On Sunday the head of the Russian armed forces personally telephoned the heads of NATO to inform them that Ukraine is preparing a radiological attack in Ukraine.
On Sunday, 23 October, Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s Minister of Defence, had a phone conversation with the third NATO defence minister on the same day, Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary of the United Kingdom….
…..The Defence Secretary of the United Kingdom became the third representative of a NATO member state (after France and Turkey) whom Shoigu called on Sunday to tell them about supposed plans for a Ukrainian "dirty bomb".
Yesterday the Speaker of the Russian government, (Duma), Vyacheslav Volodin repeated the same threat.
Volodin claimed that Kiev had instructed its nuclear scientists to make a ‘dirty bomb’, while its forces shell the critical infrastructure of the Zaporozhye and Kursk nuclear power plants.
The only possible conclusion is that the Russian Federation in a last ditch desperate attempt are preparing to detonate a radiological bomb in Ukraine to inflict a heavy losses on the Ukrainian armed forces in an effort to stop the Ukrainian successes in liberating Russian occupied territories, and intend to put the blame for this crime against humanity on the Ukrainian authorities. This imminent attack is most likely to occur in Kherson, after the Russian forces have evacuated, and as Ukrainian forces pour into the area.
In conjunction with a radiological (dirty bomb) attack in Kherson, it is quite likely that the retreating Russian Federation forces will also blow up the Zaporozhye and Kursk nuclear power plants.
Coming from the two highest officials in the Russian military and the Russian government, this threat can not be taken lightly.
The price of gas is dropping in Europe, while the number of LNG carrier ships currently under construction sits at 285, with an astonishing 250+ due for delivery by the end of 2025. With a global fleet of LNG carriers of roughly 650 vessels the size and number of these ships means the carrying capacity with increase by 60-70% by 2025. Much of this construction is driven by Europe, and a determination not to be dependent on Russian gas.
Those lucky bastards otherwise known as Australia are of course the world’s fifth biggest natural gas exporter, and they exclusively exports natural gas as LNG. Australia is now the world’s largest LNG exporter, accounting for 22% of international trade. I suspect they’ll replace most of Russia’s gas in Europe. Shipping gas halfway around the world in ships is less cost effective than piping it in from Russia, but then again Australia isn’t run by a nuclear armed mad dictator set on wars of imperial aggression.
Russia's attempts to use energy to blackmail Europe have failed.
She said she had seen other videos on TikTok that had been swamped with abusive comments where the creator appealed for likes and positivity to help "pull them back from the wrong side of TikTok".
This is just one of the reasons why I dislike like buttons and the likes. Even without algorithms on/of the actual site, it introduces a bias in readers, responders, and number of mentions & links elsewhere. I think it sucks big time.
No Sanc disagree-the Greens will want to keep her winning Akl Central ad infinitum as an insurance policy against sub 5% and because she will be a co-leader soon.
Swarbrick will do whatever job brings the most change. Mayor of Auckland is more powerful than Green co-leader in any watered-down arrangement with Labour et al.
However, winning Auckland Central is very resource intensive for the Greens. They run it like a by-election – as if it was almost the only seat going. That sucks in activists from all over the country, I know someone who lives in Reefton who was working in Auckland Central last time, and she was not the only one from her area. It is a very expensive insurance policy
I think people who like Chloe really overestimate her popularity outside of Central Auckland. As for her style of campaigning, the Efeso team essentially tried to replicate it, right down to the comedy fundraisers, and we all saw how that went.
As a young person myself, I don't find her particularly inspiring. Some of my more politically engaged friends are pretty big fans but they're a minority. Most are barely aware of who she is, or find her kinda judgmental. She has a good niche as the go-to young politician, but the idea that everyone my age sees her as our saviour just isn't true
You need more than that if you want the mayoralty. Most people aren't on Twitter, and for what it's worth, I've heard plenty of people my age say they find her inauthentic. Also, based on my experience trying to vote this year as a renter, you really cannot count on young people in local elections.
I’m struggling with both your comments @ 3.1.2.1.1 and 3.1.2.2.1. For example, I don’t know where the saviour reference comes from; if (young) people are not aware of CS they are probably politically ‘illiterate’, which is not meant as a criticism, BTW. Your comments also appear to argue against lowering the voting age to 16, which is just a side note here.
I’d say that if anybody can reach and engage with (some but not all) young people in any election it is CS. Nobody has or is arguing that she could count on young people in an Auckland Mayoral election because one can never take voters for granted. I’d like to think that CS is not that naïve.
This whole thread started because someone said she was going to be the next mayor, and I disagreed. As for the saviour thing, do you really have no idea where it comes from? Take this line from a Spinoff piece for example:
"Swarbrick’s resistance to political realism seems to stem less from self-belief and more from a borderline irrational faith in stuff like the fundamental goodness of other people"
I don't have any ill will towards her as a person, it's more about her supporters trying to make her into this avatar for all young people, with the implication being that, if you don't feel the exact same way, you're some kind of traitor to your age group. Also, how is writing young people off as politically illiterate not a criticism?
Nobody knows if CS will stand a second time in an Auckland Mayoral election let alone the next one and win; she may or she may not. So, agreeing or disagreeing with the comment @ 3.1 is moot and a red herring. I’d like to think that Sanctuary made the comment not to be taken literally and absolute but as a starting point for discussion.
TLDR; it appears that you projected CS’s beliefs onto others, i.e., young people.
Your issue seems to be with her supporters rather than with her per se, which is why pigeonholing CS does not make for strong counter-argument at all. If anything, CS seems to be [in] a class of her own. I have no idea where the ‘traitor’ allegations stem from either; there are way too many inferences and wild speculations in this thread to make it of much use.
According to your own ‘poll’ of young people and anecdata many don’t know of CS and who she is. That’s not criticism, is it? It isn’t writing them off either, is it? You seem a little aggressive defensive …
Chloe has been put on some weird pedestal from day one of her parliamentary career and it's never made any sense.
Shes the same age as me and politically I agree with her but I find her alienating af and her "maaaaaaaate " schticks to fake and cringe.
Shes a lightweight in the house, most people don't know who she is, she's got weirdo deeply fringe political allies and her disastrous weed legalization campaign tactics are best forgotten.
She's just another rich kid student politician. She inspires people like herself I guess.
I think she'd do better as sole green leader , but that's cos she's the best out of the party.
You realise that is passive voice? In other words, CS didn’t do this herself. And you want to topple her off because “[s]he's just another rich kid student politician”? That’s such a pathetic character assassination attempt with a lazy stereotype.
With Auckland central being the centre of a significant population loss.property loss and employment changes,there may be a need for fewer central government resources.
Auckland had a provisional net loss of 15,000 people through internal migration (people moving between Auckland and other parts of New Zealand). This comes after net losses of 11,300 and 15,400 people in the previous two years. It continues a trend of net flows out of Auckland that began in the late 1990s.
Replaced via immigration. Baby boomers cashing up and moving to the provinces. Why not sell in Auckland buy in a province = few hundred thousand plus in the bank.
Stats NZ are pretty clear the drop is as a result of less overseas immigration and low natural increase.
Given our aging population you are not going to get increases through births. There ain't no one getting pregnant in our older population. No teenage mums in the ever increasing number of residential villages.
Slowing regional growth reflects what is happening nationally, particularly annual net migration loss, partly due to the impact of Covid-19 on international migration," Stats NZ population estimates and projections acting manager Rebekah Hennessey said.
"This net migration loss [of 11,500] was combined with the lowest natural increase [24,100] since World War II."
Auckland and the West Coast saw its population fall 0.5 percent, with Auckland's decline slowing slightly from the 0.6 percent fall recorded in the June 2021 year.
"While people leaving the bigger cities such as Auckland is not new, internal migration losses have historically been offset by international migration gains," Hennessey said.
"With international migration losses now occurring, Auckland had an overall population loss of 8900 people in the June 2022 year."
Anything that involves unfunded capex,As our borrowing rate is a full percentage point higher then the UK,which have now fallen as markets perceive a lowering of fiscal risk,which is not seen here.
No thats the next government plan,what need s to be constrained is unfunded capex,and limits or cuts to the consultant community,similar to what the Australian treasurer will announce this afternoon.
It is believed $3.6 billion will be saved through the government reducing its spending on external contractors, advertising, travel and legal expenses, while $2 billion in grants promised by the former government will be cancelled.
Government borrowing hit the 5 % interest rate level last week ( 4.85- 5.05%) there is now a large risk premium due to the dual risks of a current account deficit and fiscal deficit,a dollar overvalued,and unfunded cost blow outs in the pipeline.
Advertising and travel (and other staff ‘allowances’) are probably low-hanging fruit and might save a few dollars. Since Council doesn’t sell anything as such, I assume advertising means or includes PR and providing information to the public. If so, it may lead to more requests for information from people, which would require more staff effort.
IDK how it would cut legal costs. Less scrutinising by legal experts? Will this really save all the much?
That leaves consultants and external contractors assuming they’re not one and the same thing. Again, if they do stuff that’s entirely unnecessary then sure, cull it from the balance sheet. Otherwise, somebody must do the work, yes?
Mayor-Elect Brown uses the good old slogan Less Is More but what does that really mean?
I was using the Australian federal case as an example for the NZ government reducing its debt exposure to the increasing risks.
Auckland has a debt of around 11.5 b,which will increase to around 15b over the next 2 years.The interest burden will only increase in the future as the NZ government debt burden is not forecast to decrease,and interest rate increases are being funded by debt,fiscal constraint is needed,as is fiscal discipline by both central and local government.
Less concrete actually,with a move from more intensive social housing in Auckland,to provincial and semi rural centres,as rental costs decrease, and house prices fall in AK.
