1. Team New Zealand sounds like a spoilt brat who will take his toys to another sandpit if he doesn’t get his way.
2. For how much longer are New Zealanders going to fall for the lie of trickledown? Mike Hosking and his fellow medi liars would have us believe this. Don’t.
You don’t live in Auckland do you Ed?
You have not witnessed first hand the swarm of activity that occurs for several years prior to and then during the cup.
The marine industry, hospitality, tourism, retail etc. benefit massively from this event.
The problem is Alan that these big accounting firms that cost potential benefits prior to a sporting event almost always over state it. It is enormously difficult to quantify but easy to over state.
Exactly – take for instance the Super V8 race that was initially proposed for Auckland City (Banks was Mayor at the time and all for it!) – and where the residents protested sufficiently, and were able to show that the so called cost benefit analysis of the organisers was just plain hype and were able to shut it down. The race organisers then convinced Hamilton as to its mavellousness, and the race was run there – until the true costs of running it and the meager benefits were so poor that the Council eventually said enough is enough! More fool Hamilton.
The marine industry, hospitality, tourism, retail etc. benefit massively from this event.
It is a pity that the beneficiaries of such activities don’t pay for it eh?
It causes me additional traffic jams, a strong need to avoid the idiots downtown, an inability to get accommodation for people coming here for business, and an effective rise in rates or diminished services before the event to pay for all of the crap that the sailors hold their hand out for.
Perhaps it’d be worth it if the hospitality industry went off and paid an additional tax for discombobulating the entire rest of the residents of Auckland.
But that pack of bastards really don’t like even a minor tax to cover the effects that their freeloading industry cost the rest of us.
Basically you are a fool. One who doesn’t appear to live in Auckland or is one of the freeloading parasites
This so correct – I wonder if the organisers of the resistance to the Super V8 Race are still around? They were able to show the flimsy analysis of the cost-benefits to Auckland were so much hype that the council over-turned Bank’s wish to run the race.
Perhaps it’d be worth it if the hospitality industry went off and paid an additional tax for discombobulating the entire rest of the residents of Auckland.
But that pack of bastards really don’t like even a minor tax to cover the effects that their freeloading industry cost the rest of us.
Yes, for such supporters of user pays they seem rather recalcitrant when being asked to pay for their usage.
Yep – some people will benefit, the majority will see no benefit and some will be harmed. Those harmed would be businesses whose customers (shoppers, diners) are dragged away from other parts of the city down to the waterfront.
So to say it is good for Auckland is a misconception – because (to steal from Margaret Thatcher) there is no such thing as ‘Auckland’.
1. Team New Zealand sounds like a spoilt brat who will take his toys to another sandpit if he doesn’t get his way.
Thats just a bullshit:
“However, Team NZ chief operations officer Kevin Shoebridge told the Herald even though their preferred option would not happen, they would be working with the options available and there would be no moves to take the America’s Cup away from the city”
Don’t worry about it. At the moment Dunedin households are being delivered around 40 tonnes of Christmas junk mail a week into letter boxes. This might actually increase closer to Christmas.
And I suppose that means Auckland is distributing about 500 tonnes of junk mail a week.
Bear in mind the majority of this goes straight into the garbage without even being read for one nanosecond.
You can’t stop the machine, and 40 years of moaning about it since the Club of Rome has done nothing but waste time and emotional effort.
During the last election I delivered a few hundred flyers to letter boxes. I was surprised at the number with NO JUNK MAIL HERE signs. (I put them in anyway.) My estimate is that two thirds of letter boxes rejected junk mail. Seems to be more tucked inside newspapers though.
Hi ianmac. Surprised you weren’t given the heads up on the legal situation here.
The only letter boxes where you can’t – by law – deliver material are those with the instruction ” Addressed Mail Only” on them.
The only letter boxes where you can’t – by law – deliver material are those with the instruction ” Addressed Mail Only” on them.
Mailboxes like mine which are in the apartment lobby which requires a card to get into. The PO has a card to do it, so the ONLY junk mail we get now comes via the mail person. We moved the mailboxes inside after someone broke into most of the 60 mailboxes – presumably looking for checks when they were still a thing – wrecking most of them. The joy of getting rid of 90% of the junk mail was immense.
Similarly a former Labour Party activist mate of mine simplify classifies election flyers as “democracy participation information sheets” not junk mail, and slides them right in 😀
…all letterboxes regardless of whether they have signs asking for no junk mail, circulars or addressed mail only, can receive election material two months before the election until the day before polling day. This aligns with the Electoral Act.
Interesting to learn that ‘addressed mail only’ is no barrier: the times I’ve delivered election material we were told to leave those ones alone.
to DTB at 2.1.1.2.1.1.: Don’t think would lose votes as no complainer would be voting for the party complained about anyway. The complaining is just to involve nuisance waste of time for those delivering or their electorate office.
Interesting to learn that ‘addressed mail only’ is no barrier:
We were told it is unlawful to deliver non-addressed material into an “addressed mail only” letter box. Political parties and other organisations get around it by acquiring addresses from public lists eg. electoral roll, and either posting or delivering on foot. Either way its more expensive and delivering targeted mail is a nightmare.
Unless there’s been a law change in the last few years.
I was prepared to defend my postings should anyone complain, by apologising for not “noticing” the sign. And our local MP had just 2 phone calls complaining, from the whole Electorate.
Actually I have doubts anyway that the flyers help anyone except the employees of printers.
“Very few dissatisfied customers complain, making this a meaningless measure of customer satisfaction.”
Very few customers will complain directly to you, but that does not mean that they won’t complain to other people. In fact in reality it’s quite the opposite! Let’s think back to the restaurant example I gave at the beginning of this article. Realistically, how many people would you tell if you thought a restaurant was offering bad food and service?
My wife (English is her second, third, or fourth language depending on how one categorises dialects) loves the junk mail. It helped her with handy phrases like Blowout Sale! and Discount Days.
That’s one of the very few positives to junk mail.
Hahaha true, reminds me of the junkyard Transformer robot from the old 90s cartoon movie who only talked in TV ad speak because that’s how he learnt his English
Yes! Many years ago when I was teaching immigrant women English, I would use supermarket junk mail. It had pictures and was relevant to their need to shop for food.
Is anyone going to do a proper post on the America’s Cup facilities ?
