Weka, you're on a Left site with a Rogernome. What do you make of that? Does that make it a Left site? He established it with his computer knowledge. I avoid this site because of that. And am irritated by the prick apparently representing the Left on Nat Rad's Monday politics morning segment. Social democracy is the only Left worth a shit.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[Let me help you with your avoidance and other issues, have a break from this site because your comments have not sparked joy here in a very long time – Incognito]
Because the world sits back and does nothing! Easy for the NZ government to join in and speak out against the US supplied targets but that is about where morality (and kindness!) runs out.
I believe that no religion should dictate to the state and no politician should use the political platform they have to force their beliefs on others.
Eh? That's exactly what politicians do.
If this wolf in sheep's clothing ever gets near the ninth floor New Zealand will be a carbon copy of current Australia. Morally corrupt, reactionary, and aggressive. Chris Luxon is so like Scott Morrison it's not funny.
I think we saw his campaign for leadership kick off last night, and its almost inevitable that he will take the leadership at some time. He is one of those people that has reached the top of everything he has touched so I have no doubt the Tory leadership will be the next thing.
He's articulate and clear in his thoughts so definitely someone to be concerned with.
His speech tried to push religion to one side but it is clearly something that defines him and something that he can be attacked for and something that he can be brought down on.
You might be looking for the term "moderator". They're the ones with powers of banning and bold-type editing.
But careful, moderators are only human and can get trigger-happy when they get passionate about a position.
Putting up with some foibles along those lines is one of the costs of getting to play in someone else's sandpit and meeting new and interesting people there.
Or you can follow the choice of a few erstwhile commenters who flipped the double bird, covered themselves in comment gasoline, and walked out in a blaze of permaban glory. But in your case, that would make the place less interesting in the longer term.
Mods and admins apparently have interesting arguments about policy in the backend. Meh. Whether or not a particular moderator is a jerk is the backend problem, lol
Don't know what you mean there. You called a comment Islamophobic and then you made some political points about that. If you were intending something other that, it went over my head.
IMO, it was heading in the wrong direction, particularly combined with that ‘political statement’. However, I would not have deleted it, personally, but it was not a reply to one of my comments. I’d rather drop this here & now but we can have a chat in the back-end, if you wish or rather, discuss it with RL in the back-end.
I see no point in getting pulled into your personal crusade, as I’m keen to avoid another futile fight here that sparks no joy and does not contribute anything useful, IMO. This was the gist of my comment, in case you missed it.
You’re entitled to choose which hill you want to die on, if you must insist.
I think another odd thing about his defence of Luxon and Morrison is that they are not traditional Christians. New age Christians such as these two and their stablemate Brian Tamaki is they don’t have a history of Christian values and a culture of giving. The community involvement of these Christian start and finishes at their own community, in contrast to, say, The Sisters of Mercy who have given many, many decades of service to nursing and teaching, and more recently community health and respite care.
The new age, monetised churches of Morrison, Luxon and Tamaki appear to be more about meting your future wife.
Nope! He didn’t ask me what I think of either your or his comment, but it was you who asked me to give my view on his comment @ 4.2.1 and yet, you didn’t ask me about your own deleted comment. I have no interest in playing ball with you or taking sides in this senseless ‘debate’. As I suggested before, let it go; you’re wasting (our) time.
Wasting your time? You don't appear to be doing anything in terms of moderation or you would have cautioned Redlogix.
[you’re now stepping over a line. Don’t tell us how to do our job, and especially don’t tell us when you plainly don’t understand how moderation works on site. Moderating other authors in the front end is reserved for extreme situations, not run of the mill bullshit like this. If you want to have it out with an author, do that and risk the consequences, but don’t start hassling other mods to take futile actions – weka]
It is your problem if you misconstrue words, meanings, intentions and falsely interpret other people’s beliefs. This has zero relation with ChCh, it is a personal problem and you’re projecting.
I've said it many times before, we don't post in a bubble. That's not the first comment by that moderator which punches down and specifically slights Muslims. I'm cursed with a detailed memory if you will.
I don't see the connection with Chch either. People are still free to criticise Islam here, and they're also free to criticise what they see as hypocrisy over how different religious groups are treated. You then get to argue against that, and people get to argue against your arguments, that's how TS works (which is what should have happened instead of deleting your comment. I disagree with both of you fwiw).
