Interestingly, the Roy Morgan (which I answered last night) included questions about cigarette smoking. It will be interesting to see if smokers intend to vote with their lungs (so to speak).
Also asked was how often the respondent has voted in the past, and how likely they felt they were to actually vote in the next election – a pretty relevant question considering…
Interestingly, the Roy Morgan (which I answered last night) included questions about cigarette smoking. It will be interesting to see if smokers intend to vote with their lungs (so to speak).
I have never been asked! Yes, I do have a landline, but have never been asked to participate in a political poll (other than the online Horizon one). I suspect it’s because I live in an area of almost all State Houses (so much for pepper potting!) The polling companies can easily tell where a phone is situated. Those who smoke tend to be poorer people (it’s shitty self-care, but it’s self-care, as our tutor said in the working with disabilities course I was on, and far less harmful than alcohol, though of course much more expensive!)
I live on a state housing estate. When I was searching the council website online (looking for the owners of parcel that had been posted to my address), I found about two thirds of the houses on my street were owned by Housingcorp. This is the second time in a year that I’ve answered a political poll.
So the Kiwi mums-and-dads look like being catered for in the share floats, and that is good for the likes of Mr and Mrs Houndsditch-Islington, but what about Solomums and Solodads. Ah yes. Paula is dealing to them isn’t she.
All over NZ, children are being forced to learn moari as part of the curriculum. Just yesterday I heard some kids talking about “kai”. It’s food, not kai. If that wasn’t bad enough, one of them with a South African accent said she was going to put kai on the braai. I almost fainted. Today I am going to write to the Human Rights Commission. They’ll know what to do. Then I’ll call John Campbell. He’ll sort them all out.
It’s almost communism!
But it doesn’t end there. It started with tearooms changing their names to Café. Then muffins became brioche. Then flat breads became pizzé. I’m outraged this theft of the Queen’s English is being secretly forced on our young. Now the only place you can find a good English lamington is in an Asian bakery! We’re being oppressed I tell you!
What was wrong with the old Bedford buses? Why do we now have to call them Mercedes? And those “continental cars”, what rubbish names! Bayerische Motoren Werke? No, it’s Bavarian Motor Works.
If we don’t take a stand, we’ll be lost, lost I say!
My boyfriend made the salient point that he doubts that couple would have been so up-in-arms if the requirement was that they learn a 2nd language, and not that they specifically must learn maori.
The whole thing was ridiculous anyway, they were saying how horrible it was to force their 2 year old to learn something of another culture. Oh no, how dare they learn the colours of the rainbow in maori! It seems to me that the only reasonable objection to teaching a 2 year old maori is the opportunity cost: what could they be teaching them during that time instead of maori. I suggest, not a lot, and that ultimately it wouldn’t matter.
I loved his “I have maori friends so I’m not racist” line, too.
It seems to me that the only reasonable objection to teaching a 2 year old maori is the opportunity cost: what could they be teaching them during that time instead of maori.
What could have been more beneficial? Answer: Very little. Being Multi-lingual enhances the person.
What those idiots on Campbell Live were effectively demanding was that their children be disadvantaged.
If we don’t take a stand, we’ll be lost, lost I say!
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
In my day, it was French, German or Latin. In my son’s day it was Japanese or French (and he was lucky enough to be able to learn Russian, as he was in a special ‘gifted’ group).
There should always be at least one other language taught in schools, at primary level if at all possible. I picked up a lot of Maori from the kids around me (this was Rotorua in the 1960s, and many of the kids I was at school with were native speakers) but it would have been awesome to have been taught it formally!
” John Key has admitted that enforcing plain packaging on cigarette packets was not a “slam-dunk” policy due to the risk of legal challenges from tobacco giants and tobacco-producing countries.”
A few hundred million to Merchant Banker to sell off the Hydro Dams. Half a billion to bolster the subsidise middle class purchasers of the sales.
A few million in legal fees to beat of Big Tobacco? Too much. Carrick Graham, the Big Tobacco lobbyist, will get a huge bonus forth is one. Maybe he can pay his dad’s legal fees?
Can bloggers please provide the names of the other lobbyists who have been involved in this “successful” campaign? It will be worth a few hundred million to Big Tobacco. It will cost the Taxpayer a billion in Health costs.
It doesn’t cost the tax payer jack s**t in health costs, us users of tobacco products pay for the 350 million dollars a year of extra health costs through the excise taxes imposed by Government,
In fact, the excise tax take from tobacco products will be 1.3 billion dollars a year over the cost to the Government once the last of the 10% excise tax rises is inflicted upon those addicted to tobacco products,
The hilarity and hypocrisy inherent in all this is that from the Slippery Prime Minister on down there are some 80% of you out there who support euthanaisa, the right to end your lives when you want to, yet here are a group in society who have been bombarded with the effects that tobacco usage supposedly creates, (right up to death), and the hypocrites demand is that they be stopped from indulging in a product that is legally for sale…
Yep the health cost argument is bullsh*t, tobacco tax’s even subsidize health care for non-smokers on a $ to $ scale I think. I suppose it depends on what the government spends on anti-smoking campaigns etc though. But i’m pretty sure the tax income of tobacco was higher than the spending on health last year.
Gee the Treasury advice to the Government was that rack raising the excise tax on tobacco products was a great little earner,
According to Treasury part of the beauty of the rack raised excise tax was that very few of the users would give up using the product because they are addicted…
i think the ‘smokers pay for their own healthcare’ is a bit disingenuous, hospitals actually need more space, less people filling the hospitals the better i would have thought. but if all smokers took up private insurance & private hospitals etc, then i say to each their own. (please excuse spelling, grmmar)
so idlegus you are obviously happy for the humongous amounts of tobacco tax that we smokers contribute, and that is funneled into health-care for all NZ, to be returned to us or do you just prefer to ignore the reality that tobacco earns NZ many hundreds of millions of dollars a year?
p.s. Alcohol still costs this country a shit load more tax dollars than tobacco related illness.
Take into account road deaths, police time, court costs, bashed families and innocent bystanders, the lost productivity hours through hangovers and injury etc etc. Please stop looking at life in isolationist paradigms.
sorry CV but i cannot see that as a valid response, and frankly it is not of your usual calibre of rational and considered debate.
Drink driving is however an activity that impacts many people and has huge financial and social costs but has little to no relationship to smoking and society. Alcohol does not have a specified drink driving tax in its comparatively low taxes despite the high costs to our nation every year as outlined above. I can only then deduce that the environmental damage/passive smoking risks are the exposed backbone of your point.
Is it just really convenient for people to ignore that the cars and trucks and buses and factories that pollute our world do far more damage to many more people plants and the environment in general, through exhaust fumes toxic chemicals rubber particulates and many other dangers, than passive smoking could ever achieve? Take internal combustion engines off the road and I will gladly discuss the future of tobacco but then we really do kiss goodbye to any hope of a society where freedom of choice still has a role in the lives we live.
I see your point,but, for this to be true there would have to be a cohort out there who are not receiving, (in particular), cancer treatments who are not smokers,
The present take of the excise tax upon tobacco products is at present over a Billion dollars a year over the cost to the health system because of assessed users of tobacco products accessing that health system,
The users of tobacco products are therefor paying well over the odds for any ‘space’ that they may take up through excise tax as well as paying via their normal income being taxed,
The question that gets me, and, has me calling Bullshit on the health costs associated with some ‘stated’ health outcomes for those who use tobacco products is this,
Since 1999 tobacco use has fallen in New Zealand by 6%, meanwhile the Health Lobby, (including ASH fanatics), have managed to take the ‘might’ of using tobacco products ‘might’ lead to heart disease to now be, as printed on cigarette packets, ”smoking causes heart disease”,
Now, for that little gem to be anything other than the Bullshit i label it with, seeing as tobacco usage has fallen 6% since 1999, the rate of Heart disease should also have fallen and be traceable in the Health statistics as a 6% decrease in the rate of Heart Disease,
Or,
Be traceable in the Health statistics as an obvious 6% lessening in the rise of identified Heart Disease,
As neither of those 2 things exist to be found in the Health statistics it is dubious to say the least to be stating that tobacco use causes Heart disease, (also known as Bullshit)…
Now, for that little gem to be anything other than the Bullshit i label it with, seeing as tobacco usage has fallen 6% since 1999, the rate of Heart disease should also have fallen and be traceable in the Health statistics as a 6% decrease in the rate of Heart Disease,
Only if 100% of heart disease were caused only by tobacco, and if 100% of tobacco use caused heart disease, and if the 6% drop (is that off nominal % smoking or is it where n smokers = 100%?) happened well before the period where smokers develop heart disease.
We might have an increasing number of aging non-smoking fat steroid-using people who (can’t remember where the cholesterol debate is) have a dozen eggs a day fried in lard and do no exercise because they’re obsessed with watching NZ’s Next Top GC Model Cardassian (Trek shout out 🙂 ). Which would offset the drop in smoking in crude rates, even if we were beyond an effect lag.
What your really saying,and, forgive me for putting plain English into the conversation is that through the statistics it cannot be shown either a drop off in the actual rate of identified heart disease during the period where tobacco usage dropped by 6%,
And,
Nor can it show in the statistics the 6% slowing of the continual rise in heart disease identified during the period where tobacco usage fell by that 6%, cause and effect in such a situation must work both ways,
I will concede a point here, i only have to look at my curtains to understand that tobacco smoke must lay down in various ways a certain amount of ‘grime’ over the course of a smokers life-time, just as breathing a city’s air apparently does the same,
In the Hearts case it is the plaque laid down over that lifetime in the arteries,veins,and valves, which then leads to the complications in ‘heart disease’,(like death),
But, in plain English if the number of tobacco users goes down by 6% then heart disease in thew statistics must have either fallen as a whole % number or a % number which slowed the rise in the rate of identified heart disease,
If such numbers do not exist in the health statistics then ‘THE OTHER’ causes of heart disease must far out-weigh any ’cause’ of heart disease attributed to tobacco use,
The short form of all the above is that it is Bullshit, admittedly hard to detect and prove Bullshit to say ”smoking causes heart disease”…
What your really saying,and, forgive me for putting plain English into the conversation is that through the statistics it cannot be shown either a drop off in the actual rate of identified heart disease during the period where tobacco usage dropped by 6%,
And,
Nor can it show in the statistics the 6% slowing of the continual rise in heart disease identified during the period where tobacco usage fell by that 6%, cause and effect in such a situation must work both ways,
1: irrelevant. The question is whether enough time has elapsed to show a detectable drop off in the rate of tobacco-attributable heart disease.
2: again, if a cause increases more quickly than another cause decreases (assuming equal levels of causation), then the total rate will still go up. But it would have gone up by more if both causes increased at the same rate.
There have been a number of cohort studies that looked at smoking as well as other factors such as weight over a period of years. The first notable one in the early fifties, and many since. All have managed to show that smoking is a significant (but not the only) cause of heart disease.
Aha, so we can expect the 6% drop in deaths from heart disease or a 6% slowing of the rise of deaths form heart disease to figure in the health statistics in which year,
As the rate of life expectancy has also risen from the 1930,s (a smoker can now expect an average life span of 65 years), this also makes a bit of a mockery of the smoking kills 5000 a year figures don’t you think,
Where smoking kills most of it’s users is in fact at the end of their natural life-span, the average life-span for those who smoke being 65 and the average for the non-smoker being 71,
So remembering that the cohort that don’t indulge in the use of tobacco products is far larger than those that do there will be as many non-smokers who die at 65 as there are smokers that die at that age,
Such is the fallacy of ‘averages’ when used (in my opinion), wrongly to attempt to make a point…
PS,go on admit it to yourself at least, tobacco attributed heart disease is simply ‘He/She smoked and died of heart disease therefor smoking caused the heart disease’,
While your admitting that to yourself also consider how many of those who smoked who had a number of the other signatures of heart disease, poor diet, obesity, diabetes, low or no exercise on a regular basis etc etc etc….
Aha, so we can expect the 6% drop in deaths from heart disease or a 6% slowing of the rise of deaths form heart disease to figure in the health statistics in which year,
JHC on a FRC.
No, because not all smokers get heart disease early. ISTR early death from smoking – all causes – was at 50%. So that cuts it to 3%. Then heart disease is only the CoD in about half of smoking cases. That cuts it to 1.5% (and small effects need bigger samples to see). The average timespan for a smoker’s early death is 15-21 years as I recall. Let’s say most smokers start at 18, normal life expectancy of 75, that’s 35-odd years before we’d expect to see the full impact of smoking cessation. From 1996, that’s 2029. Then of course they hit 75 and their obesity or drinking catches up with them, whammo heart disease, so they still get it. just 20 years later.
As for talking cohort sizes, that’s why we use rates.
PS,go on admit it to yourself at least, tobacco attributed heart disease is simply ‘He/She smoked and died of heart disease therefor smoking caused the heart disease’,
While your admitting that to yourself also consider how many of those who smoked who had a number of the other signatures of heart disease, poor diet, obesity, diabetes, low or no exercise on a regular basis etc etc etc…
Nope. It is “group A and group B are pretty similar in demographic, lifestyle and physiological factors, except that group A smoke and group B don’t. Group A has a death rate from heart disease of 50%. Group B has a death rate of 25%. So the attributable risk is 50-25 = 25% caused by smoking..
