Guyon Espiner’s interview of Russell Norman on RNZ was a disgrace this morning
Is he paid by Shell, BP and. Exxon Mobil to conduct interviews like this?
was he asking hard questions of russell? should Russ be given a free pass because it’s public radio and he works for a political activist movement? jesus wept, guyon gives everyone grief. he’s angling for kim hills hallowed crown.
Ad hominems don’t make an argument.
It would appear you revert to name calling quite regularly on these threads.
The whole ‘conspiracy theory’ charge is always used to shut down debate. If your intention is to silence certain opinions, it won’t work.
.
Is this the ghost of the future?… beware ‘book-building method’ …. The european taxpayers bailed out Greek banks and now the corporate vultures have ‘looted’ it all…. is this for real?
The banking system is a joke. It is a joke here and it is a joke over there. The world’s largest ponzi scheme running wild and out of control…
…. but don’t worry eh folks, not really happening. And interest rates lowest for half a century – shows the system is working eh… nah, actually shows the wheels are falling off right now. That is what extreme low interest rates show. It is a canary on the ponzi ferris wheel of fools.
An excellent example of why the control of every nations’ economy should be taken back from the banks and returned to the “sovereign” governments that are ‘democratically’ elected to RUN those countries.
As i (dimly) understand it, money creation within a country was once something that was handled by governments and not by the banks. Perhaps some economic historian out there could fill us in on how, when and why that was changed. And more importantly how we have been better as a consequence of these changes?
By “we” of course i’m referring to most of us, and most definitely NOT just the 1% who have undoubtedly benefited from the changes.
Laws that make it illegal for you to print your own £5 or £10 notes have been in place since 1844. But when these laws were passed, they overlooked the fact that money can also exist in the form of bank deposits (the numbers in people’s bank accounts). Because of this oversight, banks now have the power to create money through a simple accounting entry. As a result, today almost all money exists as electronic bank deposits, and is created when banks make loans.
It’s never quite as simple as that and David Graeber in his Debt: The first 5000 years notes the use of debt based currency in Sumer ~5000 years ago. IMO, it’s no coincidence that all religions that come out of the Cradle of Civilisation ban interest/usury outright.
Says every thing that needs to be said about large corporates. I hate to think of the amount they would have spent on lawyers trying to find a way to take advantage of Greek financial desperation.
It only makes it worse that once they did find it they all jumpped in and ruthlessly plundered a country that is trying deperately to get back on its feet.
What it seems to mean is that the major economic decisions that were once made by governments have been transferred to (not publicly elected) private bankers so that they can make obscene private profits.
The GFC was ‘handled’ by quantitative easing – which was in effect the printing of money to bail out the banks at the expense of the taxpayer. As i understand it, next time it will be “handled” by some new laws that enable the banks to bail themselves out by seizing a portion of the money deposited in the bank by their customers.
So when GFC-2 arrives, the long-suffering person-in-the-street will once more be forced to hand over THEIR money to the rich, rich RICH bank owners because, once again we will be told “the banks are too big to be allowed to fail”.
So when GFC-2 arrives, the long-suffering person-in-the-street will once more be forced to hand over THEIR money to the rich, rich RICH bank owners because, once again we will be told “the banks are too big to be allowed to fail”.
When you loan someone money you’re taking the risk that you’re not going to get it back.
Yes, when you deposit money into your bank account you’re loaning the bank that money.
“enable the banks to bail themselves out by seizing a portion of the money deposited in the bank”
I am getting rather tired of trying to correct this fallacy.
No they will not be able to do that. If a bank fails a receiver will be appointed who will take charge of the organisation. He/she will be able to freeze part of the account balances with the remaining balance being immediately available to the customer.
However before any customer loses money permanently the ENTIRE shareholders funds will have been written off. The current shareholders will have lost everything. That isn’t really “the banks bailing themselves out” is it?
So looking at this flag effort if the second question pitched up first i.e. do you want to change the flag? The response to this could stop it right there and maybe save some money.
What have I missed here as I haven’t followed this process as that would seem a more logical approach.
It’s called FJK’s vanity project.
His legacy to the country.
And a feeble attempt to get people to talk about flags rather than the state of New Zealand.
Yeah I get all that but this just appears so brazenly wasteful to not have the questions reversed and possibly not require a vote on 3 ferns, a peak and a swirl.
Yeah if we could just “flag it” it would be great- Keys little niggle over history that don’t suit him
The bastards mental and he is costing the country money unnecessarily
Where’s the prudent fiscal govt spending in this one ?
New Zealand is doing just fine, that’s why so many people want to live here, and it;s why record numbers are coming home. Also, good story on the murder rate last night too, NZ is becoming safer, as a result of the efforts of both Labour and National governments over the years. Can we do better? Of course. But NZ is one of the most desirable places in the world to live for a reason, again, as a result of National and Labour led governments over time. Stop trying to make out that our country is a hell hole. It’s not true, and no one believes it. Suggest ways to improve by all means, but telling people something that is not true is unhelpful, and a waste of your time when it is not believed. The flag vote is not a vanity project. It was Labour policy too. No one remembers who the Canadian prime minister was when they changed the flag. If ours changes, no one will remember it was Key as PM when it happened. He knows that. Personally, the whole thing is a waste of time and I hope the current flag stays, but to call it Vanity project is not very insightful. If you don’t want it changed, miss the first vote, and vote for the old one in the 2nd. It’s pretty simple. Just stop whining about it like a little child.
I don’t think people are rushing to live here silly. Our longer term population growth rates are below those of the wider world. Do you know what that means Amanda? It means more of the world wants to live elsewhere, contrary to your ostrich piece above.
I’m talking migration, where people want to live, or not. Record numbers of people want to uproot their lives to move here. We are not discussing birth v death rates, life expectancy and all manner of other demographics that contribute to population growth or otherwise. But, you know this already. Cherry picking statistics is not very helpful or insightful. Good grief, I am not saying we are perfect. Only that we do not live in a hell hole, like many try to make out, and the evidence that do not live in a hell hole, is that so many people want to move here. That’s all my point is. If you think we live in a hell hole, perhaps you should consider adding yourself to the exit queue and go to your happy place. People were moaning for years about the brain drain, now everyone is coming home, and they still moan. Moan, moan, moan. Just like you did, pulling out completely irrelevant stats to have a little whinge.
I’d like to leave Amanda, but I have this slight problem of being considered a “drain on the health system” of pretty much any country, so I’m denied any sort of visa beyond a tourist one. So I’m suck here forever but that won’t stop me “moaning” about what our country has descended into.
I think there are two comparisons that you might be confusing.
The first is the simultaneous comparison between New Zealand and other countries. The second is the comparison between New Zealand now and New Zealand in the past (say 30-40 years ago).
For example, it’s possible that both New Zealand and the broader world are getting worse overall on many measures (e.g., inequality, economic instability and/or lower growth rates, perpetual austerity and reductions in social provision, etc.) but that, relative to other countries, New Zealand is either not getting worse as quickly as other countries or started from a better starting point and so remains relatively more desirable given the conditions elsewhere.
I would argue that on many measures life in New Zealand is far more stressful today for ordinary people than it used to be some decades previously. There is far less structural support for people, far more disruptive change in their lives and far more uncertainty and complexity. In short, it is less human and humane an experience in that general sense of living an ordinary life.
I agree that many aspects of life are better in objective terms but, oddly and despite all those supposed benefits, people are more stressed and ‘under it’ today than they used to be.
Aspirational rhetoric – which many people buy in to and even internalise – tends to disguise these fragmented lives and associated stresses but they come out in things such as anxiety, depression, substance abuse, interpersonal conflict and a general experience of ‘flatness’ in people’s lives.
Some are certainly thriving – and you may associate with many of these people – but most are not. I think that’s because there’s not only been an increase in economic inequality over the past few decades but, perhaps in association, an increase in experiential inequality: A relatively few number of people’s life experiences may well be soaring to the highest heights but far more people’s lives are plumbing the depths than used to be the case.
It’s a pity we don’t have a regular survey like this APA Survey of US Stress that has been running since 2007.
Interestingly, since 2007, overall stress has declined- i.e., since Obama’s presidency, overcoming the GFC and some positive economic indicators.
There’s lower levels of health related stress which may be partly about the healthcare reforms there. The ageing population may also be a factor in reducing stress levels at the population scale (it is well known that ‘happiness’ tends to be higher at older ages when responsibilities reduce). The ‘boomer bulge’ is entering the ‘happy’ years.
Nevertheless, as the graph on page 4 of the report indicates, a gap has developed in stress levels between low income and higher income families. Similarly, parents, younger generations and women also now report significantly more stress than others.
Puddleglum, I’m a major fan of your contributions, and look forward to them with great anticipation…
But honestly, I think you are on your strongest ground when you drill down on the objective with facts, and give the subjective a literal poke in the eye with the blunt stick of evidence. Some are certainly thriving – – but most are not……
…. an increase in experiential inequality: A relatively few number of people’s life experiences may well be soaring to the highest heights but far more people’s lives are plumbing the depths than used to be the case.
Say what? Where is your usual factual evidence to support those claims?
It certainly does not reflect my experience from the 1950’s through to today. I would say completely the opposite in fact…
And then the only factual evidence you do produce actually shows that stress levels have reduced at the population scale, and the boomer bulge is entering the happy years.
Is that not the ‘most’ you claimed are ‘not thriving’?
I know misery is the signature theme of the contemporary Left, (and god knows they need a point of difference), but objectively, is it really possible to substantiate that most people are living lives that on an overall scale are worse than they were in 1950?
That’s a laugh Sheep: when was the last time you found a single piece of evidence for any of the things you believe?
Off the top of my head I can recall several studies that provide proxy support for Puddleglum’s thesis: infectious disease admission rates, child poverty, homelessness, etc. etc.
The only support you ever offer your dogma is that you think it,
Thanks for your compliment about most of my comments. Much appreciated.
I agree that it is important to have objective evidence or strong logical argument in support of any knowledge claims that are made and apologise for not providing the evidence in this comment.
Unfortunately, there is quite compelling evidence from studies to support increased levels of depression, anxiety and associated stress over the past few decades in modern societies. I have mentioned some of these in previous comments but am happy to reiterate that evidence here.
Perhaps some of the most disturbing work has come from Jean Twenge whose PhD work on anxiety in young people and children was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2000 – the title of the paper was ‘The Age of Anxiety? Birth Cohort Change in Anxiety and Neuroticism, 1952-1993’.
“A study by San Diego State University psychology professor Jean M. Twenge shows Americans are more depressed now than they have been in decades.
Analyzing data from 6.9 million adolescents and adults from all over the country, Twenge found that Americans now report more psychosomatic symptoms of depression, such as trouble sleeping and trouble concentrating, than their counterparts in the 1980s.
“Previous studies found that more people have been treated for depression in recent years, but that could be due to more awareness and less stigma,” said Twenge, the author of “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled — and More Miserable than Ever Before.”
“This study shows an increase in symptoms most people don’t even know are connected to depression, which suggests adolescents and adults really are suffering more.”
Admittedly, those are studies of American young people and adults. Here’s a bullet point summary of the findings from the most recent survey results from the Sovereign Wellbeing Index run by AUT in New Zealand:
“People with strong connections to family, friends and those living within a supporting community are doing the best.
Kiwis aged 55+ are the most awesome.
It’s not necessarily what we earn but whether we’re living within our means that matters.
Getting enough sleep is an important foundation for wellbeing. Nearly two thirds of young people show signs of depressed mood.
New Zealand wellbeing compares poorly to that of European nations.”
The details of those surveys (two so far) suggest that New Zealanders do particularly poorly – relative to other countries in the broader international survey – when it comes to social connectedness.
I could find many more references if you would like to learn more about this issue.
Many thanks Puddleglum, you’ve caused me to waste far to much time this morning following your leads….
Happily, because I’m an incurable optimist, I have to say that I didn’t see in any of that substantiation for your contention that…. Some are certainly thriving – – but most are not……
A relatively few number of people’s life experiences may well be soaring to the highest heights but far more people’s lives are plumbing the depths than used to be the case.
Certainly there is evidence of deterioration in some areas of life / specific countries, but on the other hand there is plenty of evidence of improvements in quality of life and well being also?
It seems to be one of those topics that is very open to distortion by selective evidence. You can point to the USA as ‘evidence’ for example, but if a single aspect in a single country proves an overall point why don’t we use Denmark, Panama or Chad as our reference points?
But if we are talking about NZ, I simply don’t see any of the evidence supporting the idea that ‘most of us are plumbing the depths’ and still sinking!
The Well being report you reference has 46% of us ‘Awesome or nearly there’, and no change in that since 2012. Strangely, they don’t even define ‘could do better’, let alone grade it into classes, but I would think it fair to assert that the entire category is not people ‘plumbing the depths’? So on that assumption at least half of us have pretty good well being and that figure is stable?
And then there is this.. http://worldhappiness.report/
If that is accepted as credible, surely it disproves the contention that only ‘relatively few’ NZ’ers are having a life experience that they are happy with?
The research you cite contains some analysis of direct relevance to the points under debate OAB.
The results indicate an increase in the inequality of market and disposable income per adult equivalent person (using the individual as the unit of analysis) from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Subsequently, inequality has – with some variability – remained either constant or has fallen slightly.
This does seem to further undermine the idea that an ongoing rapid increase in economic inequality is causing associated ‘experiential inequality’.
Sheep – Treasury’s figures show that inequality increased as a result of “free-market” vandalism and has remained higher than its base (1983-84) level since then.
This doesn’t undermine PG’s point at all.
