She lives near Selkirk where the great Sir Walter Scott author of “Ivanhoe”, “Rob Roy” and the “Waverley” novels. He was Provost of Selkirkshire for a time, and the author Jack Prout and illustrator of “Black Bob” (the Dandy wonder dog) was from Selkirk as well, living in what is now the butchers shop, next to the Court rooms (now museum) where Scott wrote his novels! The town want to erect a statue of Black Bob, But the Dandy, which is published in Dundee, wont give copywrite.
There must be something in the water around Selkirk.
Clearly plenty of profit in road maintenance contracts. Might explain why our roads are littered with cones and diversions for unnecessary work and why efficient public transport seems unlikely any time soon.
Fletcher Building Group’s infrastructure revenue has sustained the company through nearly $1 billion in losses over the last two years.
There was a piece on the new last night, where councils/rate payers are having to spend some millions (in the north?) to strengthen bridges for the ‘double sized’ logging trucks on the roads.
The NZTA are paying a proportion.
It struck me that WHY aren’t the logging companies paying the WHOLE cost of the strengthening?
The article you mentioned also included some HB road bridges also and they are using tractors to cart some of the logs across soe of these brades as the overweight trucks are now allowed to roam every road in the country without restrictions.
NZTA said they warned the local councils about the extra weighted trucks now about to carry much higher weighted loads freely in 2017.
The article said.It is wrecking our roads and bridges that were never designed for 63 tonne trucks so we are in for very heavy increased road repairs ahead now and Labour knows this..
We the other road users and ratepayers are subsidising the road transport industry and this was confirmed in several studies posted on yesterdays ‘open mike’ about public subsidises for road freight.
CEO spokesperson for TRF (The road transport forum) Ken Shirley has even raised a warning recently that road freight raies wil rise again.
So that is why they want rail gone or closed down, so they have complete ‘cartel’ pricing control to allow them to again freely raise freight rates/costs without us all having any other form of ‘land transport’ to offer a cheaper freight services to us and the business community.
Hell yes and it’s virtually a 3-way with Fulton’s and downer Laughing all the way to the bank. They plunder across central and regional funding.
Shoulders and surfaces are a disgrace as a result of nationals double whammy with extra tonnage and RONS siphoning from pre existing maintenance allocations.
We gave up expecting rural and state highways to be back at about 2012 levels years ago.
WDC can’t even keep sewage from raglan harbour and moan about that and only having a single grader for their entire region. So it’s third world shit literally imo.
” nationals double whammy with extra tonnage and RONS siphoning from pre existing maintenance allocations.”
A very good reason for the current coalition to reverse both those changes. That is, get the extra heavy vehicles off our roads which are not equipped to deal with them, and cancel any RoNS that do not provide a significant benefit to their region.
This is what happens when the you lose control of your assets and businesses. You are at the mercy of ownership changes and what have looked like a good deal at the time, becomes worse and worse as time goes on and subsequent new owners, changes in economy, come knocking.
Culture and people becomes controlled by the decisions of asset owners, the legal system and changes in government who control the legal system. Even if someone wins, it becomes about the quality of the lawyers and money is diverted into legal action, stress of that and massive loss in quality of life.
Taharoa tensions: Community fights back amid claims of corporate greed at mine
People in the UK are rejecting globalism via privatisation because their government lost control of their basic needs and costs rise steadily to keep the profits rolling in.
“In 1996, the Ministry of Defence decided to sell off its housing stock. The financier Guy Hands bought it up in a deal that would make his investors billions – and have catastrophic consequences for both the military and the taxpayer”
I was looking at the New Zealand top ten rich lists for the last few years…. checking something out.
One year stuck out ……as 5 in the top 10 NZ cash accumulators …. were people who had made a lot of money through privatizations and their gaining control of former Government / citizens assets.
Specifically they were …
Michael Fay & David Richwhite .. BNZ (wine-box), railways, port of Auckland etc etc
Graeme Hart ..from wiki : “gained a big break when he purchased the Government Printing Office for less than its capital value in 1990.”
And our two Chandler Bro’s … who were in on the Russian Neo Lib, shock doctrine carve up … When their country was leaderless under the useless drunk and western stooge Boris Yelstin…
The chandler brothers make a point of claiming morals and ethics in business … Yet they run their business empires through tax havens … and became the largest foreign owners of Gazprom and other Russian resources / infrastructure … when a looting was taking place in a criminals paradise.
The results for the Russian people from western Neo Lib, crony capitalist shock doctrine were dire … a 40% collapse of their economy …. and almost a 10 year decline in life expectancy for males.
Leaving aside my opinion that a enriched oligarch class .. making millions or billions from privatisation of state assets..is an indication of corruption.
Instead I’m interested in What are The Standard readers and poster opinions…
Regarding New Zealands worst privatisations or asset stripping
Your choice for … the most disastrous …. destructive ….or biggest rip-offs.
There’s a lot to choose from … like …
Telecom … where profit gouging, and abuse of monopoly positions followed its sale.
BNZ … bailouts and tax evasion .. big loans to share-holders / new owners.
The electricity industry and networks … rampant price increases .. for electricty generated by hydro schemes we’ve had for decades…. underinvestment … Auckland blackout ..profit shifting via tax havens ,,,, etc
DOC land give aways …. “The government privatizes a state-owned asset for $265,000. Four years later, a small part of it gets flicked on for $10 million. A tale from some corrupt African nation, or from post-Soviet Russia? No, its from New Zealand ”
Some quotes / info from Joe90’s link /nomination …. showing a huge rip off.
“The chain of custody went like this; the taxpayer gave up its land for an effective rate of $190 per hectare, which was on-sold for $51,800 per hectare, which was on-sold again for $70,000 per hectare.
The capital gain over a decade was roughly 37,000 per cent, none of which was realised by the taxpayer, and has ultimately put a prime piece of land into the private ownership of an America-based billionaire”
” data released under the Official Information Act, shows the taxpayer has paid nearly $65m to privatise land it owned, which in some cases has been on-sold for significant capital gain, pushing up property prices at the taxpayer’s expense.”
“the taxpayer paid $18,000 for one-third of a hectare by the road. It effectively bought back land it had sold for an effective rate of $15 per hectare in 2004 for what amounts to $55,000 per hectare in 2017. The capital gain on that small section of land was 366,000 per cent.”
“In her 2008 book on tenure review, Who Owns the High Country?, Ann Brower described her research topic as “unravelling the puzzle of why a government would behave so strangely”….
The whole thing stinks worse than Todd Barclay …
Foreign ownership rules … a large speculators tax…. stopping the buying of our citizenship … And redressing the original theft of the land from Maori … Are all needed in this instance … imo
Yep +1 Joe, excellent example. But the blame should also go to the people involved in selling the land off in the first place – why don’t people be censored for their actions of clear breaches – at present they are not named and shamed and just get away with it.
Local council reps are also often deep in it, when council land goes super cheap, often offshore buyers and often without even being put out to tender or ratepayers realising what has happened.
Good points all …. but in some instances it’s more than just money involved.
Watching this fascinating documentary I was struck by the dangerous corner cutting in a privately run human drug trial….. a lot of it looked to be about cost cutting.
The powerful love privatisation and deregulation in particular banks and politicians. It’s where they get their money.
How often do ex politicians end up on the board of the companies they privatise, on bank boards, infrastructure companies (now they have COO’s all the better more opportunities to be a corporate trougher) or on the board of new companies entering NZ that want access to the plumb deals of assets sells offs and preferential government deals.
In fact very few large companies don’t have an ex politician on tap to grease the path of those deals.
About time politicians are not allowed to double dip – should be 20 years before an ex political joins a board of directors. They already get generous benefits post their politician career as well as the plumb overseas posts.
In particular John Key should be banned from his ANZ directorship …. for a double conflict of interest.
ANZ has approx 30% of NZs bloated mortgage lending …..
If the cartel of Aussie banks put up Mortgage rates to 10% …. they would crash the housing market … along with our economy …. and the Govt would be gone within 12 months.
John Key would love to bring about the downfall of the Labour led Government … That’s conflict one.
And Key loves making money ….for himself above all else …. a crashed housing market would allow him to buy at depressed prices ….. conflict two.
Personally I’d give him a job as a NZ river water taster ….. make him drink his toxic legacy.
I’d like to see him off the Board of Air NZ too. Quite apart from the crony capitalism effect – in other countries people who use their power & position to assault others are being removed from those positions. here we appoint our pony tail puller to the board of a state owned enterprise – what do you think other people think of us??
Don’t forget Merryl Lynch did the assets sell offs too Mighty River Power, Meridian Energy, Genesis Energy and Air New Zealand, and apparently the sale price is already lower than than it’s income. What a bargain for the buyer. So Key wins, Merryl Lynch wins, the buyer wins, and the public loses.
“Merryl Lynch did the assets sell offs too Mighty River Power, Meridian Energy, Genesis Energy”
And what evidence do you have for this claim?
I trust it is a bit more than you imagination and wild hatred of John Key.
Treasury don’t seem to know anything about it do they? http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1305/S00407/firms-appointed-for-meridian-and-genesis-ipos.htm
Merrill Lynch may have been interested in the work but they were not chosen to have any involvement in the sale.
savenz may have been over reaching through confusion on Merrill Lynch … aka ” The Blundering Herd”.
Easy to do with John Keys old firm and its sordid long history of scandal and scams ..
Known for its Enron involvement and corporate tax base erosion, as described by Irish John himself ….
eventually its boozy greed blinded culture lead to it being the third cab off the rank …. in going bankrupt at the start of the GFC.
Key of course was prime minister at this time,… with the excuse he had got out before Merrill ‘went bad’ …. the truth of how much he had ‘gotten out’ depends on how many Merrill shares he had divested himself of….
Merrill got bailed out…. via a Govt forced take over by Bank of America ….
So Key got bailed out ….. its how he got his bank of America shares …
How many millions did this dud investor receive courtesy of usa taxpayers ???
and why do you think it has never been reported on in our media Alwyn ?…….. Teflon melting? ” … to boring? …. fear ? “, .
Key, regarding his crooked lawyer or something ….; “reporters “you guys were very careful last night, I think, in your coverage of these matters: the reason you were is because you don’t want to get your asses sued off you”. ”
And how come no reporters questioned this bully,,,,, on the administration of his ‘Blind Trust’ … with their wine box / tax haven connections ??
Or the virtual media blackout of his Tax haven work …. ” Quote : “In fact, what is even better news is that this is receiving little publicity in New Zealand – which means there is a higher likelihood the PM will nudge it through without too much meddling from the country’s left wing camp.”
Our dirty little right wing media …. guardians of the Key myth
Additional interesting info ….
Merrill destroyed approx 45 Billion of wealth in eye watering time … poisoned on its own toxic products and bullshit book keeping. Criminal creativity.
As repayment to the USA Govt / taxpayers for their bailout and TARP money …. The Bank of America will increase its numbers of shares from approx 7.5 Billion to 10 Billion odd and use some of the extras as settlement.
All of them share evidence of making things worse for the general population while having made a few individuals very rich which is itself prima facie evidence of corruption.
What we should be doing is asking what we could have done with all those profits that the profiteers have made off with. With Telecom we could have FttH across the country with unlimited bandwidth on all devices. Maybe we could have built up the infrastructure enough that communications bills would be down to $10 per month per household.
It a question that needs to be asked: What could we have done with all the profit?
All of us would have been better off instead of just a few. This is the proof that profit is a dead-weight loss. It causes more harm than benefit.
*** THREAD ***Let me explain how Paul Manafort's #TrumpRussia indictments are rolling rapidly from election inference into a replay of the Jack Abramoff scandal, but on STEROIDS, involving the secretive sale of American foreign policy for dark money.https://t.co/yfIGsub116pic.twitter.com/gGejl1G1zF— Grant Stern (@grantstern) February 23, 2018
Former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort was hit with new charges on Friday, including an allegation he secretly recruited and funded a group of former European politicians to lobby in the United States on behalf of Ukraine.
[…]
The most significant allegation is that Manafort assembled what he called a “Super VIP” group of highly influential Europeans who could push Ukraine’s agenda “without any visible relationship” with the Ukrainian government, according to an email obtained by Mueller.
