Using the same tactics as the fascist regime in Syria, (and even some of the same video clips), an Israel lobby group spreads hoaxes to whitewash Gaza massacre
Contrary to the Israeli and Western effort to reduce Hamas to a collective of essentially unschooled or unsophisticated foreign born so-called Islamists, nothing could be further from the truth. Hamas is a movement born of Palestine, composed of Palestinians who were raised on the very streets where the blood of their people and families, has been lost to the occupation terror imposed by Israel. For the many who suffer from a now decade old blockade of Gaza–with its lack of food, water, medicine and mobility–Hamas and their families have known the same isolation and paid a like price.
Jenny I am with you on the Palestinian issue.
Not so your standpoint on Syria.
Do you realise that Israel and the Saudis support the head chopping Jihadis in their fight against Assad?
OAB has pro-Assad sympathies and has the overly simplistic view that all Syrian rebels are ISIS? Not that I’ve noticed. Perhaps you are getting him confused with someone else.
I hope you weren’t expecting the courtesy of an apology from Wayne @OAB – even tho’ you can see the timestamps show the irriot is still around, and even tho’ he’s at pains to present himself as a fair and reasonable sort of bloke -affably fair and balanced (almost) and very ‘nice’. Which is probably why the Sunday morning comfy media parachuted in to the studio see him as some sort of wise old sage they can depend on for some words of wisdom (going forward).
He’s as big a ‘spray and walkaway’ spreader of his ideology as the all-purpose drench is to livestock.
The Honourable Dr Wayne Mapp. No wonder we could be in the shit -the guy is as big a fossil to foresight and wisdom as a mizzz Boag is to the consumption of botox and image consultants.
Both very shallow folk. Indeed they could probably set up their own veneer company with the good Doctor advising on the technicalities with Mish advising on the latest trends.
There are plenty of Jihadist groups going under various names that have a thing for chopping off heads. Al Nusra and Al Zinki come instantly to mind.
And there is plenty of evidence that “western” governments have given material support to those groups. Should “western” include Israeli? I guess that’s somewhat of an open question.
Insofar as there is capital punishment for some crimes in Syria, I’d guess that the “preferred” method for death would be by hanging. I could well be wrong – it’s only a guess.
Assad and Putin are Benevolent and Popular Leaders who distribute presents to children and kiss puppies, and this infuriates the evil Western Deep State who spread lies and crisis hoaxes to keep their own populations in fear. The WDS also fund Terrorist Head-Choppers to fight the BPL, and every person who opposes the BPL are THCs. The WDS and their THC puppets also randomly kill BPL political opponents (who are usually THCs or WDS operatives) and innocent civilians in order to make it look like the BPL are actually cruel and totalitarian dictators who do not shy away from torture (lies) and murder (fake news!).
Fortunately, we have amongst us visionaries who can see through the lies of the WDS-controlled Main Stream Media and nobly tell us how good the BPL really are.
Ed 1.1
25 May 2018 at 6:34 am
Jenny I am with you on the Palestinian issue.
Not so your standpoint on Syria.
Do you realise that Israel and the Saudis support the head chopping Jihadis in their fight against Assad?
Hi Ed,
It probably wouldn’t hurt if you put in some links to support your narrative. At the very least to give your comment some context linked to the real world.
Your use of emotive words like “head choppers” to denounce the Syrian people in revolt against the Assad regime. Is at best a generalisation, and at worst a broad smear. Of course Isis has executed people, (and probably innocent people) by chopping off their heads. This is a matter of factual record. But to generalise that to smear the whole opposition to Assad, needs more evidence than you have ever produced.
The fact that some rich and eccentric Saudi princes have funded the fundamentalist parts of the opposition is a matter of public record. As a result, the fundamentalists are the only part of the armed opposition that has ever received much material aid of any sort. While the liberal and progressive forces have been starved of all support. (a fact which has helped the growth of the more extremist Islamist groups).
Your other conjecture Ed, is that Israel is opposed to the Assad regime.
Again you should supply some proof to back up your conjecture. Just saying it, doesn’t make it so.
There is a lot of evidence,( contrary to your conjecture), that leading members of the Assad ruling dynasty have had a close working relationship with the Zionist state over several decades.
As the above link details, much of the Assad dynasty credibility as Arab nationalists, rests on their on their supposed anti Zionist and anti-imperialist position, a position that doesn’t bear much examination.
During my time spent in the refugee camp in Latakia, at any mention or discussion of the Assad regime, the Palestinian refugees that I met expressed open derision at the idea of Assad being opposed to Israel. The Palestinian refugees in Syria told me that the Assad acted as a protector of Israel’s northern border, and that they did not consider the regime to be a genuine supporter of the Palestinian people.
The Assad regime much like the Sadat/Mubarak regime in Egypt had made their peace with the Zionists.
Though this relationship has been strained by the civil war, particularly by the Assad regime taking military support from Israel’s enemy Iran, the links will still be there. Personally I find it uncanny how the Israeli airforce can precisely target Iranian missile shipments to Hezbollah without the regime forces ever taking casualties.
The regime’s Arab nationalist anti-imperialist credentials don’t bear much examination either. As well selling off and privatising its public assets in the early 2000s at the behest of the World Bank and the IMF, (a sellout to Western imperialism that regime insiders also took a cut of), the Assad regime supplied 19,000 troops to support the US in the first Gulf War against Iraq. The Assad regime also worked closely with the CIA to help the CIA torture suspects flown to Syria under the CIA program of extraordinary rendition.
Ed, in past comments, I have provided you and others with the links to disprove your conjecture that Assad is an anti-imperialist Arab Nationalist. I won’t this time, because you obviously don’t read them, or even bother to open them. Because you have adopted a shallow narrative that such facts just don’t fit into.
In your mind Assad is some sort of Ho Chi Minh or Fidel Castro fighting the evil Yankee imperialists, as such we can afford to overlook or ignore his other faults, like genocide, and mass detention and torture in Nazi like death camps. Links that again I have supplied, (facts that you never challenge, instead that you choose to willfully ignore). In willfully overlooking these massive crimes against humanity, (as the necessary acts of a Nationalist leader defending himself against a foreign invader), as a result Ed you have become, wittingly or unwittingly an apologist and party to genocide.
I think it needs to be said over and over again, to the people who support fascism because they’ve been duped by fascist propaganda. Mention Assad, they start screeching about ‘headchoppers’ (another bunch of fascists, as though it needs saying). Mention Trump, they start blithering about her emails.
You can fool some of the people all of the time. Here at The Standard we have real world evidence that Lincoln was right.
What is your definition of fascism? Some people claim the Bathist regime in Syria is Fascist. It certainly is a totalitarian State that promotes a strong government and Syrian nationalism. Those are usually the cornerstone of Fascism.
I think it needs to be said over and over again, to the people who support fascism because they’ve been duped by fascist propaganda.
I think that’s far too narrow a focus and ought to be broadened out to include those who are unwitting supporters of fascistic tendencies because they believe Liberal propaganda.
Actually, on brief reflection, this “fascist” propaganda you speak of – who exactly are the fascists propagating it and that people are listening to?
Edit: I wonder why The Intercept doesn’t appear in your list of news sources that I’m allegedly duped by. No, wait, I’m lying: I know exactly why that is 😆
I don’t suppose you’ve ever bothered to wonder why Eva Bartlett wasn’t subjected to the level of opprobrium she’s attracted for her coverage of Syria when she was reporting on Palestine from Gaza?
Maybe she just “lost the plot” somewhere along the line, or then again, maybe she’s consistent, and it’s just that her reporting from Syria doesn’t fit in the same nice comforting box as her reporting from Palestine?
How’s about you stop with the idiotic narcissism and (given it’s a place for engagement) engage rather than dropping pointless and vaguely inflammatory nonsense on people?
Brigid baldly asserts that Al Jazeera is a mouthpiece for terrorists – attacking the messenger as opposed to engaging with his argument, but I’m the one being pointless, inflammatory and narcissistic?
Pfft.
I don’t have anything to add to Malak Chabkoun’s remarks.
So I just did a Google search for “Israel + ”war crime” + Gaza” (note the syntax – spaces between terms) and returned many pages of results – Google says “about 250k results”. I don’t think much of your “findings”.
Marco the other day ( I think )made a good post containing and accurate statement about ‘farm sewerage
Labour has been attacked for a cow cap / cull based on excessive nutrient levels in our rivers ….. Nutrients don’t sound to bad and I’d swim in them … hell, do I get some vitamins with my nutrients in the river water ??….
But ‘Farm sewerage’ … I’m not going to swim in raw animal shit … it sounds very unhealthy swallowing and bathing in fecal matter …
“farm sewage” +”New Zealand”+river+excessive+safe About 38 results
nutrients +”New Zealand”+river+excessive+safe About 18,781 results
Framing the argument …. shaping opinion
Labour can easily win the excessive farm sewerage argument ….
OAB: absolutely true. One of the most poisonous and pernicious fallacies in contemporary politics is ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’. That’s what causes otherwise sane people to support crooks and despots like Trump (‘buh, buh, but, her emails, and yuck, icky icky girl cooties’) and Assad (‘buh, buh, but the Russians like him, and we like the Russians because…’ see previous). It’s stupid now, and it was stupid 35 years ago when that senile old fool Reagan was duped into supporting the most evil political movement of the second half of the 20th century.
The children die the same way ….. But the disgusting Mays / Camerons / Trumps / Obamas are sick hypocrytes to lecture anyone about “humanitarian values” …
the United States and the United Kingdom are backing the Saudi-led coalition, and while calling for an end to the war, they continue along with Spain, France, Canada, Australia, and Italy, to sell billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and military equipment to parties to the conflict.
over the past 1,000 days:
Nearly 5,300 civilians were killed
Three million people were forced to flee their homes
Nearly one million people are suspected of contracting cholera in the world’s worst outbreak ever recorded
Poor old National party. The classic five stages of grief are on full display.
1 – DENIAL – Period suffered: Election night to budget day
Politics became meaningless. Parliament makes no sense. National were in a state of shock and denial. They were numb. Some pretended they were still minister, issuing decrees and orders that were ignored by tearful ex-staffers moving their boxes out of their Beehive offices. Awkward. Others wondered how they could go on, why should they go on. Many, many couldn’t go on and resigned. They tried to find a way to simply get through each day, going on diets, appearing on reality TV dancing shows.
2 – ANGER – Period suffered – Budget day to present.
National’s anger seems endless. But the more National truly feel it, the more the anger will begin to dissipate and the more they will heal. The truth is that Tory anger has no limits. It can extend not only to the speaker but their friends, the civil service, and silly little girls everywhere. Judith Collins, in her daily prayer session with Cameron Slater probably asks, “Where is God in this?” Underneath the anger is their pain. It is natural to feel deserted and abandoned by the electorate. Anger and fear are National’s strength and anchor, giving them temporary structure to the nothingness of their existence.
I’m not sure how you expect an opposition to behave. If memory serves me correctly I believe people like you were almost demanding Labour and the rest of the Opposition parties oppose the last government far more vigorously. It was as if not doing their utmost to stop them would be a betrayal of the nation. Now you think National should somehow become compliant. It makes little sense.
Gosman, don’t confuse opposing ‘far more vigorously’ with petulant and pre-planned disobedience. They have the entitlement of their questions allocated by the Clerk according to their numbers in the House. They should learn to ask questions properly.
The Key kleptocracy’s innumerable rorts, failures and shortcomings were sufficient to keep a vigorous opposition busy for decades.
Having nothing comparable to criticize, the wretched Gnats are reduced to picking fights with the speaker. Had they the sporting chops to which Key so often pretended they’d realise that slagging off the Ref is a great way to excuse failure, but a lousy tactic if you actually mean to win.
More like “Great Cthulhu, blight my enemies.” Until recently her real enemies were on her own side of the house, but it must be hard to consider B&B a threat.
Aha… I was planning a bit of a dissertation along the same lines but yours is – as usual – better Sanctuary.
I think they’re almost done with the ‘Bargaining phase” (at least for the time being because Bridges won’t see the term out) and they’re moving into the ‘Depression’ state. Hence the tears of frustration and imagined victimisation by the Speaker. They’re causing it themselves but won’t ever admit it. This is likely to last until the end of the term with occasional outbursts of denial and anger thrown in for good measure.
– Pulled out of Paris Climate Accord
– Pulled out of CPTPP
– Pulled out of Iran
– Obliterated Palestinian peace dialogue
– Killed historic talks with North Korea
But delivered tax reform for corporations and very wealthy people, and increased funding for the military.
Yes but it’s the best POTUS the industrial military complex have ever had and in this world that’s all that seems to matter now with they’re pervasive ways.
Russia and China are flexing the muscles with trump effectively paving a path for them with his ‘diplomacy’ and generally making America ‘great’ again.
Eye on those mid terms as the Donald goes hard out before the GOP likely lose more than a few sitting members.
Yeah not looking so bad for Trump especially given most of the polling is probably done in and around New York and California where most of the media is ensconced
I’ve had a bit of practice doing deals with people from Korea, albeit on a much, much smaller scale, and my take is that the deal is still very much live. The deal will have several more bounces between top table and garbage bin before we get to the end result.
Jude doesn’t actually want Twyford to resign from anything as shes having far too much fun pointing out why Twyford has been promoted above his capabilities
“shes having far too much fun”.
Don’t you feel just a bit sorry for Twyford?
Question time has Phil looking rather like a mouse that a domestic cat has caught. There is the little rodent Twyford squeaking away in his state of terrified befuddlement.
Mind you, as someone who lives in the country that he claims to have some control over I would be only too happy to see Collins put him out of his misery and that he be replaced by someone with at least a skerrick of ability.
Oh for goodness sake Alvin. Go and change your pants. You are way to excited about chest beating Collins. Bet your dreams are full of Collins, black leather, thigh high boots and whips and handcuffs. Have i missed anything?
The amount of time i spend on here is directly proportionate to how much work i have on at the time
At the moment I don’t have much on so i can spend more time on here but on some days i can’t get on here at all because of the amount of work i have on
That is called Psychological Projection isn’t it FFluffy?
