Naturally, this doesn’t cure homelessness. There’s still a big place for Labour’s excellent housing policies
But if you ever want to see policy working to tilt a whole market, look no further than the measures that this National government put in place.
It was only in October last year that tighter Loan to Value Ratio restrictions were put in place. It required property investors to have a 40% deposit for a mortgage loan and owner-occupiers to have a 20% deposit. Immediately the froth came off, but now its effect is really showing.
Who knows, we could still have a housing price collapse.
Or we could have the modern miracle of government, over the one great asset the majority of New Zealanders have: their home. And that miracle is managing the entire real estate market down.
What are you on? The article says the biggest casualty is first home buyers are the main ones being shut out of the housing market. Meanwhile, the biggest winners are investors with cash.
From the view from halfway to the bottom end, what you are talking about looks like tinkering to make the market better for the top end, mostly as investment. And ultimately that will continue to hurt renters, the homeless and those on lowish incomes who might want to buy. There are whole classes of people now who can’t own and struggle to afford rent and I don’t see what you are talking about as improving that much (although I’m sure it is better than nothing).
The problem is seeing housing as a financial investment, and that’s a tricky one to unpack because it’s tied to retirement and the contemporary idea that the state can no longer bet trusted to support people. Better to fix welfare/social security IMO, and then reinstate housing as being about having a home instead of a financial investment.
Yep. It’s treating housing a social investment that’s a problem – plus the decline of our welfare system, low wages and focusing generally on profits over people.
Considering that Labour, in it’s fanatical following of the neo-liberal cult, is actually in agreement with the TPPA and FTAs in general then, no, you shouldn’t expect them to make capital off of it.
They have been clear about opposition to the TPPA many times, including on Morning Report a couple of weeks ago. Not that it matters as the TPPA is dead.
Nope TPPA isn’t dead. Bill English was out trying to drum up the zombie agreement with anybody left who will listen.
If Natz get in again, and with Trump going to sign ‘if USA get a good deal”. Well we all know that Natz would sign anything no matter how damaging to the people of NZ. What do they care what’s in the details, whether arduous health costs or turning our cops into copywrite cops for US business – who the frig knows what the National party are prepared to sign with Trump or anyone else, anything.
Not a lot of talk about how hopeless the National Party look, post Key. Zero succession planning in the National Party. My guess is trader Key, read the future, realised the shit was going to hit the fan with our economy 98 million dollars into the red and bailed so he could look good and escape to Hawaii with full benefits and pensions and brag to his mates how he was NZ’s most popular PM.
Of course Tony Blair used to be popular and look what happened to him and the UK Labour party after he left.
Now it’s the right’s turn.
We have Bitter Bill, the world’s biggest bores.
Ex Bene turned Bene basher with a wonderful CV of receiving government money her whole life and now as deputy leader.
Judith Colins with so many scandals and dirt to be dug up she could make mince meat out of the National party rep.
Joyce, the world’s most arrogant yokel, who can even annoy the most eager National business person with his ‘pretty legal’ chit chat
Brownlee, the CHCH rebuild architect – “wizard’.
Smith, who unlike Jesus can turn fish into faeces.
Bill marched away from an interview looking relaxed and pleased.
His statement “if there was a tape” is a worry. Does he know it is long gone,
and now evidence is hear-say?
Though he still has to explain his texts and Glenys’s call to the victim, after his call to her on Waitangi Day. (interview with Gower),
Bouyed by the “late” poll results as well? (late = 2 weeks old)
Bennett declaring a political crush on English, tells me there is division, and she has chosen. No real surprise in that. So Bill has to get the numbers.
WE have to act on faith, and give our honest guy Andrew support.
We need to speak up and sell our honest group.
Bury all hair shirts ’till the election is over!!
We have enough horrible foes without ‘white anting’ the party.
We need to get them in, then apply the pressure to enact people friendly legislation.
We are closer than they care to admit, that is why they are shrill and in attack mode.
Don’t give them fodder.
We need to join together and push this over the line.
Please enrol and vote 2 ticks.
Stable Government with English being sold as a trusted, stable pair of hands is the line National are pushing.
English standing down would destroy that perception. But now that his credibility has come into question, there could also be damage if he remains party leader.
Therefore, it’s delusional to think they wouldn’t be evaluating the numbers.
Moreover, you’ve seem to have forgotten this is an MMP election, therefore Labour aren’t standing alone. And when combined with the Greens (& possibly NZF) it’s going to be a close finish.
CREATIVE FUTURE?
It is no coincidence that world-wide rehabilitation programs for offenders and addicts are invariably grounded in creativity: cooking, music, art, surfing, environmental restoration. Spontaneous creativity is neither a luxury nor a talent, but the natural expression of all of us, setting us aside from other life forms on earth.
By re-aligning our waking hours with that which is creative in ourselves rather than squeezing it in over weekends we will defuse restlessness, the futility of non-fulfilment and the sense that our abilities are going to waste. With widespread automation, decimation of jobs and UBI in place vast reserves of creativity could be put to work restoring society, the environment, the social structure and all that runs counter to a happy and productive country.
Creativity has many faces; the politically inclined will generate fresh ways of inclusive government; educators new methods of drawing out the creativity of their charges; financiers equitable ways of restructuring currency (or what’s left of it); artists and musicians novel expression of humanity’s changing orientation on earth; scientists sustainable methods of restoring the integrity of our ecosystems; idealists insights into our future course; philosophers insightful ways to growth and understanding of the evolving human spirit, to name a few.
For those who have tried it the satisfaction of working creatively in cooperative ventures eclipses the need to “prove oneself” via competition. Whether the race is ready to move beyond this most basic of drivers is difficult to say.
For those who have tried it the satisfaction of working creatively in cooperative ventures eclipses the need to “prove oneself” via competition. Whether the race is ready to move beyond this most basic of drivers is difficult to say.
We evolved beyond it millions of years ago. If there’s anything to the human nature argument that the RWNJs bring up all the time it’s that we’re mostly altruistic and cooperative. It’s the sociopaths that aren’t and they’re the minority.
Your’e saying humans are no longer competitive? Free market system, capitalism, one-upmanship, rampant materialism, – all driven by competition when I last looked.
Our markets are not notably free – everything in NZ costs more except wages. The Rogergnomic reforms failed – but then they were never intended to work, only to enrich a small subset of the population.
True. Talent and creativity can only flourish through honouring the individual’s uniqueness in terms of background, era and culture. Mass delivered education in crowded classrooms can never deliver. National trots out the worn mantra “research has shown that class size does not make a difference to educational achievement.”; of course they are talking about grades but remain shy of asking why depression, suicide, substance abuse etc. remain depressingly high.
Will the PM who quit aka Key be making an appearance at the Nat’s conference this weekend? Will he be standing up and backing English, defending the outgoing PM’s lying etc?
Where is Key? If he was a good friend of Bills surely he would be helping him out of the massive Barclay scandal which is still making news.
Wish they’d get rid of Lisa Owen though, Jesus, shut the fuck up and let your guests speak. don’t ask a question and talk over them when they’re trying to reply to the question you asked.
I think Hone should stay out of politics and go back to activism. i don’t think he gets it. Nothing worse than seeing someone who doesn’t know when it’s over.