If Aucklanders want to invest in high debt/high cost solutions to various infrastructure projects,go for it,you pay for it.
Ha ha. He is also better educated. & better looking…ooops who said that? Some call him 'dishy Rishy'.
he has his work cut out for him
'Britain has been locked in a state of perma-crisis ever since it voted in 2016 to leave the European Union, unleashing a battle at Westminster over the future of the country that remains unresolved to this day.'
and
'The multi-millionaire former hedge fund boss will be expected to launch deep spending cuts to try to rebuild Britain's fiscal reputation, just as the country slides into one of the toughest downturns in decades, hit by the surging cost of energy and food.
I concluded that all Tory leadership options are awful – so the only criteria I care about is whether they will continue to support Ukraine's liberation. And rumours are that Sunak's family maintains business ties with Russia, which bodes poorly.
"Before Truss, everyone still thought they’d turn it around. There was a plan, right? Right?Nope. The reason this last week was so captivating is it’s suddenly obvious there is no plan."
I'm proud to say I got banned from Stuff comments because I told the moderators that their "terms and conditions" were a fraud. So they banned me for telling the truth while they continue to publish garbage, contradicting their own rules.
e.g. one comment on that column says Sunak is not British. False (and of course racist). Not opinion – simply false.
Therefore, either the moderators don't read what they publish or they do read but don't care.
I can’t remember the last time I looked at comments on Stuff as indeed most of them are such a waste of time and life is short. I generally find the few comments on Newsroom insightful and informative but, of course, that’s an entirely different site compared to Stuff.
All manual moderation has a major intrinsic weakness: time. And time costs money. Simple fact-checking can and perhaps should be done by the commentariat at large aka the wisdom of the crowd instead of one or a couple of overworked mods who then may still need to apply the corrections (edits) and/or flag the particular commenter. The question is who’s ultimately responsible (onus). The same applies to all content (OPs), including opinion pieces.
The way I see it, there are 2 issues: 1) incorrect/inaccurate info; 2) vague/ambiguous/imprecise ‘info’. The second issue is actually the bigger one because it can suck up a lot of oxygen because it strays into terra incognita where anything can mean anything and people make unchecked/unsupported assumptions, jump to all sorts of conclusions, twist language, meaning, and concepts to suit their narrative (bias), and generally just talk past each other. (NB assumption ≠ conclusion)
Stuff's "system" is particularly annoying because they post comments and then replies are held in moderation for many hours (as is the case currently on that column). So rapid rebuttal is impossible.
They let false statements stand, and if the readers can't correct (for hours) and the moderators are too busy, then it's a free platform for liars. The trolls know this, of course.
Reading stuff comments is sbout as useful as reading face book comments, the only time I do it is when I start think there is hope for the human race, a quick read of the comments soon fixs that dose of optimism I tell ya
If you think the STUFF comments are bad – have you read the comments on some of the Herald articles which do allow comments – they are diabolical. I (probably against my better judgement) re-subscribed to the Herald a few months ago so I could read Simon Wilson's articles and Shane Te Pou's too plus one or two other authors worth having a look at. There are some pieces I point blank refuse to read, probably to keep my sometimes elevated blood pressure at a reasonable level
When The Herald and Stuff were just hard copy, if you wanted to comment on an article you wrote a letter to the editor. The letter had to be signed with an address supplied.
How many of the comments would be made if the commenters had to identify who they were? Also, how many comments are made by resident New Zealanders and how many are from "Comments pools" submitting comment from the US /Australia/ UK based subversives.
Labour and the Greens have much more of a plan than the tired, old, discredited ones of the Natz – at least those announced so far – trickle down economics and privatising social welfare! (they call it 'social investment!)
Last week the discussion about falling achievement of school pupils was a focus here and there. It seems we are not alone in having issues to address.
‘Nation’s Report Card’ shows new evidence of Covid-19’s devastating impact on US children’s education
Fourth- and eighth-graders fell behind in reading and had the largest ever decline in math, according to a national educational assessment showing the devastating effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on America’s children."
It happened pretty much everywhere, as one would expect. For example, here is a study published in a top scientific journal in April 2021:
The Netherlands is interesting as a “best-case” scenario, with a short lockdown, equitable school funding, and world-leading rates of broadband access.
…
Here we evaluate the effect of school closures on primary school performance using exceptionally rich data from The Netherlands (n ≈ 350,000). We use the fact that national examinations took place before and after lockdown and compare progress during this period to the same period in the 3 previous years.
…
The findings imply that students made little or no progress while learning from home and suggest losses even larger in countries with weaker infrastructure or longer school closures.
Learning loss due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic
Young people didn't learn what was hoped or expected in maths, spelling, and reading. Did they learn anything? What did they learn? Did they learn resilience? Did they learn to be 'creative.'
Another study has it
"In our recent survey of 16,370 parents across every state in America, 35 percent of parents said they were very or extremely concerned about their child’s mental health."
Did children learn their parents were resilient, creative? Or become concerned about their parents' mental health?
'Deschooling Society' the Ivan Ilich book from 1971 comes to mind.
"Illich presented schools as places where consumerism and obedience to authority were paramount and genuine learning was replaced by a process of advancement through institutional hierarchies accompanied by the accumulation of largely meaningless credentials."
Interesting to consider some of the notions from just over 50 years ago and think of how Ivan Ilich would have seen the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic in the sort of societies we now live in.
Dr. Cravat interviewing his own keyboard again. He claims there is increased speculation about Jacinda Ardern quitting but provides just two examples, the NBR and himself. 😆
The pundit class did not predict John Key's resignation as PM. They did not predict Simon Bridges' resignation as an MP. Shocked, they were! Shocked!
But they've been predicting Ardern's departure since her first term. Fluffy little girlie, no staying power … and now facing her 5th opposition leader.
Are you sure 'they' are real people or are they robots? Seriously, I wonder sometimes. TV presenters and reporters stare glassy eyed into the camera lens repeating bald-faced lies about Ardern in particular, but all Labour ministers are fair game.
If they were real would there not be a flicker of a conscience in those eyes? 😕
The rumour has been created to implant the idea that some plausible reason for her resigning actually exists. There is no such reason. It's propaganda from the RW disinformation mill and Edwards travesties his academic and intellectual credentials by repeating it. A real journalist or intellectual (unlike Edwards) would come up with an explanation as to why the rumour is being generated, and by whom.
It must be a "photo op" because it's Ardern. Never mind that John Key and Helen Clark went to Antarctica as PMs, never mind any of the NZ relationship and responsibilities there. Feed the frothers.
While it is true that both Clark and Key did visit Antarctica while they were Prime Minister they both made their trips in January, while Parliament was in recess. Clark's visit was from 18-22 January 2007 and Key from 17-21 January 2013.
There is a difference in that PM Ardern will be there while the House is sitting and will miss Question time for the week.
Whether she would add anything useful if she was in Wellington is of course an open question.
Really? According to the RNZ news her visit is to celebrate the 65th anniversary of Scott Base. However the opening of Scott Base was on 20th January 1957 so surely she should be visiting at about the same time of year as Clark and Key visited?
Helen's visit in 2007 was of course to celebrate the 50th anniversary.
What special anniversary is being celebrated in October?
There are a few reasons for the timing of the PM’s visit, of course, but not that you’d know or care. She probably also wanted to give Luxon a much-needed break; the poor fellow looked worse than Truss last week.
Typically, greens with an online presence and following attract trolls and other vermin. I also feel for the lettuce but luckily Truss stepped aside quickly and probably saved the lettuce’s life. It could have led to a few good slogans, e.g.:
I particularly liked one of the comments under Duncan's article.
It is interesting, from Australia, to read this internal NZ political detail. It is understandably hard for us to be across all the various nuances that are discussed in this article, and given how brilliantly your PM has performed in a number of crises, it seems astonishing that her own party would consider replacing her. Perhaps they like the view from the Opposition benches better. However, I WOULD say that if NZ Labour DID replace Jacinda, and she felt like a change of scenery, an awful lot of us on this side of The Ditch would give our eye teeth to have someone of her calibre available to lead those to the political left of Genghis Khan. We are not afforded the luxury of speculating on whether there might be someone better than her out there, we just know from daily experience how appallingly worse a PM can be than she is!
I see that the title of the article you quote finishes "no reason to go – yet".
I believe that it was Harold Wilson who quipped that "A week is a long time in politics". A year, which is the time since Gran Duncan wrote his opinion piece is an infinity.
She may have had no reason to go then but her prospects don't look anywhere near as rosy today, do they?
"It is a special anniversary visit to Antarctica ….. but you know that."
Given that the Scott Base anniversary, as previously observed by Helen Clark and John Key, is in January what was the anniversary that Ms Ardern was planning to celebrate there in October?
The visit marks the 65 years of Scott Base – New Zealand’s Antarctic home – and the first full season of Antarctic research and environmental protection after two years of COVID-19 disruption.
Ardern is Labour's best chance of winning a third term – we both know it – hence all this ‘headless chook’ action regarding her supposedly imminent departure.
It's unsurprising to me that you feel Ardern has been PM for "an infinity", or perhaps several political infinities, just as it will come as no surprise to you that each of English/Bridges/Muller/Collins/Luxon's recent stints as 'leader' of the opposition seemed like an eternity to me.
"An infinity" of time will tell if Ardern's 'infinity' as PM lasts longer than honest John's. I'll leave you to count your chickens – cLux cLux.
Given that I have never said that I feel she has been the PM for a long time how on earth can you possibly decide that I feel such a thing?