“Psychological projection is a defense mechanism people subconsciously employ in order to cope with difficult feelings or emotions. Psychological projection involves projecting undesirable feelings or emotions onto someone else, rather than admitting to or dealing with the unwanted feelings”
Is that how you feel about Ms Collins? It certainly not something that ever occurred to me. Just don’t try and put your fantasies into practice.
My God, FFluffy.
More Projecting on your part.
You identify as being an exhibitionist as well. You know you should be ashamed of yourself so you try and pretend it is other people who do the things that are the flaws in your own behaviour.
Sad. Really sad. Keep away from Primary Schools until you learn to control yourself.
I don’t feel sorry for him at all, he was part of the group that stated time and time again how bad NZ was, how bad National were, how Labour were so much better well hes got his chance and now hes showing just how competent he really is
The longer Jude toys with him and makes him look like the incompetent he really is the better, hes sort of representative of Labour really
Take Cindy away from Labour and all you have is people like Twyford
Funny, I seem to remember Judith Collins as one of the ‘”what housing crisis?” mob. Phil Twyford is doing OK. Don’t believe all the MSM bleats.
Collins was sacked for taking advantage of her position, so why is she so good? Oh your opinion.??
@PR.
True. When you really look at him he isn’t worthy of sympathy.
I personally think that Grant Robertson is about all the CoL has going for it. He has surprised me with the way he seems to have started getting a grasp on his portfolio. When you look back at his mucking about a couple of years ago with his blathering about things like a UBI and so on he has got much better.
I suppose it is because he has been house-trained by Treasury.
Ardern remains a major disappointment in my view. Perhaps she will learn in the future but she shows no signs of having any grasp of her job to date. She has been pretty much a glove-puppet for Tsar Winston so far.
“praising with faint damnation”.
Sounds a reasonable interpretation of my opinion.
I simply don’t think she is up to the job. She simply doesn’t know enough about the problems and isn’t prepared for it..
I want someone competent in that job, and she simply isn’t the one.
Of the Labour leaders since Clark, who was up to the job, the only one who seemed to be capable of filling the role was Shearer. Why did the Labour Party stab him in the back?
And, for your mate adam, it has nothing whatsoever to do with her sex.
But he knows that doesn’t he?
Obviously sowing discord and fanning paranoia in Labour is a perishable skill.
A solid seven years of Labour fighting itself left you incompetent at doing the job yourself.
Putting the Shearer barb aside (which is just disappointingly weak), Ardern consistently nukes shouty&co in the House, her ministers are getting results, and all in all they’ve stepped into their new roles with ease and competence. But then it doesn’t take much to improve on the last batch of ministers, anyway.
Ardern, in the House, simply doesn’t answer the questions. Still, she has got Mallard to protect her doesn’t she.
Look at this extract from Hansard. It was Question 1 last Tuesday.
“Hon Simon Bridges: What extra funding did the Budget provide to fulfil her promise to pay early childhood education (ECE) centres more for employing 100 percent qualified staff?
Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As the member will know, Budget 2018 included a 45 percent increase in education funding. The fact that we could put 45 percent more into education—new funding—and still have additional needs that we need to meet demonstrates just how bad things were for the education sector.”
When it was pointed out that there had been no attempt to answer the question Trevor came out with,
“Mr SPEAKER: Well, it was very clearly addressing the question.”
You call that “nuking”?
“her ministers are getting results”. Really?
How many of the billion trees have been planted?
How many of the 100,000 homes have at least been started?
How many pensioners are getting their $700 heating allowance this year?
“after a few years more “.
You may be right. Of course after a few more years the answers to my 3 questions will still be the same.
Trees planted. ZERO.
Kiwibuild affordable homes started. ZERO
Pensioners getting $700 heating allowance in 2018. ZERO.
Have a nice day y’all.
Alywyn and PR if you are feeling excited that Judith blew the whistle on pt use of the cell phone you are desperate. It is a minor misdemeanor and only serves to compare and contrast what happened with Gerry and airport security. No conquence for Gerry. Phil stands down on a very minor part of his workload(probably glad to get rid of it)………jacinda looks good. The majority on an on-line poll thinks phill didn’t need to stand down……..is this all national have got? Rather pathetic
That’s nothing to do with Twyford. That’s Collins declaring open war against Brownlee – because any discussion of Twyford’s actions inevitably broadens to include Brownlee’s own error of judgement.
It’s almost sad to see how the Nats have begun tearing themselves apart after their election loss. Even Labour in 2008 weren’t that bad.
(The system is telling me this is a duplicate comment – but the original comment was lost in cyberspace – admins feel free to delete one or t’ other)
That’s nothing to do with Twyford. That’s Collins declaring open war against Brownlee – because any discussion of Twyford’s actions inevitably broadens to include Brownlee’s own error of judgement.
It’s almost sad to see how the Nats have begun tearing themselves apart after their election loss. Even Labour in 2008 weren’t that bad.
Uber autonomous car crash in Arizona investigation report is out
The Uber car, a Volvo XC90 sport-utility vehicle equipped with Uber’s sensing technology, comes with an automatic emergency braking system from the manufacturer.
But Uber disabled that function as well as other safety features to “reduce the potential for erratic vehicle behavior,” according to the report.
micro plasma bovis spread – “Livestock transporters let down over effluent “- By Ken Shirley.
This was an Interesting bit here; – from a National Party ally and ex MP in the Act party in coalition with the 1990’s era of the National Government.
Ken Shirley is now talking about shifting the blame onto Labour now!!!!
incredible it is when he was firstly an MP under Labour in the Langey government then under National Party as an ACT MP in 1990’s alongside National when they were in power!!!
Ken Shirley couild have sung loud about road truck effluent spread then couldn’t he?
Livestock transporters let down over effluent
Thursday, 24 May 2018, 12:06 pm
Press Release: Road Transport Forum
24 May 2018
Livestock transport operators are extremely disappointed in the way farmers, OSPRI and MPI have failed to implement and properly enforce stock movement regulations as is their responsibility under the National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) scheme, says Road Transport Forum Chief Executive Ken Shirley.
“These regulations were put in place for a reason, as we are now finding out to the country’s considerable cost with the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak.”
“Stock trucks are fitted with effluent tanks with a finite capacity that require frequent emptying. The act of disposing effluent, which in the past was difficult enough, has as a direct result of the fear associated with disease spread become a significant issue.”
Many farmers have been remiss in not adequately standing stock off green feed prior to transport to reduce effluent production while local government and meat processing companies have been extremely tardy in providing access to effluent disposal facilities. Access to traditional disposal facilities is also now being restricted fearing disease spread.
“With Mycoplasma bovis upon us greater demands are being put on stock transporters to wash and sanitise their vehicles but there has been no focus on the provision of adequate effluent disposal sites by the other parties.”
“Farmers and meat processors are placing increased burdens and cost on stock transporters but steadfastly refuse to shoulder the additional costs and responsibility generated by their own tardiness.”
“What if Mycoplasma bovis was an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease? In that nightmare scenario it would clearly not be acceptable to leave the burden of responsibility for effluent disposal solely with transporters, yet the primary sector doesn’t seem to appreciate that the principle here is just the same.”
“Livestock transporters are more than happy to continue to play their part in the responsible movement of animals. However, MPI, councils, farmers and meat processors also need to help facilitate the appropriate disposal of stock effluent through better facilities and practices,” says Shirley.
ends
We will not miss those rattling nasty smelling stock trucks as the smell is also the sign we are recieving water droplets of aerosols that can cause us many diseases we are warned constantly.
Yes I operate a small farm but we keep our stock away from our home.
We advocate using rail again to move our stock as rail is away from roads and our driving behind stock trucks is a health risk but trains we dont travel behind. so this is worth thinking abiout now.
Besides the roads are falling apart with so many stock trucks on our rural roads now.
Shirey and his gangsrters should ppay to fix our rural roads then he may jion us and use rail again.
Not sure that he’s trying to “blame” Labour, rather a plea for everyone in the industry to work together sort the situation out.
“Many farmers have been remiss in not adequately standing stock off green feed prior to transport to reduce effluent production while local government and meat processing companies have been extremely tardy in providing access to effluent disposal facilities. ”
That’s a full on assault on farmers and the parties that should have been providing the effluent disposal and washing facilities. And coming from the stock transport sector who’ve made a considerable amount out of being a bus service to the livestock industry. But think Citybus rather than Tour Bus.
What Ken doesn’t touch on, but which is freaking the transport sector, is transport becoming a party to NAIT. This way the stock will be tagged off the farm, onto the truck, off the truck, and onto the farm. So then there’s a record of the animals that have been on each truck. Easy to do but a considerable cost to the transporter, and will put the clammers on black / grey market stock movements. And that side of the business is where the money is. Ooooops
A stock truck pulls up to a farm loading ramp in the middle of the night, 10 cows get off, 4 get on, that’s after the same truck took a full load past the gate to the works that afternoon from a farm 100 km away.
Then you’ve got RentaBull, guy down the road has several hundred for short term hire, along with NickaBull, (can get tricky getting him into the trailer in the middle of the road), and BorrowaBull (short out the fence with your cows in the boundary paddock)
What Ken doesn’t touch on, but which is freaking the transport sector, is transport becoming a party to NAIT. This way the stock will be tagged off the farm, onto the truck, off the truck, and onto the farm. So then there’s a record of the animals that have been on each truck.
As it always should have been.
Easy to do but a considerable cost to the transporter, and will put the clammers on black / grey market stock movements.
Make it mandatory to have GPS tracking on all vehicles and road sensors watching and counting the vehicles.
Also, go Cashless. It’s difficult to commit crime when it will be picked up automatically.
Would love to see the decision trail around that. There would have been some intense lobbying to keep the truckies out of it and create a gap that the cash could flow through. Interesting that the most vocal opponents of NAIT were stock agents.
It gives me great Pleasure to announce the long awaited marriage between the above two tireless contributors to Drivel Inc . It is seldom that two blogees marry and produce happiness. We should be so grateful for their joint outpourings of hot crap.
Heres a poem i wrote that succinctly describes my feelings, what do you think?
My life is brilliant
My life is brilliant
My love is pure
I saw an angel
Of that I’m sure
She smiled at me on the TV
She was with another man
But I won’t lose no sleep on that
‘Cause I’ve got a plan
Shes beautiful
Shes beautiful
Shes beautiful, it’s true
I saw her face in a crowded place (parliament)
And I don’t know what to do
‘Cause I’ll never be with you
Yes, she caught my eye
As we walked on by
She could see from my face that I was
Flyin’ high
And I don’t think that I’ll see her again
But we shared a moment that will last till the end
Shes beautiful
Shes beautiful
Shes beautiful, it’s true
I saw your face in a crowded place
And I don’t know what to do
‘Cause I’ll never be with you
La-la-la-la
La-la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la
Shes beautiful
Shes beautiful
Shes beautiful, it’s true
There must be an angel with a smile on her face
When she thought up that I should be with you
But it’s time to face the truth
I will never be with you
Hm.
I suppose you are trying but I’m not sure you should give up your day job to chase your dream of becoming Poet Laureate/
Mind you, when very young, I used to feel much the same way about Sophia Loren. That young lady, for some strange reason, seemed to prefer that old, bald, short chap Carlo Ponti. Very odd of her when you consider all I had to offer.
After all, when she said “I do” she would have been entitled to half my bicycle.
ps. Is that suitably ageist, sexist and racist to satisfy you adam?
This is what famous literary critic Harold Bloom said about never writing poetry himself:
” It must have had something to do with the enormous reverence and rapture I felt about poetry, the incantatory strength that Crane and Blake had for me from the beginning. To be a poet did not occur to me. It was indeed a threshold guarded by demons. To try to write in verse would have been a kind of trespass.”
But…but, Tony Hazlett (Head of Talley’s Nelson division) says the hoki fishery is healthy and will be for some time.
They can still make money then. That’s nice. And they envisage making money “for some time” – that time being when the fishery is completely fucked which, as Hazlett has basically acknowledged, is what’s on the cards.
Now that National has declared on Labour the first casualty of this political war is truth.
it seems that all Polititians seem to rush to cover themselves first and ignore the truth starring thwem in the face as we all see is there today,
Labour so far have a better record onn admitting their faults than National ever had done.
So we hope this increases and labour takes the ‘bull by the preverbial horn’ and gets in and fixes all these worrying issues so we can say “we did this”
Yes Labour are better, but there is a massive mess left behind… like this one..
More than 98,000 non-New Zealand citizens arrived in the April 2018 year. However, more than 30,000 non-New Zealand citizens left this country.
The more important question might be, did the non NZ citizens leave after buying housing and assets in NZ and did they leave satellite families behind who qualify for government assistance?
Should long term NZ residents and citizens be expected to pick up the welfare bill for asset rich people who have only been in the country for a few years?
How will the government’s 1000 – 1600 new affordable houses help when 60,000+ new people arrived last year?
Should there be an expiry date and controls on residency to people who are just using NZ as a cockoo lifestyle to raise their kids or care for their aged parents after gaining residency and heading back overseas to work?
Should there be a minimum amount of time spent in the country (aka 75% of time spent in NZ over a lifetime of gaining residency) to be allowed access to free health care, education and super and voting if you come into NZ under the pretext of working or settling here permanently but then as increasingly the case, it’s leaving NZ after getting the paperwork through?
Should there be a lot more safe guards with clearer controls on trusts and companies hiding assets like housing or small businesses which can then be used to mask or structure people’s wealth enabling rich people to legitimately claim welfare and accommodation benefits, tax write offs and WFF or straight benefits through loopholes and our very relaxed laws on companies and trusts holding assets.
This is a serious issue facing the country as we have people who are born here or migrated here and working hard or just being a citizen who is also a beneficiary and genuinely poor and they are getting less opportunities.
NZ is no longer the land of plenty, somehow we have gone from state houses to living in cars, as well as people who genuinely need secure work and opportunities at living wages… and the government is not doing enough to ensure to protect our system against abuse that has occurred under the National government’s decade reign of ‘rockstar economy’ aka widespread fraud and sell offs and trougher’s of all descriptions at the public purse.