Going off the interview, can’t see his deal with the Māori Party going too well.
They agreed not to stand against each other in electoral seats. The expectation being that doing so would encourage supporters of both to support the one standing. However, Hone won’t give his backing of his members doing so due to the Māori Party’s support of the Māori land reform Bill.
And apparently Marama Fox has threaten to respond in kind.
I know. Got a Facebook petition – save the Māori land court – from the mana party. Someone wrote a comment about the deal with the Māori Party – just a joke imo.
Me too Marty. I like Hone but I don’t think he is doing himself (or Mana) any favours at the moment. I think he can be more effective as an activist than as a lone backbencher.
This is more worrying though – he evidently suggested life imprisonment or deportation to China for the death penalty to discourage meth dealing on the Nation. I really wouldn’t have expected that from him
Anyone interested in learning something about the ongoing siege of Gaza should read this book…
Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom
by NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
Gaza is among the most densely populated places in the world. Two-thirds of its inhabitants are refugees, and more than half the population is under eighteen years of age. Since Israel occupied Gaza in 1967, it has systematically de-developed the economy. After Hamas won democratic elections in 2006, Israel intensified its blockade of Gaza, and after Hamas consolidated its control of the territory in 2007, Israel tightened its illegal siege another notch. In the meantime, Israel has launched no less than eight military operations against Gaza—culminating in Operation Cast Lead in 2008–9 and Operation Protective Edge in 2014—that left behind over three million tons of rubble. Recent UN reports predict that Gaza will be unlivable by 2020.
Norman G. Finkelstein presents a meticulously researched and devastating inquest into Israel’s actions of the last decade. He argues that although Israel justified its blockade and violent assaults in the name of self-defense, in fact these actions were cynical exercises of brutal power against an essentially defenseless civilian population. Based on hundreds of human rights reports, the book scrutinizes multifarious violations of international law Israel committed both during its operations and in the course of its decade-long siege of Gaza. It is a monument to Gaza’s martyrs and a scorching accusation against their tormenters.
The most charitable or delusional interpretation I can make is that Labour is outsourcing its environmental policy to the Greens and will ‘concede’ clean river as part of a deal later, but remember how Blair was supposed to be cultivating the Conservative voters before he was going to implement real socialist policies? Right, we all know how that turned out.
It looks like Little is just Captain Mumblefuck 2.0
I don’t know what they’re doing. I’d like to see their whole policies because that article doesn’t really say a lot.
One delegate sought an assurance from Little that the Green Party would not “can” Labour’s attitude to how it would operate as a government.
“We [and the Greens] have common areas of policy but also areas we differ on as well. The more support you give us, the more we can approach your industry in a practical and sensible way,” Little responded.
Lol, that’s my argument to people to vote Green. If we want a progressive govt the more Greens the better. Little is speaking to that audience but it does make me think they’ve chosen messaging over authenticity.
If we want a progressive govt the more Greens the better. Little is speaking to that audience but it does make me think they’ve chosen messaging over authenticity.
Absolutely. They only succeed in coming across as insincere and confused.
I’m voting Green. Very Little can go fuck himself.
It’s very easy to see why people are sick of business as usual politics when the system keeps excreting nobodies like Blinglish and Little.
I think our best bet is to have a L/G govt without Peters. This will give the Greens a chance to prove themselves once and for all. They’re obviously competent to be in govt, but it will be crunch time as to whether they can do govt differently and keep left.
In the absence of any unicorns, I agree. The Greens are showing both integrity and discipline and deserve to have a hand in government. Labour is riddled with egotistical careerists such as Robertson who put themselves first, party second and principles third. Little is totally ineffective in keeping them in check and shows no competence or principles. He is not a PM in waiting, which is the test of any opposition. His only advantage is that Blinglish is not a PM at all.
Hmmm. I was really alarmed about the report about what Little said, but today there was a press release from him, plus just heard David Parker on midday news on Nat radio saying that policy from 2014 hasn’t changed. Little claims he misunderstood the question and his lack of response to another statement was seen as agreement when it wasn’t.
I agree that the Greens are stronger that Labour on environmental policy so making sure they have a significant influence in a Labour/Green government is important.
Thanks Karen, I’ll put that up as a post in the morning. I thought the original Stuff article was poor and probably misleading so good to have some more information.
One of Labour’s problems is the lag time between their speeches and media work and putting things up on their website. I’m still waiting for something on mental health after their good work in Chch last week. If they’re just going to rely on the media coverage then mistakes like this one over water will happen.
Labour don’t seem to have a good comms team at all and I find it really frustrating. I know they have quite a lot on at the moment but this water policy confusion should have dealt with as soon as the article appeared, not 2 days later.
If there is a policy announcement the policy page on the website should be updated immediately afterwards and there should be 2 versions, one with a lot more detail (for policy nerds like me!) They did that for the immigration one but it isn’t consistent.
I am on the mailing list for the Greens and Labour but Labour tend to just send major speeches rather than individual policy announcements. Mostly, I just look at the new policies page:
Hopefully this will be a bit more informative closer to the election as most of the policies don’t have enough detail for my liking. This may be because they are still formulating some of it.
To be honest I dont think farmers want clean rivers/waterways, for the simple reason that it impacts on their profits. “Local based solutions” are all PR bullshit.
It would be better and more honest for FF to have the guts to stand up and just say, “we dont want clean rivers, because we just want to make a shit load of money instead, and also, we want to shut New Zealander out of the farming industry and have farm workers all migrants”.
I think there are lots of farmers who don’t belong to FF, and many of those want to do the right things (and some are doing the right things). We need a govt that will support those farmers.
The 2017 FIZZ Conference
“Taxing Sugary Drinks: An Election Issue” will be held on Monday 26 June.
Meanwhile, I note the following Official Information request languishing on FYI”
Document containing advice re Sugar Tax from MOH tabled during question time 13.10.2016 Request sent to Minister of Health by John Gray on October 13, 2016. Long overdue.
Is it too early to suggest that an All Blacks series win against the Lions and an America’s Cup victory would be – al least national mood wise – be pretty good for this government in September?
I couldn’t see the game where I am overseas – but looks like we played well.
And agree – between this and if we get the Americas cup – it will pit a lot of people in a good mood. Add that the the majority of people thinking the country is heading in the right direction it’s a good position for national.
Outages today were due to googlebots having an issue with an old post from 2011 which had links starting with // and/or ending with ‘. They have read this post hundreds of times before. Looks like something got tweaked.
Caused some interesting effects with some strange URLs. tens of thousands of queries per minute, high CPU, and the processor shutting down when it hit safety tempatures.
I have fixed the page, removed the googlebot special access and I’ve started treating it like bingbot…
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 16, 2025 thru Sat, March 22, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. We are still interested ...
In recent months, I have garnered copious amusement playing Martin, chess.com’s infamously terrible Chess AI. Alas, it is not how it once was, when he would cheerfully ignore freely offered material. Martin has grown better since I first stumbled upon him. I still remain frustrated at his capture-happy determination to ...
Every time that I see ya,A lightning bolt fills the room,The underbelly of Paris,She sings her favourite tune,She'll drink you under the table,She'll show you a trick or two,But every time that I left her,I missed the things she would doSongwriters: Kelly JonesThis morning, I posted - Are you excited ...
