Labour list MP Maryan Street has added her End of Life Choice Bill to the ballot. This tries to address controversial euthanasia issues.
I have, after 6 months’ work, finished my End of Life Choice Bill. You can find it here.
I think the social conversation has moved on from the last time such a bill was debated in 2003 and lost 60-58. The two missing votes at that time were one abstention and one voted not lodged. So that was close.
I hope I have enough specificity and enough safeguards in place for people to support it this time. I am sure it can be improved.
I am equally sure that is time that we approached this issue with compassion and gave people the right to be as self-determining at their point of death as they have been in life. It would only apply to people who were of sound mind and suffered from a terminal illness, or an irreversible condition which made their life unbearable, in their own view.
It also provides for people to register End of Life Directives in the event that these situations occur and they are unable to communicate their wishes to receive life-ending medication.
Other features include:
– the need for two medical practitioners to attest that the person is of sound mind, has the condition they say they have and have not been coerced into their decision;
– the need for counselling and a period of reflection;
– and a Review Body to examine the law after a period of time to ensure it is not being abused and is operating correctly.
It would only apply to people who were of sound mind and suffered from a terminal illness, or an irreversible condition which made their life unbearable, in their own view.
Once again when considering euthanasia legals we have the know-all approach, the controller, the do it my way, about choice of death. If I get old and tired and pissed off enough and would like to go through the process of preparation and certification so I can go when I want to, that should be my right, without some supercilious jerk telling me that I’m not sick enough.
John Key’s poor understanding of our language is an absolute indication that he is poorly read. He is not a deep man. He has little understanding of wider society. He is just a shallow dipstick with a forked tongue.
the ‘prime ministers hour’ is coming up again on radio live, starting to advertise it. the last one was very enlightening. his shallowness & blankness came out loud & clear. that day i put the radio on & heard a very serious news reporters voice saying our credit rating had been downgraded, then i hear john keys bubbly air headed radio dj blather, it was quite surreal. all that ‘how are the hobbit movies doing sir peter my freind?’, the strange way he says ‘sir’, so bad its good (but not really good, still very bad) kinda entertainment.
John Key and Paula Bennett (both)
“There are children which …”
“There’s lots of …”
John Key
“Anythink”
SIGH! 😀
I am keeping a wee note of what my late brother called ‘blutions’ on Radio NZ in particular, and some TV ones, and ‘there’s lots of’ crops up a lot!
Nucular is another one and one guy on TV3 keeps referring to the ‘Tullybin’ instead of saying Taliban…
I think the right wing and business part of NZ politics has really lost it… some examples just this morning;
1. The newly formed Heartland Bank is offering loans to its execs to buy the bank’s shares, apparently as an incentive. This is what Lachie McLeod at South Canterbury Finance got and look what it made him do – all sorts of terrible lending and carry on, ultimately hastening its demise. That Heartland has to offer such is an admission that the business model is flawed. Also, beware, Heartland is tied up with all them blu-nosed Cantabs off the last four ships such as George Kerr and they tend to make mincemeat of these things.
2. Gerry Browlee has been swiped by the High Court over his land zoning decision-making process in Christchurch. Following Skycity casino being reviewed, and the Akaroa marine reserve decision being tossed out, and others, it shows this government are cowboys with a completely cavalier attitude.
3. The welfare handouts to firstly teh NZX, a private business, in the sale of state assets to bolster the NZX’s performance is nothing short of a ripoff. I have a business that is struggling, can I please have a government handout too?
4. The looters bonus share scheme in the sale of assets is also an admission that the business model around the floats is flawed and incapable of success without the taxpayer subsidising it.
Seriously, this lot are incompetent. It feels like a last gasp for the right wing, a final grab of air before silently slipping beneath the waves for good. Not a single one of their major activities at the moment is worthy. They are not up to scratch. They are wheelers, dealers and wide boys with not a skeric of deeper understanding of the communities they live in. Fail.
You’ll probably find that those Heartland Bank loans to its execs don’t have to be repaid. In other words, it’s most likely an under the table bonus that doesn’t have to pay tax on and is also in line for untaxed capital gains.
Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee did not act lawfully when he used his wide ranging powers under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act in a land zoning decision last year the High Court has found.
In a ruling released this afternoon the High Court’s Justice Lester Chisholm granted the application for a judicial review of Mr Brownlee’s decision in October last year in which he fast tracked a Christchurch land rezoning decision.
Justice Chisholm overturned Mr Brownlee’s decisions which ruled out housing development on land near Christchurch Airport owned by Independent Fisheries, supermarket operator Progressive Enterprises and other property developers.
Mr Brownlee’s decision also allowed development of land elsewhere and had the effect of terminating a number of appeals to the Environment Court.
I wonder when that higher standard of accountability thing that Key talked about is going to appear?
Ok, that goes back to cancer society, and that goes back to a CS factsheet, which references this. That gives attrib vs nonattrib rates for mortality. If you want to find out how they identified attributable deaths without hard data on pop smoking rates, it seems that they used this method. I.e. usung a function of lung cancer mortality as a proxy for smoking rates, given that the relationship between smoking and lung cancer is well travelled. Sometimes you have to put together workarounds to compare international apples with apples.
Have a read of them, in particular the age breakdowns.
In effect your accusing Smokefree New Zealand and a number of other organizations using the ”25% of all cancer deaths are caused by smoking” of spreading misinformation???…
No.
I was pointing out how you could go back to the original research and see how those percentage cuts are possible.
To make it simple, let’s use an hypothetical population of 100 (i.e. the raw number = the total population rate %) in a 1 year snapshot:
100 people.
40 cancers.
20 smokers.
80 non-smokers.
30 cancers in non-smokers.
10 cancers in smokers.
Total cancer incidence: 40%.
Non-smoker cancer incidence: 37.5% (30/80*100)
smoker cancer incidence: 50% (10/20*100) % of cancers in non-smokers: 75% % of cancers in smokers: 25%
And we can actually calculate the number of cancers attributable to smoking in this population (although HS might want to check my math if they can be bothered – I tend to put things in the wrong order when doing it manually ❓ ): smokingCancers-(smokingpop * nonsmokingIncidenceRate) = attributable cases. 10 – (20*0.375) = ac 10 – 7.5 = 2.5
So in that population of 100, each year on average 2.5 cancer deaths are attributable to smoking.
The actual numbers, if you go back to source, are the same ratios, just much bigger numbers.
Not smoking causes 75% of cancer deaths in any given year,
Smoking causes 25% of cancer deaths in any given year,
The percentage of the NZ population who do and do not smoke is 19.9% who do and the rest don’t,
So, as far as DYING from cancer goes theres just as much chance, or more,of snuffing it with cancer whether or not you have ever smoked,
The difference being, and i havn’t had my nose in the figures for this yet, is the age at which one cohort snuffs it as opposed to the non-smoking cohort right???…
So, as far as DYING from cancer goes theres just as much chance, or more,of snuffing it with cancer whether or not you have ever smoked,
No. Read it again:
Non-smoker cancer incidence: 37.5% smoker cancer incidence: 50%
By those ratios, you are 1/3 more likely to die of cancer if you smoke, than if you don’t.
50-37.5 = 12.5, 12.5 = 1/3 of 37.5, therefore smoking = 1.33*nonsmoking.
This is nowhere near “as much chance if not more”. It’s “smoking seriously increase the chance you will die of cancer”.
Your mathematical gymnastics amuse me Mc, if 25% of the cancer deaths in any given year in New Zealand are caused by smoking then 75% of the cancer deaths in any given year are caused by people who do not smoke,
Sorry you cannot grapple with that little fact, perhaps you have been educated into being unable to grasp the simple fact,
It takes no complicated mathematics, either the ‘Smoke-free’ 25% of cancer deaths a year is wrong or my outlandish assertion that ‘not smoking’ causes 75% of the yearly deaths from cancer is right…
if 25% of the cancer deaths in any given year in New Zealand are caused by smoking then 75% of the cancer deaths in any given year are caused by people who do not smoke,
Wow. That piece of stupidity actually did help me see a problem in my math. I confused incidence with attrubutable number (i.e. “caused by”). 75% occur in nonsmokers. It’s not “caused by not smoking”. I.e. if you start smoking you’re at risk of those cancer plus the tobacco cancers.
pop: 100
Smoking: 20
Nonsmoking: 80
Cancer: 40
Smoking attributable cancer: 10.
nonsmoking cancer + cancers in smokers that weren’t attributable: 30.