It’s a classic environment v economic benefit v social utility v public subsidy v filthy rich capitalists v good for Auckland v binge-purge-cycle v did-we-learn-anything-last-time …. kind of debate.
Worth about $200m in capex from us ratepayers and taxpayers.
A good thing about the America Cup development is those building monuments on other peoples’ coin will move their aspirations from a billion dollar waterfront stadium for a year or two.
I guess a successful Cup event and Aucklanders warming to the precinct all over again will see a renewed stadium push. Fortunately most Aucklanders that own their homes freehold are millionaires, they’re loaded.
It seems like the Democratic Party hierarchy has decided once and for all to dump the Clintons and make them politically radioactive.
Obama Cabinet member/HHS Sec Kathleen Sebelius says women who came forward about Bill Clinton were systematically re-victimised by the Clintons
This was in a CNN interview between former Obama chief advisor and campaign manager David Axelrod, and Sebelius.
These Axelrod and Sebelius are well connected Democratic Party insiders and heavy hitters.
“Not only did people look the other way, but they went after the women who came forward and accused him,” Sebelius stunningly detailed. Keep in mind this is a fact that the alternative media has reported on literally hundreds and hundreds of times while being attacked as right-wing conspiracy theorists for doing so.
“And so it doubled down on not only bad behavior but abusive behavior. And then people attacked the victims,” Sebelius continued.
Damn you beat me to posting it. What’s that they said about not more to come on this? Brazile’s intervention was just the start. Now that the Chicago camp is making a move, momentum will continue to build.
It’s actually a really interesting interview. You should listen to it.
I also can’t help thinking that if the republicans hadn’t made up so many stories about bill clinton, the real one would have stood out. Not that it would have changed much in the 1990s.
Having recently been listening to a marathon run of Christopher Hitchens interviews from the C-Span 90s period, I’d have to say you’re right about the second part of that – there really was no alternative for the electorate to seriously consider. I mean, Bob fucking Dole? Even for the Republicans that was dumb.
During the 1990s the repubs were all about the clinton scandals, fixating especially on a relationship that was actually consensual. But there was also whitewater, and Vince Foster’s suicide. Even republican investigations said Foster committed suicide.
I mean, I’d like to say that in the absence of all those lies and in today’s environment Clinton being accused of sexual assault would kick him out of contention in the party primaries, but even post-Weinstein it’s 50/50.
Well you say lies; there was genuine suspicion and grounds for it around the circumstances of Foster’s death – as there would be in any DC insider who knows where the bodies are buried in the President’s political and personal past turning up having committed such an unusually timed and placed suicide.
A more interesting take on it would be, what did the Clintons do to piss the guy off so much that not only did he take his own life, but seemed to have done it in such method and circumstance that conspiracy theories about his erstwhile employers were virtually guaranteed. Of course there are opponents who will continue to flog a dead horse when there’s that kind of innuendo on hand.
Again, think your right about the difficulties of gauging his chances even in times like his own. There’s no denying his charisma with the wider electorate, and he apparently lit a room right up when present, that’s gold dust in politics. And the Clintons do seem to be very serious networkers. I’d say if the opponent was formidable enough, they’d probably pick him even with a dozen sex scandals around his neck. Much like Trump, or Key, Slick Willie seems to have that knack for being really quite scandal-proof in the eyes of someone who’d vote for him.
There were suspicions, few (if any) of those were genuine, and rumours were outright fabricated by republicans wanting to encourage idiot conspiracists. Well, now they’re reaping the whirlwind with trump.
Indeed, an odd choice of place – and an odd choice of time given when he was found, and the appointments he still had to make in the day ahead of him. Like I say, the more interesting ‘conspiracy’ side of it to me is that if he bore the Clintons no ill will, he sure went through with it in a way which seemed designed to embarrass them.
Let’s face it, it’s not just because he worked for a recently appointed president. That kind of beltway suicide (god that’d be a great name for a punk band) will always attract suspicion. Imagine if Eagleson did something like that right after Ponytail-gate, for instance. Or if something like it happened to someone from David Cameron’s office right after Pig-gate. No way there wouldn’t be questions asked or innuendo spread.
Yeah, actually there are choices which are odd even in such extreme circumstances, and Foster’s was a good example. You can be as obtuse as you like about it, it’s simply obvious to most of us that given who he was and who he worked for, how and when he went was indeed definitively odd.
As to the Republicans, I’m quite capable of separating a lack of surprise that they looked closely at it when it happened from the idea that some among them might persist in bringing it up long after it became apparent that doing so would make them look like conspiracy theorists.
Wasn’t a national park though was it? I mean, taking a long drive out into the wilderness to end it in Yellowstone park, or out to the desert to admire Window Rock, or perhaps at the foot of a majestic redwood or something. But I remember the spot where Foster was found from a documentary a way back. It looked like bloody Myers park or something.
Remember, we’re not trying to prove here whether or not it was dodgy. The point is simply that given who he was, who he worked for, and the scandal he had been a part of it’s simply unsurprising that Clinton’s political opponents made hay with the potential innuendo. There was enough not to find it surprising – we’re talking about the 1990s Republicans here…
Meh. Looks ok to me, with trees and streams and other nature shit, but each to their own.
The thing is, he could have died of cancer diagnosed by three different doctors and a pathologist who took samples, and if the documentary you saw was one funded by the repubs the doctors would have been called drunkards and claims made they were paid off by the clintons.
There are reasonable suspicions, and then there are lies. In the late 80s and early 90s, conservative republicans chose to ignore the truth and just say whatever was convenient at the time. So now we have trump as the culmination of that decision.
I’d say Trump is the culmination of all kinds of decisions, some from politicians, others from business & banking, and some of course from the MIC – who continue to do as well out of him as any other president in my lifetime.
Charitable view of the working class you’ve got there, sir. Let’s tell them wrong-thinking herp-a-derps how dumb they are for not believing what we tell them & valuing things that we don’t.
It’s a fact. The same exit polls that gave CV his “ten point majority” showed Trumps popularity was inversely proportionate to the voter’s level of educational attainment, their ethinicity’s population as a proportion of the total population, and even whether they had a vagina. That’s why CV had to restrict it to “white women” rather than “women”. The majority of women voted for Clinton.
A bit like how the majority of electoral votes went to trump, even though the majority of actual votes went to Clinton.
