your attention is directed elsewhere today 😉
"Otherwise we're just saying sorry underclass, this is the way it is, adapt if you can or die or whatever."
We have been saying that for a while now, in fact in Rotorua we have a street full of 'underclass' people whom we tell just that.
I am very over 'talking points' and purity spirals and the likes. People who have no money or who have obligations in this current environment all have a hustle to survive, and that hustle gives no fucks about holidays, culture, and the purity levels of people in
Academia, Arts, Politics, Pundit class etc who are either on benefits by the government or on good salaries. Those of us who are on no wages by an employer or on a benefit will have to work. And we will work when people are there and go out and about to have a good time.
Boxing day Sale is no more and no less evil then any other sale. People have money, people gift money – specially for young ones and they tend to spend it in their holiday period. And Businesses that would like to stay closed or don't want to incur the expense of paying extra to staff can stay closed. And some do.
I personally like sales to be organised as it was in Germany, i.e. Winter sale the first two weeks of January, and Summer sale the first two weeks of August (might be September not sure) and that is it. Any other promotion needs to be called just that, a promotion.
But keep in mind for some people Boxing Day Sales is a day out with their family.
if you cannot politically analyse (or won't) the dynamics and forces at work in capitalism, including Boxing Day sales, then there's no pathway out of poverty at the class level. There's only adaptation to neoliberalism and sorry for those that can't adapt. That's basically Labour's position.
I'm not arguing purity, I clearly said there are reasons why people need the sales. This is a both/and situation. We can both acknowledge that people need to adapt as well as talk about why this adaptation thing exists in the first place.
Typing on phone promotes brevity. But I do want to reach out and wholeheartedly support your underlying sentiment here. Rational, tolerant and most importantly to my mind, celebrating diversity in our common universal humanity.
The Christians I know celebrate Christmas in both the commercialised cultural way
What does that mean? They have adverts? They try and sell thing on Christmas day?
If people don't see commercialisation as a negative then it makes sense to commercialise Matariki. But commercialisation causes problems in society. Consider alcohol or tobacco or pharmaceutical advertisements. Or if we get to the point of advertising breast binders, puberty blockers and cross sex hormones on TV.
Commercialisation puts pressure on workers to be available on public holidays.
We know from long experience with neoliberalism, that if commerce is given free reign then bad shit happens. Pākehā culture no longer has the sense to keep some things free of that for the betterment of socidety, thankfully Māori does.
In this region, Māori were the prime traders and were exporting produce to England, in the mid-late 1800's. To assume that they would be against trading on a holiday (if the concept of national holiday was understood) is just that… an assumption.
But Māori also had cultural containers for right action, including how to look after the group. It's almost impossible imo to compare 1800s practice with contemporary Pākehā practice given we are so encultured into individuality.
I meant that the Christians I know, do the whole holiday spiel. Including the buying of gifts, etc. Or at Easter, include the pagan symbols of Hot Cross Buns or Easter Eggs. It doesn't seem to create much angst for them to do both.
As an atheist, my family has it's own traditions. One that the children hate – and I love – is that they are not allowed to give me anything, but if they do, it has to be made by them. I sometimes get nothing – but do have several years of short videos made by them as they have grown. My point is, individuals and families create their own ways to mark holidays in ways that are significant to them.
Whether it is because people are a mix of their religious beliefs, and their cultural environment is for the social sciences to provide evidence for.
As an individual, I just know that for several years in my young adulthood, I both looked forward and participated enthusiastically in St Patrick's day. Neither my digestion or inclination trends that way at this stage of may life.
The significance of Matariki as a holiday, is going to be different for all, and that significance will change. Some may celebrate by use of stories and symbols – most particularly in education, maraes etc. Others who have stronger connections to Matariki will probably have their own way of celebrating that is more traditional and proscribed. But many others will just be grateful that they have another day to spend with friends and family.
Exposure to advertising that recognises and promotes the symbols of Matariki, is a commercialised but gentle reminder of the recognition of the Maaori aspect of the holiday, that replicates the advertising of other events such as Easter and Christmas.
I don't consider buying Christmas presents to be commercialisation per se. Depending on how people do it I guess, it's definitely become much more consumerist over my lifetime especially with children.
People and families marking/celebrating Matariki in their own way is also not commercialisation. Has someone objected to people doing this?
Exposure to advertising that recognises and promotes the symbols of Matariki, is a commercialised but gentle reminder of the recognition of the Maaori aspect of the holiday, that replicates the advertising of other events such as Easter and Christmas.
Oh, interesting. See I see the holiday as wholly te ao Māori, and Māori have been generous to share it with non-Māori. I don’t see it as a mainstream, Pāhekā dominant culture holiday with a Māori name that has a Māori aspect. I suspect this right here is the fundamental disagreement about commercialisation.
Plenty of ways for people to come to understand what it means without commercialising it, and I can't see how commercialising it will improve understanding of te ao Māori, I would guess it will make it worse. We will see.
"Oh, interesting. See I see the holiday as wholly te ao Māori, and Māori have been generous to share it with non-Māori."
That make sense. We are approaching this from completely different perspectives.
I consider it to be a government recognition of Māori by the assigning of a name of a state holiday. The significance to some Māori and is neither enhanced or impacted by this act. A separation of state and 'church' in terms of its implementation.
I wouldn't really want it to be otherwise, on reflection.
Sorry, meant to address your question re the pressure to work on holidays.
"Commercialisation puts pressure on workers to be available on public holidays."
I was one of many workers who loved being rostered on a state holiday, because of the day in lieu and the extra hourly. Many of our lower income households are the ones that already work the shifts, and weekends. They already accommodate within their households the varying conflicts of their work with the assumption of normal schedules for schooling, activities etc. Those families co-ordinate their time off with other family members, rather than the community at large.
It is a consequence of falling incomes and rising costs, but we shouldn't ignore those that welcome the financial benefit of increased wages by working on a state holiday.
"But Māori also had cultural containers for right action, including how to look after the group. It's almost impossible imo to compare 1800s practice with contemporary Pākehā practice given we are so encultured into individuality."
Pakeha history also contains examples of group knowledge and support. Māori, historically and now, have individuals that also are proponents of individual enrichment.
I believe it is as vitally important to recognise the diversity of views and life practices within the Māori demographic, as we automatically do within the non-Māori demographic.
It is both a sign of respect – and equality – to do so.
It is a consequence of falling incomes and rising costs, but we shouldn't ignore those that welcome the financial benefit of increased wages by working on a state holiday.
Yes, but this is an argument for adapting to neoliberalism. Understandable and I support the pragmatics, but politically I'm in favour of system change. Better employment law, living wage etc. Public holidays with strong symbolic meaning are a chance to shift culture.
Pakeha history also contains examples of group knowledge and support. Māori, historically and now, have individuals that also are proponents of individual enrichment.
Yes, and British and Māori cultures were quite different in the 1800s, as are Māori and Pākeha today. My point stands, that us now, are engrained in individualism, and this is in contrast to Māori culture which has a much stronger emphasis on the collective good. The problem with commercialisation centres on the collective good.
"Yes, but this is an argument for adapting to neoliberalism. "
Could be viewed that way. Personally, I see it as one of the more inventive and pragmatic ways that people find to deal with the failures of neoliberalism. Until the political landscape improves and material changes are felt at individual levels, people find ways to adapt and thrive.
"Māori culture which has a much stronger emphasis on the collective good. "
Many cultures have this emphasis. Many demographics also contain individuals that practice this without cultural reference, whether it be through religion, environmentalism, socialism etc. It's a perspective to support, but not necessarily adhered to by all Māori individuals or organisations.
there's a balance to be had about adapting and political change. Much of the GI debate is centred in adapting to and making the most of neoliberalism.
It's a perspective to support, but not necessarily adhered to by all Māori individuals or organisations.
Of course. When I talk about cultural norms, it's a given that not every individual or org fits or adheres to that. But I don't think it's incorrect to say that Māoridom is currently better at attending to the collective than Pākeha society, generally.
But I am cognisant of the difference between a concept, and how the concept is lived across modern Maoridom.
Part of that comes from my lived experience with my relatives and marae, some from the same observational scrutiny I use for others. I am fully aware my experience is only one of many, and not necessarily representative, but it is still true, and not one-off.
For me it's a given that in any culture (or set of cultures) there is variation. Is it me making a general statement about Māori culture that is the sticking point here? Is it an untrue statement? Or are you wanting to make more visible the variation within Māoridom?
"But I don't think it's incorrect to say that Māoridom is currently better at attending to the collective than Pākeha society, generally."
Purely from my personal perspective, it's a generalisation that I think it is not necessarily helpful.
If Māori have a really good functioning community, this is where the best aspects of Te Ao Māori can be lived, and seen. But there are Pākeha examples of the same too. We can recognise both, without the need for a comparison of merit.
As in all common groups, there is the possibility of those within in acting outside of those values, but not being held to account because of the roles, or power, or relationships they hold in those groups. Eg. Marae based organisations have the same vulnerability of church based in this regard, and just as my Pākeha friend has borne the brunt of that protection in her church, I have direct Māori relatives with similar experiences in their marae, that were also failed because of the commitment to solidarity rather than individual accountability.
I love those aspects of Te Ao Māori, and I acknowledge their value. But for me credit is given to whomever encompasses those values, in all ways. Whether Māori or Pākeha. Growing up with both Māori and Pākeha relatives, that had similar methods of sharing and community endeavours, I had always thought of it as New Zealand culture, and am reluctant to let that understanding go, so I realise it might be a personal one, rather than one that expresses adequately the conflict between the cultures today.
This deprecation of individualism out of hand omits the enormous benefits it brings. The kind of overreaching tribalism that readily sacrifices personal welfare for the greater good comes at its own terrible cost. It is why most people choose modernity at the first opportunity they get.