Nonsmoking cancer rate: 30%
# Smokers with non-attributable cancer: 30% of 20 = 6.
# nonsmokers with NAC: 30% of 80 = 24.
NAC = 6+24 = 30
AC = 10.
Cancer number in smokers = smokers’ NAC + AC = 6+10 = 16.
Smoker’s cancer rate = 16/20*100
Fuck I hate doing it manually. But at least it doesn’t involve confidence intervals or p-values 🙂
Rosy, yeah i can,at 75% of the deaths from cancer each year that are not linked to tobacco you would have to say fresh air figures way above the 25% attributed to tobacco use…
Mc, good one,more mathematical gymnastics, BUT,as you figured it that way,(to suit how or what your thinking), then surely you can see that from the other,
IF 75% of cancer deaths have no link to tobacco use then it is obvious that even if they DID NOT use tobacco products 75% of those 25% of tobacco cancers would in fact get and die of cancer,
Do some rithmatic and tell us the answer to that one…
I guess you might have a point Bad12, seeing as cancer rates increase with age, so the longer you breathe….
Still that’s a pretty fatalistic attitude (pardon the pun) given the health experts know there are risk factors for particular cancers e.g. smoking and lung cancer, alcohol and breast cancer, cured meats and stomach cancer and so on.
Mc, i got that a little wrong,it should read that if the 25% of smokers didnt, their number would still be decimated by cancer deaths as the same rate as the % of the population that now die of non-smoking related cancer,
So,25% of cancer deaths a year down to just tobacco use, nah not even…
What’s your point? Everyone will eventually die? Agreed.
The issue is whether people drop dead of cancer or heart disease at 40 or 50, or heart disease or azheiners at 80 or 90. At the moment we have more of the former thqan the latter.
Thanks rosy i will take that point,as i need a few Mc keeps beating up on my brain wiff His rithmatic,
Gee i see that kids author, Margret Mahy, cancer got Her,i threw this one into the debate the other week,the biggest cause of death for us all is living, tick tock and one day the battery stops,
The problem with having such closed minds surrounding the supposedly iron clad statistics around cancers is that things might just get missed, fifty year old studies there might be, but, they didn’t have the study of genes back then,
As i pointed out in the debate the other week, there is one small gene study that shows that lung cancer at least is down to ‘genetic propensity’ where those who get the lung variety, both non and smokers, have a genetic anomaly at number 15 on the genome,(i think that’s how its described),
But how do those studying genetics gain the funding to do the really broad ranging research into such cancers where the shop is effectively closed by the medical fraternity and the politicians pushing their barrows,
My point there is IF the genetic anomaly is where lung cancer starts there is some small or large chance that such anomaly’s exist elsewhere on the genome which account for the other cancers,(and why we all don’t get em), once identified we are half way to the next step of looking for the treatment which stops those genetic anomaly’s from being able to produce cancers…
Sigh, It’s maths not math.. This is not America!
(Every time some careless idiot says “math”, or “center” or “theater” or “gotten”, David Bowie cries, and my father spins in his grave. He’s halfway to Italy by now, with all the careless stupid people who can’t spell, or who wish they lived in Oakland, Warshington, Denver or Connecticut!
No, there is a higher risk of dying from many cancers if you are a smoker.
Most notably cancers of the lung, esophagus, larynx, mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, pancreas, stomach, and cervix, as well as acute myeloid leukemia.
The immediate health benefits of quitting smoking are substantial:
Heart rate and blood pressure, which can be abnormally high while smoking, begin to return to normal. Within a few hours, the level of carbon monoxide in the blood begins to decline.
Within a few weeks, people who quit smoking have improved circulation, produce less phlegm, and don’t cough or wheeze as often.
Within several months of quitting, people can expect substantial improvements in lung function.
Before you post in response to this let me make it clear, if you want to continue smoking feel free it is not illegal and you personally may not suffer any of the adverse effects of smoking, across an population however, the adverse effects of smoking on morbidity and mortality are clear and have been proven with very robust studies many times.
Within a few weeks, people who quit smoking have improved circulation, produce less phlegm, and don’t cough or wheeze as often.
Oh how I wish that was true! (My experience of quitting in 1989, showed that it isn’t…) but if it was, it would give me much more of an incentive to quit!
Given that my experience has also shown that any coughing/wheezing I do is directly related to vehicle exhausts, in that I visit a friend in Wellington, who lives in a ghastly semi-rural area where there’s maybe one car a day, and I don’t cough – I come home, walk along Carrington Road past buses, and B-Double diesel road trains, and cough as if I am dying, quitting smoking will not help. But if I die soon, watch my death certificate say I died of smoking, even if I die because one of those barsteward diesels hit me and smacked me into the next world!
Oh how I wish that was true! (My experience of quitting in 1989, showed that it isn’t…) but if it was, it would give me much more of an incentive to quit!
And yet my experience is that it is. I also dropped about 5 years in the “looks” department – in other words, I looked younger (about 5 years younger).
Given that my experience has also shown that any coughing/wheezing I do is directly related to vehicle exhausts, in that I visit a friend in Wellington, who lives in a ghastly semi-rural area where there’s maybe one car a day, and I don’t cough
Yep. I’ve had that as well. Moving from Auckland to Dunedin did it for me – until I started coughing again a few months later. That said, Auckland cars cause significant deaths per year from respiratory diseases.
Because I have followed your comments for the last few weeks regarding smoking and your ideas fly directly in the face of the overwhelming medical and scientific consensus not to mention over 50 years of study, research, double blind and peer reviewed scientific inquiry.
You’re up against it mr bad12… but don’t fret as the current crusade to stop everyone smoking goes against the grain of human history and I predict that the current amonoly will disappear in the future and big chunks of the population will start smoking again. It’s just too desireable. 2c
Oh i don’t fret, what i do do though is get angry at attempts to stop me consuming a product that i am legally allowed to consume when punitive taxation is used to try and leverage the issue,
That of course would also require me to believe that such taxation is being applied to me for the stated reasons and is not just a revenue grab,
The Treasury in it’s briefing to the Government seems to believe it to be the latter even going so far as to advise the Government that such taxation was good because the users of the product are addicts who mostly WON’T give up use of the product…
PS, note the first comment in open mike today, never mind who put it there, BUT, the sponsor of that particular piece of Legislation is also a vocal anti-smoking campaigner who in the Legislation She is attempting to promote into the Statutes wants everyone to have the right to self determine the point of their death,
See any shadow of the hypocrite between the anti-smoking and ‘the right to self determine the point of ones death???…
Really mr draco? I have never been able to understand the apparent lack of reconciliation between, say, anti-smoking policy, allowing boxers to smash each other causing brain damage, euthansia type proposals, allowing the sale of cars that do 150mph and kill people, and etc.
How are they not mismatched and hypocritical?
edit: oh, and lets not forget the mismatch with alcohol policies too
One affects only you, the other affects everyone else as well.
Yes, there are mismatches and we really should be looking at them as well. The law has become far too complex over the centuries with huge amounts of loopholes and contradictions and so what is required is a wholesale dumping and replacement of that existing law. Unfortunately, today’s political parties just don’t seem capable of doing that and so they play around on the edges making it even more complex and convoluted and not fixing anything.
But, of course, treating us as lepers also affects our health.
So e.g. ranting about the trace-element risk of passive smoking from smokers in public open-air spaces, or even ranting at them in a very confrontational manner, endangers their health. Rather hypocritical, don’t you think?
