A Merry Christmas to all Students of Comedy and Comedians
That bloke in Auckland who’s had his name suppressed, Jimmy Savile, Sacha Baron Cohen….2012 has been the Year of Reassessment of the Comedian.
Thanks to everyone who read about and debated the issue of Sacha Baron Cohen’s monstrous behaviour—even if you raged, obfuscated or indignantly denied that your favorite comedian was a moral imbecile. For many of you, having had to think for the first time about the politics of laughter, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. You may still insist that Baron Cohen’s behaviour was simply fun, or ironic, or “edgy” or “pushing the envelope”, but from now on you’ll also have that nagging doubt, called a conscience, in your mind when—if—you watch Bruno again.
And you SHOULD watch it again if you want. Please don’t feel bad if you watch a video of Bruno or Borat or The Dictator from now on; they’re funny and you have my blessing if you fall about laughing as you watch them. Only from now on, perhaps, you’ll be a tad more aware of what is happening when he interviews that poor fellow captioned “Terrorist group leader, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade”, and just what Baron Cohen and his producers were quite deliberately doing.
Coming up after the Holiday break: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT SEINFELD.
“Coming up after the Holiday break: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT SEINFELD.”
Why? Because he’s Jewish? I don’t find him funny, but that doesn’t seem to be what your agenda is. I’m surprised you haven’t rehashed the whole Woody Allen incest thing. What next? Blood libel? Merry goddam Christmas to you too.
No, we need to have a critical look at Seinfeld because he’s a nasty ideologue with a particularly objectionable modus operandi.
I don’t find him funny,
Well, I do. I find Sacha Baron Cohen funny too, most of the time. And Bob Hope. But they are (or were) all shills for some unconscionably evil enterprises.
…but that doesn’t seem to be what your agenda is.
Our analysis incorporates some study of their comedy routines, naturally, but our agenda is of course to encourage people to engage critically with the material they watch, and think about why they are laughing at official victims (in the Occupied Territories) or sneering callously at the down and out on the streets of American cities.
I’ve refrained from commenting on a line and a half of wild and choleric ranting by Populuxe1, where he riffs insanely about “incest” and “blood libel”.
Borat was awful and I couldn’t watch the hurt inflicted upon other innocent people for the entire film. I think I watched the first 10 minutes before leaving in disgust. I found it as entertaining as watching animals being tourtured. When Bruno came out I didn’t bother…some of the Dictator material I found funny but after Borat I only watched short clips on youtube.
Seinfeld!? Oi vey! I liked Seinfeld. Looking forward to a new prospective in the new year to grow my mind. Politics of comedy is intellectually stimulating.
All their divisions that trade interest rate derivatives on their own account report huge profits running into billions. Where does that profit come from?
The answer is it comes largely from you and me. Global banking, intertwined with the global financial services and asset-management industry, has emerged as a tax on the world economy, generating much activity and lending that has not been needed, but whose purpose is to make those who work in it very rich.
It is entirely feasible to have a system of credit without the destruction that comes from interest. Interest needs to be peeled off from credit, amongst more.
Well no, it was just my minds creation, but I have a lot of faith in those… It would go like this – zero percent interest rates, which is almost the case already.
But of course that too doesn’t quite resolve the issue, which is credit’s reach into society to such an extent that it becomes part of the fabric. Best example of this being the housing market. Housing values are to the level they are entirely due to the issue of credit (interest bearing or otherwise, virtually, following the logic). If interest rates were zero housing values would probably stay right up of course, but who would waste time issuing credit if that ws the case? Perhaps government or some other non-profit or joint-between-stakes approach. The urge to keep issuing credit due to its profitable nature needs to be taken out.
The only problem with removing the right ot issue credit (print money) from private banks and placing it elsewhere is that, humans being humans, we will find some way to work it to an advantage. Of course if it was placed with a government type organisation then the urge to use it for political advantage (rather than private profit advantage as now) is smack in the face. The disadvantages with this are probably greater than if it remained with private, given the power resting with government.
Methinks I need to read more on it and do more thinking but one thing is sure and, using the example above, keeping house values high surely advantages private banks only and I fail to see the use in this, especially when other areas are bereft of funds (those funds being our daily toil). I mean, imagine if instead of one third of your working toiling week going to pay for your roof, it was only one quarter or one tenth……. not hard to see the results.