Unconstrained individualism on the other hand carries its own alienation and social ills.
I would suggest these two principles are best thought of as mutually interdependent, each necessary to support the other. It is impossible to imagine a good, healthy society full of depraved, dysfunctional people. Equally a tyrannical, oppressive society will fail to inculcate admirable people.
In conversations where I know the understanding and perspective of the other person, it is easier to give my perspective without going into areas I did not intend.
So, it is easier to explain in principle, rather than specifics.
I believe that in most cases – if not all – when implementing a process, or determining a solution, there is going to be impact or cost. This recognition doesn't mean that the solution is not the right one to undertake, just that there are costs to that decision that should be recognised and accommodated in some way.
As you say, both unconstrained individualism and tribalism carry both their own benefits and costs. A system that finds a way to capture the benefits of both would be ideal. Of course, in some situations one approach will predominate, while in others the opposite will be true.
Regardless, there is a cost to either of those approaches.
Effective (rather than punitive) regulation and policies might address the excesses of individualism, while processes that ensure individual accountability despite a recognition that the group embraces us in all our flawed humanity need to be included.
It is the optimal balance between the two that is so very hard to achieve, and requires ongoing review and tinkering. Sometimes, in real life, people who see the benefits of either approach, champion that approach and don’t recognise the costs when they occur – because we are not trained to look for additional problems resulting from our mostly great solutions.
And some people have to work, regardless of whether it's a holiday or not (or our civilization will grind to a halt). Nurses, electricity workers, sewerage station workers, water supply, etc., etc.
Public holidays have never (and can never) include everyone.
Was in the CBD this morning catching up with a friend, and came across a Matariki festival. Maori musicians, stalls selling food, and general Maori themed nicknacks, jewellery, clothes, etc. Observationally (I didn't instigate a whakapapa check), these were all Maori – happily commercializing 'their' festival.
Absolutely don't have a problem with this. And I think that it reflects a range of views on this from within the Maori sphere, just as there are a range of views on Christmas/Easter within the Christian sphere.
I think there's a real miscommunication about commercialisation here. To me it's not selling things per se. It's appropriating something into the neoliberal market with the intention of making profit with no regard for the wider good. I gave examples above about areas we restrict eg alcohol advertising.
People having a local market and selling stuff isn't commercialisation, it's community.
Public holidays have never (and can never) include everyone.
Obviously. The point was that commercialisation has enforced more people having to work on public holidays, unnecessarily. Easy to make a case for nurses being needed every day of the year. Not so a $2 shop, or a baby shop.
"I think there's a real miscommunication about commercialisation here. To me it's not selling things per se. It's appropriating something into the neoliberal market with the intention of making profit with no regard for the wider good. "
OK, I think I understand the distinction here.
If I do, I believe this to be a bigger conversation, rather than application to Matariki as a state holiday.
My point stands, that us now (sic), are engrained in individualism, and this is in contrast to Māori culture which has a much stronger emphasis on the collective good.
Noble Savage Romanticism.
The public adoption of this posture is a form of narcissistic virtue-signalling from affluent Culturalists utterly divorced from cold hard Reality.
you appear to be the one with noble savage notions in your head Swordfish. There's absolutely nothing overt or implied about the nobela savage in the observation that Māori cultures are more collective focused than Pākehā in NZ. Neither is there anything controversial in my statement. Nearly 40 years of neoliberalism ffs.
By all means use lazy anti-woke virtueless signalling in lieu of an actual argument against what I said though.
Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, reality is the totality of a system, known and unknown.
Information gives rise to "every it-every particle,every field of force,even the space time continuum itself"
Not only is the observer observing,she is asking questions,and making statements that are expressed in discrete bits,"what we call reality" as Wheeler wrote "arises in the last analysis of yes/no questions'' and added 'All things physical are information -theoretic in origin,and this is a participatory universe'
How unkind, swordfish, and ad hom 🙂
“affluent old virtue-signaling hippie fantasists in the rural idyll of small town Riverton.” is harsh.
Why are you so harsh?
There has been some interesting korero today. I had hard day behind the chainsaw, followed by the weed eater for desert. Nothing like some honest levity to end my day.
Those who hold political and increasingly commercial power in New Zealand are a rag-tag battlefleet of educated post-settlement Maori, gays in all their forms, remaining unionists, urban activists, environmentalists, feminists, sustainability types, fitness and muesli freaks, poverty activists, all the massive companies addicted to the state, the deep left within key ministries, the great HoMoPoMo conspiracy of them …
… and together they have changed the language of political discourse forever.
It's OK. We know you hate them all. But your view will soon die.
Today is just one day where all of them break out into the open, official and permanent. Hoisted to something as real as the stars.
You're beyond clueless … I’ve noticed time & again when you can’t adequately answer a point, you concoct any old smear that happens to be passing through that narcissistic brain of yours.
Obviously you think a cheap bit of character assassination will give you some sort of quick “win”.
Many years ago, I became aware of aspects of the Matariki cluster (I drove a Subaru back then) and it's importance to gardening. The two "figures" around whom on the ground action was centred, Rongomatane and Haumietikitiki ( nga atua of cultivated & wild food) really inspired me, as did the focus on assessing food stocks and planning the next seasons mahi nga kai. I've marked Matariki ever since then, with regards to those aspects. I'm not a good star-gazer – myopia and colour-blindness aren't advantages to peering into outer space, so the earthier effects are where I connect with nga whetu. The national celebration we are enjoying now, hasn't changed my prosaic view of the celestial event; I still only consider Matariki from the growers point of view, but I do celebrate the wider involvement and awareness of all of us living here on these South Pacific islands of ours.
A good friend of mine, who has just complete a degree in weaving, incorporated the Matariki cluster in her final submissions and her graduation korowai. The stories related to her pieces are both connected to her iwi's stories, and her own life.
Such personal recognition and how we honour it at individual levels will be wonderfully diverse and significant, even if that recognition is not universal.
Your personal story is another example, and with your circle of influence – which I know is considerable – may spread that knowledge wider and create another unique but shared celebration of Matariki in your community.
I hope that is the case in many different rohe, but believe that it is sustainable only as an organic and personal process rather than a proscribed one.
Chris Trotter has a go at the issue and sweeps across many of the points, but ends with this:
"Isn’t it possible that Matariki may yet prove a cure for, rather than a cause of, racist contention? Maybe, as the Earth grows warmer, and the pretensions of science and modernity are increasingly laid bare, the hunger of all Aotearoans for gods and heroes will increase. Perhaps, when we realise that these islands are all we’ve got, the thought may grow in our hearts and minds: If all things are, indeed, related and alive, then why not be guided by the stars?"
That's a good quote from Chris Trotter, but I think fails to acknowledge the overlap between the Te Ao Maori view and many other perspectives that are also aligned with recognising the connectiveness of all things, and the value of recognising this in the day-to-day choices we make. I also don't need a god or superhero to follow in order to make informed choices, but I can understand the residual longing for such easy solutions to the problems we have ahead.
When I first became aware of, and was finding out as much as I could about climate change – I can date this by one of my children – so around 23 years ago, I included in my immersion searches for organisations around NZ that were not only identifying the problem, but recognising the scope of it, and inviting solutions.
There were a few, but none organised that did all three. It was easier to find individuals speaking out or writing about the issue.
As the children got older, I looked in particular for Māori organisations, and found one Māori youth group – bookmarked on a now defunct desktop. But even then, the understanding of the impact of climate change was limited.
Over time, references to climate change started to appear in organisations Māori and non-Māori alike, but mostly in reference to getting funding or grants for local conservation or regeneration efforts, rather than a demonstrated understanding of the impact of the whole. Thankfully, this has slowly changed over time.
My point is that Māori, just like non-Māori – despite their common good view – often treated the example of climate change as it affected their group and rohe, not as the wider global problem it is, even though they had the concepts to consider the whole, in practice the scope was limited to the familiar immediate.
I agree with the concept of understanding the value of the living biosphere.
For me, I recognise that in a myriad of ways: in teachings of Te Ao Māori, in the environmental perspectives that I follow, my understandings of science, my personal values and political views, my concern for those who follow us… etc. The more we encounter that perspective in our lives, the better.
"You don’t have to like or agree with Vladimir Putin to take seriously the speech he made to the St. Petersburg Economic Forum last week. Five paragraphs – from an otherwise long and somewhat dull presentation – stand out:"
I don't know if this has been discussed before on TS but apparently Putin was aboard the Mikhail Lermontov when it sank in the sounds in 1986. Shame he made it off the ship.
Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, born October 15 1814, Moscow, Russia died July 27 1841, Pyatigorsk, the leading Russian Romantic poet and author of the novel Geroy nashego vremeni – A Hero of Our Time – 1840.
Albert Camus' novel The Fall begins with an excerpt from Lermontov's foreword to A Hero of Our Time: "Some were dreadfully insulted, and quite seriously, to have held up as a model such an immoral character as A Hero of Our Time; others shrewdly noticed that the author had portrayed himself and his acquaintances. A Hero of Our Time, gentlemen, is in fact a portrait, but not of an individual; it is the aggregate of the vices of our whole generation in their fullest expression."
In Ian Fleming's From Russia with Love the plot revolves upon Soviet agent Tatiana Romanova feigning an infatuation with MI6's James Bond and offering to defect to the West provided he'll be sent to pick her up in Istanbul, Turkey. The Soviets elaborate a complex backstory about how she spotted the file about the English spy during her clerical work at SMERSH headquarters and became smitten with him, making her state that his picture made her think of Lermontov's Pechorin. The fact that Pechorin was anything but a 'hero' or even a positive character at all in Lermontov's narration stands to indicate Fleming's wry self-deprecating wit about his most famous creation; the irony is lost, however, on western readers not familiar with Lermontov's work.