I’m glad you felt the need to remind me of the electoral vote – popular vote ratio in that election. It’s quite probable that there’s someone out there who didn’t know, and to whom this highly obscure piece of information might be news.
As to your deflective rundown of details everyone is perfectly familiar with (you aren’t an avid Vox reader by any chance? Distinct tonal similarity), it changes nothing. You don’t like working class people, it’s clear as day. No need to respond to the accusation by throwing around some excuses to emphasize that it’s a data driven dislike. Just be cool with who you are, my dude: someone morally and intellectually better suited than they to determine who should be in charge.
No amount of Russian facebook memes will go half as far in explaining how Trump won.
I suspect the difference is between talking about things and actually doing things.
Trump was stupid for talking about grabbing women but as far as I know he was never proven of actually sexually assaulting anyone or misusing a position of power.
Clinton on the other hand (and the long list of Hollywood hypocrites) were all about physically committing sexual offending.
Makes me laugh that the Hollywood elite who for years have pontificated about society’s short comings (and excused Clinton’s sins) have been found to be worse offenders than those they have pointed an accusatory finger at.
Morally corrupt, inept, and without a smidge of shame or regret – the fakery they practice in their occupation has become their reality.
This time last year they were all chanting for Hillary and demonizing Trump and it turns out that they (and her) are far worse than Trump was every portrayed as being.
He called students, male and female both, “my dear” and “my child.” Beautiful, brilliant students surrounded him. He was a vortex of power and intellectual charisma. [….] Bloom agreed to meet with me weekly. [….] The others eventually left and—finally!—I thought we could discuss my poetry manuscript. I set it between us. He did not open it. He did not look at it. He leaned toward me and put his face inches from mine. “You have the aura of election upon you,” he breathed. [….] I hoped he was talking about my poetry. I moved back and took the manuscript and turned it around so he could read.
The next thing I knew, his heavy, boneless hand was hot on my thigh. …
“GROPERS” is presented by GroperWatch, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More gropers. Collect the series!…
No.1 George Herbert Walker Bush; No. 2 Bill O’Reilly; No. 3 Al Franken; No. 4 Robin Brooke; No. 5 Lester Beck; No. 6 Arnold Schwarzenegger; No. 7 Joe Biden; No. 8 Rolf Harris
I heard Todd McClay prattling on earlier on Morning Report about the CPTTP saying it needed to be concluded before Christmas as basically otherwise countries other than the current four holdouts will want to re-negotiate aspects of it. I assume he said this with a straight face.
So this really good “trade” agreement needs to be signed NOW otherwise everyone will want to fix aspects of it they are not happy with or want to improve for themselves.
So maybe it can’t be such a great agreement after all Todd. But I suspect he already knows that.
Glad to hear that Grant Robertson dismissed this sillly man’s notion as it really came from the ultimate villian of all behind the hollow man Mclay eh?
Fascinating article in the Guardian about bullshit management speak, amongst otger things
” At the very point when work seemed to be withering away, we all became obsessed with it. To be a good citizen, you need to be a productive citizen. There is only one problem, of course: there is less than ever that actually needs to be produced. As Graeber pointed out, the answer has come in the form of what he calls “bullshit jobs”. These are jobs in which people experience their work as “utterly meaningless, contributing nothing to the world”. In a YouGov poll conducted in 2015, 37% of respondents in the UK said their job made no meaningful contribution to the world. But people working in bullshit jobs need to do something. And that something is usually the production, distribution and consumption of bullshit. According to a 2014 survey by the polling agency Harris, the average US employee now spends 45% of their workingday doing their real job ”
Bureaucrats and technocrats need to make it look and sound like they know more than everyone else. What better way than impenetrable layers of jargon. As the old saying goes ‘bullshit baffles brains.’
As factories producing goods in the west have been dismantled, and their work outsourced or replaced with automation, large parts of western economies have been left with little to do. In the 1970s, some sociologists worried that this would lead to a world in which people would need to find new ways to fill their time.
I seem to recall an article that said that the politicians and business people were worried to. They were concerned that if all the small people had more time they might get involved in politics and then the politicians and business people would be out of a job telling people what to do.
Moving forward or going forward is usually redundant anyway. What the fuck else would you be doing unless you had the power to make ‘the fullness of time’ stand still.
A very poor effort of journalism by John Sergeant Taranaki Daily News.
“A (sic) Issue of Neglect not always Poverty”
What a poorly researched piece of paid work. Trotting out the usual right wing rubbish for the clickbaiters in their readership.
Apparently, by feeding poor children we teach them it is someone else’s problem that they are hungry, and they will grow up to hold their hand out.
He makes a weak connection that it is neglect by parent/s not poverty which causes hungry children.
Solo parents beneficiaries widows and widowers plus the ill and others struggling to provide for their children will be even more depressed with their struggle reading that mean minded piece.
The usual band waggon “yes yes mob” was in evidence in the stuff comments, though some excellent rebuttals as well.
Editors should wake up. We see through this agenda. Political lies to embarrass a new P.M.
+ 1000 Patrica bremner these people are not intelligent enough to fathom that we can see there dum ass motives for there un logical articles . The state sets the systems up not the people If one has no money and no knowledge on how to make money in one situation than the state is to take the blame this is fact national set the system up for the wealthy and who loses well everyone that’s not wealthy.Kia Kaha
Stuff like this is what makes me wonder whether I’ll regret party voting Labour instead of NZF. This guy, who has never had any real regard for social democratic principle and always seems to simply follow the herd, finally sticks his neck out on something, and it’s just the usual $2 Store Marcusianism:
He couldn’t ever have considered being brave and standing up for NZ in the arena of economic sovereignty perhaps instead of winding up old people about Jesus and the Queen?
The National Party had demanded the Speaker reinstate the old parliamentary prayer and properly consult with MPs before removing mentions of the Queen and Jesus Christ for good.
Typical of authoritarians. They first look to the hierarchy.
Shouldn’t it be up to the people to decide?
The National Party’s issue with the changes is that the monarch of New Zealand “is our constitutional head of state” and the reference to Jesus Christ is an “important part of the our parliament’s history and holds meaning to members”.
But do the people want it to remain so?
National Party leader Bill English is a practising Catholic and a number of MPs chose to swear their allegiance on a bible during the swearing in ceremony earlier this month.