Manafort paid the politicians 2 million euros from offshore accounts in 2012 and 2013 to lobby members of Congress and other U.S. officials. It’s illegal for Americans to direct foreigners to lobby the U.S. without informing the Justice Department.
The so-called “Hapsburg Group” was managed by a former European chancellor, who was not named in the indictment.
One thing I’m supportive of here is having similar rules for money in politics here that the US has. Make it illegal for foreign money to be used in NZ politics. Make it illegal for foreigners (including foreign businesses and governments) to have any influence in our country.
“ Make it illegal for foreigners (including foreign businesses and governments) to have any influence in our country.”
You mean like the UN, Greenpeace, Oxfam, various American & Australian born Politicians, etc, etc?
I could live with that.
So if a NZ citizen is operating on behalf of your foreign organisation it is ok then?
And why should we differentiate between a corporate & a charity? They all push their own agenda, and are all potentially as corrupt and self-serving as each other.
In the case of the UN, even more so.
The UN is an international body made up of the governments of the world. The agreements that they come to are, technically, the agreements that we want. And they’re even agreements that we don’t have to implement.
And, after all that, it really doesn’t seem to have as much influence as business does. Now, here’s an interesting question: Can you point to any influence that the UN has in NZ?
Who’s the fool here? “Semantics” means the meaning of words. Charities and commercial organisations have separate names because they have separate meanings, so yes, semantics. The meanings of words are important.
When are charities not a charity as increasingly there are charity trusts from politicians and rich listers and questionable religions which are really lobby groups to keep the deregulation agenda or some pocket of religion going with extra tax benefits.
Even legitimate charities now follow a trend of putting in ‘corporate’ managers who have little interest in the charity itself, more a tick on their CV (ran Red Cross) with massive donations but little being shown for it for the people who are supposed to get the charity.
Then there are charities that seem more like some sort of scam.
Not only that but apparently overseas charities often attract a small percentage of pedophiles and the like. Yikes…
It’s hard to be a charity these days, because so many are taking advantage of the term.
erm – as board member of a trust that’s in the process of getting registered charity status, I have to declare a conflict of interest 🙂
Yes, oversight on political activities including donations needs to be increased.
But small charities funded in part by local grants can demonstrate a need for a service. And then when you’re in the arts and culture field, there’s no reason the Lower Corstophine Community Hippy Cultural Appropriation Society needs to be operated by a government department just to make teepees and those lantern balloon things for one or two events a year.
Now, if it turns into a massive thing and hippy cultural appropriation societies pop up all over the place, maybe they could do with an umbrella body and direct govt funding. But small local projects need some sort of entity to operate under if you want them to last longer than the interest of one person.
That, eliminate anonymous funding and because our political processes are public, require public disclosure of the financial interests of everyone participating.
‘Hapsburger’……..the New Swamp Nothingburger ? Strange (it’s not of course) that Trump surrounded himself with crooks.
Things are gonna get furious when the presidential pardons start. Will it be then that Trump code-calls the MAGA Deplorables and the NRA (not to forget the “very fine” ‘Blood and Soil’ fascists) to deploy vengeful violence on fellow Americans ?
Would not have thought it possible once. Not so sure now.
Hi North … Drumpf cannot pardon any individual on offences charged within individual states which is how most of these against Manafort and Gates have been laid. Mueller is one of the smartest men in USA, and has brilliant attorneys working with him.
Manafort and Gates charges laid in two separate districts in fact. Think they can’t outwit the Carrot ?? My money is 1000 to 1 on Bobby Three Sticks !
Rachel Maddow on MSNBC has the clearest and finely articulate breakdown and interviews if you are interested … http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show . She goes to air each weeknight in US at 9 pm so it is free online at this link each day from about 5pm NZ. (Currently top cable news in USA due to her coverage on these subjects. (So good to see this acuity and intelligence on TV !!)
Having sex with prostitutes when it is legal. Not allowed for aid workers. What is this about? There seems to be some sort of unreasoned moral uprising, purity patrol. It is hard work, sex has always been a relief, a small, fleeting pleasure and it is disgraceful that charities are starting to become inhuman in their regard to their workers. It sounds like an edict from above, from someone who has been an administrator too long, a bit like David Shearer coming back here from UN aid work and finding people not completely helpless in dire distress, objects of disdain.
There was a very good book written by aid workers just behind the firing line which gives the picture you only get fragments of in reports about overseas aid.
Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Sex_and_Other_Desperate_Measures
Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures, by Heidi Postlewait, Kenneth Cain and Doctor Andrew Thomson, is the memoir of three young people who join the United Nations (UN) in Cambodia with a dream of making the world a better place. Set in the 1990s, the book was published in 2004. Thomson is a New …
…every kind of child sexual abuse and exploitation imaginable…
Ms Csaky declined to name the 23 organisations implicated but said they were across the “full spectrum” of aid agencies, NGOs, peacekeeping forces and UN agencies.
Mr Daccord said that it was the recent reports of sexual misconduct from humanitarian agencies that had spurred the Geneva-based ICRC to conduct an internal review.
Its code of conduct has explicitly forbidden the purchase of sexual services since 2006….
I suggest that this is unreasonable as a blanket negative. It treats sex as something bad in itself, and doesn’t differentiate between child and adult partners. It contains its own moral hazard by not differentiating.
Also it is not against human dignity to have sex between consenting adults – this sort of talk is just prudish and irrational. Women who earn their living by being paid for sex are not in an ideal work situation, but it deserves better standing than being a mercenary soldier. Also when women have to get enough money to live, it is something to resort to, though a cleaning job is preferable; both are major female occupations. Seen in an understanding and compassionate mode, it can become a necessity and if a mother, then she is performing a noble action in sacrificing her personal inviolability to get necessities for her family.
The middle class aid salaried workers may never get personally close enough to this sort of poverty and distress to reach an understanding of the world beneath the grassroots. The ones at the top who make their pronouncements may have become saturated in management speak and elite levels of behaviour, seeing people as pawns represented by coloured markers on a map of their area of interest.
I said that aid workers going to prostitutes should be satisfactory. The prostitutes receive money, it is their job. Surely that isn’t hard to understand. The aid workers shouldn’t be blackmailing women for sex so that they can receive aid, they should be paying for what is a personal service.
And Brigid this is not a discussion about equality of the sexes. I don’t know where the female aid workers go for sex. If they can find an outlet for their own desires good on them. This is real, hard reality and people managing the best they can and hopefully fairly and with respect for each other even harsh conditions.
I am suggesting that making a difficult job more unpleasant because of rigid rules which ban any sexual interaction at all, and treats it as an ignoble and immoral action open to disgust and retribution by the employer is irrational and unfair.
The genesis of the issue is the (seven years later!) allegations made against Roland van Hauwermeiren, that while he was working in Haiti for Oxfam he paid for sex.
From there, a broader spotlight has fallen across the aid sector.
And I’d guess there are aid workers perpetrating all manner of abuses.
But I don’t believe for a second that crippling the likes of Oxfam and handing their government funding to outfits like Adam Smith International will make any difference for the better.
Timeline: 2004: Roland van Hauwermeiren is asked to leave his job at Merlin.
2007: Corinna Csaky report (See link at 7.1) criticises a wide ranging group of NGOs.
2011: Roland van Hauwermeiren resigns as head of mission in Haiti.
Then nothing for six years.
2017/18: News media frenzy attacking Oxfam.
I think you’re both right. The original allegations were far wider than consensual transactions, and, I suspect the genesis of the current media interest is far more likely to be the stuff Bill’s talking about: hostility towards advocacy in the developed world.
Original allegations happened in the context of wider historical problems within aid agencies around abuse (it’s not like van Hauwermeiren started this).
van Hauwermeiren’s allegations happened in the context of issues broader than consensual sex.
There’s something else going on with the current media reporting and focus on Oxfam.
I have said that the situation would be clearer if the aid agency did not say that all sex on the job with people from the work area was to be banned.
That is my point, because it clouds the issue. There is a fault in aid workers having sex with youngsters classed as children in the law of the country or against the law of the aid workers’ countries. Then there is also the problem of aid workers apparently trading aid for sex. I
Context is important here and needs to be seen as being so, to adequately discuss your issue as referred to at 11.11am OAB. .
And I started this thread. I was talking about having sex where it is legal. Haiti has been brought into it where it is illegal. That is another country.
And turning it into an abuse of power as a point. It is great for the comfortably off to have an impassioned discussion about this, with final agreement some time later that it would be better to have a no-sex rule so as not to run the risk of this. But even that is an abuse of power. The persons with the resources can afford to have long discussions when they are not in great need of the basics.
In the meantime there are people who could be doing good and being helpful to people in distress who would be happy to be treated with respect as well as aid, and who are not concerned if someone has sex with another adult and pays for it. So your academic discussions can be another barrier to being truly helpful and lack a listening ear to what people on the receiving end of aid want, and not what others say they want.
“And I started this thread. I was talking about having sex where it is legal. Haiti has been brought into it where it is illegal. That is another country.”
Well maybe you could tell us what you are talking about then, because if it’s not in reference to the Oxfam case it’s not apparent what you mean. Who has said that people can’t have sex?
It says in the quote I put up that it is from the ICRC and in the link address it says red cross. I am sorry that I didn’t spell that out for everyone.
This matter of sex on the job is emerging as a problem for all the aid agencies not just for Oxfam and I am pointing that out, and I think Oxfam might have exactly the same rigid rules as the Red Cross but am not sure about that.
I won’t say anything else now as I have made a point that I think is relevant and fair and others can pick it to bits if they wish.
So I still don’t know what you are talking about. You appear to be saying that aid agencies have rules that say their workers aren’t allowed to have sex. I would be highly surprised if that is true, but by all means put up something that shows that.
This is from my second comment. greywarshark 7.1.1
25 February 2018 at 10:29 am
Mr Daccord said that it was the recent reports of sexual misconduct from humanitarian agencies that had spurred the Geneva-based ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] to conduct an internal review. Its code of conduct has explicitly forbidden the purchase of sexual services since 2006….
weka I would like you to have said:-
‘I can’t see any reference in your comment about the Red Cross or Oxfam’. This would have been politer to me seeing that I had said that the information had been in my comment. It would be good as a commenter to receive the sort of respect that is demanded by moderators.
It’s a given that there are young teens and children doing sex work in Haiti, so rather than assuming that there is no rape and exploitation going on, it’s more useful to assume there is and to look at how those people can be protected where there is some choice.
This doesn’t mean that all aid workers paying sex workers is a problem, it means that politically if you argue in such a context that there is nothing wrong you are contributing to the problems by rendering invisible the power dynamics and abuse.
If men need to have sex with other people in order to have functional lives and they are in a country like Haiti, then they need to understand the broader context and the risks associated with paying people to have sex with them. Arguments that men *have to have sex in a situation where children are being raped is highly problematic for what I would have thought were obvious reasons.
I strongly agree when third world poverty and survival are involved … it becomes exploitation and slavery at that point….
But in a sick Irony….. its totally possible the Pimps providing the exploited woman and children is the UN …. They have form doing this … From Bosnia , to all over Africa …. and of course Haiti , where they ran a sex trafficking ring for approx 10 years. … and also brought along Cholera … infecting the water and killing roughly 8000 earthquake survivors.
‘Official agencies’ have long been outed as primary players in the trafficking of human beings, narcotics and weapons…
The ‘unofficial agencies’ will be operating in the same ‘industry’…likely under the watchful eye of the ‘official agencies’….
They should be disbanded as the criminal , moral and ethically defunct operations, they actually are…with long term custodial sentences of the most punitive level applied to those at the top..in the know..
Have Shearer or Clark ever spoken openly of the known and public issues within the UN ?
Because with as close to certainty…they will be ‘in the know’…
Let’s be absolutely clear about this: you’re alleging that David Shearer and Helen Clark are accessories to multiple counts of sexual assault of children, human trafficking, and related to the arms trade, to the extent that they should serve “long term custodial sentences”.
That’s what your innuendo implies. If you meant something else, let’s hear it.
I’d say at least 50% of aid workers are female. Where do they go for ‘relief’?
If you’ve read the book you mention you’ll know that none of the authors used prostitutes for ‘relief’.
