Witnessing the A-bomb’s first test in the desert far outside Los Alamos, the New Mexico town where much of the bomb-building took place, he really did (as the film depicts) recite the line from the Bhagavad-Gita, “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”
At his meeting with President Harry Truman, after the bombs he helped build incinerated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he really did say “I have blood on my hands.” And Truman, who lost no sleep over his decision to drop the bombs, really said to an aide afterward (though not within earshot of Oppenheimer, as he does in the film), “Don’t let that crybaby in here again.”
Psychodrama! Hero as "a complex portrait: a tortured soul, enthralled by the science, then racked by guilt over the hellscape it unleashed. He’s insistent on his independence as a scientist, but also pliant in his role as mere adviser to authority. He’s certain of his convictions, but ambivalent about almost everything."
In the 1930s and early ’40s, he had been a “fellow traveler” – probably not a card-carrying member of the Communist Party, but an active supporter of some of its causes, which in the day included racial integration, a minimum wage, and aiding the anti-fascist soldiers in the Spanish Civil War. Not only that, his wife, Kitty (played by Emily Blunt), had once been a party member, as had his brother and several of his close friends, and he attended several meetings of the party’s chapter in Berkeley, where he was teaching physics. Even after he was appointed director of Los Alamos in 1943, his security clearance was held up because of these connections.
The film seems to have merit as exploration of the science/politics interface, considering timeless issues involving power & truth – plus faustian deals that changed the world.
Listening to Winston Peters on RNZ and really, he hasn't changed. He's tarted things up a bit with some MAGA catch phrases but what makes him jarring is the fact he is still pitching to a Tauranga audience of retired Rob's mob circa 2000.
It is such a pity, because NZ First has some good ideas but ultimately, it is entirely his vanity project and will disappear once he shuffles off this mortal coil.
I always thought there were some good ideas too, but they got lost in the forest of demented rants.
Do you think he's the 4-dimension chess player, the Professor Snape of Parliament, just there to pull the whacko votes without ever intending to action them? Some do.
I think Winston Peters is in it for Winston Peters. Entirely a vanity project. The man seems driven by vendettas real and imaged (mostly imagined). Peters is interesting because he has constantly presented himself to voters as an outsider kicking against the elites. Ingrid Hipkiss gave him pleanty of ammunition to advance that argument with her odd attitude and rather dismissive approach to him in the interview.
In an recent interview with the New Yorker magazine crackpot, cooker and maybe presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy Jr. accused his interviewer as being among the "elites". The journalist replied that Kennedy is from a far more privileged background than he. Kennedy says:
"When I use the word “élite,” I’m talking about the people who are inside the Beltway, the press figures who are supposed to be speaking truth to power, but instead have become propagandists for the government. Who view their jobs as quashing dissent, and quashing political criticism of the government that they’re supposed to be actually criticizing."
Therefore Kennedy, a genuine member of the ruling-class, is not an elite because he's an outsider. The elites are the insiders who shape consensus reality, whose moral and political codes dominate. The rest are forced to live in that reality and are victimised if they question it. Think "woke elite", and "metropolitan elite". Hipkiss firmly placed herself into this notional "elite" with the tone of her interview and walked into the rather obvious traps Peters set for her.
This displacing of class antagonism onto cultural elites is a boring commonplace of the Right – Kennedy might think he is onto something novel, but really, Winston Peters has been doing it for thirty years and Muldoon was doing it in the 1970s.
Yeah – listened to it. I thought, will enough of these old dudes (among whom I place myself) do their coil shuffling thing before the climate crisis has become unsolvable – as they are the major obstacle to even trying? It looks like a tight race – like a reality-based 'reality tv' show. I'm not betting on it.
@ observer (4.3) … Winston Peters is a chameleon, changes his colours constantly to suit Winston. You wouldn't know what you were voting for with him. This leads me to think NZF led as it is presently by Peters is in no man's land, lacking policy, ready and willing to go with any party, which gives him personally a good deal. For these reasons, I would not ever vote for NZF. I like to know what I'm getting when I cast my vote and with Peters, it could be anything, because nothing is black or white with him. He's a grey unknown area unto himself … no pun intended there … known for holding the country to ransom, while he works out what is best for Winston!
About time Peters retired and left NZF to some younger politicians.
security threats are growing, supply chains are faltering, and there’s an ever-present – albeit low at any given moment – threat of natural catastrophe.
To try to limit the extent of the damage, the Government is trying to work out what has to be done to harden the country’s critical infrastructure.
As part of that process, it has published a discussion document full of warnings that risks are growing, while measures to safeguard – or at least minimise the damage –to vital infrastructure are patchy and insufficient.
The document pointed to a 2021 report commissioned for the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, which said this country had a historic infrastructure deficit of $104b. Without policy change the shortfall was on track to grow by $106b in the next 30 years.
Better late than never?? At least govt seems to be musing upon this structural problem. No surprise that Labour kicked it down the road into the next electoral cycle though. Labour's real good at that. The thrill from each kick gets them high…
3 Waters covers some of these large infrastructure issues, and I have not seen undue delays to the efforts to fix the mile-long 'potholes' such as in the Coromandel, or the hill slips and flooding that have destroyed homes. Certainly no opposition party has offered and policies that are any different – it is easy to make false accusations of kicking issues down the road without any detail – but the ACT/Nat obsession with complaining about everything while not offering alternatives is not even kicking the tires
Looks like the historical compounding of the infrastructure deficit they refer to has been produced by collusion between Labour and National in the long-term, so your binary framing of the thing doesn't work. It fails to address the root cause.
Pothole repairs get done due to current funding. Ad hoc fixes serve to mask the real problem: towns, roads & bridges vulnerable to climate change. The system needs more of a reboot than tinkering. Neither the left nor the right have the brains & guts to do what is required.
Here is an example of exactly how much the "West' actually care or value Ukrainian lives (as if we already didn't know) …
"Meanwhile, for the United States and its NATO allies, these 18 months of war have been a strategic windfall, at relatively low cost (other than for the Ukrainians)"
…yep, on a scale of one to ten…one, or maybe minus one, as it is plainly obvious that Ukrainian lives have zero value to the Western leaders (and their arse and boot licking media pundits)….but hopefully most sentient observers must have worked out by now that this war has always been about the West and the Wests own geo-political objectives, and Ukraine just happens to be the unfortunate country that is in the wrong place at the wrong time….the West have never given a fuck about Ukraine and they don't now, just like they don't give a fuck about Taiwan.
So you can be sure that no Western leader is going to lose one minute of sleep over the loss of at least two entire generations of Ukrainian men in what the history books will most certainly describe as (what should have been) an easily avoidable war ..much like Iraq, Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan…..wait, does there seem to be a common denominator here?
"…Ukrainian men in what the history books will most certainly describe as (what should have been) an easily avoidable war…"
How otherwise apparently rational human being can cling to this sort of nonsensicial and illogical thinking on the Ukraine war will puzzle social scientists for decades to come.
The social scientists will have plenty to wrap their heads around.Like how was it possible to fool so many for so long with simple media generated propaganda.In the west! of all places.