Apologies alwyn, I thought you had asserted [@8.2.2.1] something to the effect that 'a year is "an infinity" in politics' (quite original), and inferred that the very nearly five years Ardern has been our PM would feel like, if not "an infinity", then at least 'a long time' to you. What with the ChCh massacre, plus the pandemic and is repercussions, it feels like a long time to me.
Honestly didn't realise it mattered that much – it's just a bit of fun –
cLux cLux cLux
. .
Yep, right wing morons have been at it all day. HADP and her grandfather husband discussing it at length on their cosy, mostly undeclared political spot this afternoon.
All from a speculative piece by self-appointed Guardian Of Democracy (GOD), Dr Bryce Cravat!
An important window into how bitter cranks operate.
"Second, drop this strange idea that philanthropists could provide social-investment funding for state schemes. If private money helps determine whether or not someone receives a core social service, that’s a wildly inappropriate privilege for the wealthy. And if we want more funds for social programmes, we should simply ensure millionaires pay more tax."
There’s a fine line between [some] philanthropists (and [some] charities for that matter), moral crusaders, and people with a saviour/messiah complex. It also reminds of Karpman’s drama triangle (i.e., victim, rescuer, persecutor). Some ex-CEOs and so-called ‘successful people’ (incl. celebrities) can substitute philanthropists by giving their time instead of their money …
Couldn't we just have a better tax system so that everyone pays appropriately and then if philanthropists want to fund other things that make life better for people then let them do this (with the money they have left after paying tax).
So from taxes we allow for people to live a good life. The gifts from others can be the extra, the bit that allows talented students facing a parental inability to pay for 'whatever' for their children to have equal chances.
Simple a concept.
Ah me…..
PS The Conover piece is concerning this latest way of passing wealth on through the generations by using 'charitable' companies as a front for the ability to influence far beyond one's natural life. They in fact are not giving $1m to charity. They are setting up a charity called XYZ charity that has a shareholding of ABC wholly owned Company with 999998 shares with family holding the remaining two shares and these two are the only ones having voting rights. I think there are more steps and twists but the end result is less tax to pay all round and rollicking good but undeserved reputation as a good firm/person. Patagonia was looked at. also the pulling at your heartstrings statements about these accidental billionaires who still drive their own old dungers and got rich by eating cat food. Seriously…..unpicked by Conover who said there was no need for them to do this as some tinned fish made for humans was cheaper than catfood!
Today through TS I have been reminded of Human Synergistics and Karpmans triangle (we had a course so we could find out which we were) both of which were visited on unsuspecting Govt Depts and round this off by a bit of Myers Briggs and that sums up some of my career in the PS.
I did however make some of our HR people and managers (and restructuring consultants especially) a bit grumpy by pointing out that all of these probably had their genesis or the norms calculated in the US using tests done on white males. This meant they were unrepresentative and unsuited to NZ where women were the first in the world to vote, and where we had Maori and Pasifika people.
Some of these perhaps MB are ok for personal use only, but wildly unsuitable for any population use. I count workplaces as population use.
We had some teams made up so as to avoid Karpman, use MB or Human Synergistics. Totally artificial and all it made us do was to yearn to have our old teams back where in any brainstorm, policy development, we knew and valued who was going to do have the wacky off the wall stuff, who was going to be grump central but with an eye for bullkaka etc.
Competent recruitment techniques, reference checking and an eye for a chance for a person and an org then competent management are key.
Do we have any current PS who can tell us if these techniques are still being used across whole workplace populations?
Sorry, I can't help with this. I do have my own personal experience with this kind of stuff and it still akes me cringe, i.e., it left a mental scar for life. Don't ever get me started on psychometric tests and evaluations.
My apologies in advance for posting a link above with no explanation.
Having some technical difficulties and I couldn't even delete it, so very sorry in advance Mods.
The link is an article about a statement from the NHS that gender dyphoria in most children is a phase. (It also mentions the move away from the affirmation approach since the Cass report).
In NZ in the current climate if you say gender dysphoria is a phase, you will likely be called transphobic and a bigot.
Lets not call it "gender non conforming". Let's call it by its real name – "sexual stereotyping non conforming". Kids get transed for liking the "wrong" toys, or the "wrong" clothes. They get transed by homophobic parents who would rather have a "so fashionable" trans daughter than an icky gay son. Kids get transed because their parents are lied to by autogynephiliac "Trans Rights Activists" (who need the existence of trans kids to cloak their paraphilia) and told that their children will kill themselves unless they are "affirmed". And they are also lied to by the health and education systems who are either captured – or "for profit".
Do you think all transgender people are paraphiliacs with a psychiatric disorder "characterized by deviant and culturally non-sanctioned sexual fantasies, thoughts, and/or behaviors – apparently a proportion of which also suffer from symptoms of mental illness that can go unrecognized", or just trans rights activists?
I just note how similar some of this language is that to that decades ago when gay men were criminalised and lesbian women were institutionalised for compulsory treatment.
Do you think all transgender people are paraphiliacs with a psychiatric disorder "characterized by deviant and culturally non-sanctioned sexual fantasies, thoughts, and/or behaviors – apparently a proportion of which also suffer from symptoms of mental illness that can go unrecognized", or just trans rights activists?
We don't know the rate of autogynephilia, because No Debate has meant that many academics aren't free to do the research. Blanchard may have some figures from his work but we really need to free up researchers to look at this properly.
My own view is similar to Blanchard's proposal, that is are a small number of gender dysphoric males who have a strong identification with the gender stereotypes of women. Some of those males find relief from transition. They are often gay ie. they are sexually attracted to other males before and after transition.
There are also males who are gay, who grow up in parts of society that don't tolerate or accept gayness in men, or effeminate behaviour and expression, and those young men are being socialised into being trans. You can follow the male detrans people online for a deeper understanding of what is going on there. There are parents on record talking about their discomfit about having a gay son but who are ok with a trans daughter. There are also countries that are intolerant of gay men, but tolerant of trans women.
Then there are AGP males, many who are probably cross dressers historically, who are sexually aroused by the thought of themselves as a woman and who now seek to colonise women's spaces in search of affirmation and arousal. These are the males online taking photos of themselves wanking in women's public toilets. There are AGP males who aren't colonising women's culture/space as well. These males aren't dysphoric in the same way that transsexual males are, the driver isn't extreme mental distress.
With women the pattern is different. There appears to be no female equivalent of AGP. That leaves us with girls/women with such extreme gender dysphoria that they are willing to go through a lot of medicalisation. But there are also a lot of girls growing up who hate being female because they are abused for it. Being male is an escape. Again, listen to what detrans women are saying.
Social media socialisation of transness is a major issue. As is rapid onset gender dysphoria.
You will probably find a lot there to disagree with, and I'm happy to hash it out with evidence and further reasoning. But it's wrong to respond to Visubversa's comment as if she is saying all trans are this thing. If you reread what she said, she is naming AGPs and their role and motivations in the major social shifts, she’s not saying all trans people are AGP.
The question of how many trans activists fit into which category is an interesting one.
I just note how similar some of this language is that to that decades ago when gay men were criminalised and lesbian women were institutionalised for compulsory treatment.
I’m more careful with my language than some, because I don't believe trans people deserve to be categorised in negative ways anymore than any other vulnerable group.
But, powerful lobby groups like Stonewall UK, and activists, have broadened the definition of trans so far now that we are well beyond transsexuals. The inclusion and denial of AGP is core to the gender/ sex war. Women have been losing rights, been seriously abused, and backed into a corner. Many GC feminists tried engaging in ways to find resolutions to the conflict of rights, but the denial and harm that has been done by activists has been extreme. You can't complain now when many women come out fighting including with language.
My advice is that those debating/advocating on the issue not throw the word "paraphilia" around. One can note the autogynephilia side of trans activism without doing that.
If the actual problem is a tendency to affirmation of self identity at too young an age in response to temporary dysphoria (or parental promotion because of concern at children not meeting gender stereotypes), then that is how that matter should be confronted – this is how to get change at the governmental/bureaucratic/professional end.
There are two intensifiers in play – one the way social media reinforces a concern and poses a possible miscategorisation of a problem and the other tribalisation of debate about this. Professionals should be concerned about the former and not being captured by trends, and those in social media/media the other.
My advice is that you actually look at who has the loudest voices in this debate. Heterosexual men – many with wives and children – often "transitioning" in their 40's or older, well off and in positions of power and influence. Look at Eddie Izzard – now in "permanent girl mode" (at 60 years old FFS), complaining that "dating is difficult". You don't get to say this sort of stuff from a position of "marginalisation and oppression". https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/29/if-lesbian-prefers-same-sex-dates-thats-not-bigotry-desire-personal-thing
More likely merely those with name recognition and the money to live as they want.
The wider not cisgender male nor cisgender female identity derives from a younger generation, and this probably led the "coming out" of the older group.
This is an issue to others in two areas, woman identity and safety and the original topic here Ankers link to the NHS view that gender dyphoria in most children is a phase.
It is the NOW who argued for gender equality – those born females having equal opportunity. Girls can do anything, females not being confined to roles/a limited place in society.
The concept was that there was a diversity within the female group (as to interests/way of living a life) also applied to males – each being freed from gender/birth sex stereotype.
From this derived the concept that there were those born male and female and living the traditional roles (and heterosexual) expected by religious and cultural tradition (marriage and family). Since called being cisgender male and female. And otherwise – those feminists critical of traditional marriage, those homosexual or lesbian, and since then a wider concept of those not conforming to birth sex/gender stereotype (sometimes related to not coupling to form families).
This is the setting in which the concept of sexual (bisexuality) and gender fluidity (non binary/gender queer etc) emerged.
Sure this is all add on to being born male and female, being male or female by biology. A bit like how there is nature and then nurture/culture.