This is interesting. Abacus Bank in USA. Tiny Chinese owned bank serving the Chinese community was the only bank to be sued after the GFC! Opened in 1985 by a resident or citizen, successful and have 6 branches. It has 1/20th default rates of USA banks. They found some small fraud, checked and audited and sacked the initial loan officer taking bribes and then found the others, reported to the regulators, and got a DA that wanted scalps.
Loan officers were arrested and brought in chains in front of the media, they were ordinary workers. “The DA announced the indictment and made a real spectacle of it.”
Steve James is best remembered as the director of the award-winning “Hoop Dreams” documentary in 1994, inexplicably snubbed for an Oscar nomination. But on Monday at the 90th Academy Awards he’s in the running, for his documentary “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”.
It’s the story of what happened to Abacus bank in New York in 2012, in the fallout from the American mortgage crisis of 2008. Abacus, a small Chinese bank in Manhattan founded by Thomas Sung, was targeted by the US District Attorney and taken to court, accused of mortgage fraud. Documentary maker Steve James explains.
I’ve got a low opinion of some of those aid agencies and how they squander money.
Go to a third world country and watch the well dressed white people driving around in their NGO stenciled late model Lexus. It’s a disgusting gravy train for some, a shame for the well meaning hard workers and also the people they are supposed to help.
( yes there’s no third world etc etc)
KCC
Yes, I have heard of them living apart from the areas they are serving – one might think okay what’s wrong with that. But apparently their standard of living will match upper middle class conditions back home. They will have swimming pools and a nice house, probably some sort of air conditioning; I don’t think they would bear to go out amongst the hoi polloi much, probably travel everywhere in an air conditioned vehicle. Aid kings and queens rather than workers.
It would be like disaster tourism for a longer period.
We humans have a capacity for callousness and turning people into grotesque spectacles. Like going down to Bedlam and seeing the mad people or going to a hanging, quite a spectacle and not to be missed. Getting down and dirty right beside the people who are in extremis means that ideas have to be changed, the level of acceptance of previously unacceptable behaviour has to be raised
for them, while keeping to the values of the wealthier society need to be maintained by the workers to control their own behaviour, but not the same in their living conditions.
KCC
I have reworded the last para a bit to try and be clearer about my thinking.
Previously unacceptable behaviour may have to be accepted in those they are helping, while keeping to the values of the wealthier society need to be maintained by the workers themselves to control their own behaviour. But in their living conditions it should be known that these will drop from the normal, and that they will not have money lavished on them.
No KCC it was just end to end of my two posts, not ineptitude. Operating from a small oblong instead of a large screen makes it hard to get the overview.
“Oxfam was trying with some desperation to stem the cholera epidemic, the first outbreak of which was detected in central Haiti in October, from spreading further. By the following month, it had reached Port-au-Prince and Oxfam was trying to provide uncontaminated water to 315,000 people already rendered homeless by the earthquake. ”
“We are currently reaching over 400,000 people with water, sanitation and hygiene programmes, and another 100,000 individuals mostly through our emergency food security and vulnerable livelihoods (EFSVL) programmes.”
None of this is as titillating as the sort of thing we have been reading or watching over the last week about the sexual misconduct of Oxfam employees in Haiti, but these do seem to have kept a lot of people alive who would otherwise have died.”
Surely the discussion should be on how to improve the recruiting systems and field administration systems ,….. combined with accountability of both UN or Oxfam staff.
Not destroy Oxfams funding and aid ,,,,,,,as the english tory tax haven party are doing ,,,, with help and consent generation from corporate media.
It appears they were meant to shut up about the biggest driver of poverty and inequality in the world …. stepped on the wrong toes
The Guardian reports large temperature rises in the Arctic.
“The North Pole and northern Greenland have been 17-22C (30-40F) warmer than historical averages in recent days, adding to fears of rapid polar warming that has huge implications for global climate. The northernmost weather station in the world, Cape Morris Jesup in Greenland, was above freezing nearly all day on 20 February, according to the Danish Meteorological Institute. ”
More money than Key and from an even more dodgy source, if that’s truly possible !!! Blood money from murdering in Iraq, running a mercenary force in the illegal war; received many multi millions paid to him directly by the Pentagon, by his own admission.
This man must never become a major office holder, please.
Looks like Grand Marshal Bonespur is going play CIC.
President Donald Trump’s plans for a White House-backed military parade are beginning to take shape.
The president has directed the Department of Defense to organize a parade that would take place on Nov. 11 – Veterans Day – according to an unclassified Feb. 20 memo written by National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
[…]
Whether the president himself will participate in the event remains unclear. Macron took part in France’s parade, riding in an open-top military vehicle alongside the former chief of the French armed forces and surrounded by hundreds of military men on horseback.
The Fletchers money will be long gone ,,, protected by Limited liability ,,, some ‘legally’ paid into executives different trusts … allowing personally bankrupted people to drive around in rolls royces … or live in multi million dollar homes … ala Wellingtons Renouf ,,,,or Aucklands equiticorp exec Hawkins …. etc
It sounds like Nationals come up with a neo leaky buildings disaster … pass the ball time again…. More bad times for home owners mainly.
Nationals new degraded building mess could be known as ……
The great Christchurch shake down
Rebuild Rortification
Brownless huge Crack syndrome … systemic arse,,,, 80% non compliant, National TM
But….
“EQC has set a deadline to close the Canterbury Home Repair Programme to all new customers and repairs from Monday, 1 June 2015, to ensure it has the right amount of resources necessary to complete the programme.
From 1 June, no further customers will be accepted into CHRP unless they have a prior agreement with EQR or EQC, and previously cash-settled customers will not be able to opt back in to the programme.”
So we the taxpayers are going to pick up the tab AGAIN for shonkey repairs in Christchurch or the homeowners are just going to have to eat shit like National’s Leaky Housing/Building Crisis which is still unresolved to date ?
probably both….some will give up (or have already) and wear the loss….others will continue to fight and will be paid (possibly partial) by the taxpayer.
Conservatives wanted to say they had a black guy, too.
WATCH: At the Ronald Reagan Dinner at CPAC, ACU Communications Director Ian Walters said the RNC hired Michael Steele as chairman in 2009 "because he’s a black guy." pic.twitter.com/g6YcyLET5w— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 24, 2018
The Russell McVeigh story must be causing insomnia for a few lawyers at the moment…
And I feel sorry for the victims and the huge imbalance of power from start to finish in this saga too. Surely it’s not an isolated situation.
Anyone else following this?
Just read the “not threatening” letter Adam Ross QC sent Newsroom.
My initial response to hearing the story was that this behaviour isn’t confined to one law firm. I’m hoping it creates space for others to come forward.
What a shame and the world is a poorer place for the death of this beautiful person.
Emma Chambers died today of natural causes
We will miss you Emma with your wonderful sense of humour that made us all feel very humble and had a good laugh at the same time.
Rest in peace. You will be sorely missed.
Awesome Haka Rotorua boys High. I have to remember that the mokos are there and I did not realise that you mokos had a good vantage point. Its hard keeping my ego in check when I have all those sandflys following me around everywhere and trying harressing me. But I will make sure that I’m a good example for the mokos just didn’t realise that you were there. Be proud of OUR Maori culture and your tepuna like ECO MAORI is Kia kaha. Ka kite ano P.S. Isn’t it peculiar that I had to get that book of my tepuna Ropata WahaWaha from A Australian online library that’s suppression of our Ngati-porou culture and people by the neoliberals they are scared of Ngati-porou Mana
I haven’t quite finished the book yet to busy checking the sandflys and rowing my Waka be good mokos from what I have read from our history one can have the genealogical of great tepuna but it is how you conduct yourself that counts being humble humane and respectful. That is the way my MAMA taught me Kai pai.
Ka kite ano
Being humble doesn’t mean you take a step backwards well I do when my wife challenges me that’s Mana Wahine treat the ladies with respect mokos that’s the way our tepuna did it.
Back to being challenged in life be it sports mahi whatever you don’t take a step backwards but you don’t go around disrespecting anybody or anything to complete your challenges in life.
That’s the way Steven Adams behaves that’s why I’m a fan of his and that’s the way ECO MAORI behaves.
I’m colour blind as well I can see colours just some I get mixed up with green yellow brown red blue purple.
So I treat every one the same no matter what colours they are with respect but with a guard up at all times that’s the way of OUR Papatuanukue at the minute. Kia kaha Ka kite ano
All right I do disrespect the sandflys but the don’t show ECO MAORI any respect they treat me like a idiot.
But you must show them respect that’s is the best way to keep your nose clean Ka pai Kia kaha Ka kite Ano P.S I will have to go back to school to learn more of OUR REO
China will remove the constitutional restriction for the maximum number of terms the president and vice-president can serve, Xinhua reported on Sunday, paving the way for President Xi Jinping to stay on beyond 2023.
So what becomes of you, my love?When they have finally stripped you ofThe handbags and the gladragsThat your poor old granddadHad to sweat to buy you, babySongwriter: Mike D'aboIn yesterday’s newsletter, I expressed sadness at seeing Golriz Ghahraman back on the front pages for shoplifting. As someone who is no ...
It’s Friday and time for another roundup of things that caught our attention this week. This post, like all our work, is brought to you by a largely volunteer crew and made possible by generous donations from our readers and fans. If you’d like to support our work, you can join ...
Note: This Webworm discusses sexual assault and rape. Please read with care.Hi,A few weeks ago I reported on how one of New Zealand’s richest men, Nick Mowbray (he and his brother own Zuru and are worth an estimated $20 billion), had taken to sharing posts by a British man called ...
The final Atlas Network playbook puzzle piece is here, and it slipped in to Aotearoa New Zealand with little fan fare or attention. The implications are stark.Today, writes Dr Bex, the submission for the Crimes (Countering Foreign Interference) Amendment Bill closes: 11:59pm January 16, 2025.As usual, the language of the ...
Excitement in the seaside village! Look what might be coming! 400 million dollars worth of investment! In the very beating heart of the village! Are we excited and eager to see this happen, what with every last bank branch gone and shops sitting forlornly quiet awaiting a customer?Yes please, apply ...
Much discussion has been held over the Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB), the latest in a series of rightwing attempts to enshrine into law pro-market precepts such as the primacy of private property ownership. Underneath the good governance and economic efficiency gobbledegook language of the Bill is an interest to strip ...
We are concerned that the Amendment Bill, as proposed, could impair the operations and legitimate interests of the NZ Trade Union movement. It is also likely to negatively impact the ability of other civil society actors to conduct their affairs without the threat of criminal sanctions. We ask that ...
I can't take itHow could I fake it?How could I fake it?And I can't take itHow could I fake it?How could I fake it?Song: The Lonely Biscuits.“A bit nippy”, I thought when I woke this morning, and then, soon after that, I wondered whether hell had frozen over. Dear friends, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Asheville, North Carolina, was once widely considered a climate haven thanks to its elevated, inland location and cooler temperatures than much of the Southeast. Then came the catastrophic floods of Hurricane Helene in September 2024. It was a stark reminder that nowhere is safe from ...
Early reports indicate that the temporary Israel/Hamas ceasefire deal (due to take effect on Sunday) will allow for the gradual release of groups of Israeli hostages, the release of an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails (likely only a fraction of the total incarcerated population), and the withdrawal ...
My daily news diet is not what it once was.It was the TV news that lost me first. Too infantilising, too breathless, too frustrating.The Herald was next. You could look past the reactionary framing while it was being a decent newspaper of record, but once Shayne Currie began unleashing all ...
Hit the road Jack and don't you come backNo more, no more, no more, no moreHit the road Jack and don't you come back no moreWhat you say?Songwriters: Percy MayfieldMorena,I keep many of my posts, like this one, paywall-free so that everyone can read them.However, please consider supporting me as ...
This might be the longest delay between reading (or in this case re-reading) a work, and actually writing a review of it I have ever managed. Indeed, when I last read these books in December 2022, I was not planning on writing anything about them… but as A Phuulish Fellow ...
Kia Ora,I try to keep most my posts without a paywall for public interest journalism purposes. However, if you can afford to, please consider supporting me as a paid subscriber and/or supporting over at Ko-Fi. That will help me to continue, and to keep spending time on the work. Embarrassingly, ...
There was a time when Google was the best thing in my world. I was an early adopter of their AdWords program and boy did I like what it did for my business. It put rocket fuel in it, is what it did. For every dollar I spent, those ads ...