The consequences of the vandalism are quantified by The Lancet, and again, they support the thesis.
The World Happiness Report covers the last three years: your pretence that it is useful information when examining the last thirty is pathetic. Oh, and “happiness” is a subjective measure at best: hospital admissions not so much.
Treasury’s figures show that inequality increased as a result of “free-market” vandalism and has remained higher than its base (1983-84) level since then
That’s correct. Since the early 90’s inequality has remained either constant or has fallen slightly. It’s great that we finally have some credible evidence to give us clarity on that oft argued point. Thanks for pointing to it.
This doesn’t undermine PG’s point at all
Not necessarily, depending on how you would resolve all the other aspects that contribute to well being that PG outlines. (It’s important to keep in mind that inequality may well impact on well being / life satisfaction, but it is far from being the sole determinant).
But strictly in regard to inequality, it does clarify the question PG raises… ” it’s possible that both New Zealand and the broader world are getting worse overall on many measures (e.g., inequality,………
but that, relative to other countries, New Zealand is either not getting worse as quickly as other countries or started from a better starting point….”
The answer for inequality is that for the last couple of decades NZ is not getting worse at all.
The World Happiness Report covers the last three years: your pretence that it is useful information when examining the last thirty is pathetic. .
PG’s thesis was that compared to 30 years ago ‘most’ of us were ‘plumbing the depths’, and only ‘relatively few’ were thriving.
The WHR, The Household Economic Survey, and the Well Being Index are all credible sources that contain evidence that suggests that is not actually the case.
You don’t think that is significant?
Well here’s 2 potential accepted starting points for almost any political conversation…
‘Almost everyone is actively suffering and it’s getting worse all the time’.
‘The majority of us are satisfied or better, and that situation is stable’.
You don’t think it makes any difference to the conversation which one of those is true?
As you say OAB. A reality check. We’re not going to get anywhere if we are clinging to false memes.
I suggest you acquaint yourself with the measures that go into making up the GINI coefficient. Pay particular attention to those that apply across all strata of society.
The negative effects of inequality are not confined to income distribution.
You’re running off to new ground again without dealing with the evidence in hand OAB?
You complained that I never produce evidence, and now we’ve got evidence for Africa you don’t want to discuss it?
Straight up then. Yes or No.
The Treasury Report, The Well Being Index, The Household Economic Survey.
Are they credible sources we can take as accepted ‘evidence’, or do you reject them?
Who’s running to new ground? Treasury cites the GINI. Are you acquainted with the way it’s calculated yet?
The OECD, also citing the GINI, calculates our lost productivity. You asked for evidence that we’re worse off. You have it.
As for the Wellbeing survey, I’m comparing NZ c.1983 with NZ c.2014. The Wellbeing survey covers the last three years of the period and is to all intents and purposes irrelevant..
The household economic survey measures economic statistics. The GINI – as the Treasury report probably notes somewhere – is a better measure of overall well-being.
Yes, or, No OAB?
It’s a pretty straightforward question.
If I know anything with any certainty, it is that when people are unwilling to answer a simple yes/no question, it is because they know that doing so will fatally compromise their position…
Takes courage to answer honestly under those circumstances…
Are you so dense you haven’t noticed that I answered your question? Sad.
Edit: you really are that dense, eh. I’m citing Treasury, you moron, and I covered the other two, and what McFlock said, dimwit – your cherry-picking is flat-out dishonesty.
yes I’m sure that most people in your circle of delusion are thriving off their unearned wealth and enjoying the fruits of living in a society thats far more unequal than at any time in history
A. We are actually discussing overall well being and life satisfaction. As you will see if you follow the links, these are reasonably high in Aotearoa. That’s the reality as established by credible research.
We can accept that without implying that everyone is happy?
B. I earned my wealth the hard way my friend, by working 18 hour days for 10 years straight – after spending 20 years as a manual worker on minimum wages. Now i am wealthy, I get to assist far more people and causes every week than I did in years when i was poor. So you can take your implications and place them you know where.
C. You are wrong about historical inequality. See below. I trust you will adjust your worldview accordingly.
As for the Wellbeing survey, I’m comparing NZ c.1983 with NZ c.2014. The Wellbeing survey covers the last three years of the period and is to all intents and purposes irrelevant.
The household economic survey measures economic statistics. The GINI – as the Treasury report probably notes somewhere – is a better measure of overall well-being.
I note that the only answer you have is to put words in my mouth.
McFlock already pointed out how dishonest you are. Choke on it.
…an example of this dishonesty is the way you take a Treasury report comparing New Zealand c.1983 with New Zealand c. 2015 and pretend that a study comparing the last three years in New Zealand with (say) Denmark has anything useful to say at all on the subject.
So, on the one hand we have the Treasury department, the OECD, The Lancet, who all support PG’s point, and you, cherry-picking irrelevancies.
Thanks for validating my predictions about your denial and willful ignorance.
You wouldn’t be the arsehole we love to hate if you didn’t claim that any evidence that doesn’t support your worldview is irrelevant OAB.
That’s a subjective call you are free to make obviously.
But objectively. That doesn’t alter the facts. And unless you are going to claim otherwise, that means that the evidence tells us that inequality has not increased over the last 20 odd years, and that a majority of Kiwis are quite satisfied with their lives. Fact.
The contention that relatively few of us are thriving and most of us are plumbing the depths is false.
You hate that idea don’t you! You want the world to be miserable!
Do you understand the OECD’s point, dimwit? What the increase in the GINI thirty years ago has cost us in lost productivity (never mind child morbidity)?
Even you, in your self-made worship-bubble, would have been better off.
If you had any information contradicting that you’d cite it, and you don’t. Have you educated yourself on how the GINI is calculated yet?
The factors that negatively affect everybody. Of course not – you’re too busy making up lies about me.
In New Zealand, income inequality had been relatively stable in the last decade, but this masked growing wealth inequality of the kind Piketty had identified, Bertram said.
A very large rise in income inequality from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s had translated into a concentration of wealth at the top, and Statistics New Zealand research showed poor households borrowing large amounts while wealthier households saved, exacerbating existing inequalities.
PS: if you can demonstrate the relevance of data from the last three years to the situation in 1983-84, go for it. Until then, the world happiness study – while interesting, has nothing to say on the subject.
The data, by the way, were collected by Gallup, who point out that they’re based on face-to-face one hour interviews or half-hour phone conversations, and are “nationally representative”, apart from areas “where the safety of the interviewing staff is threatened”.
I’m sure you can detect no possibility of sample bias arising from such methodology.
For some Amanda, for some. I work as a social worker and over the last 10 years have been into scores of homes that could be described as hell-holes. Not enough money, food, work, warmth etc. It might be good here for some….but for many it’s not!
Thank you Drum. Thank you for pointing that out and thank you for the work you do 🙂
And Amanda, try living in my shoes for a week, then come back here next week and say NZ is doing just fine.
You are looking at the world from your eyes only. To appreciate how hard this country has become to live in you need to step in another’s shoes. An old cliche, but true.
Glad for you if you’re life is going well, but don’t make judgements about others based on your own experience. Remove those blinkers.
Looks like both the flag and immigration are coming up as negatives in the focus groups. But:
– net returning New Zealanders from Aus is about 100 a month. The rest of our immigration increase is new from outside with our unemployment climbing to 6% plus. Aus unemplyment is lower. The student inwards migration is not adding anything as NAct fueled changes mean that they are working here (at minimum wage no doubt) and funding their studies from this.
-planning to change a flag need not be a vanity project but somehow Key has managed to throw sufficent money at it without professional input to feed the perception that it is just that. As to how to vote – if people want to spoil ballots that is indeed in a democracy their choice.
No, record numbers are coming home because a) they’re being screwed by Australia b) the global finances are collapsing which results in c) NZers will be able to get help from the NZ government whereas they probably won’t be able to from other governments (see a).
Stop trying to make out that our country is a hell hole.
National is turning NZ into a hell hole. It’s what they always do.
The flag vote is not a vanity project.
It probably is to some extent but mostly, IMO, it’s a re-branding exercise after JK trashed our clean/green brand on Hard Talk. Not that we were actually clean or green.
I have a VERY comfortable roof over my head. I have a fixed term job which ends on February 12. I eat well, I can get luxuries and I get holidays. BUT I also know that some of that was luck…
Most of it was not by my own hard work per se. Not by working harder than anyone else I know.
The coming and going (the brain drain as you call it) – is cyclic and seems to bear a direct correlation to how the economies of the places people leave NZ to go to, are doing. (I don’t the stats behind that, just my observation).
Also, many immigrants are coming through the skills category. This means they have to have high skills and usually need a job offer. That employer needs to prove no kiwi cand o the job. So the corrolary to your sunny day take on it is that we have people without these skills. Let’s build THEM up aye? BUT our tertiary institutions are chasing money to survive, so look overseas, they are being directed by Joyce to focus on degrees which are in demand today. There is no future proofing going on.
My desire for NZ and all NZers is that they are afforded the chance to THRIVE not just survive. For a decent section of our fellow citizens they are not THRIVING. For a multitude of reasons, many controllable, some expensive and some cheaper to fix.
I don’t know what motivates Key. I am not in his head. But it seems to me that asking the people if they want to change the flag might have been a more sensible approach AND presiding over a decent public discussion about what “we” see NZ as standing for?
NOT having people living on top of rubbish dump is never going to be the measure of when *I* expect myself and my fellow citizens to stand up and say ENOUGH
Amanda, you obviously have not had the rough edges knocked off you. You sound youngish, from a comfortable family, I may be wrong, but you definitely haven’t “lived” by the way you speak. Many people, through no fault of their own, experience hardship, misfortune, tragedy in their lives. It doesn’t matter what type of family you are raised in, its a toss of the dice what life will hand out to you. Others here have said try walking in the unfortunate’s shoes and have compassion for people who are enduring hardship, they are absolutely right because we, each and every one of us is a heart beat away from a series of events which will crush your spirits and burden you and then you will have to find the fortitude to pick yourself up and carry on.
Unfortunately for you, if and when it happens you will be the least able to cope with the pain and hardship so I feel darned sorry for you. “There but for the grace of God go I” – you should be repeating this mantra on a daily basis and be grateful you are coping with your life. Stop being judgmental and full of bitterness.
Then when the flag issue is done and dusted early next year, wait for the pandas to be rolled out. That’s already in the wings waiting to make an appearance and be “discussed” at a convenient time!
The pandas will be the major distraction from the “prominent NZer’s” court case coming up next April. Timing seems to coincide.
How, or more to the point when, do we rid ourselves of this hideous excuse for a government?
chap at a party on the weekend who had spent time in the US had an interesting theory: Key picked on the flag issue because of his yankophilic persuasions.
Flags are big in the US, so Key places greater importance on the cloth than most normal NZers. He definitely looked on it as his legacy project – and frankly the thought of an unchanged flag being a constant reminder to him of his failure in that respect makes me a little bit happy.
It ain’t exactly hard to figure out. The reason for mooting the change is to get people exercised and engaged by something that is stripped of constitutional implications.
I can see why he thought it would work – both in terms of ‘debate’ and eventual outcome – but he has comprehensively failed on both counts (I suppose the mood could change in respect of the outcome, but it’s hard to envisage).
I doubt this has much to with Key’s proclivities other than that he’s a purely cynical and disingenuous operator.
Judging by the comments starting to come out of the PMO they realise the gig’s up and have launched the softening-up job on the public ahead of an embarrassing low turnout for the first referendum and a big ‘no’ vote for the second one.
Little wanted the existing flag included on the first referendum to save money on a costly second referendum but the Greens did a deal with jonkey in order to get Red Peak in (, which they support, or at least James Shaw supports and other prominent Greens support) …hence the Greens snubbed Labour and NZF and the general public of New Zealand who do not want the costly two referendums and 80% of NZers want their existing flag ( and think $26 million on John key’s vanity project is a shocking waste of public money)…by doing this the Greens dug John Key out of a hole
For more details and to get up to speed on the sorry saga read:
That is the logical process. The process we have is due to National thinking that they could build a groundswell of opinion to change the flag during the pick a flag part and so they put it first.
IMO, most people cottoned on to their duplicity fairly quickly.
If you haven’t been following the disaster/own goal that is happening at Mediaworks recently (including their newest and possibly shortest product “Scout”), Duncan Greive at The Spinoff has been producing some really good investigative journalism.
if the intent was to dumb down and enforce themes via churnalists such as panic paddy and gooner then job done. CT wouldnt consider that a trainwreck but fine work.
Dr Jarrod Gilbert: The police have deemed me unfit to undertake crime research because I know criminals-NZ Herald this morning
A very damning report on how our police control information to govt work
Explains in a nutshell what kind of society we live in now since this govt has been in power
It would appear now that any form of independent inquiry in to police conduct will never see any resolve that could implicate police being held to account if they could be shown to be at fault
Our free democracy is not what we believe it is any longer
and the dam collapse in Brazil, that saw a town washed away in mining waste, that saw the watersupply for 250.000 people poisioned, is still a gift that keeps on giving.
quote: round 50m cubic metres of mining residue has been working its way down the Rio Doce since the accident at the Fundão dam, controlled by the mining company Samarco, on 5 November.
Anger rises as Brazilian mine disaster threatens river and sea with toxic mud
Twelve people have been confirmed dead and another 11 are still missing, as the tide of sludge wiped out several communities in the state of Minas Gerais, before making its way into the Rio Doce.
The mud has extinguished vast amounts of plant and animal life along a 400-mile (650km) stretch of the river, with the heightened turbidity drastically reducing the levels of oxygen in the water.