At some point we are biological bio-determinism or there is more, the mind (what society constructs). Thus philosophy, are we who we think we are?
Some of our society have rethought whether we should be limited to inherited culture, some say we are who we have always have been (Greek males were misogynists before becoming Christians) and some say we should embrace the full equality of humanity (in all its diversity).
You raised other points way beyond this particular issue – managing gender dysphoria in youth and related activism. Each of them (womens concerns and the diversity of the transgender group) will come up at other times.
The popular programme, which aired its first season last year, will once again use the device of a secret pact to introduce viewers to a compelling new group struggling with morality, loyalty, and faith as their lives spiral out of control.
I tried several times seeking the meaning of 'woke anti racism' or was it 'anti woke racism' and 'woke' from a TS participant over the weekend but never got it. My small brain thinks being an anti racist is a good thing……..
I am really confused by it as it seems to be in the same category as PC. PC just swept in and swept about with people being accused of being PC for being good mannered, avoiding stereotypes, not slamming people, giving others the benefit of the doubt, being inclusive etc
Nice explanation of the potential toxicity of woke movements. There's a difference between genuine civil rights causes with a clearly defined objective, and pressure groups of privileged narcissists.
"narcissists have lost their "true self", the core of their personality, which has been replaced by delusions of grandeur, a "false self". Therefore, he believes, they cannot be healed, because they do not exist as real persons, only as reflections: "The False Self replaces the narcissist's True Self and is intended to shield him from hurt and narcissistic injury by self-imputing omnipotence…
A bit like the Trump brand or online influencer persona
The narcissist pretends that his False Self is real and demands that others affirm this confabulation," meanwhile keeping his real-life imperfect true self under wraps.
Vaknin extends the concept of narcissistic supply, and introduces concepts such as primary and secondary narcissistic supply. He distinguishes between cerebral and somatic narcissists; the former generate their narcissistic supply by applying their minds, the latter their bodies. He considers himself a cerebral narcissist. He calls narcissistic co-dependents "inverted narcissists." "They provide the narcissist with an obsequious, unthreatening audience… the perfect backdrop."
If you want to know about time and chronons look at the link
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Responding to an Auditor-General's report slamming failures in the administration of the 2023 General Election, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said: ...
The Taxpayers’ Union says the Beehive need to lead by example, following reports of more than $50,000 spent upgrading video conferencing equipment and furniture in the Prime Minister’s office. Taxpayers’ Union Campaign Manager, Connor Molloy, ...
An objective list of the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand, as judged by the Spinoff Editorial Board. It’s power list season, baby, and we want in on the action. Sure, there’s the rich list and the powerful “c-suite” list and the young people with power (hmmm) but here, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thalia Anthony, Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the names of deceased people, and describes ongoing colonial violence towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. First Nations people in Australia ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Simpson, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Macquarie University Netflix Baby Reindeer’s phenomenal success has much to do with its writer and lead, Richard Gadd, who plays Donny in a tender semi-autobiographical account of sexual abuse, harassment and stalking. Gadd’s story has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle KarolinaGrabowska/Pexels If you didn’t have food allergies as a child, is it possible to develop them as an adult? The short answer is yes. But the reasons why are much ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Moon, Professor of History, Auckland University of Technology Ans Westra, self-portrait, c. 1963. National Library ref AWM-0705-F They try but invariably fail – those writers who believe they are capable of encapsulating in prose or verse the essence of ...
Stewart Sowman-Lund looks at the growing concern around the world in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. What’s all this? When Covid-19 arrived on our shores in early 2020, some argued we were too slow, or crucially, ill-prepared for a pandemic. So ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Franco Montalto, Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and Director, Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory, Drexel University Water runs into a storm drain in a Los Angeles alley on Aug. 19, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary.Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images ...
The inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones has turned up a new witness who says he saw two teenagers and a small child in a high vis vest in the area where the boy’s body was found the day he died. Lachie’s body was discovered face up ...
Stories from the tenancy trenches, featuring spider infestations, cupboard rats and same-sex discrimination. Lucy’s brother was living in a damp 1930s building in Mt Eden where “he had to tie the cupboard doors closed so the rats didn’t get in”. Although he shared custody of his six-year-old son, his property ...
Simeon Brown, Chris Luxon, and Wayne Brown climbed into a hole and announced a plan to solve Auckland’s water woes. This is how it’ll work. New Zealand’s pipes are munted. They’re cracked and leaking, and struggling to handle all the extra poos excreted by our rising population. It’s a big, ...
I knew Taika Waititi quite well when he was a kid. His mother lived in a tall narrow house in Aro St, and my youngest sister had a similar house two doors along. They were both single mums, they each had a son aged seven. Taika and my nephew Stepan ...
Opinion: “As time passes, knowledge of the circumstances of the August 2016 outbreak will fade and its immediate impact will be lost.” This statement is from the 2017 report of the Official Inquiry into the Havelock North campylobacteriosis outbreak. The then National-led government established the inquiry after the outbreak left ...
Opinion: Nicholas Khoo looks at two key points in the high-stakes foreign policy pact debate – and asks if NZ can engage with as little drama as possible. The post Where to next for the Aukus ruckus? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Opinion: ‘Reference-class forecasting’ is at the heart of improving pricing a project and identifying the expected timeframe but it doesn’t appear to be in use here The post ‘Think fast and act slowly’ is failing big projects appeared first on Newsroom. ...
What do a sombrero in Argentina and cognitive driving tests have in common? Don’t worry, we’re not setting up a bad joke. Hinengaro Clinic dementia clinician Gregory Winkelman has the answer on today’s episode of The Detail. “We ask a patient’s spouse or son or daughter: If you went to ...
Wellington long jumper Phoebe Edwards is back and she’s having fun again. Until this year, Edwards, a top athlete in her teens, had never competed as a senior athlete in New Zealand. In March, the 26-year-old won a national long jump title in a lifetime best of 6.28m after ...
After replacing a fifth of their caucus in just four months, the Greens’ opportunity to reset, reshuffle and refocus on the Government is quickly slipping away The post Persistent Green Party scandals delay caucus reset appeared first on Newsroom. ...
ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
By Robin Martin, RNZ News reporter A New Zealand local authority, Whanganui District Council, has passed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, condemnation of all acts of violence and terror against civilians on both sides of the conflict and the immediate return of hostages. It comes as ...
Asia Pacific Report The Aotearoa chapter of the Women’s International league for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has appealed to the New Zealand government to call out Israel over the “cruel and barbaric use of force” in Gaza and demand a permanent ceasefire. The league’s open letter was sent to Prime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will invest $566 million over a decade on data, maps and other tools to promote exploration and development in Australia’s resources industry. The project will fund “the first comprehensive map of what’s ...
Asia Pacific Report Following an open letter by Auckland University academics speaking out in support of their students’ right to protest against the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza, a group of academics at Otago University have today also called on New Zealand academic institutions to “repair colonial violence” and end ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda J. Graham, Professor and Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology Ryan Tauss/ Unsplash, CC BY Two male students have been expelled from a Melbourne private school for their involvement in a list ranking female students. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The Reserve Bank is now assuming Australians will see no interest rate cuts this year – and quite possibly none before the next federal election, due next May. That’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University The Victorian budget offered more of the same on Tuesday, with the only change being how the budget papers were packaged. The usual shrink wrap was gone, hinting at savings in the pages ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Coalition is demanding extensive amendments to the government’s legislation targeting non-citizens who refuse to co-operate with their removal. In a dissenting report to the senate inquiry into the legislation, the Coalition says it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanita Yadav, Senior Research Fellow, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Brett Boardman/Belvoir The complex and grappling issue of violence against women takes centre stage in the soul-stirring solo dance drama Nayika: A Dancing Girl. During a dinner conversation ...
Disruption to patient care from a nationwide junior doctors strike is bordering on unsafe, a senior doctor claims, despite what health officials say. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Diepstraten, Senior Research Officer, Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Ground Picture/Shutterstock The anti-cancer drug abemaciclib (also known as Vernezio) has this month been added to the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to treat certain ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic McAfee, Postdoctoral researcher, marine ecology, University of Adelaide Robbie Porter, OzFish Unlimited Around Australia, hundreds of people are coming together to help a once-prized, but decimated and largely forgotten marine ecosystem. They’re busy restoring Australia’s native oyster and mussel reefs. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rory Mulcahy, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of the Sunshine Coast Professional sports organisations regularly promote and develop initiatives to support diversity, equity and inclusion. While sport has the power to change attitudes by sparking conversations about political issues and social ...
Comment: The weekly Monday post-Cabinet press conference is a useful forum for observing Christopher Luxon and how he is developing into the job of Prime Minister. He attempts to convey the impression of a man of action, speaking fast, delivering memorised National Party strategies in a connect-the-slogans kind of way, ...
Double votes, missing ballot boxes, tired tech and stressed staff: how tick-tallying went astray at last year’s election. Cast your mind back to November 2023, that bleary-eyed post-election period duringwhichwewaited, andwaited, for a coalition deal to be hammered out. A distraction from the hotel-hopping of our ...
International audiences are starting to discover what New Zealand already knew about After the Party.When After the Party aired in New Zealand last year, the response was fast and furious. In his preview for Rec Room, Duncan Greive said it was a “gritty, wrenching and highly confronting” series. By ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shahram Akbarzadeh, Convenor of the Middle East Studies Forum (MESF), and Acting Director the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University Iran’s leadership has been a direct beneficiary of the months-long war in Gaza. With every missile that Israel fires ...
Claire Mabey reviews the haunting and sexy debut novel from Sinéad Gleeson, who is about to touch down in Aotearoa for a string of live events.When Irish writer Sinéad Gleeson was in Aotearoa in 2018 with her spectacular collection of essays, Constellations, she told me she was working on ...