So, we’re now being pulled into Muttonbird’s rabbit hole discussing what they want (us) to discuss, which is exactly the futile crap I tried to avoid 🙁
you do get that once you start making it about the author/mod rather than the politics, that this creates problems, right?
All the authors here disagree with each other on politics at some point, and some of us disagree a lot. Commenters likewise. You can argue the politics, but if you want to criticise an author, you need to have something a damn site better than not liking their politics or position on an issue.
Nope. It isn't. You are laughable wrong on this – I have a big problem with fundamentalist zealots who use any religion as a cover for their evil. On this I'm remarkably even-handed, I really don't care what label is being used.
But attacking an MP solely on the grounds of their faith is entirely out of bounds.
Quite the contrary – Islam is a highly diverse religion, with a rich history I could bore you with for hours. (Hell once upon a time I could give you a reasonably decent account of the life and times of the Twelve Imams – and the impact this has had on the political life of Islam ever since.)
And while in the West we are most aware of the visible split between the Sunni and Shi'a traditions (a bit like the split between Catholic and Protestant, but it starts much earlier and is more fundamental in many ways) – in the modern context it's more powerful to think of the difference between the fundamentalist Wahhabist's and the mystical traditions of the Sufi's and the many threads that have spun off from them.
I seriously suggest you just call it a night. The wonderful thing about the internet is that if you wake up in the morning and some dude still really needs to be called a #$!@%@#$%$^, you can always do it while you have a cup of tea and cornflakes.
Not sure that attacking Luxon for his religious beliefs is a good tactic. I'm old enough to remember a 'left' Christianity being a thing with activists who took the Gospels seriously, and also how liberation theology took off in Latin America and was then ruthlessly stamped out. If we look only at the regressive (and frankly heretical) right-wing forms of Christianity now dominant in the US, it's easy to forget this aspect of the past.
For me the 'tell' in the linked article on Luxon was that he promoted his record of "getting things done". But the whole of politics is deciding what those things are, not the mere doing of them. It's an attempt to make his political ideology appear natural, inevitable and unquestionable. There is no argument and no alternative – we select our political masters purely on their ability to implement the programme with maximum efficiency. Very, very common trick on the right – and indicates to me that Luxon might be a smooth operator, but has the depth of a pot-plant.
edit
‘Religion’ has become a whitewash for unsatisfactory practices. It is an Authority for almost anything you can think of, with some pertinent verse from the Bible as a generating source.
People who talk about religion now, need to be looked at carefully, as always they should have been. But it has acquired a great PR, and has become a marketing tool, for educational businesses (the school you can trust to teach the Right Way, but wrongs can still happen there under cover). The drive and determination and dislike (three major D's) of Exclusive Brethren worries me. They set themselves against ordinary people who their leaders and teachings despise, but mingle with citizens like 'sleepers' when it suits them to use society or appear good guys in some format. There are other sects that pose a threat, scientology might be one. Actually these groups are just another 'gang' that separates itself from liking society in general, and being part of a community with the culture of being good, positive, and supportive individuals, though living amongst it.
I am concerned about the tax exemption that religions get. Church, religious, big business can reach monopoly position if run under religious or charitable aegis. Then ordinary business finds it hard to compete and can't get a toehold in the market. And so the nation's tax take on business enterprises and GDP generally, is reduced. Think Gloriavalue (a typo that seems applicable there!), low-paid workers who are almost in a Brave New World scenario.
Recent heading Gloriavale profit $2.8m, assets $41m. (The Press Mar.4/2021). These are not huge numbers considering the number of people involved, made larger by the big families they are inclined to have. This is not an ordinary community, and they are not likely to be paying ordinary tax levels. Indeed there was a day of rejoicing some while back when they had a decision on tax that lessened their requirements. Now in Business The Press, Mar.25/21, it reports they have a FernMark export licence.
The 'stealth' businesses and practices like this that continue and multiply, further weaken the nation and its prospects for individual citizens to achieve a reasonable living and individual personal life dstandards. As well we have the world investing here, sucking up resources and trashing the remainder, taking their profits elsewhere.
Our government, like a failing sports administration, sits and watches and calls out mostly from the sidelines, employing others through quasi semi-government agencies with some business approach about which we can know nothing because of its 'commercial sensitivity'. News in The Press Mar.25/21 is CDHB Reports to Stay Secret; Lester Levy is one of 'fixit plumbers' as Commissioner, and he has to try to cut the hospital entity's forecast deficit of $145 million, but CE Peter Bramley is largely in the dark about what.
