Open mike 25/11/2015

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:00 am, November 25th, 2015 - 118 comments
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118 comments on “Open mike 25/11/2015 ”

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Paul 1

25 November 2015 at 6:45 am

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?
- tc 1.1
  
  25 November 2015 at 7:15 am
  
  As expected, shilling for big oil as per the handlers instructions.
- Nessalt 1.2
  
  25 November 2015 at 5:50 pm
  
  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?
  - Paul 1.2.1
    
    25 November 2015 at 6:40 pm
    
    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.
    .
  - Pat 1.2.2
    
    25 November 2015 at 10:12 pm
    
    Guyon seldom gives anyone grief…as an interviewer he’s pretty tame…if he was on the ball today its likely an aberration,
Gael 2

25 November 2015 at 6:52 am

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
- vto 2.1
  
  25 November 2015 at 8:22 am
  
  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
- Murray Simmonds 2.2
  
  25 November 2015 at 8:25 am
  
  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.
  - Draco T Bastard 2.2.1
    
    25 November 2015 at 9:57 am
    
    Perhaps some economic historian out there could fill us in on how, when and why that was changed.
    
    How We Got Here
    
    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.
    - Murray Simmonds 2.2.1.1
      
      25 November 2015 at 11:47 am
      
      Thanks Draco T – very interesting and useful link!
- crashcart 2.3
  
  25 November 2015 at 8:29 am
  
  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.
  - Murray Simmonds 2.3.1
    
    25 November 2015 at 9:37 am
    
    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”.
    - Draco T Bastard 2.3.1.1
      
      25 November 2015 at 9:59 am
      
      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.
    - alwyn 2.3.1.2
      
      25 November 2015 at 2:19 pm
      
      “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?
tc 3

25 November 2015 at 7:01 am

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.
- Paul 3.1
  
  25 November 2015 at 7:14 am
  
  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.
  - tc 3.1.1
    
    25 November 2015 at 7:17 am
    
    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.
  - Smilin 3.1.2
    
    25 November 2015 at 8:11 am
    
    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 ?
  - Amanda Atkinson 3.1.3
    
    25 November 2015 at 8:11 am
    
    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.
    - vto 3.1.3.1
      
      25 November 2015 at 8:25 am
      
      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.
      - Amanda Atkinson 3.1.3.1.1
        
        25 November 2015 at 8:56 am
        
        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.
        
        vto 3.1.3.1.1.1
        
        25 November 2015 at 9:07 am
        
        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
        
        Kay 3.1.3.1.1.2
        
        25 November 2015 at 12:22 pm
        
        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.
        
        Paul 3.1.3.1.1.3
        
        25 November 2015 at 6:48 pm
        
        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.
        
        Puddleglum 3.1.3.1.1.4
        
        25 November 2015 at 10:20 pm
        
        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.
        
        The lost sheep …
        
        25 November 2015 at 10:56 pm
        
        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?
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        26 November 2015 at 6:32 am
        
        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,
        
        The lost sheep …
        
        27 November 2015 at 10:19 am
        
        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.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        27 November 2015 at 4:45 pm
        
        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?”
        
        Puddleglum …
        
        26 November 2015 at 9:58 pm
        
        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.
        
        The lost sheep …
        
        27 November 2015 at 12:38 pm
        
        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?
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        27 November 2015 at 5:03 pm
        
        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.
        
        The lost sheep …
        
        27 November 2015 at 7:07 pm
        
        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 lost sheep …
        
        27 November 2015 at 8:00 pm
        
        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’.
        
        The lost sheep …
        
        28 November 2015 at 10:12 am
        
        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
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        28 November 2015 at 1:59 pm
        
        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.
        
        The lost sheep …
        
        28 November 2015 at 5:01 pm
        
        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.
        
        McFlock …
        
        28 November 2015 at 5:26 pm
        
        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.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        28 November 2015 at 5:34 pm
        
        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.
        
        The lost sheep …
        
        28 November 2015 at 6:58 pm
        
        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?
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        28 November 2015 at 7:29 pm
        
        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.
        
        The lost sheep …
        
        28 November 2015 at 8:04 pm
        
        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…
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        28 November 2015 at 9:48 pm
        
        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.
        
        The lost sheep …
        
        28 November 2015 at 11:22 pm
        
        Was that yes or no?
        