Concern over toxins in the mining residue has led the national water agency, ANA, to ban the use of the river water for human consumption. Hundreds of thousands of residents in the area are still dependent on supplies of bottled water.
mean time in the US some individuals are trying to exempt ‘honest mistakes’ like mine collapses and global financial world wide crises to be considered as ‘honest mistakes’ that need no prosecution and / or jail time. Of course not.
Quote:The public debate over criminal justice reform has focused on reducing severe sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. But some influential conservative voices, including the billionaire Koch brothers and the Heritage Foundation, have quietly advocated for curbing prosecution of corporate offenses as well.
The House bill would eliminate a host of white-collar crimes where the damaging acts are merely reckless, negligent or grossly negligent. If enacted, it would make it more difficult for federal authorities to pursue executive wrongdoing, from financial fraud to environmental pollution.
Department of Justice spokesman Peter Carr blasted the legislation in a statement provided to HuffPost, saying it “would create confusion and needless litigation, and significantly weaken, often unintentionally, countless federal statutes,” including “those that play an important role in protecting the public welfare … protecting consumers from unsafe food and medicine.”
The House Judiciary Committee will begin marking up its criminal justice reform package, including the latest bill, on Wednesday. Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the panel’s top-ranking Democrat, have been working on bipartisan legislation for months.
————————————————————————————————————————-
But hey all the world misleaders are on a tax payer paid junket trip to lovely paris to do nothing. All is well……:) Gotta make hay while the sun is shining. Right ? 🙂
THE TPP TEXT HAS BEEN RELEASED. WE NOW KNOW: The Technical Barriers to Trade Chapter of the TPP includes extensive provisions intended to reduce or eliminate federal and state regulations to protect our food supply and our right to know what’s in our food: http://bit.ly/1P4f5fK.
TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE
Technical barriers to trade (TBT) “provisions are already in effect under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and have been successfully invoked to overturn federal food labeling standards, including Country of Origin Labeling for meat.”
LEAST TRADE RESTRICTIVE & ‘NECESSITY TEST’
“Labeling rules are specifically targeted. The TBT chapter would also impose a ‘necessity test’ such that labeling requirements ‘should be limited as far as possible to what is essential and to what is the least trade restrictive to achieve the legitimate objective pursued.” The objective being to protect the unfettered interest of transnational biotechs.
“Business groups have openly stated their interest in using these trade agreements to thwart state regulations.”
REGULATORY COOPERATION
“Foreign governments’ concerns would be injected into domestic policies and procedures, and procedures intended to ‘harmonize’ standards could result in setting federal and international minimum standards as the regulatory ceiling.”
“The TPP also includes regulatory cooperation requirements applicable to U.S. states.”
INVESTOR PROVISIONS TO CHALLENGE STATE LAWS
“Although the investor-state [ISDS] tribunal has no power to directly nullify U.S. laws, in practice, when a country loses to an investor, it will change the offending law, pay damages or both. Under ISDS, transnational corporations could sue for claimed lost profits due to food labeling requirements or GMO disclosure rules that companies claim will lower sales of GMO-containing products.”
“Even unsuccessful challenges take years to resolve, cost millions to defend and have a chilling effect on the development of new legislation.”
FULL ARTICLE: http://bit.ly/1leDguF
so it appears that the man who pretends to be prime minister is not aware of happenings in the country that he pretends to be prime minister for?
So we could conclude that a. he is aware but does not give a fuck and lies, b. he is unaware and does not give a fuck and generally just lies, or c. his staff is aware but he is so unaware they can’t give a fuck in telling him and are just generally lying to him, or d. he is aware, pretending to be unaware, still not giving a fuck about nuzilnd, and all he wants to do is pull hair and horse around?
Any of the resident bots want to comment on the comments of their ‘leader’.
Quote or the ‘leader of nuzilind’: However, the Prime Minister was none the wiser that the Citizens Advice Bureau has had a substantial increase in requests for emergency housing.
John Key said he hasn’t read the report.
“I can’t verify whether that is right or not.”
“There certainly haven’t been funding cuts overall, but you know you can always make the case that someone is getting less, but you have to look at the actual details, but we’re putting more money into them.”
Key said the Government welcomes discussions with the bureau.
Oh, he’s back in “dont know” mode. Yesterday he had more knowledge of the secret services operations than he ever did when he was actually responsible for them..
In the right column on this page, I saw Chris Trotter’s piece “Labour And The Art Of Deckchair Rearrangement: Andrew Little Re-Shuffles His Shadow Cabinet”.
So when will AL announce the reshuffle?
If in a hurry, have a quick scan of the last few paragraphs of interesting observations and comments:
Nothing and no one of such prodigious capability lurks in Little’s caucus. Not only has Change failed to encounter a champion among its ranks, but she also struggles to find anyone interested in making much happen at all. Such reforms as Labour promised at the elections of 2011 and 2014 have been ostentatiously wiped from the agenda. And such rhetorical skill as Little is able to summon to Labour’s cause is of the sort that serves only to polish the achievements of the past. Lange’s extraordinary oratorical power; his ability to paint a future in which New Zealanders were eager to take up residence, is nowhere in evidence.
Certainly, there is nothing about his finance spokesperson which calls to mind the incandescent passion of Roger Douglas. Grant Robertson is not the sort of person who quotes Neitzsche, writes alternative budgets, or publishes a book entitled There’s Got To Be A Better Way. Although entrusted with heading-up a special party commission dedicated to The Future of Work, there is scant indication that Robertson’s investigation is likely to produce anything that The Listener wouldn’t be proud to publish.
The Wellington Central MP could, of course, be hiding his light under a bushel, and the final report of The Future of Work Commission could end up calling for a dramatic reduction in the length of the working week; a radical reformation of the law regulating workplace relations; state-subsidised retraining; and the introduction of a Universal Basic Income. But a Labour caucus willing to embrace economic and social policies of such radicalism is unlikely to look and feel as somnambulant as the one Little leads.
…
As Little prepares to lead his re-shuffled shadows into Labour’s centenary year, he needs to consider whether his party’s future is likely to be rescued by people, or policies. If Jacinda Ardern and Kelvin Davis are the best politicians he has to offer New Zealand, then it is definitely bold new ideas that he needs to start bringing forward.”
Do you have a reference for your statement that Roger Douglas went bankrupt?
It is not the same thing as a pig farm in which he was involved going into receivership you know.
As an accountant I think he would have been quite able to keep himself well clear of bankruptcy.
My understanding is that the problem was the business model: the pigs were completely unregulated, and given full responsibility for their own well-being. For example, if a pig was malnourished it was held to have made “bad choices” and was fed to the others.
The point of the comparison is that the name brought up was able to get the job done in changing the economy in terms of being thoughtful and scholarly (the reference to Nietzsche), deliver the goods as a finance spokesperson as well as finance minister-in-waiting would (writing alternative budgets) or actually doing some of his own writing (book publication).
The way in which RD re-shaped the NZ economy and the resulting outcome do not and did not have my support, but he had the wherewithal to do that in the first place.
Yep, Douglass had the gumption to actually change the system which our present Labour Party and other parties of the Left are missing despite the fact that the evidence is clear that the system needs changing.
Yes, indeed. The present opposition crew who are “in waiting” do not convey the aptitude, attitude and ability to change the system for our current challenges and this century’s pressing problems.
9.3.1 should be edited to read more smoothly:
The point of the comparison with the current finance spokesperson is that the name brought up was able to get the job done in changing the economy
– in terms of being thoughtful and scholarly (the reference to Nietzsche),
– in terms of delivering the goods as a finance spokesperson as well as finance minister-in-waiting would (writing alternative budgets) or
– in terms of actually doing some of his own writing (book publication).
The Guardian’s run a sustained campaign (launched around the start of last year) against female genital mutilation, and it’s working. Gambia plans to outlaw the abuse.
It appears to be a great example of a persistent but relatively low key media campaign, and the Guardian should be commended.
Rather than focusing only on leaders or main stakeholders, the campaign has a practical focus:
”Next week, a Guardian-backed radio campaign will be launched to get the message to the isolated communities where those that cut their daughters have only community radio to bring them the news.”
The world’s leading terrorist sang a hymn in a church earlier this year;
Paul Brennan says he thought it “an incredible moment, …really cool.” The Panel, RNZ National, Tuesday 24 November 2015
Jim Mora, Graham Bell, Rob Salmond, Zoe George, Paul Brennan
PAUL BRENNAN: Kia ora Jim! JIM MORA: Good afternoon, young Paul, how ARE you? PAUL BRENNAN: I’m young. Thank you! JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! PAUL BRENNAN: I feel younger now! Thank you! JIM MORA: Don’t mention it! Hello everybody, very nice to have your company. Now Zoe shortly with What the World’s Talking About, ahhh, the meme that Anonymous are using to attack ISIS—quite a few complications for this; the Pope gets a bit down on Christmas; Ahmed the Clock Boy wants fifteen million dollars; the world rallies for a lost teddy; uh, Enya is back, and Coldplay are sampling Obama. On the Panel today, Graham Bell. Good afternoon Graham. GRAHAM BELL: Good afternoon Jim. JIM MORA: And I don’t know if we’ve got Rob Salmond with us yet, but he’ll be joining Graham after 4 o’clock. Clearing up misunderstandings regarding the flag referendum, and asking some germane questions about it too, on your behalf. Ahh, as Auckland approves the doubling in size of an already large mall, we ask: do we need mega-malls? Can you read self-help books and find happiness, or do you find the opposite? …. Thirteen to four. Now before Zoe we’ve got time for One Quick Question. We’ve got a few of your Quick Questions, actually, in the body of the program today, as they pertain to the Flag Referendum, but here’s another subject entirely: “A group of us were discussing the meaning of moreporks, ruru, in Maori mythology and superstition. One of my friends said that her iwi saw a morepork as a wise bird and a good omen; I have heard from other Maori sources that a morepork is a bad omen and to be avoided. What is the truth? Being a European of origin, I’ve always seen owls as wise and auspicious, e.g. with the goddess Athene in Greek mythology.” So that question from Conrad Hickson of Upper Hutt. And answering it, Julian Wilcox, Ngai Tahu and the former Maori Television presenter of course. …. [skip Wilcox’s entirely predictable “the truth is both” answer]…. Okay. So the truth’s complex. Thank you Julian. Zoe George, good afternoon! ZOE GEORGE: Hello, hello. Uh, I’ve gotta say I always like to play a bit of music whenever I come onto the Pre-Panel, and Anonymous are delivering on their threat to hack ISIS and are using THIS song to do it. … [she plays a snatch of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”] PAUL BRENNAN: Oh that’ll do it! ZOE GEORGE:Ha ha! So it’s called Rick-rolling. What happens is that Anonymous are flooding ISIS messages with Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”…[giggles]… which is a very famous meme. MORA: It’s an interesting meme. PAUL BRENNAN: I remember that song when it came out. It was quite a big hit at the time wasn’t it Jim? ZOE GEORGE: 1987! MORA: Is that how long ago it was? ZOE GEORGE: Yes! MORA: Oh God, that ages us all. PAUL BRENNAN: Skinny guy with a big voice! MORA: There’s been a suggestion that in fact they’re closing down sites that are useful for intelligence. [snickers] ZOE GEORGE: Yes they are as well. [snickers] U.K. Metro reports that the attacks have been successful. They’re finding and shutting down over 5,000 Twitter accounts linked to ISIS, but it also indicates that the professional security agencies have seen sources they monitor shut down as well. So, long story short, Rick Astley is drowning out intelligence as well as recruitment. JIM MORA: Right, so all the Five Eyes guys are tuning in and they’re hearing Rick Astley too. ZOE GEORGE: Ha ha. Yeah. GRAHAM BELL: How does Rick feel about this? MORA: Yeah how does Rick Astley feel about this? ZOE GEORGE: Yeah I want to know how much money he’s making in royalties out of this meme. PAUL BRENNAN: I don’t think it’s his song, he’s just the guy who sang it I think. MORA: I don’t think he’ll be going after the royalties somehow. GRAHAM BELL: Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm. Ha ha!
…An extended discussion ensues about playing Barry Manilow to drive teens out of shopping centers at night.….
ZOE GEORGE: … Apparently in 1998, the first year of this meme coming out, more than 18 million Americans were Rick-rolled. MORA: Hmmm. …[Pause]… Now the Pope’s strange utterance about Christmas. ZOE GEORGE: Ye-e-e-e-es…. he said during a mass at the Basilica di Santa Maria in Rome that this year’s festivities are just “a charade” due to the spread of fighting across the Middle East.
….Pause….
MORA: It’s a bit late to be coming out with this, isn’t it? I mean it’s interesting that he’s— ZOE GEORGE: Yeah. MORA: —-that finally a Pope has talked about Christmas in these terms. ZOE GEORGE: Well yes, he says that the world has not understood the way of peace, ummm, and that yes, there will be lights and parties and bright trees and nativity scenes but the world continues to wager war, and the whole world is at war, and he continued to say “a war can be justified, so to speak, with many many reasons but when all the world as it is today at war, piecemeal through that, that war may be a little here, a little there, there is no justification.” That’s his direct quote. JIM MORA: Maybe there was something lost in the translation of the pontiff’s sermon. ZOE GEORGE: Maybe. MORA: Is there anything wrong though with trying to hold on to a time of year when, y’know, people make an effort for peace and goodwill? That’s the thing. GRAHAM BELL: What we SHOULD be doing.
<MORA: Yeah. PAUL BRENNAN: He says the whole world is at war, but it’s not REALLY, is it. Not the WHOLE world. MORA: No. It feels like it sometimes. PAUL BRENNAN: Yeah.