There is no advantage to high capital values. All it does is require people to take on debt. I like Foodstuffs approach when it comes to buying and selling New Worlds and PaknSaves and hmmm four squares. etc. What they do is require the sale of any of their supermarkets to be at a multiple of one years earnings (as I recall..), and be to an approved operator through their system. What this does it focus attention on revenue and income instead of capital. This means owners get ownership easier and without silly cripping debt. And this is the right approach – hence their success.
Our current obsession with capital over revenue is destructive. The banking system prefers an obssession with capital of course.
bit of a ramble but full belly and sleepy christmas eyes …
Of course if it was placed with a government type organisation then the urge to use it for political advantage (rather than private profit advantage as now) is smack in the face. The disadvantages with this are probably greater than if it remained with private, given the power resting with government.
Unless you make government democratic rather than hierarchical thus having it being one person one vote for the creation and use of that money.
Our current obsession with capital over revenue is destructive.
It’s a it more complex than that. What we have is a requirement to get the capital (money) back plus revenue. What we need to do is change it so that money used to build something productive (power stations, telecommunications, high tech fab plant) doesn’t need to produce a monetary return or even pay for itself. What it provides is all that’s required.
Very interesting karol. Yet while this is disturbing in itself, the most dramatic threat in West Antarctica is not so much the surface and air termperatures … but the sea temperatures.
What most people don’t really grasp is that the WAIS (West Antarctic Ice Shelf) is grounded well below sea-level. This means that if warm water gets between the base of the glacier and the bed-rock it can be broken up very rapidly.
Worse still Naish and his colleagues are now faced with clear evidence that the WAIS does not necessarily melt in a linear fashion, rather it is prone to highly unstable events that could lead to massive breakups, potentially adding up to 3.2m of average sea level rise in quite short periods of time. And due to the way the earth’s gravitational field works, that average rise would not be distributed evenly over the earth’s surface; in some places like North America the rise could be up to 4.0m…within our, or our children’s, lifetimes.
For their down playing of climate change and their willingness to be part of an administration that will allow the <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escarpment_Mine_Project<Massive Opencast, (Escarpment) coal mine at Denniston to proceed.
The Green Party get awarded the Lump of Coal.
Give a Lump of Coal for Christmas
Traditionally lumps of coal was the gift given to children who have been naughty. In the past several years this holiday tradition has taken on a bit of a twist, with people giving lumps of coal to each other for fun or as a way of indicating displeasure.
Children (and pets) may be given lumps of coal from their parents or their teachers to indicate that they’ve been misbehaving. Coal lumps may be given to bosses, colleagues and politicians anonymously to indicate frustration, disapproval or anger over the job they are doing.
While Green Party leaders may be lauded by both Labour and National and their allies in the MSM and the unions for their “acceptance of the realities of coalition government”, their “responsibility” and their “pragmatism” and their prioritising of jobs and economics over the environment……
It is for this ‘pragmatic’ behaviour, (in reality a sick sell out), that the Green Party get my lump of coal in their stocking this Christmas mourning.
At the same time Jenny if a Labour/Green govt were to get into power and then attempt to de-carbonise the NZ economy by 10% in 2015, and each year thereafter… they would be thrown out in the 2017 election. If not sooner by massive protests in the streets.
The New Zealand public is not yet ready for this. If they were they would be demanding action even from this current government.
Twenty thousands marched to stop mining on conservation land. There are dozens of environmental groups in existence and being set up.
Many thousands in this country have protested for nuclear free and anti aparthied and anti war.
Where is the political will for the massive protests and pressure you claim are in support of doing nothing, to come from?
The only political pressure to continue with the fossil fuel economy is coming from the fossil fuel and roading lobbies themselves. Obviously this lobby has intimidated the Greens. I suppose with all their money and power this lobby will try and drum up some sort of fake mass opposition movement. But so far there is no sign of it.
The Greens are being frightened by shadows.
You say that the New Zealand public is not ready for this. I say that through cowardice and ignorance of New Zealand history no lead is being given by those who should be giving it.
As long as there is no lead being given, what can people do, other than what they are doing now, in their small groups?
What do you think you are achieving by being confrontational with me?
Yes change is happening. Yes there are groups who are doing fantastic work and I hugely respect the time and energy they are putting into it. Eventually it will bring results.