The sovietisation of western media is pretty well complete, the free press is dead
"…yep, on a scale of one to ten…one, or maybe minus one, as it is plainly obvious that Ukrainian lives have zero value to the Western leaders"
I tend to agree, due to the cynical slow-rolling by the West of military aid to Ukraine, when they should have given them everything short of nukes in whatever quantities the Ukrainian's asked for.
the war can only continue if the Ukrainian men do the dying – and of course foreign fighters – as no Nato Member country would last a week sending its own to die there.
As opposed to being a non democratic state run by American puppets?
Who knows what would have come to pass had the US and Europe stood by their promises and not betrayed goodwill by embedding NATO further and further eastwards , until it, a hostile military alliance , was entrenched on Russian borders
Who knows what would have come to pass had the US and Europe stood by their promises and not betrayed goodwill by embedding NATO further and further eastwards , until it, a hostile military alliance , was entrenched on Russian borders
It's not like NATO forced Poland or the Baltics to join at gunpoint.
Given the choice between joining an alliance that would at least respect their sovereignty (even if sometimes the US can be an awkward ally), and becoming a Russian satellite state again, they rationally and rightly chose the align themselves with the West.
Don't those countries also have the right to feel that Russia isn't exactly a trustworthy, good-faith actor? I mean, the number of times Lithuania has been occupied, annexed, ethnically cleansed, or otherwise screwed around by the US is exactly zero. Whereas the Russians have form.
And maybe there would have fewer issues with NATO's expansion if the current Russian regime was less repressive, wasn't morally bankrupt, and had weaned itself off the historical inclination to embark on foreign adventures to paper over the cracks.
No gunpoint, but possibly bagfuls of money and other more subtle incentives , I hear US diplomats can be very …ahem.. persuasive.
And one has to be invited by NATO to join NATO .It's not NATO passively accepting anyone who asks, if that was the case , Russia itself would be in NATO
No less old a chestnut than spouting nonsense justifications to support your wannabe hegemon du jour. 'tis a tale as old as war itself.
Nobody disagrees that Eastern Europe has had troubles with corruption: it's been a problem ever since the fall of the Soviet Union. But to try to draw a line between that, the expansion of NATO, and the war in Ukraine takes quite a leap of the imagination!
Besides, I don't think you're giving the people of the former Eastern bloc enough credit. They know what their problems are. They've done their own strategic and foreign policy calculus.
And they've decided that actually, NATO membership is worth it despite the potential downside of pissing off the Russians. Because, in their view, the risk of a Russian invasion/meddling is quite high. Or at least high enough to justify the costs.
As for democratic legitimacy, I think the fact that so many Ukrainians are willing to fight tooth and nail to defend what you are implying is a corrupt government is evidence enough that they don't feel the same way you do.
NATO has been enthusiastically welcomed by many of the states formerly occupied and subjugated by russia. They had the choice to join or stick with russia, but chose NATO – seems one is a much preferred choice to the other, and russian aggression keeps making NATO seem more and more desirable.
Nato hasn't expanded East – it has been invited East. Big difference to russia sending tanks over your border as they are prone to do.
"And one has to be invited by NATO to join NATO ."
Countries that have declared an interest in joining the Alliance are initially invited to engage in an intensified dialogue with NATO about their membership aspirations and related reforms.
Aspirant countries may then be invited to participate in the MAP to prepare for potential membership and demonstrate their ability to meet the obligations and commitments of possible future membership.
"It's not NATO passively accepting anyone who asks, if that was the case , Russia itself would be in NATO"
On 27 May 1997, at the NATO Summit in Paris, France, NATO and Russia signed the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security [de], a road map for would-be NATO-Russia cooperation
Additionally, the act established a forum called the "NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council" (NRPJC) as a venue for consultations, cooperation and consensus building
….
The NATO-Russia Council (NRC) was created on 28 May 2002 during the 2002 NATO Summit in Rome. The NRC was designed to replace the PJC as the official diplomatic tool for handling security issues and joint projects between NATO and Russia. The structure of the NRC provided that the individual member states and Russia were each equal partners and would meet in areas of common interest
NATO–Russia relations stalled and subsequently started to deteriorate, following the Ukrainian Orange Revolution in 2004–2005 and the Russo-Georgian War in 2008….Several highly publicised murders of Putin's opponents also occurred in Russia in that period, marking his increasingly authoritarian rule and the tightening of his grip on the media….Beginning in 2014, Russia engaged in further hostile threats followed by military actions against Ukraine (2014–present); Syria (2015–present), and Turkey (2015–2016), among others.
Meanwhile close to 1 million Russians (including hundreds of thousands of men of enlistment age) have fled the country. Clearly they are overwhelmingly delighted to be forced into a war of conquest /sarc/
Or does 'propaganda' just mean 'information I don't agree with'?
All information sources should be critically considered and not entirely trusted – but do you have actual evidence of wikipedia being widely unreliable and factually incorrect? I’d be interested to see it.
Or does 'propaganda' just mean 'information I don't agree with'?
UncookedSelachimorpha nope, propaganda is the dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumours, half-truths, or lies—to influence public opinion. To quote britannica.
The reality is apart from men being the main editors of wikipedia, something like 90%. Or those in the west who dominate and direct the content, so cultural economic bias. It has become a tool for the ruling class.
Closer to home, we had conscription in WW1 and WW2 here too. Does that invalidate the sacrifice made by those that did go fight? Or the eventual overthrow of Nazism?
OK, I'll give you WW1: a war whose devastation was only outstripped by its sheer pointlessness.
But total war is just that: total. You throw every body. Every bullet. And every ounce of energy into the fight.
Do you live in the real world, not one gaslit by Winston Churchill and Soviet state WWII propaganda about how willing the male population is to fight, and to stand a good chance of wounding or death? Only 17 year olds imagine themselves heroes.
Anyone with half a brain and a knowledge of the realities of war knows that compulsory conscription is there because most men understand full well that the front line of a brutal trench war is not the place to be. But moral, or nationalistic, or 'we're in it together' reasons make most compliant. For others, they slip the net, until rounded up unwillingly.
Exactly. In a life-or-death struggle, you need every warm body you can get your hands on. Modern warfare is brutal.
And if not enough people volunteer, then yeah, using the coercive power of the state to conscript aforementioned warm bodies is the way to go.
But there's a yawning gulf between rounding up criminals to use as cannon fodder in a pointless foreign war, and conscripting citizens when your country has been invaded.
The Baltic states must be delighted they are in NATO with madman Putin in the Kremlin. Can anyone doubt they'd have been first on the block for invasion and annexation if they were not in NATO?
The Balts are giving evcerything they have plus lots of volunteers to support Ukraine, and if you really want to know what the East Europeans think of Russia just take a look at Polands military build up. The huge army they are creating in the next few years isn't designed to stop the Germans…
The purpose of Poland's military buildup is to waste money and impoverish the country, not to mention the enrichment of US arms manufacturers who will selling them the goods.
"let's buy arms to impoverish ourselves and waste money"
not
"Russia invaded, murdered and subjugated us for decades, russia say they want to again, and are invading their other neighbours. So let's arm ourselves and join nato!"
So it's fine for Russia to invade and annex part of another sovereign country.
Do you people ever listen to yourselves?
