‘Housing vote could have serious consequences, council warned.
The leadership of the Auckland Council has suffered an unprecedented defeat that could leave the council unrepresented at crucial hearings on the future shape of housing in the city.
A 13-8 vote at the end of a five-hour extraordinary council meeting last night dumped some of the changed proposals for increased housing density the council would have taken to an independent panel weighing up the city’s Unitary Plan.
Opponents of the changes said property owners should have been consulted, but the council argued the government-designed Unitary Plan process did not allow it.
The vote was a victory for a campaign run under the Auckland 2040 banner whose founders addressed a protest meeting of 700 in Kohimarama two weeks ago.
“I think it was a question of grass-roots democracy in action,” said Auckland 2040 co-founder Richard Burton who watched the vote at the end of the meeting.
“We got a result and praise to the councillors for doing it, they see the need to consult with the public and that’s what they are now going to do.”
Can somebody, preferably someone in Auckland who understands what is going on please explain what is different between what people in the suburbs like Epsom seem to want and what was desired by that guy Jonno Smith and the protesters who didn’t want some trees cut down in order to build on land in West Auckland?
Both groups seem to want open space and low density housing with other people having to leave their land little used so that they can look at the trees.
Why is one group “good” and the other lot, doing the same thing “bad”?
Oh the irony!
“House Speaker Paul Ryan Demands TPP Be Renegotiated; Neglects To Mention It Was His Bill That Makes That Impossible”
Ryan said TPP is not dead, “but right now they have a lot of work to do. If we brought it to the floor today, it wouldn’t pass.” And then when the host, Maria Baritoromo challenges him on this, pointing out that if they don’t have the votes now, how will they have the votes later, he raises a bunch of issues (including intellectual property — which probably means he wants those provisions to be even worse and more ridiculous than they are now) and basically says the USTR needs to go back to the negotiating table:
I won’t go into all the details, but cross-border data flows, dairy, there are biologics, intellectual property rights protections. I can go into all the details if you’d like, but the point I’m trying to make is I don’t see the votes for this agreement now. That’s why I think they need to go back and work on this agreement.
Which raises an interesting point: is the TPPA being rammed through NZ’s parliament the same document which will have to be modified to pass Congress and Senate?
And if it isn’t, does this little country get the chance to renegotiate, or will we blindly just accept what the US tells us to do?
I am sick to death of this trade (for diplomatic/friendship/posing/whateva) in animals as some sort of prestigious gift. Sri Lanka Prime Minister Maithripala Sirisena STOP giving baby elephants away so you can look good. nz pm key STOP accepting them so you can be a big man overseas.
“A gift of a Sri Lankan baby elephant to Prime Minister John Key on Wednesday was intended to be a gesture of diplomatic warmth, but it has left animal rights activists outraged.”
and I know among the big, bigger and biggest outrages happening daily this is not in any of those categories but for me it is symbolic of our twisted consumerist relationship with nature and animals.
I suppose we could paint ‘debt’ on one side of it and ‘Christchurch’ on the other, and let it sit in on cabinet meetings – but being ignored would make it feel bad.
Or Key could begin to redeem his reputation in Christchurch by using it to replace Gerry Brownlee – it would be smarter, more charismatic, harder working, and approximately the same weight.
And maybe we should crowdfund a Sumatran rat monkey for Seymour so he doesn’t feel left out.
Alwyn, Have you not heard? the heffalump is for Gerry Brownlee
John thought it would make a nice pet for him once he is off the
ChCh recovery programme.
Yeah, someone spent the better part of the last decade throwing raw meat to the Republican base with wall to wall coverage of the gay Kenyan born married to a drag queen Koranic verse inscripted ring wearing sekrit Muslim President whose real dad was actually Malcolm X who also happens to be a Muslim brotherhood sleeper agent and the anti-Christ readying mass Muslin cloth immigation, death panels and FEMA camps as we speak.
But who fucking knew it was the left what made them all into tea-bagging there ain’t never going to be no niclang president in mah lifetime neo-Confederate low intelligence racist misogynist god-addled flag wrapped Trumpette arseholes with a bibly in one hand and a bushmaster in the other.
we did and still do have better beer in Germany tho. those fucking leftwing arseholes in Germany around 1369 decided to regulate how beer could be a. brewed, b. what ingredients had to be used, c. how to measure it, and d. how much to charge it. I mean, capitalism and profit are not made with regulation, what the fuck were they thinking.
In the US and certain other parts of the English speaking world one gets glorified piss, lukewarm with no foam.
Trying to work out what you are saying in your comment.
So tell me sabine is the homebrew that you have obviously consumed this afternoon German quality beer or similar to the English glorified piss you speak of so knowledgeably?
Some of the nastiest people I have ever been with. (Trump supporters). We have their hate and rage on tape. Others around them were embarrassed for them. It was scary and sad.
[…]
I believe Trump, whether he knows it or not, is grooming brown shirts.
“how much to charge it”. Really? You mean that beer in Germany hasn’t changed in price for 650 years?
God, don’t let the Dunedin students know? Pissed out of your mind for a week for a total price of 4 cents. They’d all be off.
in the dark ages it was healthier and more nutritional to drink beer. It was consumed instead of water and considered a bit of a good thing. One phrase that old people in Germany like to say is :The little bit i eat i can drink.
So eventually lot’s of ‘homebrewers’ flooded what was then the market, and a lot of ‘piss’ was sold, for a high price, using all sorts of ingredients and people complained mightily.
Eventual the powers that were the powers at the time decided that in order to prevent beer riots they would better regulate.
So they stipulated what could be used as ingredients, how much a serving should measure and who much could be charged with. Funnily enough even water is regulated within this law.
it is one of Germanys oldest law, and it is still applied today, and beer can not be named beer if it is not brewed according to the law.
Bushmaster and many other beers coming from various places and produced with a high yield and a low cost in Germany can not be sold as ‘beer’, and will not be considered beer but ‘piss’ ‘punch’ or ‘soup’. Funnily enough, Beer is one of the big drawing cards in Germany, the Beerfests bring a lot of money, and a lot of beer is exported.
I have gotten the year wrong tho the law started much earlier.
“The earliest documented mention of beer by a German nobleman is the granting of a brewing licence by Emperor Otto II to the church at Liege (now Belgium), awarded in 974.[12] A variety of other beer regulations also existed in Germany during the late Middle Ages, including in Nuremberg in 1293, Erfurt in 1351, and Weisensee in 1434.[13][14]”
so my rambling about beer, regulations, capitalism etc was just an answer to Joe90’s ramblings about cheepshots in US holding a crappy beer in one hand and a bible in the other. Also too, they must have been lefties in Germany at the time, cause only lefties would argue for laws that regulate a product and protect the consumer from rip off.
I once had an eight bottle lunch with a Russian oligarch English student, and among the problems of the world we tried to resolve was how the US, with its plethora of German, English, Dutch and Irish immigrants, and its vast and fertile grain growing plains produced a frankly miserable weasel piss like Budweiser.
He was from Primorye, and quite interested in the prospects for microbreweries. Very hard water in Primorye though.
@joe90
Your description of this reminds me rather sadly of the fact that imbeciles in this country have been saying equally wild things about John Key.
I guess we should not be surprised if we get somewhat deranged people who think it is right to attack him and his Government members at public functions.
John Key’s electorate office in Huapai is displaying the proposed new flag in the window. The existing flag is not displayed. Given that each electorate office is funded by Parliamentary Services I find this offensive. The electorate office is funded by the tax payer for the tax payer and I would have thought displaying a preference for this flag is attempting to influence the up coming vote.