Our bureaucrats are often imported with experience in stripping away quality as well as perceived fat, and join the exalted ranks of NZ-people-bashers and do well for themselves at it. See recent Chch CEO from Brit, recent Nelson NMIT CEO Sloan also Brit, after two? years left for a superior job in Australia, Joanne Wotsername who defrauded us at various government venues, and after a short period of detention has returned to Brit, changed her name once again and renewed her career. It's a laugh, give it a go to see if you can still manage an ironical one.
If an MP cannot express a basic Bill of Rights Act right such as right to belong to a religion without the hard left jeering at him, then there are plenty of other human rights one could then degrade in Parliament at the same time. Who know some of them may be important to you.
If you want to go toe to toe on whether Christianity was any good for New Zealand over all, why not do a post on it? Then we can all join in with actual facts instead of your thoughtless slurs.
So long as the rest of us don't have to live with any wilder shores of his "faith". And there are a lot of people who subscribe to doing good by their community and fellow people without being anywhere near any faith based beliefs.
In fact it strikes me as more than a little condescending to almost insinuate or imply that only the faith based have the welfare of others in mind…. that would be a change of pace for Nact wouldn't it? Time for some searching interviewing on how he perceives welfare benefits, unions and other people empowering organisations.
… it strikes me as more than a little condescending to almost insinuate or imply that only the faith based have the welfare of others in mind…. that would be a change of pace for Nact wouldn't it? Time for some searching interviewing on how he perceives welfare benefits, unions and other people empowering organisations.
"Where she goes, we go. Where she stands, we stand."
Alwyn, given the context of Savage's speech, "condescending" and "Colonialist" are not words that immediately spring to my mind, but each to their own.
When New Zealand declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage was recovering from an operation for colon cancer. Acting Prime Minister Peter Fraser issued a statement in his place.
Two days later Savage spoke to the public from his sickbed at his home in Wellington. The address was broadcast on the radio that evening and widely reported in newspapers over the following days.
Savage’s speech was at once an attack on the evils of Nazism and an expression of the country’s loyalty to and support for Britain:
Both with gratitude for the past and confidence in the future, we range ourselves without fear beside Britain. Where she goes, we go. Where she stands, we stand. We are only a small and young nation, but we are one and all a band of brothers and we march forward with union of hearts and wills to a common destiny.
Savage died just over six months later, on 27 March 1940, and was succeeded by Fraser, who led the government for the rest of the Second World War.
He was one of 15 MPs to vote against safe areas around abortion clinics.
Dunno if being in the conservative eighth counts as "extreme", but at least one of his beliefs seems to be at odds with his statement "I believe that no religion should dictate to the state and no politician should use the political platform they have to force their beliefs on others".
Typically petty from the Taxdodgers’ Union. Here they mimic and trivialise messages from children to the PM, for political purposes.
Imagine that, highjacking the innocence of children for dirty political deeds. No wonder they and their masters, ACT and National are at one of their lowest points yet in the eyes of New Zealand voters.
The CAT (sorry missspelled, must try different spell) man or woman or… probably wrote that letter themself. Most of the crossings out will be because they kept jiggling and giggling at their cleverness.
New Zealand maritime workers losing their jobs, being told they cannot leave New Zealand to work. Meanwhile ships taking New Zealand passengers and cargo, in New Zealand coastal waters, are allowed foreign crews, are NZ tax exempt and NZ labour laws exempt.
In the various attempts to hype vitamin D against covid, studies examining whether vitamin D levels prior to exposure affect the likelihood of getting infected have been somewhat hard to come by.
But one has recently come out. And though the headlines and breathless write-ups scream that it shows that higher vitamin D levels reduce risk of covid for black people, the data really doesn't appear to support that claim. For starters, the line is flat for white people, and the ups and downs in the chart for black people is equally consistent with the hypothesis that it's just noise due to the small numbers involved, and that vitamin D levels are not associated with risk of getting covid.
Consider: the error bars in the chart for black people all include the risk of infection being 7%, regardless of vitamin D level. Furthermore, the claim "the risk of having positive results in Black individuals was 2.64-fold greater with a vitamin D level of 30 to 39.9 ng/mL than a level of 40 ng/mL or greater and decreased by 5% per 1-ng/mL increase in level among individuals with a level of 30 ng/mL or greater. There were no statistically significant associations of vitamin D levels with COVID-19 positivity rates in White individuals." appears to be a straight interpolation of a line between two averaged data points that completely ignores the previous data point in the series, which happens to suggest a low risk of infection with a lowish vitamin D level of 20 to 30 ng/ml.