Mum saying “smoking killed trev” might or might not be accurate – maybe trev had an undetected congenital condition. But population stats don’t fib – smokers get heart disease more than other people, all other factors being equal. Thin smokers get a fair bit of HD. Fat sedentary smokers get a lot. It’s a plain and simple fact.
Really mac, your trying to tell me that the amount of deaths from heart disease from those who reach 65 and having not smoked will be less every year than the number of deaths at or above the same age from heart disease of those who do or have smoked???
Better go back and check your figures, the average the last time i looked for heart disease deaths was 65 for smokers and 71 for non-smokers…
No.
I’m saying that less smokers will reach 65 than nonsmokers, as a percentage of their respective populations. And less smokers who reach 65 will reach 70 than nonsmokers who reach 65. And so on.
I also smoke tobacco – but I believe in quality of life, as well as quantity. Who knows if I believe it at 60, but whatever. But don’t bullshit yourself: it’s a risk, heavily factored by how much, how often, what type, and how. If you want to leave it up to the fates, I respect that and tend to agree. Just don’t cose your eyes to reality.
Er, no, not really, as you could do better if you wanted to! 😀
hospitals actually need more space, less people filling the hospitals the better i would have thought.
(Should be ‘fewer’, but you’re wrong anyway! Smokers can, and do end up in hospital for reasons unrelated to smoking (as I will be on Thursday) or do you think smokers should all be forbidden from taking up space in hospital, even if they’re there for a broken leg, or in my case, diagnostic reasons? Not smoking related, afaik)
week bone structure attributable to calcium depletion related to smoking.
what happens both to smokers and drinkers is that the stomach needs calcium to protect itself so it depletes calcium from the bone structure.
Leading to early onset arthritis week bones and more fractures.
Frankly if we could avoid even 10% of the alcohol and smoking related mortality and morbidity in NZ it’d take a large slice out of the crap that the health sector and other sectors have to cope with.
The irony is that tobacco prices go up, supposedly in part to pay for increased health care, but many smoking related diseases are not treated on the grounds that they are self inflicted, among others. Although I haven’t worked through the figures, I wouldn’t be surprised if smokers contributed more to the health budget than they take back out of it.
I hope replying to myself is not one of the cardinal sins, but sometimes hospitals will refuse to treat smokers for even non smoking related complaints. Some surgeries will be turned down on the basis that recovery may be complicated if the patient is a smoker, for example.
Like whether being ostracised and segregated affects anxiety and depression levels.
I am sure it does! As does being screeched at by a fat woman who was incandescent with rage that I smoke, even though I was nowhere near her air space… apparently my existence as a smoker was enough to just about give her an (obesity related?) coronary?
UR thats not true the cost to the economy overall including lost productivity is much higher
more diseases related to tobacco have been found in research.
So early death saves money but costs in lost productivity.
Why don’t we allow corner stores to sell.
Kronic no attributable deaths
heroine
cocaine and crack
methamphetamine
Cannabis
etc etc
as these other drugs all combined cause less than 1% of the deaths tobacco causes.
Yea but the profit vs loss statement for tobacco vs healthcare is heavily weighed in the profit column. Productivity is a mute point because it’s psuedoscience and speculation.
If I have two ten minute breaks and a 30 min lunch and take them within the law that has no effect.
Meanwhile you compare it with smokers but there is no debate on casual work conversation, coffee making, working in 30 min blocks, how often you fill our water glass….
What I think should happen is decrimilize all drugs, illegal to sell though.
This keeps hard drugs off the shelfs but doesn’t clog our prisons and courts with people with drug dependance issues.
Go back to having Tobacco stores so they are removed from corner stores, petrol stations.
I think that fairly allows smokers to have their rights and removes access for the young.
As far as i’m concerned capitalism is not a sustainable system for this century. It’s driving factor is growth and growing investment. In a century that will see resource scarcity on huge levels how is continuing to chase growth in profits logical and sustainable?
Not saying the comic is wrong, but surely there should be an increased focus on leveling out the system and creating accountability/responsibility.
I think personally the best option would be to hit the 1% with their own weapon. Declare corporate fraud equal to economic terrorism and treat it as terrorism under law. That should act as a good deterent. It undermines the economy, state and threatens the livelihood of good workers.
If he is a top executive he lives on an economic scale not too different from that of the man on the next-lower income rung. He surrenders around 40 per cent of his salary to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (he may cough up as much as 75 per cent) but still manages to put a little of his income in stocks, bonds, life insurance. He owns two cars, and gets along with one or two servants. What time he has left from his work–on weekends and brief vacations–he spends exercising, preferably outdoors, and usually at golf. Next to golf, fishing is the most popular executive diversion.
He spends almost no time on politics. He entertains often because he must (i.e., for business reasons or on account of his wife) and, under much the same compulsion, he attends cultural events. He does little reading outside of newspapers, newsmagazines, reports, and trade papers. (For a notable exception, see “Texas Eastern’s Naff,” page 108.) He drinks, if he drinks at all, moderately and on a schedule. Alcoholism, it is clear, does not go with success and is to be found only among some executives’ bored wives. Extramarital relations in the top American business world are not important enough to discuss.
Tanfani, Mason and Gold report in a recent L.A. Times article that some of these Bain funders were the “powers that be” in El Salvador, well connected with the right-wing government, whose activities they funded:
The group (of Bain investors) included some of El Salvador’s wealthiest people: coffee grower Miguel A. Dueñas; members of the De Sola family, also coffee exporters; and Ricardo Poma, whose family conglomerate now owns car dealerships and luxury hotels across Central America. […] Most of the money they put into Bain Capital was through corporations set up in Panama … Among the Bain investors were Francisco R.R. de Sola and his cousin Herbert Arturo de Sola, whose brother Orlando de Sola was suspected by State Department officials and the CIA of backing the right-wing death squads, according to now-declassified documents. Orlando de Sola, who has denied supporting the death squads, is now serving a four-year prison term for unrelated fraud charges.
Goose stepper naive and financially illiterate one.
OWN Goal or is that the Jail that all the corrupt GS and ML employees are going to end up in
Check out- Kals- cartoon for the” 14th of July” Bastille day off with your head goose.
Capitalism is not my enemy as you try and portray .
Capitalism is a wild beast that needs taming to provide for more not a few lucky ones.
Unfettered capitalism doesn,t work any better than communism Show me a country that pure capitalism works and I,ll run naked from one end of the country to the other naked in the middle of winter.
I,ve asked you and others have too to show me those or that country it doesn’t exist.
I notice the cat doesn’t deny the charge. Like all good capitalists, it simply aims to be a smidgeon better than the competition and feels no compulsion to hold itself to any higherstandard (as it were).
(To be honest, the idea that the single-minded pursuit of wealth – which is what we are talking about, not some mythical, abstract ideal called ‘capitalism’ – is ‘tame’ shows a remarkable ignorance of human history.)
Ever since I returned to NZ, after living a long time in London, I have been amazed that there is no law here against use of fires for home heating. Only smokeless fuel is allowed in England as anything else adds to air pollution that is dangerous to health.
A report shows that home fires are responsible for the biggest part of the total air pollution, which results in around 1000 premature deaths each year:
Air pollution from fires, vehicles and industry kills 1170 people prematurely each year and causes $4.28 billion in social costs, researchers have estimated.
[..]
researchers from four private consultancies and two universities.
Home-heating fires are the leading cause of the man-made air-pollution deaths, except in central Auckland, where exhaust from motor vehicles is the top killer.
[…]
The only region where domestic fires don’t dominate is Auckland, particularly in the old Auckland City Council area, “where motor vehicle health impacts are nearly twice those of domestic fires”.
But because the researchers could not robustly assess nitrogen dioxide levels, they expect the latest figures probably underestimate the impact of motor-vehicle air pollution.
Of course, I understand, a lot of the problem is that the cost of alternative sources of heating is too high.
But given the long term social/health costs of air pollution. I think the provision of cheaper electricity or other sources for home heating should be kept relatively low.
And cutting down on motor vehicle use, by providing more and better public transport, should also be a major priority.
Down my way there are pretty strict by-laws, and coal fires are being phased out by attrition – no new ones are allowed to be installed. In the meantime there is a lot of coal smoke, particularly in poorer areas because coal is still, I believe, relatively cheap.
Trouble is our houses were never built with double glazing or with radiator systems fitted so the only way many can afford to heat their home is through fire. It’s all well and good to ban them but if someone has to go from a fuel source which they can gather themselves at a low cost to electricity it will simply be unaffordable.
Because of lackadaisical building/insulation standards we are to a large degree stuck with the problem until the housing stock catches up.
I think the other factor at play is that if everyone went to electric heating the added strain on the power grid would be problematic.
all my friends who complain that their power bills skyrocketed after they installed their heatpumps. You know because heatpumps are “so much more efficient”.
You know because heatpumps are “so much more efficient”.
They are but they do need to be put in correctly, have the right specs for the job and be used correctly. I suspect that if you have a look at your friends installations two of those necessary conditions will be wrong.
Yeah, almost certainly. But that doesn’t really fix anything, does it.
The fact is that people looked at the label on the side that said “cheaper heat!” and missed the fine print that said “not in Otago or anywhere else it gets really cold”. Some of the newer ones are better, but it’s like the lightbulb fiasco – the retailers’ specs didn’t quite match up to real-world use at the time. Another two years and it would have been sweet.
And all I know about the domestic roof ventilation systems offhand is that the salespeople are pushy as fuck.
all I know about the domestic roof ventilation systems offhand is that the salespeople are pushy as fuck.
Tell me about it! I came close to calling the police back in May. The salesman would not – I repeat would not – take no for an answer. I took to going on 15 minute pointless drives when he said he was going to call in to see me. I should have charged him for the petrol. He eventually gave up when I inferred I might call in the authorities. 🙁
I’ve often thought that…
TBH I struggle to understand why iwi who have had a large treaty settlement don’t invest some of that into building better housing for their people rather than investing in forests or making crappy tech investments.
They could build themselves and train their youth in various trades from building to concrete work even architecture.
As far I as I can tell the tenants of the houses could still receive government support if required to pay rents. But the real benefit would be having warm homes which improve health and lower heating costs.
Not to mention it would provide real practical skills to youth that will place them in a much better position long term.
gareth 6.2211
Don’t be too hard on iwi – they are trying to make some investments outside their personal or iwi interests that will go into the future. They don’t want to be just welfare recipients. Hence investing in forests or tech investments.
I was surprised that they didn’t train more of their youth to go on fishing boats but there are problems with long weeks away from home, only short breaks during the day and relentless fish. But the trades would be closer to home. I remember hearing that after a recession a policeman in a small town said about all the guys on a building project that they had been in trouble before starting work, but now it was really quiet for him.
I don’t really see it as welfare… Property developers manage to survive so I can’t see how it would be disadvantageous, especially with all the flow on effects with regards to employment and skills training and to my way of thinking it would be far better to invest in people first then looking to diversify.
Whilst I wouldn’t expect all of the funds to go in that direction it seems to me that precious few of the funds have gone into real practical things that will help people now.
TBH I struggle to understand why tau-iwi who have had easy access to the govt coffers all these decades don’t invest some of that into building better housing for their people rather than investing in forests or making crappy tech investments.
They could build themselves and train their youth in various trades from building to concrete work even architecture.
As far I as I can tell the tenants of the houses could still receive government support if required to pay rents. But the real benefit would be having warm homes which improve health and lower heating costs.
Not to mention it would provide real practical skills to youth that will place them in a much better position long term.
Latest MediaLens release came out today. This one’s on Syria, hesitant to post it though after the intense debate on friday where we who spoke for transparent reporting were labeled sympathizers. One part of the release summarizes what I think the open minded were saying:
“As a matter of simple common sense it should be obvious that highlighting systemic bias in the corporate media is important, regardless of one’s moral evaluation of the targets of that bias.”
Didn’t quite catch the full story but a report on RadioNZ National program about 8.00 this morning seemed to be saying that there are Saudi fighters with plenty of arms and money fighting in Syria…
I think you may well find that the Chemical Weapons, and some nuclear, came from Saddam Hussain in Iraq.
It only takes a few hours drive from say Bagdad to anywhere in Syria.
Remember Saddam used Chemical Weapons on the Kurds in Iraq.
That’s speculation though right?
No mention of nuclear in that article. And chemical weapons don’t have to be supplied they can be made. But I’d be interested in any information on Saddam trading weapons like that with Assad.
Fortran sadam hussein didn’t have any newcleaar weapons or WMD’s as they found out after an unecessary invasion.
Who the hell alawi.
Yeah the sunni’s and the shia are going to give the alawi weapons that don’t exist to their enemy as well no wonder your an self opinionated redneck.
Spending to much time in the pub talking BS
Stupid statement to make by Makdissi, but hardly the beat up which the AP have of course given it, and no doubt the the press will be milking it for all its worth.