Lend me your Ears
We simply cannot admit any or every passport into NZ until we have housing, plumbing, sewerage, health, education and work for the owner of the Passport.
National, namely John Key and Billy English and their handmaids being of low IQ, did not understand that. And they have created chaos. National will never rise again for what they did not do.
For those who follow the great game of Cricket I shall tell you the score at the time of the declaration.
When they declared National had reached 987 runs for 3 wickets.
Labour went into bat and when stumps were drawn due to bad light Labour had reached a score of 16 runs for the loss of 7 wickets.
National’s score of course took four days to compile; from 450 overs.
At the end of the drawn game, National declared themselves the winner as they were the team that had scored the most runs.
The series had of course been decided with Labour winning three of the five matches.
National attacked the match umpires for obvious bias, and besides they had more players in their team.
Team vice-captain, MS Bennett, who retired early, frustrated at not scoring any runs, alleged the umpires’ decisions were “dangerous for cricket”. Later cautioned for ball-tampering with the heavy roller, she said “Their decisions had become personal.”
When the after-match commentators pointed out that the great majority of the National wickets that fell were either due to hit wicket or were bowled middle stump and obviously out, MS Bennett said that the decisions were flawed and anyway they hadn’t been quite ready.
“The pitch was too green and the opposition’s ball was red,” she said.
The question is also ‘where has all the money going” that has been collected by Auckland council. They have outrageous water bills, actually not the water apparently which is free but for the pipes which actually seem to be a mess still after years of Metrowater, we have 54% of rates going to Auckland Transport which is also a mess and takes 5 times longer than a car for a 2 stage journey and costs 5 times the cost of petrol, while many areas have little to zero public transport at all, then we have our infrastructure and development costs which seem astronomical but somehow also seem to need to go up to $70k per development and not much sign of all the infrastructure being put in by council for all the new developments they took the contributions for over the past decade of contributions. And now a petrol tax, actually two taxes, a regional one and an Auckland one.
All this while reducing library services, making people mow their own berms and thinking we need a billion dollar stadium and giving themselves salary rises and new premises, more marketing people, more lawyers, more of everyone pushing paper around at great cost and with little practical reality coming out of it.
Sounds like Phil and the Auckland council are hoping to bankrupt the city to join the government in borrowing money as fast as possible to put in development, which seems to be for the Ponzi scheme of importing in low skilled people needing welfare to top up their meagre wages, the higher skilled who leave after a few years to work after obtaining residency, while leaving behind children to be educated and the elderly to be looked after by tax paying Kiwis who now struggle to afford a house, or even to drive to work with the petrol taxes to pay for the folly.
Prior to the last decade we had a normal level of people migrating here who stayed and made a life here, we did not have floodgates of people buying up assets and then leaving with non working family members living here in million dollar houses or with small businesses losing money while employing more and more overseas people into the country!
Unfair, savey, unfair. The widespread misunderstanding of Goffles’ socalled secretiveness highlights the need for a massively expanded PR campaign. Obviously more management will be needed and managers cost money. Ratepayers will appreciate the effort and the jump in their property values.
Ok I agree a bit unfair for Goffles, he inherited the problem, but he is going in the wrong direction by adding in more managers and listening to those already there who seem to have misdirected the money collected so far.
Nope, ratepayers who actually work in Auckland are not happy unless they are cashing up and leaving, those left are paying more rates and now petrol taxes, but have nothing working ain’t happy. Even in 2015 it showed over 80% of ratepayers were not happy with the council. (The stopped public polling after that result).
You can’t go to the beach because of sewerage, you can’t drive across town because of congestion, you can’t catch public transport because it doesn’t go there or takes even longer to get there…. nothing really being done about that, even though in places there are train tracks that the experts don’t want to use, You can’t even get a decent meal these days and in the legacy of having chefs and burger managers considered a ‘essential skill’ McDonalds has been in the news when pills have been found in the Sundaes and the famous French cafe has apparently been bought out and the joke being is it going to be renamed the French curry? Now that’s capitalism and globalism at work or maybe the fall of it, I’m not sure!
Auckland council and COO thinking is from a money grab perspective, and still adding in more people. The poorer citizens are being advised by MSM to leave the city and go to the provinces, essentially surrender and just leave the neoliberals to sell off the city.
What a legacy, bankrupting the city and purging it of poor and middle class people and leaving the rich, the rich who claim benefits, more and more fake, illegal or misleading businesses and a few refugees left. How Rogernomics.
It’s a beautiful day in Putaruru Aotearoa at the minute.
Io gave us another big bouncy baby boy yesterday and it our mokos birthday today she’s 3 our mokos in Auckland are all good here’s a link to some music ECO MAORI likes below.
Hi standardistas. I know you have differences with people in New Zealand. But today a man in England was sentenced to death by the Tory government run by the Israeli interests in England for standing up for the working class girls of England.
This is bipartisan issue. If a Tory government can arrest people and sentence and imprison them within the hour for speech in the United Kingtom for standing up for British working class girls who were raped under Labour we are in dire straights.
Please stand up for free speech. Stand up for Tommy Robinson, defending the working class girls who were sacrificed to diversity.
The working class in England should be marching in the streets. This is bipartisan, genuine fascism. You want to see real fascism? Here it is.
If Tommy Robinson dies in prison because he’s murdered by muslims, it’s time for bad things to start happening to the British ruling classes.
The man was imprisoned over nothing, and then sentenced and imprisoned within the hour. No jury. No trial.
I’m going to be doing daily posts on Tommy Robinson.
The British government and the overall British ruling class have no mandate by the British people. They have suspended their relations with the British people. They should be regarded as an illegitimate government ruling by force and their supposed authority should be suspended and they should be regarded as adversaries of the British people.
The people of England need to start arming themselves with anything they can find. This is real. This is terrifying. And justice needs to be served.
The rape of 1 million girls by the English ruling class deserves justice.
I hope that justice comes for the English ruling class, whatever form it takes. The English ruling class are aliens to England. I won’t state why, but they are not English. They are of another group of people who have a different agenda to the English.
Every day, I’m going to start writing about the English government and what it is doing.
New Zealand needs to put pressure on this regime and start divesting ourselves of the relationship until they restore the rule of law and the freedoms of western institutions to England.
Good evening Newshub Lloyd looks like Ireland is going to catch up with the times and give Lady’s the right to have a abortion the Mana Wahine = rights movement is strong. Lloyd do you miss Winston.
Judge Andrew Becroft is a good fair Kiwi who ECO MAORI backs 100 %. Off topic my view is that Judith Collins the – – – – – – is at her worst paying someone to spy on Phil Twyford and slowly leak the the bad habits of Phil that’s is how nasty people like Judith Collins behave .
Does that show te tangata what tech can be use for the tracking of visit to farms with the bovine virus is a good thing but there are many bad things that people can use tech for even the state.
ECO MAORI Says there should be a total set net ban around the endanger Mauri dolphins habitat come on there are less than 60 of these beautiful creatures of Tangaroa left these fishmen can use long lines some how I think NZF are slowing down the process of a set net ban – – – – – – you Ka kite ano P.S people like Judith Collins can’t win fairly so they cheat
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...
Back in May, Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki launched another political party. Despite consisting entirely of followers of their religion, they grandly called it "Coalition New Zealand", in a vain effort to suggest it was something broader. But when they applied for registration, submitters opposed the name, as ...
The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...
The Pacific is on the front line of climate change, and if we don't cut emissions quickly, some countries are literally going to be underwater. Because of this, small Pacific states had tried to use this week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting to get Pacific countries to agree to ending coal ...
To Limit Another's Rights Is To Limit One's Own: Is it too much to expect senior members of our Government to be capable of explaining that we protect the rights of human-beings precisely because not even the most depraved act can cancel-out the fact that its perpetrator is also a ...
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...
This section builds on Part 1 of this series to provide a theoretical basis for the final instalment (part 3 – to come). Self-determination: law or resurgence — or both? International law promotes the principal of equal treatment and self-determination, which includes peoples’ rights to freely pursue their social, cultural and ...
Everyone was outraged yesterday to learn that the Christchurch shooting accused had been able to send mail from prison to his Nazi fans, apparently pushing more hate. "How could this possibly happen", people asked. Simple: because New Zealand is a civilised country, and so we let prisoners send and receive ...
If we are to avoid dangerous anthropogenic climate change, we need to rapidly decarbonise our transport fleet. The good news: its starting to happen:The number of electric vehicles on New Zealand's roads have nearly tripled in the past two years. There are currently 15,453 registered electric vehicles (EVs), up ...
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
AN OPEN LETTER FOR SIGN ON BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE WORLD, ALLIED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY. This letter was released at the UN Political Forum on 9 July, where the Sustainable Development Goal on inequality was reviewed. The purpose of the letter is to call out the ...
We asked a young gay science student and critic of trans ideology and the trans activists’ assault on women’s and gay rights to outline his views on Redline. Thanks to him for his article. by Cian Ó Catháin Gender identity ideology (Gender ID) is ripping through western society at full ...
The Environment Committee is currently hearing submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, and Stuff is reporting on the submissions. Today, they're covering yesterday they heard from "NZ" Steel:NZ Steel has told MPs it may be forced to close with the loss of thousands of jobs if changes aren't made to ...
Students are striking against climate change on September 27. And this time, they're asking everyone to join them:Students are taking to the streets, beaches and parks on 27 September, and we're inviting everyone to join us. That's right, this is an intergenerational issue, and you're all invited to put pressure ...
Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
Source: Unknown, twitter user Recently, I wrote a (relatively) short paper titled as above, to explore what self-determination could like in a practical sense. Maybe I’m a bit of an international trade truther or something, but I absolutely believe trade is at the heart of achieving peace and self-determination. Since ...
In the 1960s, after I had graduated with a first-class Oxford postgraduate law degree, I joined the British Foreign Office as the top entrant of my year. There, I worked for a couple of years on European affairs and was eventually posted to the Embassy in Brussels. After this exposure ...
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I heard a 45 minute interview with Monica Lewinsky talking to TED’s Chris Anderson on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, and have listened to it another two times out walking. I recommend it. Highly. Man, I am so impressed with how this woman has integrated her life experiences and ...
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When the Justice Committee reported back on the Administration of Justice (Reform of Contempt of Court) Bill, free speech advocates breathed a sigh of relief. As originally introduced, the Bill reitered the ancient offence of "scandalising the court" - basicly, a special sedition law protecting judges from criticism. The select ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. Since then - crickets. Which raises the obvious question: are they actually going to do this, ...
Back in March, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act. 285 people submitted on it. Now, Stuff has trawled through those submissions, and the case for reform is strong:The Justice Ministry asked Kiwis what they thought was ...
National's prisoner voting ban has gone down as one of the worst laws in New Zealand history. Passed after a farcical debate (including this farcial speech from ACT MP Hilary Calvert), it has subsequently been found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by the High Court, Court ...
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
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So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
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Last week, the ongoing democracy protests in Hong Kong saw a pro-Hong Kong student assaulted at the University of Auckland. The Chinese consulate in Auckland followed this up with a press release "express[ing] its appreciation to the students for their spontaneous patriotism" - effectively condoning the assault and inciting further ...
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Image Credit: How To Start a Blog – Beginner’s Guide for 2019 I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. ...
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Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the report of the Small Business Council will help maintain the momentum for innovation and improvements in the sector. Mr Nash has thanked the members of the Small Business Council (SBC) who this week handed over their report, Empowering small businesses to aspire, succeed ...
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Simon Shepherd: Roads, schools, hospitals, prisons, the building blocks that keep society functioning. And we don't have enough. It's called the infrastructure deficit and will be the focus of a major conference this coming week. The man charged with ...
New Zealand has been issued a stark challenge from Pacific leaders to dramatically upscale its action to address climate breakdown, Oxfam says, after a clear rallying cry from nations at this week’s Pacific Islands Forum. ...
Support for Recreational Dope Going ‘Up in Smoke’ Family First NZ is welcoming yet another poll showing plummeting support for legalising cannabis in New Zealand. The Horizon Research poll shows support for legalising has plummeted from 60% last ...
The prospect of ending wider cannabis prohibition looks increasingly unlikely. Over the last nine months, the percentage of New Zealanders who would vote for legalising the personal use of cannabis has declined at a near linear rate of around 10% per ...
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The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) welcomes the successful passing of Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill through parliament, by the New Zealand Government. ...
Today’s news from the Electoral Commission has provided the party with the clarity it was seeking around use of the word “Coalition” being used as the brand name of the party. ...
A recently released Otago University study has provided further evidence that low-quality housing is a significant problem in Aotearoa. This has prompted the Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ) Paul Evans to question “why ...
With the BNZ-Business NZ PMI signaling manufacturing is contracting , the Government needs to seriously consider tax relief, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called for an overhaul of the Public Services executive ranks as the Corrections debacle shows mis-management and incompetence at the highest level. Matthew Tukaki, Executive Director of the New Zealand Maori Council has said ...
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The responsibility for the fact that Westland Milk Products is now in the hands of an overseas conglomerate 25% owned by the Chinese government can be laid fair and square at our government's doorstep. ...
As Fonterra is projecting multi million dollar losses for the second year in a row, it is clear the writing is on the wall for dairy as more and more Kiwis turn to plant milks. 22nd August is International Plant Milk Day and there is now a different plant ...
The $65,000 granted to Interislander so it can install electric vehicle chargers on its ferries is the most absurd waste of money yet to be delivered by the “Low Emissions” vehicle fund, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. ...
Wellingtonians will have the chance to hear international child rights experts from Ireland, Scotland and Samoa speak at the Making Child Rights Real in Aotearoa New Zealand seminar to be held in the city on Wednesday 21 August. ...
Paul Evans, Chief Executive of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACENZ), is advocating a balanced approach to the development of productive land. ...
CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) says that new research from the University of Otago provides a solid foundation for why the Government must not delay instating a comprehensive Warrant of Fitness for tenanted homes in Aotearoa-New Zealand, and ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer drove carelessly during a pursuit and that this was the primary cause of a collision with a motorcycle that injured the rider. ...