All in all, this study shows there's likely not a benefit from vitamin D in reducing the likelihood of getting covid. It also illustrates how researchers that get invested in a particular idea get sucked into claiming their results show something that really probably isn't there. Or if there actually is an effect, at best it's likely very small.
Well that's a creative way to read the outcome of the study. Did you not see this statement?
"In this single-center retrospective cohort study, COVID-19 risk increased among Black individuals with vitamin D level less than 40 ng/mL compared with those with 40 ng/mL or greater and decreased with increasing levels among individuals with levels greater than 30 ng/mL. No significant associations were noted for White individuals."
Sounds to me that Viamin D does play a significant role.
A key point is conveyed in the final sentence of that paragraph, which was omitted from the quote : " Randomized clinical trials should examine whether increasing vitamin D level to greater than 40 ng/mL affects COVID-19 risk."
That paragraph was written by the researchers that have been invested for quite a while in the idea that vitamin D is effective against covid, and are fishing for funding to do more studies. So therefore there is a need to present the results in a positive light. It's their motivated reasoning talking, not a skeptical dispassionate look at the actual evidence.
When looking at the results of a study like this, there are always two competing hypotheses. The null hypothesis is "this stuff doesn't do shit, or might even be actively harmful", and should always be considered by far the most likely outcome. This should be the default conclusion if the results are reasonably compatible with this null hypothesis.
The competing hypothesis is the extraordinary claim that "this stuff really truly actually helps". Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Small blips in the data that are within the range of expected random variations for the sample sizes involved, as we see in this study, do not constitute extraordinary evidence. Sorry. Even given how much we all desperately want something, anything, to help fight this disease.
Well at best they should only be here for a limited time and should train locals while they are about it. And we should continue to downsize the population . For every visa granted another could be withdrawn from a less constrained sector.
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Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
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Weka, you're on a Left site with a Rogernome. What do you make of that? Does that make it a Left site? He established it with his computer knowledge. I avoid this site because of that. And am irritated by the prick apparently representing the Left on Nat Rad's Monday politics morning segment. Social democracy is the only Left worth a shit.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[Let me help you with your avoidance and other issues, have a break from this site because your comments have not sparked joy here in a very long time – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 11:16 pm.
Hmmm, maybe this is why RNZ is full of pro business whinging these days–much of the actual working class do not have the time or resources to issue media releases and develop political strategies like serial property owners and “scumlords” do.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/439097/more-than-a-third-of-people-living-pay-day-to-pay-day-study
…and Auckland Central Green MP Chlöe gently socks it to Labour on housing…
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018788954/enough-from-investors-nz-should-pay-attention-to-mum-and-dad-renters-swarbrick
Because the world sits back and does nothing! Easy for the NZ government to join in and speak out against the US supplied targets but that is about where morality (and kindness!) runs out.
Scumo 2.0 says:
Eh? That's exactly what politicians do.
If this wolf in sheep's clothing ever gets near the ninth floor New Zealand will be a carbon copy of current Australia. Morally corrupt, reactionary, and aggressive. Chris Luxon is so like Scott Morrison it's not funny.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/03/national-mp-christopher-luxon-fiercely-defends-his-christian-faith-in-maiden-speech.html
Savage, Fraser and Nash would have fulsomely approved.
Fully approved.
Fulsomely but not necessarily fully. They were still different parties. Luxon would not describe Christianity as "applied Socialism".
More of a Prosperity Gospel type
I think we saw his campaign for leadership kick off last night, and its almost inevitable that he will take the leadership at some time. He is one of those people that has reached the top of everything he has touched so I have no doubt the Tory leadership will be the next thing.
He's articulate and clear in his thoughts so definitely someone to be concerned with.
His speech tried to push religion to one side but it is clearly something that defines him and something that he can be attacked for and something that he can be brought down on.
something that he can be attacked for and something that he can be brought down on.
He should convert to Islam – then he could do no wrong.
What a bad faith, distasteful and diversionary comment.
Would anyone on the left dream of suggesting that a Muslim MP 'could be brought down because of his religion'?
Of course not – the blatant double standard is obvious.