And yet Bill English lies and twists and spins to the people of NZ. It obviously doesn’t what he swears on – he still can’t be trusted.
Possibly, but Trevor Mallard is not the people, and if you’re going to let the people decide, then you’d make those changes once they’ve decided. I can’t stand National, but they’re at least correct to state that Mallard is way out of line. Personally, I look to little things like this as indicators of what’s going on beneath the surface. And it stinks of a government elected to deal with poverty, housing, employment and solid social democratic basics somehow being more interested in $2 Store Marcusian tinkering now that they’re in.
“And yet Bill English lies and twists and spins to the people of NZ. It obviously doesn’t what he swears on – he still can’t be trusted.”
I can’t think of a National leader in my lifetime who that sentence wouldn’t apply to! Feeling a bit shit about party voting Labour instead of NZF =/= ever considering National as an alternative.
And it stinks of a government elected to deal with poverty, housing, employment and solid social democratic basics somehow being more interested in $2 Store Marcusian tinkering now that they’re in.
The big problem with that is that you’re not talking about the actions of the government but the actions of The Speaker.
I have thought for considerable time that use of Christian prayer absolutely not suitable for ethnically and/or of differing religion participants…including viewers/listeners.
How is it not suitable? I’m an atheist and I don’t find traditions inappropriate, or distressing, or unsuitable. It’s just a quaint anachronism which reminds us of the past. Some choose to see only bad things in the past. I see a mixed picture which for better or for worse saw us evolve the best systems of government, which is why people of ethnically and/or differing religions who’ve seen some of the alternatives love living in places with Westminster systems, and will even risk their lives to get there.
We are all encouraged to construct a story of our own (relative) success that leans heavily on our own individual effort and hard work. That is the founding myth of capitalism, work hard and you too can be a success.
The reality is that we all rely on luck, good fortune and being born to the right parents. And there’s also simply the absence of bad luck: illness, an accident or other random events that prevent or limit our economic independence.
You can almost feel the sharp intake of wingnut breath, as they prepare to illustrate MacDonald’s point.
Aussie households have racked up record private debts and aren’t getting the pay rises to help service them. That’s a core concern for the RBA and frequently cited as a deterrent for hiking interest rates. Macquarie Bank has said such debt levels mean any hikes will have triple the impact on consumers than tightening cycles in the mid-1990s. With retail sales looking grim and wage growth near record lows, debt will likely vex policy makers for years.
Yep. Sounds like NZ all too much. Raising interest rates in NZ will put many under water.
It’s a strange article. It headlines with “The party is finally winding down for Australia’s housing market” but nothing in the article actually supports this. If you follow a link, you finally get to the basis for this claim, which is just a nil increase in mean house (sale?) prices from Sep to Oct 2017. Not enough to convince me that the boom has ended…
“Society is constantly branding all men by the actions of the few who do wrong. That kind of attitude comes at a cost and is hurting your grandfathers, your fathers, your brothers, and – most of all – your sons.”
Stop sending these people out to the farm as I will name and shame them and this will ruffle a lot of peoples feathers thanks for the Mana and the escorts ka pai
My truck is running like new after I changed the water pump the viscous fan was stuffed and was making the motor work to hard. I always buy Manual vehicles because the motors last longer they are cheaper to run than a automatic car the motor last longer because a automatic car motor is always under load were as a manual car every time you change gear the load comes off the motor many other good reasons to buy manual’s a back yard mechanic can change a clucth in a manual car if you have a problem with automatics big bucks to fix PS been busy with my Moko .Kia Kaha
The Stupidest People in The World
Exhibit A: TUCKER CARLSON
Carlson is notoriously dumb, even for a Fox News host. Here he is trying to foot it with one of America’s smartest guys. The result is, to say the least, embarrassing. The “highlight” (actually, the nadir) comes at the 6:00 mark, when Carlson says, with deadly earnestness, widening his eyes for full effect: “So stop lecturing me about Rosa Parks, right?”
Global warming is the biggest threat to US humans I think a lot of people dont get it. Sea level rising is not the biggest threat in my view the biggest threat is the warming of our mother earth it’s basic science. The four states of matter 1 solid 2 liquid 3 gas 4 plasma. It won’t take much warning to cause our worlds soils to become disfunctional I.E all the water that our soils hold will turn to gas and with no water in our soils we can’t grow the food to feed all the people of our world.
Sure we could use hydroponic to grow our food but that won’t be enough to feed all OUR people in our world. This phenomenon will create Wars as every one goes to control the higher cooler soils to grow there food. I see how easy our soils dry out in summer and all the plants go to seed. We are also destroying our humus in our soil buy cheating the nutrients cycle by using chemical fertiliser that don’t directly feed the plant they just break down our humus faster so they release there nutrient faster and we destroying our humus which is what holds water in our soils.
So in my view we need to farm our soil and build up the humus so our soils can hold more water when it gets warmer the more humus the more water that’s held in our soils this is fact. At the minute we are doing the exact opposite of what we should be doing to have a long and prosperous future for OUR Moko. Ka pai
The logical thing to do is not to wait and put the ambulance at the bottom of OUR cliff. The logical thing to do is to act now so we don’t need the________ ambulance at all come on people get with it I have been studying global warming on the net for many years and it is easy to see the bullshit artists article as they go against most of OUR scientist Kia kaha
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National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
To celebrate the start of New Zealand music month, we look back at the best local tuneage that managed to weasel its way into Hollywood productions. There’s nothing quite like the thrilling zap of recognition when New Zealand weasels its way into a glamorous Hollywood production. Crack open a Tui ...
People trust other people more than institutions. So how can the media gain that trust through journalists without losing what’s important about the institution? Anna Rawhiti-Connell reflects on two years of curating the news for The Bulletin.Amonth ago, armed cops descended on my neighbourhood as calls to “lock your ...
Essay: If the Crown harms children, how do you hold it accountable? Analysis by Aaron Smale in light of the Waitangi Tribunal court decision. The post The Crown versus Māori Children appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: PFAS – per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are a class of thousands of man-made chemicals used widely in everyday consumer items such as textiles, packaging, and cookware, popular for their water, grease and stain-repellent properties. However, the very properties that make PFAS so attractive to manufacturers are also what ...
NONFICTION 1 The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)’ This is the hottest book in New Zealand, number one with a bullet in its first week, selling more than any overseas title, and demand is so huge that it’s already been reprinted. A ...