Not necessary to give any opposition media, ammo like this to use!
They did rescend the statement to just “we have chemical weapons and they are safe” pretty much.
Sounds like Makdissi is feeling the pressure and got a bit angry though.
Yeah F, looked at that and couldn’t find any references to where the regime acquired them but if his fellow Ba’athist Hussein did share them with Assad then the weapons would most certainly have western origins.
if there’s any foreign intervention in the conflict.
Really? All I’ve heard on the radio all day (8 hours + ) is Obama’s colourful threat that he’ll pound Assad if he uses chemical weapons! So, is Obama’s threat pre-emptive? I have heard nothing about Assad’s threat, and simply thought “Oh, Obama’s just being a bastard again”. Oh, andJoe90, did you miss the ‘could’ in that headline you linked to? What it actually says is:
“Syria could use chemical weapons if attacked“(emphasis mine).
What a hoot. John Key is annoyed at the Opposition’s opposition to his loony Asset Sales scam. This from Stuff:
“If they want to have a coherent argument, I’m happy to have it but they are getting to the point where either (Labour leader) David Shearer and (Greens co-leader) Russel Norman are not really capable of understanding the issue or they are deliberately trying to mislead New Zealanders.”
”The truth is the are deliberately throwing numbers out to try to bamboozle people and people should just ignore them.”
ha ha, that from the greatest bamboozler of the lot.
key is a jewish banker who has made millions from being a money trader. says it all really.
(and before anyone crys foul over ‘jew’ it is based on the accepted practice of using terms such as white middle class male pakeha maori and all manner of other sames)
What has gencide got to do with racist smears? Surely a group can be subjected to racist smears without having to go through the gas chambers. Or not?
Racist smears happen all the time and holding a mirror up to it can help expose its ugly form. Did it work? Did it make you squirm and go ‘oh lordy, how racist’? And did it make you think that the constant referencing of white males all the time by many others around the place is also ugly racism (and sexism)? Or not?
Honestly, racism in this country is the most convoluted, double standarded, twisted and tied up in knots, shoved down the dunny, piled up, and simply unclear issue in the land. It is no wonder racism appears constantly and all over the whole place. There is no standard.
Well it is quite a different thing to include the description of someone as a white male etc to what you have done in describing someone as who is not jewish as jewish specifically to denigrate them.
No, it’s not OK. Key is not a practising Jew and the accident of his birth is completely irrelevent to his adult career. You’re usually smarter than this VTO!
If only that principle was applied consistently across all peoples over all issues throughout our fair lands. But it aint.
Was simply holding a mirror up…….. imagine if I had written “John Key is just a white male banker ….”, would the same responses have been made? I think not. And therein lies the lying mirror.
Persecution of the powerless through negative smears ….
…compared with resisting and challenging the power and dominance of certain groups in society, who consistently have the power, and opportunity to give themselves much widespread positive PR.
what you are saying then, which seems to be the predominant m.o. when it comes to racist behaviour in NZ, is that it is ok to be racist towards the rich and powerful.
How can issues such as racism be tackled comprehensively and completely when they are mixed up with other issues like you are doing? That is the point I made above re the issue in NZ being so completely confused and double standarded that it renders the entire issue useless. It is no wonder that racism continues to flourish in this country. If it is ok to be racist towards the rich and powerful why then would it not similarly be ok to be racist towards the criminal and abusive? Or any other group which you wish to tackle over whatever issue?
Your mixing of issues is wrongheaded and self-defeating.
No the same responses wouldn’t have been raised because it wouldn’t be racist. Using it in that light isn’t trying to put him down so why would anyone respond.
Didn’t realize we still classified what religion people were based on what one of their parents were rather than what they actually practice.
Calling Key a jewish banker is different from calling him a white banker?
Neither the jew description nor the white dscription has anything to do with his career as a banker. Both are unnecessary and both can assumed to be racist (for arguments sake, take ‘jew’ as a race). But not around these here parts. It is only the jewish descrption that is racist. The white description is not racist. FFS.
This is exactly why this issue gets laughed at in New Zealand.
It’s racist, vto, because there is no reason for any reason for Key’s “Jewishness” to be mentioned. If it’s irrelevant to the context then there can only be a negative and therefore racist intent. It’s not rocket science.
Sorry vto I deleted my comment because I realized I knew what were you going to say and now it looks like you’re replying to nothing.
White male is not racist in the exact same way as Jewish in that context and you know it – Jewish people have been persecuted for centuries based on that stereotype. Additionally as mentioned above John Key isn’t even Jewish so the addition of calling him Jewish is to only there to play on the stereotype of Jews being greedy etc.
Adding white male in there is racist now that I think about it as you are using it in to put someone down, but there are obviously different levels of racism. Calling someone a white male to put them down is always on the very low end.
hey vto – they are right and you are wrong – live with it. I suppose I am slightly grateful that you didn’t start the whole little game you are playing with some Māori thingy. But your argument (being charitable here) doesn’t hold water, whichever group you have in your sights, as evidenced by the comments from others above.
VTO – You make sense, and I understand where you’re coming from, with the point you make.
The statement, that there is no need to mention it, thus infers rac*sm is simply nonsense, and shows how muddled the subject has become in peoples minds.
If you really did mean to use the term in a derogatory way, that is a different converstation, I don’t pretend to read your mind, and take your point at face value.
Of course by deliberately muddying the meaning, and what it means to people allows interested parties to control the direction/perception of “debate”, and therefore the degree of destabilisation amongst groups of people, with relative ease. Its very dirty tactics, but one which has worked all too well on the simple people , not just in NZ, but elsewhere. In the UK, they have the same poor level of understanding to what rac*sm actually is, and the reasons behind it are the same as here.
Genuine rac*sm is what those who are at the tip top of the control system have inside them, that and a genuine hatred for humanity!
Ok, well it seems to be that, according to comments above and below, racism is defined by whether describing a persons race is used to denigrate that person and when that description is irrelevant to the context etc. An online check of multiple racism definitions are not so clear and allow wider meanings, but they generally include that line….
Therefore, writing “John Key is a white banker who made millions trading money …” is also racist as it irrelevant to the context.
I think populuxe says it best “It’s racist, vto, because there is no reason for any reason for Key’s “Jewishness” to be mentioned. If it’s irrelevant to the context then there can only be a negative and therefore racist intent. It’s not rocket science.” … And neither, populuxe, is Key’s whiteness relevant, although some posters above claimed that such a description is not racist, because white is rich and powerful and that makes it ok.
Just as long as we all keep these definitions in mind when it comes to other descriptions thrown around willy nilly, such as the worn out old line ‘white male’ or, when it comes to Don Brash on this site ‘old white male’, which is completely and utterly racist and other, and highly common on here. Being a mostly white male I find it offensive – the skin is only so thick.
Muzza: Key may be Jewish in the sense that “Jewishness” it is identified through the maternal line, but he doesn’t acknowledge it in his life and therefore it has no bearing at all on his actions – nor should it. I wish he was more “Jewish” – he might then be more socially minded and less philistine. But it’s irrelevant, why mention it unless you intend to infer something? It’s very Kevin Campbell. Are you some kind of anti-Semite, Muzza?
Pop, the fact you have to respond with such an inverted comment in an attempt to get back to some sort of point, illustrates how muddy this issue is for you..
The question on the end of your comment confirms as much!
VTO you are undoing all the arguments and giving the people we are against ammunition to destroy our arguments .
Own Goal.
Apologise and be done with it Don’t make excuses.
My apologies, Muzza – I mean vto’s obsession – you’re just giving him support for it.
Mike e, by “giving the people we are against ammunition to destroy our arguments”, do you mean people who don’t like anti-semites?
It’s funny populuxe. I use jews as an example and get accused of a weird obssession with jews. I didn’t even mentione maori and marty mars was sort of kind of pulling me up on it, almost. If I had used asians as an example I would surely be similarly accused. If I had used white man, as is already shown above, there would be no accusation, no matter the context. It seems the obssession rests elsewhere as is evidenced by all of this.
No matter when, how, why or what I try to discuss race issues on this site it always happens. Is race an issue that is not allowed to be discussed?
My original point seems to stand – racism in this country is completely and utterly convoluted, twisted, two-faced, misunderstood, mashed around and laughed at. It is the proverbial dog’s breakfast and it would not surprise me if the same arguments are still being tossed around in another 20 years. I point the finger at pretty much the entire political race spectrum for this.
Race is almost never appropriate to discuss because it is almost never relevant except when discussing the historical categorisation of groups. In most cases only the actions of the individual or organisation count.
“Is race an issue that is not allowed to be discussed?”
We discuss it all the time and have done so even on this thread – you just don’t like the answers. What’s the point vto? When did your view form and has it adjusted at all over the years?
populuxe, I think it is not only appropriate but important to discuss. It is one of the defining issues of our time. It infiltrates our legislation, it impinges on people’s daily lives, it is omnipresent, and it is without doubt far from settled. It is just a difficult issue all round.
Marty, I don’t mind the answers posters have provided above. It is an unsettled issue and that is why I try to pull out the various views to see how the landscape appears. When did my views form? Well, as you know, they change and flex with time and age and experience and knowledge. How about yours? Are they open to considering change? Would your comments through this thread be different if maori had been used as an example relative to the white man rather than jews? I know your comments would be different and that is something worth considering itself, is it not?
oh mr marty, please try to avoid making these things personal. You know what happens … just a big stupid school ground scrap.
Perhaps you could outline what the point was that I was supposedly trying to make to myself. I have punched some thoughts out there, invited comment, surmised as to various results, and thanked people for posting. So what is this point I was trying to make?
And you didn’t answer the question above about when your own views formed and whether they are open to change. I answered yours, so how about returning the favour.
But I’m off to beddy byes so hopefully in the morning I will be pleasantly surprised and see an answer to paragraphs 2 and 3 above. Otherwsie… well, I don’t know what otherwise… meant to be rebuilding an entire city so might just go do that instead… despite its drudgery, tedium, bumpiness, dustiness and brokenness…
No, because it’s true.
He’s also a shlemiel, a nudnik, a nebbish and Migulgl zol er vern in a henglayhter, by tog zol er hengen, un bay nakht zol er brenen.
VTO. Was Jim Bulger simply a dumbarse or a dumbarse Catholic? You see the difference? Assuming you do, then you’ll also understand why you can’t regale JK and tag on his religious affiliation (merely percieved or otherwise) as a rider. It has wider, sectarian ramifications.
Soon on Radionz there is an interview with someone on a subject that is relevant to us all I think. The guy has been thinking about why we hold to our opinions and try to justify them and about our moral ideas.
10:05 Social psychologist and professor of business ethics Jonathan Haidt
Jonathan Haidt’s research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, and how morality varies across cultures. His book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, is described as the summation of Haidt’s entire research career, and his plea for people to understand each other despite their differences.
“and his plea for people to understand each other despite their differences”
–This really is the crucial point to it all, we have differences, and TBTB drives wedges through them for all they can manipulate. So much that these days people cant even begin to understand what is happening to them.
We must focus on what we have that is in common, that is we are human beings, with the same core needs. Human beings would get along just fine by in large, without agendas, interference and greed!
Whether people want to accept it or not, there is a spiritual war being waged, the rest of it is just noise to distract and confuse.
The challenge is to see through the lies, and start having faith and trust in those sharing this life with us.
Another thought. What about regular commenters start each time with the name and date and time of the commenter being replied to. Because of the way that comments slip in to the thread, a comment and a reply can be separated so far that the argument is impossible to follow. What do you think?
If the highlight is used to copy the name and time then it wouldn’t be a fiddle and time consumer.
That’s what those numbers at the right of the field are for prism. (Perhaps there is a way for the ever ingenious Lprent to colour code the numbers of the thread list: 1.1-blue 1.2 orange. 1.3 green etc which would ease confusion?)
Just occasionally though, to follow a thread it takes a little concentration on the commentators’ part. Concentration that generally creates pause which itself improves the reactionary nature of many comments. I hold my hand up as guilty on that charge more than one. Life’s a bitch like that, having to pay attention to detail and all. Sorry to sound snarky but your recent comments on the layout and suggestions to restrict freedom of speech on a well run and high-functioning site seem oddly distraction based when there are so many serious issues on the boards.
As CV says below, if it is such a problem to follow just add the details yourself, and anyways there are some hilarious moments that transpire when the thread order gets mixed up, as many of us have experienced. I for one have had many hearty belly-laughs watching confusion cascade into clarity. Then again I also know how to laugh at my own mistakes without crying home to mummy like certain (presently absent hallelujah) posters are prone to do.
And right now we all need as much laughter as we can get
One thing I have noticed is that after about the third or fourth nesting of comments, the layout manager packs a sad and no longer numbers the comments. E.g. in the True Lies thread gos’ comment* 1.1.1.2.1 is replied to by Tracey – I don’t see a comment number on Tracey’s comment. No partial number or underscore placeholder or anything.
On XP machine w/ Google Chrome at moment, but also have the same issue w/firefox on win7.