1.) That has nothing to do with what I said
2.) You’re the ones inflicting the risk of death upon others. If you then get upset about others pointing this out then I suggest you ask yourself who’s to blame.
1) You seemed to imply that if euthanasia affected others, then supporting it while opposing smoking would be hypocritical. I actually think that risking the lives of others by forcing a confrontation is just as hypocritical.
2) Bullshit. We’re not talking smoke-filled workplaces here. A footpath by its very nature is a fleeting exposure at minimal concentrations. Think “smoke-alarm or VDU probability”. And if that’s too much for you, it’s a footpath. Walk away, just as you would if I failed to bath or had lousy fashion sense. Don’t endanger my life and yours with a confrontation, and don’t endanger my life by legislating that I be treated like a leper so that the police escalate the confrontation for you.
After all, the chances are that the smoker is addicted. Not much choice there. What next, kicking crutches away from the disabled because they take up too much of the footpath?
edit: “Yes, and?” . . . and I went on to explain the relevance.
It’s a cigarette. Not a confrontation. Or should we never do anything in case some deranged obsessive has no sense of perspective and abuses, even assauts us?
Suicide is illegal no matter how slow and painful it is.
Those shadows are on most smokers lungs
Addicts are selfish
When an addict is cornered the excuses just keep coming.
So if its so good how come most smokers achually want to Quit.
But Can’t why is that.
It damages families when your loved ones don,t have someone as their rock
So subsidizing Giant Corporations sucks especially when they have been proven to be liars and frauds conning our healthy young people to get addicted You can tell a smokers face
a mile a way .
Bad 12 you have been hooked line and stinker.
Kids get asthma from smokers
Only caught the first part of Question Time in the House today. Half-time report …
Key can’t stand Norman. It’s really funny, he’s a primary school kid getting shown up in front of the class, and he hates it. Key was reduced to shouting “Rubbish! You iz rubbish!”.
Robertson did a pretty good forensic job on Key. It may not be a headline-grabber, but it still keeps up the pressure. Shearer did OK on the Monday holidays issue, though again I lament the missed opportunities (why let Key get away with the desperate ANZAC card? Couldn’t somebody just … “Point of order, I seek leave to table an Australian calendar … seek leave to table reports of Australian ANZAC ceremonies”, etc, etc).
Russell Norman didn’t make Slippery look like a ‘total dick’, the Prime Minister has been that all along, Russell just provided Him the opportunity to highlight the fact…
I would like to add my voice to those of many people of conscience, around the world, in urging President Correa of Ecuador to grant political asylum to Julian Assange. The editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks is currently inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
The British courts shamefully refused Mr. Assange’s appeal against extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning in response to accusations of sexual molestation (no criminal charges have been made against him). Mr. Assange has said he is willing to answer questions relating to accusations against him, but to do so in the UK. He has good reason not to want to be extradited to Sweden, as he could find himself imprisoned in solitary confinement, and then very likely extradited to an American prison.
The American media has reported that the U.S. Justice Department and the Pentagon conducted a criminal investigation into “whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange violated criminal laws in the group’s release of government documents, including possible charges under the Espionage Act.” Mr. Assange’s only crime is he cared enough about people to respect their right to the truth, and he had the courage and bravery to print the truth, and in the process he embarrassed powerful governments.
The WikiLeaks release of thousands of State Department cables, and of the video footage from an Apache helicopter of a 2007 incident in which the U.S. military appears to have deliberately killed civilians, including two Reuters employees, revealed crimes against humanity. For this “truth telling,” he has incurred the wrath of the U.S. government, and has been targeted in a most vindictive way (as has Private Bradley Manning). (I support WikiLeaks right to publish leaked information, as it is in the interest of the public and their right to know. WikiLeaks were not the leakers or whistleblowers but an on-line news media).
Many believe there are those in high places who not only wish to punish Assange for outing them, but want to make an example of him so others will remain silent. They will not rest until Assange is behind bars in the USA and there are even some American politicians who have put Assange’s life in grave danger by calling for him to be assassinated.
It is ironic that Assange’s basic human rights have been breached since he is a journalist working for people’s rights to a free press and the freedom of speech.
The Australian, Swedish and UK governments have a responsibility to see that this man of courage be treated fairly and with justice. He ought to be allowed to tell his story in the UK when he can prove whether the incompetent and contradictory accusations against him are true or false.
It must also be remembered if Assange ends up in an American prison for a long time, in grave danger to his life, and maybe even face the death penalty, we all have to ask, “Who next?” and “Where goes freedom, human rights, and justice?”
We, as world citizens, need to support Julian Assange, who tried to protect the innocent by outing the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is they who should, one day, be made accountable for their crimes.
Grant Asylum to Assange
The British courts shamefully examined all the legal issues and decided to extradite him to Sweden so a sex crime investigation could progress. No charges have been laid as a result of him leaving the country before an arranged investigative interview.
Mr Assange says he is willing to be interviewed under conditions of his choosing, just like he said he was for the interview he failed to attend when he left Sweden.
Sweden is a client state of the US, apparently much more so than the UK.
Wikileaks pissed off the US.
Because he volunteered to be the face of wikileaks, the US is pissed off at him, too.
Assange is a journalist working for freedom, so it is a violation of his human rights to be investigated for rape.
The Swedish justice system should take place in the UK, at Assange’s convenience.
If Assange is granted asylum by Ecuador, we would all have to ask “so if I was really famous, I could get away with rape?” or even “if someone famous rapes you, don’t even bother reporting it because the cops won’t be able to do anything and the rapist’s fans will plaster your name all over the internet and make all sorts of crap up about you. Much better to just keep letting rapists rape with impunity”.
After all, if someone pisses off the americans, they should get a free pass on sexual assault investigations.
Hmmmm…. here’s a true clash of the Titans. McFlock versus Mairead Maguire. Which one is serious, thoughtful and formidably well informed? And which one is, well, … none of those?
And who merely cut&pastes without anything himself?
I’ve given plenty of my own opinions on many topics. Maybe you’ve seen them.
Except, today, an appeal to authority.
With respect, I don’t think you know what you’re talking about. By printing her appeal, I have merely pointed out another leading human rights and peace activist calling for Ecuador to grant asylum to the U.S. regime’s most feared and detested political dissident. I have argued Assange’s case in my own words on many occasions. But, yes, Mairead Maguire’s testimony is certainly authoritative, and compelling. Compare her moral and intellectual stature with that of the people whose rancid and witless views you choose to parrot on this site.
Really persuasive /sarc
I’m being scolded for sarcasm by somebody who launched into that bizarre “so if I was really famous” fugue on message 11.1. Now THAT’s funny!
If Ecuador does grant asylum they should also say that the rape will also be carried out under Swedish law. It would just happen in their country with no possibility of extradition to the US.
I’m not able to speculate on whether or not some line was crossed by Assange during his sexual encounters with two women in Sweden.
But when I look at the corporate media coverage of the former IMF chief, where they were quite happy to denigate the victim in what looked like, from the evidence supplied, a fairly straight forward case of sexual assault. And I contrast that with their equally happy commitment to denigating Assange, there is one obvious observation.
In both cases the media is siding with power. And that makes me uneasy.
Bill 11 1 3
That’s a point. It does make an interesting comparison. Mr Dominic whatname can do whatever, and has done whatever before, but can wriggle out of it. Whereas Assange might have thought that his women truly liked him for himself, till they were advised this was not a reasonable point of view. Now he is to be charged and the hounds are after him.
For the wealthy, they can get away with much, especially if they pay for it. Did Mr Dominic not pay? This maid must be short of money, and women’s self-respect and agency is always regarded by such men as open to tender. The coldness that lies behind men’s eyes…
In fact Strauss-Kahn got away with it for years. He was charged only when he dared to suggest the IMF should water down their Neo-liberal approach, because of the harm it was doing.
Similarly. It is unlikely Assuage would have been charged with sex crimes in Sweden, without the politics. Note that the first prosecutor said there was no valid case. So they massaged (if that is the right word) the evidence a little.