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Two things about the America’s CUP.
1. Team New Zealand sounds like a spoilt brat who will take his toys to another sandpit if he doesn’t get his way.
2. For how much longer are New Zealanders going to fall for the lie of trickledown? Mike Hosking and his fellow medi liars would have us believe this. Don’t.
200%
See https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-14112017/#comment-1414082
You don’t live in Auckland do you Ed?
You have not witnessed first hand the swarm of activity that occurs for several years prior to and then during the cup.
The marine industry, hospitality, tourism, retail etc. benefit massively from this event.
The problem is Alan that these big accounting firms that cost potential benefits prior to a sporting event almost always over state it. It is enormously difficult to quantify but easy to over state.
Exactly – take for instance the Super V8 race that was initially proposed for Auckland City (Banks was Mayor at the time and all for it!) – and where the residents protested sufficiently, and were able to show that the so called cost benefit analysis of the organisers was just plain hype and were able to shut it down. The race organisers then convinced Hamilton as to its mavellousness, and the race was run there – until the true costs of running it and the meager benefits were so poor that the Council eventually said enough is enough! More fool Hamilton.
Yup.
Doesn’t Auckland have enough swarming activity already?- see LPrent – on Auckland catching up.
It is a pity that the beneficiaries of such activities don’t pay for it eh?
It causes me additional traffic jams, a strong need to avoid the idiots downtown, an inability to get accommodation for people coming here for business, and an effective rise in rates or diminished services before the event to pay for all of the crap that the sailors hold their hand out for.
Perhaps it’d be worth it if the hospitality industry went off and paid an additional tax for discombobulating the entire rest of the residents of Auckland.
But that pack of bastards really don’t like even a minor tax to cover the effects that their freeloading industry cost the rest of us.
Basically you are a fool. One who doesn’t appear to live in Auckland or is one of the freeloading parasites
This so correct – I wonder if the organisers of the resistance to the Super V8 Race are still around? They were able to show the flimsy analysis of the cost-benefits to Auckland were so much hype that the council over-turned Bank’s wish to run the race.
Yes, for such supporters of user pays they seem rather recalcitrant when being asked to pay for their usage.
@Iprent
“It is a pity that the beneficiaries of such activities don’t pay for it eh?”
exactly!
Yep – some people will benefit, the majority will see no benefit and some will be harmed. Those harmed would be businesses whose customers (shoppers, diners) are dragged away from other parts of the city down to the waterfront.
So to say it is good for Auckland is a misconception – because (to steal from Margaret Thatcher) there is no such thing as ‘Auckland’.
Socialism for the rich, eh?
Trickldown is a lie.
But you knew that……
It is The Hobbit Syndrome
1. Team New Zealand sounds like a spoilt brat who will take his toys to another sandpit if he doesn’t get his way.
Thats just a bullshit:
“However, Team NZ chief operations officer Kevin Shoebridge told the Herald even though their preferred option would not happen, they would be working with the options available and there would be no moves to take the America’s Cup away from the city”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11947323
What about the earlier articles james when they indeed threw in hosting it somewhere else?
I wish that they would.
HC 300% well said Ed,
“Team them selves” more like.
God they want us to stroke their vain arses with gold and glitter eh!!!!!!
Bugger off Team NZ!!!
We cant afford Auckland getting all the ‘infrustructure’ public funding already! but now these rich bitches want our last remaining blood!!!!
Time to call it quits with the rich set games they are playing.j
Consumerism is killing us.
https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/22/black-friday-consumption-killing-planet-growth
Yet we continue to burn the planet, egged on by the Herald and the rest of our ghastly corporate media.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11947249
https://adclick.stuff.co.nz/adclick?v=1&c=5905&p=mobileweb&s=/&l=/NZ
Don’t worry about it. At the moment Dunedin households are being delivered around 40 tonnes of Christmas junk mail a week into letter boxes. This might actually increase closer to Christmas.
And I suppose that means Auckland is distributing about 500 tonnes of junk mail a week.
Bear in mind the majority of this goes straight into the garbage without even being read for one nanosecond.
You can’t stop the machine, and 40 years of moaning about it since the Club of Rome has done nothing but waste time and emotional effort.
During the last election I delivered a few hundred flyers to letter boxes. I was surprised at the number with NO JUNK MAIL HERE signs. (I put them in anyway.) My estimate is that two thirds of letter boxes rejected junk mail. Seems to be more tucked inside newspapers though.
Hi ianmac. Surprised you weren’t given the heads up on the legal situation here.
The only letter boxes where you can’t – by law – deliver material are those with the instruction ” Addressed Mail Only” on them.
Mailboxes like mine which are in the apartment lobby which requires a card to get into. The PO has a card to do it, so the ONLY junk mail we get now comes via the mail person. We moved the mailboxes inside after someone broke into most of the 60 mailboxes – presumably looking for checks when they were still a thing – wrecking most of them. The joy of getting rid of 90% of the junk mail was immense.
Similarly a former Labour Party activist mate of mine simplify classifies election flyers as “democracy participation information sheets” not junk mail, and slides them right in 😀
That’s standard practice.
Interesting to learn that ‘addressed mail only’ is no barrier: the times I’ve delivered election material we were told to leave those ones alone.
And I suspect delivering it probably counts against the party so I would suggest that the volunteers don’t do that.
to DTB at 2.1.1.2.1.1.: Don’t think would lose votes as no complainer would be voting for the party complained about anyway. The complaining is just to involve nuisance waste of time for those delivering or their electorate office.
Interesting to learn that ‘addressed mail only’ is no barrier:
We were told it is unlawful to deliver non-addressed material into an “addressed mail only” letter box. Political parties and other organisations get around it by acquiring addresses from public lists eg. electoral roll, and either posting or delivering on foot. Either way its more expensive and delivering targeted mail is a nightmare.
Unless there’s been a law change in the last few years.
Yep, about time we defined the advertising that comes in our mailboxes as spam and ban it. It’s simply a waste of resources for minimal benefit.
I was prepared to defend my postings should anyone complain, by apologising for not “noticing” the sign. And our local MP had just 2 phone calls complaining, from the whole Electorate.