Would a person be justified in complaining to Parliamentary Services about this? If so how does one register a complaint with them?
Yes. Taking an age to upload – up to several minutes for me – Google chrome.
While I have the opportunity:
“Pablo” has written a very good summary of the US elections on Kiwipolitico. Here is an early taste:
But to get a real sense of how bonkers the right side of the US political table has become one need go no further than this. I urge readers to peruse the comment thread and other posts on that site in order to get a full idea of the lunacy at play. My favourite comment from that particular thread is that Obama has removed US flags from the White House and replaced them with “Muslim Curtains” (presumably to match the prayer rugs he has installed), but there is much more in that vein…
Will attempt to link but if can’t get back here just google Kiwipolitico.
I’ll poke my nose in to possibly save LP having to. I know he’s trying to solve the blank page issue that some people are having. Some changes were made overnight for that, possibly they’re also causing slow loading, although an external site also seems to be very slow to respond. Patience is a virtue 🙂
Woodhouse displays his party’s commitment to democratic process (i e; none):
National had already committed to rebuild the hospital’s clinical services building, and ‘‘the last thing this city needs is politicians poking their noses in that”, Mr Woodhouse said.
As for the larger story of possible Labour-endorsed candidates, I’d be interested in what was happening in other council elections – if anyone has any news?
Hawkins (the GP endorsed Dunedin councillor) has said that it is a bit of a double-edged sword. Yes; you get the backing of the party in getting elected, but the local government regulations treat any cause in which you have been publicly participated as a conflict of interest. So you may actually achieve more to further a party’s goals by not being associated with them. This may be why so many council candidates seem so boring and uncommitted, that they are keeping their voting options open (though this seems a poor lookout for local democracy).
BTW does anyone know anything about Damian Newell? More FM DJ (which I don’t listen to), real estate (which seems a big red flag with the council’s privitisable property), and possible Labour council candidate.
Labour is making a big mistake by refusing to confront John Key on the Chinafacation of NZ.
Kiwis do not want their native traditional culture subjugated by a foreign culture, an event driven by excessive immigration as encouraged by a National Party desperate to maintain the illusion of prosperity and the myth of its own “good economic management”.
Winston Peters isn’t doing the job. There are a swag of votes waiting out there for anyone who has the guts to speak out for the NZ people against the destruction of their native culture and its eventual subjugation to an imported culture.
National should at least be called on their arrogance and duplicity in driving this change merely for the sake of their own desperate need for political power.
Brian Rudman has the guts to write about it. To speak out. Where’s the Labour Party? Or are National and Labour really just the same political group who disagree over who sits at the leadership table?
Whats the big deal? The history of the world is filled with examples of countries being taken over and having foreign cultures imposed on them
I’m predominately anglo-scots with some french thrown in for good measure and all those countries improved due to being exposed to other cultures
NZ, as another example, is much better for having british culture forced on it, theres quite a lot to admire about how the Chinese have gone about doing things, for the most part they’re very good about assimilating
“NZ, as another example, is much better for having british culture forced on it”
that is your privileged opinion and not shared by others. This is the south sea islands and having repressed colonial attitudes imposed has not made us ‘better’. We will never know what we could have been but it is arrogance to assume it would have been worse if the brutish culture wasn’t forced on the people and land.
I base it on the brits doing a better job then the french at colonising but my main point was we’re all colonised at some point so why worry if its the Chinese since they’ve been here since the 1860s
I don’t disagree that picking on one ethnicity is not the way to go. Nevertheless the colonisation process is brutal and devastating and also worse for the indigenous cultures being taken over. Saying we are better off is sort of insulting, but I’m letting it go 🙂
Fair enough, I guess I’m more looking at the after effects of the colonisation as opposed to what happens during the occupation, kind of like the effect the Roman invasion had on Britain
“If it’s something people want, Aboriginal people have less of it, and if it’s something people don’t want Aboriginal people have more,” he said.
In both countries, Rudin said, the trauma of colonisation was compounded by a government policy of taking children away. Australia’s stolen generation saw an estimated 10,500 children forcibly removed and placed on missions to be trained as domestic servants between the late 1800s and the 1970s. In roughly the same period (though the last school did not close until 1996) roughly 150,000 Canadian Aboriginal children were placed in residential schools.
“There are actually more Aboriginal children in the care of the state today numerically than there were at any one time in the residential schools,”
As you say the Poms have a better record than the French – if we look at things like infant mortality and education systems.
But tell us, PR, if you know, how good are the Chinese as colonisers? or the Americans? Do you consider Tibet an encouraging example, or the Philipines?
Having just spent three days at the Lantern Festival in Auckland (and I loved every moment of it) the one thing that really stood out was the diversity of cultures involved. Whilst the majority of stall holders were Asian, most of those directing traffic and keeping an eye on the running of the event were from one or other of the Pacific Islands. I believe the event co-ordinator is Samoan. The people most noticeably absent amongst the workers were the pakeha kiwis.
I spoke to visitors from Germany, Canada, England, the Netherlands, Australia, Tonga, Samoa and the US as well as from China, Korea, Laos and Vietnam. All were very enthusiastic about the event. Several suggested that it should last a week rather than three days (obviously they weren’t on a stall and nearly dead on their feet at the end of three days) and others thought it should go from midday to midnight each of the three days.
On Waitangi Day I spent the day with Scottish and German friends on the local marae where they held an international kai day. One area was specifically celebrating Chinese New Year. So we had Germans, Americans and Chinese learning the haka right beside Kiwi Chinese performing the dragon dance. It was a wonderful day and certainly showed that there is room here in NZ for us all.
I guess your job is to start up a war of words by being overtly racist, and for that reason usually best to avoid, especially with a name like yours, but your words are too provocative to ignore – and usually I do a good job of ignoring your type, so well done you.
Couple of things.
1)You sound very “concerned” that Labour is ignoring the subject of immigration. Maybe you should take it up with them yourself – they do have form in this area you know, or did you forget about Phil Twyford and his “Chinese sounding names” gig? Or take it up with the National Front, which you may already be a member of.
2)The Brian Rudman article was downright plain offensive. Rather than being given exclusive column inches to display his prejudice he sounds like he would be better off dwelling in this cess pit of ignorance. Please see the comments section on this article about Syrian refugee’s arriving in Wellington as an example.
3)”Kiwis do not want their native traditional culture subjugated by a foreign culture…….” I’m confused. Are you talking about indigenous Maori culture when you refer to “native traditional”? I think it’s a bit late for that, it already happened. Maori were colonised.
Or are you talking about something else altogether? Perhaps you are thinking about NZ’s Pakeha culture? If so, are you feeling threatened? And speak for yourself, not for “Kiwi’s”
Lols. I usually ignore his/ her kind, and his/her comments here. He/she sounded so determined to start a fight but I see he/she has buggered off now, maybe hanging out at Phil Rudd’s place, or busy on the stormfront website, who knows.
Tauranga Eh? God, I lived in that conservative backwards hell hole for several years. Just look at their history of voting over the decades if you need to get a picture of the place. Simon Bridges twice in a row now………………Ugh.
It’s a sobering thought: our children, grandchildren, and future generations for hundreds, even thousands of years will feel the impacts of the choices we make over the next decade.