Long stories shortest this week in our political economy:Standard & Poor’s judged the Government’s council finance reforms a failure. Professional investors showed the Government they want it to borrow more, not less. GDP bounced out of recession by more than forecast in the December quarter, but data for the ...
Each day at 4:30 my brother calls in at the rest home to see Dad. My visits can be months apart. Five minutes after you've left, he’ll have forgotten you were there, but every time, his face lights up and it’s a warm happy visit.Tim takes care of almost everything ...
On the 19th of March, ACT announced they would be running candidates in this year’s local government elections. Accompanying that call for “common-sense kiwis” was an anti-woke essay typifying the views they expect their candidates to hold. I have included that part of their mailer, Free Press, in its entirety. ...
Even when the darkest clouds are in the skyYou mustn't sigh and you mustn't crySpread a little happiness as you go byPlease tryWhat's the use of worrying and feeling blue?When days are long keep on smiling throughSpread a little happiness 'til dreams come trueSongwriters: Vivian Ellis / Clifford Grey / ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, Washington Post/$, Wired/$, ...
ACT up the game on division politicsEmmerson’s take on David Seymour’s claim Jesus would have supported ACTACT’s announcement it is moving into local politics is a logical next step for a party that is waging its battle on picking up the aggrieved.It’s a numbers game, and as long as the ...
1. What will be the slogan of the next butter ad campaign?a. You’re worth itb.Once it hits $20, we can do something about the riversc. I can’t believe it’s the price of butter d. None of the above Read more ...
It is said that economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing. That may be an exaggeration but an even better response is to point out economists do know the difference. They did not at first. Classical economics thought that the price of something reflected the objective ...
Political fighting in Taiwan is delaying some of an increase in defence spending and creating an appearance of lack of national resolve that can only damage the island’s relationship with the Trump administration. The main ...
The unclassified version of the 2024 Independent Intelligence Review (IIR) was released today. It’s a welcome and worthy sequel to its 2017 predecessor, with an ambitious set of recommendations for enhancements to Australia’s national intelligence ...
Yesterday outgoing Ombudsman Peter Boshier published a report, Reflections on the Official Information Act, on his way out the door. The report repeated his favoured mantra that the Act was "fundamentally sound", all problems were issues of culture, and that no legislative change was needed (and especially no changes to ...
The United States government is considering replacing USAID with a new agency, the US Agency for International Humanitarian Assistance (USIHA), according to documents published by POLITICO. Under the proposed design, the agency will fail its ...
Hi,Journalism was never the original plan. Back in the 90s, there was no career advisor in Bethlehem, New Zealand — just a computer that would ask you 50 questions before spitting out career options. Yes, I am in this photo. No, I was not good at basketball.The top three careers ...
Mōrena. Long stories shortest: Professional investors who are paid a lot of money to be careful about lending to the New Zealand Government think it is wonderful place to put their money. Yet the Government itself is so afraid of borrowing more that it is happy to kill its own ...
As space becomes more contested, Australia should play a key role with its partners in the Combined Space Operations (CSpO) initiative to safeguard the space domain. Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States signed the ...
Ooh you're a cool catComing on strong with all the chit chatOoh you're alrightHanging out and stealing all the limelightOoh messing with the beat of my heart yeah!Songwriters: Freddie Mercury / John Deacon.It would be a tad ironic; I can see it now. “Yeah, I didn’t unsubscribe when he said ...
The PSA are calling the Prime Minister a hypocrite for committing to increase defence spending while hundreds of more civilian New Zealand Defence Force jobs are set to be cut as part of a major restructure. The number of companies being investigated for people trafficking in New Zealand has skyrocketed ...
Another Friday, hope everyone’s enjoyed their week as we head toward the autumn equinox. Here’s another roundup of stories that caught our eye on the subject of cities and what makes them even better. This week in Greater Auckland On Monday, Connor took a look at how Auckland ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking with special guest author Michael Wolff, who has just published his fourth book about Donald Trump: ‘All or Nothing’.Here’s Peter’s writeup of the interview.The Kākā by Bernard Hickey Hoon: Trumpism ...
Wolff, who describes Trump as truly a ‘one of a kind’, at a book launch in Spain. Photo: GettyImagesIt may be a bumpy ride for the world but the era of Donald J. Trump will die with him if we can wait him out says the author of four best-sellers ...
Australia needs to radically reorganise its reserves system to create a latent military force that is much larger, better trained and equipped and deployable within days—not decades. Our current reserve system is not fit for ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, Washington Post/$, Wired/$, ...
I have argued before that one ought to be careful in retrospectively allocating texts into genres. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) only looks like science-fiction because a science-fiction genre subsequently developed. Without H.G. Wells, would Frankenstein be considered science-fiction? No, it probably wouldn’t. Viewed in the context of its time, Frankenstein ...
Elbridge Colby’s senate confirmation hearing in early March holds more important implications for US partners than most observers in Canberra, Wellington or Suva realise. As President Donald Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defence for ...
China’s defence budget is rising heftily yet again. The 2025 rise will be 7.2 percent, the same as in 2024, the government said on 5 March. But the allocation, officially US$245 billion, is just the ...
Concern is growing about wide-ranging local repercussions of the new Setting of Speed Limits rule, rewritten in 2024 by former transport minister Simeon Brown. In particular, there’s growing fears about what this means for children in particular. A key paradox of the new rule is that NZTA-controlled roads have the ...
Speilmeister:Christopher Luxon’s prime-ministerial pitches notwithstanding, are institutions with billions of dollars at their disposal really going to invest them in a country so obviously in a deep funk?HAVING WOOED THE WORLD’s investors, what, if anything, has New Zealand won? Did Christopher Luxon’s guests board their private jets fizzing with enthusiasm for ...
Christchurch City Council is one of 18 councils and three council-controlled organisations (CCOs) downgraded by ratings agency S&P. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories shortest:Standard & Poor’s has cut the credit ratings of 18 councils, blaming the new Government’s abrupt reversal of 3 Waters, cuts to capital ...
Figures released by Statistics New Zealand today showed that the economy grew by 0.7% ending the very deep recession seen over the past year, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “Even though GDP grew in the three months to December, our economy is still 1.1% smaller than it ...
What is going on with the price of butter?, RNZ, 19 march 2025: If you have bought butter recently you might have noticed something - it is a lot more expensive. Stats NZ said last week that the price of butter was up 60 percent in February compared to ...
I agree with Will Leben, who wrote in The Strategist about his mistakes, that an important element of being a commentator is being accountable and taking responsibility for things you got wrong. In that spirit, ...
You’d beDrunk by noon, no one would knowJust like the pandemicWithout the sourdoughIf I were there, I’d find a wayTo get treated for hysteriaEvery dayLyrics Riki Lindhome.A varied selection today in Nick’s Kōrero:Thou shalt have no other gods - with Christopher Luxon.Doctors should be seen and not heard - with ...
Two recent foreign challenges suggest that Australia needs urgently to increase its level of defence self-reliance and to ensure that the increased funding that this would require is available. First, the circumnavigation of our continent ...