PNG Post-Courier Bougainville Affairs Minister Manasseh Makiba has described the Post-Courier’s front page story yesterday regarding a meeting between Bougainville and national government leaders as “sensationalised” and without substance. The Autonomous Bougainville Government (AGB) had warned it might use “other avenues to gain its independence” should the PNG government “continue ...
Where some saw the worst press conference given by the government to date, Anna Rawhiti-Connell recognised girl maths game.Nicola Willis, recently exasperated by comparisons to Ruth Richardson, said she was “a bit sick of being compared with every female finance minister that’s ever been out there.”Some think that’s ...
The March results are reported against forecasts based on the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update 2023 (HYEFU 2023), published on 20 December 2023 and the results for the same period for the previous year. ...
Jamie Arbuckle, the district councillor who became an MP but decided to keep getting paid for both roles, will instead donate one salary to charity. ...
Adding gender to the Human Rights Act would simply make the implicit explicit. So why is it so controversial? Paul Thistoll explain. At present, Aotearoa’s 1993 Human Rights Act (HRA) includes sex, marital status, religious belief, ethical belief (meaning a lack of religious belief), colour, race, ethnicity or national origin, ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, an 18-year-old who’s studying and working in hospo shares their approach to spending and saving. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Transmasc Age: 18 Ethnicity: Pākehā/Māori Role: Student, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Kelsey, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Resources Minister Shane Jones has reportedly asked officials for advice on whether oil and gas companies could be offered “bonds” as compensation if drilling rights offered by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Gleeson, Associate Professor of Law, Macquarie University Shutterstock The Albanese government is weighing up the costs of delivering an election promise to protect religious people from discrimination in Commonwealth law. Such protections were relatively uncontroversial when included in state anti-discrimination ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yen Ying Lim, Associate Professor, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University Pexels/Andrea Piacquadio Dementia is often described as “the long goodbye”. Although the person is still alive, dementia slowly and irreversibly chips away at their memories and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Judy Bush, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, The University of Melbourne Adam Calaitzis/Shutterstock I met with a friend for a walk beside Merri Creek, in inner Melbourne. She had lived in the area for a few years, and as we walked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Throsby, Distinguished Professor of Economics, Macquarie University Arts companies and individual artists in Australia are supported by government arts agencies, philanthropists, industry bodies, private donors and patrons. However, it is frequently overlooked that a major source of support for the arts ...
Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa, a new incorporated society dedicated to ending harmful drug policies, officially launched today, seeks a new fit-for-purpose drug law for Aotearoa New Zealand, rooted in science, experience and evidence. ...
The Corrections Minister admits he "muddied the water" after he and the Prime Minister repeatedly provided incorrect information about a $1.9 billion prison spend-up. ...
On Sunday the head of the Russian armed forces personally telephoned the heads of NATO to inform them that Ukraine is preparing a radiological attack in Ukraine.
Yesterday the Speaker of the Russian government, (Duma), Vyacheslav Volodin repeated the same threat.
The only possible conclusion is that the Russian Federation in a last ditch desperate attempt are preparing to detonate a radiological bomb in Ukraine to inflict a heavy losses on the Ukrainian armed forces in an effort to stop the Ukrainian successes in liberating Russian occupied territories, and intend to put the blame for this crime against humanity on the Ukrainian authorities. This imminent attack is most likely to occur in Kherson, after the Russian forces have evacuated, and as Ukrainian forces pour into the area.
In conjunction with a radiological (dirty bomb) attack in Kherson, it is quite likely that the retreating Russian Federation forces will also blow up the Zaporozhye and Kursk nuclear power plants.
Coming from the two highest officials in the Russian military and the Russian government, this threat can not be taken lightly.
The price of gas is dropping in Europe, while the number of LNG carrier ships currently under construction sits at 285, with an astonishing 250+ due for delivery by the end of 2025. With a global fleet of LNG carriers of roughly 650 vessels the size and number of these ships means the carrying capacity with increase by 60-70% by 2025. Much of this construction is driven by Europe, and a determination not to be dependent on Russian gas.
Those lucky bastards otherwise known as Australia are of course the world’s fifth biggest natural gas exporter, and they exclusively exports natural gas as LNG. Australia is now the world’s largest LNG exporter, accounting for 22% of international trade. I suspect they’ll replace most of Russia’s gas in Europe. Shipping gas halfway around the world in ships is less cost effective than piping it in from Russia, but then again Australia isn’t run by a nuclear armed mad dictator set on wars of imperial aggression.
Russia's attempts to use energy to blackmail Europe have failed.
So much for reducing Green house gas producing, energy sources!
War is provenly bad for humanity and the planet.
If we can't even stop stop killing each other?
How can we stop killing the biosphere that sustains us?
What is the underlying cause that keeps us doing both?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/477276/tiktok-blamed-by-filmmaker-for-allowing-abusive-comments-on-video
This is just one of the reasons why I dislike like buttons and the likes. Even without algorithms on/of the actual site, it introduces a bias in readers, responders, and number of mentions & links elsewhere. I think it sucks big time.
Heh!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/130250152/the-poster-message-from-mp-chle-swarbrick-that-wayne-brown-cant-miss
Even better and more effective than open letters. A very media-savvy action.
She is the next mayor in waiting, mark my words.
No Sanc disagree-the Greens will want to keep her winning Akl Central ad infinitum as an insurance policy against sub 5% and because she will be a co-leader soon.
Swarbrick will do whatever job brings the most change. Mayor of Auckland is more powerful than Green co-leader in any watered-down arrangement with Labour et al.
How so?
She is a great local leader and not in politics for ego.
I agree that she’s an effective leader but not one that is limited to local affairs, in fact quite the opposite. No ego issues.
.
LOL
However, winning Auckland Central is very resource intensive for the Greens. They run it like a by-election – as if it was almost the only seat going. That sucks in activists from all over the country, I know someone who lives in Reefton who was working in Auckland Central last time, and she was not the only one from her area. It is a very expensive insurance policy
I think people who like Chloe really overestimate her popularity outside of Central Auckland. As for her style of campaigning, the Efeso team essentially tried to replicate it, right down to the comedy fundraisers, and we all saw how that went.
Almost as if the missing ingredient was.. Chloe.
Ask young people across the country who inspires them.
As a young person myself, I don't find her particularly inspiring. Some of my more politically engaged friends are pretty big fans but they're a minority. Most are barely aware of who she is, or find her kinda judgmental. She has a good niche as the go-to young politician, but the idea that everyone my age sees her as our saviour just isn't true
Her following on social media begs to differ.
You cannot replicate authenticity.
You need more than that if you want the mayoralty. Most people aren't on Twitter, and for what it's worth, I've heard plenty of people my age say they find her inauthentic. Also, based on my experience trying to vote this year as a renter, you really cannot count on young people in local elections.
Well I would say that comment says more about you and your cohort than it does about Chloe.
I'm just trying to tell you how it is bro, scolding people for not liking your candidate is never going to get you anywhere.
I’m struggling with both your comments @ 3.1.2.1.1 and 3.1.2.2.1. For example, I don’t know where the saviour reference comes from; if (young) people are not aware of CS they are probably politically ‘illiterate’, which is not meant as a criticism, BTW. Your comments also appear to argue against lowering the voting age to 16, which is just a side note here.
I’d say that if anybody can reach and engage with (some but not all) young people in any election it is CS. Nobody has or is arguing that she could count on young people in an Auckland Mayoral election because one can never take voters for granted. I’d like to think that CS is not that naïve.
This whole thread started because someone said she was going to be the next mayor, and I disagreed. As for the saviour thing, do you really have no idea where it comes from? Take this line from a Spinoff piece for example:
"Swarbrick’s resistance to political realism seems to stem less from self-belief and more from a borderline irrational faith in stuff like the fundamental goodness of other people"
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/06-11-2021/chloe-swarbrick-actually-believes-better-things-are-possible
I don't have any ill will towards her as a person, it's more about her supporters trying to make her into this avatar for all young people, with the implication being that, if you don't feel the exact same way, you're some kind of traitor to your age group. Also, how is writing young people off as politically illiterate not a criticism?
Nobody knows if CS will stand a second time in an Auckland Mayoral election let alone the next one and win; she may or she may not. So, agreeing or disagreeing with the comment @ 3.1 is moot and a red herring. I’d like to think that Sanctuary made the comment not to be taken literally and absolute but as a starting point for discussion.
TLDR; it appears that you projected CS’s beliefs onto others, i.e., young people.
Your issue seems to be with her supporters rather than with her per se, which is why pigeonholing CS does not make for strong counter-argument at all. If anything, CS seems to be [in] a class of her own. I have no idea where the ‘traitor’ allegations stem from either; there are way too many inferences and wild speculations in this thread to make it of much use.
According to your own ‘poll’ of young people and anecdata many don’t know of CS and who she is. That’s not criticism, is it? It isn’t writing them off either, is it? You seem a little aggressive defensive …
Totally agree with radical alternative.
Chloe has been put on some weird pedestal from day one of her parliamentary career and it's never made any sense.
Shes the same age as me and politically I agree with her but I find her alienating af and her "maaaaaaaate " schticks to fake and cringe.
Shes a lightweight in the house, most people don't know who she is, she's got weirdo deeply fringe political allies and her disastrous weed legalization campaign tactics are best forgotten.
She's just another rich kid student politician. She inspires people like herself I guess.
I think she'd do better as sole green leader , but that's cos she's the best out of the party.
The anti-Seymour.
who are her weirdo deeply fringe political allies?
You realise that is passive voice? In other words, CS didn’t do this herself. And you want to topple her off because “[s]he's just another rich kid student politician”? That’s such a pathetic character assassination attempt with a lazy stereotype.