I had heard that Putin was supposed to have been in New Zealand and attended the inquiry into the sinking. I hadn't heard the idea that he had actually been on the ship though. Where did you hear this?
My favorite memory of the event was David Lange's quip about the sinking. "Lange declared that little old New Zealand was "the only nation to sink a Russian Ship since the Second World War."
A usually reliable friend of mine told me last night. Happy to be contradicted if wrong. I must admit I thought I would have heard about this before if it is true.
It was, and probably still is, normal practice of the Soviet submarine service to mask the acoustic signature of their submarines with a surface vessel when transiting shallow waters where the opposition could be listening.
Many of the Pilot's actions, going close to shore and going through the channel that turned out to be a bit tight, could be interpreted as trying to minimise or remove this masking.
It was also odd that our navy arrived to pick up the pieces within minutes, they were doing a hydrographic job nearby.
I suppose that once the details of the affair are disclosed, (aren't they held in Richard Prebble's personal library?) we may get to know a bit more.
There was a cartoon in Southern Cross of a Fred Dang character telling one side to bugger off, turning around and telling the other side to bugger off too. I understood that related to NZ telling USA to bugger off with it's nukes, and someone else.
PS How do you upload an image (jpeg) to TS? I've got the cartoon but not as a url
Maggie Thatcher sent Baroness somebody-or-another to NZ to tell David Lange he wasn't to do the Oxford Union Debate. The encounter was contentious to say the least and when she left his office he called out to her "hey Baroness you've left your broomstick behind".
This is who they are and the Bethlehem school mob are singing from the same sheet.
I've looked….but I can't find where the Bethlehem School are saying that LGBTQ people should be killed. Or that violence should be directed towards them.
Pray, joe90, provide a link to where you found the information that led you to make this claim.
(There's a difference between believing that 'God doesn't make mistakes.' and 'LGBTQ people should be killed.')
It may be correct or it may be incorrect, if you want to deal in/with binaries only. Question is what you’re going to do with it that adds to the convo here?
Defend them all you want, but statements like 'God doesn't make mistakes' does get people killed. Either by gun or pills it makes no difference. If you're beaten down enough by words from those you are supposed to look up to, life can become very bleak.
One oft repeated Christian viewpoint, when people are going through personal struggles, or times of crisis is: 'God doesn't make mistakes' or 'God moves in mysterious ways'. Not particularly helpful, from my point of view, but not deliberately meant to harm, but rather to console.
And so, we really need to know the context of that quote. How the conversation was initiated, and who was involved. If a student has made the statement that God had given them the wrong body, then I am not surprised that it has been challenged with the response that 'God doesn't make mistakes' within a Christian environment.
Why are so many feigning surprise at this viewpoint, as if we know nothing at all about Christian beliefs?
Suicide. If a member of the LBGT Community continues to be told they are a mistake or you're going to hell because you're an abomination, etc etc etc, either by their church leaders or idols (looking at you, Folau), the potential for suicide is elevated. If they show welcoming and inclusion in their Religion then they show the good and right side of Christianity, it seems to me, these people show the opposite.
From the inside of a fundamentalist church for my early life I know exactly what it's like to watch people question their sexuality, let alone their gender assignment.
I've seen the demon outcastings, the shunnings, humiliations, the one-on-one interviews, the training camps to re-educate you. Usually they leave, to start their entire life again, fairly damaged.
And yup, suicide and lifelong depressions among a few.
He claims he confronted his GP about his doubts and said there was no guidance for those who regretted the surgery.
I wonder if the new funding for trans healthcare will cover such situations.
The mental health impact on detrans people is intense. I don't think it's controversial to say that gay and trans people in fundamentalist churches can also have their mental health put at risk. Maybe we could have consideration for all people.
Can you explain how a gender is assigend at birth?
Sex is 'identified' early on in a pregnancy and then confirmed by birth. Sex being the visual secondary sexual characteristics of a human being i.e in an new born it is a boy – penis/scrotum, a girl – vagina.
But last i checked babies are not born without these sexual organs (or like barbie dolls with nothing down there blelow) , and no doctor will order a nurse to go into a Storage room in wich there are shelfes full of spare penises/vaginas that can then be affixed to the new born child on the whims of a doctor/midwife/nurse. If that would be the case i believe that femicide in India or China for that matter would not happen as all the parents would choose the 'boy tackle' to be affixed to the sex less new born.
Sexed bodies are OBSERVED at birth and not 'assigned'
assign
/əˈsʌɪn/
verb
past tense: assigned; past participle: assigned
1.
allocate (a job or duty).
"Congress had assigned the task to the agency"
Similar:
allocate
allot
give
set
charge with
entrust with
2.
designate or set (something) aside for a specific purpose.
"managers happily assign large sums of money to travel budgets"
I have a dear friend that also had harms that were not helped by the involvement in such a church.
It affects all those who fall outside of the church doctrines in any way, not only those with different sexual orientations or gender expressions.
That constancy of having someone tell you the right things to do comes at a a very high cost to all. The church either adapts or fails, as the people within it find they are able to survive without such control.
I'm sorry to hear that your upbringing meant that you witnessed such things as a child, Ad. But it doesn't seem that Bethlehem College is at that extreme from what has been reported so far.
Mental distress, and not being able to get appropriate support for that distress makes people more likely to attempt, and possibly succeed at ending their own lives.
" If they show welcoming and inclusion in their Religion then they show the good and right side of Christianity, it seems to me, these people show the opposite."
Given that I – and it seems many of the commentators who dictate a "good and right side of Christianity" – are atheists, I fail to see what the intent is here.
Tell those whose sense of self falls outside the teachings of the church in about the failures of historic religious doctrines to serve anyone other than the church.
Tell them, that they can find other more understanding churches to accommodate their belief in God. If they don't have a belief in God, then encourage them to dismiss anything they say.
AFAIK, Bethlehem College did not put up a display or make a determined point in regards to this question. From the (very little) that was reported a teacher answered a student with "God doesn't make mistakes" – a familiar and oft used Christian phrase.
Give ALL students the resilience and tools to deal with disagreements without resorting to self-harm as a response.
Now, let's address the common use of suicide ideation in transgender advocacy. Despite this being against every suicide prevention guideline, advocates bring up the issue of suicide as impetus for non-therapeutic social and medical interventions.
This is using the threat of suicide as a means of coercive control and manipulation.
Surely, the answer to mental distress at this level is extensive and comprehensive therapy (and only therapy).
Further point: The student was told that there was NO mistake in their existence. Not the opposite. They wanted to be told there had been a mistake.
How about "no child is born in the wrong body"? The vast majority of young people with bodily dysphoria related to their sexed body will resolve that with the right support by the time they finish puberty. Most will grow up to be perfectly "ordinary" same sex attracted people.
Thanks for your diversion, but that's not a road I'm able to go down, other than 'if NO child is born in the wrong body' how come only MOST will grow out of it, that leaves a lesser number who will not grow out of it, they are still people and will still suffer. I'm off out to join a diverse group of people to celebrate Matariki so, Cheerio.
The people who don't desist from their gender dysphoria I think will likely have a tough life and I do feel for them. I hope they get the right support.
I posted further down about a man who had gender reassignment surgery and woke up full of regret and realized he had been castrated. He is now suing the NHS and I wish him luck.
"… how come only MOST will grow out of it, that leaves a lesser number who will not grow out of it, they are still people and will still suffer. "
If we had the answer to this, then any concerns about the long-term effects of inappropriate treatment would melt away like morning dew.
It is precisely the inability of being able to determine who will persist and who won't that makes the issue of both social and medical interventions for minors such a contentious issue.
If the majority do grow out of it – and there are other issues here regarding the very large increase in adolescent girls – then caution regarding treatment is well advised for this cohort. Not providing medical interventions until they are grown seems a precaution that seems advisable, given the permanent and long-term outcomes from intervention.
For those that do persist – is there a way to alleviate the distress until such time they are fully cognitive adults?
This is the conversation we need to be having about treatment for minors.
It is one that requires a lot of research, input, perspectives and considerations. But the consequences of failing to even contemplate this discussion by the adults, will – as ever, be borne by the children and young people we are entrusted to protect.
How about canning the whataboutery just to shoehorn in your favourite bogeyman just this once? That would be nice. We know where you stand on that particular issue, ad nauseam.
I think there are parallels between 'god doesn't make mistakes' and 'born in the wrong body' that are worth exploring. If you don't like the conversation, maybe just scroll on by. Telling other people to shut up because you don't like their politics isn't going to run on a political blog.
Uncle sam the old rooster wants to gather in as many of his loyal hens as he can reminding them that they need him to keep them safe but he knows the cold wind of change is beginning to stir and he sees the young challengers on the periphery strutting their stuff……….
During the last six months, similar Russian cyber influence operations sought to help inflame public opposition to COVID-19 policies in New Zealand and Canada…..
I had noticed that a number of the covid-19 deniers and anti-vaxxer commenters also supported the Russian Federation invasion and war against Ukraine.
I had thought it was just the same old anti-government useful idiots pushing wacky right wing pseudo-science conspiracy theories.
Anyone able to fill out Josie Pagani’s CV? I’ve seen an awful lot based on her candidacy for a Labour seat a decade ago. Then I hear rumors about her being an oil lobbyist or having connections to one which you never see listed at the bottom of her columns. Does she have P.R. or lobbying clients?
Just sticking my nose in really, but you know it would be interesting to know when reading her writing.
The newly merged media company will be named "Aoeteroa New Zealand Public Media " lmfao oooh boy that's a name that'll catch on.
ANZPM. Could they fit any more letters on it?? That's the best this govt and it's army of pr reps and gargantuan legions of consultants can come up with ?!? Really?!? Lmao. Ridiculous. Call it NZBC like ABC CBC , BBC.