(And just to save you wondering – I am neither a Christian nor a Muslim.)
Wasn't there an Islamic MP who abstained from I think the prostitution legalisation vote? One of those conscience bills.
If one's religious beliefs aren't relevant to one's politics, don't vote along those lines.
If one does vote according to one's religious beliefs, don't pretend otherwise.
[RL: Deleted.]
That's really interesting that RL would delete criticism of his comment.
I'm surprised he hasn't deleted his comment from the sunny Gold Coast.
All power to the authors here, no matter how objectionable their views are.
OM does not have an Author as such so your comment makes no sense. I’d suggest you let it go rather than picking a fight with no winners.
And what do you think of RL's comment at 4.2.1?
This is a hill I'll happily die on with respect to that author/commenter. I believe he's a wrong 'un.
You might be looking for the term "moderator". They're the ones with powers of banning and bold-type editing.
But careful, moderators are only human and can get trigger-happy when they get passionate about a position.
Putting up with some foibles along those lines is one of the costs of getting to play in someone else's sandpit and meeting new and interesting people there.
Or you can follow the choice of a few erstwhile commenters who flipped the double bird, covered themselves in comment gasoline, and walked out in a blaze of permaban glory. But in your case, that would make the place less interesting in the longer term.
Mods and admins apparently have interesting arguments about policy in the backend. Meh. Whether or not a particular moderator is a jerk is the backend problem, lol
Mostly most authors try to not have interesting arguments in the backend 😉
Yup, we’re either too busy or having avoidance issues 😉
there's not really any hill to die on though. McFlock summarised what will happen, and then you just won't be here.
fwiw, I can't see much wrong with the comment given it's OM and given the context of TS debate generally.
I'm genuinely surprised by that. You are usually very sensitive to intent in speech.
Don't know what you mean there. You called a comment Islamophobic and then you made some political points about that. If you were intending something other that, it went over my head.
Best to ignore and let it go, I’d say. It’s not worth the energy fighting figments of somebody else’s imagination.
I thought it was worth noting that there didn't appear to be a reason for deleting the comment (in terms of TS norms).
IMO, it was heading in the wrong direction, particularly combined with that ‘political statement’. However, I would not have deleted it, personally, but it was not a reply to one of my comments. I’d rather drop this here & now but we can have a chat in the back-end, if you wish or rather, discuss it with RL in the back-end.
I see no point in getting pulled into your personal crusade, as I’m keen to avoid another futile fight here that sparks no joy and does not contribute anything useful, IMO. This was the gist of my comment, in case you missed it.
You’re entitled to choose which hill you want to die on, if you must insist.
It's RL's Crusade, in fact.
I think another odd thing about his defence of Luxon and Morrison is that they are not traditional Christians. New age Christians such as these two and their stablemate Brian Tamaki is they don’t have a history of Christian values and a culture of giving. The community involvement of these Christian start and finishes at their own community, in contrast to, say, The Sisters of Mercy who have given many, many decades of service to nursing and teaching, and more recently community health and respite care.
The new age, monetised churches of Morrison, Luxon and Tamaki appear to be more about meting your future wife.
Nope! He didn’t ask me what I think of either your or his comment, but it was you who asked me to give my view on his comment @ 4.2.1 and yet, you didn’t ask me about your own deleted comment. I have no interest in playing ball with you or taking sides in this senseless ‘debate’. As I suggested before, let it go; you’re wasting (our) time.
Wasting your time? You don't appear to be doing anything in terms of moderation or you would have cautioned Redlogix.
[you’re now stepping over a line. Don’t tell us how to do our job, and especially don’t tell us when you plainly don’t understand how moderation works on site. Moderating other authors in the front end is reserved for extreme situations, not run of the mill bullshit like this. If you want to have it out with an author, do that and risk the consequences, but don’t start hassling other mods to take futile actions – weka]
Wasting time commenting is still wasting time.
If you prefer, I could waste my time moderating, but that is an offence here 😉
You don’t take gentle hints kindly.
Let it go!
mod note for you Muttonbird.
Ta
Gee, thanks. Just surprised after Christchurch this stuff still gets through.
It is your problem if you misconstrue words, meanings, intentions and falsely interpret other people’s beliefs. This has zero relation with ChCh, it is a personal problem and you’re projecting.
I've said it many times before, we don't post in a bubble. That's not the first comment by that moderator which punches down and specifically slights Muslims. I'm cursed with a detailed memory if you will.