*[edit] – well waddya know, the little trool is good for something after all.
I suggest a full box around the comment that expands to include the replies. Each reply has it’s own box. This would visually separate comments and its replies.
ATM, the work around I use is to position the mouse pointer over the left edge of the comment and then scroll upwards to determine who it’s replying to.
suggest a full box around the comment that expands to include the replies. Each reply has it’s own box. This would visually separate comments and its replies.
That tends to wind up with the screen looking like boxes and more boxes.
What about something that is a bit simplier – a link in the comment line… This is what we see at the admin side of the comments.
It would be foolish to think New Zealand is somehow impervious to the effects of anthropomorphic climate change, and that we can somehow benefit from the misfortune of other countries. After all, carbon molecules carry no passport, and it’s only a matter of time before New Zealand experiences a severe weather event of its own.
freedom 10.2
Yes you’re right – I haven’t got into the habit of using the right hand numbering. However even that would not have been ok each time. On my computer, some numbers would have appeared so faint I couldn’t read them, then there would be no number at all on some long threads.
The use of the commenter’s name first is an acknowledgement of the idea, as well as a greeting so that’s useful. As far as close study of the thread to sort out the strands of thought is concerned, who has time for that? I guess some people who have others to carry out the duties of living, but I find there’s lots to do and if the commenting is easier to follow it becomes more interesting, worthwhile and less time consuming.
And why can’t people suggest small changes to anything? Are you so lacking in individual thought and interest in innovation and compliant in the means and methods of any system that you don’t dare or can’t imagine, any change. Don’t you hold your own ideas as of value. I think this attitude you and others have expressed is one of the disadvantages in NZ’s general thinking. Compliant, dull and lacking in desire to innovate or consider change. To have ideas as to better or alternative ways to do things is essential in a fast-moving fast-changing society that is under threat. Those ideas can then be discussed. First though, people have to have them. Then when some group or political party pushes change, there is a readiness to front up and debate and choose the best direction. Much of what passes for discussion is just finding fault in other people’s ideas. It is easy to criticise a formed idea, but someone does have to think it out first. We need more ideas not less, then more possibilities are revealed for consideration.
I am having trouble reading this because of the right hand over run that I am getting on this comment window so though I am being provocative, I hope that it actually makes my points in a reasonable way.
trust me prism, I have no-one carrying out my life duties but myself so you will need another tree to bark up. I do believe if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Sure The Standard has a few glitches here and there which is why i also added my 2c for a solution to one of the only issues i really see in need of a tweak. Also, being blindly compliant and lacking in imagination or innovation is never an accusation that can be directed at me. I actually really look forward to discussing that further with some associates just to see the mirth it creates. i am often the person they come to when needing a new idea or angle of attack on a problem. I am a full time artist who specializes in one-off commissions in a wide range of mediums and media. I do not produce endless replicants/variants of my work simply because they will sell, much to the chagrin of some family and peers who think making art is about ego and dollars. Art is about facing difficult questions, using your own perception, striving for understanding.
So as you might have now realized having an open mind and solving problems creatively is kind of an essential life skill for me. That aside, I completely agree that at times it is bloody difficult to follow some threads and when discussions hit their peak thread length and the numbers disappear, it gets downright impossible to accurately map just what the hell is being discussed.
p.s. That odd odd issue you seem to be having with the text body not forming might be browser related? I use Firefox and have not had any issues for a long time, especially since dumping Microfloppy and going Ubuntu.
Yes freedom I’ll get my compatriot to look at this. I have been using Opera but I have the option of Firefox so will see if that works better.
And just to bat on about innovation – the need for open thinking in our public and group systems is important. You might be interested in Jonathan Haidt on Radionz who I referred to earlier.
He was talking about the dichotomy of conservative thinking and liberal thinking – will the ideas make a difference now, an improvement that will take us into the future is what I’m thinking about.
DTB How do you know I didn’t use reply button? And resizing comment box – why? Why does the wording not scroll within my already wide comment box? It always used to before. On second thoughts don’t bother to answer. I’ll get real help from my son.
Because the comment is at 12 rather than 10.2.1 which is where it would be if you’d hit the reply button.
And resizing comment box – why? Why does the wording not scroll within my already wide comment box?
Because you’ve obviously resized it at some point and it’s no longer within the bounds set by the website. Had the same thing happen to me and it was a PITA until I figured it out. Then I had to figure out how to get the drag handle back into view.
On second thoughts don’t bother to answer. I’ll get real help from my son.
I’ve just heard a report on radionz about Minister for Primary Industries David Carter on biosecurity that I consider outrageous. He was talking to Horticulture NZ and condemning them for criticising NZ level of biosecurity saying it was (among?) the best in the world. And then came the veiled threat that if they kept on with this critical line they would lose credibility with the government. That sounds to me like shut up or our doors will be closed to you. Not ‘We are here to facilitate and support income earners for NZ’. Just a reminder of how important just part of this industry is, figures from Min of Ag website on horticulture, Kiwifruit and wine are the biggest earners, each with export values in excess of $1 billion.
It seems that NACTs business in government is selling off businesses already established for good money that will go to things that should be paid for out of the proper and fair taxation of discretionary money from those who have the most. These are men who are drawn to wealth but are interested in acquiring wealth and assets by buying the results of others toil and skills, either for government or private as shown by the scavengers like Ron Brierley et al.
Headings from Radionz news:
Growers to canvass biosecurity bungles
Grower concern over biosecurity lapses in this country is a focus of Horticulture New Zealand’s annual conference opening in Auckland on Tuesday.
David Carter has painted himself into a corner.
After sacking 40 odd staff back in 2008 and letting psa and the queensland fruit fly in.as well as stopping all x rays of baggage.
wonders why horticulture nz is up in arms.
now after 3 years of fucking up he is having to re hirer 40 more staff.
what an idiot.
You can still be among the best in the world but if the best in the world has major shortcomings it’s not saying much is it?
… highlighting a number of deep-seated problems with the Ministry’s biosecurity culture. Of greatest concern is the dislocation between the Ministry and organisations responsible for delivering up to date scientific options to them. This has been identified as a prime cause of the Psa outbreak that possibly came from illegitimately approved importations of kiwifruit pollen.
“There was a lack of connectedness between MAF and key stakeholders and a lack of concern and urgency from the kiwifruit industry about whether all biosecurity settings were appropriate in light of the very real threat posed by Psa,” the report says. “MPI … failed to recognise that plant contaminants, a recognised source of Psa, would inevitably… be admitted through imports.”
This in spite of the fact that Plant & Food Research was well aware of the high risk of importing pollen. Exacerbating the problem was the ministry’s failure to monitor the pollen imports or even to track them in retrospect once the risk became known.
“Prime Minister John Key has been labelled a ”wimp” for refusing to commit to plain packaging of tobacco. But the taunt, from Labour MP Clare Curran, is not backed by her leader David Shearer who said Key’s cautious approach was ”actually a responsible thing to do”.”
Has Shearer a single hair of a mongrel in him? Here is a simple issue that can be used to define so many aspects of what it is to be Labour….and Shearer ducks..and embarrasses one of his team.
Clare, there are TWO wimps on the landscape. You are the opposite of a wimp. Keep up the good work, Clare. Ignore the muppets in the Labour back-office.
I wouldn’t describe the Prime Minister as a ‘wimp’ over backing off from plain packaging of tobacco products at 90, He is just being Slippery,
It’s nothing to do with ‘making NZ smoke-free’, it’s simply the machinations which cover up the revenue grab that Slippery and National gladly impose upon the mostly low income users of tobacco products,
We, tobacco users pay way way more in excise tax than the cost to Government of any negative side-effects of tobacco use, we all have been incessantly brow-beaten enough to know that use of the product might shorten our lives,
So,
Why the f**k do i have crowds of people, including Government, telling me i should stop using a legally available product…
T.R.O.L.L. Feigning concern while seeding discord. This is the third or fourth comment from L’heure I’ve seen in recent times, all of which follow that formula. Today, L’heure praises Clare Curren, but only a few days ago …
Today Clare was upstaged by her Leader, who wants to position a light blue Labour identity.
Yesterday the gutsy Clayton Cosgrove had to take back seat while Shearer fronted on the Key $500m subsidy for the middle class share purchasers.
Last term Cunliffe and Parker had to take back seats to help build Goff’s profile.
Executing the same strategy as last term will result in the same outcome as last term, that is failure at the Ballot Box.
Calling those who says things you don’t like Trolls, will not win the next election.
Calling out failed strategies and making changes in strategies or personnel could result in. labour victory.
It raises suspicions on this site, when you follow the pattern of those who just come here to disrupt and divert, by only doing fly-bys on one topic, that’s bound to result in some divisiveness.
Labour must have a pile of wet bus tickets to womp NACTs with. Ooh scary new ideas must be led through cautiously. Perhaps they are afraid of a repeat of Roger Douglas roll-on and fast approach. I don’t think we’ll see any vitality approaching this with the present leadership and some posts here have been informative with what sounds like well-informed analysis for why this is.
She wasn’t a rugby player, so Key is barely interested. Can’t even pronounce her name properly. Pathetic effort.
At least the others (especially Turia, good on her) are talking like they actually have some experience of her books. Even bloody John Banks sounds sincere!
I note National is trialling the official dropping of the term “mum and dad investors” in favour of “everyday nzers” today.
(They always get Ryall to test the new lines in the house as he’s so universally disliked. If it comes across ok from him, anyone can get away with it and if he fluffs it, well no-one likes him anyway)
I don’t know why Dave Kennedy, I suggest you ask each and every person who has built or moved into a brand new home lately.
I suspect the answer will be around hard upfront cost. In fact I know that will be the answer. If you can find a way to bring down that hard upfront cost then it will happen.
If you can find a way to bring down that hard upfront cost then it will happen.
Interestingly enough, regulation will bring those costs down. Put in regulation for minimum Passive House standards, solar water heaters* and solar panels and the increased demand will ensure that prices will come down as, amazingly enough, competition funds the research to make better and cheaper options to meet those requirements. The other option is for the government to do the research and then make the results available for NZ businesses to work with.
Either way, it all starts with the government putting in challenging standards rather than leaving it to the free-market.
* The solar water heaters should have become a standard on new houses in the 1970s.
Have a look at your risk as a smoker then as a non smoker, note the difference
I shall! Then I shall have a good laugh, as our family has a genetic tendency to cardiovascular disease. My brother was a life-long and fairly fanatical non-smoker. When he died at 42, and I quote the post-mortem, he was at risk of imminent heart disease.(We had a joke – he’d say to me every time I smoked, “I bet your arteries are needle thin”. I don’t know if mine are – but as his post-mortem showed, his certainly were! * He’d had hypertension all his life, since he was 12 years old.
My son, an equally fanatical non-smoker has had hypertension since he was 17.
Oh, and your calculator’s actually useless. Who just happens to have information as to their blood pressure and cholesterol to hand? I don’t!
* Funnily enough, I can imagine him laughing about that…
Actually, post 40 people should get their BP and cholesterol checked regularly. Early if there’s a family history of heart disease.
There is such a concept as the “Churchill Gene” – people who can chainsmoke, eat what they want and be constantly pissed for 60 or 80 years. And then there are individuals on the other side of the coin.
As an aside, I heard one urban myth that Churchill actually died because he had a particularly forceful matron in his convalescence who refused him his standard number of nightcap brandies. His cardiovascular system couldn’t take the sudden sobriety for the first time in decades, and he dropped off. Probably apocryphal, but what the hey 🙂
Doctors are not supposed to say this to people about smoking, but, mine the last time the issue was discussed simply made reference to it, (smoking), having been part of my normal diet for 43 years,
If such smoking is going to be the ‘major’ cause of my death and i live the average life-span of a smoker i will have smoked for 52 years which really makes a mockery of all the doom gloom and death shock horror that is supposed to make me quit,
My view on the longevity of the human beings is simply ‘how longs a piece of string’…
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This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Interestingly, the Roy Morgan (which I answered last night) included questions about cigarette smoking. It will be interesting to see if smokers intend to vote with their lungs (so to speak).
Also asked was how often the respondent has voted in the past, and how likely they felt they were to actually vote in the next election – a pretty relevant question considering…
I have never been asked! Yes, I do have a landline, but have never been asked to participate in a political poll (other than the online Horizon one). I suspect it’s because I live in an area of almost all State Houses (so much for pepper potting!) The polling companies can easily tell where a phone is situated. Those who smoke tend to be poorer people (it’s shitty self-care, but it’s self-care, as our tutor said in the working with disabilities course I was on, and far less harmful than alcohol, though of course much more expensive!)
I live on a state housing estate. When I was searching the council website online (looking for the owners of parcel that had been posted to my address), I found about two thirds of the houses on my street were owned by Housingcorp. This is the second time in a year that I’ve answered a political poll.
So the Kiwi mums-and-dads look like being catered for in the share floats, and that is good for the likes of Mr and Mrs Houndsditch-Islington, but what about Solomums and Solodads. Ah yes. Paula is dealing to them isn’t she.