CS is different, I give you that
With Auckland central being the centre of a significant population loss.property loss and employment changes,there may be a need for fewer central government resources.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/regional-population-growth-slows/
Yet the region's population continues to increase. Strange..
Replaced via immigration. Baby boomers cashing up and moving to the provinces. Why not sell in Auckland buy in a province = few hundred thousand plus in the bank.
Replaced via births. And quite a different demographic makeup than the old folk retiring to the provinces.
Stats NZ are pretty clear the drop is as a result of less overseas immigration and low natural increase.
Given our aging population you are not going to get increases through births. There ain't no one getting pregnant in our older population. No teenage mums in the ever increasing number of residential villages.
Slowing regional growth reflects what is happening nationally, particularly annual net migration loss, partly due to the impact of Covid-19 on international migration," Stats NZ population estimates and projections acting manager Rebekah Hennessey said.
"This net migration loss [of 11,500] was combined with the lowest natural increase [24,100] since World War II."
Auckland and the West Coast saw its population fall 0.5 percent, with Auckland's decline slowing slightly from the 0.6 percent fall recorded in the June 2021 year.
"While people leaving the bigger cities such as Auckland is not new, internal migration losses have historically been offset by international migration gains," Hennessey said.
"With international migration losses now occurring, Auckland had an overall population loss of 8900 people in the June 2022 year."
Such as? What are you thinking of?
Anything that involves unfunded capex,As our borrowing rate is a full percentage point higher then the UK,which have now fallen as markets perceive a lowering of fiscal risk,which is not seen here.
Selling off shares, land, assets, that sort of thing?
No thats the next government plan,what need s to be constrained is unfunded capex,and limits or cuts to the consultant community,similar to what the Australian treasurer will announce this afternoon.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-24/carparks-scrapped-road-upgrades-delayed-budget/101567982
Government borrowing hit the 5 % interest rate level last week ( 4.85- 5.05%) there is now a large risk premium due to the dual risks of a current account deficit and fiscal deficit,a dollar overvalued,and unfunded cost blow outs in the pipeline.
Less consultants = more permanent employees, plus the infrastructure to support their knowledge. Bring it on.
Thanks.
Advertising and travel (and other staff ‘allowances’) are probably low-hanging fruit and might save a few dollars. Since Council doesn’t sell anything as such, I assume advertising means or includes PR and providing information to the public. If so, it may lead to more requests for information from people, which would require more staff effort.
IDK how it would cut legal costs. Less scrutinising by legal experts? Will this really save all the much?
That leaves consultants and external contractors assuming they’re not one and the same thing. Again, if they do stuff that’s entirely unnecessary then sure, cull it from the balance sheet. Otherwise, somebody must do the work, yes?
Mayor-Elect Brown uses the good old slogan Less Is More but what does that really mean?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/130268634/auckland-mayor-wayne-brown-wants-less-paperwork-more-local-control
I was using the Australian federal case as an example for the NZ government reducing its debt exposure to the increasing risks.
Auckland has a debt of around 11.5 b,which will increase to around 15b over the next 2 years.The interest burden will only increase in the future as the NZ government debt burden is not forecast to decrease,and interest rate increases are being funded by debt,fiscal constraint is needed,as is fiscal discipline by both central and local government.
Thanks again, but let’s circle back to my question @ 3.2.2 to you, because you still haven’t really answered that, have you?
Can you please give something more concrete?
Less concrete actually,with a move from more intensive social housing in Auckland,to provincial and semi rural centres,as rental costs decrease, and house prices fall in AK.
If Aucklanders want to invest in high debt/high cost solutions to various infrastructure projects,go for it,you pay for it.
sigh
Yawn.
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/118161/supply-new-housing-has-exceeded-population-driven-demand-almost-60000-homes-over
??
I think Poission is noting the overbuild (both in cost and quantity) that is occurring,,,and ultimately it will cost.
Supply and demand.
So a man far richer than the King will be the next Prime Minister of Britain, what could possibly go wrong with that?
But can he run an airline?
Ha ha. He is also better educated. & better looking…ooops who said that? Some call him 'dishy Rishy'.
he has his work cut out for him
'Britain has been locked in a state of perma-crisis ever since it voted in 2016 to leave the European Union, unleashing a battle at Westminster over the future of the country that remains unresolved to this day.'
and
'The multi-millionaire former hedge fund boss will be expected to launch deep spending cuts to try to rebuild Britain's fiscal reputation, just as the country slides into one of the toughest downturns in decades, hit by the surging cost of energy and food.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2022/10/rishi-sunak-to-become-the-next-uk-prime-minister-after-months-of-turbulence.html
So it is not all roses and fluffy ducks. They are in for a dour time over the coldest times of year.
Wild fact of the day – the last time a UK PM that won an election was around to lose the subsequent election was Edward Heath in 1974.
But hey. FPP is a synonym for stability!
Is it possible that therm length being 5 years has a part to play in them not serving till the next election
I concluded that all Tory leadership options are awful – so the only criteria I care about is whether they will continue to support Ukraine's liberation. And rumours are that Sunak's family maintains business ties with Russia, which bodes poorly.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/mar/28/sunak-under-pressure-over-wifes-russia-related-blood-money-dividends
Summed up on one small paragraph
"Before Truss, everyone still thought they’d turn it around. There was a plan, right? Right? Nope. The reason this last week was so captivating is it’s suddenly obvious there is no plan."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/130264105/verity-johnson-its-easy-to-laugh-at-britains-decline-but-be-careful-what-you-wish-for
Perhaps there was and is no plan, but there always is an agenda.
The comments on that Stuff column … shudder.
I'm proud to say I got banned from Stuff comments because I told the moderators that their "terms and conditions" were a fraud. So they banned me for telling the truth while they continue to publish garbage, contradicting their own rules.
e.g. one comment on that column says Sunak is not British. False (and of course racist). Not opinion – simply false.
Therefore, either the moderators don't read what they publish or they do read but don't care.
I can’t remember the last time I looked at comments on Stuff as indeed most of them are such a waste of time and life is short. I generally find the few comments on Newsroom insightful and informative but, of course, that’s an entirely different site compared to Stuff.
All manual moderation has a major intrinsic weakness: time. And time costs money. Simple fact-checking can and perhaps should be done by the commentariat at large aka the wisdom of the crowd instead of one or a couple of overworked mods who then may still need to apply the corrections (edits) and/or flag the particular commenter. The question is who’s ultimately responsible (onus). The same applies to all content (OPs), including opinion pieces.
The way I see it, there are 2 issues: 1) incorrect/inaccurate info; 2) vague/ambiguous/imprecise ‘info’. The second issue is actually the bigger one because it can suck up a lot of oxygen because it strays into terra incognita where anything can mean anything and people make unchecked/unsupported assumptions, jump to all sorts of conclusions, twist language, meaning, and concepts to suit their narrative (bias), and generally just talk past each other. (NB assumption ≠ conclusion)
Yes, fair comment.
Stuff's "system" is particularly annoying because they post comments and then replies are held in moderation for many hours (as is the case currently on that column). So rapid rebuttal is impossible.
They let false statements stand, and if the readers can't correct (for hours) and the moderators are too busy, then it's a free platform for liars. The trolls know this, of course.
Fair comment too.
It is disappointing but I do think that Stuff is one of the better ones in NZ. Simply put, there’s room for improvement.
Reading stuff comments is sbout as useful as reading face book comments, the only time I do it is when I start think there is hope for the human race, a quick read of the comments soon fixs that dose of optimism I tell ya
If you think the STUFF comments are bad – have you read the comments on some of the Herald articles which do allow comments – they are diabolical. I (probably against my better judgement) re-subscribed to the Herald a few months ago so I could read Simon Wilson's articles and Shane Te Pou's too plus one or two other authors worth having a look at. There are some pieces I point blank refuse to read, probably to keep my sometimes elevated blood pressure at a reasonable level
When The Herald and Stuff were just hard copy, if you wanted to comment on an article you wrote a letter to the editor. The letter had to be signed with an address supplied.
How many of the comments would be made if the commenters had to identify who they were? Also, how many comments are made by resident New Zealanders and how many are from "Comments pools" submitting comment from the US /Australia/ UK based subversives.
Labour and the Greens have much more of a plan than the tired, old, discredited ones of the Natz – at least those announced so far – trickle down economics and privatising social welfare! (they call it 'social investment!)
National’s Big Plan is to repeal, repeal, repeal. The actual ‘new’ policies and vision will come from ACT aka the tail wags the dog.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/130076736/here-are-the-economic-policies-national-says-it-will-cull
Since when was Labour not wedded to tired, old discredited trickle-down economics? A kinder face for sure.
Yes, the massive transfer of wealth in the past 5 years would lead most people to conclude Labour subscribes to the same failed economic brain farts,
If you want actual transformational change you can only really vote for the Greens next year.
everyone still thought they’d turn it around.
She does this in all her columns. "I reckon, therefore everyone reckons".
Even a cursory glance at the UK media coverage would tell her that was not true, not in the slightest. She simply makes things up.
It would help if her editors cared – but they don't.
Good morning everyone.
https://twitter.com/wekatweets/status/1584641260157296641
Last week the discussion about falling achievement of school pupils was a focus here and there. It seems we are not alone in having issues to address.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/24/us/student-test-scores-nations-report-card/index.html
It happened pretty much everywhere, as one would expect. For example, here is a study published in a top scientific journal in April 2021:
Learning loss due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2022376118
Thanks for that link.
Young people didn't learn what was hoped or expected in maths, spelling, and reading. Did they learn anything? What did they learn? Did they learn resilience? Did they learn to be 'creative.'