A just released study in Nature shows that the Earth is now warming at a rate 50 times faster than in any previous climate change event. The sea level rise over the past century is 10 times faster than for any century over the past 2 millenia. We are already locked in to an eventual 1.7m of sea level rise and if we continue with BAU it could end up as a whopping 50 m. Even if we manage to restrain our emissions to the 1 trillion tonne Carbon Budget to keep temp rise to below 2 Degrees, sea level is predicted to rise to 9 m. Meaning 20% of the current Earth populations will have to move including NY, London, and even Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and much of Dunedin.
But don’t worry folks Paula, John, and co will tinker with the ETS to ensure you don’t have to pay too much (if anything). Pity about your grandkids though.
I was being sarcastic CV
That link is the kicker though. Basically we have locked in at least 1.7 m rise and if we are successful and keep within the carbon budget we are looking at an eventual 9m rise.
The Earth is now heating up 50 times faster than it has ever done in the past. and sea level is rising faster than ever before as well. Most living things will not be able to adapt fast enough.
Basically we are stuffed.
Thing is, we’re not stuffed because we can’t do anything but because a few people won’t let us do anything.
QFT
In particular around 62 people in the US Congress who continuously stymie any action on CC. and the similar percentage in the Senate.
These people are in the pockets of the US corporates who bought them their position. They can vote no other way.
The point of the governments continued objection to paying carers (they keep losing in court) is probably a delaying tactic – so they can avoid placing the cost in their budget forecasts – so they can put in tax cuts before they go/or promise tax cuts in 2017.
It will be interesting to see what they really believe the cost would be. This should already be a known – as a contingency – given they have already lost in court a number of times.
But the over 50s crowd don’t tend to vote Labour or Greens.
Can’t trust Labour on Super for starters. And only Winston takes the concerns of the elderly seriously enough to meet with them up and down the country.
In court filings last Friday, lawyers for both sides in a long-running civil lawsuit over the now defunct Trump University named Trump on their witness lists. That makes it all but certain that the reality-show star and international businessman will be forced to be grilled under oath over allegations in the lawsuit that he engaged in deceptive trade practices and scammed thousands of students who enrolled in his “university” courses in response to promises he would make them rich in the real estate market.
[…]
The core case revolves around the operations of a school Trump launched in 2005 with a promotional You Tube video, as well as ads that proclaimed, “I can turn anyone into a successful real estate investor, including you,” “Are YOU My Next Apprentice?” and “Learn from my handpicked experts how you can profit from the largest real estate liquidation in history.” The plaintiffs, former students at Trump University, allege they were misled into maxing out their credit cards and paying up to $60,000 in fees for seminars in hotel ballrooms and “mentoring” by Trump’s “hand-picked” real estate experts. The lawsuit against the school, which is no longer in business, alleges the seminars turned into little more than an “infomercial” and the Trump mentors offered “no practical advice” and “mostly disappeared.” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a separate suit in 2013 alleging fraud on the part of the “university,” which was never an accredited institution and awarded no degrees.
In a statement released today to Media Matters, a CNN spokesperson said of Stone: “He will no longer appear on CNN.”
Stone is a notorious “dirty trickster” who recently co-authored The Clintons’ War on Women. The 2015 book is dedicated to — and cites research from — a Holocaust denier who blames a “Jewish plot” for the 9/11 attacks. Stone’s history includes forming an anti-Hillary Clinton group named “C.U.N.T.” during the 2008 election
Stone worked for Trump’s presidential campaign last year and is now organizing against Clinton’s campaign again. He is a frequent presence in the media because of his long ties to Trump; their friendship and professional relationship goes back decades
But back home, Mr. Roe’s allies and opponents alike have seen a familiar imprint in the Cruz campaign’s recent exploits, which have included a Photoshopped image of Mr. Rubio and the misleading suggestion, on the night of the Iowa caucuses, that Ben Carson was leaving the race.
There was the time, in 2006, when Mr. Roe ran an ad flashing “XXX” to highlight a 63-year-old, wheelchair-using congressional candidate’s former employer’s association with Penthouse magazine. Mr. Roe’s candidate won.
Long before Mr. Cruz tweaked Mr. Trump’s “New York values,” Mr. Roe condemned the “San Francisco-style values” of another opponent in a 2008 ad featuring an ostentatiously dressed black man dancing with two women. Some criticized the spot as racist and homophobic. Mr. Roe’s candidate won.
Rockstar Economy http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201790722/how-long-will-the-banks-stick-with-dairy-farmers
A Federated Farmers poll last week found more than one in 10 dairy farmers are now under pressure from banks over their mortgage. “They were allowing permissive development schemes, irrigation schemes … it factors into farmers psyche so the central government and the regional governments were pretty much facilitating permissive growth.”..”We actually completely lost the plot in New Zealand on this sugar rush diet that we were on….” Alison Dewes, Agricultural Consultant.
Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy said the medium-to-long-term outlook for the dairy sector was incredibly rosy …..but some dairy analysts said it was anything but.
The medium-to-long-term outlook for the dairy sector is shit – literally. Shit in our rivers, streams and harbours, and shit monetary returns to the farmers pushing them into bankruptcy.
“Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy said the medium-to-long-term outlook for the dairy sector was incredibly rosy …..but some dairy analysts said it was anything but.”
now which statement is likely to be correct?…..and unfortunately the analysts don’t form policy
ah the banks…..they are merely an inconvenience to be ignored by our esteemed leaders…cant let something as insignificant as facts get in the way of spin.
Probably pretty rosy for the people who pick up farms and stock in a year or so’s time once those that went in with a break-even cost of production over $6 /Kg go tits up.
For the current lot, less rosy in inverse proportion to their cost of production.
So probably both right.
It’ll be interesting to see a breakdown of where the losses are going to land, how much of it’s overseas investment going down the gurgler, and how much out of the assets of New Zealanders. There could be an ironic silver lining to all this overseas “investment” in our little booms.
or will the distressed sales end up in foreign ownership , a very real possibility in light of current investment opportunities around the world?…and the land value will have to drop substantially (with the spiral effect on debt ratios) along with many other factors to get cost of production down to a sustainable level…and don’t forget we are currently in historic low interest rate regime …so all in all Im fairly sure the Minister is ,we should be kind, misguided.
New Zealand.
Betrayed and sold by a privileged few to the neo liberal corporate world order.
Douglas, Richardson, Moore and Shipley shouldn’t have been knighted.
They should have been tried for treason.
And the wealthy collaborators in Remuera and Fendalton should be facing charges in court too.
Could be. The anti nuclear stance started out in a very small way back in the 1950s and 60s and gradually grew to become a massive international movement.
Upper Hutt was one of the first towns to suffer from the ravages of FTAs . We used to manufacture 60+% of the countries car tyres. The factory had a good reputation was a major employer in the town and with the advent of cheap tyres from offshore – those jobs went.
Good on my old town for its stance. Proud to be born there.
I worked there too – part time while studying at Vic. Early morning shift then off on the 11 am Unit to Uni for afternoon lectures. Great!
My Dad was President of the Rubber Workers Union for 20 odd years. An ‘Uncle’ (family friend rather) was manager of the rival Reid rubber factory in Auckland, we would have our Auckland holiday staying at their home while they were at their bach. Talk about the union hopping into bed with management! LOL
This is the modern day paradox; with the emphasis on the individual people tend to think more dualistically, i.e. as being separated from the rest of the universe as a completely self-contained autonomic agency with free will and responsibility, etc.
This occurs in spite of the so-claimed six degrees of separation and increased connectedness online.