When are the troops in Afghanistan, and their leaders from Bush down, going to be charged with the massacres of unarmed civilians.
The establishment had no particular reason to go after Strauss-Kahn. On the other hand, Assange has to be destroyed. The zeal with which they are going after him is similar to Soviet anti-dissident campaigns in the 1930s.
Ok, in what way is asking Assange to defend himself in Sweden similar to Soviet anti-dissident campaigns in the 1930s? And, no, ‘they’re both countries in Northern Europe’ isn’t the right answer.
Ok, in what way is asking Assange to defend himself in Sweden similar to Soviet anti-dissident campaigns in the 1930s?
The full power of the state apparatus is aimed at Assange, who is a dissident non-pareil in the West. The state apparatus consists of secret machinations against the target, backed up by compliant and largely unquestioning media, which is where most of the public gets its “opinions” from. That’s what you are doing, unwittingly: parroting official lies and propaganda. The spectacle of immense state power being wielded against a target has parallels only with totalitarian regimes like Stalin’s, and Mao’s in the 1960s.
And, no, ‘they’re both countries in Northern Europe’ isn’t the right answer.
There he goes again, with the trivialization. Not funny, either.
Much huffing and puffing by Jim and his panelists over the rogue shooting by a clearly deranged man in Colorado. Bit of a contrast with the way they all but ignored the most recent massacre by U.S. troops in Afghanistan. As I do occasionally, I decided to goad Mr Mora’s conscience…
Dear Jim,
I am intrigued that you and your panelists continue to talk about James Holmes’ bloody rampage in a Denver cinema. I cannot recall you expressing similar concern about an even bloodier shooting spree just four months ago, when one Robert Bales killed sixteen civilians, most of them children who were sleeping. He then poured chemicals over their dead bodies and set fire to them.
This surely merited discussion on your programme, but neither you nor Susan Baldacci saw fit to mention it. Was that because Robert Bales was a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army and his victims were not Americans but Afghan civilians?
Much huffing and puffing by Jim and his panelists over the rogue shooting by a clearly deranged man in Colorado.
Did you read this? I’m not going to say that it’s definitive but it does raise some interesting questions. Was he deranged or had he snapped/driven under the pressures of modern society? Is there a difference?
Today David Shearer said:
“Labour is conscious of the need to be thrifty and to make sure that the extension to paid parental leave is affordable. We will work with other political parties and experts, including Treasury and IRD, to find a workable solution in the current economic climate”
We do not have to apologise or be ‘nice’ about seeking to legislate for these conditions.
The Kiwi worker is the most Dilligent, hard-working, most hours working, flexible working pattern employee in the world.
Why the fuck should we consult with National to get these minor increments to our work conditions. Will the EMA/ National do anything other use every card in the deck to block us?
Have we lost the fucking plot? Jesus wept! Who is writing his press releases?
A Labour opportunity lost. They could have got behind a positive thing for motorists and road safety but no. They had to agree with the NACToid, I think Collins, who criticised the idea of police having marked camera vans. It only slows down people for a moment said NACT and Labour’s transport safety spokesperson Iain Lees-Galloway agreed. So WTF? It is a safety symbol that will affect people’s behaviour, it is more transparent and it’s not sneaky to have the signage but NACT and Labour thought it was wasting money. Oh how pathetic.
You’re the ones inflicting the risk of death upon others.
How exactly DtB, are we inflicting the risk of death upon you or anyone else? Ok, we are at a bus stop, in the open air. I am smoking. Diesel buses are roaring past us every few minutes.
You screech and scream at me that my cigarette is endangering your life, even though you’re sitting in the shelter, and I am standing in the wind or rain 3 metres away. You’re breathing in particulates from the diesel exhaust, and mistaking them for the smoke that’s blowing away from you at 50 kph..
I would laugh if it wasn’t making me so angry.
(Based on true encounters.)
Well.
1.) I can tell the difference between diesel and cigarette smoke
2.) I’d be cursing both
3.) I wouldn’t actually be cursing you because, despite the fact that it’s a disgusting habit, I would also recognise that you’re making an effort not to inflict it upon me
When did Christine (Spankin’) Rankin become a “child advocate”?
Last time I saw this snarling harridan, she was advocating the right of people to beat their children. I’ve just seen her on TV1’s pisspoor Closeup programme, and she was called a “child advocate” on several occasions by Mark Sainsbury.
When did Spankin’ Rankin stop advocating the beating of children and become a child advocate?
The pressing thing for the National Party Ladies Home Journal (read Joanne Black talk about her kids and how crap people who exploit people for reality tv are) is the Labour -Green coalition possibility-
The main-stream polls are still the usual National way ahead but tracking downward, but, it’s National’s own polling which has got them lashing out angrily at all and sundry,
Apparently they show Labour/Green within a few percentage points of National whose slump has made ‘them’ believe that if their polling occurred on election day 2014 they couldn’t do it with the ‘Hairdo’, John(the convicted)Banks, and, the current number of Maori Party MP’s,
NZFirst isn’t going away either and if that Party were to be included in a Labour/Green coalition then it is game over for the Tory’s anytime they want to call an election…
Justice Minister Judith Collins said Anzac day was a day of commemoration and remembering the dead.
“Frankly to reduce it into a three day weekend is, I think, very disrespectful to the people whose lives have been lost. If people need to have a holiday to go and actually turn up at dawn parade then there’s something wrong.”
Is this the reason we didn’t have Old Shonkey fronting the issue?
That’s as English—and New Zealand—as it is American.
Oh don’t be absurd! It may be New Zealand, (and even then, only New Zealand in the last 20 years) but it is absolutely not English! I should know.
Yes, McFlock, I did forget to close the brackets, I often do! Too many subordinate clauses, – I hope they don’t tax you unduly, Morrissey? I simply abhor inaccuracies, and I equally abhor the somewhat grovelling nature of New Zealand’s cultural cringe before all things American. I saw an example in the programme on TV3 about tattooing – a Maori man with prison tattoos was making out that they are legitimate cultural tatts, when as far as i could see, that was not the case. “No different than” he said – and I just sighed. He looked older than Don Brash, who was the first gastropod to say “different than” on NZ TV (in January). No one in his 70s grew up saying ‘different than’. The bl**dy Yanks don’t need to bomb NZ, or even to take us over with money – if American troops marched up Queen Street tomorrow, ‘Kiwis’ would fight each other for the privilege of throwing flowers and licking Amerikan boots. Women would fling themselves at the feet of the American troops, flinging their skirts over their heads and their legs in the air.
if this writer (i.e., moi) were to tell you that he looks just like Julian Assange?
I’d say ‘Cool!’ (I am superficial like that, and have a weakness for blond men). 😀
However, I am guaranteed to be older than you are, so you’d never be interested…
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Labour list MP Maryan Street has added her End of Life Choice Bill to the ballot. This tries to address controversial euthanasia issues.
This is a well researched and consulted bill, and deserves to be voted through the Select Committee for public input and MP debate.
Once again when considering euthanasia legals we have the know-all approach, the controller, the do it my way, about choice of death. If I get old and tired and pissed off enough and would like to go through the process of preparation and certification so I can go when I want to, that should be my right, without some supercilious jerk telling me that I’m not sick enough.
Keeping up the standards of English in interviews with our elected members.
What say we highlight incidents every time they do it, with a hope
that one of their more literate colleagues might have the guts to correct
them.
For starters.
John Key and Paula Bennett (both)
“There are children which …”
“There’s lots of …”
John Key
“Anythink”
Logie 97, you missed this charming dispatch from Keystania in yesterday’s Dom Post:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/7335984/John-Key-delivers-another-clanger
Oh dear…..
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Domicility
John Key’s poor understanding of our language is an absolute indication that he is poorly read. He is not a deep man. He has little understanding of wider society. He is just a shallow dipstick with a forked tongue.