All over NZ, children are being forced to learn moari as part of the curriculum. Just yesterday I heard some kids talking about “kai”. It’s food, not kai. If that wasn’t bad enough, one of them with a South African accent said she was going to put kai on the braai. I almost fainted. Today I am going to write to the Human Rights Commission. They’ll know what to do. Then I’ll call John Campbell. He’ll sort them all out.
It’s almost communism!
But it doesn’t end there. It started with tearooms changing their names to Café. Then muffins became brioche. Then flat breads became pizzé. I’m outraged this theft of the Queen’s English is being secretly forced on our young. Now the only place you can find a good English lamington is in an Asian bakery! We’re being oppressed I tell you!
What was wrong with the old Bedford buses? Why do we now have to call them Mercedes? And those “continental cars”, what rubbish names! Bayerische Motoren Werke? No, it’s Bavarian Motor Works.
If we don’t take a stand, we’ll be lost, lost I say!
My boyfriend made the salient point that he doubts that couple would have been so up-in-arms if the requirement was that they learn a 2nd language, and not that they specifically must learn maori.
The whole thing was ridiculous anyway, they were saying how horrible it was to force their 2 year old to learn something of another culture. Oh no, how dare they learn the colours of the rainbow in maori! It seems to me that the only reasonable objection to teaching a 2 year old maori is the opportunity cost: what could they be teaching them during that time instead of maori. I suggest, not a lot, and that ultimately it wouldn’t matter.
I loved his “I have maori friends so I’m not racist” line, too.
What could have been more beneficial? Answer: Very little. Being Multi-lingual enhances the person.
What those idiots on Campbell Live were effectively demanding was that their children be disadvantaged.
Uturn
24 July 2012 at 8:06 am
LOL 😀
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
In my day, it was French, German or Latin. In my son’s day it was Japanese or French (and he was lucky enough to be able to learn Russian, as he was in a special ‘gifted’ group).
There should always be at least one other language taught in schools, at primary level if at all possible. I picked up a lot of Maori from the kids around me (this was Rotorua in the 1960s, and many of the kids I was at school with were native speakers) but it would have been awesome to have been taught it formally!
” John Key has admitted that enforcing plain packaging on cigarette packets was not a “slam-dunk” policy due to the risk of legal challenges from tobacco giants and tobacco-producing countries.”
A few hundred million to Merchant Banker to sell off the Hydro Dams. Half a billion to bolster the subsidise middle class purchasers of the sales.
A few million in legal fees to beat of Big Tobacco? Too much. Carrick Graham, the Big Tobacco lobbyist, will get a huge bonus forth is one. Maybe he can pay his dad’s legal fees?
Can bloggers please provide the names of the other lobbyists who have been involved in this “successful” campaign? It will be worth a few hundred million to Big Tobacco. It will cost the Taxpayer a billion in Health costs.
It doesn’t cost the tax payer jack s**t in health costs, us users of tobacco products pay for the 350 million dollars a year of extra health costs through the excise taxes imposed by Government,
In fact, the excise tax take from tobacco products will be 1.3 billion dollars a year over the cost to the Government once the last of the 10% excise tax rises is inflicted upon those addicted to tobacco products,
The hilarity and hypocrisy inherent in all this is that from the Slippery Prime Minister on down there are some 80% of you out there who support euthanaisa, the right to end your lives when you want to, yet here are a group in society who have been bombarded with the effects that tobacco usage supposedly creates, (right up to death), and the hypocrites demand is that they be stopped from indulging in a product that is legally for sale…
Yep the health cost argument is bullsh*t, tobacco tax’s even subsidize health care for non-smokers on a $ to $ scale I think. I suppose it depends on what the government spends on anti-smoking campaigns etc though. But i’m pretty sure the tax income of tobacco was higher than the spending on health last year.
Gee the Treasury advice to the Government was that rack raising the excise tax on tobacco products was a great little earner,
According to Treasury part of the beauty of the rack raised excise tax was that very few of the users would give up using the product because they are addicted…
i think the ‘smokers pay for their own healthcare’ is a bit disingenuous, hospitals actually need more space, less people filling the hospitals the better i would have thought. but if all smokers took up private insurance & private hospitals etc, then i say to each their own. (please excuse spelling, grmmar)
Are you saying you don’t think “space” has been factored in as a cost? I’d be very surprised if that were the case.
so idlegus you are obviously happy for the humongous amounts of tobacco tax that we smokers contribute, and that is funneled into health-care for all NZ, to be returned to us or do you just prefer to ignore the reality that tobacco earns NZ many hundreds of millions of dollars a year?
p.s. Alcohol still costs this country a shit load more tax dollars than tobacco related illness.
Take into account road deaths, police time, court costs, bashed families and innocent bystanders, the lost productivity hours through hangovers and injury etc etc. Please stop looking at life in isolationist paradigms.
Let people smoke if they want to.
Let people drink and drive if they want to.
sorry CV but i cannot see that as a valid response, and frankly it is not of your usual calibre of rational and considered debate.
Drink driving is however an activity that impacts many people and has huge financial and social costs but has little to no relationship to smoking and society. Alcohol does not have a specified drink driving tax in its comparatively low taxes despite the high costs to our nation every year as outlined above. I can only then deduce that the environmental damage/passive smoking risks are the exposed backbone of your point.
Is it just really convenient for people to ignore that the cars and trucks and buses and factories that pollute our world do far more damage to many more people plants and the environment in general, through exhaust fumes toxic chemicals rubber particulates and many other dangers, than passive smoking could ever achieve? Take internal combustion engines off the road and I will gladly discuss the future of tobacco but then we really do kiss goodbye to any hope of a society where freedom of choice still has a role in the lives we live.
I see your point,but, for this to be true there would have to be a cohort out there who are not receiving, (in particular), cancer treatments who are not smokers,
The present take of the excise tax upon tobacco products is at present over a Billion dollars a year over the cost to the health system because of assessed users of tobacco products accessing that health system,
The users of tobacco products are therefor paying well over the odds for any ‘space’ that they may take up through excise tax as well as paying via their normal income being taxed,
The question that gets me, and, has me calling Bullshit on the health costs associated with some ‘stated’ health outcomes for those who use tobacco products is this,
Since 1999 tobacco use has fallen in New Zealand by 6%, meanwhile the Health Lobby, (including ASH fanatics), have managed to take the ‘might’ of using tobacco products ‘might’ lead to heart disease to now be, as printed on cigarette packets, ”smoking causes heart disease”,
Now, for that little gem to be anything other than the Bullshit i label it with, seeing as tobacco usage has fallen 6% since 1999, the rate of Heart disease should also have fallen and be traceable in the Health statistics as a 6% decrease in the rate of Heart Disease,
Or,
Be traceable in the Health statistics as an obvious 6% lessening in the rise of identified Heart Disease,
As neither of those 2 things exist to be found in the Health statistics it is dubious to say the least to be stating that tobacco use causes Heart disease, (also known as Bullshit)…
Only if 100% of heart disease were caused only by tobacco, and if 100% of tobacco use caused heart disease, and if the 6% drop (is that off nominal % smoking or is it where n smokers = 100%?) happened well before the period where smokers develop heart disease.
We might have an increasing number of aging non-smoking fat steroid-using people who (can’t remember where the cholesterol debate is) have a dozen eggs a day fried in lard and do no exercise because they’re obsessed with watching NZ’s Next Top GC Model Cardassian (Trek shout out 🙂 ). Which would offset the drop in smoking in crude rates, even if we were beyond an effect lag.
What your really saying,and, forgive me for putting plain English into the conversation is that through the statistics it cannot be shown either a drop off in the actual rate of identified heart disease during the period where tobacco usage dropped by 6%,
And,
Nor can it show in the statistics the 6% slowing of the continual rise in heart disease identified during the period where tobacco usage fell by that 6%, cause and effect in such a situation must work both ways,
I will concede a point here, i only have to look at my curtains to understand that tobacco smoke must lay down in various ways a certain amount of ‘grime’ over the course of a smokers life-time, just as breathing a city’s air apparently does the same,
In the Hearts case it is the plaque laid down over that lifetime in the arteries,veins,and valves, which then leads to the complications in ‘heart disease’,(like death),
But, in plain English if the number of tobacco users goes down by 6% then heart disease in thew statistics must have either fallen as a whole % number or a % number which slowed the rise in the rate of identified heart disease,
If such numbers do not exist in the health statistics then ‘THE OTHER’ causes of heart disease must far out-weigh any ’cause’ of heart disease attributed to tobacco use,
The short form of all the above is that it is Bullshit, admittedly hard to detect and prove Bullshit to say ”smoking causes heart disease”…
1: irrelevant. The question is whether enough time has elapsed to show a detectable drop off in the rate of tobacco-attributable heart disease.
2: again, if a cause increases more quickly than another cause decreases (assuming equal levels of causation), then the total rate will still go up. But it would have gone up by more if both causes increased at the same rate.
There have been a number of cohort studies that looked at smoking as well as other factors such as weight over a period of years. The first notable one in the early fifties, and many since. All have managed to show that smoking is a significant (but not the only) cause of heart disease.
McFlock is quite correct.
If you are interested you can calculate your risk at the following site.
http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/atpiii/calculator.asp
Have a look at your risk as a smoker then as a non smoker, note the difference.
Aha, so we can expect the 6% drop in deaths from heart disease or a 6% slowing of the rise of deaths form heart disease to figure in the health statistics in which year,
As the rate of life expectancy has also risen from the 1930,s (a smoker can now expect an average life span of 65 years), this also makes a bit of a mockery of the smoking kills 5000 a year figures don’t you think,
Where smoking kills most of it’s users is in fact at the end of their natural life-span, the average life-span for those who smoke being 65 and the average for the non-smoker being 71,
So remembering that the cohort that don’t indulge in the use of tobacco products is far larger than those that do there will be as many non-smokers who die at 65 as there are smokers that die at that age,
Such is the fallacy of ‘averages’ when used (in my opinion), wrongly to attempt to make a point…
PS,go on admit it to yourself at least, tobacco attributed heart disease is simply ‘He/She smoked and died of heart disease therefor smoking caused the heart disease’,
While your admitting that to yourself also consider how many of those who smoked who had a number of the other signatures of heart disease, poor diet, obesity, diabetes, low or no exercise on a regular basis etc etc etc….
JHC on a FRC.
No, because not all smokers get heart disease early. ISTR early death from smoking – all causes – was at 50%. So that cuts it to 3%. Then heart disease is only the CoD in about half of smoking cases. That cuts it to 1.5% (and small effects need bigger samples to see). The average timespan for a smoker’s early death is 15-21 years as I recall. Let’s say most smokers start at 18, normal life expectancy of 75, that’s 35-odd years before we’d expect to see the full impact of smoking cessation. From 1996, that’s 2029. Then of course they hit 75 and their obesity or drinking catches up with them, whammo heart disease, so they still get it. just 20 years later.
As for talking cohort sizes, that’s why we use rates.
Nope. It is “group A and group B are pretty similar in demographic, lifestyle and physiological factors, except that group A smoke and group B don’t. Group A has a death rate from heart disease of 50%. Group B has a death rate of 25%. So the attributable risk is 50-25 = 25% caused by smoking..
Mum saying “smoking killed trev” might or might not be accurate – maybe trev had an undetected congenital condition. But population stats don’t fib – smokers get heart disease more than other people, all other factors being equal. Thin smokers get a fair bit of HD. Fat sedentary smokers get a lot. It’s a plain and simple fact.
Yesterday I accused felix of being NZs most notable blog based badaud.
Bad12 has now usurped that position.
Really mac, your trying to tell me that the amount of deaths from heart disease from those who reach 65 and having not smoked will be less every year than the number of deaths at or above the same age from heart disease of those who do or have smoked???
Better go back and check your figures, the average the last time i looked for heart disease deaths was 65 for smokers and 71 for non-smokers…
No.
I’m saying that less smokers will reach 65 than nonsmokers, as a percentage of their respective populations. And less smokers who reach 65 will reach 70 than nonsmokers who reach 65. And so on.
I also smoke tobacco – but I believe in quality of life, as well as quantity. Who knows if I believe it at 60, but whatever. But don’t bullshit yourself: it’s a risk, heavily factored by how much, how often, what type, and how. If you want to leave it up to the fates, I respect that and tend to agree. Just don’t cose your eyes to reality.
Er, no, not really, as you could do better if you wanted to! 😀
(Should be ‘fewer’, but you’re wrong anyway! Smokers can, and do end up in hospital for reasons unrelated to smoking (as I will be on Thursday) or do you think smokers should all be forbidden from taking up space in hospital, even if they’re there for a broken leg, or in my case, diagnostic reasons? Not smoking related, afaik)
week bone structure attributable to calcium depletion related to smoking.
what happens both to smokers and drinkers is that the stomach needs calcium to protect itself so it depletes calcium from the bone structure.
Leading to early onset arthritis week bones and more fractures.
The dataset in question is here, although it is now some years old it is still likely to be broadly accurate.
http://www.ndp.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagescm/1011/$File/socialcoststobaccoalcohol.pdf
Frankly if we could avoid even 10% of the alcohol and smoking related mortality and morbidity in NZ it’d take a large slice out of the crap that the health sector and other sectors have to cope with.