….[pause]….
MORA: Hmmm. Now, the, uh, the Clock Boy returns. ZOE GEORGE: Ye-e-e-es. [snickers] Fifteen million dollars in compensation AND a written apology is what they are asking for. Lawyers for the family of Ahmed Mohamed, umm, who was the boy arrested in Irving, Texas, ahhh with the clock that he created was supposedly a bomb but wasn’t, um, lawyers have said that they will file a civil suit in the next sixty days if offcials, both school and local body politicians, fail to comply, ahmm, with their needs. So they’re asking for 15 million compensation as well as written apologies from the local mayor and police chief, and they’re asking that ten million be paid by the City of Irving and five from the school district. MORA: But they’re living in the Middle East now aren’t they? ZOE GEORGE: They ARE, they’re moving to Qatar. MORA: Oh they’re moving there? ZOE GEORGE: Yeah, they’ve accepted an invitation from the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. MORA: It was interesting, because the whole narrative on Ahmed changed a bit. I mean, the, Obama was said to have given him the cold shoulder, slightly, at the White House, and there was all that subsequent analysis about how he was a bit reluctant to volunteer information about the clock at school. ZOE GEORGE: Mmm. GRAHAM BELL: Mmmmm. MORA: It was a slightly— PAUL BRENNAN: How do you get to fifteen million? MORA: What LOOKED like a very simple case of, you know, dreadfully handcuffing a small boy probably was still that, but there were just interesting strands to it. ZOE GEORGE: Mmmm. They’ve said that the fifteen million came about because, ahhh, the teenager’s civil rights were violated, and that he was singled out based on his race, national origin and religion. MORA: Yeah. No, it was a, a bit of a sorry episode. Rob Salmond, good afternoon. ROB SALMOND: Good afternoon. MORA: Joining us for the Panel after four, and you’re with Graham today, who’s with me in Auckland. Now, from the clock to what? ZOE GEORGE: Teddy Bears! Oh bless! MORA: Oh I saw this. ZOE GEORGE: Capturing the HEART of people around the world! A teddy bear left behind in Perth Airport has gone viral. ….
….She proceeds to relate a tedious, inane social media non-story. Even by the standards of this chat show, this is desperate. Eventually she stops talking and there is an awkward pause.….
MORA: We’re a funny, illogical species, aren’t we. I mean, we can’t stand too much reality. It’s nice to rally to the cause of a bear. GRAHAM BELL: Hur hur. ZOE GEORGE: Absolutely! Yeah, so true. So true. I think that’s why we love cat photos as well, you know, it’s just something so frivolous! PAUL BRENNAN: Did he lose his boarding pass? ZOE GEORGE: A he he he! The bear? Well, yes, it could be a he, they ARE wearing a floral dress, ahh, the bear, and it’s attracted nearly seventy thousand people, ahhh, likes and comments. PAUL BRENNAN: Could be a cross-dressing male bear, you just don’t know. ZOE GEORGE: Well, this is it. Just because, you know, you’re wearing a dress doesn’t mean that you have to be female. ROB SALMOND: I think if the bear’s gone viral, that might not help it get a boarding pass later on. ZOE GEORGE: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! MORA: That’s a very good point. GRAHAM BELL: It is. PAUL BRENNAN: It’ll show up on facial recognition software. ZOE GEORGE: Ha ha ha ha ha! PAUL BRENNAN: Ha ha!
….Pause….
MORA: Now the really big story of the day, the return of a very famous television series. PAUL BRENNAN: I used to LOVE this show! ZOE GEORGE: Yes, Netflix is developing a Lost in Space remake, which is so EXCITIIIING! MORA:Lost in Space! PAUL BRENNAN: “Danger Will Robinson!” ZOE GEORGE: Yes, that’s right, that’s right. The original series, which lasted three seasons and 83 episodes, set in the futuristic 1997… [an affectionate, nostalgic, witty and amusing discussion ensues.….
…..Pause…..
MORA: Coldplay, and the President. ZOE GEORGE: Yes, they’ve got their new album coming out, Headful of Dreams, and they are sampling the President’s rendition of “Amazing Grace”, which Obama sang during his eulogy for the pastor killed in the Charleston church massacre earlier this year. PAUL BRENNAN: That was an incredible moment, by the way, him bursting into song like that. I thought it was really cool. [1] MORA: It’s interesting that they’ve been given permission. ZOE GEORGE: Yes, well they said that they wanted—they had to get permission from Obama himself and also from the Charleston church who recorded it, but they said they wanted to use it because of the historical significance of what he did, and also that the song about being “I’m lost but now I’m found”, so it’s quite— PAUL BRENNAN: You wouldn’t expect George Bush to do something like that, would ya? Or Ronald Reagan. GRAHAM BELL: He’d get the words all wrong! Ha ha ha ha! PAUL BRENNAN: He’d mash it up wouldn’t he! GRAHAM BELL: Yeah! Hur hur hur hur! MORA: It’ll be an interesting song to listen to actually. GRAHAM BELL: “Agazing Mace!” ZOE GEORGE: Ha. PAUL BRENNAN: Ronny would have forgotten the lyrics! MORA: Now Enya’s back as well. ZOE GEORGE: Yes. After seven years she’s releasing her eighth studio album Dark Sky Island this Friday. JIM MORA: I met Enya once. GRAHAM BELL: Oh really. MORA: When she came to New Zealand. She was very nice to meet actually. PAUL BRENNAN: She’s worth $136 million I see. ZOE GEORGE: She lives in a castle near Dublin.
…….
MORA: Before we go: Taylor Swift. I sort of shudder to talk about Taylor Swift in a way but she’s touring here isn’t she…
After the break, first topic for discussion was the flag referendum. I didn’t listen.
Here is video of conceptual artist Tao Wells….
It is an hour but if you watch it through it is very interesting from a discourse point of view, how he subverts MSM commentators..disrupts main stream messages and lovely footage of our Paula Bennet and so forth…. http://www.circuit.org.nz/film/the-happy-bene
I really do wonder how many (including suicide bombers) change their minds, even at the last minute. Wasn’t there a report that one of the SB’s in Paris had been in a crowded restaurant, but actually went out and detonated in a less populous area? May be confusing my stories.
I also think that maybe the recruitment process may be different and less “honest” than we give credit for? Do you know what I mean? They “lure” people and only after a process/time do they find themselves in the death for Allah place? Then there is the coersion, the if you don’t do this we will kill family member, loved one etc… ?
Cos I notice that some bombers from Paris “escaped”. So, not everyone is trying to get to the virgins and Allah as soon as they can? And definitely not amongst the leadership.
The threats against family members idea has been used a fair bit in Iraq, particularly in regards to some of the “green on blue” incidents.
But there is also a well-practised routine of reinforcement and validation in recruiting teenagers to become suicide bombers – the videos of the bombers themselves beforehand also provide pressure to follow through or risk shame as a coward, extensive grooming in the initial recruitment phase to join the organisation creates strong organisational bonds before making the ultimate request, and of course the icons/images of previous bombers lauded as martyrs provide encouragement.
Basically, from what I’ve read suicide bomb organisers work to provide a disenfranchised and alienated teen with promises of belonging and fame and then making them commit before they know the full extent of their manipulators’ wishes. A bit like a cross between gang recruiters, a pedophile ring, and NZ Idol.
I am probably being sexist, but men seem to find it more appealing to go gun toting and exploding things that women?
“Basically, from what I’ve read suicide bomb organisers work to provide a disenfranchised and alienated teen with promises of belonging and fame and then making them commit before they know the full extent of their manipulators’ wishes. A bit like a cross between gang recruiters, a pedophile ring, and NZ Idol.”
“May be confusing my stories.”
You may have been thinking of this story. The vest is believed to be one that was worn by the organiser of the attacks. It was good enough for his brother to have blown himself up but this one seems to have changed his mind. As you say “definitely not amongst the leadership” http://www.wsj.com/articles/explosive-vest-found-in-paris-suburb-1448325235
Nah, you’re not conflicted; you’re a troll who doesn’t care about these women, and you pretend there’s an issue over whether or not we blame the victims of psychopathic militants who enslave women and lure the lost and confused.
May 1991 John Key is interviewed by the Serious Fraud Office, they were investigating the failed company Equiticorp and it’s executives’ dodgy dealings, including a series of faux foreign exchange transactions carried out by Key’s old employers, Elders Merchant Finance. His ex-colleague, Paul Richards was facing fraud charges. Key was asked to corroborate Richard’s evidence about a ‘lunch’. I propose the entire statement is a fabrication, the lunch never took place and that Key had left Elders in 1987, just like he told media in 2007. When his statement surfaced in 2008 however, Key quickly claimed he’d simply gotten his dates wrong and meant to tell media he left Elders in 1988 – funnily enough – just like his fabricated ‘SFO statement’ said.”
“Key said the Government welcomes discussions with the bureau.”
You’re kidding….Good God in heaven, how far out of touch is this guy… CAB is a volunteer organisation with barely enough funds to keep the photocopier in paper, they are funded by…
Ministry of Social Development: Family and Community Services
The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment
Inland Revenue Department
The Department of Internal Affairs
Immigration New Zealand
NZ Lottery Grants Board
(!) and staffed by volunteers – grandmas, and vocational community spirited people on low incomes or unemployed hoping for something to put on their CV for the most part – helping their communitiies by listening… giving people information pamphlets ….when they don’t know where else to go. Now Key says the Government was to discuss whether they can help with social housing?
Oh deary, deary me – the Government doesn’t know where to go to discuss social housing? HOUSING NEW ZEALAND and DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND HOUSING… Oh that’s right you sacked most of the staff and assimilated them into where now?
Feks sake, stop borrowing overseas money to fund fuzzy trade deals Nat, put $200m back into Housing New Zealand and let them get on with the job they were designed for. She walks off stage left shaking her head in disbelief… sigh.
Vernon Small has just posted an article about the National Party misusing public money for party political purposes by Nick Smith and others. It is an interesting read:
More Paula Bennett lies about people declining state house for frivolous reasons exposed by Graeme Edgeler who OIA’d Housing NZ:
Graeme Edgeler @GraemeEdgeler 2h2 hours ago
It seems Housing NZ do not know in which year such refusals occurred, or even what city the house was in.
Graeme Edgeler @GraemeEdgeler 2h2 hours ago
Housing NZ declined to confirm that these events ever occurred, and did not say that they told the Minister the events occurred. (cont.)
Graeme Edgeler @GraemeEdgeler 2h2 hours ago
Housing NZ instead referred me to the Minister’s responses to written questions where she said HNZ had told here these things.
“NZ Post may charge people $20 to receive overseas parcels if the Government slashes the threshold under which items can be bought from foreign websites GST-free.
The new fee of between $15 and $20 per parcel would cover the cost of red tape associated with collecting tax at the border, NZ Post said in a document obtained under the Official Information Act.”
I am not a criminologist or organisational sociologist, so I cannot offer a data-driven opinion on the effectiveness of military-syle so-called ‘boot camps” when it comes to rehabilitating juvenile delinquents and youth offenders. They are popular in the US and … Continue reading → ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
RNZ News New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s security detail has cut a media briefing short over protesters in Auckland. He was holding a press conference yesterday after a walkabout with police to discuss concerns with businesses in the CBD. Luxon was talking with media when one of his security ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Austin, Lecturer in Theatre, The University of Melbourne There has never been an opening ceremony quite like it. For the first time in Olympic Games history, the ceremony took place outside a stadium arena. Despite a rainy and miserable Paris ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
Guyon Espiner’s interview of Russell Norman on RNZ was a disgrace this morning
Is he paid by Shell, BP and. Exxon Mobil to conduct interviews like this?
As expected, shilling for big oil as per the handlers instructions.
was he asking hard questions of russell? should Russ be given a free pass because it’s public radio and he works for a political activist movement? jesus wept, guyon gives everyone grief. he’s angling for kim hills hallowed crown.
go through much tinfoil at your hat factory?
Ad hominems don’t make an argument.
It would appear you revert to name calling quite regularly on these threads.
The whole ‘conspiracy theory’ charge is always used to shut down debate. If your intention is to silence certain opinions, it won’t work.
.
Guyon seldom gives anyone grief…as an interviewer he’s pretty tame…if he was on the ball today its likely an aberration,
Is this the ghost of the future?… beware ‘book-building method’ …. The european taxpayers bailed out Greek banks and now the corporate vultures have ‘looted’ it all…. is this for real?
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/24/the-400-billion-ripoff-that-could-destroy-the-greek-bailout.html
The people get screwed again.
The banking system is a joke. It is a joke here and it is a joke over there. The world’s largest ponzi scheme running wild and out of control…
…. but don’t worry eh folks, not really happening. And interest rates lowest for half a century – shows the system is working eh… nah, actually shows the wheels are falling off right now. That is what extreme low interest rates show. It is a canary on the ponzi ferris wheel of fools.
dump your debt and pull your cash
don’t trust a bank
Very interesting link thank you Gael!
An excellent example of why the control of every nations’ economy should be taken back from the banks and returned to the “sovereign” governments that are ‘democratically’ elected to RUN those countries.
As i (dimly) understand it, money creation within a country was once something that was handled by governments and not by the banks. Perhaps some economic historian out there could fill us in on how, when and why that was changed. And more importantly how we have been better as a consequence of these changes?
By “we” of course i’m referring to most of us, and most definitely NOT just the 1% who have undoubtedly benefited from the changes.