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According to RNZ’s embedded reporter, the importance of Winston Peters’ talks in Washington this week “cannot be overstated.” Right. “Exceptionally important.” said the maestro himself. This epic importance doesn’t seem to have culminated in anything more than us expressing our “concern” to the Americans about a series of issues that ...
Up until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of "Climate Fresk" and at a guess, this will also be the case for many of you. I stumbled upon it in the self-service training catalog for employees at the company I work at in Germany where it was announced ...
Japan and Australia talk of ‘collective deterrence,’ but they don’t seem to have specific objectives. The relationship needs a clearer direction. The two countries should identify how they complement each other. Each country has two ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the OPC’s decision to issue a code of practice for biometric processing. Our view is that the draft code currently being consulted on is stronger and will be more effective than the exposure code released in early 2024. We are pleased that some of the revisions ...
Australia’s export-oriented industries, particularly agriculture, need to diversify their markets, with a focus on Southeast Asia. This could strengthen economic security and resilience while deepening regional relationships. The Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on ...
Minister Shane Jones is introducing fastrack ‘reforms’ to the our fishing industry that will ensure the big players squeeze out the small fishers and entrench an already bankrupt quota system.Our fisheries are under severe stress: the recent decision by theHigh Court ruling that the ...
In what has become regular news, the quarterly ETS auction has failed, with nobody even bothering to bid. The immediate reason is that the carbon price has fallen to around $60, below the auction minimum of $68. And the cause of that is a government which has basically given up ...
US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats have dominated headlines in India in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Trump announced that his reciprocal tariffs—matching other countries’ tariffs on American goods—will go into effect on 2 April, ...
Hi,Back in June of 2021, James Gardner-Hopkins — a former partner at law firm Russell McVeagh — was found guilty of misconduct over sexually inappropriate behaviour with interns.The events all related to law students working as summer interns at Russell McVeagh:As well as intimate touching with a student at his ...
Climate sceptic MP Mark Cameron has slammed National for being ‘out of touch’ by sticking to our climate commitments. Photo: Lynn GrievesonMōrena. Long stories shortest:ACT’s renowned climate sceptic MP Mark Cameron has accused National of being 'out of touch' with farmers by sticking with New Zealand’s Paris accord pledges ...
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People are getting carried away with the virtues of small warship crews. We need to remember the great vice of having few people to run a ship: they’ll quickly tire. Yes, the navy is struggling ...
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US President Donald Trump’s hostile regime has finally forced Europe to wake up. With US officials calling into question the transatlantic alliance, Germany’s incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, recently persuaded lawmakers to revise the country’s debt ...
We need to establish clearer political boundaries around national security to avoid politicising ongoing security issues and to better manage secondary effects. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) revealed on 10 March that the Dural caravan ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have reiterated their call for Government to protect workers by banning engineered stone in a submission on MBIE’s silica dust consultation. “If Brooke van Velden is genuine when she calls for an evidence-based approach to this issue, then she must support a full ban on ...
The Labour Inspectorate could soon be knocking on the door of hundreds of businesses nation-wide, as it launches a major crackdown on those not abiding by the law. NorthTec staff are on edge as Northland’s leading polytechnic proposes to stop 11 programmes across primary industries, forestry, and construction. Union coverage ...
It’s one thing for military personnel to hone skills with first-person view (FPV) drones in racing competitions. It’s quite another for them to transition to the complexities of the battlefield. Drone racing has become a ...
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Russian President Boris Yeltsin, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, and British Prime Minister John Major signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in ...
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler(Image credit: Antonio Huerta) Growing up in suburban Ohio, I was used to seeing farmland and woods disappear to make room for new subdivisions, strip malls, and big box stores. I didn’t usually welcome the changes, but I assumed others ...
Myanmar was a key global site for criminal activity well before the 2021 military coup. Today, illicit industry, especially heroin and methamphetamine production, still defines much of the economy. Nowhere, not even the leafiest districts ...
What've I gotta do to make you love me?What've I gotta do to make you care?What do I do when lightning strikes me?And I wake up and find that you're not thereWhat've I gotta do to make you want me?Mmm hmm, what've I gotta do to be heard?What do I ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, The Economist-$ ...
Whenever Christopher Luxon drops a classically fatuous clanger or whenever the government has a bad poll – i.e. every week – the talk resumes that he is about to be rolled. This is unlikely for several reasons. For starters, there is no successor. Nicola Willis? Chris Bishop? Simeon Brown? Mark ...
Australia, Britain and European countries should loosen budget rules to allow borrowing to fund higher defence spending, a new study by the Kiel Institute suggests. Currently, budget debt rules are forcing governments to finance increases ...
The NZCTU remains strongly committed to banning engineered stone in New Zealand and implementing better occupational health protections for all workers working with silica-containing materials. In this submission to MBIE, the NZCTU outlines that we have an opportunity to learn from Australia’s experience by implementing a full ban of engineered ...
The Prime Minister has announced a big win in trade negotiations with India.It’s huge, he told reporters. We didn't get everything we came for but we were able to agree on free trade in clothing, fabrics, car components, software, IT consulting, spices, tea, rice, and leather goods.He said that for ...
I have been trying to figure out the logic of Trump’s tariff policies and apparent desire for a global trade war. Although he does not appear to comprehend that tariffs are a tax on consumers in the country doing the tariffing, I can (sort of) understand that he may think ...
As Syria and international partners negotiate the country’s future, France has sought to be a convening power. While France has a history of influence in the Middle East, it will have to balance competing Syrian ...
One of the eternal truths about Aotearoa's economy is that we are "capital poor": there's not enough money sloshing around here to fund the expansion of local businesses, or to build the things we want to. Which gets used as an excuse for all sorts of things, like setting up ...
National held its ground until late 2023 Verion, Talbot Mills & Curia Polls (Red = Labour, Blue = National)If we remove outlier results from Curia (National Party November 2023) National started trending down in October 2024.Verion Polls (Red = Labour, Blue = National)Verian alone shows a clearer deterioration in early ...
In a recent presentation, I recommended, quite unoriginally, that governments should have a greater focus on higher-impact, lower-probability climate risks. My reasoning was that current climate model projections have blind spots, meaning we are betting ...
Daddy, are you out there?Daddy, won't you come and play?Daddy, do you not care?Is there nothing that you want to say?Songwriters: Mark Batson / Beyonce Giselle Knowles.This morning, a look at the much-maligned NZ Herald. Despised by many on the left as little more than a mouthpiece for the National ...
Employers, unions and health and safety advocates are calling for engineered stone to be banned, a day before consultation on regulations closes. On Friday the PSA lodged a pay equity claim for library assistants with the Employment Relations Authority, after the stalling of a claim lodged with six councils in ...
Hundreds more Palestinians have died in recent days as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues and humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, is blocked. ...
National is looking to cut hundreds of jobs at New Zealand’s Defence Force, while at the same time it talks up plans to increase focus and spending in Defence. ...
It’s been revealed that the Government is secretly trying to bring back a ‘one-size fits all’ standardised test – a decision that has shocked school principals. ...
The Green Party is calling for the compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe, a 77-year-old kaumātua on hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility, after visiting him at the prison. ...