But the fact is that de-carbonising the New Zealand economy will have a real, direct impact on how we live our lives. The large majority of ordinary people are, for a whole bunch of reasons, some better than others … are simply not emotionally ready for that change.
And right now any political party that seriously challenged that fact would be slaughtered by the media. Hell look at the hammering we got for simply passing a law to stop adults from assaulting children. The S59 Reform was the turning point that let John Key into power… what hope if we try and take their cars and toys away from them before they are willing to let them go?
Quit attacking your allies. Really. What I’m looking for is less emotional noise and some hard sense about how to deal with this constructively.
Maybe it is not New Zealanders “who are simply not emotionally ready”, but the Greens.
If you want some hard sense about how to deal with this then you have openly and strongly demand the actions that are required.
The Green Party policy is no new coal mines. This is a realistic policy. Globally coal extraction and use has been identified as the number 1 cause of climate change. Taking a hard line against the coal industry is what is required.
But instead the Green Party are prepared to ditch their principle of no new coal mines for cabinet positions.
How about when Russel Norman mentioned ‘printing money’ a short while ago (another word for the quantitative easing that numerous other Western nations have been doing flat out for the last 5 years or so) … and the media instantly jump on him as ‘crazy, irresponsible, extremist and generally loopy’?
Now imagine if he came out and said that in 2015 New Zealand was going to shut down it’s carbon use by 10%? Or more because National had delayed acting?
The Greens would be crucified by the John Armstrongs and Fran O’Sullivan’s of the media. It would be used constantly all through the election campaign as a massive stick to beat them with.
And the point of loosing another election in 2014 is?
When, and only when, the middle class see pictures on their TVs of waves breaking upon the tarmac of Wellington Airport and rolling through the departure lounge will they be snapped out of their comfort zone long enough to ‘demand’ action,
The Green Party is only 10-11% of the vote and therefor can hardly DICTATE to the wider electorate that action has to occur now,(even if the consensus of science says it must),
Unless you suggest a 1 party Green state any such actions where the majority are being dictated to against it’s will would collapse the vote of any coalition that the Greens were part of at the following election and the Tories would just reverse whatever changes the Greens had made,
I should cop some flak for this, BUT, the future of the planet does not rely upon whether the Denniston plateau is mined or remains un-mined, the same amount of carbon WILL be produced to the atmosphere by whomever the coal is to be sold to whether that coal comes from Denniston or somewhere else in the world,
My view is that the Greens should walk away from Kyoto, impose a carbon tax and spend that into the economy planting trees everywhere until such time as there are no more places to plant those trees or the amount of trees planted makes New Zealand a carbon neutral country, secondly a portion of such a tax should be set aside for research into technology’s which reduce carbon emission and technology’s which are capable of capturing and storing carbon already present in the atmosphere,
As a Green Party member i am insulted by your use of the word ‘cowardice’ in reference to the Green Party and would ask you, what would you rather have a Green Party that gets done what is possible with regards the climate and social justice. or a Green Party that in Government for the first time commits electoral suicide…
…..the future of the planet does not rely upon whether the Denniston plateau is mined or remains un-mined, the same amount of carbon WILL be produced to the atmosphere by whomever the coal is to be sold to whether that coal comes from Denniston or somewhere else in the world
@bad12
This is not the point.
New Zealand produces 0.2% of green house gases. (This is from all sources agriculture included.) If New Zealand were to stop all emissions tomorrow, it would have little quantitive impact.
New Zealand’s biggest contribution to stopping global warming can only be qualitative.
“New Zealand is a small emitter by world standards – only emitting some 0.2% of global green house gases. So anything we do as a nation will have little impact on the climate – our impact will be symbolic, moral, and political”
A nationwide ban on coal mining and coal use, is the needed symbolic stand that Sir Peter Gluckman is talking about. Grabbing the world’s attention, inspiring millions to demand the same thing from their governments.
Coal must be phased out, and soon.
Stopping coal is the minimum that must be done to stop worldwide catastrophe.
Stopping the Denniston open cast coal mine is a necessary first step on the way to that larger goal of stopping all coal mining.
And is it really that hard?
The mining and use of asbestos has been banned worldwide. It can be argued that the death and destruction from continuing to mine and burn coal will dwarf that caused by asbestos.