I don't see the connection with Chch either. People are still free to criticise Islam here, and they're also free to criticise what they see as hypocrisy over how different religious groups are treated. You then get to argue against that, and people get to argue against your arguments, that's how TS works (which is what should have happened instead of deleting your comment. I disagree with both of you fwiw).
So, we’re now being pulled into Muttonbird’s rabbit hole discussing what they want (us) to discuss, which is exactly the futile crap I tried to avoid 🙁
Good night.
you do get that once you start making it about the author/mod rather than the politics, that this creates problems, right?
All the authors here disagree with each other on politics at some point, and some of us disagree a lot. Commenters likewise. You can argue the politics, but if you want to criticise an author, you need to have something a damn site better than not liking their politics or position on an issue.
Incog, my reply was to your comment, but I was speaking to MB 🙂
You would have instantly detected an attack on a Muslim MP 'to use his religion to bring him down' as wrong and objectionable. And rightly so.
Yet for some reason an attack on an MP because he is a Christian goes totally unremarked by most people here except Ad and AB.
Yet somehow you managed to get that completely arse about.
This isn't about Chris Luxon, sunshine. This is about your clear and apparent issue with Islam, and Islam alone.
Nope. It isn't. You are laughable wrong on this – I have a big problem with fundamentalist zealots who use any religion as a cover for their evil. On this I'm remarkably even-handed, I really don't care what label is being used.
But attacking an MP solely on the grounds of their faith is entirely out of bounds.
What zealots were discussed on this thread before you brought them into it?
I believe when you see Islam all you see are zealots and that is a problem.
Quite the contrary – Islam is a highly diverse religion, with a rich history I could bore you with for hours. (Hell once upon a time I could give you a reasonably decent account of the life and times of the Twelve Imams – and the impact this has had on the political life of Islam ever since.)
And while in the West we are most aware of the visible split between the Sunni and Shi'a traditions (a bit like the split between Catholic and Protestant, but it starts much earlier and is more fundamental in many ways) – in the modern context it's more powerful to think of the difference between the fundamentalist Wahhabist's and the mystical traditions of the Sufi's and the many threads that have spun off from them.
The former gave us ISIL, the latter something the West could genuinely do well to pay a lot more attention to.
I remember you once said you deleted more comments than you posted.
Perhaps you should have done that at 9:27am today.
I seriously suggest you just call it a night. The wonderful thing about the internet is that if you wake up in the morning and some dude still really needs to be called a #$!@%@#$%$^, you can always do it while you have a cup of tea and cornflakes.
But most jerks ain't worth it.
Bit of a risky move (politically and otherwise) in NZ, don’t you think?
Do no wrong, you say?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infallibility_of_the_Church
"He should convert to Islam – then he could do no wrong"
I wouldn't be so sure about that. There were a lot of pretty nasty comments made about Tim Groser when he was a Cabinet Minister, weren't there?
A lot of them were on this Blog, often by people who still contribute their opinions here.
A few names that come to mind are Stuart Munro, Blazer, Jenny, cleangreen and Cinny.
I think Stuart was probably the most vituperative.
If you want to see them just put Groser in the search box.
Not sure that attacking Luxon for his religious beliefs is a good tactic. I'm old enough to remember a 'left' Christianity being a thing with activists who took the Gospels seriously, and also how liberation theology took off in Latin America and was then ruthlessly stamped out. If we look only at the regressive (and frankly heretical) right-wing forms of Christianity now dominant in the US, it's easy to forget this aspect of the past.
For me the 'tell' in the linked article on Luxon was that he promoted his record of "getting things done". But the whole of politics is deciding what those things are, not the mere doing of them. It's an attempt to make his political ideology appear natural, inevitable and unquestionable. There is no argument and no alternative – we select our political masters purely on their ability to implement the programme with maximum efficiency. Very, very common trick on the right – and indicates to me that Luxon might be a smooth operator, but has the depth of a pot-plant.
edit
‘Religion’ has become a whitewash for unsatisfactory practices. It is an Authority for almost anything you can think of, with some pertinent verse from the Bible as a generating source.