When the majority of the public see ANZ they think ANZ Bank or Australia/New Zealand and NZPM is shorthand for the Prime minister.
If ANZPM is the name of this new organization, thanks but no thanks rnz and tvnz can keep.
Ridiculous.
If they name it anzpm I'd almost be inclined to vote act in the hopes that shit gets privatized.
I'm a millennial, My generation has no interest in watching NZ content, why should we have to pay to fund it ?
On Wednesday, these anti-vaccine groups kicked off a summer of planned protest with an event inside Canada’s Parliament buildings in Ottawa, supported by sitting Members of Parliament. Outside those buildings is where the so-called “freedom convoy” took over Canada’s capital for several weeks this past winter, setting off similar movements across the globe.
[…]
The Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, an arm of the Canadian intelligence community that provides intel to local law enforcement agencies, warned in a special bulletin that they’re seeing mounting “aspirations to overthrow the federal government or to engage in mass violent resistance.” The bulletin was provided to VICE World News by a law enforcement source.
According to the intelligence assessment, the chance of an organized attack, a storming of Parliament, or another occupation of the city is “unlikely,” and Canadian intelligence and law enforcement believe the protests will most likely be peaceful and lawful.
Yet, they warn, they’re increasingly witnessing “a culture in which individuals, including supporters of ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE), feel that they can threaten, incite, and celebrate violence online without consequence.”
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
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.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
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Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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How to help people facing poverty?
This is a good read about scientific studies.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01679-y
Thanks for this Barry.
The scientific evidence is clear, reducing inequality with cash injections to the most disadvantaged gives them the resources they need to escape poverty benefiting and enriching the whole of society.
Where does the cash come?
It comes from government which gains its income from taxes on the more well off.
The political representatives of the more well off, like National and ACT are against taxing the well off for any sort of social programs even if those programs would benefit the whole of society. And so will campaign to oppose them.
Fundamental to this campaign is the promotion of the idea, that the poor are indigent, irresponsible, stupid and lazy, and responsible for their own distress and powerlessness.
Relentlessly the representatives of the rich will push the idea, that taxing the well off to fund social programs will only see the less well off spend more on drugs and booze and gambling and other social evils.
Again and again studies like this prove the opposite. That given the resources the poor will use them raise themselves and their families out of poverty.
There is more than one way that society's wealth can be distributed more equitably, While the benefits of governments doing this directly is backed by studies like this.
Governments are not the only agencies that have the power to redistribue the wealth of society more equitably. More traditionally, trade unions have played this role.
I am reminded here of the rise of South Korea to become the economic power house that it is today. This transformation began with the rise of powerful trade unions that led successful struggles to wrest more of that society's wealth for the working people. The increase in well being of the working population led to increases in productivity, the continuing rise in incomes and resources at the bottom of South Korean society led to higher achievement levels for South Korean children in schools leading to more children of working families to be more able to move up to receive the advantages of higher education. The struggle of the trade union movement in South Korea was also linked to the struggle for more democracy and openness in South Koran society.
These hard won advances were fought every step of the way. As will the proven benfits of government led redistribution will be too.
Everything is connected
On Saturday Mickysavage, posted in praise of UK union leader Mick Lynch.
Attached to the bottom of his post, Mickysavage added the Green Day rendition of John Lennon's song 'Working Class Hero'.
The Green Day backing video features refugees from tyrannies where campaigns for social justice and against extreme inequality are suppressed with massive violence and oppression. Local ruling elites of these countries, quick to suppress any sort of trade union or democratic activity, are often supported and backed, (and also armed with military aid), by Western powers that benefit from the neo-colonial oppression, exploitation and looting of these countries in an international web of binding business contracts, trade deals and political and military partnership links.
What reminded me of your comment, Barry, and the link you provided to proven studies of how to relieve poverty, was the first line sung by Green Day,
"As soon as you're born, they make you feel small
By giving you nothing instead of it all"
Despite the proven success of the trials in relieving poverty by providing resources and funds to poor people, these trials will never be rolled out as government programs. The international links between the local ruling elites and the ruling elites in the West who in partnership also benefit from the inequality, poverty and low incomes in these countries, (possibly even more than the local elites), will simply not allow it.
It will take a hard fought campaign against these vested interests, the same for the struggle of the RMTU workers, led my Mick Lynch.
Everything is connected.
World War III edges closer.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/royal-navy-could-escortgrain-ships-through-odesa-blockade-6cdp626xq#:~:text=Britain%20is%20in%20discussion%20with,protect%20freighters%20carrying%20Ukrainian%20grain.
Both war and climate change have the same drivers.
It follows, that if we can't stop the war, We can't stop climate change.
Stop the war Russian troops out!
https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/stop-fuelling-the-war-in-ukraine-russian-troops-out-no-to-nato-trident/
While the US hegemon might regard the Pacific region as a US Lake.
(on a smaller scale), Russia regards the Black Sea as a Russian lake,
Both war and climate change have the same drivers.
It follows, that if we can't stop the war, We can't stop climate change.
Stopping war, is stopping climate change.
Russian warlord Putin gloats at Europe's dependence on Russian fossil fuel supplies while mocking the urgent need to turn toward renewables. A turn which would undermine Europe's (and the world's), dependence on fossil fuels, and Putin's ability to use this dependence as a weapon.
Yeah….not hush money at ALL. JLR allgood… until he wasn’t. Dirty politics for sure
Happy Matariki to everyone. I have a question about the Commercialisation of the celebration. I know it has been discussed recently but, in my opinion, posed by bad faith actors on this site. Am watching the TVNZ Matariki Special and in ad breaks they are advertising a "Give me a Clue Matariki Special" If they can advertise that, why can't other commercial identities use Matariki in their advertising. I'm just asking about consistency. Cheers.
Only really caught up on yesterday's conversation later in the day.
I don't really understand the impulse to determine how others view this holiday, and pre-determine what significance it holds for all.
The Christians I know celebrate Christmas in both the commercialised cultural way, and with attendant church activities and sermons. They neither demand the same from others, or begrudge those that hold different faiths from not recognising the religious component.
I don't know any monarchists that have a particular form of celebration on Queen's Birthday, or unionists that hold particular celebrations on Labour Day. If they do, I've heard nothing from them about how everyone celebrated the same.
Isn't the point of any state holiday is a day to do what you wish, with those you want to share it with?
In response to any references to the commercialisation of a Māori holiday. Well, I view it as a holiday named in recognition of a Māori calendar event, which has been allotted in a multicultural society. The recognition and assignment of that name is enough.
An assumed world view about all Māori is not helpful.
Although, I choose to be a feminist, I have differing ideas about feminism than other feminists, and often disagree on feminism. As a Māori, I recognise that the diversity of individuals and their thoughts and perspectives – as with non-Māori – do not often align. As with other demographics, even if there is agreement on a topic, there remains diverse views on both outcomes and implementation.
In this region, Māori were the prime traders and were exporting produce to England, in the mid-late 1800's. To assume that they would be against trading on a holiday (if the concept of national holiday was understood) is just that… an assumption.
If to be treated and accepted equally is the goal, the the use of Matariki in advertising is an indicator.
Funny thing about this all is that i was asked by Maori – last year and this year – to make "Matariki Stars" for them to give away to children in foster care and children in school.
Should i have refused? Lol, of course not. As a native Caucasian /nonmale/nontrans/formerly known as woman person thingy from a country were we happily invent food to eat for special holidays it was a pleasure for me to make these chocolate stars and i will do them again last year.
Manawatia a Matariki to you Molly. My the ‘new’ year bring you many blessing and happiness.
why shouldn't you make stars? This has nothing to do with the commercialisation argument.
You could call it commercialisation as it is literally the same as making Easter Bunnies for Easter or Santas for Christmas. It is a product made for sale for that particular day. It just depends on which step of the ideological purity ladder one stands.
To me any holiday needs a special food that you can only get that one day or few days during which the festival/holiday is feted. It makes it a celebration. But i am roman catholic and grew up with pretend drinking of blood and eating of flesh of Christ and thus have no issue with symbolism in food attached to ones culture. Food is part of celebrations.
you were paid to make the stars?
Absolutely, without pay I don't work. I am too poor to not charge, and for what its worth i was not expected to make these for free either.
I thought it was a community thing.
I don't have a problem with people being paid, and I don't think this is commercialisation in this context either. Commercialisation would be a business making up some product to sell to take advantage of Matariki and putting on a big sale.
I view both to some extend as 'commercialisation, but i don't understand why we are ok with boxing day sales, Easter sales, Queens birthday sales but suddenly draw the line at this holiday. Either we do or we don't. Re- Community thing, making these stars cost money, and i no longer – like many other small businesses my size that used to support various charities fully and for free- can no longer afford to support these charities without at least charging for cost of making hte products that they would like to get from us. Premises, lisencing, material, etc all that costs money.
In fact i am open and working today. Just as i would do on any other holiday. Too poor to not work. 🙂
Boxing Day sales are evil, and a direct result of the whole global system that is killing the planet, enforcing slave labour in poor countries, and undermining worker rights in places like NZ.
I fully support shops to be closed on those days other than essentials.
Like I said, no problem with you making the stars as part of your business, it just wasn't apparent in the first comment where you talked about the stars being given away and I assumed it was a community thing.
and yes, yes, I understand poor people need sales to be able to buy stuff. However politically, we still have to argue against neoliberalism and for a better system. Otherwise we're just saying sorry underclass, this is the way it is, adapt if you can or die or whatever.
A Big Sale that happens to coincide with a public holiday when many flock to the shops & malls to kill time wandering with their heads bent down focussed on the little screens they hold in their hands and spend money to re-fill their materialistic needs. Viva la Commerce!
thanks for that. I was starting to wonder if I'd wandered into a parallel lw universe where consumerism was a desired god.