He uses words like he uses numbers.
the ‘prime ministers hour’ is coming up again on radio live, starting to advertise it. the last one was very enlightening. his shallowness & blankness came out loud & clear. that day i put the radio on & heard a very serious news reporters voice saying our credit rating had been downgraded, then i hear john keys bubbly air headed radio dj blather, it was quite surreal. all that ‘how are the hobbit movies doing sir peter my freind?’, the strange way he says ‘sir’, so bad its good (but not really good, still very bad) kinda entertainment.
So, that would be more free advertising for NACT from MediaWorks?
SIGH! 😀
I am keeping a wee note of what my late brother called ‘blutions’ on Radio NZ in particular, and some TV ones, and ‘there’s lots of’ crops up a lot!
Nucular is another one and one guy on TV3 keeps referring to the ‘Tullybin’ instead of saying Taliban…
The producers of a new film and book think that Tonga, a place often overlooked or mocked by New Zealanders, can provide solutions to the problems of education and race relations in this country:
http://www.readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/tongas-mental-athletes.html
I think the right wing and business part of NZ politics has really lost it… some examples just this morning;
1. The newly formed Heartland Bank is offering loans to its execs to buy the bank’s shares, apparently as an incentive. This is what Lachie McLeod at South Canterbury Finance got and look what it made him do – all sorts of terrible lending and carry on, ultimately hastening its demise. That Heartland has to offer such is an admission that the business model is flawed. Also, beware, Heartland is tied up with all them blu-nosed Cantabs off the last four ships such as George Kerr and they tend to make mincemeat of these things.
2. Gerry Browlee has been swiped by the High Court over his land zoning decision-making process in Christchurch. Following Skycity casino being reviewed, and the Akaroa marine reserve decision being tossed out, and others, it shows this government are cowboys with a completely cavalier attitude.
3. The welfare handouts to firstly teh NZX, a private business, in the sale of state assets to bolster the NZX’s performance is nothing short of a ripoff. I have a business that is struggling, can I please have a government handout too?
4. The looters bonus share scheme in the sale of assets is also an admission that the business model around the floats is flawed and incapable of success without the taxpayer subsidising it.
Seriously, this lot are incompetent. It feels like a last gasp for the right wing, a final grab of air before silently slipping beneath the waves for good. Not a single one of their major activities at the moment is worthy. They are not up to scratch. They are wheelers, dealers and wide boys with not a skeric of deeper understanding of the communities they live in. Fail.
You’ll probably find that those Heartland Bank loans to its execs don’t have to be repaid. In other words, it’s most likely an under the table bonus that doesn’t have to pay tax on and is also in line for untaxed capital gains.
Surely IRD would be all over that like a rash.
I suppose that would be dependent upon the language used. I seem to recall something like it happening a few years ago. Can’t remember where though.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7345081/MPs-to-discuss-pay-in-secret
Yay, secret government!
Sir Humphrey will save us.
….. as always a pox on all their houses would be suitable karma.
Another judicial ruling against National. Court finds minister acted unlawfully:
I wonder when that higher standard of accountability thing that Key talked about is going to appear?
Shock Horror!!! 25% of cancer deaths are caused by smoking, wow,
Said another way, 75% of cancer deaths are caused by not smoking,
And who would have thinked it, there’s a 20/80% split in the adult population who do and don’t use tobacco products
link?
http://www.smokefree.org.nz/faqs-1
Ok, that goes back to cancer society, and that goes back to a CS factsheet, which references this. That gives attrib vs nonattrib rates for mortality. If you want to find out how they identified attributable deaths without hard data on pop smoking rates, it seems that they used this method. I.e. usung a function of lung cancer mortality as a proxy for smoking rates, given that the relationship between smoking and lung cancer is well travelled. Sometimes you have to put together workarounds to compare international apples with apples.
Have a read of them, in particular the age breakdowns.
Your not a used car salesman by any chance are you???
In effect your accusing Smokefree New Zealand and a number of other organizations using the ”25% of all cancer deaths are caused by smoking” of spreading misinformation???…
No.
I was pointing out how you could go back to the original research and see how those percentage cuts are possible.
To make it simple, let’s use an hypothetical population of 100 (i.e. the raw number = the total population rate %) in a 1 year snapshot:
100 people.
40 cancers.
20 smokers.
80 non-smokers.
30 cancers in non-smokers.
10 cancers in smokers.
Total cancer incidence: 40%.
Non-smoker cancer incidence: 37.5% (30/80*100)
smoker cancer incidence: 50% (10/20*100)
% of cancers in non-smokers: 75%
% of cancers in smokers: 25%
And we can actually calculate the number of cancers attributable to smoking in this population (although HS might want to check my math if they can be bothered – I tend to put things in the wrong order when doing it manually ❓ ):
smokingCancers-(smokingpop * nonsmokingIncidenceRate) = attributable cases.
10 – (20*0.375) = ac
10 – 7.5 = 2.5
So in that population of 100, each year on average 2.5 cancer deaths are attributable to smoking.
The actual numbers, if you go back to source, are the same ratios, just much bigger numbers.
Which just proves the Smokefree link is correct,
Not smoking causes 75% of cancer deaths in any given year,
Smoking causes 25% of cancer deaths in any given year,
The percentage of the NZ population who do and do not smoke is 19.9% who do and the rest don’t,
So, as far as DYING from cancer goes theres just as much chance, or more,of snuffing it with cancer whether or not you have ever smoked,
The difference being, and i havn’t had my nose in the figures for this yet, is the age at which one cohort snuffs it as opposed to the non-smoking cohort right???…
No. Read it again:
By those ratios, you are 1/3 more likely to die of cancer if you smoke, than if you don’t.
50-37.5 = 12.5, 12.5 = 1/3 of 37.5, therefore smoking = 1.33*nonsmoking.
This is nowhere near “as much chance if not more”. It’s “smoking seriously increase the chance you will die of cancer”.
Your mathematical gymnastics amuse me Mc, if 25% of the cancer deaths in any given year in New Zealand are caused by smoking then 75% of the cancer deaths in any given year are caused by people who do not smoke,
Sorry you cannot grapple with that little fact, perhaps you have been educated into being unable to grasp the simple fact,
It takes no complicated mathematics, either the ‘Smoke-free’ 25% of cancer deaths a year is wrong or my outlandish assertion that ‘not smoking’ causes 75% of the yearly deaths from cancer is right…
“then 75% of the cancer deaths in any given year are caused by people who do not smoke”
…then 75% of the cancer deaths in any given year are not caused by smoking. fify.
btw, can you name another single product that causes 25% of all cancer deaths in a given year?
Wow. That piece of stupidity actually did help me see a problem in my math. I confused incidence with attrubutable number (i.e. “caused by”). 75% occur in nonsmokers. It’s not “caused by not smoking”. I.e. if you start smoking you’re at risk of those cancer plus the tobacco cancers.
pop: 100
Smoking: 20
Nonsmoking: 80
Cancer: 40
Smoking attributable cancer: 10.
nonsmoking cancer + cancers in smokers that weren’t attributable: 30.
Nonsmoking cancer rate: 30%
# Smokers with non-attributable cancer: 30% of 20 = 6.
# nonsmokers with NAC: 30% of 80 = 24.
NAC = 6+24 = 30
AC = 10.
Cancer number in smokers = smokers’ NAC + AC = 6+10 = 16.
Smoker’s cancer rate = 16/20*100
Fuck I hate doing it manually. But at least it doesn’t involve confidence intervals or p-values 🙂
Nah.
But motor vehicles seem to be involved in 75% of road fatalities.
But motor vehicles seem to be involved in 75% of road fatalities.
I learn something everyday…. not much chance of me being in a road fatality because I’m not a motor vehicle … 😉
(now when I step outside I’m going to have to cross my fingers to ward off sod’s law)
Rosy, yeah i can,at 75% of the deaths from cancer each year that are not linked to tobacco you would have to say fresh air figures way above the 25% attributed to tobacco use…
Mc, good one,more mathematical gymnastics, BUT,as you figured it that way,(to suit how or what your thinking), then surely you can see that from the other,
IF 75% of cancer deaths have no link to tobacco use then it is obvious that even if they DID NOT use tobacco products 75% of those 25% of tobacco cancers would in fact get and die of cancer,
Do some rithmatic and tell us the answer to that one…
I guess you might have a point Bad12, seeing as cancer rates increase with age, so the longer you breathe….