Actually I have doubts anyway that the flyers help anyone except the employees of printers.
http://marketresearchworld.net/content/view/1617/74/
My wife (English is her second, third, or fourth language depending on how one categorises dialects) loves the junk mail. It helped her with handy phrases like Blowout Sale! and Discount Days.
That’s one of the very few positives to junk mail.
Hahaha true, reminds me of the junkyard Transformer robot from the old 90s cartoon movie who only talked in TV ad speak because that’s how he learnt his English
https://youtu.be/XrMbkbTPrPA?t=208
Yes! Many years ago when I was teaching immigrant women English, I would use supermarket junk mail. It had pictures and was relevant to their need to shop for food.
Is anyone going to do a proper post on the America’s Cup facilities ?
It’s a classic environment v economic benefit v social utility v public subsidy v filthy rich capitalists v good for Auckland v binge-purge-cycle v did-we-learn-anything-last-time …. kind of debate.
Worth about $200m in capex from us ratepayers and taxpayers.
A good thing about the America Cup development is those building monuments on other peoples’ coin will move their aspirations from a billion dollar waterfront stadium for a year or two.
I guess a successful Cup event and Aucklanders warming to the precinct all over again will see a renewed stadium push. Fortunately most Aucklanders that own their homes freehold are millionaires, they’re loaded.
It seems like the Democratic Party hierarchy has decided once and for all to dump the Clintons and make them politically radioactive.
Obama Cabinet member/HHS Sec Kathleen Sebelius says women who came forward about Bill Clinton were systematically re-victimised by the Clintons
This was in a CNN interview between former Obama chief advisor and campaign manager David Axelrod, and Sebelius.
These Axelrod and Sebelius are well connected Democratic Party insiders and heavy hitters.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-23/they-went-after-women-who-came-forward-former-obama-hhs-secretary-exposes-clintons
About time.
Damn you beat me to posting it. What’s that they said about not more to come on this? Brazile’s intervention was just the start. Now that the Chicago camp is making a move, momentum will continue to build.
It’s actually a really interesting interview. You should listen to it.
I also can’t help thinking that if the republicans hadn’t made up so many stories about bill clinton, the real one would have stood out. Not that it would have changed much in the 1990s.
Having recently been listening to a marathon run of Christopher Hitchens interviews from the C-Span 90s period, I’d have to say you’re right about the second part of that – there really was no alternative for the electorate to seriously consider. I mean, Bob fucking Dole? Even for the Republicans that was dumb.
During the 1990s the repubs were all about the clinton scandals, fixating especially on a relationship that was actually consensual. But there was also whitewater, and Vince Foster’s suicide. Even republican investigations said Foster committed suicide.
I mean, I’d like to say that in the absence of all those lies and in today’s environment Clinton being accused of sexual assault would kick him out of contention in the party primaries, but even post-Weinstein it’s 50/50.
Well you say lies; there was genuine suspicion and grounds for it around the circumstances of Foster’s death – as there would be in any DC insider who knows where the bodies are buried in the President’s political and personal past turning up having committed such an unusually timed and placed suicide.
A more interesting take on it would be, what did the Clintons do to piss the guy off so much that not only did he take his own life, but seemed to have done it in such method and circumstance that conspiracy theories about his erstwhile employers were virtually guaranteed. Of course there are opponents who will continue to flog a dead horse when there’s that kind of innuendo on hand.
Again, think your right about the difficulties of gauging his chances even in times like his own. There’s no denying his charisma with the wider electorate, and he apparently lit a room right up when present, that’s gold dust in politics. And the Clintons do seem to be very serious networkers. I’d say if the opponent was formidable enough, they’d probably pick him even with a dozen sex scandals around his neck. Much like Trump, or Key, Slick Willie seems to have that knack for being really quite scandal-proof in the eyes of someone who’d vote for him.
The guy shot himself in a park.
There were suspicions, few (if any) of those were genuine, and rumours were outright fabricated by republicans wanting to encourage idiot conspiracists. Well, now they’re reaping the whirlwind with trump.
Indeed, an odd choice of place – and an odd choice of time given when he was found, and the appointments he still had to make in the day ahead of him. Like I say, the more interesting ‘conspiracy’ side of it to me is that if he bore the Clintons no ill will, he sure went through with it in a way which seemed designed to embarrass them.
Let’s face it, it’s not just because he worked for a recently appointed president. That kind of beltway suicide (god that’d be a great name for a punk band) will always attract suspicion. Imagine if Eagleson did something like that right after Ponytail-gate, for instance. Or if something like it happened to someone from David Cameron’s office right after Pig-gate. No way there wouldn’t be questions asked or innuendo spread.
Especially if people really want to think there’s such a thing as an “odd choice” made by someone in extremis.
Do you really want to excuse republicans for paying people to publish lies about the guy’s death?
Yeah, actually there are choices which are odd even in such extreme circumstances, and Foster’s was a good example. You can be as obtuse as you like about it, it’s simply obvious to most of us that given who he was and who he worked for, how and when he went was indeed definitively odd.
As to the Republicans, I’m quite capable of separating a lack of surprise that they looked closely at it when it happened from the idea that some among them might persist in bringing it up long after it became apparent that doing so would make them look like conspiracy theorists.
He wrote a resignation letter, tore it up, drove to a park, and shot himself.
There is even a forest in Japan known for its suicides. A lot of people seem to like a decent view before capping themselves.
Comparing the cultural traditions of suicide in Japan to that of the USA? Surely you jest?
OK, US then: Suicide uptick in US national parks every summer, mostly men, firearm most common method for men.
Foster killed himself in July. Summer.
Wasn’t a national park though was it? I mean, taking a long drive out into the wilderness to end it in Yellowstone park, or out to the desert to admire Window Rock, or perhaps at the foot of a majestic redwood or something. But I remember the spot where Foster was found from a documentary a way back. It looked like bloody Myers park or something.
Remember, we’re not trying to prove here whether or not it was dodgy. The point is simply that given who he was, who he worked for, and the scandal he had been a part of it’s simply unsurprising that Clinton’s political opponents made hay with the potential innuendo. There was enough not to find it surprising – we’re talking about the 1990s Republicans here…
Meh. Looks ok to me, with trees and streams and other nature shit, but each to their own.
The thing is, he could have died of cancer diagnosed by three different doctors and a pathologist who took samples, and if the documentary you saw was one funded by the repubs the doctors would have been called drunkards and claims made they were paid off by the clintons.