        Oh. Far too complicated for someone of your intelligence, eh?
        
        ropata …
        
        28 November 2015 at 11:35 pm
        
        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/
        
        ropata …
        
        29 November 2015 at 12:24 am
        
        Our kids are worse off than ever
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrZTT3OjkaE
        
        http://fairfuture.nz
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 November 2015 at 6:52 am
        
        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?
        
        The lost sheep …
        
        29 November 2015 at 11:43 am
        
        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/
        
        The lost sheep …
        
        29 November 2015 at 11:44 am
        
        OAB.
        I’ll take that as a ‘YES’ then.
        In that case, all my points are valid.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 November 2015 at 12:39 pm
        
        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.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 November 2015 at 12:52 pm
        
        …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.
        
        The lost sheep …
        
        29 November 2015 at 2:11 pm
        
        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!
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 November 2015 at 2:34 pm
        
        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.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 November 2015 at 2:44 pm
        
        Here are some data for you to ignore and deny.
        
        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.
        
        And more.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 November 2015 at 3:17 pm
        
        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.
    - DRUM 3.1.3.2
      
      25 November 2015 at 9:28 am
      
      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!
      - Rosie 3.1.3.2.1
        
        25 November 2015 at 1:01 pm
        
        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.
    - RedBaronCV 3.1.3.3
      
      25 November 2015 at 10:39 am
      
      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.
    - Draco T Bastard 3.1.3.4
      
      25 November 2015 at 11:14 am
      
      New Zealand is doing just fine,
      
      No it’s not hence the increasing poverty.
      
      and it;s why record numbers are coming home.
      
      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.
    - tracey 3.1.3.5
      
      25 November 2015 at 11:36 am
      
      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
      - Whispering Kate 3.1.3.5.1
        
        25 November 2015 at 1:44 pm
        
        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.
        
        tracey 3.1.3.5.1.1
        
        25 November 2015 at 1:53 pm
        
        Hi Kate
        
        Your reply was to me, so Amanda may not see it.
        
        Whispering Kate …
        
        25 November 2015 at 1:57 pm
        
        Thanks Tracey, hopefully she will find it – she sounds like a hard hearted person, am glad I don’t have any dealings with her.
    - Paul 3.1.3.6
      
      25 November 2015 at 6:46 pm
      
      ‘New Zealand is doing just fine’……
      
      Yes the wealthy in NZ are doing fine.
      The rest aren’t.
  - mary_a 3.1.4
    
    25 November 2015 at 11:20 am
    
    @ 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?
  - McFlock 3.1.5
    
    25 November 2015 at 12:30 pm
    
    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.
    - Ergo Robertina 3.1.5.1
      
      25 November 2015 at 12:50 pm
      
      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.
- ScottGN 3.2
  
  25 November 2015 at 7:57 am
  
  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.
- Chooky 3.3
  
  25 November 2015 at 10:02 am
  
  @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/
  - Tc 3.3.1
    
    25 November 2015 at 4:20 pm
    
    Cheers chooky
- Draco T Bastard 3.4
  
  25 November 2015 at 10:02 am
  
  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.
veutoviper 4

25 November 2015 at 7:29 am

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
- tracey 4.1
  
  25 November 2015 at 11:39 am
  
  Thanks veutoviper
- Tc 4.2
  
  25 November 2015 at 12:29 pm
  
  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.
Smilin 5

25 November 2015 at 8:04 am

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
Sabine 6

25 November 2015 at 8:26 am

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 ? 🙂
- savenz 6.1
  
  25 November 2015 at 8:46 am
  
  +100 Sabine
- Draco T Bastard 6.2
  
  25 November 2015 at 10:14 am
  
  Paris has the same pollution problems as Shanghai and Beijing. We just don’t hear about it through the MSM though.
savenz 7

25 November 2015 at 8:44 am

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
Sabine 8

25 November 2015 at 9:17 am

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.
- vto 8.1
  
  25 November 2015 at 9:19 am
  
  A leader who lets his villagers sleep rough is no leader at all
  
  It is failure at the most basic level
- tracey 8.2
  
  25 November 2015 at 11:41 am
  
  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..
Kiwiri 9

25 November 2015 at 9:23 am

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.”
- Sabine 9.1
  
  25 November 2015 at 10:22 am
  
  maybe when he is back from Australia? He seems kinda busy at the moment.
  - tracey 9.1.1
    