Responding to the Prime Minister’s commitment of $150 million in funding for climate change response in the Pacific, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “It is no secret that many Pacific nations lack serious oversight when it ...
AUT research not only shows an increase in political affiliation, but that candidates affiliated to a central political party are more likely to win seats in Auckland local government. ...
On the 23rd of August School Strike NZ will join Ollie Langridge in his 100th day of sitting outside of New Zealand Parliament calling for the government to declare a climate emergency. School Strike 4 Climate NZ also demand that Parliament acknowledge ...
You have stood up for what is fair, and I am sure you will speak for over 7 million people who have been muted and rendered voiceless in Indian occupied Kashmir for more than a 10 days now. I am writing to bring to your notice the plight of Kashmiri ...
In the last 10 months alone, 11 petitions have been delivered to Parliament calling for medicines to be funded by Pharmac. Today, another nine petitions have been launched by Patient Voice Aotearoa (PVA) members asking that life changing, saving and extending ...
When we were first working to get Miscanthus approved for import into New Zealand, the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) waived the fee for their work because they thought that having Miscanthus in New Zealand was so very much in the ...
PHARMAC’s recent decision to fund two additional drugs from December this year has been widely welcomed by patients and the general public alike. The drugs, Kadcyla and Ibrance, are used in the treatment of advanced lung and breast cancers and will ...
Animal rights organisation SAFE is urging the Government to include experts and advocates from outside the agriculture industry on its newly announced winter crop grazing taskforce. ...
The Government’s plans to prohibit housing on ‘productive’ farmland will serve as yet another regulatory tax on housing, and is a shameful breach of Jacinda Ardern’s promise to fix housing supply, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
The latest round of the Ethnic Communities Development Fund opens today, supporting projects that grow the leadership and capability of ethnic groups, improve cultural understanding, and ensure our ethnic communities are a vibrant and celebrated part ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is warning of the dangers of hiking excise tax, in response to calls from a former Prime Minister for stronger action on alcohol harm. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It seems inevitable ...
LGNZ will be cautiously assessing the wider implications of the newly proposed National Position Statement on Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL), noting that that it traverses a number of highly complex policy areas including housing affordability and property ...
Horticulture New Zealand has welcomed the Government’s draft National Policy Statement on Highly Productive Land, saying it will help ensure that New Zealand can grow its own vegetables and fruit. ...
Background documents for Budget 2019 are now available from on the Treasury website: https://treasury.govt.nz/publications/information-release/budget-2019-information-release ...
The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry has welcomed a move by Crown agencies to lift confidentiality obligations on survivors of abuse in State care arising from settlement agreements with the Crown. ...
An evaluation of New Zealand’s first sexual violence court has confirmed that the approach taken in the judge-led pilot considerably reduces the time that cases take to reach trial. ...
The National Party is pleased to announce the appointment of Paula Bennett as our Campaign Chair for the 2020 General Election, President Peter Goodfellow says. ...
14 August 2019 – 18 senior business leaders and employment experts have been appointed as judges for New Zealand’s sixth annual Equal Pay Awards reflecting the breadth of companies who have entered. The Awards added three new categories in 2018: Innovation, ...
Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “This is more proof that bureaucrats do not make good tech tycoons, no matter how much taxpayer money they throw at geeks in Silicon Valley.” ...
August marks five years of the Community Finance initiative. In addition to its well established Financial Mentoring service, The Salvation Army has held more than 5800 financial conversations with Community Finance clients. The loan program helps ...
Today 14/8/19 on news hub AM show Duncan Garner asked National Party leader Simon Bridges ‘what would he do to combat climate change and improve the economy again if he is the next PM”. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/08/simon-bridges-says-most-kiwis-believe-system-gamed-at-last-election.html ...
DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle is urging the Government to work with agricultural groups to drive real behaviour change on farm, instead of imposing a broad-based tax. Sector organisations have put forward an alternative Primary Sector Climate ...
Iwi forging closer relationship with Stats NZ over Māori data solutions The Data Iwi Leaders Group supports the findings of an independent review into the 2018 New Zealand Census – but says its failings provide a unique opportunity to co-design ...
“Any justification for paying exorbitant salaries to senior managers in business has just been buried in the Fonterra debacle” said Peter Malcolm spokesperson for Income Equality Aotearoa New Zealand Inc---“Closing the Gap” ...
Students are celebrating the Governments announcement of a student voice consultation document at the ‘Voices of the Sector’ hui at Waikato University today. ...
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...
Things I Learned at Art School is a new series featuring artists discussing how they do what they do and know what they know. In the second instalment, Megan Dunn talks to Berlin-based New Zealander Simon Denny about Michael Parekowhai, teaching and technology, and an idea involving the online shoe ...
With the acquisition of global rugby streaming leader RugbyPass, Sky might have just secured its future, writes Trevor McKewen.For several months now, the war between Sky and Spark Sport for the peerless prize of All Blacks and New Zealand rugby rights from 2021 onwards has been escalating. Every week, one ...
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Jamie Cashmore, co-founder of Auckland-based edible packaging company Twiice. First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Twiice.Twiice is a company making edible coffee cups with plans to progress into other areas ...
The recent discovery of a fossil parrot the size of a human toddler is even more reason for Foulden Maar to be protected, writes the chairperson of Save Foulden Maar, Kimberley Collins.Last week, scientists discovered a new species of extinct parrot in the St Bathans Fauna. Weighing in at seven ...
Could a new hybrid of all the government’s major media holdings solve multiple media and government problems? Duncan Greive assesses the case.The media industry, despite what some of us might like to believe, really doesn’t matter all that much economically. Doesn’t employ all that many people. Relatively low wage. ...
The three governing parties are turning their attention to next year’s general election. RNZ‘s Jo Moir surveys the field.The night New Zealand First formed a government with Labour and the Greens, its leader Winston Peters quoted the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.Almost two years later all three ...
Analysis: The botched census brings down a chief executive, there's another wave of speculation about Christopher Luxon standing for National and NZ First could sink an attempt to reverse the ban on prisoner voting. ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Wording has played a crucial role in a reportedly “fierce” Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu with Australia allegedly managing to alter documental terms to downplay its commitment to climate change mitigation. According to RNZ Pacific, a communiqué and separate statement on climate change was released ...
Australia’s coal policy and its use of carry over credits to fulfill its obligations under the Paris Agreement have come under fire and been major points of contention at this year’s 50th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Meeting in Funafuti, Tuvalu. READ MORE: ‘We should have done more for our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael O’Keefe, Head of Department, Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University The Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Tuvalu this week has ended in open division over climate change. Australia ensured its official communique watered down commitments to respond to climate change, gaining ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xanthe Mallett, Forensic Criminologist, University of Newcastle Even in death, the voice of Carl Williams is louder than that of his victims. Intimate prison letters written by the convicted murderer and drug trafficker to his ex-wife, Roberta – herself arrested this month ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brianna Chesser, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Justice, RMIT University In September 2018, a prominent Melbourne surgeon and academic was charged with rape and sexual assault for alleged offences committed a year earlier against a male doctor. The surgeon and doctor had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Dearnaley, Associate Professor, University of Southern Queensland The blotched butterfly orchid (Sarcochilus weinthalii) looks fairly unremarkable when it’s not flowering, generally resembling the far more common orange blossom orchid. But when it flowers, it is exquisite. Dark purple blotches stand out ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Cropper, Senior Lecturer, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne Almost every person throughout the existence of humankind has looked up at the night sky and seen more than just a random scattering of light. Constellations of stars have helped ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Desbrow, Associate Professor, Nutrition and Dietetics, Griffith University A recent study published in the journal Depression and Anxiety has attracted widespread media attention. Media reports said eating chocolate, in particular, dark chocolate, was linked to reduced symptoms of depression. Unfortunately, we ...
He’s the artist who launched a million memes and over a billion streams. Sam Brooks picks out Bazzi’s best moments so far, from his career-making breakthrough to his mature new mixtape Soulsearching.1. ‘Mine’“You’re so fuckin’ precious when you smile.”It’s the line that didn’t just launch a million memes, it’s the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor, Monash University Since President Trump tweeted about imposing new tariffs on China, global equity markets have gone into a tailspin. Trump’s more recent announcement that the new tariffs would be delayed has not calmed the markets, with recent days ...
A new poem by Waikato poet Loren Thomas.to convince myself we’re dreamingwe were walking through suburbia houses kissing front lawns copied one after anotheryou tasted like mint leaves and chlorophyll that’s been pissed on by catsI held your hand and we walked towards the ocean dodging planks from dead train ...
The ancient Australian shock-jock yesterday targeted Jacinda Ardern, urging Australia’s PM to ‘shove a sock down her throat’. It’s all in keeping with a substantial history of being an arse.The plucky nation of Australia excels in a range of endeavours, but nowhere more than the angry, anguished howls of bloated, ...
Today, TVNZ released its latest findings on who is watching what on TVNZ OnDemand. Sam Brooks analyses the results.Today, TVNZ released the 2019 figures for who is watching TVNZ OnDemand, what they’re watching and in what kind of numbers. The big numbers are hopeful – over 1.4 million people reached ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jock Collins, Professor of Social Economics, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney The federal government wants to boost the number of migrants moving to regional areas in Australia to fill job vacancies and reduce the pressure on our cities. That’s why ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Associate Professor, Criminology and Justice Studies, RMIT University There can be no doubt violence against women is a national crisis. On average in Australia, one woman every week is killed. A 2016 survey found one in four women experienced violence ...
One dignified resignation was a bouquet in a sea of brickbats this week as low levels of accountability had eyes rolling. James Elliott has the news of the week. ...
Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein on the band’s ninth studio album, working with St Vincent, and the departure of bandmate and drummer, Janet Weiss.It’s been almost five years since Sleater-Kinney broke their decade-long hiatus with an album that received almost near-universal praise. It was “raw”, “bristling”, “emotive”, “taut” – all adjectives you’d ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Colleen Murrell, Associate Professor, Journalism, Swinburne University of Technology When news of the stabbings in Sydney on Tuesday afternoon came through, one of the first tweets about the incident came from Sky News reporter Laura Jayes. Immediately it got retweeted and sent ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $23)Sally Rooney Sally Rooney Sally Rooney Sally Rooney2 An ...
When Emily Writes reviewed a life-changing sex toy, the response from orgasm-starved women was huge. So why are so many having so few orgasms, and what can be done?For the last two years I’ve been running a pretty small – about 600-odd member – group for mostly New Zealand women ...
When Josie Adams broke her laptop last week, she knew she’d never find love like that again. Can the Asus Chromebook Flip C213SA offer a new kind of technological relationship? She reviews how it stands up to everyday use and the cosmic forces that seek to destroy her.Last Thursday I ...
Wine should be fun, not intimidating, all you need is a little knowledge. Yvonne Lorkin co-founder and chief tasting officer of WineFriend provides some simple tips to help you empower your palate. Even I can get scared by wine. I’m usually super-meek and a tad feeble at high-brow, ‘industry’ wine tastings. ...
Pacific Media Watch NewsdeskBy Makereta Komai in Funafuti, Tuvalu Tonga’s Prime Minister, ‘Akilisi Pohiva, has delivered a stinging attack against regionalism and the Pacific Islands Forum’s stance of leaving no one behind, for failing to amicably resolve the issue of West Papua. Pohiva admitted the issue has divided ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Corrections, Christchurch mosque shootings Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Upholding The Accused’s Right To Write Mark Daalder ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amber Marshall, Research fellow, Queensland University of Technology Farming families and communities in Queensland’s remote north are being left behind by the digital economy, putting them at significant social and economic disadvantage. Our report, launched in Cairns today, details the impacts of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Cameron, Associate professor, and Associate Director of the Global Obesity Centre, Deakin University Half-price chips, “two for one” chocolates, “buy one get one free” soft drinks: Australian supermarkets make it very easy for us to fill our trolleys with junk food. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Trethowan, Director, IA Watson Research Centre, Narrabri Plant Breeding Institute, University of Sydney A UN report released last week found a quarter of the world’s carbon emissions come from the food chain, particularly meat farming. This has prompted calls to sharply ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Petrova, Section Editor: Education Whether schools should mandate a uniform is a controversial issue. Some believe wearing the same clothes smooths out inequality. Others see uniforms as authoritarian; believing them a symbol of repression, stifling freedom of thought and individuality. We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Altman, Professorial Fellow in Human Security, La Trobe University The years between the gay liberation movement at the beginning of the 1970s and the onset of AIDS a decade later are viewed in a certain strand of gay nostalgia as “the ...
As the election looms closer, Jo Moir looks at how the three parties in the coalition government will use their differences to a political advantage. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Winter grazing in the spotlight, teens smoking much less weed than they used to, and stats show big acceleration in Auckland house building.To lead us off today, a look at a relatively long running farming issue which has burst into ...