Crimea had historically *never* been part of post-Soviet Russia. From 1991 it was part of Ukraine (well, there's some argument about whether it was an autonomous republic inside or outside Ukraine – but it was certainly not part of Russia). Until it was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Please save your time and don't bother raising the 'referendum' which is universally held (apart from the pro-Russian apologists) to have been entirely dictated by the Kremlin.
So it's fine for Russia to invade and annex part of another sovereign country.
Depends on the circumstances. All bets were off once Ukraine turned Westward and formed an alliance with the evil empire. Anyhow it was what the majority of the Crimean people wanted.
As for the alleged shonkyness of the referendum, as claimed by NATO's fellow travelers and useful idiots, this has never been proved.
It's the Wests fault that all these newly free former Soviet nations would rather fight to the death than ever suffer under the rule of Russia again.
It's the Wests fault that these nations want to join NATO to protect themselves from an expansionist Russia.
All those eastern Europeans who'd rather be allied with the West than Russia are brainwashed!
Don't they know that the west is bad!!!
They should listen to clueless people who've lived in western countries their whole lives about how the west is just as bad as Russia and just roll over and join Russia again
I mean how would Ukraine and co know whether Russia or the west is worse! It's not like they ever lived under Russian rule before
The Ukrainians should listen to tanky kiwis and surrender to Russia cos the west is bad.
You got in it a nutshell Corey, time for the rose coloured spectacles about the West came off and we face up to the damage we've done, the colonisation, the wars, the excessive polluting consumption , the consequences of western domination on the citizens of the rest of the world.
Gaslighting the Balts, Poles and Ukrainians about the intentions of Russia is a really tasteless thing, given they've all suffered in the last century Soviet genocides.
Which countries bordering Russia have been threatened with Russian domination? When has Putin ever declared a desire to dominate countries bordering the Russian state? Or is it that you are simply believing all the tripe spewed by CNN et al?
History shows that domination by the west is undoubtedly bad.
I realise that Russia has launched a defense maneuver against NATO on Ukrainian soil, but you are right, the "domination" thing seems to have escaped me. Though I suspect it's just a product of your febrile imagination.
Francesca, is that the West you are talking about, or capitalism? Last time I looked, Russia also suffered from ecological disasters, grossly unfair living conditions for a large part of the population, and kleptocratic oligarchs, just like the US, but with a bit less freedom to complain about it.
"And one has to be invited by NATO to join NATO .It's not NATO passively accepting anyone who asks"
This doesn't seem to be true….
NATO says it has an ‘open door’ policy and any European country can join.
The only requirement is that they agree to further the principles of the Washington Treaty and contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area. This is set out in Article 10 of the founding 1949 North Atlantic Treaty (also referred to as the Washington Treaty).
2019 Ukraine elections were rated fair and open by internal and international observers. "In contrast to 2014, when Russian cyberattacks compromised the Central Election Commission network".
You'll notice(maybe not) that I used a western source on NATO, the Guardian, bastion of western "values", because an adversary nation's point of view incites the vapours in red blooded patriots of the glorious west
You quoted an opinion piece that was republished by the Guardian, written by a senior member of a think tank (the Cato Institute) well known for its libertarian, anti-NATO views and belief in a non-interventionist foreign policy.
So, maybe actually check and evaluate your sources before you start firing off quotes.
All that proves is that there is more than one useful idiot in the West.
"At the same time, it is already clear that in two eastern provinces, where 14 percent of the electorate lives, balloting will be next to impossible, thanks to forcible disruption by Russian-backed militants…Six days before the election, that failure is blatantly evident.
“There is intimidation,” a senior U.N. official told the Reuters news agency in describing the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Ivan Simonovic, the assistant U.N. secretary general for human rights, said that a number of presidents and vice presidents of local elections commissions had been abducted or otherwise mistreated. Reuters reported that the last election commission attempting to operate in the city of Donetsk shut down Monday, leaving no voting operation in an urban area of 1 million people. Concluded the interior minister of Ukraine’s interim government: “It will be impossible to hold normal elections over the huge territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions."
Worse than cyber attacks – kidnapping and intimidation of electoral officials.
Apparently state agents have no right of free speech. Well, that seems to be the view of the PM. I presume he doesn't believe in civil rights? I suppose he would claim he does, but privileged members of the control system are meant to keep quiet regardless.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins told Morning Report it was not appropriate for a board member of a Crown entity to publish his opinions in such a public space. "Somebody who is on a board of a Crown entity, particularly an independent media entity like Radio New Zealand, shouldn't be providing an independent political commentary."
So the muzzle he was obliquely referring to does exist but in a quasi-covert method of suppressing free speech:
In a statement, the RNZ board said chairperson Dr Jim Mather, who is currently overseas, has been made aware of the issue and has spoken to Ake about his responsibilities under the Code of Conduct for Crown entity board members. He specifically informed Ake of the protocol which states "when acting in our private capacity, we avoid any political activity that could jeopardise our ability to perform our role or which could erode the public's trust in the entity".
The general idea seems to be that board members cease being able to do social media and become robots instead. Or maybe androids. Mere cogs in the machine of governance.
Rob Campbell ought to put his lengthy experience & expertise to work on the situation: form a union of oppressed board members, use it to speak out in the public interest.
Assuming Ake has no expert knowledge on mental heath matters, Ake has made a groundless and gratuitous attack on Hipkins handling of the Allan situation.
Hardly acceptable behaviour coming from a board member of a Crown Entity, especially one whose key role is supposed to be politically neutral, and only 12 weeks out from an election.
I suggest Ake knew exactly what he was doing here and so should be sacked.
Am I wrong? I thought this board member/social media responsibility debate had been thrashed out in full in two recent cases, with appropriate consequences.
Looks as though he's doubling down on his commentary in this space (although, not directly critical of the PM – he's still critical of the government's delivery on mental health for Maori). Despite being told by the RNZ Chair that he can't be political – and a pretty direct statement from Hipkins that he was out of line.
Ake has this afternoon published a new post, saying events like Allan’s resignation elevate the opportunity for Māori to have conversations about mental health.
“We need to grab those opportunities because they encourage public discourse especially among our whānau. Mental health and well-being is the silent killer and a swathe of Māori journos got it immediately.”
Māori were disproportionately affected by mental health issues, he said.
“Yes we live longer but we continue to lag behind Pākehās. That’s the real crime here and much of it is borne out of this ideological premise that we as Māori must conform.
“That’s the conversation we had in our whare last night with our kids. We probably would not have had that yarn if we were not jabbed by recent events. I wonder how many other Māori households had that discussion or at least raised their collective awareness.”
…
This morning Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson said Ake had always been a vocal person and this would need to stop if he was to remain an RNZ board member.
"He will pull back though, because as I said the chair's been in touch and he's going to have to if he wants to stay a board member there."
X is on. Looks dreadful. Did they get AI to do it? Two snap-off craft knife blades arranged in a way to suggest authority, denial, intimidation. Musk is a dick.
Musk wants to have messaging, social media (audio and video) as well as banking on one platform/app – it's been done and called we chat.
His X is one overlayed by the other, his blade over that of the planet – satellite comms frequency to all, terrestial activity connections, transportation by smart device car (automatic management by AI) and lift of into space to escape it all.