    25 November 2015 at 11:44 am
    
    Pretty sure it’s later this week?
- John Shears 9.2
  
  25 November 2015 at 10:45 am
  
  “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
  - John Shears 9.2.1
    
    25 November 2015 at 10:51 am
    
    Woops! sorry this should be deleted. See below.
  - alwyn 9.2.2
    
    25 November 2015 at 12:20 pm
    
    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.
    - One Anonymous Bloke 9.2.2.1
      
      29 November 2015 at 3:40 pm
      
      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.
- John Shears 9.3
  
  25 November 2015 at 10:48 am
  
  @ 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
  - Kiwiri 9.3.1
    
    25 November 2015 at 11:25 am
    
    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.
    - Draco T Bastard 9.3.1.1
      
      25 November 2015 at 12:07 pm
      
      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.
      - Kiwiri 9.3.1.1.1
        
        25 November 2015 at 12:24 pm
        
        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).
      - McFlock 9.3.1.1.2
        
        25 November 2015 at 12:31 pm
        
        Dunno about gumption.
        
        He was thoroughly captured by religious treasury advice.
        
        Draco T Bastard 9.3.1.1.2.1
        
        25 November 2015 at 1:16 pm
        
        While true about the capture he did, as a matter of fact, change the system and did it fast and against popular protest.
  - tracey 9.3.2
    
    25 November 2015 at 11:44 am
    
    I guess that’s how devastating his reign was…
Ergo Robertina 10

25 November 2015 at 10:23 am

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
Morrissey 11

25 November 2015 at 11:02 am

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
- tracey 11.1
  
  25 November 2015 at 11:48 am
  
  “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.
- savenz 11.2
  
  25 November 2015 at 12:23 pm
  
  @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
Puckish Rogue 12

25 November 2015 at 11:10 am

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
- tracey 12.1
  
  25 November 2015 at 11:54 am
  
  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.
  - McFlock 12.1.1
    
    25 November 2015 at 12:15 pm
    
    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.
    - Puckish Rogue 12.1.1.1
      
      25 November 2015 at 12:53 pm
      
      The NZ idol comment made me laugh out loud
      - McFlock 12.1.1.1.1
        
        25 November 2015 at 1:10 pm
        
        🙂
        
        My tendency to deflect from depressing topics with humour does occasionally get me into trouble at work, though.
    - tracey 12.1.1.2
      
      25 November 2015 at 1:21 pm
      
      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
      - McFlock 12.1.1.2.1
        
        25 November 2015 at 1:39 pm
        
        There’s probably some good old sexism in the recruitment phase, too.
  - Puckish Rogue 12.1.2
    
    25 November 2015 at 12:41 pm
    
    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
    - tracey 12.1.2.1
      
      25 November 2015 at 1:22 pm
      
      😉
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwBirf4BWew
      - Puckish Rogue 12.1.2.1.1
        
        25 November 2015 at 2:56 pm
        
        Yup
  - alwyn 12.1.3
    
    25 November 2015 at 2:39 pm
    
    “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
- Ergo Robertina 12.2
  
  25 November 2015 at 7:09 pm
  
  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.
  - Paul 12.2.1
    
    25 November 2015 at 10:37 pm
    
    Always trolling PR.
    A waster of time on this site.
esoteric pineapples 13

25 November 2015 at 1:26 pm

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/
Gael 14

25 November 2015 at 2:35 pm

“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.
Karen 15

25 November 2015 at 5:01 pm

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
Karen 16

25 November 2015 at 5:10 pm

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.
Gangnam Style 17

25 November 2015 at 6:26 pm

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.”