People who talk about religion now, need to be looked at carefully, as always they should have been. But it has acquired a great PR, and has become a marketing tool, for educational businesses (the school you can trust to teach the Right Way, but wrongs can still happen there under cover). The drive and determination and dislike (three major D's) of Exclusive Brethren worries me. They set themselves against ordinary people who their leaders and teachings despise, but mingle with citizens like 'sleepers' when it suits them to use society or appear good guys in some format. There are other sects that pose a threat, scientology might be one. Actually these groups are just another 'gang' that separates itself from liking society in general, and being part of a community with the culture of being good, positive, and supportive individuals, though living amongst it.
I am concerned about the tax exemption that religions get. Church, religious, big business can reach monopoly position if run under religious or charitable aegis. Then ordinary business finds it hard to compete and can't get a toehold in the market. And so the nation's tax take on business enterprises and GDP generally, is reduced. Think Gloriavalue (a typo that seems applicable there!), low-paid workers who are almost in a Brave New World scenario.
Recent heading Gloriavale profit $2.8m, assets $41m. (The Press Mar.4/2021). These are not huge numbers considering the number of people involved, made larger by the big families they are inclined to have. This is not an ordinary community, and they are not likely to be paying ordinary tax levels. Indeed there was a day of rejoicing some while back when they had a decision on tax that lessened their requirements. Now in Business The Press, Mar.25/21, it reports they have a FernMark export licence.
The 'stealth' businesses and practices like this that continue and multiply, further weaken the nation and its prospects for individual citizens to achieve a reasonable living and individual personal life dstandards. As well we have the world investing here, sucking up resources and trashing the remainder, taking their profits elsewhere.
Our government, like a failing sports administration, sits and watches and calls out mostly from the sidelines, employing others through quasi semi-government agencies with some business approach about which we can know nothing because of its 'commercial sensitivity'. News in The Press Mar.25/21 is CDHB Reports to Stay Secret; Lester Levy is one of 'fixit plumbers' as Commissioner, and he has to try to cut the hospital entity's forecast deficit of $145 million, but CE Peter Bramley is largely in the dark about what.
Our bureaucrats are often imported with experience in stripping away quality as well as perceived fat, and join the exalted ranks of NZ-people-bashers and do well for themselves at it. See recent Chch CEO from Brit, recent Nelson NMIT CEO Sloan also Brit, after two? years left for a superior job in Australia, Joanne Wotsername who defrauded us at various government venues, and after a short period of detention has returned to Brit, changed her name once again and renewed her career. It's a laugh, give it a go to see if you can still manage an ironical one.
The Brits have a pert saying – 'What a shower'.
If an MP cannot express a basic Bill of Rights Act right such as right to belong to a religion without the hard left jeering at him, then there are plenty of other human rights one could then degrade in Parliament at the same time. Who know some of them may be important to you.
If you want to go toe to toe on whether Christianity was any good for New Zealand over all, why not do a post on it? Then we can all join in with actual facts instead of your thoughtless slurs.
Pretty good way to alienate the christian left, I'd've thought.
So long as the rest of us don't have to live with any wilder shores of his "faith". And there are a lot of people who subscribe to doing good by their community and fellow people without being anywhere near any faith based beliefs.
In fact it strikes me as more than a little condescending to almost insinuate or imply that only the faith based have the welfare of others in mind…. that would be a change of pace for Nact wouldn't it? Time for some searching interviewing on how he perceives welfare benefits, unions and other people empowering organisations.
My bold.
Exactly my thoughts too.
How would you describe somebody who said that their parties' Social Security Policy was simply "Applied Christianity" I wonder.
That is how Micky Savage (the real one) classified his intentions in the 1930s.
He also said of Great Britain 'Where she goes, we go; where she stands we stand"
Was he condescending do you think? And a Colonialist to boot?
Alwyn, given the context of Savage's speech, "condescending" and "Colonialist" are not words that immediately spring to my mind, but each to their own.
He was one of 15 MPs to vote against safe areas around abortion clinics.
Dunno if being in the conservative eighth counts as "extreme", but at least one of his beliefs seems to be at odds with his statement "I believe that no religion should dictate to the state and no politician should use the political platform they have to force their beliefs on others".
Typically petty from the Taxdodgers’ Union. Here they mimic and trivialise messages from children to the PM, for political purposes.
Imagine that, highjacking the innocence of children for dirty political deeds. No wonder they and their masters, ACT and National are at one of their lowest points yet in the eyes of New Zealand voters.
https://twitter.com/TaxpayersUnion/status/1374495984856694797
The
CAT(sorry missspelled, must try different spell) man or woman or… probably wrote that letter themself. Most of the crossings out will be because they kept jiggling and giggling at their cleverness.Incepted?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incept
That is a cute font they found, tho.