These neoliberal attitudes are almost impossible to shake. They have become normalised (as in normative), legalised & regulated, and embedded and permeate almost everything and everybody in our society. It took a few decades, but here we are.
Briefly toyed with the idea of a ‘quick’ Post but quickly running out of time, as usual 🙁
From my perspective, giving the role and responsibility of making a statement about neoliberalism and commercialism to this new Māori named state holiday is disrespectful to people as a whole, and a disservice to Māori long-term.
Address the issue across the board, instead of placing that whole conversation and burden on Māori concepts.
You’re accusing me of something I have not committed and reading way too much into it – I did not mention or imply anything specific about Māori and/or Matariki.
But since you provoked me, I’ll give you something to sink your teeth in.
Māori concepts and culture are being (mis-)appropriated all the time, usually for commercial (and political) reasons. At the same time, Māori concepts and culture are under permanent threat, socially, economically (e.g. tourism), and demographically and they are in chronic danger of being assimilated into our Westerns ways. To keep up, to get ahead, and to counteract past damages that have led and still lead to inequality and inequity in our society the answer/solution for some seems to be education, career, success, and then trying (out-)compete with Pākehā in the Pākehā world. In doing so, these Māori, with their heart and spirit in the right place, sell their soul to the Devil and lose their spirit in the process. It is a Catch-22 unless we, collectively as a society as a whole, come together and help their cause. The reaction to this is cries and outbursts and first twisting and then weaponising terms & concepts such as partnership and co-governance.
As you can see from the above rant, hopefully, I am not disrespectful to Māori and do not do a disservice to Māori long-term. Neither am I placing a burden on Māori concepts. You have turned it upside-down and back-to-front.
I don't want to quibble with much of what you say here. In particular I fully agree that culture can be easily misappropriated. We are for example seeing this play out as Putin steals the Russian memory of their honourable role in defeating Hitler, for a wholly debased purpose in Ukraine.
But it is also true that any living culture evolves all the time, adapting as the world around it shifts. We cannot and should not demand the Maori world remain frozen in a kind of fantasy pre-European aspic.
Yes, I agree completely, cultures evolve, which is something entirely different from being assimilated by a dominant and/or colonial culture. What I see happening is ‘Māori- washing’ thanks to the good intentions of PC warriors and the likes. It is superficial and commercial and only has the veneer of the culture it is supposed to represent but it is just empty hollow packaging and meaningless as such. Having good intentions is not the same as doing the right thing.
Te Ao Māori cannot remain frozen “in a kind of fantasy pre-European aspic” because: 1) it no longer exists; 2) who determines this way anyway? If we were to trust and respect and allow Māori some agency in determining these things for, by, and with themselves we would be on the right track, IMO. However, this seems to lead to absurd notions and equally absurd resistance, IMHO.
Final note: I guess that because some of the efforts feel so superficial and meaningless people feel more (easily) inclined to take a stance against them, i.e., they object and attack what they see as ‘virtue-signalling’ and ‘posturing’ rather than a genuine cause.
Not following that Molly. My comment about consumerism was in reference to discussion on TS.
@Incognito
I apologise. My comment was not directed at you specifically. It was a generalised comment about the idea of treating this holiday in a different way to other state holidays, and addressing the reasons for doing so.
"In doing so, these Māori, with their heart and spirit in the right place, sell their soul to the Devil and lose their spirit in the process. It is a Catch-22 unless we, collectively as a society as a whole, come together and help their cause. The reaction to this is cries and outbursts and first twisting and then weaponising terms & concepts such as partnership and co-governance."
In some cases this may be true, in other cases individuals will make choices that are not congruent with Māori values, because of other reasons, including personal selfishness, ego and sometimes for reasons of opportunity. These universal impediments to collective thinking are also experienced and acted on by Māori and non-Māori individuals.
"As you can see from the above rant, hopefully, I am not disrespectful to Māori and do not do a disservice to Māori long-term. Neither am I placing a burden on Māori concepts."
As I said, this was not intended as being directed at you as an individual, just the general idea that Māori are assigned this responsibility, in such a way in regards to this holiday. I don't believe that is fair.
I'm going to have to re-read these conversations, because I have probably lost track of it as I've come back and forth over the last few hours. I do agree with what you have said above, but I don't think it is the whole picture in regards to Māori and this holiday.
Right. I apologise again. Was making the erroneous assumption that it was in reference to the original question regarding Matariki and the advertising, but it obviously was not.
(I'm leaving the start of this comment, where I got it all wrong, to show that I got it all wrong, and responded to something that you did not say.)
Just letting you know I’ve seen your reply and all is good 🙂
I appreciate and respect your views in general and specifically as Māori and look forward to future convos on this topic. I think your attention is directed elsewhere today 😉
So true and sad.
"Otherwise we're just saying sorry underclass, this is the way it is, adapt if you can or die or whatever."
We have been saying that for a while now, in fact in Rotorua we have a street full of 'underclass' people whom we tell just that.
I am very over 'talking points' and purity spirals and the likes. People who have no money or who have obligations in this current environment all have a hustle to survive, and that hustle gives no fucks about holidays, culture, and the purity levels of people in
Academia, Arts, Politics, Pundit class etc who are either on benefits by the government or on good salaries. Those of us who are on no wages by an employer or on a benefit will have to work. And we will work when people are there and go out and about to have a good time.
Boxing day Sale is no more and no less evil then any other sale. People have money, people gift money – specially for young ones and they tend to spend it in their holiday period. And Businesses that would like to stay closed or don't want to incur the expense of paying extra to staff can stay closed. And some do.
I personally like sales to be organised as it was in Germany, i.e. Winter sale the first two weeks of January, and Summer sale the first two weeks of August (might be September not sure) and that is it. Any other promotion needs to be called just that, a promotion.
But keep in mind for some people Boxing Day Sales is a day out with their family.
if you cannot politically analyse (or won't) the dynamics and forces at work in capitalism, including Boxing Day sales, then there's no pathway out of poverty at the class level. There's only adaptation to neoliberalism and sorry for those that can't adapt. That's basically Labour's position.
I'm not arguing purity, I clearly said there are reasons why people need the sales. This is a both/and situation. We can both acknowledge that people need to adapt as well as talk about why this adaptation thing exists in the first place.
Thanks, Sabine. You too.
Good on you Molly.
Typing on phone promotes brevity. But I do want to reach out and wholeheartedly support your underlying sentiment here. Rational, tolerant and most importantly to my mind, celebrating diversity in our common universal humanity.
Great comments Molly
Cheers
Agree with all that Molly. Thanks.
What does that mean? They have adverts? They try and sell thing on Christmas day?
If people don't see commercialisation as a negative then it makes sense to commercialise Matariki. But commercialisation causes problems in society. Consider alcohol or tobacco or pharmaceutical advertisements. Or if we get to the point of advertising breast binders, puberty blockers and cross sex hormones on TV.
Commercialisation puts pressure on workers to be available on public holidays.
We know from long experience with neoliberalism, that if commerce is given free reign then bad shit happens. Pākehā culture no longer has the sense to keep some things free of that for the betterment of socidety, thankfully Māori does.
But Māori also had cultural containers for right action, including how to look after the group. It's almost impossible imo to compare 1800s practice with contemporary Pākehā practice given we are so encultured into individuality.
I meant that the Christians I know, do the whole holiday spiel. Including the buying of gifts, etc. Or at Easter, include the pagan symbols of Hot Cross Buns or Easter Eggs. It doesn't seem to create much angst for them to do both.
As an atheist, my family has it's own traditions. One that the children hate – and I love – is that they are not allowed to give me anything, but if they do, it has to be made by them. I sometimes get nothing – but do have several years of short videos made by them as they have grown. My point is, individuals and families create their own ways to mark holidays in ways that are significant to them.
Whether it is because people are a mix of their religious beliefs, and their cultural environment is for the social sciences to provide evidence for.
As an individual, I just know that for several years in my young adulthood, I both looked forward and participated enthusiastically in St Patrick's day. Neither my digestion or inclination trends that way at this stage of may life.
The significance of Matariki as a holiday, is going to be different for all, and that significance will change. Some may celebrate by use of stories and symbols – most particularly in education, maraes etc. Others who have stronger connections to Matariki will probably have their own way of celebrating that is more traditional and proscribed. But many others will just be grateful that they have another day to spend with friends and family.
Exposure to advertising that recognises and promotes the symbols of Matariki, is a commercialised but gentle reminder of the recognition of the Maaori aspect of the holiday, that replicates the advertising of other events such as Easter and Christmas.
I don't consider buying Christmas presents to be commercialisation per se. Depending on how people do it I guess, it's definitely become much more consumerist over my lifetime especially with children.
People and families marking/celebrating Matariki in their own way is also not commercialisation. Has someone objected to people doing this?
Oh, interesting. See I see the holiday as wholly te ao Māori, and Māori have been generous to share it with non-Māori. I don’t see it as a mainstream, Pāhekā dominant culture holiday with a Māori name that has a Māori aspect. I suspect this right here is the fundamental disagreement about commercialisation.
Plenty of ways for people to come to understand what it means without commercialising it, and I can't see how commercialising it will improve understanding of te ao Māori, I would guess it will make it worse. We will see.
"Oh, interesting. See I see the holiday as wholly te ao Māori, and Māori have been generous to share it with non-Māori."
That make sense. We are approaching this from completely different perspectives.
I consider it to be a government recognition of Māori by the assigning of a name of a state holiday. The significance to some Māori and is neither enhanced or impacted by this act. A separation of state and 'church' in terms of its implementation.
I wouldn't really want it to be otherwise, on reflection.
Sorry, meant to address your question re the pressure to work on holidays.