The Green Party is calling on Government MPs to support Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence and illegal actions in Palestine, following another day of appalling violence against civilians in Gaza. ...
The Green Party stands in support of volunteer firefighters petitioning the Government to step up and change legislation to provide volunteers the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid counterparts. ...
At 2.30am local time, Israel launched a treacherous attack on Gaza killing more than 300 defenceless civilians while they slept. Many of them were children. This followed a more than 2 week-long blockade by Israel on the entry of all goods and aid into Gaza. Israel deliberately targeted densely populated ...
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...
Shane Jones’ display on Q&A showed how out of touch he and this Government are with our communities and how in sync they are with companies with little concern for people and planet. ...
Labour does not support the private ownership of core infrastructure like schools, hospitals and prisons, which will only see worse outcomes for Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is disappointed the Government voted down Hūhana Lyndon’s member’s Bill, which would have prevented further alienation of Māori land through the Public Works Act. ...
The Labour Party will support Chloe Swarbrick’s member’s bill which would allow sanctions against Israel for its illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. ...
The Government’s new procurement rules are a blatant attack on workers and the environment, showing once again that National’s priorities are completely out of touch with everyday Kiwis. ...
With Labour and Te Pāti Māori’s official support, Opposition parties are officially aligned to progress Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in Palestine. ...
Te Pāti Māori extends our deepest aroha to the 500 plus Whānau Ora workers who have been advised today that the govt will be dismantling their contracts. For twenty years , Whānau Ora has been helping families, delivering life-changing support through a kaupapa Māori approach. It has built trust where ...
Labour welcomes Simeon Brown’s move to reinstate a board at Health New Zealand, bringing the destructive and secretive tenure of commissioner Lester Levy to an end. ...
This morning’s announcement by the Health Minister regarding a major overhaul of the public health sector levels yet another blow to the country’s essential services. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will ensure employment decisions in the public service are based on merit and not on forced woke ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ targets. “This Bill would put an end to the woke left-wing social engineering and diversity targets in the public sector. ...
Police have referred 20 offenders to Destiny Church-affiliated programmes Man Up and Legacy as ‘wellness providers’ in the last year, raising concerns that those seeking help are being recruited into a harmful organisation. ...
Te Pāti Māori welcomes the resignation of Richard Prebble from the Waitangi Tribunal. His appointment in October 2024 was a disgrace- another example of this government undermining Te Tiriti o Waitangi by appointing a former ACT leader who has spent his career attacking Māori rights. “Regardless of the reason for ...
Police Minister Mark Mitchell is avoiding accountability by refusing to answer key questions in the House as his Government faces criticism over their dangerous citizen’s arrest policy, firearm reform, and broken promises to recruit more police. ...
The number of building consents issued under this Government continues to spiral, taking a toll on the infrastructure sector, tradies, and future generations of Kiwi homeowners. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Jim Chalmers likes to boast, or marvel, that he is the first treasurer since Ben Chifley to deliver four budgets in a term. If Labor wins the May election, the treasurer will reckon the ...
Comment: It’s going to be a big few weeks for the Rt Hon Winston Raymond Peters.Fresh off the plane from Washington DC and a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he delivered his New Zealand First party’s state of the nation speech in Christchurch on Sunday.By week’s end, Peters ...
Parliament's recent inquiry and debate on climate change adaptation asked small questions, looked short-term and inched towards reactive solutions. ...
No news is good newsLord Breen of Seymour was taking the watersAt the Head in the Clouds Health Spa.A figure walked up the long, winding stepsTo his mountain top resort.It was the Court Surgeon.“What’s up, Sawbones?,” chuckled Lord Breen.“Why didn’t you fly up in the Royal Balloon?”“Lo,” said the Court ...
Asia Pacific Report Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick called on New Zealand government MPs today to support her Member’s Bill to sanction Israel over its “crazy slaughter” of Palestinians in Gaza. Speaking at a large pro-Palestinian solidarity rally in the heart of New Zealand’s largest city Auckland, she said Aotearoa ...
The draft bill was intended to stop any move away from the principle of equal suffrage, where each person gets an equal say in electing people, Uffindell said. ...
By Leah Lowonbu, Stefan Armbruster and Harlyne Joku of BenarNews The Pacific’s peak diplomatic bodies have signalled they are ready to engage with Papua New Guinea’s Autonomous Government of Bougainville as mediation begins on the delayed ratification of its successful 2019 independence referendum. PNG and Bougainville’s leaders met in the ...
MONDAYThe party of honoured New Zealanders were shown an old fort. “Awesome,” said Mr Luxon.He wore a gold turban, a white linen jacket, a peacock-illustrated waistcoat sewn with exquisite rubies, a white dhoti crafted from finest polyester with 1 1/2″ gold jari border, and a $625 pair of Christian Kimber ...
Christopher Luxon's trip to India included the restart of trade talks, the tightening of defence ties, and more than a spot of cricket - RNZ's deputy political editor takes us behind the scenes. ...
Six months after Vincent Dix and his son Nikau stumbled across remains of an ocean-voyaging waka while searching for driftwood on their property in Rēkohu/ Chatham Islands, the community is still buzzing over the discoveries.The big question locals want an answer to: where did the waka come, from and who ...
Leon Pritchard used to be absolutely ripped, back in the day. He exercised his muscles one by one at the gym, so that each formed its ultimate shape and could be easily seen by passing females, even at a glance. He worked hardest on his upper body and put the ...
Never heard of Acotar? Unsure what makes fairies sexy? Nervous of romantasy? Bemused by the term Medievalcore? Herewith is all you need to know about the hottest publishing trend of the age.What is fairy smut?Fairy smut is a genre of fantasy romance (romantasy) that includes both fairies and ...
The local star of Prime Video’s fantasy epic takes us through her life in television, including the trauma of 2000s drink driving ads and the Tribe spinoff that time forgot. Local actor Zoë Robins is one of the many, many New Zealanders who have infiltrated huge budget behemoth television shows ...
Court documents suggest Kim Dotcom spent $1,000,000 on Grammy winners, ad campaigns and the best studio in the country. So why was his much-derided album such a disaster? This story was first published in 2015 in Barkers’ 1972 magazine, and is republished here with permission.Read Chris Schulz’s interview with ...
Most people would look at our house and decide painting it was a job for professionals. My mum and dad decided it was a job for their kids.I grew up in a house that was always being renovated. That’s not hyperbole, it was literally always being renovated. Just one ...
Asia Pacific Report A joint operation between the Fiji Police Force, Republic of Fiji Military Force (RFMF), Territorial Force Brigade, Fiji Navy and National Fire Authority was staged this week to “modernise” responses to emergencies. Called “Exercise Genesis”, the joint operation is believed to be the first of its kind ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Nicholls, Senior Research Associate in Media and Communications, University of Sydney As the United States recalibrates its trade policies to combat what the Trump administration sees as “unfair” treatment by other countries, two significant industries have complained to US regulators about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Renwick, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Lincoln University, New Zealand Since the return to power of US President Donald Trump, tariffs have barely left the front pages. While the on-off-on tariff sagas have dominated the headlines, a paper released this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Baka, Honorary Professor, School of Kinesiology, Western University, London, Canada; Adjunct Fellow, Olympic Scholar and Co-Director of the Olympic and Paralympic Research Centre, Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University In a surprisingly emphatic result, 41-year-old Kirsty Coventry, Zimbabwe’s Sport Minister, ...