Another study has it
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/education/our-insights/covid-19-and-education-the-lingering-effects-of-unfinished-learning
Did children learn their parents were resilient, creative? Or become concerned about their parents' mental health?
'Deschooling Society' the Ivan Ilich book from 1971 comes to mind.
"Illich presented schools as places where consumerism and obedience to authority were paramount and genuine learning was replaced by a process of advancement through institutional hierarchies accompanied by the accumulation of largely meaningless credentials."
Interesting to consider some of the notions from just over 50 years ago and think of how Ivan Ilich would have seen the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic in the sort of societies we now live in.
https://monoskop.org/images/1/17/Illich_Ivan_Deschooling_Society.pdf
Dr. Cravat interviewing his own keyboard again. He claims there is increased speculation about Jacinda Ardern quitting but provides just two examples, the NBR and himself. 😆
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/bryce-edwards-the-increasing-speculation-about-jacinda-ardern-quitting/U72FTQFMEJFADALEK5HKF4BXTY/
Time for the regular reminder …
The pundit class did not predict John Key's resignation as PM. They did not predict Simon Bridges' resignation as an MP. Shocked, they were! Shocked!
But they've been predicting Ardern's departure since her first term. Fluffy little girlie, no staying power … and now facing her 5th opposition leader.
One day they will be proven right and have a little celebratory dance singing ‘I told you so’.
Are you sure 'they' are real people or are they robots? Seriously, I wonder sometimes. TV presenters and reporters stare glassy eyed into the camera lens repeating bald-faced lies about Ardern in particular, but all Labour ministers are fair game.
If they were real would there not be a flicker of a conscience in those eyes? 😕
When I’m at work my eyes also gloss over.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Eventually, they will be correct.
They won't be correct.
Jacinda will either win or lose the election. But she won't be jumping ship early.
The rumour has been created to implant the idea that some plausible reason for her resigning actually exists. There is no such reason. It's propaganda from the RW disinformation mill and Edwards travesties his academic and intellectual credentials by repeating it. A real journalist or intellectual (unlike Edwards) would come up with an explanation as to why the rumour is being generated, and by whom.
Even his first sentence is part of the RW trope.
It must be a "photo op" because it's Ardern. Never mind that John Key and Helen Clark went to Antarctica as PMs, never mind any of the NZ relationship and responsibilities there. Feed the frothers.
While it is true that both Clark and Key did visit Antarctica while they were Prime Minister they both made their trips in January, while Parliament was in recess. Clark's visit was from 18-22 January 2007 and Key from 17-21 January 2013.
There is a difference in that PM Ardern will be there while the House is sitting and will miss Question time for the week.
Whether she would add anything useful if she was in Wellington is of course an open question.
.
She'll miss Question Time? Luxon probably booked her ticket.
It is a special anniversary visit to Antarctica ….. but you know that.
Really? According to the RNZ news her visit is to celebrate the 65th anniversary of Scott Base. However the opening of Scott Base was on 20th January 1957 so surely she should be visiting at about the same time of year as Clark and Key visited?
Helen's visit in 2007 was of course to celebrate the 50th anniversary.
What special anniversary is being celebrated in October?
Tomorrow is the day
There are a few reasons for the timing of the PM’s visit, of course, but not that you’d know or care. She probably also wanted to give Luxon a much-needed break; the poor fellow looked worse than Truss last week.
"There are a few reasons for the timing of the PM’s visit".
Pray tell. You are obviously in possession of something important. Why not share this material to which you are privy.
Yup, I give you the finger.
Use it to click on links and read beyond headlines and the stuff that is regurgitated ad nauseam in MSM.
It's the lettuce I feel sorry for – it beat Liz fair and square, but doesn't get to be PM. Sucks to be a salad vegetable.
Typically, greens with an online presence and following attract trolls and other vermin. I also feel for the lettuce but luckily Truss stepped aside quickly and probably saved the lettuce’s life. It could have led to a few good slogans, e.g.:
Let Lettuce Live
Lettuce Lives Matter
Lettuce Trumps Truss
Truss Tossed in Salacious Tussle with Lettuce
Lettuce Champignon After Beating Truss
Nice break for Luxie if Ms Ardern misses Q Time.
NAct et al. wish – spot on observer and AB, and thanks to Muttonbird for posting.
Grant Duncan (Massey University) wrote on this topic nearly a year ago.
I particularly liked one of the comments under Duncan's article.
I see that the title of the article you quote finishes "no reason to go – yet".
I believe that it was Harold Wilson who quipped that "A week is a long time in politics". A year, which is the time since Gran Duncan wrote his opinion piece is an infinity.
She may have had no reason to go then but her prospects don't look anywhere near as rosy today, do they?
I agree that a week is a long time in Politics…. Luxon learned that the hard way.
Any talk of Jacinda Ardern leaving is just that. Talk!!
Actually she is returning due to bad weather. Two hours into an eight hour flight. Not even a week Alwyn!!
At 1.44pm you told me that
"It is a special anniversary visit to Antarctica ….. but you know that."
Given that the Scott Base anniversary, as previously observed by Helen Clark and John Key, is in January what was the anniversary that Ms Ardern was planning to celebrate there in October?
sigh
https://www.antarcticanz.govt.nz/media/news/scott-base-to-welcome-pm-jacinda-ardern
Even the PM cannot travel back to January of this year!
Stop trolling.
Ardern is Labour's best chance of winning a third term – we both know it – hence all this ‘headless chook’ action regarding her supposedly imminent departure.
It's unsurprising to me that you feel Ardern has been PM for "an infinity", or perhaps several political infinities, just as it will come as no surprise to you that each of English/Bridges/Muller/Collins/Luxon's recent stints as 'leader' of the opposition seemed like an eternity to me.
"An infinity" of time will tell if Ardern's 'infinity' as PM lasts longer than honest John's. I'll leave you to count your chickens – cLux cLux.
"It's unsurprising to me that you feel Ardern has been PM for "an infinity""
Really? Given that I have never said that I feel she has been the PM for a long time how on earth can you possibly decide that I feel such a thing?
Apologies alwyn, I thought you had asserted [@8.2.2.1] something to the effect that 'a year is "an infinity" in politics' (quite original), and inferred that the very nearly five years Ardern has been our PM would feel like, if not "an infinity", then at least 'a long time' to you. What with the ChCh massacre, plus the pandemic and is repercussions, it feels like a long time to me.
Honestly didn't realise it mattered that much – it's just a bit of fun –
cLux cLux cLux
. .
Yep, right wing morons have been at it all day. HADP and her
grandfatherhusband discussing it at length on their cosy, mostly undeclared political spot this afternoon.All from a speculative piece by self-appointed Guardian Of Democracy (GOD), Dr Bryce Cravat!
An important window into how bitter cranks operate.
Adam Conover knocks it out of the park – 'Why there's no such thing as a Good Billionaire'. Tackles the lie that is billionaire philanthropy.
Amazing statistic from America – top 0.1% own about as much as the poorest 90%! NZ won't be that far behind.
But, but Nicola Willis says this is not true and she can see a place for philanthropists in the delivery of social services.
https://www.national.org.nz/doing_good_better_a_new_approach_for_new_zealanders_in_the_greatest_need
From Max Rashbrooke's analysis of her speech
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/130243992/max-rashbrooke-nationals-new-social-plan-goes-back-to-the-future–but-is-that-a-bad-thing
"Second, drop this strange idea that philanthropists could provide social-investment funding for state schemes. If private money helps determine whether or not someone receives a core social service, that’s a wildly inappropriate privilege for the wealthy. And if we want more funds for social programmes, we should simply ensure millionaires pay more tax."
There’s a fine line between [some] philanthropists (and [some] charities for that matter), moral crusaders, and people with a saviour/messiah complex. It also reminds of Karpman’s drama triangle (i.e., victim, rescuer, persecutor). Some ex-CEOs and so-called ‘successful people’ (incl. celebrities) can substitute philanthropists by giving their time instead of their money …
Couldn't we just have a better tax system so that everyone pays appropriately and then if philanthropists want to fund other things that make life better for people then let them do this (with the money they have left after paying tax).
So from taxes we allow for people to live a good life. The gifts from others can be the extra, the bit that allows talented students facing a parental inability to pay for 'whatever' for their children to have equal chances.
Simple a concept.
Ah me…..
PS The Conover piece is concerning this latest way of passing wealth on through the generations by using 'charitable' companies as a front for the ability to influence far beyond one's natural life. They in fact are not giving $1m to charity. They are setting up a charity called XYZ charity that has a shareholding of ABC wholly owned Company with 999998 shares with family holding the remaining two shares and these two are the only ones having voting rights. I think there are more steps and twists but the end result is less tax to pay all round and rollicking good but undeserved reputation as a good firm/person. Patagonia was looked at. also the pulling at your heartstrings statements about these accidental billionaires who still drive their own old dungers and got rich by eating cat food. Seriously…..unpicked by Conover who said there was no need for them to do this as some tinned fish made for humans was cheaper than catfood!
Yes there are some good people and charities.
Today through TS I have been reminded of Human Synergistics and Karpmans triangle (we had a course so we could find out which we were) both of which were visited on unsuspecting Govt Depts and round this off by a bit of Myers Briggs and that sums up some of my career in the PS.
You have my utmost empathy.
I did however make some of our HR people and managers (and restructuring consultants especially) a bit grumpy by pointing out that all of these probably had their genesis or the norms calculated in the US using tests done on white males. This meant they were unrepresentative and unsuited to NZ where women were the first in the world to vote, and where we had Maori and Pasifika people.
Some of these perhaps MB are ok for personal use only, but wildly unsuitable for any population use. I count workplaces as population use.