I think an interesting analogy can be drawn with the wave-particle dualism that caused so much confusion (and still does with many, especially high school students) when talking about Quantum Mechanics. When something is a ‘particle’ it cannot be in two places at the same time. OTH, when something is a ‘wave’ it is everywhere. So, where is something that is neither one nor the other but both, a ‘wavicle’? It depends on your ‘view’.
Got no time now to spin this out [pun] but if we only view ourselves as separated from each other we’re not only limiting ourselves but also inclined to make decisions that may have very undesirable consequences and not just for ourselves but for everybody else as well; we’re in it together because we are not really separated from each other as much as we (like to) think …
One of the things I loved about that Sanders clip was that he named this thing (we all impact on everyone else) and he said it’s something that we can’t even understand, it’s beyond intellect. In that one quote he places himself squarely in the middle of the divide between religion and science. Brilliant.
If the environmentalists got out of the way the world could access vast untapped reserves in the Arctic….
/
The Arctic was “a big bet,” Odum said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
“If the oil that we had hoped was there — and probably was there at some point in geological history — in the quantities we were looking for, this would have been a fabulous success,” he said.
[…]
Shell’s Arctic endeavor, launched after the company spent a record-setting $2.1 billion buying 275 Chukchi Sea drilling leases in a 2008 government auction, spanned several years but only led to drilling during two: 2012 and 2015.
The 2012 campaign was marred by mishaps, from a drifting drillship and air pollution permit violations to the grounding of Shell’s Kulluk drilling unit amid a botched tow to Seattle. After two months of drilling last year led only to insufficient quantities of oil and gas in a test well, Shell said it would indefinitely abandon Arctic oil development.
Tryin’ to salvage some respect out of a long history of being a Key-Cock-Sucker ? By the occasional plumping for something way beyond Dumb John’s consciousness ?
Bet he still gets to go to Parnell though. To ritually lick prime ministerial arse. John giggling. Effetely.
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The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With the unembarrassed audacity parties show as an election nears, the government has stolen the opposition’s policy to ban foreign investors buying established homes. Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Housing Minister Clare O’Neil have announced ...
The Jewish Council’s proposals are divisive, contrary to New Zealand’s human rights framework, and ignore the rights of other ethnic minorities in Aotearoa. ...
"This is shocking, and astounding," says Augusta Macassey-Pickard, spokesperson for the group. "We knew that this process was rushed, and flawed, but this is another level of compromised." ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific presenter/Bulletin editor Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark maintains that Cook Islands, a realm of New Zealand, should have consulted Wellington before signing a “partnership” deal with China. “[Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown] seems to have signed behind the backs of his own ...
COMMENTARY:By Saige England Mediawatch on RNZ today strongly criticised Stuff and YouTube among other media for using Israeli propaganda’s “Outbrain” service. Outbrain is a company founded by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) military and its technology can be tracked back to a wealthy entrepreneur, which in this case could ...
Luxon said protesters linked to Destiny Church "went too far" by disrupting Pride events in Auckland, while church leader Brian Tamaki said he told protesters, "I want you to storm the library they're in." ...
Hundreds of engineers are losing their jobs and leaving our shores due to infrastructure project delays, creating "significant" risk to our nation's development, says the head of New Zealand's engineering body. ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown says the deal with China “complements, not replaces” the relationship with New Zealand after signing it yesterday. Brown said “The Action Plan for Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) 2025-2030” provides a structured framework for engagement between the Cook Islands ...
The government should not set military style academies into youth justice law, the children's commissioner says, despite its first bootcamp getting a glowing report. ...
The infamous over-the-suit T-shirt worn by the PM at a Parliament barbecue has gone on sale to raise funds for children living in poverty, in a TradeMe auction. ...
MONDAYSheriff Seymour rode slowly down the main street of Dodge on his faithful white horse Atlas Network.He liked what he saw.Children were being fed free lunches prepared by kind people who collected the scraps from an offal rendering plant.“Very strongly flavoured liver, such as ox liver, can be soaked overnight ...
Once upon a time it was all about being an astronaut, a firefighter or doctor; but these days kids have their sights set on becoming vloggers or YouTubers.That’s according to a 2019 study by Lego that surveyed 3000 children between the ages of eight to 12 from the US, the ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. From the moment I started high school and realised almost every other girl in my year was at least partially interested in what the boys were up to, I realised that I would be single for life. The feeling wasn’t one of ...
The Pacific profiles series shines a light on Pacific people in Aotearoa doing interesting and important work in their communities, as nominated by members of the public. Today, Selina Alesana Alefosio.All photos by Geoffery Matautia.On a bright Sunday morning from her grandparent’s home in Pito-one, I spoke with ...
The White Lotus star reflects on her life in TV, including the local ad reference that doesn’t work in Australia, and her bananas co-star on Neighbours.Morgana O’Reilly was scrolling her phone next to her sleeping son on an idle Saturday morning when she got the call confirming that she ...
Claire Mabey explores the pros and cons of puff quotes on book covers.In January, Publishers Weekly put out an article by Sean Manning – publisher of Simon & Schuster’s flagship US imprint – in which he said he’d “no longer require authors to obtain blurbs for their books”.The ...
New Zealand’s Entomological Society is hosting its annual bug of the year contest. Here are some of the insects in the running. For some reason – perhaps humans’ inherent competitiveness, the idealisation of democracy, the need to demarcate winners and losers – one of the best ways to get people ...
A journey along the border, with words and illustrations by Bob Kerr.The Spinoff Essay showcases the best essayists in Aotearoa, on topics big and small. Made possible by the generous support of our members.The Sunset Limited leaves Union Station New Orleans on time at nine in the morning. We ...
Neville Peat is the 2024 recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in nonfiction. He’s written 56 books, mostly on natural history; this excerpt is from The Falcon and the Lark: A New Zealand High Country Journal, first published in 1992. The falcon wintering on the Rock and ...
It was a light-hearted gesture Greta Pilkington will be forever grateful for – thanks to an Aussie rival who jumped in when the Olympic sailor couldn’t be at her own graduation.Pilkington, then 20, had been leading a double life – while qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the ILCA ...
I was born in the back of my grandfather’s ute, by an overgrown windbreak in a remote place called Wahi-Rakauyou can’t find on a map. I was born a girl but given the man’s name Harvey, as my dad always wanted a violent-minded boy to one day help him ...
“We’re not here to interfere in people’s property rights,” Ngāi Tahu’s Te Maire Tau has told the High Court.Tau, a historian, Upoko (traditional leader) of Ngāi Tūāhuriri, and a university professor of history, is the lead witness in a case designed to force the Crown to recognise the tribe’s rangatiratanga ...
Pacific Media Watch Trump administration officials barred two Associated Press (AP) reporters from covering White House events this week because the US-based independent news agency did not change its style guide to align with the president’s political agenda. The AP is being punished for using the term “Gulf of Mexico,” ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific Presenter/Bulletin editor France’s top diplomat in the Pacific region says talks around the “unfreezing” of New Caledonia’s highly controversial electoral roll are back on the table. The French government intended to make a constitutional amendment that would lift restrictions prescribed under the Nouméa Accord, which ...
By bringing these global voices to the fight for free expression in New Zealand, we’ll continue to protect and expand our culture of free speech, says Nathan Seiuli, the Free Speech Union's Events Manager. ...