An X man, with Sumerian god pretensions walks among us.
personal, meaningful words X'ed out by abstract corporate slogans.
symbolism:
X – wrong answer
X – illiteracy, anonymity, removal of personhood, censorship
X – extinction, extermination, death
X – corporate fascism "crossing out" democracy and free exchange of ideas
X – skull and crossbones; piracy; vulture capitalism
X – pornography, forbidden knowledge, occult
but hidden in this darkness is a redemptive arc:
+ in Jesus, the death of God breaks open new life 🐣
+ a cross is where heaven and earth intersect 🔀
+ psalm 85:10 "Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other." 🫶🏼
+ the red cross is a symbol of healing and peace amidst troubled times
Looking forward to questions to the leader of the opposition if he will introduce a bill to require anyone taking a mental health day or two to have clinical clearance before they return to work. What a tosser.
Hipkins should have bent time, looked through to the future void to see how Allan’s break up was going to go and if she was going to be okay to work and only then allowed her back.
They could do worse than Parker himself. Yes, I know he's boring, but I reckon he would make mincemeat of Luxon in the campaign debates. And perhaps the electorate is tired of colourful figures. Jacinda-ism may be outmoded.
It was Wood and Allan, so their wings clipped it is onward with Hipkins.
His job is at it was, to compete to win and fall on his sword if he does not. Though the law and order of politics, Professor Palmer, handed on late to the last line of defence for the old regime (Meikayla Moore) in 1990. Who tried again in 1993.
After the election, the precedent is falling back to either a future candidate for UNSG or Mayoralty of Auckland.
I agree…I came on here expecting it to be full of it..
The revenue minister walking away from his portfolio in protest at the canning of the wealth tax he developed ..is a very big deal..
I don't doubt his sincerity in this move..
And it makes sense as positioning as a future progressive leader of labour..
And if gren/tmp do as well as some hope..and demand a wealth tax as the price to pay for coalition support ..labour can roll hipkins…and parker is there…ready to roll..
It sums up the emptiness of NZ's political coverage.
Kiri Allan's departure, while very sad for her, is not about any policy issue at all. It has no bearing at all on what this government or an alternative government would do. It does not affect the voters' real lives in any way. Unlike say, tax policy.
But for political reporters it's the soap opera, and they love it. Parker's just boring.
I agree that Parker is boring (policy wonk, with little public appeal or charisma).
But the timing of this ministerial shuffle has to have been very deliberate – Hipkins (and, I'm sure Parker with his loyal to Labour hat on) – will be hoping to slide it under the kerfuffle occasioned by Allen's resignation, and the consequent reallocation of portfolios.
The last thing Hipkins or Labour want is a forensic journalist asking hard questions about how solid Labour's tax policy is; and/or how solid Hipkins' support is from the Labour front bench.
First Robertson (not exactly enthusiastic in the media stand up around the tax policy), and now Parker (basically saying, 'not on my watch').
Of National’s 69 candidates, 23 are women and 46 are men.
There are seven women standing in safe National seats, only one of whom is not a sitting MP.
By contrast there are 17 men in safe seats and 16 in potentially winnable seats.
The only category in which women candidates outnumber men are in safe Labour seats, which National has zero to little chance of winning. In those, there are 12 women and 11 men.
Of National’s tranche of new candidates, 15 men were selected in winnable seats compared to just four women.
Sounds about right. That article states the Nat list is expected by the end of July.
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In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific Presenter/Bulletin editor France’s top diplomat in the Pacific region says talks around the “unfreezing” of New Caledonia’s highly controversial electoral roll are back on the table. The French government intended to make a constitutional amendment that would lift restrictions prescribed under the Nouméa Accord, which ...
By bringing these global voices to the fight for free expression in New Zealand, we’ll continue to protect and expand our culture of free speech, says Nathan Seiuli, the Free Speech Union's Events Manager. ...
The issue is no longer a hypothetical one. US President Donald Trump will not explicitly suggest death camps, but he has already consented to Israel’s continuing a war that is not a war but rather a barbaric assault on a desolate stretch of land. From there, the road to annihilation is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cecelia Cmielewski, Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University To be selected as the artist and curator team to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale is considered the ultimate exhibition for an artistic team. To have your selection rescinded, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steve Turton, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography, CQUniversity Australia Severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia is bearing down on the northwest coast of Australia and is likely to make landfall early Friday evening. It’s a monster storm of great concern to Western Australia. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Ireland-Piper, Associate Professor, ANU National Security College, Australian National University A Victorian government decision to allow dingo culling in the state’s east until 2028 has reignited debate over what has been dubbed Australia’s most controversial animal. Animals Australia, an animal welfare ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Deakin University Overnight, Robert F. Kennedy Jr was confirmed as the secretary of the US Health and Human Services Department. Put simply, this makes him the most influential figure in overseeing the health and wellbeing of more ...
Everything you missed from day five of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard eight hours of submissions.Read our recaps of the previous hearings here.It was another work from home day for the Justice Committee, the only people in Room 3 being security guards, committee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor & Principal Fellow in Urban Risk & Resilience, The University of Melbourne Juris Teivans/Shutterstock In Australia, fatal road crashes are climbing again, especially since the pandemic, and despite years of attempts to reduce road trauma, the numbers ...
In its eagerness to appease supporters of Israel, the media is happy to ride roughshod over due process and basic rights. It’s damaging Australia’s (and New Zealand’s?) democracy.COMMENTARY:By Bernard Keane Two moments stand out so far from the Federal Court hearings relating to Antoinette Lattouf’s sacking by the ...
“The reality is we’re getting poorer. The government this year is leaning heavy on chasing economic growth, which is absolutely the right thing to do.” ...
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 The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Granta, $28) Han Kang’s astounding novel was based on an ...
This new docuseries about two single comedians looking for love is also a joyful celebration of female friendship. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. “How many people do you think are boning right now?” Kura Forrester asks Brynley Stent as the bright ...
A new poem by Freya Turnbull. Hunger Song – After Kaveh Akbar (Untitled With Hunger And Matcheads) I hold my age in ripped fishnet hold an empty vessel oldyoung body cracks like gunshot like killa i was a father ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominik Koll, Honorary Lecturer, Australian National University View of the Pacific Ocean from the International Space Station.NASA Earth must have experienced something exceptional 10 million years ago. Our study of rock samples from the floor of the Pacific Ocean has found ...
Troy Rawhiti-Connell reviews Kia Tupu Te Ara, a documentary chronicling the meteoric rise of Aotearoa’s groundbreaking metal band. “Two brothers attempt to storm the world of thrash metal with the Māori language, despite the fact they’re both still teenagers,” reads the synopsis of Kent Belcher’s documentary, Kia Tupu Te Ara. ...
Three freelance writers have been awarded grants to work on their ambitious journalism projects. In January, The Spinoff announced the Vince Geddes In-Depth Journalism Fund, supported by the Auckland Radio Trust (ART). The fund was established to provide much-needed financial and editorial support to talented freelance journalists, empowering them to ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist in Avarua, Rarotonga China has confirmed details of its meeting with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown for the first time, saying Beijing “stands ready to have an in-depth exchange” with the island nation. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters during his ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ 2023 strategic foreign policy assessment, “Navigating a shifting world”, accurately foresaw a more uncertain and complex time ahead for New Zealand. But already it feels out of date. The ...