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Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
3 days ago

Gordon Campbell on fast track powers, media woes and the Tiktok ban
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
3 days ago

The Government’s new fast-track invitation to corruption
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Point of OrderBy gadams1000
3 days ago

Maori push for parallel government structures
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
3 days ago

An announcement about an announcement
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
3 days ago

All the Green Tech in China.
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
3 days ago

Western Express Success
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
Greater AucklandBy Matt L
4 days ago

Bernard’s pick ‘n’ mix of the news links at 7:16am on Monday, April 22
TL;DR: These six news links stood out in the last 24 hours to 7:16am on Monday, April 22:Labour says Kiwis at greater risk from loan sharks as Govt plans to remove borrowing regulations NZ Herald Jenee TibshraenyHow did the cost of moving two schools blow out to more than $400m?A ...
The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
4 days ago

The Kaka’s diary for the week to April 29 and beyond
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
4 days ago

2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #16
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
Skeptical Science
4 days ago

Bryce Edwards: The Government’s new fast-track invitation to corruption
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
4 days ago

Thank you
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
5 days ago

Determining the Engine Type in Your Car
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

How to Become a Race Car Driver: A Comprehensive Guide
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

How Many Cars Are There in the World in 2023? An Exploration of Global Automotive Statistics
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

How Long Does It Take for Car Inspection?
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

Who Makes Mazda Cars?
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

How Often to Replace Your Car Battery A Comprehensive Guide
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

Can You Register a Car Without a License?
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the Rule If you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

Mazda: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Reliability, Value, and Performance
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

What Are Struts on a Car?
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

What Does Car Registration Look Like: A Comprehensive Guide
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

How to Share Computer Audio on Zoom
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

How Long Does It Take to Build a Computer?
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

How to Put Your Computer to Sleep
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

What is Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT)?
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

iPad vs. Tablet Computers A Comprehensive Guide to Differences
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

How Are Computers Made?
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

How to Add Voice Memos from iPhone to Computer
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

Why My Laptop Screen Has Lines on It: A Comprehensive Guide
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

How to Right-Click on a Laptop
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

Where is the Power Button on an ASUS Laptop?
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

How to Start a Dell Laptop: A Comprehensive Guide
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

Bryce Edwards: Serious populist discontent is bubbling up in New Zealand
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
5 days ago

How to Take a Screenshot on an Asus Laptop A Comprehensive Guide with Detailed Instructions and Illu...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

How to Factory Reset Gateway Laptop A Comprehensive Guide
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
5 days ago

The Folly Of Impermanence.
“You talking about me?” The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Bowalley Road
5 days ago

A crisis of ambition
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
5 days ago

Have 308 people in the Education Ministry’s Curriculum Development Team spent over $100m on a 60-p...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
5 days ago

'This bill is dangerous for the environment and our democracy'
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
5 days ago

The Bank of our Tamariki and Mokopuna.
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
5 days ago

The worth of it all
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
6 days ago

What is the Hardest Sport in the World?
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
6 days ago

Release: Working together on consistent support for veterans this Anzac Day
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Labour Blog
1 day ago

Release: Penny drops – but what about Seymour and Peters?
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Labour Blog
1 day ago

Release: Budget blunder shows Nicola Willis could cut recovery funding
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
Labour Blog
2 days ago

Further environmental mismanagement on the cards
The Government’s resource management reforms will add to the heavy and ever-growing burden this Government is loading on to our environment. ...
Greens
2 days ago

Release: RMA changes will be a disaster for environment
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour Blog
2 days ago

Release: Labour supports urgent changes to emergency management system
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
Labour Blog
2 days ago

Release: Labour calls for New Zealand to recognise Palestine
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Labour Blog
3 days ago

Release: Three strikes law political posturing of worst kind
The Government is bringing back a law that has little evidential backing just to look tough, Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
Labour Blog
3 days ago

Release: Government cuts unbelievably target child exploitation, violent extremism, ports and airpor...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
Labour Blog
3 days ago

Three strikes has failed before and will fail again
Resurrecting the archaic three-strikes legislation is an unwelcome return to a failed American-style approach to justice. ...
Greens
3 days ago

Release: Environmental protection vital, not ‘onerous’
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Labour Blog
3 days ago

Release: Govt cuts doctors and nurses in hiring freeze
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Labour Blog
6 days ago

Fast-track submissions period must be extended
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
Greens
6 days ago

Release: Progress on climate will be undone by Govt
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
Labour Blog
6 days ago

Release: Dark day for Kiwi kids as a third of Govt cuts affect them
News that 1000 jobs at the Ministry of Education and Oranga Tamariki could go is devastating for future generations of New Zealanders. ...
Labour Blog
1 week ago

Release: Alarm as Government signals further blow to school lunches
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Labour Blog
1 week ago