The issue is no longer a hypothetical one. US President Donald Trump will not explicitly suggest death camps, but he has already consented to Israel’s continuing a war that is not a war but rather a barbaric assault on a desolate stretch of land. From there, the road to annihilation is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cecelia Cmielewski, Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University To be selected as the artist and curator team to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale is considered the ultimate exhibition for an artistic team. To have your selection rescinded, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steve Turton, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography, CQUniversity Australia Severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia is bearing down on the northwest coast of Australia and is likely to make landfall early Friday evening. It’s a monster storm of great concern to Western Australia. ...
The power of money in New Zealand.
‘Housing vote could have serious consequences, council warned.
The leadership of the Auckland Council has suffered an unprecedented defeat that could leave the council unrepresented at crucial hearings on the future shape of housing in the city.
A 13-8 vote at the end of a five-hour extraordinary council meeting last night dumped some of the changed proposals for increased housing density the council would have taken to an independent panel weighing up the city’s Unitary Plan.
Opponents of the changes said property owners should have been consulted, but the council argued the government-designed Unitary Plan process did not allow it.
The vote was a victory for a campaign run under the Auckland 2040 banner whose founders addressed a protest meeting of 700 in Kohimarama two weeks ago.
“I think it was a question of grass-roots democracy in action,” said Auckland 2040 co-founder Richard Burton who watched the vote at the end of the meeting.
“We got a result and praise to the councillors for doing it, they see the need to consult with the public and that’s what they are now going to do.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/297368/council-dumps-housing-density-changes
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201790677/auckland-mayor-says-density-vote-a-significant-defeat
Public Address has some comment, they expect government to do what happened with Ecan.
Can somebody, preferably someone in Auckland who understands what is going on please explain what is different between what people in the suburbs like Epsom seem to want and what was desired by that guy Jonno Smith and the protesters who didn’t want some trees cut down in order to build on land in West Auckland?
Both groups seem to want open space and low density housing with other people having to leave their land little used so that they can look at the trees.
Why is one group “good” and the other lot, doing the same thing “bad”?
Oh the irony!
“House Speaker Paul Ryan Demands TPP Be Renegotiated; Neglects To Mention It Was His Bill That Makes That Impossible”
link
Which raises an interesting point: is the TPPA being rammed through NZ’s parliament the same document which will have to be modified to pass Congress and Senate?
And if it isn’t, does this little country get the chance to renegotiate, or will we blindly just accept what the US tells us to do?
Sorry, forgot to hit the reply button to 2 above.
I am sick to death of this trade (for diplomatic/friendship/posing/whateva) in animals as some sort of prestigious gift. Sri Lanka Prime Minister Maithripala Sirisena STOP giving baby elephants away so you can look good. nz pm key STOP accepting them so you can be a big man overseas.
“A gift of a Sri Lankan baby elephant to Prime Minister John Key on Wednesday was intended to be a gesture of diplomatic warmth, but it has left animal rights activists outraged.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/77250960/sri-lankas-gift-of-baby-elephant-to-john-key-outrages-animal-rights-activists
and I know among the big, bigger and biggest outrages happening daily this is not in any of those categories but for me it is symbolic of our twisted consumerist relationship with nature and animals.
+100
+100.
I’m sure that Key is pleased with the idea of a baby elephant to go along with his fluffy panda.
Perhaps the deprivation he suffered as a child (which was not housing or low beneficiary payments) was that of a lack of soft toys.
I suppose we could paint ‘debt’ on one side of it and ‘Christchurch’ on the other, and let it sit in on cabinet meetings – but being ignored would make it feel bad.
Or Key could begin to redeem his reputation in Christchurch by using it to replace Gerry Brownlee – it would be smarter, more charismatic, harder working, and approximately the same weight.
And maybe we should crowdfund a Sumatran rat monkey for Seymour so he doesn’t feel left out.
Yes, it really would be the elephant in the room.
Sri Lanka is just another one of those countries who have committed human rights atrocities, but it seems NZ and Aus simply don’t care.
I guess you might prefer we bundled the animal up and sent it off to Zimbabwe as a gift to that hero of the left, Robert Mugabe.
I’m sure he would find a use for it.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/16/robert-mugabe-birthday-party-elephant-meat-lion-zimbabwe-91
pathetic comment from you alwyn as usual – trying to start a flamewar with a provocative statement – you bore
Yes dear.
So so boring
Alwyn, Have you not heard? the heffalump is for Gerry Brownlee
John thought it would make a nice pet for him once he is off the
ChCh recovery programme.
Chomsky on history repeating itself, cause people are not learning or something like that. 🙂
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/02/chomsky-trumps-rise-fueled-by-same-societal-breakdown-that-birthed-hitler/
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/12/the-left-is-to-blame-for-the-creation-of-donald-trump/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/why-trump-may-be-winning-the-war-on-political-correctness/2016/01/04/098cf832-afda-11e5-b711-1998289ffcea_story.html
Food for thought maybe?
Yeah, someone spent the better part of the last decade throwing raw meat to the Republican base with wall to wall coverage of the gay Kenyan born married to a drag queen Koranic verse inscripted ring wearing sekrit Muslim President whose real dad was actually Malcolm X who also happens to be a Muslim brotherhood sleeper agent and the anti-Christ readying mass Muslin cloth immigation, death panels and FEMA camps as we speak.
But who fucking knew it was the left what made them all into tea-bagging there ain’t never going to be no niclang president in mah lifetime neo-Confederate low intelligence racist misogynist god-addled flag wrapped Trumpette arseholes with a bibly in one hand and a bushmaster in the other.
bushmaster, ack ack ack
we did and still do have better beer in Germany tho. those fucking leftwing arseholes in Germany around 1369 decided to regulate how beer could be a. brewed, b. what ingredients had to be used, c. how to measure it, and d. how much to charge it. I mean, capitalism and profit are not made with regulation, what the fuck were they thinking.
In the US and certain other parts of the English speaking world one gets glorified piss, lukewarm with no foam.
Trying to work out what you are saying in your comment.
So tell me sabine is the homebrew that you have obviously consumed this afternoon German quality beer or similar to the English glorified piss you speak of so knowledgeably?
Glenn Beck –
Just left the caucus site.
Some of the nastiest people I have ever been with. (Trump supporters). We have their hate and rage on tape. Others around them were embarrassed for them. It was scary and sad.
[…]
I believe Trump, whether he knows it or not, is grooming brown shirts.
Don’t believe me, go to a caucus.
“how much to charge it”. Really? You mean that beer in Germany hasn’t changed in price for 650 years?
God, don’t let the Dunedin students know? Pissed out of your mind for a week for a total price of 4 cents. They’d all be off.
in the dark ages it was healthier and more nutritional to drink beer. It was consumed instead of water and considered a bit of a good thing. One phrase that old people in Germany like to say is :The little bit i eat i can drink.
So eventually lot’s of ‘homebrewers’ flooded what was then the market, and a lot of ‘piss’ was sold, for a high price, using all sorts of ingredients and people complained mightily.
Eventual the powers that were the powers at the time decided that in order to prevent beer riots they would better regulate.
So they stipulated what could be used as ingredients, how much a serving should measure and who much could be charged with. Funnily enough even water is regulated within this law.
it is one of Germanys oldest law, and it is still applied today, and beer can not be named beer if it is not brewed according to the law.
Bushmaster and many other beers coming from various places and produced with a high yield and a low cost in Germany can not be sold as ‘beer’, and will not be considered beer but ‘piss’ ‘punch’ or ‘soup’. Funnily enough, Beer is one of the big drawing cards in Germany, the Beerfests bring a lot of money, and a lot of beer is exported.
I have gotten the year wrong tho the law started much earlier.