There are reasonable suspicions, and then there are lies. In the late 80s and early 90s, conservative republicans chose to ignore the truth and just say whatever was convenient at the time. So now we have trump as the culmination of that decision.
I’d say Trump is the culmination of all kinds of decisions, some from politicians, others from business & banking, and some of course from the MIC – who continue to do as well out of him as any other president in my lifetime.
Most of them are thinking they over-egged it this time.
Hasnt Trump had multiple accusations of sexual impropriety made against him and he still made Pres in 2016
Yes, because somehow hillary was so much worse than him.
That’s what white women decided in the election; they voted for Trump by a clear ten point majority over Hillary.
Yup, the whiter they were and the lower educated they were, the more they voted for trump.
Charitable view of the working class you’ve got there, sir. Let’s tell them wrong-thinking herp-a-derps how dumb they are for not believing what we tell them & valuing things that we don’t.
It’s a fact. The same exit polls that gave CV his “ten point majority” showed Trumps popularity was inversely proportionate to the voter’s level of educational attainment, their ethinicity’s population as a proportion of the total population, and even whether they had a vagina. That’s why CV had to restrict it to “white women” rather than “women”. The majority of women voted for Clinton.
A bit like how the majority of electoral votes went to trump, even though the majority of actual votes went to Clinton.
I’m glad you felt the need to remind me of the electoral vote – popular vote ratio in that election. It’s quite probable that there’s someone out there who didn’t know, and to whom this highly obscure piece of information might be news.
As to your deflective rundown of details everyone is perfectly familiar with (you aren’t an avid Vox reader by any chance? Distinct tonal similarity), it changes nothing. You don’t like working class people, it’s clear as day. No need to respond to the accusation by throwing around some excuses to emphasize that it’s a data driven dislike. Just be cool with who you are, my dude: someone morally and intellectually better suited than they to determine who should be in charge.
No amount of Russian facebook memes will go half as far in explaining how Trump won.
I don’t like morons who vote for nazi sympathisers, that’s for damned sure.
edit: because if they knew who they were voting for, I dislike those individuals even less than if they voted for him just because they were stupid.
I suspect the difference is between talking about things and actually doing things.
Trump was stupid for talking about grabbing women but as far as I know he was never proven of actually sexually assaulting anyone or misusing a position of power.
Clinton on the other hand (and the long list of Hollywood hypocrites) were all about physically committing sexual offending.
Makes me laugh that the Hollywood elite who for years have pontificated about society’s short comings (and excused Clinton’s sins) have been found to be worse offenders than those they have pointed an accusatory finger at.
Morally corrupt, inept, and without a smidge of shame or regret – the fakery they practice in their occupation has become their reality.
This time last year they were all chanting for Hillary and demonizing Trump and it turns out that they (and her) are far worse than Trump was every portrayed as being.
GROPERS
No. 9: Professor Harold Bloom
“GROPERS” is presented by GroperWatch, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More gropers. Collect the series!…
No.1 George Herbert Walker Bush; No. 2 Bill O’Reilly; No. 3 Al Franken; No. 4 Robin Brooke; No. 5 Lester Beck; No. 6 Arnold Schwarzenegger; No. 7 Joe Biden; No. 8 Rolf Harris
I heard Todd McClay prattling on earlier on Morning Report about the CPTTP saying it needed to be concluded before Christmas as basically otherwise countries other than the current four holdouts will want to re-negotiate aspects of it. I assume he said this with a straight face.
So this really good “trade” agreement needs to be signed NOW otherwise everyone will want to fix aspects of it they are not happy with or want to improve for themselves.
So maybe it can’t be such a great agreement after all Todd. But I suspect he already knows that.
Todd Mclay can go to hell.
Glad to hear that Grant Robertson dismissed this sillly man’s notion as it really came from the ultimate villian of all behind the hollow man Mclay eh?
Phil O’riellly”
http://www.iron-duke.com/people/phil-oreilly/
Fascinating article in the Guardian about bullshit management speak, amongst otger things
” At the very point when work seemed to be withering away, we all became obsessed with it. To be a good citizen, you need to be a productive citizen. There is only one problem, of course: there is less than ever that actually needs to be produced. As Graeber pointed out, the answer has come in the form of what he calls “bullshit jobs”. These are jobs in which people experience their work as “utterly meaningless, contributing nothing to the world”. In a YouGov poll conducted in 2015, 37% of respondents in the UK said their job made no meaningful contribution to the world. But people working in bullshit jobs need to do something. And that something is usually the production, distribution and consumption of bullshit. According to a 2014 survey by the polling agency Harris, the average US employee now spends 45% of their workingday doing their real job ”
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/23/from-inboxing-to-thought-showers-how-business-bullshit-took-over?CMP=fb_gu
Bureaucrats and technocrats need to make it look and sound like they know more than everyone else. What better way than impenetrable layers of jargon. As the old saying goes ‘bullshit baffles brains.’
I seem to recall an article that said that the politicians and business people were worried to. They were concerned that if all the small people had more time they might get involved in politics and then the politicians and business people would be out of a job telling people what to do.
Of course
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Moving forward. Why not just say ” in the future”…
Moving forward or going forward is usually redundant anyway. What the fuck else would you be doing unless you had the power to make ‘the fullness of time’ stand still.
A very poor effort of journalism by John Sergeant Taranaki Daily News.
“A (sic) Issue of Neglect not always Poverty”
What a poorly researched piece of paid work. Trotting out the usual right wing rubbish for the clickbaiters in their readership.
Apparently, by feeding poor children we teach them it is someone else’s problem that they are hungry, and they will grow up to hold their hand out.
He makes a weak connection that it is neglect by parent/s not poverty which causes hungry children.
Solo parents beneficiaries widows and widowers plus the ill and others struggling to provide for their children will be even more depressed with their struggle reading that mean minded piece.
The usual band waggon “yes yes mob” was in evidence in the stuff comments, though some excellent rebuttals as well.
Editors should wake up. We see through this agenda. Political lies to embarrass a new P.M.