A while back I was engaged in an unpleasant exchange with a leader of the most well-known NZ anti-vax group and several like-minded trolls. I had responded to a racist meme on social media in which a rightwing podcaster in the US interviewed one of the leaders of the Proud ...
Hi,If you’ve been reading Webworm for a while, you’ll be familiar with Anna Wilding. Between 2020 and 2021 I looked at how the New Zealander had managed to weasel her way into countless news stories over the years, often with very little proof any of it had actually happened. When ...
It's a long white cloud for you, baby; staying together alwaysSummertime in AotearoaWhere the sunshine kisses the water, we will find it alwaysSummertime in AotearoaYeah, it′s SummertimeIt's SummertimeWriters: Codi Wehi Ngatai, Moresby Kainuku, Pipiwharauroa Campbell, Taulutoa Michael Schuster, Rebekah Jane Brady, Te Naawe Jordan Muturangi Tupe, Thomas Edward Scrase.Many of ...
Last year, 292 people died unnecessarily on our roads. That is the lowest result in over a decade and only the fourth time in the last 70 years we’ve seen fewer than 300 deaths in a calendar year. Yet, while it is 292 people too many, with each death being ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters and Bob HensonFlames from the Palisades Fire burn a building at Sunset Boulevard amid a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025 in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The fast-moving wildfire had destroyed thousands of structures and ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The Regulatory Standards Bill, as I understand it, seeks to bind parliament to a specific range of law-making.For example, it seems to ensure primacy of individual rights over that of community, environment, te Tiriti ...
Happy New Year!I had a lovely break, thanks very much for asking: friends, family, sunshine, books, podcasts, refreshing swims, barbecues, bike rides. So good to step away from the firehose for a while, to have less Trump and Seymour in your day. Who needs the Luxons in their risible PJs ...
Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the Auckland City Centre Advisory Panel and a director of Greater Auckland In 2003, after much argument, including the election of a Mayor in 2001 who ran on stopping it, Britomart train station in downtown Auckland opened. A mere 1km twin track terminating branch ...
For the first time in a decade, a New Zealand Prime Minister is heading to the Middle East. The trip is more than just a courtesy call. New Zealand PMs frequently change planes in Dubai en route to destinations elsewhere. But Christopher Luxon’s visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 5, 2025 thru Sat, January 11, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The decade between 1952 and the early 1960s was the peak period for the style of music we now call doo wop, after which it got dissolved into soul music, girl groups, and within pop music in general. Basically, doo wop was a form of small group harmonising with a ...
The future teaches you to be aloneThe present to be afraid and coldSo if I can shoot rabbits, then I can shoot fascists…And if you tolerate thisThen your children will be nextSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Do you remember at school, studying the rise ...
When National won the New Zealand election in 2023, one of the first to congratulate Luxon was tech-billionaire and entrepreneur extraordinaire Elon Musk.And last year, after Luxon posted a video about a trip to Malaysia, Musk came forward again to heap praise on Christopher:So it was perhaps par for the ...
Hi,Today’s Webworm features a new short film from documentary maker Giorgio Angelini. It’s about Luigi Mangione — but it’s also, really, about everything in America right now.Bear with me.Shortly after I sent out my last missive from the fires on Wednesday, one broke out a little too close to home ...
So soon just after you've goneMy senses sharpenBut it always takes so damn longBefore I feel how much my eyes have darkenedFear hangs in a plane of gun smokeDrifting in our roomSo easy to disturb, with a thought, with a whisperWith a careless memorySongwriters: Andy Taylor / John Taylor / ...
Can we trust the Trump cabinet to act in the public interest?Nine of Trump’s closest advisers are billionaires. Their total net worth is in excess of $US375b (providing there is not a share-market crash). In contrast, the total net worth of Trump’s first Cabinet was about $6b. (Joe Biden’s Cabinet ...
Welcome back to our weekly roundup. We hope you had a good break (if you had one). Here’s a few of the stories that caught our attention over the last few weeks. This holiday period on Greater Auckland Since our last roundup we’ve: Taken a look back at ...
Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partnerSometimes I feel like my only friendIs the city I live in, The City of AngelsLonely as I am together we crySong: Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith, Flea, John Frusciante.A home is engulfed in flames during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area. ...
Open access notablesLarge emissions of CO2 and CH4 due to active-layer warming in Arctic tundra, Torn et al., Nature Communications:Climate warming may accelerate decomposition of Arctic soil carbon, but few controlled experiments have manipulated the entire active layer. To determine surface-atmosphere fluxes of carbon dioxide and ...
It's election year for Wellington City Council and for the Regional Council. What have the progressive councillors achieved over the last couple of years. What were the blocks and failures? What's with the targeting of the mayor and city council by the Post and by central government? Why does the ...
Over the holidays, there was a rising tide of calls for people to submit on National's repulsive, white supremacist Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, along with a wave of advice and examples of what to say. And it looks like people rose to the occasion, with over 300,000 ...
The lie is my expenseThe scope of my desireThe Party blessed me with its futureAnd I protect it with fireI am the Nina The Pinta The Santa MariaThe noose and the rapistAnd the fields overseerThe agents of orangeThe priests of HiroshimaThe cost of my desire…Sleep now in the fireSongwriters: Brad ...
This is a re-post from the Climate BrinkGlobal surface temperatures have risen around 1.3C since the preindustrial (1850-1900) period as a result of human activity.1 However, this aggregate number masks a lot of underlying factors that contribute to global surface temperature changes over time.These include CO2, which is the primary ...
There are times when movement around us seems to slow down. And the faster things get, the slower it all appears.And so it is with the whirlwind of early year political activity.They are harbingers for what is to come:Video: Wayne Wright Jnr, funder of Sean Plunket, talk growing power and ...
Hi,Right now the power is out, so I’m just relying on the laptop battery and tethering to my phone’s 5G which is dropping in and out. We’ll see how we go.First up — I’m fine. I can’t see any flames out the window. I live in the greater Hollywood area ...
2024 was a tough year for working Kiwis. But together we’ve been able to fight back for a just and fair New Zealand and in 2025 we need to keep standing up for what’s right and having our voices heard. That starts with our Mood of the Workforce Survey. It’s your ...
Time is never time at allYou can never ever leaveWithout leaving a piece of youthAnd our lives are forever changedWe will never be the sameThe more you change, the less you feelSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan.Babinden - Baba’s DayToday, January 8th, 2025, is Babinden, “The Day of the baba” or “The ...
..I/We wish to make the following comments:I oppose the Treaty Principles Bill."5. Act binds the CrownThis Act binds the Crown."How does this Act "bind the Crown" when Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which the Act refers to, has been violated by the Crown on numerous occassions, resulting in massive loss of ...
Everything is good and brownI'm here againWith a sunshine smile upon my faceMy friends are close at handAnd all my inhibitions have disappeared without a traceI'm glad, oh, that I found oohSomebody who I can rely onSongwriter: Jay KayGood morning, all you lovely people. Today, I’ve got nothing except a ...
Welcome to 2025. After wrapping up 2024, here’s a look at some of the things we can expect to see this year along with a few predictions. Council and Elections Elections One of the biggest things this year will be local body elections in October. Will Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Canadians can take a while to get angry – but when they finally do, watch out. Canada has been falling out of love with Justin Trudeau for years, and his exit has to be the least surprising news event of the New Year. On recent polling, Trudeau’s Liberal party has ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Much like 2023, many climate and energy records were broken in 2024. It was Earth’s hottest year on record by a wide margin, breaking the previous record that was set just last year by an even larger margin. Human-caused climate-warming pollution and ...
Submissions on National's racist, white supremacist Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill are due tomorrow! So today, after a good long holiday from all that bullshit, I finally got my shit together to submit on it. As I noted here, people should write their own submissions in their own ...
Ooh, baby (ooh, baby)It's making me crazy (it's making me crazy)Every time I look around (look around)Every time I look around (every time I look around)Every time I look aroundIt's in my faceSongwriters: Alan Leo Jansson / Paul Lawrence L. Fuemana.Today, I’ll be talking about rich, middle-aged men who’ve made ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 29, 2024 thru Sat, January 4, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Hi,The thing that stood out at me while shopping for Christmas presents in New Zealand was how hard it was to avoid Zuru products. Toy manufacturer Zuru is a bit like Netflix, in that it has so much data on what people want they can flood the market with so ...
And when a child is born into this worldIt has no conceptOf the tone of skin it's living inAnd there's a million voicesAnd there's a million voicesTo tell you what you should be thinkingSong by Neneh Cherry and Youssou N'Dour.The moment you see that face, you can hear her voice; ...
While we may not always have quality political leadership, a couple of recently published autobiographies indicate sometimes we strike it lucky. When ranking our prime ministers, retired professor of history Erik Olssen commented that ‘neither Holland nor Nash was especially effective as prime minister – even his private secretary thought ...
Baby, be the class clownI'll be the beauty queen in tearsIt's a new art form, showin' people how little we care (yeah)We're so happy, even when we're smilin' out of fearLet's go down to the tennis court and talk it up like, yeah (yeah)Songwriters: Joel Little / Ella Yelich O ...
Open access notables Why Misinformation Must Not Be Ignored, Ecker et al., American Psychologist:Recent academic debate has seen the emergence of the claim that misinformation is not a significant societal problem. We argue that the arguments used to support this minimizing position are flawed, particularly if interpreted (e.g., by policymakers or the public) as suggesting ...
What I’ve Been Doing: I buried a close family member.What I’ve Been Watching: Andor, Jack Reacher, Xmas movies.What I’ve Been Reflecting On: The Usefulness of Writing and the Worthiness of Doing So — especially as things become more transparent on their own.I also hate competing on any day, and if ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by John Wihbey. A version of this article first appeared on Yale Climate Connections on Nov. 11, 2008. (Image credits: The White House, Jonathan Cutrer / CC BY 2.0; President Jimmy Carter, Trikosko/Library of Congress; Solar dedication, Bill Fitz-Patrick / Jimmy Carter Library; Solar ...
Morena folks,We’re having a good break, recharging the batteries. Hope you’re enjoying the holiday period. I’m not feeling terribly inspired by much at the moment, I’m afraid—not from a writing point of view, anyway.So, today, we’re travelling back in time. You’ll have to imagine the wavy lines and sci-fi sound ...
Completed reads for 2024: Oration on the Dignity of Man, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola A Platonic Discourse Upon Love, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Of Being and Unity, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola The Life of Pico della Mirandola, by Giovanni Francesco Pico Three Letters Written by Pico ...
Welcome to 2025, Aotearoa. Well… what can one really say? 2024 was a story of a bad beginning, an infernal middle and an indescribably farcical end. But to chart a course for a real future, it does pay to know where we’ve been… so we know where we need ...
Welcome to the official half-way point of the 2020s. Anyway, as per my New Years tradition, here’s where A Phuulish Fellow’s blog traffic came from in 2024: United States United Kingdom New Zealand Canada Sweden Australia Germany Spain Brazil Finland The top four are the same as 2023, ...
Completed reads for December: Be A Wolf!, by Brian Strickland The Magic Flute [libretto], by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Emanuel Schikaneder The Invisible Eye, by Erckmann-Chatrian The Owl’s Ear, by Erckmann-Chatrian The Waters of Death, by Erckmann-Chatrian The Spider, by Hanns Heinz Ewers Who Knows?, by Guy de Maupassant ...
Well, it’s the last day of the year, so it’s time for a quick wrap-up of the most important things that happened in 2024 for urbanism and transport in our city. A huge thank you to everyone who has visited the blog and supported us in our mission to make ...
Leave your office, run past your funeralLeave your home, car, leave your pulpitJoin us in the streets where weJoin us in the streets where weDon't belong, don't belongHere under the starsThrowing light…Song: Jeffery BuckleyToday, I’ll discuss the standout politicians of the last 12 months. Each party will receive three awards, ...
Hi,A lot’s happened this year in the world of Webworm, and as 2024 comes to an end I thought I’d look back at a few of the things that popped. Maybe you missed them, or you might want to revisit some of these essay and podcast episodes over your break ...
Hi,I wanted to share this piece by film editor Dan Kircher about what cinema has been up to in 2024.Dan edited my documentary Mister Organ, as well as this year’s excellent crowd-pleasing Bookworm.Dan adores movies. He gets the language of cinema, he knows what he loves, and writes accordingly. And ...