How We Got Here
It’s never quite as simple as that and David Graeber in his Debt: The first 5000 years notes the use of debt based currency in Sumer ~5000 years ago. IMO, it’s no coincidence that all religions that come out of the Cradle of Civilisation ban interest/usury outright.
Thanks Draco T – very interesting and useful link!
Says every thing that needs to be said about large corporates. I hate to think of the amount they would have spent on lawyers trying to find a way to take advantage of Greek financial desperation.
It only makes it worse that once they did find it they all jumpped in and ruthlessly plundered a country that is trying deperately to get back on its feet.
What it seems to mean is that the major economic decisions that were once made by governments have been transferred to (not publicly elected) private bankers so that they can make obscene private profits.
The GFC was ‘handled’ by quantitative easing – which was in effect the printing of money to bail out the banks at the expense of the taxpayer. As i understand it, next time it will be “handled” by some new laws that enable the banks to bail themselves out by seizing a portion of the money deposited in the bank by their customers.
So when GFC-2 arrives, the long-suffering person-in-the-street will once more be forced to hand over THEIR money to the rich, rich RICH bank owners because, once again we will be told “the banks are too big to be allowed to fail”.
When you loan someone money you’re taking the risk that you’re not going to get it back.
Yes, when you deposit money into your bank account you’re loaning the bank that money.
“enable the banks to bail themselves out by seizing a portion of the money deposited in the bank”
I am getting rather tired of trying to correct this fallacy.
No they will not be able to do that. If a bank fails a receiver will be appointed who will take charge of the organisation. He/she will be able to freeze part of the account balances with the remaining balance being immediately available to the customer.
However before any customer loses money permanently the ENTIRE shareholders funds will have been written off. The current shareholders will have lost everything. That isn’t really “the banks bailing themselves out” is it?
So looking at this flag effort if the second question pitched up first i.e. do you want to change the flag? The response to this could stop it right there and maybe save some money.
What have I missed here as I haven’t followed this process as that would seem a more logical approach.
It’s called FJK’s vanity project.
His legacy to the country.
And a feeble attempt to get people to talk about flags rather than the state of New Zealand.
Yeah I get all that but this just appears so brazenly wasteful to not have the questions reversed and possibly not require a vote on 3 ferns, a peak and a swirl.
Yeah if we could just “flag it” it would be great- Keys little niggle over history that don’t suit him
The bastards mental and he is costing the country money unnecessarily
Where’s the prudent fiscal govt spending in this one ?
New Zealand is doing just fine, that’s why so many people want to live here, and it;s why record numbers are coming home. Also, good story on the murder rate last night too, NZ is becoming safer, as a result of the efforts of both Labour and National governments over the years. Can we do better? Of course. But NZ is one of the most desirable places in the world to live for a reason, again, as a result of National and Labour led governments over time. Stop trying to make out that our country is a hell hole. It’s not true, and no one believes it. Suggest ways to improve by all means, but telling people something that is not true is unhelpful, and a waste of your time when it is not believed. The flag vote is not a vanity project. It was Labour policy too. No one remembers who the Canadian prime minister was when they changed the flag. If ours changes, no one will remember it was Key as PM when it happened. He knows that. Personally, the whole thing is a waste of time and I hope the current flag stays, but to call it Vanity project is not very insightful. If you don’t want it changed, miss the first vote, and vote for the old one in the 2nd. It’s pretty simple. Just stop whining about it like a little child.
I don’t think people are rushing to live here silly. Our longer term population growth rates are below those of the wider world. Do you know what that means Amanda? It means more of the world wants to live elsewhere, contrary to your ostrich piece above.
I’m talking migration, where people want to live, or not. Record numbers of people want to uproot their lives to move here. We are not discussing birth v death rates, life expectancy and all manner of other demographics that contribute to population growth or otherwise. But, you know this already. Cherry picking statistics is not very helpful or insightful. Good grief, I am not saying we are perfect. Only that we do not live in a hell hole, like many try to make out, and the evidence that do not live in a hell hole, is that so many people want to move here. That’s all my point is. If you think we live in a hell hole, perhaps you should consider adding yourself to the exit queue and go to your happy place. People were moaning for years about the brain drain, now everyone is coming home, and they still moan. Moan, moan, moan. Just like you did, pulling out completely irrelevant stats to have a little whinge.
you don’t even have any statistics so wtf you on about?
And fuck off with your “if you don’t like it join the exit queue” patheticness. How ignorant
I’d like to leave Amanda, but I have this slight problem of being considered a “drain on the health system” of pretty much any country, so I’m denied any sort of visa beyond a tourist one. So I’m suck here forever but that won’t stop me “moaning” about what our country has descended into.
It is ‘not’ moaning to point out that a lot of NZers are really struggling.
Some people call that empathy.
I appreciate you are doing fine and it is clear that is all that matters to you.
Sadly this selfish approach to the world had been fostered by neo-liberalism. And folk like you are its product.
Hi Amanda,
I think there are two comparisons that you might be confusing.
The first is the simultaneous comparison between New Zealand and other countries. The second is the comparison between New Zealand now and New Zealand in the past (say 30-40 years ago).
For example, it’s possible that both New Zealand and the broader world are getting worse overall on many measures (e.g., inequality, economic instability and/or lower growth rates, perpetual austerity and reductions in social provision, etc.) but that, relative to other countries, New Zealand is either not getting worse as quickly as other countries or started from a better starting point and so remains relatively more desirable given the conditions elsewhere.
I would argue that on many measures life in New Zealand is far more stressful today for ordinary people than it used to be some decades previously. There is far less structural support for people, far more disruptive change in their lives and far more uncertainty and complexity. In short, it is less human and humane an experience in that general sense of living an ordinary life.
I agree that many aspects of life are better in objective terms but, oddly and despite all those supposed benefits, people are more stressed and ‘under it’ today than they used to be.
Aspirational rhetoric – which many people buy in to and even internalise – tends to disguise these fragmented lives and associated stresses but they come out in things such as anxiety, depression, substance abuse, interpersonal conflict and a general experience of ‘flatness’ in people’s lives.
Some are certainly thriving – and you may associate with many of these people – but most are not. I think that’s because there’s not only been an increase in economic inequality over the past few decades but, perhaps in association, an increase in experiential inequality: A relatively few number of people’s life experiences may well be soaring to the highest heights but far more people’s lives are plumbing the depths than used to be the case.
It’s a pity we don’t have a regular survey like this APA Survey of US Stress that has been running since 2007.
Interestingly, since 2007, overall stress has declined- i.e., since Obama’s presidency, overcoming the GFC and some positive economic indicators.
There’s lower levels of health related stress which may be partly about the healthcare reforms there. The ageing population may also be a factor in reducing stress levels at the population scale (it is well known that ‘happiness’ tends to be higher at older ages when responsibilities reduce). The ‘boomer bulge’ is entering the ‘happy’ years.
Nevertheless, as the graph on page 4 of the report indicates, a gap has developed in stress levels between low income and higher income families. Similarly, parents, younger generations and women also now report significantly more stress than others.
Puddleglum, I’m a major fan of your contributions, and look forward to them with great anticipation…
But honestly, I think you are on your strongest ground when you drill down on the objective with facts, and give the subjective a literal poke in the eye with the blunt stick of evidence.
Some are certainly thriving – – but most are not……
…. an increase in experiential inequality: A relatively few number of people’s life experiences may well be soaring to the highest heights but far more people’s lives are plumbing the depths than used to be the case.
Say what? Where is your usual factual evidence to support those claims?
It certainly does not reflect my experience from the 1950’s through to today. I would say completely the opposite in fact…
And then the only factual evidence you do produce actually shows that stress levels have reduced at the population scale, and the boomer bulge is entering the happy years.
Is that not the ‘most’ you claimed are ‘not thriving’?
I know misery is the signature theme of the contemporary Left, (and god knows they need a point of difference), but objectively, is it really possible to substantiate that most people are living lives that on an overall scale are worse than they were in 1950?
That’s a laugh Sheep: when was the last time you found a single piece of evidence for any of the things you believe?
Off the top of my head I can recall several studies that provide proxy support for Puddleglum’s thesis: infectious disease admission rates, child poverty, homelessness, etc. etc.
The only support you ever offer your dogma is that you think it,
is that you think it
Have a thought, express it as an opinion.
Silly me, I thought that was the primary purpose of this blog.
In my opinion, it’s worth passing a reality check over my opinions. One good way to do that is to invite criticism, and hence blogging.
Another good way is to look for evidence that contradicts them – my opinions, that is.
“When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?”
Hi the lost sheep,
Thanks for your compliment about most of my comments. Much appreciated.
I agree that it is important to have objective evidence or strong logical argument in support of any knowledge claims that are made and apologise for not providing the evidence in this comment.
Unfortunately, there is quite compelling evidence from studies to support increased levels of depression, anxiety and associated stress over the past few decades in modern societies. I have mentioned some of these in previous comments but am happy to reiterate that evidence here.
Perhaps some of the most disturbing work has come from Jean Twenge whose PhD work on anxiety in young people and children was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2000 – the title of the paper was ‘The Age of Anxiety? Birth Cohort Change in Anxiety and Neuroticism, 1952-1993’.
Follow up studies by Twenge on depression in young people and, very recently, increased rates of depressive symptoms for Americans of all ages.
From the last link:
“A study by San Diego State University psychology professor Jean M. Twenge shows Americans are more depressed now than they have been in decades.
Analyzing data from 6.9 million adolescents and adults from all over the country, Twenge found that Americans now report more psychosomatic symptoms of depression, such as trouble sleeping and trouble concentrating, than their counterparts in the 1980s.
“Previous studies found that more people have been treated for depression in recent years, but that could be due to more awareness and less stigma,” said Twenge, the author of “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled — and More Miserable than Ever Before.”
“This study shows an increase in symptoms most people don’t even know are connected to depression, which suggests adolescents and adults really are suffering more.”
Admittedly, those are studies of American young people and adults. Here’s a bullet point summary of the findings from the most recent survey results from the Sovereign Wellbeing Index run by AUT in New Zealand:
“People with strong connections to family, friends and those living within a supporting community are doing the best.
Kiwis aged 55+ are the most awesome.
It’s not necessarily what we earn but whether we’re living within our means that matters.
Getting enough sleep is an important foundation for wellbeing.
Nearly two thirds of young people show signs of depressed mood.
New Zealand wellbeing compares poorly to that of European nations.”
The details of those surveys (two so far) suggest that New Zealanders do particularly poorly – relative to other countries in the broader international survey – when it comes to social connectedness.
I could find many more references if you would like to learn more about this issue.
Many thanks Puddleglum, you’ve caused me to waste far to much time this morning following your leads….
Happily, because I’m an incurable optimist, I have to say that I didn’t see in any of that substantiation for your contention that….
Some are certainly thriving – – but most are not……
A relatively few number of people’s life experiences may well be soaring to the highest heights but far more people’s lives are plumbing the depths than used to be the case.
Certainly there is evidence of deterioration in some areas of life / specific countries, but on the other hand there is plenty of evidence of improvements in quality of life and well being also?
It seems to be one of those topics that is very open to distortion by selective evidence. You can point to the USA as ‘evidence’ for example, but if a single aspect in a single country proves an overall point why don’t we use Denmark, Panama or Chad as our reference points?
But if we are talking about NZ, I simply don’t see any of the evidence supporting the idea that ‘most of us are plumbing the depths’ and still sinking!
The Well being report you reference has 46% of us ‘Awesome or nearly there’, and no change in that since 2012. Strangely, they don’t even define ‘could do better’, let alone grade it into classes, but I would think it fair to assert that the entire category is not people ‘plumbing the depths’? So on that assumption at least half of us have pretty good well being and that figure is stable?
And then there is this..
http://worldhappiness.report/
If that is accepted as credible, surely it disproves the contention that only ‘relatively few’ NZ’ers are having a life experience that they are happy with?
It’s time for your reality check.
Here’s a heads-up from Treasury. Note the left hand portion of figure 1.
You will seek ways to deny and ignore these findings.
As always OAB, when faced with evidence you find uncomfortable, you are attempting to shift to new ground without addressing the point in hand.
Perhaps you’d like to go back and address the specific points and evidence I raised?
The research you cite contains some analysis of direct relevance to the points under debate OAB.
The results indicate an increase in the inequality of market and disposable income per adult equivalent person (using the individual as the unit of analysis) from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Subsequently, inequality has – with some variability – remained either constant or has fallen slightly.
This does seem to further undermine the idea that an ongoing rapid increase in economic inequality is causing associated ‘experiential inequality’.
Hi Puddleglum,
Once again, this recent evidence does not seem to support the theory that ‘most’ of us are increasingly plumbing the depths ?
“59 percent reported their income was enough or more than enough”
http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/people_and_communities/Households/HouseholdEconomicSurvey_HOTPYeJun15.aspx
Sheep – Treasury’s figures show that inequality increased as a result of “free-market” vandalism and has remained higher than its base (1983-84) level since then.
This doesn’t undermine PG’s point at all.
The consequences of the vandalism are quantified by The Lancet, and again, they support the thesis.
The World Happiness Report covers the last three years: your pretence that it is useful information when examining the last thirty is pathetic. Oh, and “happiness” is a subjective measure at best: hospital admissions not so much.
Treasury’s figures show that inequality increased as a result of “free-market” vandalism and has remained higher than its base (1983-84) level since then
That’s correct. Since the early 90’s inequality has remained either constant or has fallen slightly. It’s great that we finally have some credible evidence to give us clarity on that oft argued point. Thanks for pointing to it.