More than 12,000 cubic metres of treated wastewater a day could be discharged directly into the Shotover River in the country’s premiere tourist resort, according to a whistle-blowing councillor. That’s almost enough liquid to fill five Olympic-sized swimming pools.The plan, prompted by Queenstown’s failing sewage treatment plant, would use emergency ...
Winston Peters has repeatedly failed to express any concern for the Palestinians killed by Israel since Israel ended the ceasefire and condemn Israel for this industrial-scale carnage, which the International Court of Justice found more than a year ago to be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of Technology Daria Nipot/Shutterstock Australia’s supermarket sector has endured a long, uncomfortable moment in the spotlight. There have been six comprehensive inquiries into its conduct, pricing practices, and specifically claims of ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Breen, Professor of Psychology, Curtin University Photo by Daria Kruchkova/Pexels Grief can hit us in powerful and unanticipated ways. You might expect to grieve a person, a pet or even a former version of yourself – but many people are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stefan B. Williams, Professor of Marine Robotics, Australian Centre for Robotics, University of Sydney Armada 7805, similar to the 7806 vessel that will support the new MH370 search.Ocean Infinity More than 11 years after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, $30) A Hunger Games prequel starring young Haymitch, ...
Two poems from the new collection Clay Eaters by Gregory Kan, launched this week at Unity Books Wellington.(Editors note: The poems are untitled but can be found on pages 3 and 19 of Clay Eaters, published by Auckland University Press.)From Clay Eaters Satellite view of the ...
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By Alex Willemyns for Radio Free Asia The Trump administration might let hundreds of millions of dollars in aid pledged to Pacific island nations during former President Joe Biden’s time in office stand, says New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters. The Biden administration pledged about $1 billion in aid to the Pacific ...
Delhi Diary Day 1Christopher Luxon walks down the stairs of the Airforce Boeing 757 at Palam Airbase towards the tarmac and greets the waiting Professor Singh Baghel, minister of state of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying. Luxon squints against the heat. Baghel keeps his aviators on; he’s done this before. The ...
Netflix’s new British crime drama asks the hard questions about growing up in a digital world. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here.Even before a single episode of Adolescence went up on Netflix, the five star reviews started rolling in. The ...
Looks like the Auckland housing price boom is really over.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11881164
Naturally, this doesn’t cure homelessness. There’s still a big place for Labour’s excellent housing policies
But if you ever want to see policy working to tilt a whole market, look no further than the measures that this National government put in place.
It was only in October last year that tighter Loan to Value Ratio restrictions were put in place. It required property investors to have a 40% deposit for a mortgage loan and owner-occupiers to have a 20% deposit. Immediately the froth came off, but now its effect is really showing.
Who knows, we could still have a housing price collapse.
Or we could have the modern miracle of government, over the one great asset the majority of New Zealanders have: their home. And that miracle is managing the entire real estate market down.
What are you on? The article says the biggest casualty is first home buyers are the main ones being shut out of the housing market. Meanwhile, the biggest winners are investors with cash.
+ 1
Ad will be okay so no problem.
Here it is.
Housing has to stop being our preferred asset class. It’s going to hurt.
First home buyers will almost always need to draw on their parents’ equity.
Every currently home-owning family will be forced to think like they are a bank with specific limited equity to carefully dole out.
Or, put rules in place to stop speculating on property as a way of making an income.
The 10 year boom has created a set of highly leveraged large landlords. Very few are cashed up. Very few banks are lending.
The 2 year Bright Line test is doing it’s job limiting speculators.
The new rules are not enough, but they are heading us in the right direction without a crash.
From the view from halfway to the bottom end, what you are talking about looks like tinkering to make the market better for the top end, mostly as investment. And ultimately that will continue to hurt renters, the homeless and those on lowish incomes who might want to buy. There are whole classes of people now who can’t own and struggle to afford rent and I don’t see what you are talking about as improving that much (although I’m sure it is better than nothing).
The problem is seeing housing as a financial investment, and that’s a tricky one to unpack because it’s tied to retirement and the contemporary idea that the state can no longer bet trusted to support people. Better to fix welfare/social security IMO, and then reinstate housing as being about having a home instead of a financial investment.
Yep. It’s treating housing a social investment that’s a problem – plus the decline of our welfare system, low wages and focusing generally on profits over people.
Do Labour plan to make the TPP an election issue?
Little has been said.
Good point, of course Labour should. It’s one of the main differences that people can say in one sentence and TPPA is very unpopular.
“TPPA is very unpopular”
One would expect Labour to capitalize off that, yet there’s little being said.
Considering that Labour, in it’s fanatical following of the neo-liberal cult, is actually in agreement with the TPPA and FTAs in general then, no, you shouldn’t expect them to make capital off of it.
That explains the silence. But it will probably cost them a few votes though.
The Nats are pushing it through, hence a number will vote accordingly to oppose it.
They have been clear about opposition to the TPPA many times, including on Morning Report a couple of weeks ago. Not that it matters as the TPPA is dead.
Link?
I’ve never seen them being clear about it and that is usually bound up with their general belief that FTAs are good no matter what.
I put in NZ Labour TPPA and got the NO and the petition.
Trade OK. The loss of sovereignty rules it out. No changes as far as I can see.
Nope TPPA isn’t dead. Bill English was out trying to drum up the zombie agreement with anybody left who will listen.
If Natz get in again, and with Trump going to sign ‘if USA get a good deal”. Well we all know that Natz would sign anything no matter how damaging to the people of NZ. What do they care what’s in the details, whether arduous health costs or turning our cops into copywrite cops for US business – who the frig knows what the National party are prepared to sign with Trump or anyone else, anything.
National will be doing the numbers. Will English remaining do more damage than English standing down?
Both are likely to be fatal.
Lets hope.
Not a lot of talk about how hopeless the National Party look, post Key. Zero succession planning in the National Party. My guess is trader Key, read the future, realised the shit was going to hit the fan with our economy 98 million dollars into the red and bailed so he could look good and escape to Hawaii with full benefits and pensions and brag to his mates how he was NZ’s most popular PM.
Of course Tony Blair used to be popular and look what happened to him and the UK Labour party after he left.
Now it’s the right’s turn.
We have Bitter Bill, the world’s biggest bores.
Ex Bene turned Bene basher with a wonderful CV of receiving government money her whole life and now as deputy leader.
Judith Colins with so many scandals and dirt to be dug up she could make mince meat out of the National party rep.
Joyce, the world’s most arrogant yokel, who can even annoy the most eager National business person with his ‘pretty legal’ chit chat
Brownlee, the CHCH rebuild architect – “wizard’.
Smith, who unlike Jesus can turn fish into faeces.
An ex Merrill Lyncher is the likely outcome of Barclay standing down, but yes, who would replace English?
Bill marched away from an interview looking relaxed and pleased.
His statement “if there was a tape” is a worry. Does he know it is long gone,
and now evidence is hear-say?