We had some teams made up so as to avoid Karpman, use MB or Human Synergistics. Totally artificial and all it made us do was to yearn to have our old teams back where in any brainstorm, policy development, we knew and valued who was going to do have the wacky off the wall stuff, who was going to be grump central but with an eye for bullkaka etc.
Competent recruitment techniques, reference checking and an eye for a chance for a person and an org then competent management are key.
Do we have any current PS who can tell us if these techniques are still being used across whole workplace populations?
Sorry, I can't help with this. I do have my own personal experience with this kind of stuff and it still akes me cringe, i.e., it left a mental scar for life. Don't ever get me started on psychometric tests and evaluations.
Regarding the new UK PM, a Guardian reader wondered if, in the same way that rich people have hobby farms, is the UK perhaps Rishi's hobby nation?
Big precedent – drivers are covered by employment law: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/129692946/employment-court-rules-four-uber-drivers-are-employees
Brilliant!!
The whole fake contractor thing is just a scheme to avoid treating workers well. To give credit to Labour – they have encouraged review of this.
Uber has used despicable lobbying and influence tactics to protect their "right" to exploit.
Scripted union video includes some details about what comes next:
https://twitter.com/FIRST_Union/status/1584685441030434816
https://news.yahoo.com/nhs-warns-most-trans-identifying-123016885.htmlMy apologies in advance for posting a link above with no explanation.
Having some technical difficulties and I couldn't even delete it, so very sorry in advance Mods.
The link is an article about a statement from the NHS that gender dyphoria in most children is a phase. (It also mentions the move away from the affirmation approach since the Cass report).
In NZ in the current climate if you say gender dysphoria is a phase, you will likely be called transphobic and a bigot.
Lets not call it "gender non conforming". Let's call it by its real name – "sexual stereotyping non conforming". Kids get transed for liking the "wrong" toys, or the "wrong" clothes. They get transed by homophobic parents who would rather have a "so fashionable" trans daughter than an icky gay son. Kids get transed because their parents are lied to by autogynephiliac "Trans Rights Activists" (who need the existence of trans kids to cloak their paraphilia) and told that their children will kill themselves unless they are "affirmed". And they are also lied to by the health and education systems who are either captured – or "for profit".
Do you think all transgender people are paraphiliacs with a psychiatric disorder "characterized by deviant and culturally non-sanctioned sexual fantasies, thoughts, and/or behaviors – apparently a proportion of which also suffer from symptoms of mental illness that can go unrecognized", or just trans rights activists?
I just note how similar some of this language is that to that decades ago when gay men were criminalised and lesbian women were institutionalised for compulsory treatment.
[Link required for quoted text – Incognito]
Where does the quoted text come from? Please provide a source link, thanks.
What is a paraphilic?
(sub list)
Is paraphilia a mental disorder?
https://www.google.com/search?q=paraphiliacs&rlz=1C1CHBF_enNZ988NZ988&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Mod note
We don't know the rate of autogynephilia, because No Debate has meant that many academics aren't free to do the research. Blanchard may have some figures from his work but we really need to free up researchers to look at this properly.
My own view is similar to Blanchard's proposal, that is are a small number of gender dysphoric males who have a strong identification with the gender stereotypes of women. Some of those males find relief from transition. They are often gay ie. they are sexually attracted to other males before and after transition.
There are also males who are gay, who grow up in parts of society that don't tolerate or accept gayness in men, or effeminate behaviour and expression, and those young men are being socialised into being trans. You can follow the male detrans people online for a deeper understanding of what is going on there. There are parents on record talking about their discomfit about having a gay son but who are ok with a trans daughter. There are also countries that are intolerant of gay men, but tolerant of trans women.
Then there are AGP males, many who are probably cross dressers historically, who are sexually aroused by the thought of themselves as a woman and who now seek to colonise women's spaces in search of affirmation and arousal. These are the males online taking photos of themselves wanking in women's public toilets. There are AGP males who aren't colonising women's culture/space as well. These males aren't dysphoric in the same way that transsexual males are, the driver isn't extreme mental distress.
With women the pattern is different. There appears to be no female equivalent of AGP. That leaves us with girls/women with such extreme gender dysphoria that they are willing to go through a lot of medicalisation. But there are also a lot of girls growing up who hate being female because they are abused for it. Being male is an escape. Again, listen to what detrans women are saying.
Social media socialisation of transness is a major issue. As is rapid onset gender dysphoria.
You will probably find a lot there to disagree with, and I'm happy to hash it out with evidence and further reasoning. But it's wrong to respond to Visubversa's comment as if she is saying all trans are this thing. If you reread what she said, she is naming AGPs and their role and motivations in the major social shifts, she’s not saying all trans people are AGP.
The question of how many trans activists fit into which category is an interesting one.
I’m more careful with my language than some, because I don't believe trans people deserve to be categorised in negative ways anymore than any other vulnerable group.
But, powerful lobby groups like Stonewall UK, and activists, have broadened the definition of trans so far now that we are well beyond transsexuals. The inclusion and denial of AGP is core to the gender/ sex war. Women have been losing rights, been seriously abused, and backed into a corner. Many GC feminists tried engaging in ways to find resolutions to the conflict of rights, but the denial and harm that has been done by activists has been extreme. You can't complain now when many women come out fighting including with language.
My advice is that those debating/advocating on the issue not throw the word "paraphilia" around. One can note the autogynephilia side of trans activism without doing that.
If the actual problem is a tendency to affirmation of self identity at too young an age in response to temporary dysphoria (or parental promotion because of concern at children not meeting gender stereotypes), then that is how that matter should be confronted – this is how to get change at the governmental/bureaucratic/professional end.
There are two intensifiers in play – one the way social media reinforces a concern and poses a possible miscategorisation of a problem and the other tribalisation of debate about this. Professionals should be concerned about the former and not being captured by trends, and those in social media/media the other.
My advice is that you actually look at who has the loudest voices in this debate. Heterosexual men – many with wives and children – often "transitioning" in their 40's or older, well off and in positions of power and influence. Look at Eddie Izzard – now in "permanent girl mode" (at 60 years old FFS), complaining that "dating is difficult". You don't get to say this sort of stuff from a position of "marginalisation and oppression". https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/29/if-lesbian-prefers-same-sex-dates-thats-not-bigotry-desire-personal-thing
More likely merely those with name recognition and the money to live as they want.
The wider not cisgender male nor cisgender female identity derives from a younger generation, and this probably led the "coming out" of the older group.
This is an issue to others in two areas, woman identity and safety and the original topic here Ankers link to the NHS view that gender dyphoria in most children is a phase.
There is no such thing as "cis". That is the language of the gender idealogues.
And it is not a fetish? https://twitter.com/sally_hines/status/1584292177907109890?fbclid=IwAR3XIEIZzuYKpox0Y9hmAMzPfnMrwei3ofwqrX0EKNuvi7YfFVVA7exrRQI
It is the NOW who argued for gender equality – those born females having equal opportunity. Girls can do anything, females not being confined to roles/a limited place in society.
The concept was that there was a diversity within the female group (as to interests/way of living a life) also applied to males – each being freed from gender/birth sex stereotype.
From this derived the concept that there were those born male and female and living the traditional roles (and heterosexual) expected by religious and cultural tradition (marriage and family). Since called being cisgender male and female. And otherwise – those feminists critical of traditional marriage, those homosexual or lesbian, and since then a wider concept of those not conforming to birth sex/gender stereotype (sometimes related to not coupling to form families).
This is the setting in which the concept of sexual (bisexuality) and gender fluidity (non binary/gender queer etc) emerged.
Sure this is all add on to being born male and female, being male or female by biology. A bit like how there is nature and then nurture/culture.
At some point we are biological bio-determinism or there is more, the mind (what society constructs). Thus philosophy, are we who we think we are?
Some of our society have rethought whether we should be limited to inherited culture, some say we are who we have always have been (Greek males were misogynists before becoming Christians) and some say we should embrace the full equality of humanity (in all its diversity).
You raised other points way beyond this particular issue – managing gender dysphoria in youth and related activism. Each of them (womens concerns and the diversity of the transgender group) will come up at other times.
Nice takedown of the word "woke" by black Welsh actress Rakie Ayola on the BBC. (Link should skip and start at 45min 15secs into the video).
really good points about asking people to say what they mean by woke.
Didn't quite follow the bit about the family. Is she starring in a TV show about a black Welsh family?
maybe this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pact_(British_TV_series)#Reception
Looks like a 21st century morality play.
The popular programme, which aired its first season last year, will once again use the device of a secret pact to introduce viewers to a compelling new group struggling with morality, loyalty, and faith as their lives spiral out of control.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/tv/how-many-episodes-bbcs-pact-25344313
I tried several times seeking the meaning of 'woke anti racism' or was it 'anti woke racism' and 'woke' from a TS participant over the weekend but never got it. My small brain thinks being an anti racist is a good thing……..
I am really confused by it as it seems to be in the same category as PC. PC just swept in and swept about with people being accused of being PC for being good mannered, avoiding stereotypes, not slamming people, giving others the benefit of the doubt, being inclusive etc
I think it is a non word.
Rakie Ayola – brilliant advice. Gorgeous voice too.
Nice explanation of the potential toxicity of woke movements. There's a difference between genuine civil rights causes with a clearly defined objective, and pressure groups of privileged narcissists.
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1584981077172817920?s=20&t=vpEhRY4TgvUI85IvL35r0Q
Example
https://twitter.com/ShahrarAli/status/1583827419835748352?s=20&t=vpEhRY4TgvUI85IvL35r0Q
.
A bit like the Trump brand or online influencer persona
If you want to know about time and chronons look at the link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Vaknin