Open Mike 25/05/2018 
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...1 day ago
Back in May, Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki launched another political party. Despite consisting entirely of followers of their religion, they grandly called it "Coalition New Zealand", in a vain effort to suggest it was something broader. But when they applied for registration, submitters opposed the name, as ...1 day ago
The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...1 day ago
1 day ago
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...1 day ago
This section builds on Part 1 of this series to provide a theoretical basis for the final instalment (part 3 – to come). Self-determination: law or resurgence — or both? International law promotes the principal of equal treatment and self-determination, which includes peoples’ rights to freely pursue their social, cultural and ...2 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...3 days ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...3 days ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...3 days ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...3 days ago
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...3 days ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...4 days ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 4 days ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...5 days ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...5 days ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...6 days ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...1 week ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...1 week ago
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...2 weeks ago
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...2 weeks ago
There is a military phrase: “Full spectrum dominance”. It refers to the all-encompassing policy to dominate across all spheres of war. Lately, that has come to include the internet – in other words, cyberwarfare initiatives. That is in addition to land, sea, air and the like. Now, if ...2 weeks ago
The IMF issued a Report on the state of the Economy as it is at present. Some of it points out significant issues that certainly warrant attention, but that we know already exist. Some of it is very much tied to the very obvious context of global concerns, that everyone ...2 weeks ago
I'm glad to see the Lib Dems won.I had a moment of terror yesterday thinking that the Conservatives might cling on, due to a combination of Johnson's elevation to the premiership, the apparent uselessness of the Lib Dem candidate (who had failed to be elected in other constituencies) and the ...2 weeks ago
. . Current Leader of the National Party, Simon Bridges gave the usual rah-rah speech to the Loyal & Faithful in Christchurch today (27 July). With National’s party polling and his own personal popularity sliding steadily in the polls, Mr Bridges has not much left to reverse his fortunes. ...2 weeks ago
Those concerned for Langridge’s wellbeing say they hope he’ll change his mind when he sees the ocean coming. The protester who has vowed to stand outside Parliament every day until the Government announces a climate emergency says he accepts that his quest will most likely end in drowning. Ollie Langridge, ...2 weeks ago
Image Credit: How To Start a Blog – Beginner’s Guide for 2019 I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. ... 2 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...1 week ago
On Newshub Nation: Simon Shepherd interviews conflict & terrorism expert Dr Chris Wilson and Muslim community leader Aliya Danzeisen ...8 hours ago
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...6 hours ago
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland.John Tamihere walked into the mayoral debate at North Shore Grey Power on Friday just minutes after ...6 hours ago
The three parties in the coalition have to negotiate compromises, concessions and conquests week after week. ...13 hours ago
Things I Learned at Art School is a new series featuring artists discussing how they do what they do and know what they know. In the second instalment, Megan Dunn talks to Berlin-based New Zealander Simon Denny about Michael Parekowhai, teaching and technology, and an idea involving the online shoe ...13 hours ago
With the acquisition of global rugby streaming leader RugbyPass, Sky might have just secured its future, writes Trevor McKewen.For several months now, the war between Sky and Spark Sport for the peerless prize of All Blacks and New Zealand rugby rights from 2021 onwards has been escalating. Every week, one ...14 hours ago
Today, a short story from the late 1920s, published in a posthumous new collection by Marlborough writer Eileen Duggan. Photo by Peter Black. ...15 hours ago
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Jamie Cashmore, co-founder of Auckland-based edible packaging company Twiice. First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Twiice.Twiice is a company making edible coffee cups with plans to progress into other areas ...15 hours ago
Black Fern Aleisha-Pearl Nelson was told by doctors, twice, that her rugby days were over - after serious horse-riding accidents. ...17 hours ago
The recent discovery of a fossil parrot the size of a human toddler is even more reason for Foulden Maar to be protected, writes the chairperson of Save Foulden Maar, Kimberley Collins.Last week, scientists discovered a new species of extinct parrot in the St Bathans Fauna. Weighing in at seven ...18 hours ago
Could a new hybrid of all the government’s major media holdings solve multiple media and government problems? Duncan Greive assesses the case.The media industry, despite what some of us might like to believe, really doesn’t matter all that much economically. Doesn’t employ all that many people. Relatively low wage. ...18 hours ago
The three governing parties are turning their attention to next year’s general election. RNZ‘s Jo Moir surveys the field.The night New Zealand First formed a government with Labour and the Greens, its leader Winston Peters quoted the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.Almost two years later all three ...18 hours ago
Protests in Hong Kong have attracted worldwide attention - but are we ignoring a more serious situation across the sea? ...1 day ago
Analysis: The botched census brings down a chief executive, there's another wave of speculation about Christopher Luxon standing for National and NZ First could sink an attempt to reverse the ban on prisoner voting. ...1 day ago
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Wording has played a crucial role in a reportedly “fierce” Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu with Australia allegedly managing to alter documental terms to downplay its commitment to climate change mitigation. According to RNZ Pacific, a communiqué and separate statement on climate change was released ...1 day ago
Australia’s coal policy and its use of carry over credits to fulfill its obligations under the Paris Agreement have come under fire and been major points of contention at this year’s 50th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Meeting in Funafuti, Tuvalu. READ MORE: ‘We should have done more for our ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael O’Keefe, Head of Department, Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University The Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Tuvalu this week has ended in open division over climate change. Australia ensured its official communique watered down commitments to respond to climate change, gaining ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xanthe Mallett, Forensic Criminologist, University of Newcastle Even in death, the voice of Carl Williams is louder than that of his victims. Intimate prison letters written by the convicted murderer and drug trafficker to his ex-wife, Roberta – herself arrested this month ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brianna Chesser, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Justice, RMIT University In September 2018, a prominent Melbourne surgeon and academic was charged with rape and sexual assault for alleged offences committed a year earlier against a male doctor. The surgeon and doctor had ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Dearnaley, Associate Professor, University of Southern Queensland The blotched butterfly orchid (Sarcochilus weinthalii) looks fairly unremarkable when it’s not flowering, generally resembling the far more common orange blossom orchid. But when it flowers, it is exquisite. Dark purple blotches stand out ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Cropper, Senior Lecturer, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne Almost every person throughout the existence of humankind has looked up at the night sky and seen more than just a random scattering of light. Constellations of stars have helped ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Desbrow, Associate Professor, Nutrition and Dietetics, Griffith University A recent study published in the journal Depression and Anxiety has attracted widespread media attention. Media reports said eating chocolate, in particular, dark chocolate, was linked to reduced symptoms of depression. Unfortunately, we ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor, Monash University Since President Trump tweeted about imposing new tariffs on China, global equity markets have gone into a tailspin. Trump’s more recent announcement that the new tariffs would be delayed has not calmed the markets, with recent days ...1 day ago
Today, TVNZ released its latest findings on who is watching what on TVNZ OnDemand. Sam Brooks analyses the results.Today, TVNZ released the 2019 figures for who is watching TVNZ OnDemand, what they’re watching and in what kind of numbers. The big numbers are hopeful – over 1.4 million people reached ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jock Collins, Professor of Social Economics, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney The federal government wants to boost the number of migrants moving to regional areas in Australia to fill job vacancies and reduce the pressure on our cities. That’s why ...1 day ago
One dignified resignation was a bouquet in a sea of brickbats this week as low levels of accountability had eyes rolling. James Elliott has the news of the week. ...1 day ago
Corrections has referred a letter written by the alleged Christchurch terrorist to police for further investigation. ...1 day ago
Sky Television is purchasing online rugby streaming service RugbyPass for $US40 million ($NZ62m). ...1 day ago
Jewellery retailer Michael Hill International has reported a lift in profit but is feeling the pinch of lower sales and squeezed margins. ...1 day ago
Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein on the band’s ninth studio album, working with St Vincent, and the departure of bandmate and drummer, Janet Weiss.It’s been almost five years since Sleater-Kinney broke their decade-long hiatus with an album that received almost near-universal praise. It was “raw”, “bristling”, “emotive”, “taut” – all adjectives you’d ...1 day ago
When Emily Writes reviewed a life-changing sex toy, the response from orgasm-starved women was huge. So why are so many having so few orgasms, and what can be done?For the last two years I’ve been running a pretty small – about 600-odd member – group for mostly New Zealand women ...1 day ago
Wine should be fun, not intimidating, all you need is a little knowledge. Yvonne Lorkin co-founder and chief tasting officer of WineFriend provides some simple tips to help you empower your palate. Even I can get scared by wine. I’m usually super-meek and a tad feeble at high-brow, ‘industry’ wine tastings. ...2 days ago
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk By Makereta Komai in Funafuti, Tuvalu Tonga’s Prime Minister, ‘Akilisi Pohiva, has delivered a stinging attack against regionalism and the Pacific Islands Forum’s stance of leaving no one behind, for failing to amicably resolve the issue of West Papua. Pohiva admitted the issue has divided ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amber Marshall, Research fellow, Queensland University of Technology Farming families and communities in Queensland’s remote north are being left behind by the digital economy, putting them at significant social and economic disadvantage. Our report, launched in Cairns today, details the impacts of ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Cameron, Associate professor, and Associate Director of the Global Obesity Centre, Deakin University Half-price chips, “two for one” chocolates, “buy one get one free” soft drinks: Australian supermarkets make it very easy for us to fill our trolleys with junk food. ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Trethowan, Director, IA Watson Research Centre, Narrabri Plant Breeding Institute, University of Sydney A UN report released last week found a quarter of the world’s carbon emissions come from the food chain, particularly meat farming. This has prompted calls to sharply ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Petrova, Section Editor: Education Whether schools should mandate a uniform is a controversial issue. Some believe wearing the same clothes smooths out inequality. Others see uniforms as authoritarian; believing them a symbol of repression, stifling freedom of thought and individuality. We ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Altman, Professorial Fellow in Human Security, La Trobe University The years between the gay liberation movement at the beginning of the 1970s and the onset of AIDS a decade later are viewed in a certain strand of gay nostalgia as “the ...2 days ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Winter grazing in the spotlight, teens smoking much less weed than they used to, and stats show big acceleration in Auckland house building.To lead us off today, a look at a relatively long running farming issue which has burst into ...2 days ago
Using the same tactics as the fascist regime in Syria, (and even some of the same video clips), an Israel lobby group spreads hoaxes to whitewash Gaza massacre
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/israel-lobby-group-spreads-hoaxes-whitewash-gaza-massacre-0
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/22/broken-dreams-and-lost-lives-israel-gaza-and-the-hamas-card/
Jenny I am with you on the Palestinian issue.
Not so your standpoint on Syria.
Do you realise that Israel and the Saudis support the head chopping Jihadis in their fight against Assad?
+1
I presume your “head chopping jihadis” is a reference to ISIS. When has Israel ever supported ISIS?
In the propaganda that dupes believe, it’s common knowledge. But Israel doesn’t need to support external fascism: it has its own.
OAB
Plenty of information that Israel has supported Syrian rebels, zero evidence that Israel has supported ISIS.
Though given your pro Assad sympathies, perhaps you think all Syrian rebels are ISIS.
OAB has pro-Assad sympathies and has the overly simplistic view that all Syrian rebels are ISIS? Not that I’ve noticed. Perhaps you are getting him confused with someone else.
your pro Assad sympathies
Are you on drugs Mapp? Beta blockers? Viagra*? Something that induces hallucinations?
*”Some sildenafil users have complained of seeing everything tinted blue”.
I hope you weren’t expecting the courtesy of an apology from Wayne @OAB – even tho’ you can see the timestamps show the irriot is still around, and even tho’ he’s at pains to present himself as a fair and reasonable sort of bloke -affably fair and balanced (almost) and very ‘nice’. Which is probably why the Sunday morning comfy media parachuted in to the studio see him as some sort of wise old sage they can depend on for some words of wisdom (going forward).
He’s as big a ‘spray and walkaway’ spreader of his ideology as the all-purpose drench is to livestock.
The Honourable Dr Wayne Mapp. No wonder we could be in the shit -the guy is as big a fossil to foresight and wisdom as a mizzz Boag is to the consumption of botox and image consultants.
Both very shallow folk. Indeed they could probably set up their own veneer company with the good Doctor advising on the technicalities with Mish advising on the latest trends.
Wayne you need to reread what oab wrote – he is no supporter of Assad.
Nice straw man and diversion there Wayne.
There are plenty of Jihadist groups going under various names that have a thing for chopping off heads. Al Nusra and Al Zinki come instantly to mind.
And there is plenty of evidence that “western” governments have given material support to those groups. Should “western” include Israeli? I guess that’s somewhat of an open question.
What’s The governments preferred method for execution in Syria Bill ?
Insofar as there is capital punishment for some crimes in Syria, I’d guess that the “preferred” method for death would be by hanging. I could well be wrong – it’s only a guess.
I had a look on the amnesty site but couldn’t find it.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/syria/report-syria/
You quote Amnesty?
Hilarious
Brigid I don’t find any of the information relayed by Amnesty International hilarious, if you do you have a very strange and dark sense of humour.
As everyone knows*, Amnesty are headchoppers.
*terms and conditions apply.
Ah thanks for the clarification it’s so hard to keep up with who’s in whose bad books these days.
Pretty simple, really.
Assad and Putin are Benevolent and Popular Leaders who distribute presents to children and kiss puppies, and this infuriates the evil Western Deep State who spread lies and crisis hoaxes to keep their own populations in fear. The WDS also fund Terrorist Head-Choppers to fight the BPL, and every person who opposes the BPL are THCs. The WDS and their THC puppets also randomly kill BPL political opponents (who are usually THCs or WDS operatives) and innocent civilians in order to make it look like the BPL are actually cruel and totalitarian dictators who do not shy away from torture (lies) and murder (fake news!).
Fortunately, we have amongst us visionaries who can see through the lies of the WDS-controlled Main Stream Media and nobly tell us how good the BPL really are.
lol
Don’t forget torture.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/26/saudi-arabia-criticised-over-executions-for-drug-offences
48 beheadings in Saudi so far in 2018
But think of the sheep exports!
“I’m going to call the State Department!”
“What?”
“I’m going to call them a barrel of motherfuckers…”
Frank Zappa.
Apparently we’re supposed to turn a blind eye to all this because trade.
This is true. This is why we still have trade with many countries that do not have an ethical government.
That you don’t know Wayne, demonstrates your ignorance.
Wayne, FYI
Israeli Intelligence chief: We do not want ISIS defeat in Syria
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/israeli-intelligence-chief-not-want-isis-defeat-syria/
Why isn’t the Assad regime fascist?
Maybe it needs to try harder?
Hi Ed,
It probably wouldn’t hurt if you put in some links to support your narrative. At the very least to give your comment some context linked to the real world.
Your use of emotive words like “head choppers” to denounce the Syrian people in revolt against the Assad regime. Is at best a generalisation, and at worst a broad smear. Of course Isis has executed people, (and probably innocent people) by chopping off their heads. This is a matter of factual record. But to generalise that to smear the whole opposition to Assad, needs more evidence than you have ever produced.
The fact that some rich and eccentric Saudi princes have funded the fundamentalist parts of the opposition is a matter of public record. As a result, the fundamentalists are the only part of the armed opposition that has ever received much material aid of any sort. While the liberal and progressive forces have been starved of all support. (a fact which has helped the growth of the more extremist Islamist groups).
Your other conjecture Ed, is that Israel is opposed to the Assad regime.
Again you should supply some proof to back up your conjecture. Just saying it, doesn’t make it so.