Jenny, but it IS the point, China, India, and the US to name 3 are country’s who use coal as an integral part of their economy’s, and crowd power in all 3 economy’s is sadly lacking to have that use banned,
We can as a country only proceed so far and as i point out above, i would prefer that we walk away from Kyoto and instead resort to a carbon tax to be used to plant trees of sufficient number so as to get us as an economy as close to being carbon neutral as possible, along with a like investment in research to find technology’s which are capable of capturing carbon emissions at source and research into a means of mas carbon capture from the atmosphere, that is the best example we can show the world,
So as you have not seen fit to answer my question on whether or not you favor a suicidal Green presence in the next or any future Government i suppose i have to take your lack of reply as assent in that is what you favor,
Simply because what you continue to propose is electoral suicide for the Greens…
Have to partially disagree Red. I think the NZ public actually is ready and with just a little info and understanding, I believe they can be motivated to protest and pressure for action to be taken by government.
To get action from above, it’s always been necessary to apply pressure from below.
I think that’s where we’re at. Consider the general reaction in comments to the couple of posts I’ve put up so far on global warming. Just a couple of years back, I suspect those posts would have met with howls of derision.
And we have a simple scientific fact to focus peoples’ minds and it’s not one you need a degree to grasp and/or explain. 4 degrees = impossible future. And the 4 degreesfigure isn’t coming from individual scientists or whatever, but from the World Bank and the International Energy Authority….very conservative institutions.
OK … but among the people I’m working with and meet; there is silence. Either they simply don’t want to know, or they suspect the truth and really don’t want to confront it.
This is reflected in how the media has almost completely stopped talking about it as well.
This is fear-driven behaviour. We won’t get the co-operation needed from the mass of people globally unless we can get them to confront that fear openly.
I’m sure it can be done; it might even happen a lot sooner and faster than any of us imagine. But right now we’re at more of a ‘sticking point’ than a ‘tipping’ one.
– the skills and support to deal with the fear and cognitive dissonance. I see very little work being done on this in NZ.
– information and a way of getting involved that allows them to take positive action that may save their children and grandchildren’s lives. Transition Towns and allied movements are leading the way on this. Everywhere in NZ now has some kind of positive action that can be done at an individual level.
– information about CC that doesn’t tell them we’re all fuckd and going to die. That information needs to be presented at a lay person’s level. If the MSM media aren’t doing this, then how else can it be done?
It’s true that there is a lot of silence. But silence is easily broken. And I know some people have devoted their energies to the act of avoidance…because it’s too scary or whatever.
But I also know that other people are really receptive and just waiting for some nascent form of protest to form that they would then join in with.
And when I’m done with these posts I know my energies are going to be focussed on helping to bring that opportunity about. And I know I have a shit hot talent for instigating grass/flax roots activism/protest – just I’ve been in ‘retired’ mode for several years.
So maybe (putting aside the fact that I don’t think you live in these parts and that I wouldn’t know you from a bar of soap if you walked right up to me) we’ll get to say ‘hello’ out on the streets sometime in the New Year 😉
I suppose that depends upon where you think the sticking point is. From what I can make out it’s more with the politicians and business than with the people.
Politicians and business people are always going to try and maintain the status quo. Important change gets led by the people. Enough people want something to change, and do something about it, politicians and business follows.
But that’s just it, they [politicians] don’t or, at least, most of them don’t. They seem to think that they’re there to lead the way rather than being representatives.
… but among the people I’m working with and meet; there is silence. Either they simply don’t want to know, or they suspect the truth and really don’t want to confront it.
This is reflected in how the media has almost completely stopped talking about it as well.
Redlogix
Exactly, this is why a strong lead on this issue at this time is vital. And why the Green Party decision to stop giving that lead at this time will prove to be a fatal mistake.
I partially agree, I think people are more ready now than they were. I just don’t think the Green Party should be leading the charge any more than they already are. Their experience over many elections now is that it is very easy for their floating voters to get scared off at election time. Either by MSM or NACT fearmongering, or by people not understanding MMP and voting for Labour to prevent NACT winning. The next election is crucial. I don’t think the GP should be risking anything at this point in time. Once they are in govt they may up the ante on CC.
Instead, what we need is NGO action, from grassroots all the way through to corporate/business. Jenny is right about one thing, we need leadership. But we also need mass involvement at the community level. The 350 campaign some years ago mobilised alot of people, esp those no engaged in traditional political activism. What happened to that energy and action?