Our parliamentary throuple may be the longest running in the country, but cracks are showing. Gabi Lardies wonders if differing attachment styles may be to blame. Though no one ever anticipated happiness or roses in the three-way coalition, the relationship has wobbled on for over a year without breaking up. ...
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Analysis: Would the last scientist to leave the building please turn out the lights? Because the confirmation of Robert F Kennedy Jr as US Secretary of Health suggests we’re heading back to the dark ages.It’s a sad irony that President John F Kennedy propelled America into the space age; now his nephew ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Barclay, ARC Future Fellow and Professor, Macquarie University Wikimedia “1,000 Letters and 15,000 Kisses” screamed the headline in an 1898 edition of the English newspaper, the Halifax Evening Courier. Harriet Ann McLean, a 32-year-old laundry maid, was suing Francis ...
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X marks the spot – Musk abolishes Twitter logo, name next https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/494400/x-marks-the-spot-musk-abolishes-twitter-logo-name-next
Wow, I wonder how much this brilliant logo cost to design
He plans to have his own form of we chat (messaging, social media and banking around since 2011) in a few more years.
Musk and his Planet X.com solar system.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/matt-lowrie-greater-auckland-director-says-its-impossible-for-tolls-to-pay-current-construction-costs-as-suggested-by-act/
Acts road toll policy doesn't stack up!!
Unless like all good free market right wingers they expect tax payers to subsidize their profits??
There's a good review here, for those interested in dramatic history: https://slate.com/culture/2023/07/oppenheimer-movie-historical-accuracy-communist-manhattan-project.html
Psychodrama! Hero as "a complex portrait: a tortured soul, enthralled by the science, then racked by guilt over the hellscape it unleashed. He’s insistent on his independence as a scientist, but also pliant in his role as mere adviser to authority. He’s certain of his convictions, but ambivalent about almost everything."
The film seems to have merit as exploration of the science/politics interface, considering timeless issues involving power & truth – plus faustian deals that changed the world.
Listening to Winston Peters on RNZ and really, he hasn't changed. He's tarted things up a bit with some MAGA catch phrases but what makes him jarring is the fact he is still pitching to a Tauranga audience of retired Rob's mob circa 2000.
It is such a pity, because NZ First has some good ideas but ultimately, it is entirely his vanity project and will disappear once he shuffles off this mortal coil.
Also, he is completely owned Ingrid Hipkiss.
I always thought there were some good ideas too, but they got lost in the forest of demented rants.
Do you think he's the 4-dimension chess player, the Professor Snape of Parliament, just there to pull the whacko votes without ever intending to action them? Some do.
I think Winston Peters is in it for Winston Peters. Entirely a vanity project. The man seems driven by vendettas real and imaged (mostly imagined). Peters is interesting because he has constantly presented himself to voters as an outsider kicking against the elites. Ingrid Hipkiss gave him pleanty of ammunition to advance that argument with her odd attitude and rather dismissive approach to him in the interview.
In an recent interview with the New Yorker magazine crackpot, cooker and maybe presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy Jr. accused his interviewer as being among the "elites". The journalist replied that Kennedy is from a far more privileged background than he. Kennedy says:
"When I use the word “élite,” I’m talking about the people who are inside the Beltway, the press figures who are supposed to be speaking truth to power, but instead have become propagandists for the government. Who view their jobs as quashing dissent, and quashing political criticism of the government that they’re supposed to be actually criticizing."
Therefore Kennedy, a genuine member of the ruling-class, is not an elite because he's an outsider. The elites are the insiders who shape consensus reality, whose moral and political codes dominate. The rest are forced to live in that reality and are victimised if they question it. Think "woke elite", and "metropolitan elite". Hipkiss firmly placed herself into this notional "elite" with the tone of her interview and walked into the rather obvious traps Peters set for her.
This displacing of class antagonism onto cultural elites is a boring commonplace of the Right – Kennedy might think he is onto something novel, but really, Winston Peters has been doing it for thirty years and Muldoon was doing it in the 1970s.
It's a funny theory of his, "insiders who shape consensus reality", when he's supposedly 'saying-what-we're-all-thinking'
.
I wonder what shenanigans he'll get up to if he squeaks in again then.
Yeah – listened to it. I thought, will enough of these old dudes (among whom I place myself) do their coil shuffling thing before the climate crisis has become unsolvable – as they are the major obstacle to even trying? It looks like a tight race – like a reality-based 'reality tv' show. I'm not betting on it.
The funniest thing about Winston at the weekend was seeing all those Asian immigrants (mostly Indian) turning up at his party conference.
He didn't tell them to go home because there were too many of them. That was 1996 Winston. So many different Winstons over the years, I've lost count.
@ observer (4.3) … Winston Peters is a chameleon, changes his colours constantly to suit Winston. You wouldn't know what you were voting for with him. This leads me to think NZF led as it is presently by Peters is in no man's land, lacking policy, ready and willing to go with any party, which gives him personally a good deal. For these reasons, I would not ever vote for NZF. I like to know what I'm getting when I cast my vote and with Peters, it could be anything, because nothing is black or white with him. He's a grey unknown area unto himself … no pun intended there … known for holding the country to ransom, while he works out what is best for Winston!
About time Peters retired and left NZF to some younger politicians.
The Nat/Lab obsession with short-term politics posed a big problem for the younger generations now: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/132487585/global-megatrends-putting-critical-infrastructure-system-under-pressure
Better late than never?? At least govt seems to be musing upon this structural problem. No surprise that Labour kicked it down the road into the next electoral cycle though. Labour's real good at that. The thrill from each kick gets them high…
3 Waters covers some of these large infrastructure issues, and I have not seen undue delays to the efforts to fix the mile-long 'potholes' such as in the Coromandel, or the hill slips and flooding that have destroyed homes. Certainly no opposition party has offered and policies that are any different – it is easy to make false accusations of kicking issues down the road without any detail – but the ACT/Nat obsession with complaining about everything while not offering alternatives is not even kicking the tires
Looks like the historical compounding of the infrastructure deficit they refer to has been produced by collusion between Labour and National in the long-term, so your binary framing of the thing doesn't work. It fails to address the root cause.
Pothole repairs get done due to current funding. Ad hoc fixes serve to mask the real problem: towns, roads & bridges vulnerable to climate change. The system needs more of a reboot than tinkering. Neither the left nor the right have the brains & guts to do what is required.
Here is an example of exactly how much the "West' actually care or value Ukrainian lives (as if we already didn't know) …
"Meanwhile, for the United States and its NATO allies, these 18 months of war have been a strategic windfall, at relatively low cost (other than for the Ukrainians)"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/18/ukraine-war-west-gloom/
…yep, on a scale of one to ten…one, or maybe minus one, as it is plainly obvious that Ukrainian lives have zero value to the Western leaders (and their arse and boot licking media pundits)….but hopefully most sentient observers must have worked out by now that this war has always been about the West and the Wests own geo-political objectives, and Ukraine just happens to be the unfortunate country that is in the wrong place at the wrong time….the West have never given a fuck about Ukraine and they don't now, just like they don't give a fuck about Taiwan.