"Commercialisation puts pressure on workers to be available on public holidays."
I was one of many workers who loved being rostered on a state holiday, because of the day in lieu and the extra hourly. Many of our lower income households are the ones that already work the shifts, and weekends. They already accommodate within their households the varying conflicts of their work with the assumption of normal schedules for schooling, activities etc. Those families co-ordinate their time off with other family members, rather than the community at large.
It is a consequence of falling incomes and rising costs, but we shouldn't ignore those that welcome the financial benefit of increased wages by working on a state holiday.
"But Māori also had cultural containers for right action, including how to look after the group. It's almost impossible imo to compare 1800s practice with contemporary Pākehā practice given we are so encultured into individuality."
Pakeha history also contains examples of group knowledge and support. Māori, historically and now, have individuals that also are proponents of individual enrichment.
I believe it is as vitally important to recognise the diversity of views and life practices within the Māori demographic, as we automatically do within the non-Māori demographic.
It is both a sign of respect – and equality – to do so.
Yes, but this is an argument for adapting to neoliberalism. Understandable and I support the pragmatics, but politically I'm in favour of system change. Better employment law, living wage etc. Public holidays with strong symbolic meaning are a chance to shift culture.
Yes, and British and Māori cultures were quite different in the 1800s, as are Māori and Pākeha today. My point stands, that us now, are engrained in individualism, and this is in contrast to Māori culture which has a much stronger emphasis on the collective good. The problem with commercialisation centres on the collective good.
"Yes, but this is an argument for adapting to neoliberalism. "
Could be viewed that way. Personally, I see it as one of the more inventive and pragmatic ways that people find to deal with the failures of neoliberalism. Until the political landscape improves and material changes are felt at individual levels, people find ways to adapt and thrive.
"Māori culture which has a much stronger emphasis on the collective good. "
Many cultures have this emphasis. Many demographics also contain individuals that practice this without cultural reference, whether it be through religion, environmentalism, socialism etc. It's a perspective to support, but not necessarily adhered to by all Māori individuals or organisations.
there's a balance to be had about adapting and political change. Much of the GI debate is centred in adapting to and making the most of neoliberalism.
Of course. When I talk about cultural norms, it's a given that not every individual or org fits or adheres to that. But I don't think it's incorrect to say that Māoridom is currently better at attending to the collective than Pākeha society, generally.
I understand what you are saying.
But I am cognisant of the difference between a concept, and how the concept is lived across modern Maoridom.
Part of that comes from my lived experience with my relatives and marae, some from the same observational scrutiny I use for others. I am fully aware my experience is only one of many, and not necessarily representative, but it is still true, and not one-off.
not following this one either, sorry!
For me it's a given that in any culture (or set of cultures) there is variation. Is it me making a general statement about Māori culture that is the sticking point here? Is it an untrue statement? Or are you wanting to make more visible the variation within Māoridom?
"But I don't think it's incorrect to say that Māoridom is currently better at attending to the collective than Pākeha society, generally."
Purely from my personal perspective, it's a generalisation that I think it is not necessarily helpful.
If Māori have a really good functioning community, this is where the best aspects of Te Ao Māori can be lived, and seen. But there are Pākeha examples of the same too. We can recognise both, without the need for a comparison of merit.
As in all common groups, there is the possibility of those within in acting outside of those values, but not being held to account because of the roles, or power, or relationships they hold in those groups. Eg. Marae based organisations have the same vulnerability of church based in this regard, and just as my Pākeha friend has borne the brunt of that protection in her church, I have direct Māori relatives with similar experiences in their marae, that were also failed because of the commitment to solidarity rather than individual accountability.
I love those aspects of Te Ao Māori, and I acknowledge their value. But for me credit is given to whomever encompasses those values, in all ways. Whether Māori or Pākeha. Growing up with both Māori and Pākeha relatives, that had similar methods of sharing and community endeavours, I had always thought of it as New Zealand culture, and am reluctant to let that understanding go, so I realise it might be a personal one, rather than one that expresses adequately the conflict between the cultures today.
This deprecation of individualism out of hand omits the enormous benefits it brings. The kind of overreaching tribalism that readily sacrifices personal welfare for the greater good comes at its own terrible cost. It is why most people choose modernity at the first opportunity they get.
Unconstrained individualism on the other hand carries its own alienation and social ills.
I would suggest these two principles are best thought of as mutually interdependent, each necessary to support the other. It is impossible to imagine a good, healthy society full of depraved, dysfunctional people. Equally a tyrannical, oppressive society will fail to inculcate admirable people.
In conversations where I know the understanding and perspective of the other person, it is easier to give my perspective without going into areas I did not intend.
So, it is easier to explain in principle, rather than specifics.
I believe that in most cases – if not all – when implementing a process, or determining a solution, there is going to be impact or cost. This recognition doesn't mean that the solution is not the right one to undertake, just that there are costs to that decision that should be recognised and accommodated in some way.
As you say, both unconstrained individualism and tribalism carry both their own benefits and costs. A system that finds a way to capture the benefits of both would be ideal. Of course, in some situations one approach will predominate, while in others the opposite will be true.
Regardless, there is a cost to either of those approaches.
Effective (rather than punitive) regulation and policies might address the excesses of individualism, while processes that ensure individual accountability despite a recognition that the group embraces us in all our flawed humanity need to be included.
It is the optimal balance between the two that is so very hard to achieve, and requires ongoing review and tinkering. Sometimes, in real life, people who see the benefits of either approach, champion that approach and don’t recognise the costs when they occur – because we are not trained to look for additional problems resulting from our mostly great solutions.
And some people have to work, regardless of whether it's a holiday or not (or our civilization will grind to a halt). Nurses, electricity workers, sewerage station workers, water supply, etc., etc.
Public holidays have never (and can never) include everyone.
Was in the CBD this morning catching up with a friend, and came across a Matariki festival. Maori musicians, stalls selling food, and general Maori themed nicknacks, jewellery, clothes, etc. Observationally (I didn't instigate a whakapapa check), these were all Maori – happily commercializing 'their' festival.
Absolutely don't have a problem with this. And I think that it reflects a range of views on this from within the Maori sphere, just as there are a range of views on Christmas/Easter within the Christian sphere.
I think there's a real miscommunication about commercialisation here. To me it's not selling things per se. It's appropriating something into the neoliberal market with the intention of making profit with no regard for the wider good. I gave examples above about areas we restrict eg alcohol advertising.
People having a local market and selling stuff isn't commercialisation, it's community.
Obviously. The point was that commercialisation has enforced more people having to work on public holidays, unnecessarily. Easy to make a case for nurses being needed every day of the year. Not so a $2 shop, or a baby shop.
"I think there's a real miscommunication about commercialisation here. To me it's not selling things per se. It's appropriating something into the neoliberal market with the intention of making profit with no regard for the wider good. "
OK, I think I understand the distinction here.
If I do, I believe this to be a bigger conversation, rather than application to Matariki as a state holiday.
You realise that our economy and civilisation will implode. Just ask Kirk Hope.
Who incidentally produces nothing.
Noble Savage Romanticism.
The public adoption of this posture is a form of narcissistic virtue-signalling from affluent Culturalists utterly divorced from cold hard Reality.
you appear to be the one with noble savage notions in your head Swordfish. There's absolutely nothing overt or implied about the nobela savage in the observation that Māori cultures are more collective focused than Pākehā in NZ. Neither is there anything controversial in my statement. Nearly 40 years of neoliberalism ffs.
By all means use lazy anti-woke virtueless signalling in lieu of an actual argument against what I said though.
Reality is cold and hard?
No, it ain't.
Reality is binary,
Then again
https://medium.com/encounter-in-nineveh/the-binary-universe-and-simulated-reality-dfc578658ac9
It from Bit (John wheeler)
Information gives rise to "every it-every particle,every field of force,even the space time continuum itself"
Not only is the observer observing,she is asking questions,and making statements that are expressed in discrete bits,"what we call reality" as Wheeler wrote "arises in the last analysis of yes/no questions'' and added 'All things physical are information -theoretic in origin,and this is a participatory universe'
From Gleick (the information)
It is or it is not. There’s no question about it.
Binary?
Christian mystics (and others) would argue that it's a ternary.
Your thoughts, Poission?
H=n log s
Democritus though, failed to understand what opinion is.
No it isn't. (sarc) (Reply to Poision at 3.50pm. – Reality is binary.)
I suspect it is unitary
You are writing of our perception.
Certainly not for affluent old virtue-signaling hippie fantasists in the rural idyll of small town Riverton.
You wouldn't have too much of a clue about life elsewhere, however.
"Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"
– John Ch1, v 46.
It's surprising what comes out of the periphery.
How unkind, swordfish, and ad hom 🙂
“affluent old virtue-signaling hippie fantasists in the rural idyll of small town Riverton.” is harsh.
Why are you so harsh?
There has been some interesting korero today. I had hard day behind the chainsaw, followed by the weed eater for desert. Nothing like some honest levity to end my day.
Those who hold your view are dying.
Those who hold political and increasingly commercial power in New Zealand are a rag-tag battlefleet of educated post-settlement Maori, gays in all their forms, remaining unionists, urban activists, environmentalists, feminists, sustainability types, fitness and muesli freaks, poverty activists, all the massive companies addicted to the state, the deep left within key ministries, the great HoMoPoMo conspiracy of them …
… and together they have changed the language of political discourse forever.
It's OK. We know you hate them all. But your view will soon die.
Today is just one day where all of them break out into the open, official and permanent. Hoisted to something as real as the stars.
Beautiful, Ad!
.
You're beyond clueless … I’ve noticed time & again when you can’t adequately answer a point, you concoct any old smear that happens to be passing through that narcissistic brain of yours.
Obviously you think a cheap bit of character assassination will give you some sort of quick “win”.