Lol. I didn't pick that one up. Can't get good people, eh?
Does the tax payers union get its pedagogy from children, as per the Cambridge meaning of incept?
Ah, the taxpayer-funded taxpayer's "union". Shine on, you crazy diamonds.
McF
Puts them on a par with a six year old who is learning words.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/439114/dhbs-dermatology-gap-forces-kids-to-miss-school-for-months-doctor
THIRD WORLD COUNTRY…Fourth…fifth…
New Zealand maritime workers losing their jobs, being told they cannot leave New Zealand to work. Meanwhile ships taking New Zealand passengers and cargo, in New Zealand coastal waters, are allowed foreign crews, are NZ tax exempt and NZ labour laws exempt.
Can't leave, or can't come and go at will?
Weren't allowed to leave for their FIFO job. Trying to find out how many have been affected now.
In the various attempts to hype vitamin D against covid, studies examining whether vitamin D levels prior to exposure affect the likelihood of getting infected have been somewhat hard to come by.
But one has recently come out. And though the headlines and breathless write-ups scream that it shows that higher vitamin D levels reduce risk of covid for black people, the data really doesn't appear to support that claim. For starters, the line is flat for white people, and the ups and downs in the chart for black people is equally consistent with the hypothesis that it's just noise due to the small numbers involved, and that vitamin D levels are not associated with risk of getting covid.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2777682 (charts and data accessible via clicking on a tab to the right of the article text)
Consider: the error bars in the chart for black people all include the risk of infection being 7%, regardless of vitamin D level. Furthermore, the claim "the risk of having positive results in Black individuals was 2.64-fold greater with a vitamin D level of 30 to 39.9 ng/mL than a level of 40 ng/mL or greater and decreased by 5% per 1-ng/mL increase in level among individuals with a level of 30 ng/mL or greater. There were no statistically significant associations of vitamin D levels with COVID-19 positivity rates in White individuals." appears to be a straight interpolation of a line between two averaged data points that completely ignores the previous data point in the series, which happens to suggest a low risk of infection with a lowish vitamin D level of 20 to 30 ng/ml.
All in all, this study shows there's likely not a benefit from vitamin D in reducing the likelihood of getting covid. It also illustrates how researchers that get invested in a particular idea get sucked into claiming their results show something that really probably isn't there. Or if there actually is an effect, at best it's likely very small.
Well that's a creative way to read the outcome of the study. Did you not see this statement?
"In this single-center retrospective cohort study, COVID-19 risk increased among Black individuals with vitamin D level less than 40 ng/mL compared with those with 40 ng/mL or greater and decreased with increasing levels among individuals with levels greater than 30 ng/mL. No significant associations were noted for White individuals."
Sounds to me that Viamin D does play a significant role.
A key point is conveyed in the final sentence of that paragraph, which was omitted from the quote : " Randomized clinical trials should examine whether increasing vitamin D level to greater than 40 ng/mL affects COVID-19 risk."
That paragraph was written by the researchers that have been invested for quite a while in the idea that vitamin D is effective against covid, and are fishing for funding to do more studies. So therefore there is a need to present the results in a positive light. It's their motivated reasoning talking, not a skeptical dispassionate look at the actual evidence.
When looking at the results of a study like this, there are always two competing hypotheses. The null hypothesis is "this stuff doesn't do shit, or might even be actively harmful", and should always be considered by far the most likely outcome. This should be the default conclusion if the results are reasonably compatible with this null hypothesis.
The competing hypothesis is the extraordinary claim that "this stuff really truly actually helps". Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Small blips in the data that are within the range of expected random variations for the sample sizes involved, as we see in this study, do not constitute extraordinary evidence. Sorry. Even given how much we all desperately want something, anything, to help fight this disease.
After reviewing the meaning of a Simpson's paradox, can you give an argument for accepting the categorised conclusions over the aggregate conclusions?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson%27s_paradox
Meanwhile, the steady erosion of capacity left DPH at black alert the other day.
We can't really go on like this.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/439139/overseas-building-staff-granted-expemtions-to-work-on-state-house-construction
One step forward two steps back.
Well at best they should only be here for a limited time and should train locals while they are about it. And we should continue to downsize the population . For every visa granted another could be withdrawn from a less constrained sector.