The irony is that tobacco prices go up, supposedly in part to pay for increased health care, but many smoking related diseases are not treated on the grounds that they are self inflicted, among others. Although I haven’t worked through the figures, I wouldn’t be surprised if smokers contributed more to the health budget than they take back out of it.
I hope replying to myself is not one of the cardinal sins, but sometimes hospitals will refuse to treat smokers for even non smoking related complaints. Some surgeries will be turned down on the basis that recovery may be complicated if the patient is a smoker, for example.
Yeah. Personally I wonder as to how that affects morbidity and mortality stats.
Like whether being ostracised and segregated affects anxiety and depression levels. For our own good, of course 🙄
I am sure it does! As does being screeched at by a fat woman who was incandescent with rage that I smoke, even though I was nowhere near her air space… apparently my existence as a smoker was enough to just about give her an (obesity related?) coronary?
HS we are subsidizing alcoholics and smokers.
UR thats not true the cost to the economy overall including lost productivity is much higher
more diseases related to tobacco have been found in research.
So early death saves money but costs in lost productivity.
Why don’t we allow corner stores to sell.
Kronic no attributable deaths
heroine
cocaine and crack
methamphetamine
Cannabis
etc etc
as these other drugs all combined cause less than 1% of the deaths tobacco causes.
Yea but the profit vs loss statement for tobacco vs healthcare is heavily weighed in the profit column. Productivity is a mute point because it’s psuedoscience and speculation.
If I have two ten minute breaks and a 30 min lunch and take them within the law that has no effect.
Meanwhile you compare it with smokers but there is no debate on casual work conversation, coffee making, working in 30 min blocks, how often you fill our water glass….
What I think should happen is decrimilize all drugs, illegal to sell though.
This keeps hard drugs off the shelfs but doesn’t clog our prisons and courts with people with drug dependance issues.
Go back to having Tobacco stores so they are removed from corner stores, petrol stations.
I think that fairly allows smokers to have their rights and removes access for the young.
This pretty much sums it up.
http://www.economist.com/node/21559402
Where does the “New Deal” fit in that cartoon? Oh, that’s right – it isn’t there.
As far as i’m concerned capitalism is not a sustainable system for this century. It’s driving factor is growth and growing investment. In a century that will see resource scarcity on huge levels how is continuing to chase growth in profits logical and sustainable?
Not saying the comic is wrong, but surely there should be an increased focus on leveling out the system and creating accountability/responsibility.
I think personally the best option would be to hit the 1% with their own weapon. Declare corporate fraud equal to economic terrorism and treat it as terrorism under law. That should act as a good deterent. It undermines the economy, state and threatens the livelihood of good workers.
Cororate fraud as in what exactly?
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/corporate-fraud.asp#axzz21U7W6Go4
Who were you calling financially illiterate.
I think I’ll sit down and have a cupppa and coro
sums what up?
It.
.
Oh, this It
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/7328396/Rich-hide-US-40-trillion
People who support and perpetuate this type of system are the scum of the earth.
Once were top executives
If he is a top executive he lives on an economic scale not too different from that of the man on the next-lower income rung. He surrenders around 40 per cent of his salary to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (he may cough up as much as 75 per cent) but still manages to put a little of his income in stocks, bonds, life insurance. He owns two cars, and gets along with one or two servants. What time he has left from his work–on weekends and brief vacations–he spends exercising, preferably outdoors, and usually at golf. Next to golf, fishing is the most popular executive diversion.
He spends almost no time on politics. He entertains often because he must (i.e., for business reasons or on account of his wife) and, under much the same compulsion, he attends cultural events. He does little reading outside of newspapers, newsmagazines, reports, and trade papers. (For a notable exception, see “Texas Eastern’s Naff,” page 108.) He drinks, if he drinks at all, moderately and on a schedule. Alcoholism, it is clear, does not go with success and is to be found only among some executives’ bored wives. Extramarital relations in the top American business world are not important enough to discuss.
Kos: Mitt And His Fellow Vulture Capitalists See Venezuela As a Threat: It Is
Tanfani, Mason and Gold report in a recent L.A. Times article that some of these Bain funders were the “powers that be” in El Salvador, well connected with the right-wing government, whose activities they funded:
Ah, more lies from an idiot.
Goose stepper naive and financially illiterate one.
OWN Goal or is that the Jail that all the corrupt GS and ML employees are going to end up in
Check out- Kals- cartoon for the” 14th of July” Bastille day off with your head goose.
Capitalism is not my enemy as you try and portray .
Capitalism is a wild beast that needs taming to provide for more not a few lucky ones.
Unfettered capitalism doesn,t work any better than communism Show me a country that pure capitalism works and I,ll run naked from one end of the country to the other naked in the middle of winter.
I,ve asked you and others have too to show me those or that country it doesn’t exist.
I notice the cat doesn’t deny the charge. Like all good capitalists, it simply aims to be a smidgeon better than the competition and feels no compulsion to hold itself to any higherstandard (as it were).
(To be honest, the idea that the single-minded pursuit of wealth – which is what we are talking about, not some mythical, abstract ideal called ‘capitalism’ – is ‘tame’ shows a remarkable ignorance of human history.)
Ever since I returned to NZ, after living a long time in London, I have been amazed that there is no law here against use of fires for home heating. Only smokeless fuel is allowed in England as anything else adds to air pollution that is dangerous to health.
A report shows that home fires are responsible for the biggest part of the total air pollution, which results in around 1000 premature deaths each year:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10821702
Of course, I understand, a lot of the problem is that the cost of alternative sources of heating is too high.
But given the long term social/health costs of air pollution. I think the provision of cheaper electricity or other sources for home heating should be kept relatively low.
And cutting down on motor vehicle use, by providing more and better public transport, should also be a major priority.
Down my way there are pretty strict by-laws, and coal fires are being phased out by attrition – no new ones are allowed to be installed. In the meantime there is a lot of coal smoke, particularly in poorer areas because coal is still, I believe, relatively cheap.
People I know in Auckland usually use wood – often cheap or free. I don’t think there are any laws against it here.
The laws have changed recently but are not being enforced
Trouble is our houses were never built with double glazing or with radiator systems fitted so the only way many can afford to heat their home is through fire. It’s all well and good to ban them but if someone has to go from a fuel source which they can gather themselves at a low cost to electricity it will simply be unaffordable.
Because of lackadaisical building/insulation standards we are to a large degree stuck with the problem until the housing stock catches up.
I think the other factor at play is that if everyone went to electric heating the added strain on the power grid would be problematic.
THe massively increased use of heatpumps over the last 10 years has done just this.
Got proof?
all my friends who complain that their power bills skyrocketed after they installed their heatpumps. You know because heatpumps are “so much more efficient”.
Ah, so anecdotes.
They are but they do need to be put in correctly, have the right specs for the job and be used correctly. I suspect that if you have a look at your friends installations two of those necessary conditions will be wrong.
Yeah, almost certainly. But that doesn’t really fix anything, does it.
The fact is that people looked at the label on the side that said “cheaper heat!” and missed the fine print that said “not in Otago or anywhere else it gets really cold”. Some of the newer ones are better, but it’s like the lightbulb fiasco – the retailers’ specs didn’t quite match up to real-world use at the time. Another two years and it would have been sweet.
And all I know about the domestic roof ventilation systems offhand is that the salespeople are pushy as fuck.
all I know about the domestic roof ventilation systems offhand is that the salespeople are pushy as fuck.
Tell me about it! I came close to calling the police back in May. The salesman would not – I repeat would not – take no for an answer. I took to going on 15 minute pointless drives when he said he was going to call in to see me. I should have charged him for the petrol. He eventually gave up when I inferred I might call in the authorities. 🙁
Yes, it’s a complex issue that needs a comprehensive long-term plan, gareth. But, I don’t see anything like that being put in place at the moment.
We need more sustainable, affordable, and well-built housing, for a start.
And we happen to have a big youth unemployment problem.
I’ve often thought that…
TBH I struggle to understand why iwi who have had a large treaty settlement don’t invest some of that into building better housing for their people rather than investing in forests or making crappy tech investments.
They could build themselves and train their youth in various trades from building to concrete work even architecture.
As far I as I can tell the tenants of the houses could still receive government support if required to pay rents. But the real benefit would be having warm homes which improve health and lower heating costs.
Not to mention it would provide real practical skills to youth that will place them in a much better position long term.
gareth 6.2211
Don’t be too hard on iwi – they are trying to make some investments outside their personal or iwi interests that will go into the future. They don’t want to be just welfare recipients. Hence investing in forests or tech investments.
I was surprised that they didn’t train more of their youth to go on fishing boats but there are problems with long weeks away from home, only short breaks during the day and relentless fish. But the trades would be closer to home. I remember hearing that after a recession a policeman in a small town said about all the guys on a building project that they had been in trouble before starting work, but now it was really quiet for him.
I don’t really see it as welfare… Property developers manage to survive so I can’t see how it would be disadvantageous, especially with all the flow on effects with regards to employment and skills training and to my way of thinking it would be far better to invest in people first then looking to diversify.
Whilst I wouldn’t expect all of the funds to go in that direction it seems to me that precious few of the funds have gone into real practical things that will help people now.
TBH I struggle to understand why tau-iwi who have had easy access to the govt coffers all these decades don’t invest some of that into building better housing for their people rather than investing in forests or making crappy tech investments.
They could build themselves and train their youth in various trades from building to concrete work even architecture.
As far I as I can tell the tenants of the houses could still receive government support if required to pay rents. But the real benefit would be having warm homes which improve health and lower heating costs.
Not to mention it would provide real practical skills to youth that will place them in a much better position long term.
I’m fairly sure that Ngai Tahu have been funding home insulation schemes for their people.
Latest MediaLens release came out today. This one’s on Syria, hesitant to post it though after the intense debate on friday where we who spoke for transparent reporting were labeled sympathizers. One part of the release summarizes what I think the open minded were saying:
“As a matter of simple common sense it should be obvious that highlighting systemic bias in the corporate media is important, regardless of one’s moral evaluation of the targets of that bias.”
http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=691:the-right-kind-of-terror&catid=25:alerts-2012&Itemid=69
Didn’t quite catch the full story but a report on RadioNZ National program about 8.00 this morning seemed to be saying that there are Saudi fighters with plenty of arms and money fighting in Syria…
The Syrian regime is now threatening to use chemical weapons if there’s any foreign intervention in the conflict.
A scary fall back plan for Assad. Lets the international interests know your still defiant though. Possibly delay foreign action longer.
If I was a military man I’d think now would be a great time to reinforce your assets in Iran while the media is off your back.
joe90
I think you may well find that the Chemical Weapons, and some nuclear, came from Saddam Hussain in Iraq.
It only takes a few hours drive from say Bagdad to anywhere in Syria.
Remember Saddam used Chemical Weapons on the Kurds in Iraq.
That’s speculation though right?
No mention of nuclear in that article. And chemical weapons don’t have to be supplied they can be made. But I’d be interested in any information on Saddam trading weapons like that with Assad.
Fortran sadam hussein didn’t have any newcleaar weapons or WMD’s as they found out after an unecessary invasion.
Who the hell alawi.
Yeah the sunni’s and the shia are going to give the alawi weapons that don’t exist to their enemy as well no wonder your an self opinionated redneck.
Spending to much time in the pub talking BS
Stupid statement to make by Makdissi, but hardly the beat up which the AP have of course given it, and no doubt the the press will be milking it for all its worth.
Not necessary to give any opposition media, ammo like this to use!
They did rescend the statement to just “we have chemical weapons and they are safe” pretty much.
Sounds like Makdissi is feeling the pressure and got a bit angry though.
Yeah F, looked at that and couldn’t find any references to where the regime acquired them but if his fellow Ba’athist Hussein did share them with Assad then the weapons would most certainly have western origins.
Really? All I’ve heard on the radio all day (8 hours + ) is Obama’s colourful threat that he’ll pound Assad if he uses chemical weapons! So, is Obama’s threat pre-emptive? I have heard nothing about Assad’s threat, and simply thought “Oh, Obama’s just being a bastard again”. Oh, andJoe90, did you miss the ‘could’ in that headline you linked to? What it actually says is:
“Syria could use chemical weapons if attacked“(emphasis mine).
What a hoot. John Key is annoyed at the Opposition’s opposition to his loony Asset Sales scam. This from Stuff:
“If they want to have a coherent argument, I’m happy to have it but they are getting to the point where either (Labour leader) David Shearer and (Greens co-leader) Russel Norman are not really capable of understanding the issue or they are deliberately trying to mislead New Zealanders.”
”The truth is the are deliberately throwing numbers out to try to bamboozle people and people should just ignore them.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/7334293/Asset-sale-shares-claims-draw-PMs-ire
ha ha, that from the greatest bamboozler of the lot.
key is a jewish banker who has made millions from being a money trader. says it all really.