Release: Quick, submit – stop Govt’s dodgy approvals bill
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Labour Blog
1 week ago

Government throws coal on the climate crisis fire
The Government’s policy announced today to ease consenting for coal mining will have a lasting impact across generations. ...
Greens
1 week ago

Release: Public transport costs to double as National looks at unaffordable roading project instead
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
Labour Blog
1 week ago

Release: Cost of living in Auckland still not a priority
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Labour Blog
1 week ago

Greens look to fast-track submissions on harmful law
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Release: Govt should stop making people’s lives harder and build more homes
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Labour Blog
2 weeks ago

Release: Melissa Lee missing in action on media
The action Melissa Lee promised to protect democracy and the media sector is missing, Media and Communications spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
Labour Blog
2 weeks ago

Landlord Government leaves little hope for renters
The Government’s announcement on tenancy rules prove that it does not care about renters. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Opportunity to build a more sustainable economy
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Significant step forward in fixing cruel and unjust past
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Missed opportunity but NZ will surely one day recognise the right to a sustainable environment
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Release: Don’t cut our lunches – clear message sent to Government
Tens of thousands of people are demanding the Government commits to fully funding free and healthy school lunches. ...
Labour Blog
2 weeks ago

Release: Govt makes U-turn on Suicide Prevention Office
Labour welcomes the Government’s U-turn on the closure of the Suicide Prevention Office, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Labour Blog
2 weeks ago

CCC issues warning over further climate delay
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Luxon targets are lousy example of leadership
If talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Luxon targets lame and lousy example of leadership
If talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Release: Commitment to disability communities missing from Govt priorities
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Labour Blog
2 weeks ago

Methane target review is dangerous duplication
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
Greens
3 weeks ago

Anzac Commemorative Address – Dawn Service, Gallipoli, Türkiye
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 hours ago

PM announces changes to portfolios
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 day ago

New catch limits for unique fishery areas
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 day ago

Minister welcomes hydrogen milestone
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Urgent changes to system through first RMA Amendment Bill
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Overseas decommissioning models considered
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Release of North Island Severe Weather Event Inquiry
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Justice Minister to attend Human Rights Council
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Patterson reopens world’s largest wool scouring facility
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Speech to the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective Summit, 18 April 2024
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Government to introduce revised Three Strikes law
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

New diplomatic appointments
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Humanitarian support for Ethiopia and Somalia
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Arts Minister congratulates Mataaho Collective
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Supporting better financial outcomes for Kiwis
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Trade relationship with China remains strong
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
5 days ago

PM’s South East Asia mission does the business
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
5 days ago

$41m to support clean energy in South East Asia
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder list
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

Judicial appointments announced
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in Singapore
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

Value of stopbank project proven during cyclone
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visit
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac Day
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days ago

Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the Philippines
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
7 days ago

Government commits $20m to Westport flood protection
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Taupō takes pole position
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Cost of living support for low-income homeowners
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Government backing mussel spat project
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Government focused on getting people into work
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Clean energy key driver to reducing emissions
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forward
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Thailand and NZ to agree to Strategic Partnership
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Government consults on extending coastal permits for ports
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Inflation coming down, but more work to do
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

School attendance restored as a priority in health advice
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Unnecessary bureaucracy cut in oceans sector
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Patterson promoting NZ’s wool sector at International Congress
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Removing red tape to help early learners thrive
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

RMA changes to cut coal mining consent red tape
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Nelson Mandela’s grandson joins Gaza flotilla, slams ‘genocide complicit’ leaders
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
1 hour ago

200 journalists ‘targeted’ over their environment reporting, warns RSF
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
2 hours ago

Bryce Edwards Analysis – Luxon’s ruthless show of strength is perfect for our angry era
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz) Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Evening ReportBy Bryce Edwards
3 hours ago

David Seymour: Auckland Grammar School ANZAC Day Address
This speech was delivered to Auckland Grammar students, family, Old Boys, and staff on ANZAC Day 2024 by David Seymour ’97, MP for Epsom. ...
Scoop politics
4 hours ago

David Seymour: Auckland Grammar School ANZAC Day Address
This speech was delivered to Auckland Grammar students, family, Old Boys, and staff on ANZAC Day 2024 by David Seymour ’97, MP for Epsom. ...
Scoop politics
4 hours ago