Agree Swordfish
Have you just read yourself?
Very blade-like, your sword, fish.
Pretty tactless Ad when you know Swordfish has cancer.
+1 Anker
A tag team of nasty bastards…so much for the 'empathic left'.
Really Ad? Don't you know Labour are going down in the polls and likely are on their way out.
Many years ago, I became aware of aspects of the Matariki cluster (I drove a Subaru back then) and it's importance to gardening. The two "figures" around whom on the ground action was centred, Rongomatane and Haumietikitiki ( nga atua of cultivated & wild food) really inspired me, as did the focus on assessing food stocks and planning the next seasons mahi nga kai. I've marked Matariki ever since then, with regards to those aspects. I'm not a good star-gazer – myopia and colour-blindness aren't advantages to peering into outer space, so the earthier effects are where I connect with nga whetu. The national celebration we are enjoying now, hasn't changed my prosaic view of the celestial event; I still only consider Matariki from the growers point of view, but I do celebrate the wider involvement and awareness of all of us living here on these South Pacific islands of ours.
A good friend of mine, who has just complete a degree in weaving, incorporated the Matariki cluster in her final submissions and her graduation korowai. The stories related to her pieces are both connected to her iwi's stories, and her own life.
Such personal recognition and how we honour it at individual levels will be wonderfully diverse and significant, even if that recognition is not universal.
Your personal story is another example, and with your circle of influence – which I know is considerable – may spread that knowledge wider and create another unique but shared celebration of Matariki in your community.
I hope that is the case in many different rohe, but believe that it is sustainable only as an organic and personal process rather than a proscribed one.
That's a good perspective, Molly.
Chris Trotter has a go at the issue and sweeps across many of the points, but ends with this:
"Isn’t it possible that Matariki may yet prove a cure for, rather than a cause of, racist contention? Maybe, as the Earth grows warmer, and the pretensions of science and modernity are increasingly laid bare, the hunger of all Aotearoans for gods and heroes will increase. Perhaps, when we realise that these islands are all we’ve got, the thought may grow in our hearts and minds: If all things are, indeed, related and alive, then why not be guided by the stars?"
I like that.
That's a good quote from Chris Trotter, but I think fails to acknowledge the overlap between the Te Ao Maori view and many other perspectives that are also aligned with recognising the connectiveness of all things, and the value of recognising this in the day-to-day choices we make. I also don't need a god or superhero to follow in order to make informed choices, but I can understand the residual longing for such easy solutions to the problems we have ahead.
When I first became aware of, and was finding out as much as I could about climate change – I can date this by one of my children – so around 23 years ago, I included in my immersion searches for organisations around NZ that were not only identifying the problem, but recognising the scope of it, and inviting solutions.
There were a few, but none organised that did all three. It was easier to find individuals speaking out or writing about the issue.
As the children got older, I looked in particular for Māori organisations, and found one Māori youth group – bookmarked on a now defunct desktop. But even then, the understanding of the impact of climate change was limited.
Over time, references to climate change started to appear in organisations Māori and non-Māori alike, but mostly in reference to getting funding or grants for local conservation or regeneration efforts, rather than a demonstrated understanding of the impact of the whole. Thankfully, this has slowly changed over time.
My point is that Māori, just like non-Māori – despite their common good view – often treated the example of climate change as it affected their group and rohe, not as the wider global problem it is, even though they had the concepts to consider the whole, in practice the scope was limited to the familiar immediate.
I agree with the concept of understanding the value of the living biosphere.
For me, I recognise that in a myriad of ways: in teachings of Te Ao Māori, in the environmental perspectives that I follow, my understandings of science, my personal values and political views, my concern for those who follow us… etc. The more we encounter that perspective in our lives, the better.
Well said Molly.
Nope, no Israeli influence over US policy.
//
https://twitter.com/juliabacha/status/1539673763658317824
Outrageous.
"You don’t have to like or agree with Vladimir Putin to take seriously the speech he made to the St. Petersburg Economic Forum last week. Five paragraphs – from an otherwise long and somewhat dull presentation – stand out:"
https://consciousnessofsheep.co.uk/2022/06/22/the-new-new-new-world-order/
I don't know if this has been discussed before on TS but apparently Putin was aboard the Mikhail Lermontov when it sank in the sounds in 1986. Shame he made it off the ship.
Excellent…I will read The Fall…Camus is good value…quirky.
Lermontov died at 27 like all of the good artists.
He died the way of Pushkin, shot in a duel.
I had heard that Putin was supposed to have been in New Zealand and attended the inquiry into the sinking. I hadn't heard the idea that he had actually been on the ship though. Where did you hear this?
My favorite memory of the event was David Lange's quip about the sinking. "Lange declared that little old New Zealand was "the only nation to sink a Russian Ship since the Second World War."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/tv-no-show-leaves-that-sinking-feeling/FKJ67R5OQ7JDEZ7KNSVTUEXUDA/
A usually reliable friend of mine told me last night. Happy to be contradicted if wrong. I must admit I thought I would have heard about this before if it is true.
There was funny goings on with that ship
It was, and probably still is, normal practice of the Soviet submarine service to mask the acoustic signature of their submarines with a surface vessel when transiting shallow waters where the opposition could be listening.
Many of the Pilot's actions, going close to shore and going through the channel that turned out to be a bit tight, could be interpreted as trying to minimise or remove this masking.
It was also odd that our navy arrived to pick up the pieces within minutes, they were doing a hydrographic job nearby.
I suppose that once the details of the affair are disclosed, (aren't they held in Richard Prebble's personal library?) we may get to know a bit more.
There was a cartoon in Southern Cross of a Fred Dang character telling one side to bugger off, turning around and telling the other side to bugger off too. I understood that related to NZ telling USA to bugger off with it's nukes, and someone else.
PS How do you upload an image (jpeg) to TS? I've got the cartoon but not as a url
There was funny goings on with that ship.
I remember that. Didn’t Winston Peters make some allegations along the lines we were not being told the truth about it?
That man's wit is legendary.
Maggie Thatcher sent Baroness somebody-or-another to NZ to tell David Lange he wasn't to do the Oxford Union Debate. The encounter was contentious to say the least and when she left his office he called out to her "hey Baroness you've left your broomstick behind".
For anyone who may be interested, the following is the latest session from the US Congressional hearings into the Jan. 6th Capitol riots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjMNdMqxuiQ
It covers the shenanigans in the weeks leading up to the riot. Lengthy but gripping stuff.
Could have had worse!!
Our wannabe crusher will be green.
https://twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1539572438752759808
This is who they are and the Bethlehem school mob are singing from the same sheet.
https://twitter.com/hemantmehta/status/1539633483957551104
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyUqro8d310&feature=youtu.be
https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/right-wing-media-are-pushing-vigilantism-against-trans-people-and-drag-queens
This is who they are and the Bethlehem school mob are singing from the same sheet.
I've looked….but I can't find where the Bethlehem School are saying that LGBTQ people should be killed. Or that violence should be directed towards them.
Pray, joe90, provide a link to where you found the information that led you to make this claim.
(There's a difference between believing that 'God doesn't make mistakes.' and 'LGBTQ people should be killed.')
WTF would I bother providing anything to you.
/
No link then Joe90
Can you read between the lines?
If I read between the lines there is a good chance I am making an interpretation that is not correct.
It may be correct or it may be incorrect, if you want to deal in/with binaries only. Question is what you’re going to do with it that adds to the convo here?
Defend them all you want, but statements like 'God doesn't make mistakes' does get people killed. Either by gun or pills it makes no difference. If you're beaten down enough by words from those you are supposed to look up to, life can become very bleak.
"Defend them all you want, but statements like 'God doesn't make mistakes' does get people killed."
How does that get people killed?
Their Statement of belief contains references to the sovereignty and will of God, https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/information-releases/issue-specific-releases/integration-agreements-for-state-integrated-schools/integration-agreements-for-state-integrated-schools-a-b/ .
One oft repeated Christian viewpoint, when people are going through personal struggles, or times of crisis is: 'God doesn't make mistakes' or 'God moves in mysterious ways'. Not particularly helpful, from my point of view, but not deliberately meant to harm, but rather to console.
And so, we really need to know the context of that quote. How the conversation was initiated, and who was involved. If a student has made the statement that God had given them the wrong body, then I am not surprised that it has been challenged with the response that 'God doesn't make mistakes' within a Christian environment.
Why are so many feigning surprise at this viewpoint, as if we know nothing at all about Christian beliefs?
Suicide. If a member of the LBGT Community continues to be told they are a mistake or you're going to hell because you're an abomination, etc etc etc, either by their church leaders or idols (looking at you, Folau), the potential for suicide is elevated. If they show welcoming and inclusion in their Religion then they show the good and right side of Christianity, it seems to me, these people show the opposite.
Suicide or lifelong depression.
From the inside of a fundamentalist church for my early life I know exactly what it's like to watch people question their sexuality, let alone their gender assignment.
I've seen the demon outcastings, the shunnings, humiliations, the one-on-one interviews, the training camps to re-educate you. Usually they leave, to start their entire life again, fairly damaged.
And yup, suicide and lifelong depressions among a few.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2022/06/uk-transgender-patient-suing-national-health-service-after-changing-mind-about-reassignment-surgery.html
A story about a man who had surgery to transition as a woman and now is suiing the NHS. good on him. It is a harrowing tale.
good on newshub for covering that.
I wonder if the new funding for trans healthcare will cover such situations.
The mental health impact on detrans people is intense. I don't think it's controversial to say that gay and trans people in fundamentalist churches can also have their mental health put at risk. Maybe we could have consideration for all people.
Can you explain how a gender is assigend at birth?