So you can be sure that no Western leader is going to lose one minute of sleep over the loss of at least two entire generations of Ukrainian men in what the history books will most certainly describe as (what should have been) an easily avoidable war ..much like Iraq, Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan…..wait, does there seem to be a common denominator here?
"…Ukrainian men in what the history books will most certainly describe as (what should have been) an easily avoidable war…"
How otherwise apparently rational human being can cling to this sort of nonsensicial and illogical thinking on the Ukraine war will puzzle social scientists for decades to come.
The social scientists will have plenty to wrap their heads around.Like how was it possible to fool so many for so long with simple media generated propaganda.In the west! of all places.
The sovietisation of western media is pretty well complete, the free press is dead
(Ask Assange)
"…yep, on a scale of one to ten…one, or maybe minus one, as it is plainly obvious that Ukrainian lives have zero value to the Western leaders"
I tend to agree, due to the cynical slow-rolling by the West of military aid to Ukraine, when they should have given them everything short of nukes in whatever quantities the Ukrainian's asked for.
the war can only continue if the Ukrainian men do the dying – and of course foreign fighters – as no Nato Member country would last a week sending its own to die there.
And how would this war have been avoided without Ukraine becoming a non-democratic state run by Russian puppets?
As opposed to being a non democratic state run by American puppets?
Who knows what would have come to pass had the US and Europe stood by their promises and not betrayed goodwill by embedding NATO further and further eastwards , until it, a hostile military alliance , was entrenched on Russian borders
It's not like NATO forced Poland or the Baltics to join at gunpoint.
Given the choice between joining an alliance that would at least respect their sovereignty (even if sometimes the US can be an awkward ally), and becoming a Russian satellite state again, they rationally and rightly chose the align themselves with the West.
Don't those countries also have the right to feel that Russia isn't exactly a trustworthy, good-faith actor? I mean, the number of times Lithuania has been occupied, annexed, ethnically cleansed, or otherwise screwed around by the US is exactly zero. Whereas the Russians have form.
And maybe there would have fewer issues with NATO's expansion if the current Russian regime was less repressive, wasn't morally bankrupt, and had weaned itself off the historical inclination to embark on foreign adventures to paper over the cracks.
That old chestnut!
No gunpoint, but possibly bagfuls of money and other more subtle incentives , I hear US diplomats can be very …ahem.. persuasive.
And one has to be invited by NATO to join NATO .It's not NATO passively accepting anyone who asks, if that was the case , Russia itself would be in NATO
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/28/nato-expansion-war-russia-ukraine
Talk about corruption!
Ukraine and many of the other East European states are absolutely riddled with it
And come to that , we could be looking a lot closer to home
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2023/07/25/mediawatch-astounding-corporate-capitalism-corruption-from-consultants-guyon-espiner-at-his-best/
No less old a chestnut than spouting nonsense justifications to support your wannabe hegemon du jour. 'tis a tale as old as war itself.
Nobody disagrees that Eastern Europe has had troubles with corruption: it's been a problem ever since the fall of the Soviet Union. But to try to draw a line between that, the expansion of NATO, and the war in Ukraine takes quite a leap of the imagination!
Besides, I don't think you're giving the people of the former Eastern bloc enough credit. They know what their problems are. They've done their own strategic and foreign policy calculus.
And they've decided that actually, NATO membership is worth it despite the potential downside of pissing off the Russians. Because, in their view, the risk of a Russian invasion/meddling is quite high. Or at least high enough to justify the costs.
As for democratic legitimacy, I think the fact that so many Ukrainians are willing to fight tooth and nail to defend what you are implying is a corrupt government is evidence enough that they don't feel the same way you do.
If the Ukrainians are universally willing to fight tooth and nail, forced conscription where men are grabbed off the street would not be necessary
And this would not be happening
or this
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/18584
NATO has been enthusiastically welcomed by many of the states formerly occupied and subjugated by russia. They had the choice to join or stick with russia, but chose NATO – seems one is a much preferred choice to the other, and russian aggression keeps making NATO seem more and more desirable.
Nato hasn't expanded East – it has been invited East. Big difference to russia sending tanks over your border as they are prone to do.
"And one has to be invited by NATO to join NATO ."
Yes, nato invites you, but only after a country first approaches Nato and expresses an interest in joining:
"It's not NATO passively accepting anyone who asks, if that was the case , Russia itself would be in NATO"
Have you read this?
And it fell apart.
If the Ukrainians are universally willing to fight tooth and nail, forced conscription where men are grabbed off the street would not be necessary
And this would not be happening
or this
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/18584
Meanwhile close to 1 million Russians (including hundreds of thousands of men of enlistment age) have fled the country. Clearly they are overwhelmingly delighted to be forced into a war of conquest /sarc/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_emigration_following_the_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine
Good grief. Did you actually read this Wiki? The claim is not verified as stated '[not verified in body] '.
I'd say a wider search of information may be called for.
wikipedia hs slipped to being just propaganda. I avoid like the plague these days.
Or does 'propaganda' just mean 'information I don't agree with'?
All information sources should be critically considered and not entirely trusted – but do you have actual evidence of wikipedia being widely unreliable and factually incorrect? I’d be interested to see it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia
UncookedSelachimorpha nope, propaganda is the dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumours, half-truths, or lies—to influence public opinion. To quote britannica.
The reality is apart from men being the main editors of wikipedia, something like 90%. Or those in the west who dominate and direct the content, so cultural economic bias. It has become a tool for the ruling class.
This worth a watch if you have time
Closer to home, we had conscription in WW1 and WW2 here too. Does that invalidate the sacrifice made by those that did go fight? Or the eventual overthrow of Nazism?
OK, I'll give you WW1: a war whose devastation was only outstripped by its sheer pointlessness.
But total war is just that: total. You throw every body. Every bullet. And every ounce of energy into the fight.
Jingoistic shitfuckry at it's finest.
Do you live in the real world, not one gaslit by Winston Churchill and Soviet state WWII propaganda about how willing the male population is to fight, and to stand a good chance of wounding or death? Only 17 year olds imagine themselves heroes.
Anyone with half a brain and a knowledge of the realities of war knows that compulsory conscription is there because most men understand full well that the front line of a brutal trench war is not the place to be. But moral, or nationalistic, or 'we're in it together' reasons make most compliant. For others, they slip the net, until rounded up unwillingly.
Exactly. In a life-or-death struggle, you need every warm body you can get your hands on. Modern warfare is brutal.
And if not enough people volunteer, then yeah, using the coercive power of the state to conscript aforementioned warm bodies is the way to go.
But there's a yawning gulf between rounding up criminals to use as cannon fodder in a pointless foreign war, and conscripting citizens when your country has been invaded.
The Baltic states must be delighted they are in NATO with madman Putin in the Kremlin. Can anyone doubt they'd have been first on the block for invasion and annexation if they were not in NATO?
The Balts are giving evcerything they have plus lots of volunteers to support Ukraine, and if you really want to know what the East Europeans think of Russia just take a look at Polands military build up. The huge army they are creating in the next few years isn't designed to stop the Germans…
The purpose of Poland's military buildup is to waste money and impoverish the country, not to mention the enrichment of US arms manufacturers who will selling them the goods.
Makes sense.