Without delving into personal details but in order to give readers a sense of the year that was, I thought I would offer the study in contrasts that are Xmas 2023 and Xmas 2024: Xmas 2023 in Starship Children’s Hospital (after third of four surgeries). Even opening presents was an ...
Heavy disclaimer: Alpha/beta/omega dynamics is a popular trope that’s used in a wide range of stories and my thoughts on it do not apply to all cases. I’m most familiar with it through the lens of male-focused fanfic, typically m/m but sometimes also featuring m/f and that’s the situation I’m ...
Hi,Webworm has been pretty heavy this year — mainly because the world is pretty heavy. But as we sprint (or limp, you choose) through the final days of 2024, I wanted to keep Webworm a little lighter.So today I wanted to look at one of the biggest and weirdest elements ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 22, 2024 thru Sat, December 28, 2024. This week's roundup is the second one published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, ...
The Green Party has welcomed the provisional ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, and reiterated its call for New Zealand to push for an end to the unlawful occupation of Palestine. ...
The Green Party welcomes the extension of the deadline for Treaty Principles Bill submissions but continues to call on the Government to abandon the Bill. ...
Complaints about disruptive behaviour now handled in around 13 days (down from around 60 days a year ago) 553 Section 55A notices issued by Kāinga Ora since July 2024, up from 41 issued during the same period in the previous year. Of that 553, first notices made up around 83 ...
The time it takes to process building determinations has improved significantly over the last year which means fewer delays in homes being built, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “New Zealand has a persistent shortage of houses. Making it easier and quicker for new homes to be built will ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden is pleased to announce the annual list of New Zealand’s most popular baby names for 2024. “For the second consecutive year, Noah has claimed the top spot for boys with 250 babies sharing the name, while Isla has returned to the most popular ...
Work is set to get underway on a new bus station at Westgate this week. A contract has been awarded to HEB Construction to start a package of enabling works to get the site ready in advance of main construction beginning in mid-2025, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“A new Westgate ...
Minister for Children and for Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Karen Chhour is encouraging people to use the resources available to them to get help, and to report instances of family and sexual violence amongst their friends, families, and loved ones who are in need. “The death of a ...
Uia te pō, rangahaua te pō, whakamāramatia mai he aha tō tango, he aha tō kāwhaki? Whitirere ki te ao, tirotiro kau au, kei hea taku rātā whakamarumaru i te au o te pakanga mo te mana motuhake? Au te pō, ngū te pō, ue hā! E te kahurangi māreikura, ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says people with diabetes and other painful conditions will benefit from a significant new qualification to boost training in foot care. “It sounds simple, but quality and regular foot and nail care is vital in preventing potentially serious complications from diabetes, like blisters or sores, which can take a long time to heal ...
Associate Health Minister with responsibility for Pharmac David Seymour is pleased to see Pharmac continue to increase availability of medicines for Kiwis with the government’s largest ever investment in Pharmac. “Pharmac operates independently, but it must work within the budget constraints set by the government,” says Mr Seymour. “When this government assumed ...
Mā mua ka kite a muri, mā muri ka ora e mua - Those who lead give sight to those who follow, those who follow give life to those who lead. Māori recipients in the New Year 2025 Honours list show comprehensive dedication to improving communities across the motu that ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden is wishing all New Zealanders a great holiday season as Kiwis prepare for gatherings with friends and families to see in the New Year. It is a great time of year to remind everyone to stay fire safe over the summer. “I know ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin T. Jones, Senior Lecturer in History, CQUniversity Australia In his farewell address, outgoing US President Joe Biden warned “an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy”. The comment suggests ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hrvoje Tkalčić, Professor, Head of Geophysics, Director of Warramunga Array, Australian National University A map showing the ‘Martian dichotomy’: the southern highlands are in yellows and oranges, the northern lowlands in blues and greens.NASA / JPL / USGS Mars is home ...
A new poem by Niamh Hollis-Locke.Field-notes: Midsummer, 9pm, walking barefoot in the reserve after a storm, the sky still light, the city strung out across backs of the hills Dunes of last week’s cut grass washed downslope against the bracken, drifts of pale wet stems rotting into one ...
The poll, conducted between 9-13 January, shows National down 4.6 points to 29.6%, while Labour have risen 4.0 points from last month, overtaking them with30.9%. ...
As the world farewells visionary director David Lynch, we return to this 2017 piece by Angela Cuming about escaping into the haunting world of Twin Peaks. I was only 10 years old when Twin Peaks – and the real world – found me.Once a week, in the dark, I ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marc C-Scott, Associate Professor of Screen Media | Deputy Associate Dean of Learning & Teaching, Victoria University Screenshot/YouTube The 2025 Australian Open (AO) broadcast may seem similar to previous years if you’re watching on the television. However, if you’re watching online ...
By Anish Chand in Suva A Fiji community human rights coalition has called on Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka to halt his “reckless expansion” of government and refocus on addressing Fiji’s pressing challenges. The NGO Coalition on Human Rights (NGOCHR) said it was outraged by the abrupt and arbitrary reshuffling of ...
A selection of the best shows, movies, podcasts and playlists that kept us entertained over the holidays. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here.Leo (Netflix) My partner and I watched exactly one thing on the TV in our Japan accommodation while ...
Toby Manhire tells you everything you need to know ahead of season two of Severance.After an agonising wait – nearly three years between waffles, thanks to US actor and writer strikes and, some say, creative squabbles – Severance returns today, Friday January 17. For my money the first season ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a 32-year-old mother of a one-year-old shares her approach to spending and saving. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Female. Age: 32. Ethnicity: East Asian – NZ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Talia Fell, PhD Candidate, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland The Los Angeles wildfires are causing the devastating loss of people’s homes. From A-list celebrities such as Paris Hilton to an Australian family living in LA, thousands ...
The outgoing and incoming presidents have both claimed credit for the historic deal, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund for The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Finally, some good fucking news. The Friday Poem is back! Last year, The Spinoff leveled with its audience about the financial reality it faced and called for support from its audience. Some tough decisions were made at the time including cuts to our commissioning budget and the discontinuation of The ...
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Great synergy, owning a “security company” and a media empire.
Nothing to see here folks.
Another capitalist slimebag going after money.
Bit like this lot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Analytica
Carole Cadwalladr joins the dots:
Go the mighty Scotland!
Slàinte!
Hopefully Flower of Scotland will be ringing out all over the highlands…and everywhere else
The brogue will be thickening by the minute.
https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/967471083308965888
She lives near Selkirk where the great Sir Walter Scott author of “Ivanhoe”, “Rob Roy” and the “Waverley” novels. He was Provost of Selkirkshire for a time, and the author Jack Prout and illustrator of “Black Bob” (the Dandy wonder dog) was from Selkirk as well, living in what is now the butchers shop, next to the Court rooms (now museum) where Scott wrote his novels! The town want to erect a statue of Black Bob, But the Dandy, which is published in Dundee, wont give copywrite.
There must be something in the water around Selkirk.
Hah! And lookee here – a woman piper atop the stand to kick off Flower of Scotland!
About 1 mins 30 into the vid.
Clearly plenty of profit in road maintenance contracts. Might explain why our roads are littered with cones and diversions for unnecessary work and why efficient public transport seems unlikely any time soon.
Fletcher Building Group’s infrastructure revenue has sustained the company through nearly $1 billion in losses over the last two years.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/101631029/fletcher-buildings-infrastructure-arm-a-bridge-over-troubled-waters
There was a piece on the new last night, where councils/rate payers are having to spend some millions (in the north?) to strengthen bridges for the ‘double sized’ logging trucks on the roads.
The NZTA are paying a proportion.
It struck me that WHY aren’t the logging companies paying the WHOLE cost of the strengthening?
High street welfare.
Forestry trucks are ripping up Whanganui’s rural and suburban roads – and ratepayers may have to foot the bill.
The district council faces a $20 million shortfall over the next 10 years and has effectively run out of money to complete its roading programme.
And the situation is being blamed on damage caused by logging trucks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11818894
… and you all thought the National Government was working in the best interests of the people of New Zealand ?
… and guess what we probably don’t even own the trees being carted by these logging trucks ?
dv,
The article you mentioned also included some HB road bridges also and they are using tractors to cart some of the logs across soe of these brades as the overweight trucks are now allowed to roam every road in the country without restrictions.
NZTA said they warned the local councils about the extra weighted trucks now about to carry much higher weighted loads freely in 2017.
The article said.It is wrecking our roads and bridges that were never designed for 63 tonne trucks so we are in for very heavy increased road repairs ahead now and Labour knows this..
We the other road users and ratepayers are subsidising the road transport industry and this was confirmed in several studies posted on yesterdays ‘open mike’ about public subsidises for road freight.
CEO spokesperson for TRF (The road transport forum) Ken Shirley has even raised a warning recently that road freight raies wil rise again.
So that is why they want rail gone or closed down, so they have complete ‘cartel’ pricing control to allow them to again freely raise freight rates/costs without us all having any other form of ‘land transport’ to offer a cheaper freight services to us and the business community.
“It’s all about the money and profits”
Thanks CG.
I couldn’t recall the detail.
Hell yes and it’s virtually a 3-way with Fulton’s and downer Laughing all the way to the bank. They plunder across central and regional funding.
Shoulders and surfaces are a disgrace as a result of nationals double whammy with extra tonnage and RONS siphoning from pre existing maintenance allocations.
We gave up expecting rural and state highways to be back at about 2012 levels years ago.
WDC can’t even keep sewage from raglan harbour and moan about that and only having a single grader for their entire region. So it’s third world shit literally imo.
” nationals double whammy with extra tonnage and RONS siphoning from pre existing maintenance allocations.”
A very good reason for the current coalition to reverse both those changes. That is, get the extra heavy vehicles off our roads which are not equipped to deal with them, and cancel any RoNS that do not provide a significant benefit to their region.
One day we are going to have to bring back the old Ministry of Works.
I see nothing wrong with that happening.
This is what happens when the you lose control of your assets and businesses. You are at the mercy of ownership changes and what have looked like a good deal at the time, becomes worse and worse as time goes on and subsequent new owners, changes in economy, come knocking.
Culture and people becomes controlled by the decisions of asset owners, the legal system and changes in government who control the legal system. Even if someone wins, it becomes about the quality of the lawyers and money is diverted into legal action, stress of that and massive loss in quality of life.
Taharoa tensions: Community fights back amid claims of corporate greed at mine
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/101385931/a-community-fights-back-amid-claims-of-corporate-greed-at-taharoa-mine
People in the UK are rejecting globalism via privatisation because their government lost control of their basic needs and costs rise steadily to keep the profits rolling in.
“In 1996, the Ministry of Defence decided to sell off its housing stock. The financier Guy Hands bought it up in a deal that would make his investors billions – and have catastrophic consequences for both the military and the taxpayer”
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/apr/25/mod-privatise-military-housing-disaster-guy-hands
Oligarchs and privitisation
I was looking at the New Zealand top ten rich lists for the last few years…. checking something out.
One year stuck out ……as 5 in the top 10 NZ cash accumulators …. were people who had made a lot of money through privatizations and their gaining control of former Government / citizens assets.
Specifically they were …
Michael Fay & David Richwhite .. BNZ (wine-box), railways, port of Auckland etc etc
Graeme Hart ..from wiki : “gained a big break when he purchased the Government Printing Office for less than its capital value in 1990.”
And our two Chandler Bro’s … who were in on the Russian Neo Lib, shock doctrine carve up … When their country was leaderless under the useless drunk and western stooge Boris Yelstin…
The chandler brothers make a point of claiming morals and ethics in business … Yet they run their business empires through tax havens … and became the largest foreign owners of Gazprom and other Russian resources / infrastructure … when a looting was taking place in a criminals paradise.
The results for the Russian people from western Neo Lib, crony capitalist shock doctrine were dire … a 40% collapse of their economy …. and almost a 10 year decline in life expectancy for males.
Leaving aside my opinion that a enriched oligarch class .. making millions or billions from privatisation of state assets..is an indication of corruption.
Instead I’m interested in What are The Standard readers and poster opinions…
Regarding New Zealands worst privatisations or asset stripping
Your choice for … the most disastrous …. destructive ….or biggest rip-offs.