(and before anyone crys foul over ‘jew’ it is based on the accepted practice of using terms such as white middle class male pakeha maori and all manner of other sames)
Not the same at all, vto. When have white middleclass males been sent to death camps just because they are white and middleclass?
Key was a unscrupulous banker – nothing to do with his ethnicity which is just being used as a r@c1st smear.
What has gencide got to do with racist smears? Surely a group can be subjected to racist smears without having to go through the gas chambers. Or not?
Racist smears happen all the time and holding a mirror up to it can help expose its ugly form. Did it work? Did it make you squirm and go ‘oh lordy, how racist’? And did it make you think that the constant referencing of white males all the time by many others around the place is also ugly racism (and sexism)? Or not?
Honestly, racism in this country is the most convoluted, double standarded, twisted and tied up in knots, shoved down the dunny, piled up, and simply unclear issue in the land. It is no wonder racism appears constantly and all over the whole place. There is no standard.
Well it is quite a different thing to include the description of someone as a white male etc to what you have done in describing someone as who is not jewish as jewish specifically to denigrate them.
But he is jewish so it is ok. Following the logic of course …..
… (sheesh, I think I am starting to bore even myself with this pet rant of mine)
No, it’s not OK. Key is not a practising Jew and the accident of his birth is completely irrelevent to his adult career. You’re usually smarter than this VTO!
Yes of course it is not ok I agree..
If only that principle was applied consistently across all peoples over all issues throughout our fair lands. But it aint.
Was simply holding a mirror up…….. imagine if I had written “John Key is just a white male banker ….”, would the same responses have been made? I think not. And therein lies the lying mirror.
vto, you just don’t get it do you?
Persecution of the powerless through negative smears ….
…compared with resisting and challenging the power and dominance of certain groups in society, who consistently have the power, and opportunity to give themselves much widespread positive PR.
Carol, really…..
what you are saying then, which seems to be the predominant m.o. when it comes to racist behaviour in NZ, is that it is ok to be racist towards the rich and powerful.
How can issues such as racism be tackled comprehensively and completely when they are mixed up with other issues like you are doing? That is the point I made above re the issue in NZ being so completely confused and double standarded that it renders the entire issue useless. It is no wonder that racism continues to flourish in this country. If it is ok to be racist towards the rich and powerful why then would it not similarly be ok to be racist towards the criminal and abusive? Or any other group which you wish to tackle over whatever issue?
Your mixing of issues is wrongheaded and self-defeating.
No the same responses wouldn’t have been raised because it wouldn’t be racist. Using it in that light isn’t trying to put him down so why would anyone respond.
Didn’t realize we still classified what religion people were based on what one of their parents were rather than what they actually practice.
Calling Key a jewish banker is different from calling him a white banker?
Neither the jew description nor the white dscription has anything to do with his career as a banker. Both are unnecessary and both can assumed to be racist (for arguments sake, take ‘jew’ as a race). But not around these here parts. It is only the jewish descrption that is racist. The white description is not racist. FFS.
This is exactly why this issue gets laughed at in New Zealand.
no – it’s why you get laughed at vto, your logic is warped mate.
Hi there marty, wondered if you might show up..
I would genuinely like someone to explain how those points are warped. Each of the points in response to Carol and to Chris… if you will…
Just read their comments vto, the answers you seek are all there.
Ok marty, well the answers are unconvincing, hence my points in response to those answers, which you seem unwilling to further tackle. Stalemate.
… and so the issue of who, when and where it is ok to be racist will continue to fester and stink up the lands…
Chris, in the exact same way as jew in that context.
How is it racist to describe Key as jewish? (accepting for argument’s sake that he is).
edit: hey, chris deleted his last comment I was replying to
It’s racist, vto, because there is no reason for any reason for Key’s “Jewishness” to be mentioned. If it’s irrelevant to the context then there can only be a negative and therefore racist intent. It’s not rocket science.
Sorry vto I deleted my comment because I realized I knew what were you going to say and now it looks like you’re replying to nothing.
White male is not racist in the exact same way as Jewish in that context and you know it – Jewish people have been persecuted for centuries based on that stereotype. Additionally as mentioned above John Key isn’t even Jewish so the addition of calling him Jewish is to only there to play on the stereotype of Jews being greedy etc.
Adding white male in there is racist now that I think about it as you are using it in to put someone down, but there are obviously different levels of racism. Calling someone a white male to put them down is always on the very low end.
hey vto – they are right and you are wrong – live with it. I suppose I am slightly grateful that you didn’t start the whole little game you are playing with some Māori thingy. But your argument (being charitable here) doesn’t hold water, whichever group you have in your sights, as evidenced by the comments from others above.
VTO – You make sense, and I understand where you’re coming from, with the point you make.
The statement, that there is no need to mention it, thus infers rac*sm is simply nonsense, and shows how muddled the subject has become in peoples minds.
If you really did mean to use the term in a derogatory way, that is a different converstation, I don’t pretend to read your mind, and take your point at face value.
Of course by deliberately muddying the meaning, and what it means to people allows interested parties to control the direction/perception of “debate”, and therefore the degree of destabilisation amongst groups of people, with relative ease. Its very dirty tactics, but one which has worked all too well on the simple people , not just in NZ, but elsewhere. In the UK, they have the same poor level of understanding to what rac*sm actually is, and the reasons behind it are the same as here.
Genuine rac*sm is what those who are at the tip top of the control system have inside them, that and a genuine hatred for humanity!
Don’t fall for the deceit.
Ok, well it seems to be that, according to comments above and below, racism is defined by whether describing a persons race is used to denigrate that person and when that description is irrelevant to the context etc. An online check of multiple racism definitions are not so clear and allow wider meanings, but they generally include that line….
Therefore, writing “John Key is a white banker who made millions trading money …” is also racist as it irrelevant to the context.
I think populuxe says it best “It’s racist, vto, because there is no reason for any reason for Key’s “Jewishness” to be mentioned. If it’s irrelevant to the context then there can only be a negative and therefore racist intent. It’s not rocket science.” … And neither, populuxe, is Key’s whiteness relevant, although some posters above claimed that such a description is not racist, because white is rich and powerful and that makes it ok.
Just as long as we all keep these definitions in mind when it comes to other descriptions thrown around willy nilly, such as the worn out old line ‘white male’ or, when it comes to Don Brash on this site ‘old white male’, which is completely and utterly racist and other, and highly common on here. Being a mostly white male I find it offensive – the skin is only so thick.
Appreciate the comments
edit: posted over our comment muzza – noted ta
Muzza: Key may be Jewish in the sense that “Jewishness” it is identified through the maternal line, but he doesn’t acknowledge it in his life and therefore it has no bearing at all on his actions – nor should it. I wish he was more “Jewish” – he might then be more socially minded and less philistine. But it’s irrelevant, why mention it unless you intend to infer something? It’s very Kevin Campbell. Are you some kind of anti-Semite, Muzza?
Pop, the fact you have to respond with such an inverted comment in an attempt to get back to some sort of point, illustrates how muddy this issue is for you..
The question on the end of your comment confirms as much!
Key’s “Jewishness” is rather vague as well as irrelevant, but not half as muddy as your weird obsession with Jews…
VTO you are undoing all the arguments and giving the people we are against ammunition to destroy our arguments .
Own Goal.
Apologise and be done with it Don’t make excuses.
Where on earth did you get from my comments to “weird obsession” pop, on this day or any other!
My apologies, Muzza – I mean vto’s obsession – you’re just giving him support for it.
Mike e, by “giving the people we are against ammunition to destroy our arguments”, do you mean people who don’t like anti-semites?
It’s funny populuxe. I use jews as an example and get accused of a weird obssession with jews. I didn’t even mentione maori and marty mars was sort of kind of pulling me up on it, almost. If I had used asians as an example I would surely be similarly accused. If I had used white man, as is already shown above, there would be no accusation, no matter the context. It seems the obssession rests elsewhere as is evidenced by all of this.
No matter when, how, why or what I try to discuss race issues on this site it always happens. Is race an issue that is not allowed to be discussed?
My original point seems to stand – racism in this country is completely and utterly convoluted, twisted, two-faced, misunderstood, mashed around and laughed at. It is the proverbial dog’s breakfast and it would not surprise me if the same arguments are still being tossed around in another 20 years. I point the finger at pretty much the entire political race spectrum for this.
There are plenty of topics the left don’t let you even approach, because the moment you raise the topic you are branded as something undesirable.
Race is almost never appropriate to discuss because it is almost never relevant except when discussing the historical categorisation of groups. In most cases only the actions of the individual or organisation count.
“Is race an issue that is not allowed to be discussed?”
We discuss it all the time and have done so even on this thread – you just don’t like the answers. What’s the point vto? When did your view form and has it adjusted at all over the years?
populuxe, I think it is not only appropriate but important to discuss. It is one of the defining issues of our time. It infiltrates our legislation, it impinges on people’s daily lives, it is omnipresent, and it is without doubt far from settled. It is just a difficult issue all round.
Marty, I don’t mind the answers posters have provided above. It is an unsettled issue and that is why I try to pull out the various views to see how the landscape appears. When did my views form? Well, as you know, they change and flex with time and age and experience and knowledge. How about yours? Are they open to considering change? Would your comments through this thread be different if maori had been used as an example relative to the white man rather than jews? I know your comments would be different and that is something worth considering itself, is it not?
vto where next though? – who are you going to have a go at to prove your point to yourself.
You should check this article out
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/07/19/skin-tone-and-the-arbitrariness-of-race/
oh mr marty, please try to avoid making these things personal. You know what happens … just a big stupid school ground scrap.
Perhaps you could outline what the point was that I was supposedly trying to make to myself. I have punched some thoughts out there, invited comment, surmised as to various results, and thanked people for posting. So what is this point I was trying to make?
And you didn’t answer the question above about when your own views formed and whether they are open to change. I answered yours, so how about returning the favour.
But I’m off to beddy byes so hopefully in the morning I will be pleasantly surprised and see an answer to paragraphs 2 and 3 above. Otherwsie… well, I don’t know what otherwise… meant to be rebuilding an entire city so might just go do that instead… despite its drudgery, tedium, bumpiness, dustiness and brokenness…
Would it be racist if I called Key a putz
No, because it’s true.
He’s also a shlemiel, a nudnik, a nebbish and Migulgl zol er vern in a henglayhter, by tog zol er hengen, un bay nakht zol er brenen.
Cultural appropriation is really bad karma, chaps…
Jews make and share culture, they don’t use to control (well, European Jews don’t anyway)
should have put a smiley at the end of it 🙂
Go ahead! I often do…
VTO. Was Jim Bulger simply a dumbarse or a dumbarse Catholic? You see the difference? Assuming you do, then you’ll also understand why you can’t regale JK and tag on his religious affiliation (merely percieved or otherwise) as a rider. It has wider, sectarian ramifications.
Agree TRP. It’s most definitely not okay vto.
Soon on Radionz there is an interview with someone on a subject that is relevant to us all I think. The guy has been thinking about why we hold to our opinions and try to justify them and about our moral ideas.
10:05 Social psychologist and professor of business ethics Jonathan Haidt
Jonathan Haidt’s research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, and how morality varies across cultures. His book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, is described as the summation of Haidt’s entire research career, and his plea for people to understand each other despite their differences.
“and his plea for people to understand each other despite their differences”
–This really is the crucial point to it all, we have differences, and TBTB drives wedges through them for all they can manipulate. So much that these days people cant even begin to understand what is happening to them.
We must focus on what we have that is in common, that is we are human beings, with the same core needs. Human beings would get along just fine by in large, without agendas, interference and greed!
Whether people want to accept it or not, there is a spiritual war being waged, the rest of it is just noise to distract and confuse.
The challenge is to see through the lies, and start having faith and trust in those sharing this life with us.
Another thought. What about regular commenters start each time with the name and date and time of the commenter being replied to. Because of the way that comments slip in to the thread, a comment and a reply can be separated so far that the argument is impossible to follow. What do you think?
If the highlight is used to copy the name and time then it wouldn’t be a fiddle and time consumer.
Nice. Actually just the name being replied to would help out a lot, and should not be any inconvenience to do.
Which is why I always quote people! There may be numbers at the side but I can’t see them. (Don’t know why)
That’s what those numbers at the right of the field are for prism. (Perhaps there is a way for the ever ingenious Lprent to colour code the numbers of the thread list: 1.1-blue 1.2 orange. 1.3 green etc which would ease confusion?)
Just occasionally though, to follow a thread it takes a little concentration on the commentators’ part. Concentration that generally creates pause which itself improves the reactionary nature of many comments. I hold my hand up as guilty on that charge more than one. Life’s a bitch like that, having to pay attention to detail and all. Sorry to sound snarky but your recent comments on the layout and suggestions to restrict freedom of speech on a well run and high-functioning site seem oddly distraction based when there are so many serious issues on the boards.
As CV says below, if it is such a problem to follow just add the details yourself, and anyways there are some hilarious moments that transpire when the thread order gets mixed up, as many of us have experienced. I for one have had many hearty belly-laughs watching confusion cascade into clarity. Then again I also know how to laugh at my own mistakes without crying home to mummy like certain (presently absent hallelujah) posters are prone to do.