“The earliest documented mention of beer by a German nobleman is the granting of a brewing licence by Emperor Otto II to the church at Liege (now Belgium), awarded in 974.[12] A variety of other beer regulations also existed in Germany during the late Middle Ages, including in Nuremberg in 1293, Erfurt in 1351, and Weisensee in 1434.[13][14]”
so my rambling about beer, regulations, capitalism etc was just an answer to Joe90’s ramblings about cheepshots in US holding a crappy beer in one hand and a bible in the other. Also too, they must have been lefties in Germany at the time, cause only lefties would argue for laws that regulate a product and protect the consumer from rip off.
as you were
Ah, this bushmaster..
damn mate, don’t play with that while drinking this http://www.busch.com/
Ooops:) and i am not even indulging. Damn.
Explained at last!
I once had an eight bottle lunch with a Russian oligarch English student, and among the problems of the world we tried to resolve was how the US, with its plethora of German, English, Dutch and Irish immigrants, and its vast and fertile grain growing plains produced a frankly miserable weasel piss like Budweiser.
He was from Primorye, and quite interested in the prospects for microbreweries. Very hard water in Primorye though.
@joe90
Your description of this reminds me rather sadly of the fact that imbeciles in this country have been saying equally wild things about John Key.
I guess we should not be surprised if we get somewhat deranged people who think it is right to attack him and his Government members at public functions.
If they do he could just pull their hair. He’s got form for that.
you mean this John Key?
Equally wild things, of course they do.
/
http://cultureunseen.com/post/77868988729/tea-party-tea-party-comix-they-dont-care-about
Thanks Obama.
John Key’s electorate office in Huapai is displaying the proposed new flag in the window. The existing flag is not displayed. Given that each electorate office is funded by Parliamentary Services I find this offensive. The electorate office is funded by the tax payer for the tax payer and I would have thought displaying a preference for this flag is attempting to influence the up coming vote.
Would a person be justified in complaining to Parliamentary Services about this? If so how does one register a complaint with them?
This is starting to look like John Key marching on Moscow.
can’t have ‘free’ energy, that would be against the principle of profit and capitalism.
and making rules to better your country, that too is against the principle of profit and capitalism.
http://in.reuters.com/article/us-india-usa-solar-idINKCN0VX1Y5
If India don’t want to abide by the rules of the WTO, nobody is forcing them to stay a member. They could just ignore the treaties they signed.
The Standard is very slow to load today. 83 seconds to refresh. Anyone else? All other sites as normal.
Edit: 48 seconds that time.
Yes I am using firefox, and it is the same for me.
Use Firefox but no better with Safari.
Yes. Taking an age to upload – up to several minutes for me – Google chrome.
While I have the opportunity:
“Pablo” has written a very good summary of the US elections on Kiwipolitico. Here is an early taste:
Will attempt to link but if can’t get back here just google Kiwipolitico.
I’ll poke my nose in to possibly save LP having to. I know he’s trying to solve the blank page issue that some people are having. Some changes were made overnight for that, possibly they’re also causing slow loading, although an external site also seems to be very slow to respond. Patience is a virtue 🙂
I guess others have seen the Open Mike date is wrong, its not 25/01/2016, maybe that’s effecting things.
Some pretty great stuff happened in the past month, maybe we should do it again 🙂
(very slow loading for me too).
Woodhouse displays his party’s commitment to democratic process (i e; none):
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/374331/labour-ticket-council
As for the larger story of possible Labour-endorsed candidates, I’d be interested in what was happening in other council elections – if anyone has any news?
Hawkins (the GP endorsed Dunedin councillor) has said that it is a bit of a double-edged sword. Yes; you get the backing of the party in getting elected, but the local government regulations treat any cause in which you have been publicly participated as a conflict of interest. So you may actually achieve more to further a party’s goals by not being associated with them. This may be why so many council candidates seem so boring and uncommitted, that they are keeping their voting options open (though this seems a poor lookout for local democracy).
BTW does anyone know anything about Damian Newell? More FM DJ (which I don’t listen to), real estate (which seems a big red flag with the council’s privitisable property), and possible Labour council candidate.
Brian Rudman makes the case Why focus on other cultures and not our own?
Labour is making a big mistake by refusing to confront John Key on the Chinafacation of NZ.
Kiwis do not want their native traditional culture subjugated by a foreign culture, an event driven by excessive immigration as encouraged by a National Party desperate to maintain the illusion of prosperity and the myth of its own “good economic management”.
Winston Peters isn’t doing the job. There are a swag of votes waiting out there for anyone who has the guts to speak out for the NZ people against the destruction of their native culture and its eventual subjugation to an imported culture.
National should at least be called on their arrogance and duplicity in driving this change merely for the sake of their own desperate need for political power.
Brian Rudman has the guts to write about it. To speak out. Where’s the Labour Party? Or are National and Labour really just the same political group who disagree over who sits at the leadership table?
Whats the big deal? The history of the world is filled with examples of countries being taken over and having foreign cultures imposed on them
I’m predominately anglo-scots with some french thrown in for good measure and all those countries improved due to being exposed to other cultures
NZ, as another example, is much better for having british culture forced on it, theres quite a lot to admire about how the Chinese have gone about doing things, for the most part they’re very good about assimilating
Or is this another bout of Asian bashing?
“NZ, as another example, is much better for having british culture forced on it”
that is your privileged opinion and not shared by others. This is the south sea islands and having repressed colonial attitudes imposed has not made us ‘better’. We will never know what we could have been but it is arrogance to assume it would have been worse if the brutish culture wasn’t forced on the people and land.
I base it on the brits doing a better job then the french at colonising but my main point was we’re all colonised at some point so why worry if its the Chinese since they’ve been here since the 1860s
I don’t disagree that picking on one ethnicity is not the way to go. Nevertheless the colonisation process is brutal and devastating and also worse for the indigenous cultures being taken over. Saying we are better off is sort of insulting, but I’m letting it go 🙂
Fair enough, I guess I’m more looking at the after effects of the colonisation as opposed to what happens during the occupation, kind of like the effect the Roman invasion had on Britain
The after effects are brutal too, in NZ and in Roman and post-Roman Britain.
Of course there is but on the whole colonisation was good for Britain
Says who?
“the after effects of the colonisation”:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/25/indigenous-australians-and-canadians-destroyed-by-same-colonialism
It was a pretty unfortunate choice of phrase by PR 🙁 either he has no idea or he doesn’t care and it’s OK to sacrifice whole cultures to the empire.
As you say the Poms have a better record than the French – if we look at things like infant mortality and education systems.
But tell us, PR, if you know, how good are the Chinese as colonisers? or the Americans? Do you consider Tibet an encouraging example, or the Philipines?
“I’m predominately anglo-scots with some french thrown in for good measure”
Bloody hell, so am I.* You sure you’re not me ?
* 60% English / 30% Scots / 10% French
Not unless you’re forebears happened to come from Cornwall…
About a third of the 60% English forebears did – Tin/Copper Miners in villages in the triangle between Truro / Redruth / Falmouth 16-19c.
I’m beginning to seriously suspect you are me – or, at least, some sort of Tory alter ego or doppelganger.
Reminds me of Bart’s Evil Twin that lived in the attic in one of the Halloween Episodes of The Simpsons
Lol
Having just spent three days at the Lantern Festival in Auckland (and I loved every moment of it) the one thing that really stood out was the diversity of cultures involved. Whilst the majority of stall holders were Asian, most of those directing traffic and keeping an eye on the running of the event were from one or other of the Pacific Islands. I believe the event co-ordinator is Samoan. The people most noticeably absent amongst the workers were the pakeha kiwis.