This doesn’t undermine PG’s point at all
Not necessarily, depending on how you would resolve all the other aspects that contribute to well being that PG outlines. (It’s important to keep in mind that inequality may well impact on well being / life satisfaction, but it is far from being the sole determinant).
But strictly in regard to inequality, it does clarify the question PG raises…
” it’s possible that both New Zealand and the broader world are getting worse overall on many measures (e.g., inequality,………
but that, relative to other countries, New Zealand is either not getting worse as quickly as other countries or started from a better starting point….”
The answer for inequality is that for the last couple of decades NZ is not getting worse at all.
The World Happiness Report covers the last three years: your pretence that it is useful information when examining the last thirty is pathetic. .
PG’s thesis was that compared to 30 years ago ‘most’ of us were ‘plumbing the depths’, and only ‘relatively few’ were thriving.
The WHR, The Household Economic Survey, and the Well Being Index are all credible sources that contain evidence that suggests that is not actually the case.
You don’t think that is significant?
Well here’s 2 potential accepted starting points for almost any political conversation…
‘Almost everyone is actively suffering and it’s getting worse all the time’.
‘The majority of us are satisfied or better, and that situation is stable’.
You don’t think it makes any difference to the conversation which one of those is true?
As you say OAB. A reality check. We’re not going to get anywhere if we are clinging to false memes.
why are you talking about the early 1990s when the time reference was “30 years ago”?
Oh, that’s right, you’re a tory cherry-picker.
I suggest you acquaint yourself with the measures that go into making up the GINI coefficient. Pay particular attention to those that apply across all strata of society.
The negative effects of inequality are not confined to income distribution.
Also see the OECD on national productivity.
You’re running off to new ground again without dealing with the evidence in hand OAB?
You complained that I never produce evidence, and now we’ve got evidence for Africa you don’t want to discuss it?
Straight up then. Yes or No.
The Treasury Report, The Well Being Index, The Household Economic Survey.
Are they credible sources we can take as accepted ‘evidence’, or do you reject them?
Who’s running to new ground? Treasury cites the GINI. Are you acquainted with the way it’s calculated yet?
The OECD, also citing the GINI, calculates our lost productivity. You asked for evidence that we’re worse off. You have it.
As for the Wellbeing survey, I’m comparing NZ c.1983 with NZ c.2014. The Wellbeing survey covers the last three years of the period and is to all intents and purposes irrelevant..
The household economic survey measures economic statistics. The GINI – as the Treasury report probably notes somewhere – is a better measure of overall well-being.
Yes, or, No OAB?
It’s a pretty straightforward question.
If I know anything with any certainty, it is that when people are unwilling to answer a simple yes/no question, it is because they know that doing so will fatally compromise their position…
Takes courage to answer honestly under those circumstances…
Are you so dense you haven’t noticed that I answered your question? Sad.
Edit: you really are that dense, eh. I’m citing Treasury, you moron, and I covered the other two, and what McFlock said, dimwit – your cherry-picking is flat-out dishonesty.
Was that yes or no?
Oh. Far too complicated for someone of your intelligence, eh?
yes I’m sure that most people in your circle of delusion are thriving off their unearned wealth and enjoying the fruits of living in a society thats far more unequal than at any time in history
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/economic-inequality-it-s-far-worse-than-you-think/
Our kids are worse off than ever
http://fairfuture.nz
You asked about three studies. I answered regarding each of them. Is counting to three too complicated?
I note you are avoiding my answers. It takes courage to answer honestly under those circumstances?
Ropata.
A. We are actually discussing overall well being and life satisfaction. As you will see if you follow the links, these are reasonably high in Aotearoa. That’s the reality as established by credible research.
We can accept that without implying that everyone is happy?
B. I earned my wealth the hard way my friend, by working 18 hour days for 10 years straight – after spending 20 years as a manual worker on minimum wages. Now i am wealthy, I get to assist far more people and causes every week than I did in years when i was poor. So you can take your implications and place them you know where.
C. You are wrong about historical inequality. See below. I trust you will adjust your worldview accordingly.
inequality in historical pre-industrial societies is equivalent to that of today’s pre-industrial societies, ancient inequality was much greater when expressed in terms of maximum feasible inequality. Compared with the maximum inequality possible, today’s inequality is much smaller than that of ancient societies.
http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/5388/1/MPRA_paper_5388.pdf
http://ourworldindata.org/data/growth-and-distribution-of-prosperity/income-inequality/
OAB.
I’ll take that as a ‘YES’ then.
In that case, all my points are valid.
Meanwhile, on Earth, here’s what I actually said:
As for the Wellbeing survey, I’m comparing NZ c.1983 with NZ c.2014. The Wellbeing survey covers the last three years of the period and is to all intents and purposes irrelevant.
The household economic survey measures economic statistics. The GINI – as the Treasury report probably notes somewhere – is a better measure of overall well-being.
I note that the only answer you have is to put words in my mouth.
McFlock already pointed out how dishonest you are. Choke on it.
…an example of this dishonesty is the way you take a Treasury report comparing New Zealand c.1983 with New Zealand c. 2015 and pretend that a study comparing the last three years in New Zealand with (say) Denmark has anything useful to say at all on the subject.
So, on the one hand we have the Treasury department, the OECD, The Lancet, who all support PG’s point, and you, cherry-picking irrelevancies.
Thanks for validating my predictions about your denial and willful ignorance.
What a waste of oxygen you are.
You wouldn’t be the arsehole we love to hate if you didn’t claim that any evidence that doesn’t support your worldview is irrelevant OAB.
That’s a subjective call you are free to make obviously.
But objectively. That doesn’t alter the facts. And unless you are going to claim otherwise, that means that the evidence tells us that inequality has not increased over the last 20 odd years, and that a majority of Kiwis are quite satisfied with their lives. Fact.
The contention that relatively few of us are thriving and most of us are plumbing the depths is false.
You hate that idea don’t you! You want the world to be miserable!
Do you understand the OECD’s point, dimwit? What the increase in the GINI thirty years ago has cost us in lost productivity (never mind child morbidity)?
Even you, in your self-made worship-bubble, would have been better off.
If you had any information contradicting that you’d cite it, and you don’t. Have you educated yourself on how the GINI is calculated yet?
The factors that negatively affect everybody. Of course not – you’re too busy making up lies about me.
Here are some data for you to ignore and deny.
And more.
PS: if you can demonstrate the relevance of data from the last three years to the situation in 1983-84, go for it. Until then, the world happiness study – while interesting, has nothing to say on the subject.
The data, by the way, were collected by Gallup, who point out that they’re based on face-to-face one hour interviews or half-hour phone conversations, and are “nationally representative”, apart from areas “where the safety of the interviewing staff is threatened”.
I’m sure you can detect no possibility of sample bias arising from such methodology.
For some Amanda, for some. I work as a social worker and over the last 10 years have been into scores of homes that could be described as hell-holes. Not enough money, food, work, warmth etc. It might be good here for some….but for many it’s not!
Thank you Drum. Thank you for pointing that out and thank you for the work you do 🙂
And Amanda, try living in my shoes for a week, then come back here next week and say NZ is doing just fine.
You are looking at the world from your eyes only. To appreciate how hard this country has become to live in you need to step in another’s shoes. An old cliche, but true.
Glad for you if you’re life is going well, but don’t make judgements about others based on your own experience. Remove those blinkers.
Looks like both the flag and immigration are coming up as negatives in the focus groups. But:
– net returning New Zealanders from Aus is about 100 a month. The rest of our immigration increase is new from outside with our unemployment climbing to 6% plus. Aus unemplyment is lower. The student inwards migration is not adding anything as NAct fueled changes mean that they are working here (at minimum wage no doubt) and funding their studies from this.
-planning to change a flag need not be a vanity project but somehow Key has managed to throw sufficent money at it without professional input to feed the perception that it is just that. As to how to vote – if people want to spoil ballots that is indeed in a democracy their choice.
No it’s not hence the increasing poverty.
No, record numbers are coming home because a) they’re being screwed by Australia b) the global finances are collapsing which results in c) NZers will be able to get help from the NZ government whereas they probably won’t be able to from other governments (see a).
National is turning NZ into a hell hole. It’s what they always do.
It probably is to some extent but mostly, IMO, it’s a re-branding exercise after JK trashed our clean/green brand on Hard Talk. Not that we were actually clean or green.
I have a VERY comfortable roof over my head. I have a fixed term job which ends on February 12. I eat well, I can get luxuries and I get holidays. BUT I also know that some of that was luck…
Most of it was not by my own hard work per se. Not by working harder than anyone else I know.
The coming and going (the brain drain as you call it) – is cyclic and seems to bear a direct correlation to how the economies of the places people leave NZ to go to, are doing. (I don’t the stats behind that, just my observation).
Also, many immigrants are coming through the skills category. This means they have to have high skills and usually need a job offer. That employer needs to prove no kiwi cand o the job. So the corrolary to your sunny day take on it is that we have people without these skills. Let’s build THEM up aye? BUT our tertiary institutions are chasing money to survive, so look overseas, they are being directed by Joyce to focus on degrees which are in demand today. There is no future proofing going on.
My desire for NZ and all NZers is that they are afforded the chance to THRIVE not just survive. For a decent section of our fellow citizens they are not THRIVING. For a multitude of reasons, many controllable, some expensive and some cheaper to fix.
I don’t know what motivates Key. I am not in his head. But it seems to me that asking the people if they want to change the flag might have been a more sensible approach AND presiding over a decent public discussion about what “we” see NZ as standing for?
NOT having people living on top of rubbish dump is never going to be the measure of when *I* expect myself and my fellow citizens to stand up and say ENOUGH
Amanda, you obviously have not had the rough edges knocked off you. You sound youngish, from a comfortable family, I may be wrong, but you definitely haven’t “lived” by the way you speak. Many people, through no fault of their own, experience hardship, misfortune, tragedy in their lives. It doesn’t matter what type of family you are raised in, its a toss of the dice what life will hand out to you. Others here have said try walking in the unfortunate’s shoes and have compassion for people who are enduring hardship, they are absolutely right because we, each and every one of us is a heart beat away from a series of events which will crush your spirits and burden you and then you will have to find the fortitude to pick yourself up and carry on.
Unfortunately for you, if and when it happens you will be the least able to cope with the pain and hardship so I feel darned sorry for you. “There but for the grace of God go I” – you should be repeating this mantra on a daily basis and be grateful you are coping with your life. Stop being judgmental and full of bitterness.
Hi Kate
Your reply was to me, so Amanda may not see it.
Thanks Tracey, hopefully she will find it – she sounds like a hard hearted person, am glad I don’t have any dealings with her.
‘New Zealand is doing just fine’……
Yes the wealthy in NZ are doing fine.
The rest aren’t.
@ Paul (3.1) absolutely correct.
Then when the flag issue is done and dusted early next year, wait for the pandas to be rolled out. That’s already in the wings waiting to make an appearance and be “discussed” at a convenient time!
The pandas will be the major distraction from the “prominent NZer’s” court case coming up next April. Timing seems to coincide.
How, or more to the point when, do we rid ourselves of this hideous excuse for a government?
chap at a party on the weekend who had spent time in the US had an interesting theory: Key picked on the flag issue because of his yankophilic persuasions.
Flags are big in the US, so Key places greater importance on the cloth than most normal NZers. He definitely looked on it as his legacy project – and frankly the thought of an unchanged flag being a constant reminder to him of his failure in that respect makes me a little bit happy.
It ain’t exactly hard to figure out. The reason for mooting the change is to get people exercised and engaged by something that is stripped of constitutional implications.
I can see why he thought it would work – both in terms of ‘debate’ and eventual outcome – but he has comprehensively failed on both counts (I suppose the mood could change in respect of the outcome, but it’s hard to envisage).
I doubt this has much to with Key’s proclivities other than that he’s a purely cynical and disingenuous operator.
Judging by the comments starting to come out of the PMO they realise the gig’s up and have launched the softening-up job on the public ahead of an embarrassing low turnout for the first referendum and a big ‘no’ vote for the second one.
@tc…to summarize the answer to your question
Little wanted the existing flag included on the first referendum to save money on a costly second referendum but the Greens did a deal with jonkey in order to get Red Peak in (, which they support, or at least James Shaw supports and other prominent Greens support) …hence the Greens snubbed Labour and NZF and the general public of New Zealand who do not want the costly two referendums and 80% of NZers want their existing flag ( and think $26 million on John key’s vanity project is a shocking waste of public money)…by doing this the Greens dug John Key out of a hole
For more details and to get up to speed on the sorry saga read:
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/11/20/why-im-not-voting-in-this-flag-blinded-vanity-project-and-how-to-spoil-your-vote/
Cheers chooky
That is the logical process. The process we have is due to National thinking that they could build a groundswell of opinion to change the flag during the pick a flag part and so they put it first.
IMO, most people cottoned on to their duplicity fairly quickly.
If you haven’t been following the disaster/own goal that is happening at Mediaworks recently (including their newest and possibly shortest product “Scout”), Duncan Greive at The Spinoff has been producing some really good investigative journalism.
His latest yesterday reveals that Mark Wheldon’s contract with Mediaworks has apparently been renewed recently – despite the ongoing train wreck.
http://thespinoff.co.nz/24-11-2015/media-mediaworks-board-rewards-mark-weldon-with-contract-extension-after-horror-year/
Most of the comments to date are from disillusioned ex- Mediaworks employees backing Greive’s reports and opinions.
His earlier articles are also worth reading for context – eg this one (and the other links in the above article).
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/74258430/staff-at-mediaworks-urged-to-boycott-chief-executives-central-otago-wine
Thanks veutoviper
if the intent was to dumb down and enforce themes via churnalists such as panic paddy and gooner then job done. CT wouldnt consider that a trainwreck but fine work.