Though he still has to explain his texts and Glenys’s call to the victim, after his call to her on Waitangi Day. (interview with Gower),
Bouyed by the “late” poll results as well? (late = 2 weeks old)
Bennett declaring a political crush on English, tells me there is division, and she has chosen. No real surprise in that. So Bill has to get the numbers.
WE have to act on faith, and give our honest guy Andrew support.
We need to speak up and sell our honest group.
Bury all hair shirts ’till the election is over!!
We have enough horrible foes without ‘white anting’ the party.
We need to get them in, then apply the pressure to enact people friendly legislation.
We are closer than they care to admit, that is why they are shrill and in attack mode.
Don’t give them fodder.
We need to join together and push this over the line.
Please enrol and vote 2 ticks.
Nats 49% – labour 25% and you think it’s nats doing the numbers – you’re delusional.
Stable Government with English being sold as a trusted, stable pair of hands is the line National are pushing.
English standing down would destroy that perception. But now that his credibility has come into question, there could also be damage if he remains party leader.
Therefore, it’s delusional to think they wouldn’t be evaluating the numbers.
Moreover, you’ve seem to have forgotten this is an MMP election, therefore Labour aren’t standing alone. And when combined with the Greens (& possibly NZF) it’s going to be a close finish.
Do you care about New Zealand’s children?
We are 1st for rugby, but 34th for children in the OECD.
Which do you care about more ?
CREATIVE FUTURE?
It is no coincidence that world-wide rehabilitation programs for offenders and addicts are invariably grounded in creativity: cooking, music, art, surfing, environmental restoration. Spontaneous creativity is neither a luxury nor a talent, but the natural expression of all of us, setting us aside from other life forms on earth.
By re-aligning our waking hours with that which is creative in ourselves rather than squeezing it in over weekends we will defuse restlessness, the futility of non-fulfilment and the sense that our abilities are going to waste. With widespread automation, decimation of jobs and UBI in place vast reserves of creativity could be put to work restoring society, the environment, the social structure and all that runs counter to a happy and productive country.
Creativity has many faces; the politically inclined will generate fresh ways of inclusive government; educators new methods of drawing out the creativity of their charges; financiers equitable ways of restructuring currency (or what’s left of it); artists and musicians novel expression of humanity’s changing orientation on earth; scientists sustainable methods of restoring the integrity of our ecosystems; idealists insights into our future course; philosophers insightful ways to growth and understanding of the evolving human spirit, to name a few.
For those who have tried it the satisfaction of working creatively in cooperative ventures eclipses the need to “prove oneself” via competition. Whether the race is ready to move beyond this most basic of drivers is difficult to say.
Very uplifting, thanks Ant, there is much to reflect on in your post.
We evolved beyond it millions of years ago. If there’s anything to the human nature argument that the RWNJs bring up all the time it’s that we’re mostly altruistic and cooperative. It’s the sociopaths that aren’t and they’re the minority.
Your’e saying humans are no longer competitive? Free market system, capitalism, one-upmanship, rampant materialism, – all driven by competition when I last looked.
Yep but that doesn’t mean that the majority of people are that way inclined. It just means that the ones with power are.
If the majority were not that way inclined the fashion, cosmetic, designer clothing, and a host of other industries would have collapsed long ago.
No. It’s a question of training via environment. Change the environment and change the people.
Our markets are not notably free – everything in NZ costs more except wages. The Rogergnomic reforms failed – but then they were never intended to work, only to enrich a small subset of the population.
Yes Beeby had it right in the 60s school syllabus.
True. Talent and creativity can only flourish through honouring the individual’s uniqueness in terms of background, era and culture. Mass delivered education in crowded classrooms can never deliver. National trots out the worn mantra “research has shown that class size does not make a difference to educational achievement.”; of course they are talking about grades but remain shy of asking why depression, suicide, substance abuse etc. remain depressingly high.
Agreed. Bring back Beeby!
Thank you!
Only through being creative can we realise who we are.
It’s both an inward and outward journey with no set destination and no initial boundaries or fear.
+1
Will the PM who quit aka Key be making an appearance at the Nat’s conference this weekend? Will he be standing up and backing English, defending the outgoing PM’s lying etc?
Where is Key? If he was a good friend of Bills surely he would be helping him out of the massive Barclay scandal which is still making news.
Enjoying retirement.
Hone on the Nation – wow! He’ll keep the headline writers busy.
Pretty scathing of Andrew Little.
Wish they’d get rid of Lisa Owen though, Jesus, shut the fuck up and let your guests speak. don’t ask a question and talk over them when they’re trying to reply to the question you asked.
Definitely one of the worst interviewers on TV.
“Pretty scathing of Andrew Little.”
Indeed. He accused Little of lying and treating Labour’s Maori MPs like “shit”.
I think Hone should stay out of politics and go back to activism. i don’t think he gets it. Nothing worse than seeing someone who doesn’t know when it’s over.
It’s clear he’s going to let voters decide that one (whether it’s over).
They already have.
Your talking last election. Things are different now, hence I was referring to this election.
Yeah i know. They are different not in a beneficial way imo.
Going off the interview, can’t see his deal with the Māori Party going too well.
They agreed not to stand against each other in electoral seats. The expectation being that doing so would encourage supporters of both to support the one standing. However, Hone won’t give his backing of his members doing so due to the Māori Party’s support of the Māori land reform Bill.
And apparently Marama Fox has threaten to respond in kind.
I know. Got a Facebook petition – save the Māori land court – from the mana party. Someone wrote a comment about the deal with the Māori Party – just a joke imo.
Me too Marty. I like Hone but I don’t think he is doing himself (or Mana) any favours at the moment. I think he can be more effective as an activist than as a lone backbencher.
This is more worrying though – he evidently suggested life imprisonment or deportation to China for the death penalty to discourage meth dealing on the Nation. I really wouldn’t have expected that from him
Yep just a rubbish non solution. Sad.
Anyone interested in learning something about the ongoing siege of Gaza should read this book…
Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom
by NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
Gaza is among the most densely populated places in the world. Two-thirds of its inhabitants are refugees, and more than half the population is under eighteen years of age. Since Israel occupied Gaza in 1967, it has systematically de-developed the economy. After Hamas won democratic elections in 2006, Israel intensified its blockade of Gaza, and after Hamas consolidated its control of the territory in 2007, Israel tightened its illegal siege another notch. In the meantime, Israel has launched no less than eight military operations against Gaza—culminating in Operation Cast Lead in 2008–9 and Operation Protective Edge in 2014—that left behind over three million tons of rubble. Recent UN reports predict that Gaza will be unlivable by 2020.
Norman G. Finkelstein presents a meticulously researched and devastating inquest into Israel’s actions of the last decade. He argues that although Israel justified its blockade and violent assaults in the name of self-defense, in fact these actions were cynical exercises of brutal power against an essentially defenseless civilian population. Based on hundreds of human rights reports, the book scrutinizes multifarious violations of international law Israel committed both during its operations and in the course of its decade-long siege of Gaza. It is a monument to Gaza’s martyrs and a scorching accusation against their tormenters.
http://normanfinkelstein.com/book/gaza-an-inquest-into-its-martyrdom-3/
They Learnt well from the Warsaw ghetto.
http://normanfinkelstein.com/book/gaza-an-inquest-into-its-martyrdom-3/
Thanks Morrissey Not available from Amazon until Jan ’18 apparently Daresay it will be definitive As remains this –
Here’s some punctuation –
Women crying…….not truly for the victims……..more for themselves and their busted ‘Zionist Exceptionalism’
Thanks for those excellent links North!