I spoke to visitors from Germany, Canada, England, the Netherlands, Australia, Tonga, Samoa and the US as well as from China, Korea, Laos and Vietnam. All were very enthusiastic about the event. Several suggested that it should last a week rather than three days (obviously they weren’t on a stall and nearly dead on their feet at the end of three days) and others thought it should go from midday to midnight each of the three days.
On Waitangi Day I spent the day with Scottish and German friends on the local marae where they held an international kai day. One area was specifically celebrating Chinese New Year. So we had Germans, Americans and Chinese learning the haka right beside Kiwi Chinese performing the dragon dance. It was a wonderful day and certainly showed that there is room here in NZ for us all.
Nice one prickles 🙂
I guess your job is to start up a war of words by being overtly racist, and for that reason usually best to avoid, especially with a name like yours, but your words are too provocative to ignore – and usually I do a good job of ignoring your type, so well done you.
Couple of things.
1)You sound very “concerned” that Labour is ignoring the subject of immigration. Maybe you should take it up with them yourself – they do have form in this area you know, or did you forget about Phil Twyford and his “Chinese sounding names” gig? Or take it up with the National Front, which you may already be a member of.
2)The Brian Rudman article was downright plain offensive. Rather than being given exclusive column inches to display his prejudice he sounds like he would be better off dwelling in this cess pit of ignorance. Please see the comments section on this article about Syrian refugee’s arriving in Wellington as an example.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/77170400/windy-wellington-ready-to-welcome-its-new-syrian-refugees
3)”Kiwis do not want their native traditional culture subjugated by a foreign culture…….” I’m confused. Are you talking about indigenous Maori culture when you refer to “native traditional”? I think it’s a bit late for that, it already happened. Maori were colonised.
Or are you talking about something else altogether? Perhaps you are thinking about NZ’s Pakeha culture? If so, are you feeling threatened? And speak for yourself, not for “Kiwi’s”
Bedwetter is a scared old fool yelling at the Tauranga clouds. Best not take the chap too seriously.
Lols. I usually ignore his/ her kind, and his/her comments here. He/she sounded so determined to start a fight but I see he/she has buggered off now, maybe hanging out at Phil Rudd’s place, or busy on the stormfront website, who knows.
Tauranga Eh? God, I lived in that conservative backwards hell hole for several years. Just look at their history of voting over the decades if you need to get a picture of the place. Simon Bridges twice in a row now………………Ugh.
“confront John Key on the Chinafacation of NZ”
good god its the yellow peril , their all smoking opium and they have come for our virtuous white women
The 50s called, they would like their attitudes back please…
Chinafication of NZ?
Historically Chinese have done nothing else apart from work hard and do well in NZ.
Think of all the market gardens/small businesses etc. owned by Chinese folk.
I don’t mind where Immigrants come from as a long as they are law abiding and are happy to live alongside kiwis.
I don’t know what you have against the Chinese Redbaiter but I think you are barking up the wrong tree.
The Republicans are angry and are justifiably so. President Obama has replaced some White House curtains with “muslim’ ones. Hell!
A just released study in Nature shows that the Earth is now warming at a rate 50 times faster than in any previous climate change event. The sea level rise over the past century is 10 times faster than for any century over the past 2 millenia. We are already locked in to an eventual 1.7m of sea level rise and if we continue with BAU it could end up as a whopping 50 m. Even if we manage to restrain our emissions to the 1 trillion tonne Carbon Budget to keep temp rise to below 2 Degrees, sea level is predicted to rise to 9 m. Meaning 20% of the current Earth populations will have to move including NY, London, and even Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and much of Dunedin.
But don’t worry folks Paula, John, and co will tinker with the ETS to ensure you don’t have to pay too much (if anything). Pity about your grandkids though.
An ETS ain’t going to solve sweet FA, and it never was going to.
I was being sarcastic CV
That link is the kicker though. Basically we have locked in at least 1.7 m rise and if we are successful and keep within the carbon budget we are looking at an eventual 9m rise.
The Earth is now heating up 50 times faster than it has ever done in the past. and sea level is rising faster than ever before as well. Most living things will not be able to adapt fast enough.
Basically we are stuffed.
A few of us worked that out awhile ago.
Thing is, we’re not stuffed because we can’t do anything but because a few people won’t let us do anything.
QFT
In particular around 62 people in the US Congress who continuously stymie any action on CC. and the similar percentage in the Senate.
These people are in the pockets of the US corporates who bought them their position. They can vote no other way.
Sorry Macro, was clearly being slow on the uptake
This.
The point of the governments continued objection to paying carers (they keep losing in court) is probably a delaying tactic – so they can avoid placing the cost in their budget forecasts – so they can put in tax cuts before they go/or promise tax cuts in 2017.
It will be interesting to see what they really believe the cost would be. This should already be a known – as a contingency – given they have already lost in court a number of times.
The underlying problem is that they believe disabled people are a waste of oxygen, even though they would never admit it in public. Scum.
Not just people with disabilities either. They treat elderly people the same.
Large overlap, similar needs and services.
But the over 50s crowd don’t tend to vote Labour or Greens.
Can’t trust Labour on Super for starters. And only Winston takes the concerns of the elderly seriously enough to meet with them up and down the country.
This will be fun.
.
In court filings last Friday, lawyers for both sides in a long-running civil lawsuit over the now defunct Trump University named Trump on their witness lists. That makes it all but certain that the reality-show star and international businessman will be forced to be grilled under oath over allegations in the lawsuit that he engaged in deceptive trade practices and scammed thousands of students who enrolled in his “university” courses in response to promises he would make them rich in the real estate market.
[…]
The core case revolves around the operations of a school Trump launched in 2005 with a promotional You Tube video, as well as ads that proclaimed, “I can turn anyone into a successful real estate investor, including you,” “Are YOU My Next Apprentice?” and “Learn from my handpicked experts how you can profit from the largest real estate liquidation in history.” The plaintiffs, former students at Trump University, allege they were misled into maxing out their credit cards and paying up to $60,000 in fees for seminars in hotel ballrooms and “mentoring” by Trump’s “hand-picked” real estate experts. The lawsuit against the school, which is no longer in business, alleges the seminars turned into little more than an “infomercial” and the Trump mentors offered “no practical advice” and “mostly disappeared.” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a separate suit in 2013 alleging fraud on the part of the “university,” which was never an accredited institution and awarded no degrees.
https://www.yahoo.com/politics/with-gop-nomination-looming-trump-slated-to-take-191550876.html
Lusk and Williams’ role models.
In a statement released today to Media Matters, a CNN spokesperson said of Stone: “He will no longer appear on CNN.”
Stone is a notorious “dirty trickster” who recently co-authored The Clintons’ War on Women. The 2015 book is dedicated to — and cites research from — a Holocaust denier who blames a “Jewish plot” for the 9/11 attacks. Stone’s history includes forming an anti-Hillary Clinton group named “C.U.N.T.” during the 2008 election
Stone worked for Trump’s presidential campaign last year and is now organizing against Clinton’s campaign again. He is a frequent presence in the media because of his long ties to Trump; their friendship and professional relationship goes back decades
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/02/23/cnn-trump-supporter-roger-stone-will-no-longer/208751
But back home, Mr. Roe’s allies and opponents alike have seen a familiar imprint in the Cruz campaign’s recent exploits, which have included a Photoshopped image of Mr. Rubio and the misleading suggestion, on the night of the Iowa caucuses, that Ben Carson was leaving the race.