Still that’s a pretty fatalistic attitude (pardon the pun) given the health experts know there are risk factors for particular cancers e.g. smoking and lung cancer, alcohol and breast cancer, cured meats and stomach cancer and so on.
Mc, i got that a little wrong,it should read that if the 25% of smokers didnt, their number would still be decimated by cancer deaths as the same rate as the % of the population that now die of non-smoking related cancer,
So,25% of cancer deaths a year down to just tobacco use, nah not even…
Sigh.
It’s math, not gymnastics.
What’s your point? Everyone will eventually die? Agreed.
The issue is whether people drop dead of cancer or heart disease at 40 or 50, or heart disease or azheiners at 80 or 90. At the moment we have more of the former thqan the latter.
Thanks rosy i will take that point,as i need a few Mc keeps beating up on my brain wiff His rithmatic,
Gee i see that kids author, Margret Mahy, cancer got Her,i threw this one into the debate the other week,the biggest cause of death for us all is living, tick tock and one day the battery stops,
The problem with having such closed minds surrounding the supposedly iron clad statistics around cancers is that things might just get missed, fifty year old studies there might be, but, they didn’t have the study of genes back then,
As i pointed out in the debate the other week, there is one small gene study that shows that lung cancer at least is down to ‘genetic propensity’ where those who get the lung variety, both non and smokers, have a genetic anomaly at number 15 on the genome,(i think that’s how its described),
But how do those studying genetics gain the funding to do the really broad ranging research into such cancers where the shop is effectively closed by the medical fraternity and the politicians pushing their barrows,
My point there is IF the genetic anomaly is where lung cancer starts there is some small or large chance that such anomaly’s exist elsewhere on the genome which account for the other cancers,(and why we all don’t get em), once identified we are half way to the next step of looking for the treatment which stops those genetic anomaly’s from being able to produce cancers…
Sigh, It’s maths not math.. This is not America!
(Every time some careless idiot says “math”, or “center” or “theater” or “gotten”, David Bowie cries, and my father spins in his grave. He’s halfway to Italy by now, with all the careless stupid people who can’t spell, or who wish they lived in Oakland, Warshington, Denver or Connecticut!
youz done forgot to close them curvey brackets.
Sigh, It’s maths not math.. This is not America!
The American version makes much more sense. I’m all for ditching “maths” with its ridiculous “ths” diphthong.
(Every time some careless idiot says “math”,
or “center” or “theater”
I think you mean every time some careless idiot WRITES “center’ or “theater”.
or “gotten”,
That’s as English—and New Zealand—as it is American. Come ON, Vicky.
David Bowie cries,
Let’s just hope his crying is not as inept and cringe-inducing as his “dancing”…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzig8muClrc
No, there is a higher risk of dying from many cancers if you are a smoker.
Most notably cancers of the lung, esophagus, larynx, mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, pancreas, stomach, and cervix, as well as acute myeloid leukemia.
The immediate health benefits of quitting smoking are substantial:
Heart rate and blood pressure, which can be abnormally high while smoking, begin to return to normal. Within a few hours, the level of carbon monoxide in the blood begins to decline.
Within a few weeks, people who quit smoking have improved circulation, produce less phlegm, and don’t cough or wheeze as often.
Within several months of quitting, people can expect substantial improvements in lung function.
Before you post in response to this let me make it clear, if you want to continue smoking feel free it is not illegal and you personally may not suffer any of the adverse effects of smoking, across an population however, the adverse effects of smoking on morbidity and mortality are clear and have been proven with very robust studies many times.
Oh how I wish that was true! (My experience of quitting in 1989, showed that it isn’t…) but if it was, it would give me much more of an incentive to quit!
Given that my experience has also shown that any coughing/wheezing I do is directly related to vehicle exhausts, in that I visit a friend in Wellington, who lives in a ghastly semi-rural area where there’s maybe one car a day, and I don’t cough – I come home, walk along Carrington Road past buses, and B-Double diesel road trains, and cough as if I am dying, quitting smoking will not help. But if I die soon, watch my death certificate say I died of smoking, even if I die because one of those barsteward diesels hit me and smacked me into the next world!
and a longer life HS something not to be scoughed at.
May be they are that unhappy in their lives they prefer to drag it out
No mre puffery from me
And yet my experience is that it is. I also dropped about 5 years in the “looks” department – in other words, I looked younger (about 5 years younger).
Yep. I’ve had that as well. Moving from Auckland to Dunedin did it for me – until I started coughing again a few months later. That said, Auckland cars cause significant deaths per year from respiratory diseases.
I certainly hope no one takes your pro smoking crusade seriously, bad12.
Reason???
Because I have followed your comments for the last few weeks regarding smoking and your ideas fly directly in the face of the overwhelming medical and scientific consensus not to mention over 50 years of study, research, double blind and peer reviewed scientific inquiry.
Does the link provided above ‘fly in the face’ of all that too???…
No.
You’re up against it mr bad12… but don’t fret as the current crusade to stop everyone smoking goes against the grain of human history and I predict that the current amonoly will disappear in the future and big chunks of the population will start smoking again. It’s just too desireable. 2c
The evidence is not on your side bad12. As a smoker I’d love it to be otherwise.
Oh i don’t fret, what i do do though is get angry at attempts to stop me consuming a product that i am legally allowed to consume when punitive taxation is used to try and leverage the issue,
That of course would also require me to believe that such taxation is being applied to me for the stated reasons and is not just a revenue grab,
The Treasury in it’s briefing to the Government seems to believe it to be the latter even going so far as to advise the Government that such taxation was good because the users of the product are addicts who mostly WON’T give up use of the product…
PS, note the first comment in open mike today, never mind who put it there, BUT, the sponsor of that particular piece of Legislation is also a vocal anti-smoking campaigner who in the Legislation She is attempting to promote into the Statutes wants everyone to have the right to self determine the point of their death,
See any shadow of the hypocrite between the anti-smoking and ‘the right to self determine the point of ones death???…
No.
Really mr draco? I have never been able to understand the apparent lack of reconciliation between, say, anti-smoking policy, allowing boxers to smash each other causing brain damage, euthansia type proposals, allowing the sale of cars that do 150mph and kill people, and etc.
How are they not mismatched and hypocritical?
edit: oh, and lets not forget the mismatch with alcohol policies too
One affects only you, the other affects everyone else as well.
Yes, there are mismatches and we really should be looking at them as well. The law has become far too complex over the centuries with huge amounts of loopholes and contradictions and so what is required is a wholesale dumping and replacement of that existing law. Unfortunately, today’s political parties just don’t seem capable of doing that and so they play around on the edges making it even more complex and convoluted and not fixing anything.
But, of course, treating us as lepers also affects our health.
So e.g. ranting about the trace-element risk of passive smoking from smokers in public open-air spaces, or even ranting at them in a very confrontational manner, endangers their health. Rather hypocritical, don’t you think?
1.) That has nothing to do with what I said
2.) You’re the ones inflicting the risk of death upon others. If you then get upset about others pointing this out then I suggest you ask yourself who’s to blame.
1) You seemed to imply that if euthanasia affected others, then supporting it while opposing smoking would be hypocritical. I actually think that risking the lives of others by forcing a confrontation is just as hypocritical.
2) Bullshit. We’re not talking smoke-filled workplaces here. A footpath by its very nature is a fleeting exposure at minimal concentrations. Think “smoke-alarm or VDU probability”. And if that’s too much for you, it’s a footpath. Walk away, just as you would if I failed to bath or had lousy fashion sense. Don’t endanger my life and yours with a confrontation, and don’t endanger my life by legislating that I be treated like a leper so that the police escalate the confrontation for you.
Yes, and?