There’s a lot to choose from … like …
Telecom … where profit gouging, and abuse of monopoly positions followed its sale.
BNZ … bailouts and tax evasion .. big loans to share-holders / new owners.
The electricity industry and networks … rampant price increases .. for electricty generated by hydro schemes we’ve had for decades…. underinvestment … Auckland blackout ..profit shifting via tax havens ,,,, etc
Air NZ … Bust & Bailouts
Serco … corrupt reporting .. coverups.. increased profits from increased crime …..
DOC land give aways …. “The government privatizes a state-owned asset for $265,000. Four years later, a small part of it gets flicked on for $10 million. A tale from some corrupt African nation, or from post-Soviet Russia? No, its from New Zealand ”
https://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/the-corruption-of-high-country-tenure.html
Share your evidence of failure, waste or greed ….. and help bury the private= better myth .
https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2018/01/half-a-million-hectares-sold/
Some quotes / info from Joe90’s link /nomination …. showing a huge rip off.
“The chain of custody went like this; the taxpayer gave up its land for an effective rate of $190 per hectare, which was on-sold for $51,800 per hectare, which was on-sold again for $70,000 per hectare.
The capital gain over a decade was roughly 37,000 per cent, none of which was realised by the taxpayer, and has ultimately put a prime piece of land into the private ownership of an America-based billionaire”
” data released under the Official Information Act, shows the taxpayer has paid nearly $65m to privatise land it owned, which in some cases has been on-sold for significant capital gain, pushing up property prices at the taxpayer’s expense.”
“the taxpayer paid $18,000 for one-third of a hectare by the road. It effectively bought back land it had sold for an effective rate of $15 per hectare in 2004 for what amounts to $55,000 per hectare in 2017. The capital gain on that small section of land was 366,000 per cent.”
“In her 2008 book on tenure review, Who Owns the High Country?, Ann Brower described her research topic as “unravelling the puzzle of why a government would behave so strangely”….
The whole thing stinks worse than Todd Barclay …
Foreign ownership rules … a large speculators tax…. stopping the buying of our citizenship … And redressing the original theft of the land from Maori … Are all needed in this instance … imo
Good link of an ongoing scandal Joe
Two words: unjust enrichment.
Yep +1 Joe, excellent example. But the blame should also go to the people involved in selling the land off in the first place – why don’t people be censored for their actions of clear breaches – at present they are not named and shamed and just get away with it.
Local council reps are also often deep in it, when council land goes super cheap, often offshore buyers and often without even being put out to tender or ratepayers realising what has happened.
Good points all …. but in some instances it’s more than just money involved.
Watching this fascinating documentary I was struck by the dangerous corner cutting in a privately run human drug trial….. a lot of it looked to be about cost cutting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNB5O-EGbmA
22 things were wrong with the design of the drug trial …. which I seem to remember involved a New Zealander as one of those harmed
There is a Govt white wash at the end …. probably for ideological reasons.
Privitiasation of health is still a national party agenda
The powerful love privatisation and deregulation in particular banks and politicians. It’s where they get their money.
How often do ex politicians end up on the board of the companies they privatise, on bank boards, infrastructure companies (now they have COO’s all the better more opportunities to be a corporate trougher) or on the board of new companies entering NZ that want access to the plumb deals of assets sells offs and preferential government deals.
In fact very few large companies don’t have an ex politician on tap to grease the path of those deals.
About time politicians are not allowed to double dip – should be 20 years before an ex political joins a board of directors. They already get generous benefits post their politician career as well as the plumb overseas posts.
I agree 100% savenz ….
In particular John Key should be banned from his ANZ directorship …. for a double conflict of interest.
ANZ has approx 30% of NZs bloated mortgage lending …..
If the cartel of Aussie banks put up Mortgage rates to 10% …. they would crash the housing market … along with our economy …. and the Govt would be gone within 12 months.
John Key would love to bring about the downfall of the Labour led Government … That’s conflict one.
And Key loves making money ….for himself above all else …. a crashed housing market would allow him to buy at depressed prices ….. conflict two.
Personally I’d give him a job as a NZ river water taster ….. make him drink his toxic legacy.
I’d like to see him off the Board of Air NZ too. Quite apart from the crony capitalism effect – in other countries people who use their power & position to assault others are being removed from those positions. here we appoint our pony tail puller to the board of a state owned enterprise – what do you think other people think of us??
Don’t forget Merryl Lynch did the assets sell offs too Mighty River Power, Meridian Energy, Genesis Energy and Air New Zealand, and apparently the sale price is already lower than than it’s income. What a bargain for the buyer. So Key wins, Merryl Lynch wins, the buyer wins, and the public loses.
“Merryl Lynch did the assets sell offs too Mighty River Power, Meridian Energy, Genesis Energy”
And what evidence do you have for this claim?
I trust it is a bit more than you imagination and wild hatred of John Key.
Treasury don’t seem to know anything about it do they?
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1305/S00407/firms-appointed-for-meridian-and-genesis-ipos.htm
Merrill Lynch may have been interested in the work but they were not chosen to have any involvement in the sale.
savenz may have been over reaching through confusion on Merrill Lynch … aka ” The Blundering Herd”.
Easy to do with John Keys old firm and its sordid long history of scandal and scams ..
Known for its Enron involvement and corporate tax base erosion, as described by Irish John himself ….
eventually its boozy greed blinded culture lead to it being the third cab off the rank …. in going bankrupt at the start of the GFC.
Key of course was prime minister at this time,… with the excuse he had got out before Merrill ‘went bad’ …. the truth of how much he had ‘gotten out’ depends on how many Merrill shares he had divested himself of….
Merrill got bailed out…. via a Govt forced take over by Bank of America ….
So Key got bailed out ….. its how he got his bank of America shares …
How many millions did this dud investor receive courtesy of usa taxpayers ???
and why do you think it has never been reported on in our media Alwyn ?…….. Teflon melting? ” … to boring? …. fear ? “, .
Key, regarding his crooked lawyer or something ….; “reporters “you guys were very careful last night, I think, in your coverage of these matters: the reason you were is because you don’t want to get your asses sued off you”. ”
And how come no reporters questioned this bully,,,,, on the administration of his ‘Blind Trust’ … with their wine box / tax haven connections ??
Or the virtual media blackout of his Tax haven work …. ” Quote : “In fact, what is even better news is that this is receiving little publicity in New Zealand – which means there is a higher likelihood the PM will nudge it through without too much meddling from the country’s left wing camp.”
Our dirty little right wing media …. guardians of the Key myth
Additional interesting info ….
Merrill destroyed approx 45 Billion of wealth in eye watering time … poisoned on its own toxic products and bullshit book keeping. Criminal creativity.
As repayment to the USA Govt / taxpayers for their bailout and TARP money …. The Bank of America will increase its numbers of shares from approx 7.5 Billion to 10 Billion odd and use some of the extras as settlement.
Air NZ is not an SOE. It’s a listed on the share market and the govt has share options.
Listed but NZ govt has majority shareholding
It’s still not an SOE. It’s a private company.
No, it’s a public company.
Sorry quite correct. Still not an SOE.
All of them share evidence of making things worse for the general population while having made a few individuals very rich which is itself prima facie evidence of corruption.
What we should be doing is asking what we could have done with all those profits that the profiteers have made off with. With Telecom we could have FttH across the country with unlimited bandwidth on all devices. Maybe we could have built up the infrastructure enough that communications bills would be down to $10 per month per household.
It a question that needs to be asked: What could we have done with all the profit?
All of us would have been better off instead of just a few. This is the proof that profit is a dead-weight loss. It causes more harm than benefit.
I would simply take back the state’s assets with no compensation.
And appropriate all assets of Fay, Chandler etc in NZ.
Yes Ed
I agree take the assets back from these “carpetbaggers again as they stole from us.
…. most of the sheep here in NZ have rose tinted glasses, also Fletchers who bought the Rural Bank for a song ?
Cheers Tamati Tautuhi … Im pretty sure there was a fletcher on the NZ rich list …. possibly giving NZ 6 privitisation oligarchs.
I think Fletchers also got a Government leg up in their early days …. building state houses.
Filling out the rich list were two Alcohol drug barons / families ……
Myers dynasty and Ercegs lolly waters for kids and females fortune…. pre-mixed and pre-roast busters ….
Polonium tea, anyone?.
https://twitter.com/grantstern/status/967170247202664448
(Unrolled https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/967170247202664448.html )
Former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort was hit with new charges on Friday, including an allegation he secretly recruited and funded a group of former European politicians to lobby in the United States on behalf of Ukraine.
[…]
The most significant allegation is that Manafort assembled what he called a “Super VIP” group of highly influential Europeans who could push Ukraine’s agenda “without any visible relationship” with the Ukrainian government, according to an email obtained by Mueller.
Manafort paid the politicians 2 million euros from offshore accounts in 2012 and 2013 to lobby members of Congress and other U.S. officials. It’s illegal for Americans to direct foreigners to lobby the U.S. without informing the Justice Department.
The so-called “Hapsburg Group” was managed by a former European chancellor, who was not named in the indictment.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/former-trump-campaign-aide-rick-gates-set-plead-guilty-n849256
One thing I’m supportive of here is having similar rules for money in politics here that the US has. Make it illegal for foreign money to be used in NZ politics. Make it illegal for foreigners (including foreign businesses and governments) to have any influence in our country.
“ Make it illegal for foreigners (including foreign businesses and governments) to have any influence in our country.”
You mean like the UN, Greenpeace, Oxfam, various American & Australian born Politicians, etc, etc?
I could live with that.
Then you’d be very disappointed when New Zealand citizens who are members of Oxfam, Greenpeace etc. continue their activities here.
You’ll probably have to pretend that charities are corporations too.
So if a NZ citizen is operating on behalf of your foreign organisation it is ok then?
And why should we differentiate between a corporate & a charity? They all push their own agenda, and are all potentially as corrupt and self-serving as each other.
In the case of the UN, even more so.
on behalf of your foreign organisation
Charities operate “on behalf of” their charitable aims. By law. Or they get stripped of charitable status.
So we already differentiate between them and commercial organisations.
Semantics, fool.
Answer the question. Why do some get so uptight about foreign organisations influencing our politics yet kneel down before eg the UN?
You kneel down for people? Get off your knees.
We have direct influence on the UN. We were also directly involved in its creation.
The UN is an international body made up of the governments of the world. The agreements that they come to are, technically, the agreements that we want. And they’re even agreements that we don’t have to implement.
And, after all that, it really doesn’t seem to have as much influence as business does. Now, here’s an interesting question: Can you point to any influence that the UN has in NZ?
Semantics, fool.
Who’s the fool here? “Semantics” means the meaning of words. Charities and commercial organisations have separate names because they have separate meanings, so yes, semantics. The meanings of words are important.
When are charities not a charity as increasingly there are charity trusts from politicians and rich listers and questionable religions which are really lobby groups to keep the deregulation agenda or some pocket of religion going with extra tax benefits.
Even legitimate charities now follow a trend of putting in ‘corporate’ managers who have little interest in the charity itself, more a tick on their CV (ran Red Cross) with massive donations but little being shown for it for the people who are supposed to get the charity.
Then there are charities that seem more like some sort of scam.
Not only that but apparently overseas charities often attract a small percentage of pedophiles and the like. Yikes…
It’s hard to be a charity these days, because so many are taking advantage of the term.
Nothing wrong with an increase in oversight of charities, for precisely the reasons you outline.
Personally I’d like to see them all go broke as government takes back its duties of care, rendering them irrelevant.
In the meantime, the Family Firsts and Tamakis need more aggressive scrutiny, preferably before they manage to register at all.
erm – as board member of a trust that’s in the process of getting registered charity status, I have to declare a conflict of interest 🙂
Yes, oversight on political activities including donations needs to be increased.
But small charities funded in part by local grants can demonstrate a need for a service. And then when you’re in the arts and culture field, there’s no reason the Lower Corstophine Community Hippy Cultural Appropriation Society needs to be operated by a government department just to make teepees and those lantern balloon things for one or two events a year.
Now, if it turns into a massive thing and hippy cultural appropriation societies pop up all over the place, maybe they could do with an umbrella body and direct govt funding. But small local projects need some sort of entity to operate under if you want them to last longer than the interest of one person.