I completely agree with what you said in the If thread – we need information that people can assimilate and work with rather than the ‘we’re all fucked and humanity is going extinct’ argument. The posts you’ve been doing on Anderson’s work strike a good balance: this is a very serious situation AND we are still able to do something so let’s do it.
To get action from above, it’s always been necessary to apply pressure from below.
Agreed – and on all the pressing issues; climate, peak resources, poverty, sustainable economics, closing the inequality gap, measuring success in terms of activities that benefit society not any old economic activity, adequate social security, etc.
World Bank and the International Energy Authority….very conservative institutions
Why on earth would you be hopeful about anything which was pushed by either of these two entities Bill?
People are definitely not going to get what they ask for, and sooner than later, they will be yet again wondering how it went to far against what they imagined the solutions looked like!
Why on earth would you be hopeful about anything which was pushed by either of these two entities Bill?
I’m not. But the fact that they are (rightly or wrongly is beside the point here) generally regarded as authoratative sources of information…and given their conservatism too…their latest prognoses on AGW serve as useful reference points.
Telling lies again Jenny? Please present some evidence that the GP supports mining of the Dennistion Plateau. And that evidence will have to concretely refute what the GP have on their own website.
“BOOS and jeers from about 150 protestors greeted Prime Minister John Key as he entered Bathurst Resources’ new Wellington offices late yesterday.
Mr Key was there to meet the management of the Australian mining company which is planning New Zealand’s biggest open cast mine on the West Coast. The PM and Energy and Resources Minister Phil Heatley were confronted by a crowd of environmental activists and Green Party MPs rallying against coal mining.
National MP Simon Bridges and Labour’s West Coast MP Damien O’Conner had both slipped in to the building prior to the Prime Minister’s arrival. The Bathurst mine proposal is for the Denniston Plateau in the West Coast.
The proposed mine site is on public conservation land near the largest current opencast mining operation in New Zealand, State-owned Solid Energy’s Stockton coal mine.
Green Party Conservation spokesperson Eugenie Sage expressed her disappointment following the Prime Minister’s remarks in the House of Parliament that the Denniston mine could proceed due to historical consent.
“It’s disappointing that the Prime Minister doesn’t seem to realise that the Conservation Minister still has an access application to consider,” Ms Sage said.
“Coming here today is sending a strong signal to the Department of Conservation and the minister that the government will be approving this mine.””
I guess what this really means is that the GP are lying through their teeth to get the votes and then intend to reneg on that once in govt and support the mining of the plateau 🙄
You can’t have it both ways Jenny. You want the GP to protest things to do with CC, but when they do, you tell lies about them.
I have never said that the Green Party are “against” mining the Denniston Plateau. I have said that the Green Party are prepared to bargain this away to get cabinet positions.
This is something that you don’t deny.
It is entirely possible to be against something, and still do the opposite.
If the Green Party really wanted to stop Denniston they should immediately release a press statement now that they will not be part of any administration either National or Labour that let it proceed.
This would certainly give the investors and shareholders at Bathurst Resources pause for thought, before ploughing any more money into developing this mine.
The few politicians that I’ve spoken too have confirmed that it is only the top 4-5 cabinet ministers including the PM that get to effect any real change (with the exception of private members bills of course). The rest are just warming the bench and making up the numbers in the hope that one day they will be in the top 5. Perhaps the greens have realised this and have made a judgement call to let denniston go through so they can effect greater change with cabinet positions.. possibly even legislation to stop or at least phase out coal mining altogether amongst other things.
Maybe they have PP. But your wondering out loud is different than Jenny telling lies about the GP by stating opinion as fact. She’s just making it up.
Myself, I doubt that any decisions have been made at this stage. I also think that the GP has the potential to change MMP and how coalition govts form. No idea if they will though. Much depends on how many votes they get. It’s a long time until the next election.
Where did you get/hear this information from ? The wikipedia link is not working so I couldn’t verify it there, and I cannot find anything on the Green Party website about them downplaying either climate change or the Denniston mining effects. Please clarify.
Solo mums, I love you all the most.
You have the most important job of all, and often have to do it under a barrage of criticism.
Just remember “you only need a dick to run the country, it only takes a mother to raise a son.”
What ever you do, don’t take Paula’s pills unless you want to.
If my old girl had been coerced into stopping at one or two, I wouldn’t be 3 of 5.