There is a lot of evidence,( contrary to your conjecture), that leading members of the Assad ruling dynasty have had a close working relationship with the Zionist state over several decades.
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/features/2015/8/17/exclusive-assads-sanctions-busting-ties-to-israeli-business-tycoon
As the above link details, much of the Assad dynasty credibility as Arab nationalists, rests on their on their supposed anti Zionist and anti-imperialist position, a position that doesn’t bear much examination.
During my time spent in the refugee camp in Latakia, at any mention or discussion of the Assad regime, the Palestinian refugees that I met expressed open derision at the idea of Assad being opposed to Israel. The Palestinian refugees in Syria told me that the Assad acted as a protector of Israel’s northern border, and that they did not consider the regime to be a genuine supporter of the Palestinian people.
The Assad regime much like the Sadat/Mubarak regime in Egypt had made their peace with the Zionists.
Though this relationship has been strained by the civil war, particularly by the Assad regime taking military support from Israel’s enemy Iran, the links will still be there. Personally I find it uncanny how the Israeli airforce can precisely target Iranian missile shipments to Hezbollah without the regime forces ever taking casualties.
The regime’s Arab nationalist anti-imperialist credentials don’t bear much examination either. As well selling off and privatising its public assets in the early 2000s at the behest of the World Bank and the IMF, (a sellout to Western imperialism that regime insiders also took a cut of), the Assad regime supplied 19,000 troops to support the US in the first Gulf War against Iraq. The Assad regime also worked closely with the CIA to help the CIA torture suspects flown to Syria under the CIA program of extraordinary rendition.
Ed, in past comments, I have provided you and others with the links to disprove your conjecture that Assad is an anti-imperialist Arab Nationalist. I won’t this time, because you obviously don’t read them, or even bother to open them. Because you have adopted a shallow narrative that such facts just don’t fit into.
In your mind Assad is some sort of Ho Chi Minh or Fidel Castro fighting the evil Yankee imperialists, as such we can afford to overlook or ignore his other faults, like genocide, and mass detention and torture in Nazi like death camps. Links that again I have supplied, (facts that you never challenge, instead that you choose to willfully ignore). In willfully overlooking these massive crimes against humanity, (as the necessary acts of a Nationalist leader defending himself against a foreign invader), as a result Ed you have become, wittingly or unwittingly an apologist and party to genocide.
Don’t support fascism.
It really shouldn’t have to be said.
I think it needs to be said over and over again, to the people who support fascism because they’ve been duped by fascist propaganda. Mention Assad, they start screeching about ‘headchoppers’ (another bunch of fascists, as though it needs saying). Mention Trump, they start blithering about her emails.
You can fool some of the people all of the time. Here at The Standard we have real world evidence that Lincoln was right.
So very true aob
What is your definition of fascism? Some people claim the Bathist regime in Syria is Fascist. It certainly is a totalitarian State that promotes a strong government and Syrian nationalism. Those are usually the cornerstone of Fascism.
You can add the practice of corporatism, torture and extrajudicial killing. Racism and “self-made-man” myths are usually to the fore aswell.
+111
Pretty sure most of those are part of the Assad regime as well.
‘Pretty sure’
Yep that’s proof enough
Why are you so quick to leap to the defence of the Assad government Brigid ?
Why are you so quick to make insinuations, Stoned Mullett?
I think it needs to be said over and over again, to the people who support fascism because they’ve been duped by fascist propaganda.
I think that’s far too narrow a focus and ought to be broadened out to include those who are unwitting supporters of fascistic tendencies because they believe Liberal propaganda.
Actually, on brief reflection, this “fascist” propaganda you speak of – who exactly are the fascists propagating it and that people are listening to?
Duped by fascist propaganda, from the likes of decent journalists like Pilger, Bartlett, Beeley and others. Hmm..k.
Sure you haven’t been duped by CNN, MSNBC, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights working out of his house in the UK?
Pilger supports the Chavista regime in Venezuela. Enough said.
Which we may surmise means you support extreme rightists like the New Order, who mean to steal their oil reserves.
Beeley and Bartlett are decent journalists? 😆
Edit: I wonder why The Intercept doesn’t appear in your list of news sources that I’m allegedly duped by. No, wait, I’m lying: I know exactly why that is 😆
I don’t suppose you’ve ever bothered to wonder why Eva Bartlett wasn’t subjected to the level of opprobrium she’s attracted for her coverage of Syria when she was reporting on Palestine from Gaza?
Maybe she just “lost the plot” somewhere along the line, or then again, maybe she’s consistent, and it’s just that her reporting from Syria doesn’t fit in the same nice comforting box as her reporting from Palestine?
What you suppose is of no concern to me.
As for Bartlett, I broadly agree with Malak Chabkoun.
Aljazeera, the mouth piece for El Nusra.
Do you actually believe I’m going to take your word for that?
How’s about you stop with the idiotic narcissism and (given it’s a place for engagement) engage rather than dropping pointless and vaguely inflammatory nonsense on people?
@Bill.
Brigid baldly asserts that Al Jazeera is a mouthpiece for terrorists – attacking the messenger as opposed to engaging with his argument, but I’m the one being pointless, inflammatory and narcissistic?
Pfft.
I don’t have anything to add to Malak Chabkoun’s remarks.
To bloody right maui … and we could add Fisk, Jeremy Scahill , Seymor hersh and others who have to find a outlet in our media landscape …
And what a warped landscape it is …. Here’s the results of some google searches I did ….
Skripal+poison+russia About 863,443 results
Yemen+siege+u.s.a+famine+2018 About 270 results
Syria+gas+Assad+2018 About 2,859,015 results
Yemen+siege+Britain+2018 About 15 results
Russia+”war crime”+Syria+2018 About 30,358 results
Israel+”war crime”+Gaza About 3 results
Corbyn+Anti-Semite bout 21,479 results
“Israeli terrorists”About 3,430 results
“Palestinian terrorists” About 24,209 results
Shaping opinion …. manufacturing consent
So I just did a Google search for “Israel + ”war crime” + Gaza” (note the syntax – spaces between terms) and returned many pages of results – Google says “about 250k results”. I don’t think much of your “findings”.
Edit: “Yemen + siege + u.s.a + famine + 2018” (note the syntax again) returns “about 253k results”. 🙄
Thanks OAB … can you fact check this for me
Marco the other day ( I think )made a good post containing and accurate statement about ‘farm sewerage
Labour has been attacked for a cow cap / cull based on excessive nutrient levels in our rivers ….. Nutrients don’t sound to bad and I’d swim in them … hell, do I get some vitamins with my nutrients in the river water ??….
But ‘Farm sewerage’ … I’m not going to swim in raw animal shit … it sounds very unhealthy swallowing and bathing in fecal matter …
“farm sewage” +”New Zealand”+river+excessive+safe About 38 results
nutrients +”New Zealand”+river+excessive+safe About 18,781 results
Framing the argument …. shaping opinion
Labour can easily win the excessive farm sewerage argument ….
“farm sewage” + ”New Zealand” + river + excessive + safe: “about 253 results”.
nutrients + ”New Zealand” + river + excessive + safe: “about 899k results”.
This is the last time I will try and educate you about syntax: add spaces between your search terms.
M. Bovis might just give the government space to initiate some “disaster Socialism“, and I’m not holding my breath.
OAB: absolutely true. One of the most poisonous and pernicious fallacies in contemporary politics is ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’. That’s what causes otherwise sane people to support crooks and despots like Trump (‘buh, buh, but, her emails, and yuck, icky icky girl cooties’) and Assad (‘buh, buh, but the Russians like him, and we like the Russians because…’ see previous). It’s stupid now, and it was stupid 35 years ago when that senile old fool Reagan was duped into supporting the most evil political movement of the second half of the 20th century.
What Is the difference in a nazi / facist who does this … http://ahrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Ravensbruck-Emaciated_Children-.gif
And the people who do this https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-civil-war-crisis-conflict-udai-faisal-starving-children-malnutrition-saudi-air-strikes-aid-a6958096.html
The children die the same way ….. But the disgusting Mays / Camerons / Trumps / Obamas are sick hypocrytes to lecture anyone about “humanitarian values” …
the United States and the United Kingdom are backing the Saudi-led coalition, and while calling for an end to the war, they continue along with Spain, France, Canada, Australia, and Italy, to sell billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and military equipment to parties to the conflict.
over the past 1,000 days:
Nearly 5,300 civilians were killed
Three million people were forced to flee their homes
Nearly one million people are suspected of contracting cholera in the world’s worst outbreak ever recorded
Oxfam said all that all parties to the conflict bear responsibility for these huge levels of human suffering and all are responsible for violations of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law.http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/08/the-united-states-is-complicit-in-the-destruction-of-yemen.html
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yemen-saudi-blockade-un_us_5a04678fe4b0f76b05c3d4f1
Poor old National party. The classic five stages of grief are on full display.
1 – DENIAL – Period suffered: Election night to budget day
Politics became meaningless. Parliament makes no sense. National were in a state of shock and denial. They were numb. Some pretended they were still minister, issuing decrees and orders that were ignored by tearful ex-staffers moving their boxes out of their Beehive offices. Awkward. Others wondered how they could go on, why should they go on. Many, many couldn’t go on and resigned. They tried to find a way to simply get through each day, going on diets, appearing on reality TV dancing shows.
2 – ANGER – Period suffered – Budget day to present.
National’s anger seems endless. But the more National truly feel it, the more the anger will begin to dissipate and the more they will heal. The truth is that Tory anger has no limits. It can extend not only to the speaker but their friends, the civil service, and silly little girls everywhere. Judith Collins, in her daily prayer session with Cameron Slater probably asks, “Where is God in this?” Underneath the anger is their pain. It is natural to feel deserted and abandoned by the electorate. Anger and fear are National’s strength and anchor, giving them temporary structure to the nothingness of their existence.
Still to come:
BARGAINING
DEPRESSION
ACCEPTANCE
Sanctuary 100%
A good wrap on the shonkey way National mussles in to crash Parliament now as they are such sore loosers arent they just.
They still dont accept defeat because they oppose MMP and believe they still have the right to Govern.
Sad folks National Party are really.
I’m not sure how you expect an opposition to behave. If memory serves me correctly I believe people like you were almost demanding Labour and the rest of the Opposition parties oppose the last government far more vigorously. It was as if not doing their utmost to stop them would be a betrayal of the nation. Now you think National should somehow become compliant. It makes little sense.
Gosman, don’t confuse opposing ‘far more vigorously’ with petulant and pre-planned disobedience. They have the entitlement of their questions allocated by the Clerk according to their numbers in the House. They should learn to ask questions properly.
You’re confusing form with content.
The Key kleptocracy’s innumerable rorts, failures and shortcomings were sufficient to keep a vigorous opposition busy for decades.
Having nothing comparable to criticize, the wretched Gnats are reduced to picking fights with the speaker. Had they the sporting chops to which Key so often pretended they’d realise that slagging off the Ref is a great way to excuse failure, but a lousy tactic if you actually mean to win.
“Where is God in this?”
More like “Great Cthulhu, blight my enemies.” Until recently her real enemies were on her own side of the house, but it must be hard to consider B&B a threat.
Aha… I was planning a bit of a dissertation along the same lines but yours is – as usual – better Sanctuary.
I think they’re almost done with the ‘Bargaining phase” (at least for the time being because Bridges won’t see the term out) and they’re moving into the ‘Depression’ state. Hence the tears of frustration and imagined victimisation by the Speaker. They’re causing it themselves but won’t ever admit it. This is likely to last until the end of the term with occasional outbursts of denial and anger thrown in for good measure.
I’m lovin it. 😀
President Trump.
– Pulled out of Paris Climate Accord
– Pulled out of CPTPP
– Pulled out of Iran
– Obliterated Palestinian peace dialogue
– Killed historic talks with North Korea
But delivered tax reform for corporations and very wealthy people, and increased funding for the military.
Worst US President in my lifetime.
Yes but it’s the best POTUS the industrial military complex have ever had and in this world that’s all that seems to matter now with they’re pervasive ways.
Russia and China are flexing the muscles with trump effectively paving a path for them with his ‘diplomacy’ and generally making America ‘great’ again.
Eye on those mid terms as the Donald goes hard out before the GOP likely lose more than a few sitting members.
Wasn’t he going to be the most tremendous bestest dealmaker ever? He did say maker, not breaker, right?
http://fortune.com/2018/05/04/unemployment-rate-century-low-percent/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-03-15/this-is-what-record-low-unemployment-looks-like-in-america
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/04/business/economy/jobs-report.html
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/05/04/black-unemployment-rate-hits-record-low-april/581090002/
Now you’re about to show me the causal relationship between President Trump’s economic policies and record low unemployment.
and of course if unemployment rose you wouldn’t use that as proof of how bad Trump is
President Trump’s track record in international relations is unquestioningly bad.
As to unemployment levels being an indicator of national belief in his leadership, check his polling.
President Trump is an exceptionally bad US President.
Ok I will:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/trump-bounceback/553337/
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/04/donald-trump-poll-numbers-rising-foreign-policy-challenges/
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/07/politics/cnn-poll-trump-steady-right-direction-rises/index.html
Yeah not looking so bad for Trump especially given most of the polling is probably done in and around New York and California where most of the media is ensconced
Even a dead cat bounces. Check the trend.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/
So Labour won’t take credit for NZs good economy and will instead pay tribute to Nationals handling of the economy for the last nine years?
So, what you’re saying is that the US’s boom economy is all on Obama?
Might well be, I’m not that into american politics
Good economy.
What planet are you on?
Sames as Grants apparantly
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11994447
https://www.odt.co.nz/business/govt-finances-better-expected
Ah, planet Key.
Robertson. Another Neo-Lib.
They changed how the unemployed are counted again pucker?
I thought pulling out of the TPP would have been counted as a positive.
He was very close to being the first US president to meet the DPRK president, I thought that would be a positive too, and it’s still possible.
“….and it’s still possible.”
I’ve had a bit of practice doing deals with people from Korea, albeit on a much, much smaller scale, and my take is that the deal is still very much live. The deal will have several more bounces between top table and garbage bin before we get to the end result.