Reasons to be Cheerful
No. 1 Jeremy Corbyn
The British prime minister-in-waiting has been confronting pure evil for a long time now….
And pure stupidity as well….
A great man.
“Oh Jeremy Corbyn.”
Well fuck you too Labour:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/93965507/labour-abandons-water-and-nutrient-charging-policy-for-farming
The most charitable or delusional interpretation I can make is that Labour is outsourcing its environmental policy to the Greens and will ‘concede’ clean river as part of a deal later, but remember how Blair was supposed to be cultivating the Conservative voters before he was going to implement real socialist policies? Right, we all know how that turned out.
It looks like Little is just Captain Mumblefuck 2.0
Adelia Hallett @AdeliaHallett 5h5 hours ago
Labour hasn’t ruled out pricing water at all David Parker tells F&B conference #ConservationHeroes
https://twitter.com/AdeliaHallett/status/878441100586786816
I don’t know what they’re doing. I’d like to see their whole policies because that article doesn’t really say a lot.
One delegate sought an assurance from Little that the Green Party would not “can” Labour’s attitude to how it would operate as a government.
“We [and the Greens] have common areas of policy but also areas we differ on as well. The more support you give us, the more we can approach your industry in a practical and sensible way,” Little responded.
Lol, that’s my argument to people to vote Green. If we want a progressive govt the more Greens the better. Little is speaking to that audience but it does make me think they’ve chosen messaging over authenticity.
they’ve chosen messaging over authenticity.
If we want a progressive govt the more Greens the better. Little is speaking to that audience but it does make me think they’ve chosen messaging over authenticity.
Absolutely. They only succeed in coming across as insincere and confused.
I’m voting Green. Very Little can go fuck himself.
It’s very easy to see why people are sick of business as usual politics when the system keeps excreting nobodies like Blinglish and Little.
I think our best bet is to have a L/G govt without Peters. This will give the Greens a chance to prove themselves once and for all. They’re obviously competent to be in govt, but it will be crunch time as to whether they can do govt differently and keep left.
In the absence of any unicorns, I agree. The Greens are showing both integrity and discipline and deserve to have a hand in government. Labour is riddled with egotistical careerists such as Robertson who put themselves first, party second and principles third. Little is totally ineffective in keeping them in check and shows no competence or principles. He is not a PM in waiting, which is the test of any opposition. His only advantage is that Blinglish is not a PM at all.
Hmmm. I was really alarmed about the report about what Little said, but today there was a press release from him, plus just heard David Parker on midday news on Nat radio saying that policy from 2014 hasn’t changed. Little claims he misunderstood the question and his lack of response to another statement was seen as agreement when it wasn’t.
http://www.labour.org.nz/labour_will_not_resile_from_royalties
I agree that the Greens are stronger that Labour on environmental policy so making sure they have a significant influence in a Labour/Green government is important.
Thanks Karen, I’ll put that up as a post in the morning. I thought the original Stuff article was poor and probably misleading so good to have some more information.
One of Labour’s problems is the lag time between their speeches and media work and putting things up on their website. I’m still waiting for something on mental health after their good work in Chch last week. If they’re just going to rely on the media coverage then mistakes like this one over water will happen.
Labour don’t seem to have a good comms team at all and I find it really frustrating. I know they have quite a lot on at the moment but this water policy confusion should have dealt with as soon as the article appeared, not 2 days later.
If there is a policy announcement the policy page on the website should be updated immediately afterwards and there should be 2 versions, one with a lot more detail (for policy nerds like me!) They did that for the immigration one but it isn’t consistent.
On you on any of their mailing lists? do you get emailed policy summaries or such? Just wondering if I should subscribe.
I am on the mailing list for the Greens and Labour but Labour tend to just send major speeches rather than individual policy announcements. Mostly, I just look at the new policies page:
http://www.labour.org.nz/announced_policies
Hopefully this will be a bit more informative closer to the election as most of the policies don’t have enough detail for my liking. This may be because they are still formulating some of it.
I also look at their press release page as I prefer to get the info direct rather than filtered by the MSM.
http://www.labour.org.nz/press_releases
thanks Karen.
Federated Farmers are NZ’s version of the NRA.
To be honest I dont think farmers want clean rivers/waterways, for the simple reason that it impacts on their profits. “Local based solutions” are all PR bullshit.
It would be better and more honest for FF to have the guts to stand up and just say, “we dont want clean rivers, because we just want to make a shit load of money instead, and also, we want to shut New Zealander out of the farming industry and have farm workers all migrants”.
/
And bogs do you want clean bogs or dirty bogs?
http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/habitats/wetlands/wetlands-by-region/waikato/kopuatai-peat-dome/
Lol that FF positioning advice, very good.
I think there are lots of farmers who don’t belong to FF, and many of those want to do the right things (and some are doing the right things). We need a govt that will support those farmers.
Federated Farmers are NZ’s version of the NRA.
Ha, yes. A political tumour.
The 2017 FIZZ Conference
“Taxing Sugary Drinks: An Election Issue” will be held on Monday 26 June.
Meanwhile, I note the following Official Information request languishing on FYI”
Hansard details:
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: I seek leave to table advice to me from the Ministry of Health saying that there is no conclusive evidence that a sugar tax will decrease obesity rates
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20161013_20161013_16
It is nearly 8 months since the OIA request……….
The Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor give his view- “don’t rule out sugar tax” on video. https://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2015/07/30/pms-chief-science-advisor-on-sugar-obesity-and-taxes/
Thanks for your good work.
30-8 to the All Blacks.
Is it too early to suggest that an All Blacks series win against the Lions and an America’s Cup victory would be – al least national mood wise – be pretty good for this government in September?
Great – we’re first at rugby and sailing and 34th in the OECD for looking after children.
If we vote for this, we are contemptible.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11874764
The peop,e are never wrong Paul or ed or what ever you call yourself these days so be ready to be disapointed
That’s just a cliché, not an argument.
We are misguided, misinformed, disinformed, manipulated, conditioned, and most of all resistant to change and apathetic. You were saying?
I couldn’t see the game where I am overseas – but looks like we played well.
And agree – between this and if we get the Americas cup – it will pit a lot of people in a good mood. Add that the the majority of people thinking the country is heading in the right direction it’s a good position for national.
Outages today were due to googlebots having an issue with an old post from 2011 which had links starting with // and/or ending with ‘. They have read this post hundreds of times before. Looks like something got tweaked.
Caused some interesting effects with some strange URLs. tens of thousands of queries per minute, high CPU, and the processor shutting down when it hit safety tempatures.
I have fixed the page, removed the googlebot special access and I’ve started treating it like bingbot…
Fascinating interview with Frankie Boyle on British politics
Brilliant
Frankie has had to many pies
Gosh, that’s astute. That really shoots down his points doesn’t it? Also, it’s ‘TOO many’.
Try not to look like such an idiot in future.