How is a confrontation being forced? Hint: It’s not the non-smoker.
Nonsmoker choosing to make a big deal out of it.
After all, the chances are that the smoker is addicted. Not much choice there. What next, kicking crutches away from the disabled because they take up too much of the footpath?
edit: “Yes, and?” . . . and I went on to explain the relevance.
It’s possible to overcome the addiction and thus stop the confrontation.
It’s a cigarette. Not a confrontation. Or should we never do anything in case some deranged obsessive has no sense of perspective and abuses, even assauts us?
Open your mind then…
I’m not the one with a closed mind.
Suicide is illegal no matter how slow and painful it is.
Those shadows are on most smokers lungs
Addicts are selfish
When an addict is cornered the excuses just keep coming.
So if its so good how come most smokers achually want to Quit.
But Can’t why is that.
It damages families when your loved ones don,t have someone as their rock
So subsidizing Giant Corporations sucks especially when they have been proven to be liars and frauds conning our healthy young people to get addicted You can tell a smokers face
a mile a way .
Bad 12 you have been hooked line and stinker.
Kids get asthma from smokers
vto cuts to the chase
http://robertguyton.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/vto-cuts-to-chase.html
As i’ve posted on your blog rob it’s only fair that i put it here too
Only caught the first part of Question Time in the House today. Half-time report …
Key can’t stand Norman. It’s really funny, he’s a primary school kid getting shown up in front of the class, and he hates it. Key was reduced to shouting “Rubbish! You iz rubbish!”.
Robertson did a pretty good forensic job on Key. It may not be a headline-grabber, but it still keeps up the pressure. Shearer did OK on the Monday holidays issue, though again I lament the missed opportunities (why let Key get away with the desperate ANZAC card? Couldn’t somebody just … “Point of order, I seek leave to table an Australian calendar … seek leave to table reports of Australian ANZAC ceremonies”, etc, etc).
Overall, a pass mark for the Opposition.
Key is probably still shitty about yesterday’s Question Time. Norman made him look like a total dick.
Russell Norman didn’t make Slippery look like a ‘total dick’, the Prime Minister has been that all along, Russell just provided Him the opportunity to highlight the fact…
Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does politics.
Latest poll shows the Conservatives joining the mix …
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2012/4807/
Labour won’t win by default. Voters who get disillusioned with Brand Key can shop around … Colin Craig, Winston, Mana, the couch.
It should be hard for Labour to lose the next election. But first, they have to fight it.
It should be but it looks like they’ll succeed in losing anyway.
Grant Asylum to Assange
by Mairead Maguire
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31967.htm
July 23, 2012
I would like to add my voice to those of many people of conscience, around the world, in urging President Correa of Ecuador to grant political asylum to Julian Assange. The editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks is currently inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
The British courts shamefully refused Mr. Assange’s appeal against extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning in response to accusations of sexual molestation (no criminal charges have been made against him). Mr. Assange has said he is willing to answer questions relating to accusations against him, but to do so in the UK. He has good reason not to want to be extradited to Sweden, as he could find himself imprisoned in solitary confinement, and then very likely extradited to an American prison.
The American media has reported that the U.S. Justice Department and the Pentagon conducted a criminal investigation into “whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange violated criminal laws in the group’s release of government documents, including possible charges under the Espionage Act.” Mr. Assange’s only crime is he cared enough about people to respect their right to the truth, and he had the courage and bravery to print the truth, and in the process he embarrassed powerful governments.
The WikiLeaks release of thousands of State Department cables, and of the video footage from an Apache helicopter of a 2007 incident in which the U.S. military appears to have deliberately killed civilians, including two Reuters employees, revealed crimes against humanity. For this “truth telling,” he has incurred the wrath of the U.S. government, and has been targeted in a most vindictive way (as has Private Bradley Manning). (I support WikiLeaks right to publish leaked information, as it is in the interest of the public and their right to know. WikiLeaks were not the leakers or whistleblowers but an on-line news media).
Many believe there are those in high places who not only wish to punish Assange for outing them, but want to make an example of him so others will remain silent. They will not rest until Assange is behind bars in the USA and there are even some American politicians who have put Assange’s life in grave danger by calling for him to be assassinated.
It is ironic that Assange’s basic human rights have been breached since he is a journalist working for people’s rights to a free press and the freedom of speech.
The Australian, Swedish and UK governments have a responsibility to see that this man of courage be treated fairly and with justice. He ought to be allowed to tell his story in the UK when he can prove whether the incompetent and contradictory accusations against him are true or false.
It must also be remembered if Assange ends up in an American prison for a long time, in grave danger to his life, and maybe even face the death penalty, we all have to ask, “Who next?” and “Where goes freedom, human rights, and justice?”
We, as world citizens, need to support Julian Assange, who tried to protect the innocent by outing the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is they who should, one day, be made accountable for their crimes.
Mairead Maguire ( http://www.peacepeople.com ) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976.
Grant Asylum to Assange
The British courts shamefully examined all the legal issues and decided to extradite him to Sweden so a sex crime investigation could progress. No charges have been laid as a result of him leaving the country before an arranged investigative interview.
Mr Assange says he is willing to be interviewed under conditions of his choosing, just like he said he was for the interview he failed to attend when he left Sweden.
Sweden is a client state of the US, apparently much more so than the UK.
Wikileaks pissed off the US.
Because he volunteered to be the face of wikileaks, the US is pissed off at him, too.
Assange is a journalist working for freedom, so it is a violation of his human rights to be investigated for rape.
The Swedish justice system should take place in the UK, at Assange’s convenience.
If Assange is granted asylum by Ecuador, we would all have to ask “so if I was really famous, I could get away with rape?” or even “if someone famous rapes you, don’t even bother reporting it because the cops won’t be able to do anything and the rapist’s fans will plaster your name all over the internet and make all sorts of crap up about you. Much better to just keep letting rapists rape with impunity”.
After all, if someone pisses off the americans, they should get a free pass on sexual assault investigations.
Hmmmm…. here’s a true clash of the Titans. McFlock versus Mairead Maguire. Which one is serious, thoughtful and formidably well informed? And which one is, well, … none of those?
I’ll leave it to our regulars to work that out.
And who merely cut&pastes without anything himself? Except, today, an appeal to authority.
Really persuasive /sarc
And who merely cut&pastes without anything himself?
I’ve given plenty of my own opinions on many topics. Maybe you’ve seen them.
Except, today, an appeal to authority.
With respect, I don’t think you know what you’re talking about. By printing her appeal, I have merely pointed out another leading human rights and peace activist calling for Ecuador to grant asylum to the U.S. regime’s most feared and detested political dissident. I have argued Assange’s case in my own words on many occasions. But, yes, Mairead Maguire’s testimony is certainly authoritative, and compelling. Compare her moral and intellectual stature with that of the people whose rancid and witless views you choose to parrot on this site.
Really persuasive /sarc
I’m being scolded for sarcasm by somebody who launched into that bizarre “so if I was really famous” fugue on message 11.1. Now THAT’s funny!
If Ecuador does grant asylum they should also say that the rape will also be carried out under Swedish law. It would just happen in their country with no possibility of extradition to the US.
I’m not able to speculate on whether or not some line was crossed by Assange during his sexual encounters with two women in Sweden.
But when I look at the corporate media coverage of the former IMF chief, where they were quite happy to denigate the victim in what looked like, from the evidence supplied, a fairly straight forward case of sexual assault. And I contrast that with their equally happy commitment to denigating Assange, there is one obvious observation.
In both cases the media is siding with power. And that makes me uneasy.
Bill 11 1 3
That’s a point. It does make an interesting comparison. Mr Dominic whatname can do whatever, and has done whatever before, but can wriggle out of it. Whereas Assange might have thought that his women truly liked him for himself, till they were advised this was not a reasonable point of view. Now he is to be charged and the hounds are after him.