In the face of Donald Trump’s saber rattling and veiled threat about the size and power of the US nuclear strike capability.
Will South Korea and Japan defy the US and continue to seek rapprochement with North Korea?
South Korean president ‘perplexed’ at Trump’s decision to cancel North Korea summit
JULIA MANCHESTER – 24 May, 2018
http://thehill.com/policy/international/389219-south-korean-president-holds-emergency-meeting-after-trump-scraps-summit
Japan has reportedly reached out to North Korea for a summit meeting
http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-summit-with-north-korea-2018-3/?r=AU&IR=T
Has Donald Trump torpedoed the proposed peace treaty between North and South Korea to officially end the Korean War?
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/north-and-south-korea-agree-to-pursue-signing-a-peace-treaty-2018-4?r=US&IR=T
Judith Collins says Jacinda weak by not accepting Twyfords resignation. Yet here she still is. .
Unfortunately.
Jude doesn’t actually want Twyford to resign from anything as shes having far too much fun pointing out why Twyford has been promoted above his capabilities
“shes having far too much fun”.
Don’t you feel just a bit sorry for Twyford?
Question time has Phil looking rather like a mouse that a domestic cat has caught. There is the little rodent Twyford squeaking away in his state of terrified befuddlement.
Mind you, as someone who lives in the country that he claims to have some control over I would be only too happy to see Collins put him out of his misery and that he be replaced by someone with at least a skerrick of ability.
Oh for goodness sake Alvin. Go and change your pants. You are way to excited about chest beating Collins. Bet your dreams are full of Collins, black leather, thigh high boots and whips and handcuffs. Have i missed anything?
Thats quite a detailed description there Ffloyd 🙂
Cold shower, Pucky!
I’m getting some strange looks from around the office at the moment
Suit drenched in perspiration? Heart beating like a drum? The barely audible whine? Or is it something unmentionable? Costume malfunction?
Well…
LMFAO !!! Fancy looking codpiece, ROFL, that curve would hit the spot. Too funny!
That’s about your 50th post of the day and you are at work? Not getting much value out of you, are they?
Your tax payers dollars at work 🙂
An you’re proud of it!
That’s the smug dishonesty of the right for you I guess.
I am proud that I can work so efficiently that i can muck around on here and get all my work done 🙂
Not sure how you sleep at night.
If you really want to know I sleep au natural, mostly on my side (sometimes on my front) and am quite the deep sleeper
Can’t work out why you are so gleeful about wasting your employer’s time. You admonish others for arrogance but display all the signs of it yourself.
The amount of time i spend on here is directly proportionate to how much work i have on at the time
At the moment I don’t have much on so i can spend more time on here but on some days i can’t get on here at all because of the amount of work i have on
If you had a job you’d understand this concept 🙂
You have given away quite a lot of information about yourself today.
Noted for the future.
That is called Psychological Projection isn’t it FFluffy?
“Psychological projection is a defense mechanism people subconsciously employ in order to cope with difficult feelings or emotions. Psychological projection involves projecting undesirable feelings or emotions onto someone else, rather than admitting to or dealing with the unwanted feelings”
Is that how you feel about Ms Collins? It certainly not something that ever occurred to me. Just don’t try and put your fantasies into practice.
So funny Alvin. You’d better sit down your projection is showing.
My God, FFluffy.
More Projecting on your part.
You identify as being an exhibitionist as well. You know you should be ashamed of yourself so you try and pretend it is other people who do the things that are the flaws in your own behaviour.
Sad. Really sad. Keep away from Primary Schools until you learn to control yourself.
I don’t feel sorry for him at all, he was part of the group that stated time and time again how bad NZ was, how bad National were, how Labour were so much better well hes got his chance and now hes showing just how competent he really is
The longer Jude toys with him and makes him look like the incompetent he really is the better, hes sort of representative of Labour really
Take Cindy away from Labour and all you have is people like Twyford
Funny, I seem to remember Judith Collins as one of the ‘”what housing crisis?” mob. Phil Twyford is doing OK. Don’t believe all the MSM bleats.
Collins was sacked for taking advantage of her position, so why is she so good? Oh your opinion.??
@PR.
True. When you really look at him he isn’t worthy of sympathy.
I personally think that Grant Robertson is about all the CoL has going for it. He has surprised me with the way he seems to have started getting a grasp on his portfolio. When you look back at his mucking about a couple of years ago with his blathering about things like a UBI and so on he has got much better.
I suppose it is because he has been house-trained by Treasury.
Ardern remains a major disappointment in my view. Perhaps she will learn in the future but she shows no signs of having any grasp of her job to date. She has been pretty much a glove-puppet for Tsar Winston so far.
Your assessment of ardern is praising with faint damnation.
I thought the casual sexism from alwyn was the standout silliness, but I can see what you’re saying McFlock.
“praising with faint damnation”.
Sounds a reasonable interpretation of my opinion.
I simply don’t think she is up to the job. She simply doesn’t know enough about the problems and isn’t prepared for it..
I want someone competent in that job, and she simply isn’t the one.
Of the Labour leaders since Clark, who was up to the job, the only one who seemed to be capable of filling the role was Shearer. Why did the Labour Party stab him in the back?
And, for your mate adam, it has nothing whatsoever to do with her sex.
But he knows that doesn’t he?
lol
Obviously sowing discord and fanning paranoia in Labour is a perishable skill.
A solid seven years of Labour fighting itself left you incompetent at doing the job yourself.
Putting the Shearer barb aside (which is just disappointingly weak), Ardern consistently nukes shouty&co in the House, her ministers are getting results, and all in all they’ve stepped into their new roles with ease and competence. But then it doesn’t take much to improve on the last batch of ministers, anyway.
Ardern, in the House, simply doesn’t answer the questions. Still, she has got Mallard to protect her doesn’t she.
Look at this extract from Hansard. It was Question 1 last Tuesday.
“Hon Simon Bridges: What extra funding did the Budget provide to fulfil her promise to pay early childhood education (ECE) centres more for employing 100 percent qualified staff?
Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As the member will know, Budget 2018 included a 45 percent increase in education funding. The fact that we could put 45 percent more into education—new funding—and still have additional needs that we need to meet demonstrates just how bad things were for the education sector.”
When it was pointed out that there had been no attempt to answer the question Trevor came out with,
“Mr SPEAKER: Well, it was very clearly addressing the question.”
You call that “nuking”?
“her ministers are getting results”. Really?
How many of the billion trees have been planted?
How many of the 100,000 homes have at least been started?
How many pensioners are getting their $700 heating allowance this year?
maybe after a few years more practise you’ll get the hang of it.
“after a few years more “.
You may be right. Of course after a few more years the answers to my 3 questions will still be the same.
Trees planted. ZERO.
Kiwibuild affordable homes started. ZERO
Pensioners getting $700 heating allowance in 2018. ZERO.
Have a nice day y’all.
I would bookmark that prediction, but in two years we’ll probably have plenty of more recent examples of your grief-ridden disconnect with reality.
That addressing the question malarkey is bollocks isn’t it wally. Whose bright idea was that?
Alywyn and PR if you are feeling excited that Judith blew the whistle on pt use of the cell phone you are desperate. It is a minor misdemeanor and only serves to compare and contrast what happened with Gerry and airport security. No conquence for Gerry. Phil stands down on a very minor part of his workload(probably glad to get rid of it)………jacinda looks good. The majority on an on-line poll thinks phill didn’t need to stand down……..is this all national have got? Rather pathetic
It’s those godawful butchered eyebrows that terrorise the poor man wally.
That’s nothing to do with Twyford. That’s Collins declaring open war against Brownlee – because any discussion of Twyford’s actions inevitably broadens to include Brownlee’s own error of judgement.
It’s almost sad to see how the Nats have begun tearing themselves apart after their election loss. Even Labour in 2008 weren’t that bad.
(The system is telling me this is a duplicate comment – but the original comment was lost in cyberspace – admins feel free to delete one or t’ other)
That’s nothing to do with Twyford. That’s Collins declaring open war against Brownlee – because any discussion of Twyford’s actions inevitably broadens to include Brownlee’s own error of judgement.
It’s almost sad to see how the Nats have begun tearing themselves apart after their election loss. Even Labour in 2008 weren’t that bad.
Uber autonomous car crash in Arizona investigation report is out
The Uber car, a Volvo XC90 sport-utility vehicle equipped with Uber’s sensing technology, comes with an automatic emergency braking system from the manufacturer.
But Uber disabled that function as well as other safety features to “reduce the potential for erratic vehicle behavior,” according to the report.
While the person pushing the bike across the road had traces of P and marijuana in her system, its stunning to find Uber had disabled part of the vehicles emergency systems
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/technology/uber-autonomous-car-ntsb-investigation.html
micro plasma bovis spread – “Livestock transporters let down over effluent “- By Ken Shirley.
This was an Interesting bit here; – from a National Party ally and ex MP in the Act party in coalition with the 1990’s era of the National Government.
Ken Shirley is now talking about shifting the blame onto Labour now!!!!
incredible it is when he was firstly an MP under Labour in the Langey government then under National Party as an ACT MP in 1990’s alongside National when they were in power!!!
Ken Shirley couild have sung loud about road truck effluent spread then couldn’t he?
“I see nothing” = Ken Shirley.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Shirley
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1805/S00364/livestock-transporters-let-down-over-effluent.htm
SCOOP POLITICS
Livestock transporters let down over effluent
Thursday, 24 May 2018, 12:06 pm
Press Release: Road Transport Forum
24 May 2018
Livestock transport operators are extremely disappointed in the way farmers, OSPRI and MPI have failed to implement and properly enforce stock movement regulations as is their responsibility under the National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) scheme, says Road Transport Forum Chief Executive Ken Shirley.
“These regulations were put in place for a reason, as we are now finding out to the country’s considerable cost with the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak.”
“Stock trucks are fitted with effluent tanks with a finite capacity that require frequent emptying. The act of disposing effluent, which in the past was difficult enough, has as a direct result of the fear associated with disease spread become a significant issue.”
Many farmers have been remiss in not adequately standing stock off green feed prior to transport to reduce effluent production while local government and meat processing companies have been extremely tardy in providing access to effluent disposal facilities. Access to traditional disposal facilities is also now being restricted fearing disease spread.
“With Mycoplasma bovis upon us greater demands are being put on stock transporters to wash and sanitise their vehicles but there has been no focus on the provision of adequate effluent disposal sites by the other parties.”
“Farmers and meat processors are placing increased burdens and cost on stock transporters but steadfastly refuse to shoulder the additional costs and responsibility generated by their own tardiness.”
“What if Mycoplasma bovis was an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease? In that nightmare scenario it would clearly not be acceptable to leave the burden of responsibility for effluent disposal solely with transporters, yet the primary sector doesn’t seem to appreciate that the principle here is just the same.”
“Livestock transporters are more than happy to continue to play their part in the responsible movement of animals. However, MPI, councils, farmers and meat processors also need to help facilitate the appropriate disposal of stock effluent through better facilities and practices,” says Shirley.
ends
The constant movement of stock will be a thing of the past now the disease is here. If you have a disease free herd you will want to keep it that way.
by bye stock trucks. You wont be missed. ( other than to the works)
here here; dukeofurl,
We will not miss those rattling nasty smelling stock trucks as the smell is also the sign we are recieving water droplets of aerosols that can cause us many diseases we are warned constantly.
Yes I operate a small farm but we keep our stock away from our home.
We advocate using rail again to move our stock as rail is away from roads and our driving behind stock trucks is a health risk but trains we dont travel behind. so this is worth thinking abiout now.
Besides the roads are falling apart with so many stock trucks on our rural roads now.
Shirey and his gangsrters should ppay to fix our rural roads then he may jion us and use rail again.
Not sure that he’s trying to “blame” Labour, rather a plea for everyone in the industry to work together sort the situation out.
“Many farmers have been remiss in not adequately standing stock off green feed prior to transport to reduce effluent production while local government and meat processing companies have been extremely tardy in providing access to effluent disposal facilities. ”
That’s a full on assault on farmers and the parties that should have been providing the effluent disposal and washing facilities. And coming from the stock transport sector who’ve made a considerable amount out of being a bus service to the livestock industry. But think Citybus rather than Tour Bus.
What Ken doesn’t touch on, but which is freaking the transport sector, is transport becoming a party to NAIT. This way the stock will be tagged off the farm, onto the truck, off the truck, and onto the farm. So then there’s a record of the animals that have been on each truck. Easy to do but a considerable cost to the transporter, and will put the clammers on black / grey market stock movements. And that side of the business is where the money is. Ooooops
Graeme! Wash, as the trucks have to be, your mouth out with soap! Such things you say! Calves, without ear-tags? Surely, no!
A stock truck pulls up to a farm loading ramp in the middle of the night, 10 cows get off, 4 get on, that’s after the same truck took a full load past the gate to the works that afternoon from a farm 100 km away.
Then you’ve got RentaBull, guy down the road has several hundred for short term hire, along with NickaBull, (can get tricky getting him into the trailer in the middle of the road), and BorrowaBull (short out the fence with your cows in the boundary paddock)
Indeed.
As it always should have been.
Make it mandatory to have GPS tracking on all vehicles and road sensors watching and counting the vehicles.
Also, go Cashless. It’s difficult to commit crime when it will be picked up automatically.
“As it always should have been.”
Would love to see the decision trail around that. There would have been some intense lobbying to keep the truckies out of it and create a gap that the cash could flow through. Interesting that the most vocal opponents of NAIT were stock agents.
Cashless..
There you go again, Draco..
How do you see cashless playing out …really…
Serious question…
Pretty well. We’re almost there already as I point out.
It’s difficult to commit crime when it will be picked up automatically.
No, it will simply require a little more coordination between organised criminals in the banking sector and those in the underground economy.
The banking sector won’t actually have the money on them. It will be entirely stored in government servers.
Shirley he’s not preempting some revelation about effluent disposal.
Gosman
Puckish Rogue
It gives me great Pleasure to announce the long awaited marriage between the above two tireless contributors to Drivel Inc . It is seldom that two blogees marry and produce happiness. We should be so grateful for their joint outpourings of hot crap.