Inflation is slowly falling while student debt is climbing: 6 graphs that explain the CPI
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
4 hours ago

Response To ANZAC Day Protests
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Scoop politics
5 hours ago

Claimants want Children's Minister to front up kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face)
Waitangi Tribunal claimants will appeal a High Court decision to overturn a summons order from the Tribunal for Children's Minister Karen Chhour. ...
Radio NZ – political
5 hours ago

‘It bucked our lads up wonderfully’: the lightning-quick battle that marked the birth of the US-...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918. Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
6 hours ago

GCSB refuses to release details of spy deal 'to protect interests'
The spy agency is refusing to release a copy of its deal with a foreign agency to run a secret operation out of this country. ...
Radio NZ – political
7 hours ago

Die In for Palestine Marks ANZAC day
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Scoop politics
7 hours ago

Ancient nomads you’ve probably never heard of disappeared from Europe 1,000 years ago. Now, DNA an...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD). Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
9 hours ago

Don’t mention the war: On grandparents and Anzac biscuits
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits. First published in 2021. All my ...
The SpinoffBy Amanda Thompson
9 hours ago

If plastic manufacturing goes up 10%, plastic pollution goes up 10% – and we’re set for a huge ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
10 hours ago

Governor-General's Anzac Day Dawn Service Address
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Scoop politics
10 hours ago

Angling-Conservation Group Sees Fast Track Bill As Undemocratic
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Scoop politics
10 hours ago

Remembering the great TrueBliss vs Bardot national anthem sing-off
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff. First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
The SpinoffBy Jamie Wall
10 hours ago

Help Me Hera: Do I even want the public sector job I might be about to lose?
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nz Dear Hera, May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
The SpinoffBy Hera Lindsay Bird
12 hours ago

ANZAC Day Wreath Calls For No Future Deaths From AUKUS
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Scoop politics
13 hours ago

Swimmer does everything and more to get to Paris
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
NewsroomBy Dave Crampton
15 hours ago

Seize the day
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell. First published in 2022. The high school’s head girl and ...
The SpinoffBy David Hill
15 hours ago

The first, forgotten Anzacs, more than 50 years before Gallipoli
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association. First published in 2018. When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
The SpinoffBy Scott Hamilton
15 hours ago

Poem for Anzac Day: ‘Hoki Mai’ by Tayi Tibble
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble. Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
The SpinoffBy Tayi Tibble
16 hours ago

Poem for Anzac Day: ‘My World War I Poem’ by Bill Manhire
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin. My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
The SpinoffBy Bill Manhire
16 hours ago

Book of the Week: Talia Marshall on living legend Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
NewsroomBy Talia Marshall
16 hours ago

Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April
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NewsroomBy Newsroom Puzzles
16 hours ago

Daily crossword, Thursday 25 April
The post Daily crossword, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Newsroom Puzzles
16 hours ago

High Court overturns Waitangi Tribunal summons to Minister for Children Karen Chhour
The minister was due to give evidence on Friday regarding the government's plans to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act ...
Radio NZ – political
24 hours ago

Sydney University students set up Gaza solidarity camp as war marks 200 days
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
1 day ago

Most bees don’t die after stinging – and other surprising bee facts
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

How Anzac deaths changed the way we mourn to this day
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/Flickr Victor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Sugar gums have a reputation as risky branch-droppers but they’re important to bees, parrots and p...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Inflation is slowly falling, while student debt is climbing: 6 graphs that explain today’s CPI
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Our housing system is broken and the poorest Australians are being hardest hit
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

‘It bucked our lads up wonderfully’: the lightning-quick WWI battle that marked the birth of the...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918. Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

First Nations Anzacs sacrificed life and limb for Country. Why aren’t their stories shown onscreen...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War Memorial Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

NZ’s Media Minister Melissa Lee demoted after Newshub crisis
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
1 day ago

Our tall, wet forests were not open and park-like when colonists arrived – and we shouldn’t be b...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Aces in their places: Luxon plays coy over ministers' competence
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Melissa Lee’s media Hail Mary comes up short
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
NewsroomBy Laura Walters
1 day ago