Dr Jarrod Gilbert: The police have deemed me unfit to undertake crime research because I know criminals-NZ Herald this morning
A very damning report on how our police control information to govt work
Explains in a nutshell what kind of society we live in now since this govt has been in power
It would appear now that any form of independent inquiry in to police conduct will never see any resolve that could implicate police being held to account if they could be shown to be at fault
Our free democracy is not what we believe it is any longer
and the dam collapse in Brazil, that saw a town washed away in mining waste, that saw the watersupply for 250.000 people poisioned, is still a gift that keeps on giving.
quote: round 50m cubic metres of mining residue has been working its way down the Rio Doce since the accident at the Fundão dam, controlled by the mining company Samarco, on 5 November.
Anger rises as Brazilian mine disaster threatens river and sea with toxic mud
Twelve people have been confirmed dead and another 11 are still missing, as the tide of sludge wiped out several communities in the state of Minas Gerais, before making its way into the Rio Doce.
The mud has extinguished vast amounts of plant and animal life along a 400-mile (650km) stretch of the river, with the heightened turbidity drastically reducing the levels of oxygen in the water.
Concern over toxins in the mining residue has led the national water agency, ANA, to ban the use of the river water for human consumption. Hundreds of thousands of residents in the area are still dependent on supplies of bottled water.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/23/brazil-dam-collapse-mining-waste-reaches-ocean-rio-doce?CMP=edit_2221
mean time in the US some individuals are trying to exempt ‘honest mistakes’ like mine collapses and global financial world wide crises to be considered as ‘honest mistakes’ that need no prosecution and / or jail time. Of course not.
Quote:The public debate over criminal justice reform has focused on reducing severe sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. But some influential conservative voices, including the billionaire Koch brothers and the Heritage Foundation, have quietly advocated for curbing prosecution of corporate offenses as well.
The House bill would eliminate a host of white-collar crimes where the damaging acts are merely reckless, negligent or grossly negligent. If enacted, it would make it more difficult for federal authorities to pursue executive wrongdoing, from financial fraud to environmental pollution.
Department of Justice spokesman Peter Carr blasted the legislation in a statement provided to HuffPost, saying it “would create confusion and needless litigation, and significantly weaken, often unintentionally, countless federal statutes,” including “those that play an important role in protecting the public welfare … protecting consumers from unsafe food and medicine.”
The House Judiciary Committee will begin marking up its criminal justice reform package, including the latest bill, on Wednesday. Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the panel’s top-ranking Democrat, have been working on bipartisan legislation for months.
————————————————————————————————————————-
But hey all the world misleaders are on a tax payer paid junket trip to lovely paris to do nothing. All is well……:) Gotta make hay while the sun is shining. Right ? 🙂
+100 Sabine
Paris has the same pollution problems as Shanghai and Beijing. We just don’t hear about it through the MSM though.
THE TPP TEXT HAS BEEN RELEASED. WE NOW KNOW: The Technical Barriers to Trade Chapter of the TPP includes extensive provisions intended to reduce or eliminate federal and state regulations to protect our food supply and our right to know what’s in our food: http://bit.ly/1P4f5fK.
TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE
Technical barriers to trade (TBT) “provisions are already in effect under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and have been successfully invoked to overturn federal food labeling standards, including Country of Origin Labeling for meat.”
LEAST TRADE RESTRICTIVE & ‘NECESSITY TEST’
“Labeling rules are specifically targeted. The TBT chapter would also impose a ‘necessity test’ such that labeling requirements ‘should be limited as far as possible to what is essential and to what is the least trade restrictive to achieve the legitimate objective pursued.” The objective being to protect the unfettered interest of transnational biotechs.
“Business groups have openly stated their interest in using these trade agreements to thwart state regulations.”
REGULATORY COOPERATION
“Foreign governments’ concerns would be injected into domestic policies and procedures, and procedures intended to ‘harmonize’ standards could result in setting federal and international minimum standards as the regulatory ceiling.”
“The TPP also includes regulatory cooperation requirements applicable to U.S. states.”
INVESTOR PROVISIONS TO CHALLENGE STATE LAWS
“Although the investor-state [ISDS] tribunal has no power to directly nullify U.S. laws, in practice, when a country loses to an investor, it will change the offending law, pay damages or both. Under ISDS, transnational corporations could sue for claimed lost profits due to food labeling requirements or GMO disclosure rules that companies claim will lower sales of GMO-containing products.”
“Even unsuccessful challenges take years to resolve, cost millions to defend and have a chilling effect on the development of new legislation.”
FULL ARTICLE: http://bit.ly/1leDguF
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/key-unaware-of-increase-in-emergency-housing-requests/
so it appears that the man who pretends to be prime minister is not aware of happenings in the country that he pretends to be prime minister for?
So we could conclude that a. he is aware but does not give a fuck and lies, b. he is unaware and does not give a fuck and generally just lies, or c. his staff is aware but he is so unaware they can’t give a fuck in telling him and are just generally lying to him, or d. he is aware, pretending to be unaware, still not giving a fuck about nuzilnd, and all he wants to do is pull hair and horse around?
Any of the resident bots want to comment on the comments of their ‘leader’.
Quote or the ‘leader of nuzilind’: However, the Prime Minister was none the wiser that the Citizens Advice Bureau has had a substantial increase in requests for emergency housing.
John Key said he hasn’t read the report.
“I can’t verify whether that is right or not.”
“There certainly haven’t been funding cuts overall, but you know you can always make the case that someone is getting less, but you have to look at the actual details, but we’re putting more money into them.”
Key said the Government welcomes discussions with the bureau.
A leader who lets his villagers sleep rough is no leader at all
It is failure at the most basic level
Oh, he’s back in “dont know” mode. Yesterday he had more knowledge of the secret services operations than he ever did when he was actually responsible for them..
In the right column on this page, I saw Chris Trotter’s piece “Labour And The Art Of Deckchair Rearrangement: Andrew Little Re-Shuffles His Shadow Cabinet”.
So when will AL announce the reshuffle?
If in a hurry, have a quick scan of the last few paragraphs of interesting observations and comments:
maybe when he is back from Australia? He seems kinda busy at the moment.
Pretty sure it’s later this week?
“Certainly, there is nothing about his finance spokesperson which calls to mind the incandescent passion of Roger Douglas.”
Oh Dear Oh Dear why do we need to have his name brought up in 2015 we know what a mess he made of things including going bankrupt running a Pig Farm .
Give me a break
Woops! sorry this should be deleted. See below.
Do you have a reference for your statement that Roger Douglas went bankrupt?
It is not the same thing as a pig farm in which he was involved going into receivership you know.
As an accountant I think he would have been quite able to keep himself well clear of bankruptcy.
My understanding is that the problem was the business model: the pigs were completely unregulated, and given full responsibility for their own well-being. For example, if a pig was malnourished it was held to have made “bad choices” and was fed to the others.
@ Kiwiri “Certainly, there is nothing about his finance spokesperson which calls to mind the incandescent passion of Roger Douglas.”
Oh Dear Oh Dear why do we need to have his name brought up in 2015 we know what a mess he made of things including going bankrupt running a Pig Farm .
Give me a break
The point of the comparison is that the name brought up was able to get the job done in changing the economy in terms of being thoughtful and scholarly (the reference to Nietzsche), deliver the goods as a finance spokesperson as well as finance minister-in-waiting would (writing alternative budgets) or actually doing some of his own writing (book publication).
The way in which RD re-shaped the NZ economy and the resulting outcome do not and did not have my support, but he had the wherewithal to do that in the first place.
Yep, Douglass had the gumption to actually change the system which our present Labour Party and other parties of the Left are missing despite the fact that the evidence is clear that the system needs changing.
Yes, indeed. The present opposition crew who are “in waiting” do not convey the aptitude, attitude and ability to change the system for our current challenges and this century’s pressing problems.
9.3.1 should be edited to read more smoothly:
The point of the comparison with the current finance spokesperson is that the name brought up was able to get the job done in changing the economy
– in terms of being thoughtful and scholarly (the reference to Nietzsche),
– in terms of delivering the goods as a finance spokesperson as well as finance minister-in-waiting would (writing alternative budgets) or
– in terms of actually doing some of his own writing (book publication).
Dunno about gumption.
He was thoroughly captured by religious treasury advice.
While true about the capture he did, as a matter of fact, change the system and did it fast and against popular protest.
I guess that’s how devastating his reign was…
The Guardian’s run a sustained campaign (launched around the start of last year) against female genital mutilation, and it’s working. Gambia plans to outlaw the abuse.
It appears to be a great example of a persistent but relatively low key media campaign, and the Guardian should be commended.
Rather than focusing only on leaders or main stakeholders, the campaign has a practical focus:
”Next week, a Guardian-backed radio campaign will be launched to get the message to the isolated communities where those that cut their daughters have only community radio to bring them the news.”
And of course continued pressure will be needed to ensure it actually happens.
Background of the Gambia campaign:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/nov/24/how-the-gambia-banned-female-genital-mutilation
The news story about the decision:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/nov/24/the-gambia-bans-female-genital-mutilation
The world’s leading terrorist sang a hymn in a church earlier this year;
Paul Brennan says he thought it “an incredible moment, …really cool.”
The Panel, RNZ National, Tuesday 24 November 2015
Jim Mora, Graham Bell, Rob Salmond, Zoe George, Paul Brennan
PAUL BRENNAN: Kia ora Jim!
JIM MORA: Good afternoon, young Paul, how ARE you?
PAUL BRENNAN: I’m young. Thank you!
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha!
PAUL BRENNAN: I feel younger now! Thank you!
JIM MORA: Don’t mention it! Hello everybody, very nice to have your company. Now Zoe shortly with What the World’s Talking About, ahhh, the meme that Anonymous are using to attack ISIS—quite a few complications for this; the Pope gets a bit down on Christmas; Ahmed the Clock Boy wants fifteen million dollars; the world rallies for a lost teddy; uh, Enya is back, and Coldplay are sampling Obama. On the Panel today, Graham Bell. Good afternoon Graham.
GRAHAM BELL: Good afternoon Jim.
JIM MORA: And I don’t know if we’ve got Rob Salmond with us yet, but he’ll be joining Graham after 4 o’clock. Clearing up misunderstandings regarding the flag referendum, and asking some germane questions about it too, on your behalf. Ahh, as Auckland approves the doubling in size of an already large mall, we ask: do we need mega-malls? Can you read self-help books and find happiness, or do you find the opposite? …. Thirteen to four. Now before Zoe we’ve got time for One Quick Question. We’ve got a few of your Quick Questions, actually, in the body of the program today, as they pertain to the Flag Referendum, but here’s another subject entirely: “A group of us were discussing the meaning of moreporks, ruru, in Maori mythology and superstition. One of my friends said that her iwi saw a morepork as a wise bird and a good omen; I have heard from other Maori sources that a morepork is a bad omen and to be avoided. What is the truth? Being a European of origin, I’ve always seen owls as wise and auspicious, e.g. with the goddess Athene in Greek mythology.” So that question from Conrad Hickson of Upper Hutt. And answering it, Julian Wilcox, Ngai Tahu and the former Maori Television presenter of course. …. [skip Wilcox’s entirely predictable “the truth is both” answer]…. Okay. So the truth’s complex. Thank you Julian. Zoe George, good afternoon!
ZOE GEORGE: Hello, hello. Uh, I’ve gotta say I always like to play a bit of music whenever I come onto the Pre-Panel, and Anonymous are delivering on their threat to hack ISIS and are using THIS song to do it. … [she plays a snatch of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”]
PAUL BRENNAN: Oh that’ll do it!
ZOE GEORGE:Ha ha! So it’s called Rick-rolling. What happens is that Anonymous are flooding ISIS messages with Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”…[giggles]… which is a very famous meme.
MORA: It’s an interesting meme.
PAUL BRENNAN: I remember that song when it came out. It was quite a big hit at the time wasn’t it Jim?
ZOE GEORGE: 1987!
MORA: Is that how long ago it was?
ZOE GEORGE: Yes!
MORA: Oh God, that ages us all.
PAUL BRENNAN: Skinny guy with a big voice!
MORA: There’s been a suggestion that in fact they’re closing down sites that are useful for intelligence. [snickers]
ZOE GEORGE: Yes they are as well. [snickers] U.K. Metro reports that the attacks have been successful. They’re finding and shutting down over 5,000 Twitter accounts linked to ISIS, but it also indicates that the professional security agencies have seen sources they monitor shut down as well. So, long story short, Rick Astley is drowning out intelligence as well as recruitment.
JIM MORA: Right, so all the Five Eyes guys are tuning in and they’re hearing Rick Astley too.
ZOE GEORGE: Ha ha. Yeah.
GRAHAM BELL: How does Rick feel about this?
MORA: Yeah how does Rick Astley feel about this?
ZOE GEORGE: Yeah I want to know how much money he’s making in royalties out of this meme.
PAUL BRENNAN: I don’t think it’s his song, he’s just the guy who sang it I think.
MORA: I don’t think he’ll be going after the royalties somehow.
GRAHAM BELL: Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm. Ha ha!
…An extended discussion ensues about playing Barry Manilow to drive teens out of shopping centers at night.….
ZOE GEORGE: … Apparently in 1998, the first year of this meme coming out, more than 18 million Americans were Rick-rolled.
MORA: Hmmm. …[Pause]… Now the Pope’s strange utterance about Christmas.