They are so well matched and mated.
No, they are too imbued in the concept of self pleasuring to be able to consumate a relationship.
On the marriage of Gosman and Pucky; Jude will be seething!!
Pucky’s hers!
Heres a poem i wrote that succinctly describes my feelings, what do you think?
My life is brilliant
My life is brilliant
My love is pure
I saw an angel
Of that I’m sure
She smiled at me on the TV
She was with another man
But I won’t lose no sleep on that
‘Cause I’ve got a plan
Shes beautiful
Shes beautiful
Shes beautiful, it’s true
I saw her face in a crowded place (parliament)
And I don’t know what to do
‘Cause I’ll never be with you
Yes, she caught my eye
As we walked on by
She could see from my face that I was
Flyin’ high
And I don’t think that I’ll see her again
But we shared a moment that will last till the end
Shes beautiful
Shes beautiful
Shes beautiful, it’s true
I saw your face in a crowded place
And I don’t know what to do
‘Cause I’ll never be with you
La-la-la-la
La-la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la
Shes beautiful
Shes beautiful
Shes beautiful, it’s true
There must be an angel with a smile on her face
When she thought up that I should be with you
But it’s time to face the truth
I will never be with you
Hm.
I suppose you are trying but I’m not sure you should give up your day job to chase your dream of becoming Poet Laureate/
Mind you, when very young, I used to feel much the same way about Sophia Loren. That young lady, for some strange reason, seemed to prefer that old, bald, short chap Carlo Ponti. Very odd of her when you consider all I had to offer.
After all, when she said “I do” she would have been entitled to half my bicycle.
ps. Is that suitably ageist, sexist and racist to satisfy you adam?
lols.
But I have to agree with alwyn. Don’t give up your day job.
This is what famous literary critic Harold Bloom said about never writing poetry himself:
” It must have had something to do with the enormous reverence and rapture I felt about poetry, the incantatory strength that Crane and Blake had for me from the beginning. To be a poet did not occur to me. It was indeed a threshold guarded by demons. To try to write in verse would have been a kind of trespass.”
Advice worth heeding Pucky.
Jude is a big fan of casual racism and sexism, so I guess you’re right Robert Guyton – Gossy would not be a perfect fit.
http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/312/563/05d.jpg
Not really interested in another round of you trying to laugh off your casual sexism and racism Puckish Rogue – so jog on.
OT they are probably one of the same person; who knows?
Yes. Felicitations to them both. They are well-matched.
One has all the questions. The other has all the answers.
And we get to critique both. 🙂
More hidden reports and zero action on industry from the Natz. But what is Labour going to do about it, give a free pass to industry?
Fishing industry lies revealed in leaked report
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1805/S00160/fishing-industry-lies-revealed-in-leaked-report.htm
Labour wont do shit because Winston.
Fisheries in NZ is a disgrace.
But…but, Tony Hazlett (Head of Talley’s Nelson division) says the hoki fishery is healthy and will be for some time.
They can still make money then. That’s nice. And they envisage making money “for some time” – that time being when the fishery is completely fucked which, as Hazlett has basically acknowledged, is what’s on the cards.
saveNZ,
Now that National has declared on Labour the first casualty of this political war is truth.
it seems that all Polititians seem to rush to cover themselves first and ignore the truth starring thwem in the face as we all see is there today,
Labour so far have a better record onn admitting their faults than National ever had done.
So we hope this increases and labour takes the ‘bull by the preverbial horn’ and gets in and fixes all these worrying issues so we can say “we did this”
Yes Labour are better, but there is a massive mess left behind… like this one..
More than 98,000 non-New Zealand citizens arrived in the April 2018 year. However, more than 30,000 non-New Zealand citizens left this country.
The more important question might be, did the non NZ citizens leave after buying housing and assets in NZ and did they leave satellite families behind who qualify for government assistance?
Should long term NZ residents and citizens be expected to pick up the welfare bill for asset rich people who have only been in the country for a few years?
How will the government’s 1000 – 1600 new affordable houses help when 60,000+ new people arrived last year?
Should there be an expiry date and controls on residency to people who are just using NZ as a cockoo lifestyle to raise their kids or care for their aged parents after gaining residency and heading back overseas to work?
Should there be a minimum amount of time spent in the country (aka 75% of time spent in NZ over a lifetime of gaining residency) to be allowed access to free health care, education and super and voting if you come into NZ under the pretext of working or settling here permanently but then as increasingly the case, it’s leaving NZ after getting the paperwork through?
Should there be a lot more safe guards with clearer controls on trusts and companies hiding assets like housing or small businesses which can then be used to mask or structure people’s wealth enabling rich people to legitimately claim welfare and accommodation benefits, tax write offs and WFF or straight benefits through loopholes and our very relaxed laws on companies and trusts holding assets.
This is a serious issue facing the country as we have people who are born here or migrated here and working hard or just being a citizen who is also a beneficiary and genuinely poor and they are getting less opportunities.
NZ is no longer the land of plenty, somehow we have gone from state houses to living in cars, as well as people who genuinely need secure work and opportunities at living wages… and the government is not doing enough to ensure to protect our system against abuse that has occurred under the National government’s decade reign of ‘rockstar economy’ aka widespread fraud and sell offs and trougher’s of all descriptions at the public purse.
@Save NZ
An excellent article !
Lend me your Ears
We simply cannot admit any or every passport into NZ until we have housing, plumbing, sewerage, health, education and work for the owner of the Passport.
National, namely John Key and Billy English and their handmaids being of low IQ, did not understand that. And they have created chaos. National will never rise again for what they did not do.
“National has declared on Labour”.
For those who follow the great game of Cricket I shall tell you the score at the time of the declaration.
When they declared National had reached 987 runs for 3 wickets.
Labour went into bat and when stumps were drawn due to bad light Labour had reached a score of 16 runs for the loss of 7 wickets.
National’s score of course took four days to compile; from 450 overs.
At the end of the drawn game, National declared themselves the winner as they were the team that had scored the most runs.
The series had of course been decided with Labour winning three of the five matches.
National attacked the match umpires for obvious bias, and besides they had more players in their team.
Team vice-captain, MS Bennett, who retired early, frustrated at not scoring any runs, alleged the umpires’ decisions were “dangerous for cricket”. Later cautioned for ball-tampering with the heavy roller, she said “Their decisions had become personal.”
When the after-match commentators pointed out that the great majority of the National wickets that fell were either due to hit wicket or were bowled middle stump and obviously out, MS Bennett said that the decisions were flawed and anyway they hadn’t been quite ready.
“The pitch was too green and the opposition’s ball was red,” she said.
Next week we could see the end of Kiwibuild and the NZ dream for all of Home Ownership. If Auckland Council has its way lifting development contributions from $20-$25k/house to $70k/house for Greenfield developments. You can argue from both positions as to the justification of who incurs the financial cost of infrastructure.
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/93235/auckland-councils-economists-argue-full-development-contributions-are-unlikely-result
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12043072
“And a separate proposal could see developers on future greenfields sites paying as much as $70,000 per dwelling.”
And would not the Unitec development be considered Greenfields as its current use is not housing ?
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/353359/mt-albert-kiwibuild-homes-private-sector-needs-help-twyford
“Forty percent of the houses will be part of KiwiBuild – available to first-home buyers at between $500,000 and $600,000.” Unfortunately there is even more pressure on the cost to construct and still be considered “Affordable”
How sad for the young that owing a house is fast vanishing more most 🙁
The question is also ‘where has all the money going” that has been collected by Auckland council. They have outrageous water bills, actually not the water apparently which is free but for the pipes which actually seem to be a mess still after years of Metrowater, we have 54% of rates going to Auckland Transport which is also a mess and takes 5 times longer than a car for a 2 stage journey and costs 5 times the cost of petrol, while many areas have little to zero public transport at all, then we have our infrastructure and development costs which seem astronomical but somehow also seem to need to go up to $70k per development and not much sign of all the infrastructure being put in by council for all the new developments they took the contributions for over the past decade of contributions. And now a petrol tax, actually two taxes, a regional one and an Auckland one.
All this while reducing library services, making people mow their own berms and thinking we need a billion dollar stadium and giving themselves salary rises and new premises, more marketing people, more lawyers, more of everyone pushing paper around at great cost and with little practical reality coming out of it.
Prior to having his heart attack Phil Goff was in China. This is an interesting article about how a Chinese strategy is to get countries to borrow money that they can’t pay back. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/15/warning-sounded-over-chinas-debtbook-diplomacy.
Sounds like Phil and the Auckland council are hoping to bankrupt the city to join the government in borrowing money as fast as possible to put in development, which seems to be for the Ponzi scheme of importing in low skilled people needing welfare to top up their meagre wages, the higher skilled who leave after a few years to work after obtaining residency, while leaving behind children to be educated and the elderly to be looked after by tax paying Kiwis who now struggle to afford a house, or even to drive to work with the petrol taxes to pay for the folly.
Prior to the last decade we had a normal level of people migrating here who stayed and made a life here, we did not have floodgates of people buying up assets and then leaving with non working family members living here in million dollar houses or with small businesses losing money while employing more and more overseas people into the country!
What is going wrong with this picture?
Remember this, nobody held to account and the ratepayers forced to pay 25% rises of rates for the folly which mean’t many lost their houses….
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1208/S00196/commissioners-at-kaipara-council-a-sign-of-things-to-come.htm
Detroit city council approves bankruptcy related water authority deal
http://www.jurist.org/paperchase/2014/09/detroit-city-council-approves-bankruptcy-related-water-authority-deal.php
Unfair, savey, unfair. The widespread misunderstanding of Goffles’ socalled secretiveness highlights the need for a massively expanded PR campaign. Obviously more management will be needed and managers cost money. Ratepayers will appreciate the effort and the jump in their property values.
Ok I agree a bit unfair for Goffles, he inherited the problem, but he is going in the wrong direction by adding in more managers and listening to those already there who seem to have misdirected the money collected so far.
Nope, ratepayers who actually work in Auckland are not happy unless they are cashing up and leaving, those left are paying more rates and now petrol taxes, but have nothing working ain’t happy. Even in 2015 it showed over 80% of ratepayers were not happy with the council. (The stopped public polling after that result).
You can’t go to the beach because of sewerage, you can’t drive across town because of congestion, you can’t catch public transport because it doesn’t go there or takes even longer to get there…. nothing really being done about that, even though in places there are train tracks that the experts don’t want to use, You can’t even get a decent meal these days and in the legacy of having chefs and burger managers considered a ‘essential skill’ McDonalds has been in the news when pills have been found in the Sundaes and the famous French cafe has apparently been bought out and the joke being is it going to be renamed the French curry? Now that’s capitalism and globalism at work or maybe the fall of it, I’m not sure!
Auckland council and COO thinking is from a money grab perspective, and still adding in more people. The poorer citizens are being advised by MSM to leave the city and go to the provinces, essentially surrender and just leave the neoliberals to sell off the city.
What a legacy, bankrupting the city and purging it of poor and middle class people and leaving the rich, the rich who claim benefits, more and more fake, illegal or misleading businesses and a few refugees left. How Rogernomics.
Lip Reading the Royal Wedding. Very clever and very funny.
Because its Friday heres my two favourite bad lip reading efforts
It’s a beautiful day in Putaruru Aotearoa at the minute.
Io gave us another big bouncy baby boy yesterday and it our mokos birthday today she’s 3 our mokos in Auckland are all good here’s a link to some music ECO MAORI likes below.
Ka kite ano P.S Its Mataraki
Hi standardistas. I know you have differences with people in New Zealand. But today a man in England was sentenced to death by the Tory government run by the Israeli interests in England for standing up for the working class girls of England.
This is bipartisan issue. If a Tory government can arrest people and sentence and imprison them within the hour for speech in the United Kingtom for standing up for British working class girls who were raped under Labour we are in dire straights.
Please stand up for free speech. Stand up for Tommy Robinson, defending the working class girls who were sacrificed to diversity.
The working class in England should be marching in the streets. This is bipartisan, genuine fascism. You want to see real fascism? Here it is.
If Tommy Robinson dies in prison because he’s murdered by muslims, it’s time for bad things to start happening to the British ruling classes.
The man was imprisoned over nothing, and then sentenced and imprisoned within the hour. No jury. No trial.
https://www.menofthewest.net/the-murder-of-tommy-robinson-how-britain-became-the-kebab-archipelago/
I’m going to be doing daily posts on Tommy Robinson.
The British government and the overall British ruling class have no mandate by the British people. They have suspended their relations with the British people. They should be regarded as an illegitimate government ruling by force and their supposed authority should be suspended and they should be regarded as adversaries of the British people.
The people of England need to start arming themselves with anything they can find. This is real. This is terrifying. And justice needs to be served.
The rape of 1 million girls by the English ruling class deserves justice.
I hope that justice comes for the English ruling class, whatever form it takes. The English ruling class are aliens to England. I won’t state why, but they are not English. They are of another group of people who have a different agenda to the English.
Every day, I’m going to start writing about the English government and what it is doing.
New Zealand needs to put pressure on this regime and start divesting ourselves of the relationship until they restore the rule of law and the freedoms of western institutions to England.
God bless the English
Good evening Newshub Lloyd looks like Ireland is going to catch up with the times and give Lady’s the right to have a abortion the Mana Wahine = rights movement is strong. Lloyd do you miss Winston.
Judge Andrew Becroft is a good fair Kiwi who ECO MAORI backs 100 %. Off topic my view is that Judith Collins the – – – – – – is at her worst paying someone to spy on Phil Twyford and slowly leak the the bad habits of Phil that’s is how nasty people like Judith Collins behave .
Does that show te tangata what tech can be use for the tracking of visit to farms with the bovine virus is a good thing but there are many bad things that people can use tech for even the state.
ECO MAORI Says there should be a total set net ban around the endanger Mauri dolphins habitat come on there are less than 60 of these beautiful creatures of Tangaroa left these fishmen can use long lines some how I think NZF are slowing down the process of a set net ban – – – – – – you Ka kite ano P.S people like Judith Collins can’t win fairly so they cheat