There was the time, in 2006, when Mr. Roe ran an ad flashing “XXX” to highlight a 63-year-old, wheelchair-using congressional candidate’s former employer’s association with Penthouse magazine. Mr. Roe’s candidate won.
Long before Mr. Cruz tweaked Mr. Trump’s “New York values,” Mr. Roe condemned the “San Francisco-style values” of another opponent in a 2008 ad featuring an ostentatiously dressed black man dancing with two women. Some criticized the spot as racist and homophobic. Mr. Roe’s candidate won.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/24/us/politics/ted-cruz-campaign-manager-jeff-roe.html?_r=0
Rockstar Economy
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201790722/how-long-will-the-banks-stick-with-dairy-farmers
A Federated Farmers poll last week found more than one in 10 dairy farmers are now under pressure from banks over their mortgage. “They were allowing permissive development schemes, irrigation schemes … it factors into farmers psyche so the central government and the regional governments were pretty much facilitating permissive growth.”..”We actually completely lost the plot in New Zealand on this sugar rush diet that we were on….” Alison Dewes, Agricultural Consultant.
Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy said the medium-to-long-term outlook for the dairy sector was incredibly rosy …..but some dairy analysts said it was anything but.
The medium-to-long-term outlook for the dairy sector is shit – literally. Shit in our rivers, streams and harbours, and shit monetary returns to the farmers pushing them into bankruptcy.
“Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy said the medium-to-long-term outlook for the dairy sector was incredibly rosy …..but some dairy analysts said it was anything but.”
now which statement is likely to be correct?…..and unfortunately the analysts don’t form policy
the Munster conveniently means 5 to 20 years. If only banks holding farm loans thougnt like that. #shucks
ah the banks…..they are merely an inconvenience to be ignored by our esteemed leaders…cant let something as insignificant as facts get in the way of spin.
Probably pretty rosy for the people who pick up farms and stock in a year or so’s time once those that went in with a break-even cost of production over $6 /Kg go tits up.
For the current lot, less rosy in inverse proportion to their cost of production.
So probably both right.
It’ll be interesting to see a breakdown of where the losses are going to land, how much of it’s overseas investment going down the gurgler, and how much out of the assets of New Zealanders. There could be an ironic silver lining to all this overseas “investment” in our little booms.
or will the distressed sales end up in foreign ownership , a very real possibility in light of current investment opportunities around the world?…and the land value will have to drop substantially (with the spiral effect on debt ratios) along with many other factors to get cost of production down to a sustainable level…and don’t forget we are currently in historic low interest rate regime …so all in all Im fairly sure the Minister is ,we should be kind, misguided.
New Zealand.
Betrayed and sold by a privileged few to the neo liberal corporate world order.
Douglas, Richardson, Moore and Shipley shouldn’t have been knighted.
They should have been tried for treason.
And the wealthy collaborators in Remuera and Fendalton should be facing charges in court too.
Yawn
Exactly. Let those piss poor peasants eat cake.
They took the risk – they should now pay for it failing.
Upper Hutt City Council has declared the city a “TPP-Free Zone”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/hutt-valley/77271987/upper-hutt-council-slammed-by-business-lobby-over-antitpp-stance
shades of the anti nuclear stance…wonder if it will have the same result?
Could be. The anti nuclear stance started out in a very small way back in the 1950s and 60s and gradually grew to become a massive international movement.
and one of 12 apparently…
wow, good for them. 7 to 4 too, it wasn’t close.
Upper Hutt was one of the first towns to suffer from the ravages of FTAs . We used to manufacture 60+% of the countries car tyres. The factory had a good reputation was a major employer in the town and with the advent of cheap tyres from offshore – those jobs went.
Good on my old town for its stance. Proud to be born there.
Infused said he used to work there.. at the tyre factory, just thought I’d drop in a useless piece of information.
I worked there too – part time while studying at Vic. Early morning shift then off on the 11 am Unit to Uni for afternoon lectures. Great!
My Dad was President of the Rubber Workers Union for 20 odd years. An ‘Uncle’ (family friend rather) was manager of the rival Reid rubber factory in Auckland, we would have our Auckland holiday staying at their home while they were at their bach. Talk about the union hopping into bed with management! LOL
They definitely deserve a pat on the back for the position taken.
It shows concern is more widespread than National will admit.
As for the same result, one can only hope.
Wow!
Simon Mason
@LDNCalling
Umberto Eco’s library
https://twitter.com/LDNCalling/status/702129878817226752/photo/1
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cb53ZXAWAAQesII.jpg
Wow love that library!
https://www.rt.com/news/333051-umberto-eco-dies-rose/
Must read some of his books…look interesting
Bernie Sanders explains his spiritual beliefs,
“We are in this together,” Sanders says. “When you hurt, when your children hurt, I hurt.”
https://www.facebook.com/cnnpolitics/videos/1081358588572640/ (1 min clip).
“We are in this together,”
Yes.
So obvious yet so resisted; so derided; so mocked.
So antithetical to how we have organised our society over the last 40 years.
and how weird that it now seems radical.
This is the modern day paradox; with the emphasis on the individual people tend to think more dualistically, i.e. as being separated from the rest of the universe as a completely self-contained autonomic agency with free will and responsibility, etc.
This occurs in spite of the so-claimed six degrees of separation and increased connectedness online.
I think an interesting analogy can be drawn with the wave-particle dualism that caused so much confusion (and still does with many, especially high school students) when talking about Quantum Mechanics. When something is a ‘particle’ it cannot be in two places at the same time. OTH, when something is a ‘wave’ it is everywhere. So, where is something that is neither one nor the other but both, a ‘wavicle’? It depends on your ‘view’.
Got no time now to spin this out [pun] but if we only view ourselves as separated from each other we’re not only limiting ourselves but also inclined to make decisions that may have very undesirable consequences and not just for ourselves but for everybody else as well; we’re in it together because we are not really separated from each other as much as we (like to) think …
One of the things I loved about that Sanders clip was that he named this thing (we all impact on everyone else) and he said it’s something that we can’t even understand, it’s beyond intellect. In that one quote he places himself squarely in the middle of the divide between religion and science. Brilliant.
If the environmentalists got out of the way the world could access vast untapped reserves in the Arctic….
/
The Arctic was “a big bet,” Odum said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
“If the oil that we had hoped was there — and probably was there at some point in geological history — in the quantities we were looking for, this would have been a fabulous success,” he said.
[…]
Shell’s Arctic endeavor, launched after the company spent a record-setting $2.1 billion buying 275 Chukchi Sea drilling leases in a 2008 government auction, spanned several years but only led to drilling during two: 2012 and 2015.
The 2012 campaign was marred by mishaps, from a drifting drillship and air pollution permit violations to the grounding of Shell’s Kulluk drilling unit amid a botched tow to Seattle. After two months of drilling last year led only to insufficient quantities of oil and gas in a test well, Shell said it would indefinitely abandon Arctic oil development.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-02-24/arctic-was-a-bet-that-didn-t-pay-off-departing-shell-chief-says?
What’s Key-Cock-Sucker Hosking up to ?
Tryin’ to salvage some respect out of a long history of being a Key-Cock-Sucker ? By the occasional plumping for something way beyond Dumb John’s consciousness ?
Bet he still gets to go to Parnell though. To ritually lick prime ministerial arse. John giggling. Effetely.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/national/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503075&gal_cid=1503075&gallery_id=158013