Of course the Polish government argue
"let's buy arms to impoverish ourselves and waste money"
not
"Russia invaded, murdered and subjugated us for decades, russia say they want to again, and are invading their other neighbours. So let's arm ourselves and join nato!"
Yup. There is a reason Ukraine wants into NATO – Russia doesn't dare attack anyone backed up by Uncle Sam.
Yes the same backing Israel enjoys as it continues to stick 2 fingers aloft to all and sundry including its own people.
You forget that it was not Russia who started this war. It started in 2014 when Ukraine attacked it's Eastern provinces.
Do you mean when Russia annexed the Crimea?
Yes. When Crimea once again became Russian territory.
So it's fine for Russia to invade and annex part of another sovereign country.
Do you people ever listen to yourselves?
Crimea had historically *never* been part of post-Soviet Russia. From 1991 it was part of Ukraine (well, there's some argument about whether it was an autonomous republic inside or outside Ukraine – but it was certainly not part of Russia). Until it was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Please save your time and don't bother raising the 'referendum' which is universally held (apart from the pro-Russian apologists) to have been entirely dictated by the Kremlin.
So it's fine for Russia to invade and annex part of another sovereign country.
Depends on the circumstances. All bets were off once Ukraine turned Westward and formed an alliance with the evil empire. Anyhow it was what the majority of the Crimean people wanted.
As for the alleged shonkyness of the referendum, as claimed by NATO's fellow travelers and useful idiots, this has never been proved.
Ahh the west is bad chestnut!
It's the Wests fault that all these newly free former Soviet nations would rather fight to the death than ever suffer under the rule of Russia again.
It's the Wests fault that these nations want to join NATO to protect themselves from an expansionist Russia.
All those eastern Europeans who'd rather be allied with the West than Russia are brainwashed!
Don't they know that the west is bad!!!
They should listen to clueless people who've lived in western countries their whole lives about how the west is just as bad as Russia and just roll over and join Russia again
I mean how would Ukraine and co know whether Russia or the west is worse! It's not like they ever lived under Russian rule before
The Ukrainians should listen to tanky kiwis and surrender to Russia cos the west is bad.
West is baaaaaaad!
You got in it a nutshell Corey, time for the rose coloured spectacles about the West came off and we face up to the damage we've done, the colonisation, the wars, the excessive polluting consumption , the consequences of western domination on the citizens of the rest of the world.
Gaslighting the Balts, Poles and Ukrainians about the intentions of Russia is a really tasteless thing, given they've all suffered in the last century Soviet genocides.
I don't really think that levels of pollution is a field on which Russia can win.
Ever hear of Lake Baikal, Norilsk, Dzerzinsk….. the list goes on.
And, you still seem to be missing the point: the citizens of the Countries bordering Russia *do not want* Russian domination….
Somehow, in your mind, "western domination" (by which you seem to mean the USA) is bad; but Russian domination is good.
Don't you even see the contradiction?
Which countries bordering Russia have been threatened with Russian domination? When has Putin ever declared a desire to dominate countries bordering the Russian state? Or is it that you are simply believing all the tripe spewed by CNN et al?
History shows that domination by the west is undoubtedly bad.
Gosh, I'd have to say Ukraine.
An invasion, with appalling civilian casualties, pretty much qualifies as 'domination'.
What 'Russian domination' ? It's 30 years since Warsaw pact dismantled.
Russian invasion of Ukraine would be a strong indicator of Russian domination…..
Or perhaps you've missed it….
I realise that Russia has launched a defense maneuver against NATO on Ukrainian soil, but you are right, the "domination" thing seems to have escaped me. Though I suspect it's just a product of your febrile imagination.
Yup completely missed the illegal armed invasion of an independent country – with appalling civilian casualties.
Your pro-Russian blinkers are super strength – the Kremlin must be proud.
I look forward to you holding the UK and USA accountable for the invasion of Iraq.
Invasion of an independent countries is a war crime, and all cases should be treated as such.
Yup completely missed the illegal armed invasion of an independent country – with appalling civilian casualties.
A country that was already conducting civil war against its Eastern provinces.
Doesn’t it warm the cockles of your heart seeing those brave Ukranians sacrificing themselves for Uncle Sam. Bless ’em.
Well I would say American arms manufacturers are laughing all the way to their banks. Apparently Ukraine is not as "independent" as you imagine.
Francesca, is that the West you are talking about, or capitalism? Last time I looked, Russia also suffered from ecological disasters, grossly unfair living conditions for a large part of the population, and kleptocratic oligarchs, just like the US, but with a bit less freedom to complain about it.
This doesn't seem to be true….
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9813/
The restriction on membership is that the joining criteria are fairly stringent (so Ukraine was unlikely to have qualified for quite some time)
Oh, do give us examples of the NATO states which are "non democratic states run by American puppets"
Were you thinking of Germany, France, Iceland? Turkey, perhaps? Surely not the most recent NATO countries of Finland and Sweden?
All of whom are highly democratic (vastly more so than Russia) – and frequently critical of the US when their interests don't align.
If they are puppet states, then the puppet-master is a pretty incompetent one.
As a contrast, I offer you … Belarus….
It was never democratic before the conflict and signing the Permanent Neutrality Agreement would have halted the ..bloodshed.
Did Boris Johnson scuttle a Russia-Ukraine peace deal – back in APRIL? | Vox Political (voxpoliticalonline.com)
2019 Ukraine elections were rated fair and open by internal and international observers. "In contrast to 2014, when Russian cyberattacks compromised the Central Election Commission network".
(https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/foreign-interference-in-ukraine-s-election/).
Posting a link to the Atlantic Council is equivalent to posting a link to Sputnik, or the old Pravda
Francesca, isn't that exactly what you're doing with your whole "the war in Ukraine is NATO's fault" routine?
You'll notice(maybe not) that I used a western source on NATO, the Guardian, bastion of western "values", because an adversary nation's point of view incites the vapours in red blooded patriots of the glorious west
You quoted an opinion piece that was republished by the Guardian, written by a senior member of a think tank (the Cato Institute) well known for its libertarian, anti-NATO views and belief in a non-interventionist foreign policy.
So, maybe actually check and evaluate your sources before you start firing off quotes.
All that proves is that there is more than one useful idiot in the West.
All right then, Washinton Post Reuters report from UN officials in 2014 on election in eastern Ukraine:
"At the same time, it is already clear that in two eastern provinces, where 14 percent of the electorate lives, balloting will be next to impossible, thanks to forcible disruption by Russian-backed militants…Six days before the election, that failure is blatantly evident.
“There is intimidation,” a senior U.N. official told the Reuters news agency in describing the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Ivan Simonovic, the assistant U.N. secretary general for human rights, said that a number of presidents and vice presidents of local elections commissions had been abducted or otherwise mistreated. Reuters reported that the last election commission attempting to operate in the city of Donetsk shut down Monday, leaving no voting operation in an urban area of 1 million people. Concluded the interior minister of Ukraine’s interim government: “It will be impossible to hold normal elections over the huge territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions."
Worse than cyber attacks – kidnapping and intimidation of electoral officials.
Apparently state agents have no right of free speech. Well, that seems to be the view of the PM. I presume he doesn't believe in civil rights? I suppose he would claim he does, but privileged members of the control system are meant to keep quiet regardless.