And right now we all need as much laughter as we can get
One thing I have noticed is that after about the third or fourth nesting of comments, the layout manager packs a sad and no longer numbers the comments. E.g. in the True Lies thread gos’ comment* 1.1.1.2.1 is replied to by Tracey – I don’t see a comment number on Tracey’s comment. No partial number or underscore placeholder or anything.
On XP machine w/ Google Chrome at moment, but also have the same issue w/firefox on win7.
*[edit] – well waddya know, the little trool is good for something after all.
I suggest a full box around the comment that expands to include the replies. Each reply has it’s own box. This would visually separate comments and its replies.
ATM, the work around I use is to position the mouse pointer over the left edge of the comment and then scroll upwards to determine who it’s replying to.
That tends to wind up with the screen looking like boxes and more boxes.
What about something that is a bit simplier – a link in the comment line… This is what we see at the admin side of the comments.
Submitted on 2012/07/24 at 12:58 pm | In reply to prism.
It’d link on prism.
Frankly I don’t see what’s wrong with the nesting as it is.
IMO, Doesn’t look bad and helps people track the replies. Of course, that may change once the nesting gets as deep as some threads do here.
Benefiting from climate change?
It would be foolish to think New Zealand is somehow impervious to the effects of anthropomorphic climate change, and that we can somehow benefit from the misfortune of other countries. After all, carbon molecules carry no passport, and it’s only a matter of time before New Zealand experiences a severe weather event of its own.
freedom 10.2
Yes you’re right – I haven’t got into the habit of using the right hand numbering. However even that would not have been ok each time. On my computer, some numbers would have appeared so faint I couldn’t read them, then there would be no number at all on some long threads.
The use of the commenter’s name first is an acknowledgement of the idea, as well as a greeting so that’s useful. As far as close study of the thread to sort out the strands of thought is concerned, who has time for that? I guess some people who have others to carry out the duties of living, but I find there’s lots to do and if the commenting is easier to follow it becomes more interesting, worthwhile and less time consuming.
And why can’t people suggest small changes to anything? Are you so lacking in individual thought and interest in innovation and compliant in the means and methods of any system that you don’t dare or can’t imagine, any change. Don’t you hold your own ideas as of value. I think this attitude you and others have expressed is one of the disadvantages in NZ’s general thinking. Compliant, dull and lacking in desire to innovate or consider change. To have ideas as to better or alternative ways to do things is essential in a fast-moving fast-changing society that is under threat. Those ideas can then be discussed. First though, people have to have them. Then when some group or political party pushes change, there is a readiness to front up and debate and choose the best direction. Much of what passes for discussion is just finding fault in other people’s ideas. It is easy to criticise a formed idea, but someone does have to think it out first. We need more ideas not less, then more possibilities are revealed for consideration.
I am having trouble reading this because of the right hand over run that I am getting on this comment window so though I am being provocative, I hope that it actually makes my points in a reasonable way.
trust me prism, I have no-one carrying out my life duties but myself so you will need another tree to bark up. I do believe if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Sure The Standard has a few glitches here and there which is why i also added my 2c for a solution to one of the only issues i really see in need of a tweak. Also, being blindly compliant and lacking in imagination or innovation is never an accusation that can be directed at me. I actually really look forward to discussing that further with some associates just to see the mirth it creates. i am often the person they come to when needing a new idea or angle of attack on a problem. I am a full time artist who specializes in one-off commissions in a wide range of mediums and media. I do not produce endless replicants/variants of my work simply because they will sell, much to the chagrin of some family and peers who think making art is about ego and dollars. Art is about facing difficult questions, using your own perception, striving for understanding.
So as you might have now realized having an open mind and solving problems creatively is kind of an essential life skill for me. That aside, I completely agree that at times it is bloody difficult to follow some threads and when discussions hit their peak thread length and the numbers disappear, it gets downright impossible to accurately map just what the hell is being discussed.
p.s. That odd odd issue you seem to be having with the text body not forming might be browser related? I use Firefox and have not had any issues for a long time, especially since dumping Microfloppy and going Ubuntu.
Yes freedom I’ll get my compatriot to look at this. I have been using Opera but I have the option of Firefox so will see if that works better.
And just to bat on about innovation – the need for open thinking in our public and group systems is important. You might be interested in Jonathan Haidt on Radionz who I referred to earlier.
He was talking about the dichotomy of conservative thinking and liberal thinking – will the ideas make a difference now, an improvement that will take us into the future is what I’m thinking about.
If you were replying to a comment why didn’t you just reply to that comment?
By not doing so you’re defeating the purpose of having the reply function.
That sounds like you need to resize you comment box.
DTB How do you know I didn’t use reply button? And resizing comment box – why? Why does the wording not scroll within my already wide comment box? It always used to before. On second thoughts don’t bother to answer. I’ll get real help from my son.
Because the comment is at 12 rather than 10.2.1 which is where it would be if you’d hit the reply button.
Because you’ve obviously resized it at some point and it’s no longer within the bounds set by the website. Had the same thing happen to me and it was a PITA until I figured it out. Then I had to figure out how to get the drag handle back into view.
You got upset from getting help?
I’ve just heard a report on radionz about Minister for Primary Industries David Carter on biosecurity that I consider outrageous. He was talking to Horticulture NZ and condemning them for criticising NZ level of biosecurity saying it was (among?) the best in the world. And then came the veiled threat that if they kept on with this critical line they would lose credibility with the government. That sounds to me like shut up or our doors will be closed to you. Not ‘We are here to facilitate and support income earners for NZ’. Just a reminder of how important just part of this industry is, figures from Min of Ag website on horticulture, Kiwifruit and wine are the biggest earners, each with export values in excess of $1 billion.
It seems that NACTs business in government is selling off businesses already established for good money that will go to things that should be paid for out of the proper and fair taxation of discretionary money from those who have the most. These are men who are drawn to wealth but are interested in acquiring wealth and assets by buying the results of others toil and skills, either for government or private as shown by the scavengers like Ron Brierley et al.
Headings from Radionz news:
Growers to canvass biosecurity bungles
Grower concern over biosecurity lapses in this country is a focus of Horticulture New Zealand’s annual conference opening in Auckland on Tuesday.
David Carter has painted himself into a corner.
After sacking 40 odd staff back in 2008 and letting psa and the queensland fruit fly in.as well as stopping all x rays of baggage.
wonders why horticulture nz is up in arms.
now after 3 years of fucking up he is having to re hirer 40 more staff.
what an idiot.
You can still be among the best in the world but if the best in the world has major shortcomings it’s not saying much is it?
“Prime Minister John Key has been labelled a ”wimp” for refusing to commit to plain packaging of tobacco. But the taunt, from Labour MP Clare Curran, is not backed by her leader David Shearer who said Key’s cautious approach was ”actually a responsible thing to do”.”
Has Shearer a single hair of a mongrel in him? Here is a simple issue that can be used to define so many aspects of what it is to be Labour….and Shearer ducks..and embarrasses one of his team.
Clare, there are TWO wimps on the landscape. You are the opposite of a wimp. Keep up the good work, Clare. Ignore the muppets in the Labour back-office.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7337884/Leader-doesn-t-back-MPs-wimp-call
Why am I not surprised?
Really, Shearer is going from bad to worse. Thankfully I’m not part of the Labour Party and don’t vote for the fuckers.
I wouldn’t describe the Prime Minister as a ‘wimp’ over backing off from plain packaging of tobacco products at 90, He is just being Slippery,
It’s nothing to do with ‘making NZ smoke-free’, it’s simply the machinations which cover up the revenue grab that Slippery and National gladly impose upon the mostly low income users of tobacco products,
We, tobacco users pay way way more in excise tax than the cost to Government of any negative side-effects of tobacco use, we all have been incessantly brow-beaten enough to know that use of the product might shorten our lives,
So,
Why the f**k do i have crowds of people, including Government, telling me i should stop using a legally available product…
Suck it in and get over it its called democracy 20% smoke 80% don’t!!
And so the 80% can trample over the choices and rights of the 20%, and call it democracy while it does so?
Another drive-by, Time-Piece? What is your agenda? Who do you support? Are you willing to stay around to reply to those who respond?
T.R.O.L.L. Feigning concern while seeding discord. This is the third or fourth comment from L’heure I’ve seen in recent times, all of which follow that formula. Today, L’heure praises Clare Curren, but only a few days ago …
Today Clare was upstaged by her Leader, who wants to position a light blue Labour identity.
Yesterday the gutsy Clayton Cosgrove had to take back seat while Shearer fronted on the Key $500m subsidy for the middle class share purchasers.
Last term Cunliffe and Parker had to take back seats to help build Goff’s profile.
Executing the same strategy as last term will result in the same outcome as last term, that is failure at the Ballot Box.
Calling those who says things you don’t like Trolls, will not win the next election.
Calling out failed strategies and making changes in strategies or personnel could result in. labour victory.
It raises suspicions on this site, when you follow the pattern of those who just come here to disrupt and divert, by only doing fly-bys on one topic, that’s bound to result in some divisiveness.
Yeah, nice try. Not feeling it yet though. Keep working on the script, maybe I’ll come round.
Labour must have a pile of wet bus tickets to womp NACTs with. Ooh scary new ideas must be led through cautiously. Perhaps they are afraid of a repeat of Roger Douglas roll-on and fast approach. I don’t think we’ll see any vitality approaching this with the present leadership and some posts here have been informative with what sounds like well-informed analysis for why this is.
Keep your hands of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra you chiseling shyster government!
Tributes to Margaret Mahy in the House now.
She wasn’t a rugby player, so Key is barely interested. Can’t even pronounce her name properly. Pathetic effort.
At least the others (especially Turia, good on her) are talking like they actually have some experience of her books. Even bloody John Banks sounds sincere!
I note National is trialling the official dropping of the term “mum and dad investors” in favour of “everyday nzers” today.
(They always get Ryall to test the new lines in the house as he’s so universally disliked. If it comes across ok from him, anyone can get away with it and if he fluffs it, well no-one likes him anyway)
“everyday nzers” .
Except for tax purposes.
As here:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/QOA/7/8/d/50HansQ_20120724_00000003-3-State-owned-Assets-Sales-Loyalty-Bonus.htm
😀 felix
We have the knowledge and capability to do something about our appalling housing, so why aren’t we?
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/innovative-energy-efficient-housing.html
Because the developers would whinge?
I don’t know why Dave Kennedy, I suggest you ask each and every person who has built or moved into a brand new home lately.
I suspect the answer will be around hard upfront cost. In fact I know that will be the answer. If you can find a way to bring down that hard upfront cost then it will happen.
Simple.
Interestingly enough, regulation will bring those costs down. Put in regulation for minimum Passive House standards, solar water heaters* and solar panels and the increased demand will ensure that prices will come down as, amazingly enough, competition funds the research to make better and cheaper options to meet those requirements. The other option is for the government to do the research and then make the results available for NZ businesses to work with.
Either way, it all starts with the government putting in challenging standards rather than leaving it to the free-market.
* The solar water heaters should have become a standard on new houses in the 1970s.
I shall! Then I shall have a good laugh, as our family has a genetic tendency to cardiovascular disease. My brother was a life-long and fairly fanatical non-smoker. When he died at 42, and I quote the post-mortem, he was at risk of imminent heart disease.(We had a joke – he’d say to me every time I smoked, “I bet your arteries are needle thin”. I don’t know if mine are – but as his post-mortem showed, his certainly were! * He’d had hypertension all his life, since he was 12 years old.
My son, an equally fanatical non-smoker has had hypertension since he was 17.
Oh, and your calculator’s actually useless. Who just happens to have information as to their blood pressure and cholesterol to hand? I don’t!
* Funnily enough, I can imagine him laughing about that…
Actually, post 40 people should get their BP and cholesterol checked regularly. Early if there’s a family history of heart disease.
There is such a concept as the “Churchill Gene” – people who can chainsmoke, eat what they want and be constantly pissed for 60 or 80 years. And then there are individuals on the other side of the coin.
As an aside, I heard one urban myth that Churchill actually died because he had a particularly forceful matron in his convalescence who refused him his standard number of nightcap brandies. His cardiovascular system couldn’t take the sudden sobriety for the first time in decades, and he dropped off. Probably apocryphal, but what the hey 🙂
For men of any age with no history of heart problems, statins are a waste of time and highly profitable for drug companies.
Doctors are not supposed to say this to people about smoking, but, mine the last time the issue was discussed simply made reference to it, (smoking), having been part of my normal diet for 43 years,
If such smoking is going to be the ‘major’ cause of my death and i live the average life-span of a smoker i will have smoked for 52 years which really makes a mockery of all the doom gloom and death shock horror that is supposed to make me quit,
My view on the longevity of the human beings is simply ‘how longs a piece of string’…
Should you be judged by the company you keep?
David Cameron’s very good friend Rebekah Brooks and former PR man Andy Coulson are charged with phone hacking
He’ll be pleased that he won’t have to discuss it due to the legal process.