For the wealthy, they can get away with much, especially if they pay for it. Did Mr Dominic not pay? This maid must be short of money, and women’s self-respect and agency is always regarded by such men as open to tender. The coldness that lies behind men’s eyes…
In fact Strauss-Kahn got away with it for years. He was charged only when he dared to suggest the IMF should water down their Neo-liberal approach, because of the harm it was doing.
Similarly. It is unlikely Assuage would have been charged with sex crimes in Sweden, without the politics. Note that the first prosecutor said there was no valid case. So they massaged (if that is the right word) the evidence a little.
When are the troops in Afghanistan, and their leaders from Bush down, going to be charged with the massacres of unarmed civilians.
In both cases the media is siding with power.
The establishment had no particular reason to go after Strauss-Kahn. On the other hand, Assange has to be destroyed. The zeal with which they are going after him is similar to Soviet anti-dissident campaigns in the 1930s.
I think i may make hyperbole my word of the day. What do you think, Mozza?
I think i may make hyperbole my word of the day.
I think “trivialization” is the most appropriate word for your attitude, my friend.
Ok, in what way is asking Assange to defend himself in Sweden similar to Soviet anti-dissident campaigns in the 1930s? And, no, ‘they’re both countries in Northern Europe’ isn’t the right answer.
Ok, in what way is asking Assange to defend himself in Sweden similar to Soviet anti-dissident campaigns in the 1930s?
The full power of the state apparatus is aimed at Assange, who is a dissident non-pareil in the West. The state apparatus consists of secret machinations against the target, backed up by compliant and largely unquestioning media, which is where most of the public gets its “opinions” from. That’s what you are doing, unwittingly: parroting official lies and propaganda. The spectacle of immense state power being wielded against a target has parallels only with totalitarian regimes like Stalin’s, and Mao’s in the 1960s.
And, no, ‘they’re both countries in Northern Europe’ isn’t the right answer.
There he goes again, with the trivialization. Not funny, either.
An e-mail to Jim Mora
Wednesday July 25, 2012
Much huffing and puffing by Jim and his panelists over the rogue shooting by a clearly deranged man in Colorado. Bit of a contrast with the way they all but ignored the most recent massacre by U.S. troops in Afghanistan. As I do occasionally, I decided to goad Mr Mora’s conscience…
Dear Jim,
I am intrigued that you and your panelists continue to talk about James Holmes’ bloody rampage in a Denver cinema. I cannot recall you expressing similar concern about an even bloodier shooting spree just four months ago, when one Robert Bales killed sixteen civilians, most of them children who were sleeping. He then poured chemicals over their dead bodies and set fire to them.
This surely merited discussion on your programme, but neither you nor Susan Baldacci saw fit to mention it. Was that because Robert Bales was a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army and his victims were not Americans but Afghan civilians?
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
Did you get a reply? Do let us know if you do… Good luck! 🙂
Did you get a reply?
Not yet. I’ll keep you posted.
Did you read this? I’m not going to say that it’s definitive but it does raise some interesting questions. Was he deranged or had he snapped/driven under the pressures of modern society? Is there a difference?
Thank you, Mr Bastard. Very interesting indeed.
The Michael Douglas movie Falling Down was written about this very phenomena.
Today David Shearer said:
“Labour is conscious of the need to be thrifty and to make sure that the extension to paid parental leave is affordable. We will work with other political parties and experts, including Treasury and IRD, to find a workable solution in the current economic climate”
We do not have to apologise or be ‘nice’ about seeking to legislate for these conditions.
The Kiwi worker is the most Dilligent, hard-working, most hours working, flexible working pattern employee in the world.
Why the fuck should we consult with National to get these minor increments to our work conditions. Will the EMA/ National do anything other use every card in the deck to block us?
Have we lost the fucking plot? Jesus wept! Who is writing his press releases?
A Labour opportunity lost. They could have got behind a positive thing for motorists and road safety but no. They had to agree with the NACToid, I think Collins, who criticised the idea of police having marked camera vans. It only slows down people for a moment said NACT and Labour’s transport safety spokesperson Iain Lees-Galloway agreed. So WTF? It is a safety symbol that will affect people’s behaviour, it is more transparent and it’s not sneaky to have the signage but NACT and Labour thought it was wasting money. Oh how pathetic.
How exactly DtB, are we inflicting the risk of death upon you or anyone else? Ok, we are at a bus stop, in the open air. I am smoking. Diesel buses are roaring past us every few minutes.
You screech and scream at me that my cigarette is endangering your life, even though you’re sitting in the shelter, and I am standing in the wind or rain 3 metres away. You’re breathing in particulates from the diesel exhaust, and mistaking them for the smoke that’s blowing away from you at 50 kph..
I would laugh if it wasn’t making me so angry.
(Based on true encounters.)
Well.
1.) I can tell the difference between diesel and cigarette smoke
2.) I’d be cursing both
3.) I wouldn’t actually be cursing you because, despite the fact that it’s a disgusting habit, I would also recognise that you’re making an effort not to inflict it upon me
Personally, I am opposed to both.
And. I appreciate the, few, smokers who do make an effort to avoid making me smell them.
When did Christine (Spankin’) Rankin become a “child advocate”?
Last time I saw this snarling harridan, she was advocating the right of people to beat their children. I’ve just seen her on TV1’s pisspoor Closeup programme, and she was called a “child advocate” on several occasions by Mark Sainsbury.
When did Spankin’ Rankin stop advocating the beating of children and become a child advocate?
http://www.listener.co.nz/current-affairs/politics/jane-clifton-minority-report/
The pressing thing for the National Party Ladies Home Journal (read Joanne Black talk about her kids and how crap people who exploit people for reality tv are) is the Labour -Green coalition possibility-
The polls must be good!
The main-stream polls are still the usual National way ahead but tracking downward, but, it’s National’s own polling which has got them lashing out angrily at all and sundry,
Apparently they show Labour/Green within a few percentage points of National whose slump has made ‘them’ believe that if their polling occurred on election day 2014 they couldn’t do it with the ‘Hairdo’, John(the convicted)Banks, and, the current number of Maori Party MP’s,
NZFirst isn’t going away either and if that Party were to be included in a Labour/Green coalition then it is game over for the Tory’s anytime they want to call an election…
Justice Minister Judith Collins said Anzac day was a day of commemoration and remembering the dead.
“Frankly to reduce it into a three day weekend is, I think, very disrespectful to the people whose lives have been lost. If people need to have a holiday to go and actually turn up at dawn parade then there’s something wrong.”
Is this the reason we didn’t have Old Shonkey fronting the issue?
Oh don’t be absurd! It may be New Zealand, (and even then, only New Zealand in the last 20 years) but it is absolutely not English! I should know.
Yes, McFlock, I did forget to close the brackets, I often do! Too many subordinate clauses, – I hope they don’t tax you unduly, Morrissey? I simply abhor inaccuracies, and I equally abhor the somewhat grovelling nature of New Zealand’s cultural cringe before all things American. I saw an example in the programme on TV3 about tattooing – a Maori man with prison tattoos was making out that they are legitimate cultural tatts, when as far as i could see, that was not the case. “No different than” he said – and I just sighed. He looked older than Don Brash, who was the first gastropod to say “different than” on NZ TV (in January). No one in his 70s grew up saying ‘different than’. The bl**dy Yanks don’t need to bomb NZ, or even to take us over with money – if American troops marched up Queen Street tomorrow, ‘Kiwis’ would fight each other for the privilege of throwing flowers and licking Amerikan boots. Women would fling themselves at the feet of the American troops, flinging their skirts over their heads and their legs in the air.
feel better?
Women would fling themselves at the feet of the American troops, flinging their skirts over their heads and their legs in the air.
Sounds exactly like the reception that modern women give to Julian Assange.
At first glance, I’d do him! But then, as me old Mum used to say “handsome is as handsome does”.
And what would you say, Vicky, if this writer (i.e., moi) were to tell you that he looks just like Julian Assange?
I’d say ‘Cool!’ (I am superficial like that, and have a weakness for blond men). 😀
However, I am guaranteed to be older than you are, so you’d never be interested…