Sex is 'identified' early on in a pregnancy and then confirmed by birth. Sex being the visual secondary sexual characteristics of a human being i.e in an new born it is a boy – penis/scrotum, a girl – vagina.
But last i checked babies are not born without these sexual organs (or like barbie dolls with nothing down there blelow) , and no doctor will order a nurse to go into a Storage room in wich there are shelfes full of spare penises/vaginas that can then be affixed to the new born child on the whims of a doctor/midwife/nurse. If that would be the case i believe that femicide in India or China for that matter would not happen as all the parents would choose the 'boy tackle' to be affixed to the sex less new born.
Sexed bodies are OBSERVED at birth and not 'assigned'
assign
/əˈsʌɪn/
verb
past tense: assigned; past participle: assigned
allocate (a job or duty).
"Congress had assigned the task to the agency"
Similar:
allocate
allot
give
set
charge with
entrust with
designate or set (something) aside for a specific purpose.
"managers happily assign large sums of money to travel budgets"
I have a dear friend that also had harms that were not helped by the involvement in such a church.
It affects all those who fall outside of the church doctrines in any way, not only those with different sexual orientations or gender expressions.
That constancy of having someone tell you the right things to do comes at a a very high cost to all. The church either adapts or fails, as the people within it find they are able to survive without such control.
I'm sorry to hear that your upbringing meant that you witnessed such things as a child, Ad. But it doesn't seem that Bethlehem College is at that extreme from what has been reported so far.
Suicide, is not "getting people killed".
Mental distress, and not being able to get appropriate support for that distress makes people more likely to attempt, and possibly succeed at ending their own lives.
" If they show welcoming and inclusion in their Religion then they show the good and right side of Christianity, it seems to me, these people show the opposite."
Given that I – and it seems many of the commentators who dictate a "good and right side of Christianity" – are atheists, I fail to see what the intent is here.
Tell those whose sense of self falls outside the teachings of the church in about the failures of historic religious doctrines to serve anyone other than the church.
Tell them, that they can find other more understanding churches to accommodate their belief in God. If they don't have a belief in God, then encourage them to dismiss anything they say.
AFAIK, Bethlehem College did not put up a display or make a determined point in regards to this question. From the (very little) that was reported a teacher answered a student with "God doesn't make mistakes" – a familiar and oft used Christian phrase.
Give ALL students the resilience and tools to deal with disagreements without resorting to self-harm as a response.
Now, let's address the common use of suicide ideation in transgender advocacy. Despite this being against every suicide prevention guideline, advocates bring up the issue of suicide as impetus for non-therapeutic social and medical interventions.
This is using the threat of suicide as a means of coercive control and manipulation.
Surely, the answer to mental distress at this level is extensive and comprehensive therapy (and only therapy).
Further point: The student was told that there was NO mistake in their existence. Not the opposite. They wanted to be told there had been a mistake.
How about "no child is born in the wrong body"? The vast majority of young people with bodily dysphoria related to their sexed body will resolve that with the right support by the time they finish puberty. Most will grow up to be perfectly "ordinary" same sex attracted people.
Thanks for your diversion, but that's not a road I'm able to go down, other than 'if NO child is born in the wrong body' how come only MOST will grow out of it, that leaves a lesser number who will not grow out of it, they are still people and will still suffer. I'm off out to join a diverse group of people to celebrate Matariki so, Cheerio.
The people who don't desist from their gender dysphoria I think will likely have a tough life and I do feel for them. I hope they get the right support.
I posted further down about a man who had gender reassignment surgery and woke up full of regret and realized he had been castrated. He is now suing the NHS and I wish him luck.
"… how come only MOST will grow out of it, that leaves a lesser number who will not grow out of it, they are still people and will still suffer. "
If we had the answer to this, then any concerns about the long-term effects of inappropriate treatment would melt away like morning dew.
It is precisely the inability of being able to determine who will persist and who won't that makes the issue of both social and medical interventions for minors such a contentious issue.
If the majority do grow out of it – and there are other issues here regarding the very large increase in adolescent girls – then caution regarding treatment is well advised for this cohort. Not providing medical interventions until they are grown seems a precaution that seems advisable, given the permanent and long-term outcomes from intervention.
For those that do persist – is there a way to alleviate the distress until such time they are fully cognitive adults?
This is the conversation we need to be having about treatment for minors.
It is one that requires a lot of research, input, perspectives and considerations. But the consequences of failing to even contemplate this discussion by the adults, will – as ever, be borne by the children and young people we are entrusted to protect.
How about canning the whataboutery just to shoehorn in your favourite bogeyman just this once? That would be nice. We know where you stand on that particular issue, ad nauseam.
I think there are parallels between 'god doesn't make mistakes' and 'born in the wrong body' that are worth exploring. If you don't like the conversation, maybe just scroll on by. Telling other people to shut up because you don't like their politics isn't going to run on a political blog.
The original post on this thread was about the harm to transgender people by adherents of Christianity.
Extremists gonna extreme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG5BcU1ZGiA
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/09/14/violent-antipolice-memes-surge/
Rosemary yesterday mentioned (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-23-06-2022/#comment-1896276) this Microsoft Report:
Defending Ukraine: Early Lessons from the Cyber War
https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RE50KOK
Not an awful lot of data in it though and heavy on rhetoric. But it is more than what our Government has shared with us, so far.
SVR
• Historical revisionism
• Think tanks & academia
Who would have thought that could be so divisive.
Quite helpful russian propaganda though, giving kiwis a heads up on vaccine effectiveness and side effects was probably useful for many.
With half the cases and ten times the deaths per capita. Nah.
/
😀 You're by far the funniest commenter around here on TS and that's saying something. 😀
Uncle sam the old rooster wants to gather in as many of his loyal hens as he can reminding them that they need him to keep them safe but he knows the cold wind of change is beginning to stir and he sees the young challengers on the periphery strutting their stuff……….
From the Microsoft report
I had noticed that a number of the covid-19 deniers and anti-vaxxer commenters also supported the Russian Federation invasion and war against Ukraine.
I had thought it was just the same old anti-government useful idiots pushing wacky right wing pseudo-science conspiracy theories.
Anyone able to fill out Josie Pagani’s CV? I’ve seen an awful lot based on her candidacy for a Labour seat a decade ago. Then I hear rumors about her being an oil lobbyist or having connections to one which you never see listed at the bottom of her columns. Does she have P.R. or lobbying clients?
Just sticking my nose in really, but you know it would be interesting to know when reading her writing.
Her husband was the oil lobbyist.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/standing-her-centre-left-ground/KNL2I32IG65ZL5NTMU7JD3YCVU/?c_id=280&objectid=10847238
The newly merged media company will be named "Aoeteroa New Zealand Public Media " lmfao oooh boy that's a name that'll catch on.
ANZPM. Could they fit any more letters on it?? That's the best this govt and it's army of pr reps and gargantuan legions of consultants can come up with ?!? Really?!? Lmao. Ridiculous. Call it NZBC like ABC CBC , BBC.
When the majority of the public see ANZ they think ANZ Bank or Australia/New Zealand and NZPM is shorthand for the Prime minister.
If ANZPM is the name of this new organization, thanks but no thanks rnz and tvnz can keep.
Ridiculous.
If they name it anzpm I'd almost be inclined to vote act in the hopes that shit gets privatized.
I'm a millennial, My generation has no interest in watching NZ content, why should we have to pay to fund it ?
The world according to Corey Humm. Speaks for a generation, does young Corey.
I’m not surprised you want to vote ACT because they, like you, are culture killers.
Check your ego, son.
Cheek of you to talk of ego
[Stop needling Muttonbird – Incognito]
Mod note
Ok
Agree PR
It was not Muttonbird claiming to speak for a generation.
Corey Humm you have nailed it again! 100%
ANZ – does have a resonance here in NZ, as standing for Australia New Zealand.
ANZ bank is one. But ANZAC is another, and so is ANZUS.
I agree it is a fail on the acronym side.
Have to disagree here though:
"My generation has no interest in watching NZ content, why should we have to pay to fund it ?"
My response, typical of an old fuddy-dud, and partly – but not wholly – tongue-in-cheek: Eventually, you'll grow up.
We have two official names – and the media concerned is as much "consumed" online than by broadcast.
Sounds familiar.
https://twitter.com/Justin_Ling/status/1539768218973265923
On Wednesday, these anti-vaccine groups kicked off a summer of planned protest with an event inside Canada’s Parliament buildings in Ottawa, supported by sitting Members of Parliament. Outside those buildings is where the so-called “freedom convoy” took over Canada’s capital for several weeks this past winter, setting off similar movements across the globe.
[…]
The Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, an arm of the Canadian intelligence community that provides intel to local law enforcement agencies, warned in a special bulletin that they’re seeing mounting “aspirations to overthrow the federal government or to engage in mass violent resistance.” The bulletin was provided to VICE World News by a law enforcement source.
According to the intelligence assessment, the chance of an organized attack, a storming of Parliament, or another occupation of the city is “unlikely,” and Canadian intelligence and law enforcement believe the protests will most likely be peaceful and lawful.
Yet, they warn, they’re increasingly witnessing “a culture in which individuals, including supporters of ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE), feel that they can threaten, incite, and celebrate violence online without consequence.”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3pz7x/conservative-mps-anti-vaccine-convoy-ottawa
Follow the money.
Who would have guessed that Wall Street has an interest in denying abortion rights.
https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-finance-anti-abortion-lawmakers-2022-5?utm_source=notification&utm_medium=referral
Roe v Wade was not a good ruling:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/21/us/ruth-bader-ginsburg-roe-v-wade.html
Follow the money II
https://www.businessinsider.com/employers-in-abortion-ban-states-face-retention-crisis-2022-5?utm_source=notification&utm_medium=referral
It is in big business interest to oppress women.
PR – RBG said it was the right ruling, but on the wrong basis.