Fair enough.
Yes. Maybe.
International NGOs and unions would also be excluded. If they were carved out, they would become bundlers.
That, eliminate anonymous funding and because our political processes are public, require public disclosure of the financial interests of everyone participating.
Just call it like it is – money in politics, is corrupting.
Hapsburg and Chancellor in the same sentence suggests a short list of ex-chancellors from Austria.
and sure enough – Politico has more…
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/23/paul-manafort-mueller-probe-washington-lobbying-ukraine-austria-423439
‘Hapsburger’……..the New Swamp Nothingburger ? Strange (it’s not of course) that Trump surrounded himself with crooks.
Things are gonna get furious when the presidential pardons start. Will it be then that Trump code-calls the MAGA Deplorables and the NRA (not to forget the “very fine” ‘Blood and Soil’ fascists) to deploy vengeful violence on fellow Americans ?
Would not have thought it possible once. Not so sure now.
Hi North … Drumpf cannot pardon any individual on offences charged within individual states which is how most of these against Manafort and Gates have been laid. Mueller is one of the smartest men in USA, and has brilliant attorneys working with him.
Manafort and Gates charges laid in two separate districts in fact. Think they can’t outwit the Carrot ?? My money is 1000 to 1 on Bobby Three Sticks !
Rachel Maddow on MSNBC has the clearest and finely articulate breakdown and interviews if you are interested … http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show . She goes to air each weeknight in US at 9 pm so it is free online at this link each day from about 5pm NZ. (Currently top cable news in USA due to her coverage on these subjects. (So good to see this acuity and intelligence on TV !!)
Joe90 @ 6…….do the new charges signify that Manafort (quid pro quo presidential pardon on his mind?) is provng a hard nut to crack ?
I reckon Manafort’s a small fish so they’re squeezing him with layer upon layer of charges until he coughs up the big fish.
edit: Abramson has a crack
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/967125456666415106
Tx for link. And polonium tea ? Watching closely. More like a plain old bullet in USA isn’t it ?? Or a staged suicide with gun or rope.
Having sex with prostitutes when it is legal. Not allowed for aid workers. What is this about? There seems to be some sort of unreasoned moral uprising, purity patrol. It is hard work, sex has always been a relief, a small, fleeting pleasure and it is disgraceful that charities are starting to become inhuman in their regard to their workers. It sounds like an edict from above, from someone who has been an administrator too long, a bit like David Shearer coming back here from UN aid work and finding people not completely helpless in dire distress, objects of disdain.
There was a very good book written by aid workers just behind the firing line which gives the picture you only get fragments of in reports about overseas aid.
Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Sex_and_Other_Desperate_Measures
Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures, by Heidi Postlewait, Kenneth Cain and Doctor Andrew Thomson, is the memoir of three young people who join the United Nations (UN) in Cambodia with a dream of making the world a better place. Set in the 1990s, the book was published in 2004. Thomson is a New …
Having sex with prostitutes when it is legal. Not allowed for aid workers.
It’s a bit more than that:
Mr Daccord said that it was the recent reports of sexual misconduct from humanitarian agencies that had spurred the Geneva-based ICRC to conduct an internal review.
Its code of conduct has explicitly forbidden the purchase of sexual services since 2006….
“This behaviour is a betrayal of the people and the communities we are there to serve,” Mr Daccord said.
“It is against human dignity and we should have been more vigilant in preventing this.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/351184/red-cross-reveals-staff-paid-for-sexual-services
I suggest that this is unreasonable as a blanket negative. It treats sex as something bad in itself, and doesn’t differentiate between child and adult partners. It contains its own moral hazard by not differentiating.
Also it is not against human dignity to have sex between consenting adults – this sort of talk is just prudish and irrational. Women who earn their living by being paid for sex are not in an ideal work situation, but it deserves better standing than being a mercenary soldier. Also when women have to get enough money to live, it is something to resort to, though a cleaning job is preferable; both are major female occupations. Seen in an understanding and compassionate mode, it can become a necessity and if a mother, then she is performing a noble action in sacrificing her personal inviolability to get necessities for her family.
The middle class aid salaried workers may never get personally close enough to this sort of poverty and distress to reach an understanding of the world beneath the grassroots. The ones at the top who make their pronouncements may have become saturated in management speak and elite levels of behaviour, seeing people as pawns represented by coloured markers on a map of their area of interest.
Aid workers offering help in exchange for sex does not constitute a consensual transaction.
I said that aid workers going to prostitutes should be satisfactory. The prostitutes receive money, it is their job. Surely that isn’t hard to understand. The aid workers shouldn’t be blackmailing women for sex so that they can receive aid, they should be paying for what is a personal service.
And Brigid this is not a discussion about equality of the sexes. I don’t know where the female aid workers go for sex. If they can find an outlet for their own desires good on them. This is real, hard reality and people managing the best they can and hopefully fairly and with respect for each other even harsh conditions.
I am suggesting that making a difficult job more unpleasant because of rigid rules which ban any sexual interaction at all, and treats it as an ignoble and immoral action open to disgust and retribution by the employer is irrational and unfair.
The genesis of this issue is not aid workers making consensual transactions with sex workers, as the link I posted makes abundantly clear.
Can you please identify the source of your concern regarding consensual transactions?
The genesis of the issue is the (seven years later!) allegations made against Roland van Hauwermeiren, that while he was working in Haiti for Oxfam he paid for sex.
From there, a broader spotlight has fallen across the aid sector.
And I’d guess there are aid workers perpetrating all manner of abuses.
But I don’t believe for a second that crippling the likes of Oxfam and handing their government funding to outfits like Adam Smith International will make any difference for the better.
The link at 7.1 indicates the problem is far from confined to Oxfam, and I agree it’s suspicious that they’ve been singled out.
I’m not questioning the scope. I was only pointing to the genesis being from reporting on consensual transactions for sex.
As I said previously, aside from aid programmes, some agencies are reasonable critical voices of/for society.
And I can guess some government’s don’t really want them around.
It’s not clear that the sex was consensual in Hauwermeiren’s case, and I’m pretty sure this issue predates whatever he was doing.
I agree that if Oxfam are being targeted for other reasons that’s a big problem.
Timeline: 2004: Roland van Hauwermeiren is asked to leave his job at Merlin.
2007: Corinna Csaky report (See link at 7.1) criticises a wide ranging group of NGOs.
2011: Roland van Hauwermeiren resigns as head of mission in Haiti.
Then nothing for six years.
2017/18: News media frenzy attacking Oxfam.
I think you’re both right. The original allegations were far wider than consensual transactions, and, I suspect the genesis of the current media interest is far more likely to be the stuff Bill’s talking about: hostility towards advocacy in the developed world.
I’d say three strands.
Original allegations happened in the context of wider historical problems within aid agencies around abuse (it’s not like van Hauwermeiren started this).
van Hauwermeiren’s allegations happened in the context of issues broader than consensual sex.
There’s something else going on with the current media reporting and focus on Oxfam.
I have said that the situation would be clearer if the aid agency did not say that all sex on the job with people from the work area was to be banned.
That is my point, because it clouds the issue. There is a fault in aid workers having sex with youngsters classed as children in the law of the country or against the law of the aid workers’ countries. Then there is also the problem of aid workers apparently trading aid for sex. I
Context is important here and needs to be seen as being so, to adequately discuss your issue as referred to at 11.11am OAB. .
And I started this thread. I was talking about having sex where it is legal. Haiti has been brought into it where it is illegal. That is another country.
And turning it into an abuse of power as a point. It is great for the comfortably off to have an impassioned discussion about this, with final agreement some time later that it would be better to have a no-sex rule so as not to run the risk of this. But even that is an abuse of power. The persons with the resources can afford to have long discussions when they are not in great need of the basics.
In the meantime there are people who could be doing good and being helpful to people in distress who would be happy to be treated with respect as well as aid, and who are not concerned if someone has sex with another adult and pays for it. So your academic discussions can be another barrier to being truly helpful and lack a listening ear to what people on the receiving end of aid want, and not what others say they want.
“And I started this thread. I was talking about having sex where it is legal. Haiti has been brought into it where it is illegal. That is another country.”
Well maybe you could tell us what you are talking about then, because if it’s not in reference to the Oxfam case it’s not apparent what you mean. Who has said that people can’t have sex?
It says in the quote I put up that it is from the ICRC and in the link address it says red cross. I am sorry that I didn’t spell that out for everyone.
This matter of sex on the job is emerging as a problem for all the aid agencies not just for Oxfam and I am pointing that out, and I think Oxfam might have exactly the same rigid rules as the Red Cross but am not sure about that.
I won’t say anything else now as I have made a point that I think is relevant and fair and others can pick it to bits if they wish.
There’s nothing in your link about about the Red Cross or Oxfam.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Sex_and_Other_Desperate_Measures
So I still don’t know what you are talking about. You appear to be saying that aid agencies have rules that say their workers aren’t allowed to have sex. I would be highly surprised if that is true, but by all means put up something that shows that.
weka at 1.47pm
This is from my second comment.
greywarshark 7.1.1
25 February 2018 at 10:29 am
Mr Daccord said that it was the recent reports of sexual misconduct from humanitarian agencies that had spurred the Geneva-based ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] to conduct an internal review. Its code of conduct has explicitly forbidden the purchase of sexual services since 2006….
“This behaviour is a betrayal of the people and the communities we are there to serve,” Mr Daccord said.
“It is against human dignity and we should have been more vigilant in preventing this.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/351184/red-cross-reveals-staff-paid-for-sexual-services
weka I would like you to have said:-
‘I can’t see any reference in your comment about the Red Cross or Oxfam’. This would have been politer to me seeing that I had said that the information had been in my comment. It would be good as a commenter to receive the sort of respect that is demanded by moderators.
Why am I not feeling compassion for the poor sex-starved dears?
What OAB said. The issue is of abuse of power.
Sex work in Haiti is illegal btw.
It’s a given that there are young teens and children doing sex work in Haiti, so rather than assuming that there is no rape and exploitation going on, it’s more useful to assume there is and to look at how those people can be protected where there is some choice.
This doesn’t mean that all aid workers paying sex workers is a problem, it means that politically if you argue in such a context that there is nothing wrong you are contributing to the problems by rendering invisible the power dynamics and abuse.
If men need to have sex with other people in order to have functional lives and they are in a country like Haiti, then they need to understand the broader context and the risks associated with paying people to have sex with them. Arguments that men *have to have sex in a situation where children are being raped is highly problematic for what I would have thought were obvious reasons.
Well said weka. Disturbing that anyone could think otherwise.
I strongly agree when third world poverty and survival are involved … it becomes exploitation and slavery at that point….
But in a sick Irony….. its totally possible the Pimps providing the exploited woman and children is the UN …. They have form doing this … From Bosnia , to all over Africa …. and of course Haiti , where they ran a sex trafficking ring for approx 10 years. … and also brought along Cholera … infecting the water and killing roughly 8000 earthquake survivors.
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/04/12/ap-uncovers-numerous-sexual-abuse-allegations-against-un-peaceke/22037714/ … numbers in the thousands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sexual_abuse_by_UN_peacekeepers
‘Official agencies’ have long been outed as primary players in the trafficking of human beings, narcotics and weapons…
The ‘unofficial agencies’ will be operating in the same ‘industry’…likely under the watchful eye of the ‘official agencies’….
They should be disbanded as the criminal , moral and ethically defunct operations, they actually are…with long term custodial sentences of the most punitive level applied to those at the top..in the know..
Have Shearer or Clark ever spoken openly of the known and public issues within the UN ?
Because with as close to certainty…they will be ‘in the know’…
Let’s be absolutely clear about this: you’re alleging that David Shearer and Helen Clark are accessories to multiple counts of sexual assault of children, human trafficking, and related to the arms trade, to the extent that they should serve “long term custodial sentences”.
That’s what your innuendo implies. If you meant something else, let’s hear it.
I’d say at least 50% of aid workers are female. Where do they go for ‘relief’?
If you’ve read the book you mention you’ll know that none of the authors used prostitutes for ‘relief’.
There is a thriving sex tourist industry in Africa ,where needy women enlist the services of young studs,the ‘boyfriend experience’.