So the muzzle he was obliquely referring to does exist but in a quasi-covert method of suppressing free speech:
The general idea seems to be that board members cease being able to do social media and become robots instead. Or maybe androids. Mere cogs in the machine of governance.
Rob Campbell ought to put his lengthy experience & expertise to work on the situation: form a union of oppressed board members, use it to speak out in the public interest.
Assuming Ake has no expert knowledge on mental heath matters, Ake has made a groundless and gratuitous attack on Hipkins handling of the Allan situation.
Hardly acceptable behaviour coming from a board member of a Crown Entity, especially one whose key role is supposed to be politically neutral, and only 12 weeks out from an election.
I suggest Ake knew exactly what he was doing here and so should be sacked.
Yeh he’s got a job which specifically precludes his involvement in politics. It’s in the contracts.
Either choose the job or your social media. Not tricky.
Am I wrong? I thought this board member/social media responsibility debate had been thrashed out in full in two recent cases, with appropriate consequences.
Looks as though he's doubling down on his commentary in this space (although, not directly critical of the PM – he's still critical of the government's delivery on mental health for Maori). Despite being told by the RNZ Chair that he can't be political – and a pretty direct statement from Hipkins that he was out of line.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/494454/rnz-board-member-jason-ake-makes-fresh-comments-on-kiri-allan-saga-despite-criticism-from-pm
X is on. Looks dreadful. Did they get AI to do it? Two snap-off craft knife blades arranged in a way to suggest authority, denial, intimidation. Musk is a dick.
It's a unicode character.
https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/U+1D54F
https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-x-logo-unicode-math-textbooks-2023-7
edit: it gets better
@keithedwards
Microsoft owns the trademark for X. This is just too good.
https://twitter.com/keithedwards/status/1683586586007437312
He's been at this 'X' idea for a while:
https://www.businessinsider.com/history-behind-elon-musk-x-brand-that-may-replace-twitter-2023-7
Be interesting how the Microsoft trademark, XBOX and everything that entails, plays out.
No doubt we'll hear that some brains trust have been working on the X for two years and spent millions coming up with it.
And once revealed it took five minutes and no dollars for someone to say "I recognise that."
The legal cases to follow? Probably run into the tens of millions.
Looks like 2 ys to me ,
X for games – Microsoft patent
X for social media – Meta patent
X for banking – Musk patent
Musk wants to have messaging, social media (audio and video) as well as banking on one platform/app – it's been done and called we chat.
His X is one overlayed by the other, his blade over that of the planet – satellite comms frequency to all, terrestial activity connections, transportation by smart device car (automatic management by AI) and lift of into space to escape it all.
An X man, with Sumerian god pretensions walks among us.
We have a winner.
Sesame Street
@sesamestreet
The letter X will be holding a press conference later today. #TwitterX
https://twitter.com/sesamestreet/status/1683508159942467584
This X debacle is just confirmation beyond doubt that Musk is an egotistical grifting fuckwit
twitter -> X
google -> ABC
facebook -> Meta
personal, meaningful words X'ed out by abstract corporate slogans.
symbolism:
X – wrong answer
X – illiteracy, anonymity, removal of personhood, censorship
X – extinction, extermination, death
X – corporate fascism "crossing out" democracy and free exchange of ideas
X – skull and crossbones; piracy; vulture capitalism
X – pornography, forbidden knowledge, occult
but hidden in this darkness is a redemptive arc:
+ in Jesus, the death of God breaks open new life 🐣
+ a cross is where heaven and earth intersect 🔀
+ psalm 85:10 "Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other." 🫶🏼
+ the red cross is a symbol of healing and peace amidst troubled times
Looking forward to questions to the leader of the opposition if he will introduce a bill to require anyone taking a mental health day or two to have clinical clearance before they return to work. What a tosser.
Hipkins should have bent time, looked through to the future void to see how Allan’s break up was going to go and if she was going to be okay to work and only then allowed her back.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/132611615/david-parker-untenable-to-remain-revenue-minister-after-wealth-tax-rejection
In some ways, this is more important than the departure of Kiri Allan
It's a public acknowledgement of a very significant split in the Labour cabinet.
Time, I think, for Chippy to fall on his sword like Andrew Little did in 2017.
Who would you see as the Ardern in that situation? I certainly don't see a popular, unifying figure waiting in the Labour caucus wings.
Absent an Ardern-style figure emerging, Hipkins resigning would be an unmitigated disaster for Labour.
They could do worse than Parker himself. Yes, I know he's boring, but I reckon he would make mincemeat of Luxon in the campaign debates. And perhaps the electorate is tired of colourful figures. Jacinda-ism may be outmoded.
It was Wood and Allan, so their wings clipped it is onward with Hipkins.
His job is at it was, to compete to win and fall on his sword if he does not. Though the law and order of politics, Professor Palmer, handed on late to the last line of defence for the old regime (Meikayla Moore) in 1990. Who tried again in 1993.
After the election, the precedent is falling back to either a future candidate for UNSG or Mayoralty of Auckland.
@ alan
I agree…I came on here expecting it to be full of it..
The revenue minister walking away from his portfolio in protest at the canning of the wealth tax he developed ..is a very big deal..
I don't doubt his sincerity in this move..
And it makes sense as positioning as a future progressive leader of labour..
And if gren/tmp do as well as some hope..and demand a wealth tax as the price to pay for coalition support ..labour can roll hipkins…and parker is there…ready to roll..
Yes, NACT will be singing that loud and clear every day leading up to the election.
It sums up the emptiness of NZ's political coverage.
Kiri Allan's departure, while very sad for her, is not about any policy issue at all. It has no bearing at all on what this government or an alternative government would do. It does not affect the voters' real lives in any way. Unlike say, tax policy.
But for political reporters it's the soap opera, and they love it. Parker's just boring.
I agree that Parker is boring (policy wonk, with little public appeal or charisma).
But the timing of this ministerial shuffle has to have been very deliberate – Hipkins (and, I'm sure Parker with his loyal to Labour hat on) – will be hoping to slide it under the kerfuffle occasioned by Allen's resignation, and the consequent reallocation of portfolios.
The last thing Hipkins or Labour want is a forensic journalist asking hard questions about how solid Labour's tax policy is; and/or how solid Hipkins' support is from the Labour front bench.
First Robertson (not exactly enthusiastic in the media stand up around the tax policy), and now Parker (basically saying, 'not on my watch').
Sounds about right. That article states the Nat list is expected by the end of July.
I have to take it back. The politicians (if not nec the journos) are being very magnanimous towards Kiri. Both sides. Even more so than with Muller.
I'll eat my hat over this. I hope it gets reported properly.
(I’m watching parl tv)
I think many of them will be thinking, "There, but for the Grace of God, go I"
Parliament – especially cabinet – is a pressure cooker – and it sometimes just takes one additional source of pressure for an explosion to happen.
I suspect that all of them are treating Allen very differently to either Wood or Nash – whose errors were arrogance and entitlement.
Congrats to the Philippines soccer team, which beat us in the Womens' World cup.
NZ had 70% possession and 4 accurate shots on goal to their opponents' 1, but still lost
by the only goal in the match. Those stats are not good if you are the NZ coach.
The stats were great, not the result.