Northland council continues four-year Māori ward fight in face of government changes
A council that played a key role in getting Māori ward polling removed is now lobbying against government plans to reinstate binding referendums. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

Education Ministry cuts: Roles providing support for disabled kids among those proposed to be axed
Leaked documents show which divisions will bear the brunt of hundreds of proposed job cuts at the Ministry of Education. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

Land Information New Zealand proposes 57 job cuts
It is the latest department to announce job cuts as part of the government's cost-cutting measures. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

Watch: Government's 'wheels are falling off already', Hipkins says, after ministers d...
The Labour leader says the demotion of two ministers today shows the PM "didn't have particularly good judgement". ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

The stories of Australia’s Muslim Anzacs have long been forgotten. It’s time we honour them
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

National emergency response facing 26 separate inquiries: What have we learned
The country's emergency response is besieged by inquiries, despite years of reviews and efforts to make laws that deliver. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

Sexual assault victims give evidence in court, but alleged perpetrators don’t have to. Bruce Lehrm...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

What’s the difference between ADD and ADHD?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Watch: Government's 'wheels are falling off already', Hipkins says, after minsters de...
The Labour leader says the demotion of two ministers today shows the PM "didn't have particularly good judgement". ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

Anti-Poverty Groups Urge New Minister For Disability Issues To Reverse Funding Cuts
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago

New Media Minister Must Rule Out State Intervention In Private Media
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago

OPM leader’s open letter condemns Australia’s ‘treachery’ over Papua
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
1 day ago

‘Emily Dickinson made me into a writer’: Lauren Groff on the power of reading
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff. The book I wish I’d written If I wish I’d written a ...
The SpinoffBy The Spinoff Review of Books
1 day ago

Watch live: Chris Hipkins speaks after ministers Melissa Lee, Penny Simmonds lose portfolios
The Labour leader speaks from Parliament after the prime minister's sudden Cabinet reshuffle. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

What kind of diner are you? 6 types of diners who avoid plant-based meat dishes
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Auckland University Criminologist Slams ‘Racist’ Three Strikes Law
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago

Australia-born judge facing potential deportation from Kiribati
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
1 day ago

Can Body-Worn Cameras Work In Australia And New Zealand? Lessons From Milestone’s Denmark Survey
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago

Media Minister Melissa Lee demoted from Cabinet, Penny Simmonds stripped of portfolio
Melissa Lee has been stripped of the Media portfolio, while Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues role. Follow as the PM explains. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

Climate change and human rights: how a landmark legal victory in Europe could affect NZ
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vernon Rive, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images A seven-year campaign by a group of over 2,000 Swiss women – average age 73 – recently ended with a European Court of Human Rights decision variously ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Page-turning rural gothic: Ash by Louise Wallace, reviewed
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
The SpinoffBy Claire Mabey
1 day ago

Lower catch limits in force for Fiordland, Chatham Islands
New catch limits in Fiordland mean recreational fishers will only be able to take much smaller bags of finfish and shellfish. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

New emergency management legislation delayed after bill pulled by Government
The bill was introduced by the previous government in June last year. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

‘It was my Eras tour’: Meet the world’s biggest TrueBliss fans
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
The SpinoffBy Alex Casey
1 day ago

No more Census forms? Stats NZ mulls form of future surveys
The traditional Census form could become a thing of the past, as Stats NZ starts to rely more heavily on administrative data. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

The voices that vanish in a decimated newsroom
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
The SpinoffBy Eda Tang
1 day ago

Half our colleagues suffer pain and discomfort from periods. But they’re still a taboo subject at ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

'We're going to be banning gang patches' – Police Minister adamant
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Radio NZ – political
2 days ago

Is it possible to ‘objectively’ judge music? We asked 5 experts
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

Gloomy vibe from infrastructure sector as RMA changes unveiled
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
The SpinoffBy Anna Rawhiti-Connell
2 days ago

From Gallipoli to Gaza: remembering the Anzacs not as a ‘coming of age’ tale but as a lesson for...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

The end of the Census? Stats NZ to look at whether survey is still needed
The traditional Census survey could become a thing of the past as Stats NZ starts to rely more heavily on administrative data. ...
Radio NZ – political
2 days ago

Leaked document reveals millions of dollars of cuts at Te Whatu Ora
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
NewsroomBy David Williams
2 days ago

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