+ 1000 Patrica bremner these people are not intelligent enough to fathom that we can see there dum ass motives for there un logical articles . The state sets the systems up not the people If one has no money and no knowledge on how to make money in one situation than the state is to take the blame this is fact national set the system up for the wealthy and who loses well everyone that’s not wealthy.Kia Kaha
Stuff like this is what makes me wonder whether I’ll regret party voting Labour instead of NZF. This guy, who has never had any real regard for social democratic principle and always seems to simply follow the herd, finally sticks his neck out on something, and it’s just the usual $2 Store Marcusianism:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99170336/national-party-up-in-arms-about-changes-to-the-parliamentary-prayer
He couldn’t ever have considered being brave and standing up for NZ in the arena of economic sovereignty perhaps instead of winding up old people about Jesus and the Queen?
Typical of authoritarians. They first look to the hierarchy.
Shouldn’t it be up to the people to decide?
But do the people want it to remain so?
And yet Bill English lies and twists and spins to the people of NZ. It obviously doesn’t what he swears on – he still can’t be trusted.
“Shouldn’t it be up to the people to decide?”
Possibly, but Trevor Mallard is not the people, and if you’re going to let the people decide, then you’d make those changes once they’ve decided. I can’t stand National, but they’re at least correct to state that Mallard is way out of line. Personally, I look to little things like this as indicators of what’s going on beneath the surface. And it stinks of a government elected to deal with poverty, housing, employment and solid social democratic basics somehow being more interested in $2 Store Marcusian tinkering now that they’re in.
“And yet Bill English lies and twists and spins to the people of NZ. It obviously doesn’t what he swears on – he still can’t be trusted.”
I can’t think of a National leader in my lifetime who that sentence wouldn’t apply to! Feeling a bit shit about party voting Labour instead of NZF =/= ever considering National as an alternative.
The big problem with that is that you’re not talking about the actions of the government but the actions of The Speaker.
Beltway AF to assume people think of it that way.
I have thought for considerable time that use of Christian prayer absolutely not suitable for ethnically and/or of differing religion participants…including viewers/listeners.
How is it not suitable? I’m an atheist and I don’t find traditions inappropriate, or distressing, or unsuitable. It’s just a quaint anachronism which reminds us of the past. Some choose to see only bad things in the past. I see a mixed picture which for better or for worse saw us evolve the best systems of government, which is why people of ethnically and/or differing religions who’ve seen some of the alternatives love living in places with Westminster systems, and will even risk their lives to get there.
I bet the comments section will be a doozy.
You can almost feel the sharp intake of wingnut breath, as they prepare to illustrate MacDonald’s point.
Oh my…. oh my oh my.
The party is over for Australia’s %5.6 trillion housing frenzy.
You can almost substitute the name “New Zealand” for the word “Australia” throughout the entire article:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-23/australia-faces-housing-hangover-twice-size-of-u-s-subprime-era
Yep. Sounds like NZ all too much. Raising interest rates in NZ will put many under water.
It’s a strange article. It headlines with “The party is finally winding down for Australia’s housing market” but nothing in the article actually supports this. If you follow a link, you finally get to the basis for this claim, which is just a nil increase in mean house (sale?) prices from Sep to Oct 2017. Not enough to convince me that the boom has ended…
A.
Antoine
This investors page says quite a bit about the comming storm.
https://www.shareinvestor.com/news/news.html?source=sg_btbn&nid=158542
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/life/98942078/being-a-male-teacher-was-my-dream–until-i-was-falsely-accused
“Society is constantly branding all men by the actions of the few who do wrong. That kind of attitude comes at a cost and is hurting your grandfathers, your fathers, your brothers, and – most of all – your sons.”
I wonder if he is white too, and middle class..
“I wonder if he is white too, and middle class..”
Burn the witch !
Like they do with
Beneficiaries
Disabled
Maori
Etc…
+1
Generalisations happen all the time and almost always have negative consequences.
Yup.
Interesting stats out of UK and Europe about murder from domestic violence and not just women are the victims.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/23/england-wales-police-record-highest-number-violent-sexual-crimes-eu?CMP=fb_gu
Stop sending these people out to the farm as I will name and shame them and this will ruffle a lot of peoples feathers thanks for the Mana and the escorts ka pai
My truck is running like new after I changed the water pump the viscous fan was stuffed and was making the motor work to hard. I always buy Manual vehicles because the motors last longer they are cheaper to run than a automatic car the motor last longer because a automatic car motor is always under load were as a manual car every time you change gear the load comes off the motor many other good reasons to buy manual’s a back yard mechanic can change a clucth in a manual car if you have a problem with automatics big bucks to fix PS been busy with my Moko .Kia Kaha
The Stupidest People in The World
Exhibit A: TUCKER CARLSON
Carlson is notoriously dumb, even for a Fox News host. Here he is trying to foot it with one of America’s smartest guys. The result is, to say the least, embarrassing. The “highlight” (actually, the nadir) comes at the 6:00 mark, when Carlson says, with deadly earnestness, widening his eyes for full effect: “So stop lecturing me about Rosa Parks, right?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbLYTeKtAg4
The Stupidest People in the World is curated by M. Breen, for Daisycutter Sports Inc.
Global warming is the biggest threat to US humans I think a lot of people dont get it. Sea level rising is not the biggest threat in my view the biggest threat is the warming of our mother earth it’s basic science. The four states of matter 1 solid 2 liquid 3 gas 4 plasma. It won’t take much warning to cause our worlds soils to become disfunctional I.E all the water that our soils hold will turn to gas and with no water in our soils we can’t grow the food to feed all the people of our world.
Sure we could use hydroponic to grow our food but that won’t be enough to feed all OUR people in our world. This phenomenon will create Wars as every one goes to control the higher cooler soils to grow there food. I see how easy our soils dry out in summer and all the plants go to seed. We are also destroying our humus in our soil buy cheating the nutrients cycle by using chemical fertiliser that don’t directly feed the plant they just break down our humus faster so they release there nutrient faster and we destroying our humus which is what holds water in our soils.
So in my view we need to farm our soil and build up the humus so our soils can hold more water when it gets warmer the more humus the more water that’s held in our soils this is fact. At the minute we are doing the exact opposite of what we should be doing to have a long and prosperous future for OUR Moko. Ka pai
The logical thing to do is not to wait and put the ambulance at the bottom of OUR cliff. The logical thing to do is to act now so we don’t need the________ ambulance at all come on people get with it I have been studying global warming on the net for many years and it is easy to see the bullshit artists article as they go against most of OUR scientist Kia kaha