This is interesting. Abacus Bank in USA. Tiny Chinese owned bank serving the Chinese community was the only bank to be sued after the GFC! Opened in 1985 by a resident or citizen, successful and have 6 branches. It has 1/20th default rates of USA banks. They found some small fraud, checked and audited and sacked the initial loan officer taking bribes and then found the others, reported to the regulators, and got a DA that wanted scalps.
Loan officers were arrested and brought in chains in front of the media, they were ordinary workers. “The DA announced the indictment and made a real spectacle of it.”
Wallace Chapman interview this morning with Steve James Director of doco that is one being shown
https://www.nziff.co.nz/2017/wellington/abacus-small-enough-to-jail/
Steve James is best remembered as the director of the award-winning “Hoop Dreams” documentary in 1994, inexplicably snubbed for an Oscar nomination. But on Monday at the 90th Academy Awards he’s in the running, for his documentary “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”.
It’s the story of what happened to Abacus bank in New York in 2012, in the fallout from the American mortgage crisis of 2008. Abacus, a small Chinese bank in Manhattan founded by Thomas Sung, was targeted by the US District Attorney and taken to court, accused of mortgage fraud. Documentary maker Steve James explains.
I’ve got a low opinion of some of those aid agencies and how they squander money.
Go to a third world country and watch the well dressed white people driving around in their NGO stenciled late model Lexus. It’s a disgusting gravy train for some, a shame for the well meaning hard workers and also the people they are supposed to help.
( yes there’s no third world etc etc)
KCC
Yes, I have heard of them living apart from the areas they are serving – one might think okay what’s wrong with that. But apparently their standard of living will match upper middle class conditions back home. They will have swimming pools and a nice house, probably some sort of air conditioning; I don’t think they would bear to go out amongst the hoi polloi much, probably travel everywhere in an air conditioned vehicle. Aid kings and queens rather than workers.
It would be like disaster tourism for a longer period.
We humans have a capacity for callousness and turning people into grotesque spectacles. Like going down to Bedlam and seeing the mad people or going to a hanging, quite a spectacle and not to be missed. Getting down and dirty right beside the people who are in extremis means that ideas have to be changed, the level of acceptance of previously unacceptable behaviour has to be raised
for them, while keeping to the values of the wealthier society need to be maintained by the workers to control their own behaviour, but not the same in their living conditions.
KCC
I have reworded the last para a bit to try and be clearer about my thinking.
Previously unacceptable behaviour may have to be accepted in those they are helping, while keeping to the values of the wealthier society need to be maintained by the workers themselves to control their own behaviour. But in their living conditions it should be known that these will drop from the normal, and that they will not have money lavished on them.
Cheers, sorry to reply to wrong post too- mobile phone plus ineptitude 🙂
No KCC it was just end to end of my two posts, not ineptitude. Operating from a small oblong instead of a large screen makes it hard to get the overview.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/02/19/people-care-more-about-the-osfam-scandal-than-the-cholera-epidemic/
“Oxfam was trying with some desperation to stem the cholera epidemic, the first outbreak of which was detected in central Haiti in October, from spreading further. By the following month, it had reached Port-au-Prince and Oxfam was trying to provide uncontaminated water to 315,000 people already rendered homeless by the earthquake. ”
“We are currently reaching over 400,000 people with water, sanitation and hygiene programmes, and another 100,000 individuals mostly through our emergency food security and vulnerable livelihoods (EFSVL) programmes.”
None of this is as titillating as the sort of thing we have been reading or watching over the last week about the sexual misconduct of Oxfam employees in Haiti, but these do seem to have kept a lot of people alive who would otherwise have died.”
Surely the discussion should be on how to improve the recruiting systems and field administration systems ,….. combined with accountability of both UN or Oxfam staff.
Not destroy Oxfams funding and aid ,,,,,,,as the english tory tax haven party are doing ,,,, with help and consent generation from corporate media.
It appears they were meant to shut up about the biggest driver of poverty and inequality in the world …. stepped on the wrong toes
Let Serco tend for it …./
The Guardian reports large temperature rises in the Arctic.
“The North Pole and northern Greenland have been 17-22C (30-40F) warmer than historical averages in recent days, adding to fears of rapid polar warming that has huge implications for global climate. The northernmost weather station in the world, Cape Morris Jesup in Greenland, was above freezing nearly all day on 20 February, according to the Danish Meteorological Institute. ”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/23/uk-faces-significant-snowfall-due-to-freezing-air-from-siberia
Has this happened before or is this a new development ?
The Schiff (Dem) rebuttal to the Nunes (Rep) memo.
http://docs.house.gov/meetings/ig/ig00/20180205/106838/hmtg-115-ig00-20180205-sd002.pdf
Oh dear.
https://twitter.com/DrDenaGrayson/status/967602500693102592
We already have stink bugs arriving in NZ lets hope we don’t get the toads…
Toxic toad invasion puts ecology of Madagascar at risk
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/24/madagascar-toxic-toads-lemurs-ecology-threat
Major Ropata WahaWah
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-375351692/view?partId=nla.obj-375356889#page/n6/mode/1up
More money than Key and from an even more dodgy source, if that’s truly possible !!! Blood money from murdering in Iraq, running a mercenary force in the illegal war; received many multi millions paid to him directly by the Pentagon, by his own admission.
This man must never become a major office holder, please.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/21-02-2018/why-aspiring-national-leader-mark-mitchells-war-for-profit-past-matters/
Carolyn-Nth .. no way to tag you, sorry !
Thanks, veuto. Very apt analysis. So Mitchell owned the Threat Management group until 2010, when he put himself forward as a National candidate.
And he refuses to answer questions about his involvement in war for profit.
Interesting.
Hi Carloyn-Nth .. glad you found it. Good to know others are watching this. Veuto ?? not this one but it doesn’t matter !!
Sorry, rawsharkyeshe – I followed your link, then read a couple of other related articles, and came back to thank you.
No probs at all !! 🙂 Wonder how Mitchell will fare tomorrow ? His background is so laundered now … ugh.
I suspect Mitchell is trying to get his name known for a leadership bid a couple of years down the track.
Looks like Grand Marshal Bonespur is going play CIC.
President Donald Trump’s plans for a White House-backed military parade are beginning to take shape.
The president has directed the Department of Defense to organize a parade that would take place on Nov. 11 – Veterans Day – according to an unclassified Feb. 20 memo written by National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
[…]
Whether the president himself will participate in the event remains unclear. Macron took part in France’s parade, riding in an open-top military vehicle alongside the former chief of the French armed forces and surrounded by hundreds of military men on horseback.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/23/trump-military-parade-veterans-day-423405?lo=ap_d1
Grand Marshal Bonespur indeed !! lol Wonder if Bobby Three Sticks Mueller will have his cunning way with him before then ? Popcorn ready ….
Just asking who picks up the tab for shonkey Earthquake Repairs in Christchurch, Fletchers or the Taxpayer ?
Surely if their has been fraud involved the Head Contractor should be responsible for the appropriate corrective action ?
The Fletchers money will be long gone ,,, protected by Limited liability ,,, some ‘legally’ paid into executives different trusts … allowing personally bankrupted people to drive around in rolls royces … or live in multi million dollar homes … ala Wellingtons Renouf ,,,,or Aucklands equiticorp exec Hawkins …. etc
It sounds like Nationals come up with a neo leaky buildings disaster … pass the ball time again…. More bad times for home owners mainly.
Nationals new degraded building mess could be known as ……
The great Christchurch shake down
Rebuild Rortification
Brownless huge Crack syndrome … systemic arse,,,, 80% non compliant, National TM
although typical, not necessary in this instance
Curiously….
“However, no KPIs were put in place until the agreement was amended in May 2015.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/79176677/no-performance-targets-for-fletcher-eqr-until-2015
But….
“EQC has set a deadline to close the Canterbury Home Repair Programme to all new customers and repairs from Monday, 1 June 2015, to ensure it has the right amount of resources necessary to complete the programme.
From 1 June, no further customers will be accepted into CHRP unless they have a prior agreement with EQR or EQC, and previously cash-settled customers will not be able to opt back in to the programme.”
https://www.eqc.govt.nz/news/deadline-for-managed-repair-%E2%80%93-1-june-2015
Now theres a coincidence.
Taxpayer(if anyone)…..thanks National
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/71124031/no-responsibility-on-fletcher-eqr-for-shoddy-quake-repairs-contract-suggests
A good little bit of digging …..thanks Pat … I always appreciate learning something.
youre welcome…but no need to dig….is fairly common knowledge in ChCh
So we the taxpayers are going to pick up the tab AGAIN for shonkey repairs in Christchurch or the homeowners are just going to have to eat shit like National’s Leaky Housing/Building Crisis which is still unresolved to date ?
probably both….some will give up (or have already) and wear the loss….others will continue to fight and will be paid (possibly partial) by the taxpayer.
Conservatives wanted to say they had a black guy, too.
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/967383625900556289
The Russell McVeigh story must be causing insomnia for a few lawyers at the moment…
And I feel sorry for the victims and the huge imbalance of power from start to finish in this saga too. Surely it’s not an isolated situation.
Anyone else following this?
Just read the “not threatening” letter Adam Ross QC sent Newsroom.
My initial response to hearing the story was that this behaviour isn’t confined to one law firm. I’m hoping it creates space for others to come forward.
Yeah it’s pretty screwed up.
Fairly toxic environment, by the look of it.
I think this behaviour is common practice in most major Law Firms in NZ it goes with the territory and is one of the perks of the job ?
Norman Finkelstein on Israel’s ramped up targeting of civilians
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2018/02/23/gaza-on-the-brink-norman-finkelstein-on-israeli-forces-targeting-palestinian-civilians/
What a shame and the world is a poorer place for the death of this beautiful person.
Emma Chambers died today of natural causes
We will miss you Emma with your wonderful sense of humour that made us all feel very humble and had a good laugh at the same time.
Rest in peace. You will be sorely missed.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/24/vicar-dibleys-emma-chambers-dies-aged-53/
Awesome Haka Rotorua boys High. I have to remember that the mokos are there and I did not realise that you mokos had a good vantage point. Its hard keeping my ego in check when I have all those sandflys following me around everywhere and trying harressing me. But I will make sure that I’m a good example for the mokos just didn’t realise that you were there. Be proud of OUR Maori culture and your tepuna like ECO MAORI is Kia kaha. Ka kite ano P.S. Isn’t it peculiar that I had to get that book of my tepuna Ropata WahaWaha from A Australian online library that’s suppression of our Ngati-porou culture and people by the neoliberals they are scared of Ngati-porou Mana
Funny how a lot of the old family archives and records just disappear, especially if family lawyers have anything to do with things ?
I haven’t quite finished the book yet to busy checking the sandflys and rowing my Waka be good mokos from what I have read from our history one can have the genealogical of great tepuna but it is how you conduct yourself that counts being humble humane and respectful. That is the way my MAMA taught me Kai pai.
Ka kite ano
Question for people who have more knowledge than me on this. Have you heard of this outfit and what they are doing?
https://landinstitute.org/
From what I’ve read and seen I really like, can the smart weka and/or Robert Guyton offer their opinions – I would be very interested?
Is anything like it happening here?
Being humble doesn’t mean you take a step backwards well I do when my wife challenges me that’s Mana Wahine treat the ladies with respect mokos that’s the way our tepuna did it.
Back to being challenged in life be it sports mahi whatever you don’t take a step backwards but you don’t go around disrespecting anybody or anything to complete your challenges in life.
That’s the way Steven Adams behaves that’s why I’m a fan of his and that’s the way ECO MAORI behaves.
I’m colour blind as well I can see colours just some I get mixed up with green yellow brown red blue purple.
So I treat every one the same no matter what colours they are with respect but with a guard up at all times that’s the way of OUR Papatuanukue at the minute. Kia kaha Ka kite ano
All right I do disrespect the sandflys but the don’t show ECO MAORI any respect they treat me like a idiot.
But you must show them respect that’s is the best way to keep your nose clean Ka pai Kia kaha Ka kite Ano P.S I will have to go back to school to learn more of OUR REO
Mao Zedong lives.
China will remove the constitutional restriction for the maximum number of terms the president and vice-president can serve, Xinhua reported on Sunday, paving the way for President Xi Jinping to stay on beyond 2023.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2134624/china-will-scrap-limit-presidents-term-meaning-xi?