ZOE GEORGE: Ye-e-e-e-es…. he said during a mass at the Basilica di Santa Maria in Rome that this year’s festivities are just “a charade” due to the spread of fighting across the Middle East.
….Pause….
MORA: It’s a bit late to be coming out with this, isn’t it? I mean it’s interesting that he’s—
ZOE GEORGE: Yeah.
MORA: —-that finally a Pope has talked about Christmas in these terms.
ZOE GEORGE: Well yes, he says that the world has not understood the way of peace, ummm, and that yes, there will be lights and parties and bright trees and nativity scenes but the world continues to wager war, and the whole world is at war, and he continued to say “a war can be justified, so to speak, with many many reasons but when all the world as it is today at war, piecemeal through that, that war may be a little here, a little there, there is no justification.” That’s his direct quote.
JIM MORA: Maybe there was something lost in the translation of the pontiff’s sermon.
ZOE GEORGE: Maybe.
MORA: Is there anything wrong though with trying to hold on to a time of year when, y’know, people make an effort for peace and goodwill? That’s the thing.
GRAHAM BELL: What we SHOULD be doing.
<MORA: Yeah.
PAUL BRENNAN: He says the whole world is at war, but it’s not REALLY, is it. Not the WHOLE world.
MORA: No. It feels like it sometimes.
PAUL BRENNAN: Yeah.
….[pause]….
MORA: Hmmm. Now, the, uh, the Clock Boy returns.
ZOE GEORGE: Ye-e-e-es. [snickers] Fifteen million dollars in compensation AND a written apology is what they are asking for. Lawyers for the family of Ahmed Mohamed, umm, who was the boy arrested in Irving, Texas, ahhh with the clock that he created was supposedly a bomb but wasn’t, um, lawyers have said that they will file a civil suit in the next sixty days if offcials, both school and local body politicians, fail to comply, ahmm, with their needs. So they’re asking for 15 million compensation as well as written apologies from the local mayor and police chief, and they’re asking that ten million be paid by the City of Irving and five from the school district.
MORA: But they’re living in the Middle East now aren’t they?
ZOE GEORGE: They ARE, they’re moving to Qatar.
MORA: Oh they’re moving there?
ZOE GEORGE: Yeah, they’ve accepted an invitation from the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.
MORA: It was interesting, because the whole narrative on Ahmed changed a bit. I mean, the, Obama was said to have given him the cold shoulder, slightly, at the White House, and there was all that subsequent analysis about how he was a bit reluctant to volunteer information about the clock at school.
ZOE GEORGE: Mmm.
GRAHAM BELL: Mmmmm.
MORA: It was a slightly—
PAUL BRENNAN: How do you get to fifteen million?
MORA: What LOOKED like a very simple case of, you know, dreadfully handcuffing a small boy probably was still that, but there were just interesting strands to it.
ZOE GEORGE: Mmmm. They’ve said that the fifteen million came about because, ahhh, the teenager’s civil rights were violated, and that he was singled out based on his race, national origin and religion.
MORA: Yeah. No, it was a, a bit of a sorry episode. Rob Salmond, good afternoon.
ROB SALMOND: Good afternoon.
MORA: Joining us for the Panel after four, and you’re with Graham today, who’s with me in Auckland. Now, from the clock to what?
ZOE GEORGE: Teddy Bears! Oh bless!
MORA: Oh I saw this.
ZOE GEORGE: Capturing the HEART of people around the world! A teddy bear left behind in Perth Airport has gone viral. ….
….She proceeds to relate a tedious, inane social media non-story. Even by the standards of this chat show, this is desperate. Eventually she stops talking and there is an awkward pause.….
MORA: We’re a funny, illogical species, aren’t we. I mean, we can’t stand too much reality. It’s nice to rally to the cause of a bear.
GRAHAM BELL: Hur hur.
ZOE GEORGE: Absolutely! Yeah, so true. So true. I think that’s why we love cat photos as well, you know, it’s just something so frivolous!
PAUL BRENNAN: Did he lose his boarding pass?
ZOE GEORGE: A he he he! The bear? Well, yes, it could be a he, they ARE wearing a floral dress, ahh, the bear, and it’s attracted nearly seventy thousand people, ahhh, likes and comments.
PAUL BRENNAN: Could be a cross-dressing male bear, you just don’t know.
ZOE GEORGE: Well, this is it. Just because, you know, you’re wearing a dress doesn’t mean that you have to be female.
ROB SALMOND: I think if the bear’s gone viral, that might not help it get a boarding pass later on.
ZOE GEORGE: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
MORA: That’s a very good point.
GRAHAM BELL: It is.
PAUL BRENNAN: It’ll show up on facial recognition software.
ZOE GEORGE: Ha ha ha ha ha!
PAUL BRENNAN: Ha ha!
….Pause….
MORA: Now the really big story of the day, the return of a very famous television series.
PAUL BRENNAN: I used to LOVE this show!
ZOE GEORGE: Yes, Netflix is developing a Lost in Space remake, which is so EXCITIIIING!
MORA: Lost in Space!
PAUL BRENNAN: “Danger Will Robinson!”
ZOE GEORGE: Yes, that’s right, that’s right. The original series, which lasted three seasons and 83 episodes, set in the futuristic 1997… [an affectionate, nostalgic, witty and amusing discussion ensues.….
…..Pause…..
MORA: Coldplay, and the President.
ZOE GEORGE: Yes, they’ve got their new album coming out, Headful of Dreams, and they are sampling the President’s rendition of “Amazing Grace”, which Obama sang during his eulogy for the pastor killed in the Charleston church massacre earlier this year.
PAUL BRENNAN: That was an incredible moment, by the way, him bursting into song like that. I thought it was really cool. [1]
MORA: It’s interesting that they’ve been given permission.
ZOE GEORGE: Yes, well they said that they wanted—they had to get permission from Obama himself and also from the Charleston church who recorded it, but they said they wanted to use it because of the historical significance of what he did, and also that the song about being “I’m lost but now I’m found”, so it’s quite—
PAUL BRENNAN: You wouldn’t expect George Bush to do something like that, would ya? Or Ronald Reagan.
GRAHAM BELL: He’d get the words all wrong! Ha ha ha ha!
PAUL BRENNAN: He’d mash it up wouldn’t he!
GRAHAM BELL: Yeah! Hur hur hur hur!
MORA: It’ll be an interesting song to listen to actually.
GRAHAM BELL: “Agazing Mace!”
ZOE GEORGE: Ha.
PAUL BRENNAN: Ronny would have forgotten the lyrics!
MORA: Now Enya’s back as well.
ZOE GEORGE: Yes. After seven years she’s releasing her eighth studio album Dark Sky Island this Friday.
JIM MORA: I met Enya once.
GRAHAM BELL: Oh really.
MORA: When she came to New Zealand. She was very nice to meet actually.
PAUL BRENNAN: She’s worth $136 million I see.
ZOE GEORGE: She lives in a castle near Dublin.
…….
MORA: Before we go: Taylor Swift. I sort of shudder to talk about Taylor Swift in a way but she’s touring here isn’t she…
After the break, first topic for discussion was the flag referendum. I didn’t listen.
….ad nauseam….
[1] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27062015/#comment-1035414
“So, long story short, Rick Astley is drowning out intelligence as well as recruitment.”
Kinda like killing innocent citizens and getting a few terrorists too.
IF they can disrupt most/all of the recruitment working online, then the state/s can use their intelligence on different stuff.
@Morrissey
Here is video of conceptual artist Tao Wells….
It is an hour but if you watch it through it is very interesting from a discourse point of view, how he subverts MSM commentators..disrupts main stream messages and lovely footage of our Paula Bennet and so forth….
http://www.circuit.org.nz/film/the-happy-bene
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/middle-east/74383998/teenage-austrian-islamic-state-recruit-killed-for-trying-to-escape-reports
I’m conflicted here, on the one hand they brought it on themselves but on the other they obviously had no idea of what was going to happen to them
I really do wonder how many (including suicide bombers) change their minds, even at the last minute. Wasn’t there a report that one of the SB’s in Paris had been in a crowded restaurant, but actually went out and detonated in a less populous area? May be confusing my stories.
I also think that maybe the recruitment process may be different and less “honest” than we give credit for? Do you know what I mean? They “lure” people and only after a process/time do they find themselves in the death for Allah place? Then there is the coersion, the if you don’t do this we will kill family member, loved one etc… ?
Cos I notice that some bombers from Paris “escaped”. So, not everyone is trying to get to the virgins and Allah as soon as they can? And definitely not amongst the leadership.
The threats against family members idea has been used a fair bit in Iraq, particularly in regards to some of the “green on blue” incidents.
But there is also a well-practised routine of reinforcement and validation in recruiting teenagers to become suicide bombers – the videos of the bombers themselves beforehand also provide pressure to follow through or risk shame as a coward, extensive grooming in the initial recruitment phase to join the organisation creates strong organisational bonds before making the ultimate request, and of course the icons/images of previous bombers lauded as martyrs provide encouragement.
Basically, from what I’ve read suicide bomb organisers work to provide a disenfranchised and alienated teen with promises of belonging and fame and then making them commit before they know the full extent of their manipulators’ wishes. A bit like a cross between gang recruiters, a pedophile ring, and NZ Idol.
The NZ idol comment made me laugh out loud
🙂
My tendency to deflect from depressing topics with humour does occasionally get me into trouble at work, though.
I am probably being sexist, but men seem to find it more appealing to go gun toting and exploding things that women?
“Basically, from what I’ve read suicide bomb organisers work to provide a disenfranchised and alienated teen with promises of belonging and fame and then making them commit before they know the full extent of their manipulators’ wishes. A bit like a cross between gang recruiters, a pedophile ring, and NZ Idol.”
Yup, I kind of thought that as what I wrote LOL
There’s probably some good old sexism in the recruitment phase, too.
Its bad enough men joining up but why a teenage girl would join up is beyond me bu tI’ll hazard a guess theres a variation of the love bomb going on
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_bombing
😉
Yup
“May be confusing my stories.”
You may have been thinking of this story. The vest is believed to be one that was worn by the organiser of the attacks. It was good enough for his brother to have blown himself up but this one seems to have changed his mind. As you say “definitely not amongst the leadership”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/explosive-vest-found-in-paris-suburb-1448325235
Nah, you’re not conflicted; you’re a troll who doesn’t care about these women, and you pretend there’s an issue over whether or not we blame the victims of psychopathic militants who enslave women and lure the lost and confused.
Always trolling PR.
A waster of time on this site.
An interesting read …..
“Key’s Impossible Timeline
May 1991 John Key is interviewed by the Serious Fraud Office, they were investigating the failed company Equiticorp and it’s executives’ dodgy dealings, including a series of faux foreign exchange transactions carried out by Key’s old employers, Elders Merchant Finance. His ex-colleague, Paul Richards was facing fraud charges. Key was asked to corroborate Richard’s evidence about a ‘lunch’. I propose the entire statement is a fabrication, the lunch never took place and that Key had left Elders in 1987, just like he told media in 2007. When his statement surfaced in 2008 however, Key quickly claimed he’d simply gotten his dates wrong and meant to tell media he left Elders in 1988 – funnily enough – just like his fabricated ‘SFO statement’ said.”
https://politicallycorrectednz.wordpress.com/which-raises-another-serious-question-john-key-did-you/
“Key said the Government welcomes discussions with the bureau.”
You’re kidding….Good God in heaven, how far out of touch is this guy… CAB is a volunteer organisation with barely enough funds to keep the photocopier in paper, they are funded by…
http://www.cab.org.nz/aboutus/of/Pages/home.aspx
Ministry of Social Development: Family and Community Services
The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment
Inland Revenue Department
The Department of Internal Affairs
Immigration New Zealand
NZ Lottery Grants Board
(!) and staffed by volunteers – grandmas, and vocational community spirited people on low incomes or unemployed hoping for something to put on their CV for the most part – helping their communitiies by listening… giving people information pamphlets ….when they don’t know where else to go. Now Key says the Government was to discuss whether they can help with social housing?
Oh deary, deary me – the Government doesn’t know where to go to discuss social housing? HOUSING NEW ZEALAND and DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND HOUSING… Oh that’s right you sacked most of the staff and assimilated them into where now?
Feks sake, stop borrowing overseas money to fund fuzzy trade deals Nat, put $200m back into Housing New Zealand and let them get on with the job they were designed for. She walks off stage left shaking her head in disbelief… sigh.
Vernon Small has just posted an article about the National Party misusing public money for party political purposes by Nick Smith and others. It is an interesting read:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/74237490/public-watchdogs-need-to-bare-their-teeth-over-misuse-of-oia-taxpayer-events
More Paula Bennett lies about people declining state house for frivolous reasons exposed by Graeme Edgeler who OIA’d Housing NZ:
Graeme Edgeler @GraemeEdgeler 2h2 hours ago
It seems Housing NZ do not know in which year such refusals occurred, or even what city the house was in.
Graeme Edgeler @GraemeEdgeler 2h2 hours ago
Housing NZ declined to confirm that these events ever occurred, and did not say that they told the Minister the events occurred. (cont.)
Graeme Edgeler @GraemeEdgeler 2h2 hours ago
Housing NZ instead referred me to the Minister’s responses to written questions where she said HNZ had told here these things.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/74363309/nz-post-may-impose-20-parcel-delivery-fee-if-gst-threshold-slashed
“NZ Post may charge people $20 to receive overseas parcels if the Government slashes the threshold under which items can be bought from foreign websites GST-free.
The new fee of between $15 and $20 per parcel would cover the cost of red tape associated with collecting tax at the border, NZ Post said in a document obtained under the Official Information Act.”