I’m just a dreamer, but you could have an Einstein, Hawkins, Dr Barnardos or Florence Nightingale, and let’s face it, they can’t get here soon enough. So make love, not Paula’s day. Get any stick at WINZ and we’ll come down and contracept their mouths.
I hear what they say and I know that it’s rough. It beats you down.
Every night on the news when the going gets tough. They put you down.
You know solo mum, down my road, it’s all right. You aint so bad.
You’re not on your own Alpha one, 3 of 5. Born Alpha tribe.
Lift your head up little sister. Lift your face up to the son.
Don’t let anyone say you’re shit, love. Make them always prove you’re wrong.
Take that flower by the hand, love. And then you’ve got to make him understand.
He’s got to stand up for all the sisters if he wants to be an Alpha man.
I know what they say and I know that it’s wrong. But they wheel you out.
Every night on the news when they’ve done something wrong. Appease the crowd.
You know solo mum, on my road, we’re all right. We aint so bad.
You’re not on your own Alpha one, 3 of 5. with your Alpha pride.
Keep your head up pretty sister. Hold your face up to the sun.
We don’t let anyone say we’re shit, love. We don’t ever let anyone say we’re wrong.
Take the flower by his hand, love. Teach him how to grow up strong.
You only need a dick to run the country. You only need a mother to raise a son.
The Carter’s in or out of the Parliament confuse me,but, the current one with the back-woodsy type portfolio that i cannot remember the name of and who is said to be the next Speaker of the House,
I think Nick Smith is going to pick up Carter’s portfolio when they drag Him back from Siberia for a vodka laced rehabilitation, it’s thought that Carters portfolio is so obscure,(it must be if i can’t remember what it is). that even Smith is unlikely to make a hash of it, but hats off to Nick i bet it don’t take him long to do so…
Do you mean the little bird on the TV news the other night, me thinks that Slippery will keep His word on Hekia remaining right where she is,(that’s cause for definite surprise),
I cannot see anyone in Nationals line-up capable of doing the job Ryall has with the Health portfolio have and Hekia is doing one hell of a good job destroying the peace of mind of the Education sector which is what i believe the outcome sought by Slippery’s National Government really is,
Wreck the ability of the sector to function properly, destroy any individual schools ability to budget properly with NO-NO-Pay and across the field ‘they’ are halfway to replacing the Boards with hand picked Commissioners,
Hell the Bizness sector has probably been in Slippery’s ear about just how expensive it is to set up a charter school and why should they have to when there are 1000’s of schools out there just ripe for a negative take-over from the charter schools mob…
Tony Ryall should remember that all political careers end in failure.
If he succeeded in ‘breaking the unions’ in education then that would amount to the most radical ‘reform’ of the education sector achieved by any government. So much for this being a ‘centrist’ government.
It would also lead to the crumbling of what has been a consistently high quality state education system and leave the door wide open to the overall educational quality reductions that come from privatising mass education (e.g., would one ‘provider’ ever share its ‘successful’ educational IP with another? If so, why? Markets inevitably create distortions in social systems of cooperation. :-)).
I say this simply because the collective values of the teaching profession, as currently supported through a unionised workforce, are part of what is needed to produce quality public education. Those values are not the foundation of mass private education.
So, if you are correct in that intention, Ryall’s appointment as education minister would either be a disaster for his career or a disaster for public education. If I were Ryall I would not want the former – for obvious reasons – and I also wouldn’t want the latter.
Why would he wish to go down in history as the minister who undermined public education and initiated a decline in educational attainment in New Zealand’s children? The so-called ‘tail’ would inevitably lengthen significantly. (And don’t get me onto supposed high level ‘accountability’ measures to ensure schools/children ‘achieve’ – they would be laughable if they weren’t so dangerous.)
(WYSIWYG doesn’t seem to appear as an option anymore for me.)
24 hours ago TV3 news was saying exactly the same as what you are about the future prospects of Hekia,
Perhaps you could ask your ‘little birdy’ to be a lot less tardy in the future, after all what’s the point of having a ‘little birdy’ if they are beaten by the MSM in breaking the latest gossip…
The media were speculating, quite accurately as it happens. I wasn’t. You seem to have the impression I was trying to impress you. mate, I wouldn’t [deleted]. [ B – Be nice 😉 ]
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The government has announced it will strengthen whistleblower protections. The major change is "allowing people to report serious wrongdoing direct to an external authority if they wish", which fixes one of the big flaws in the Act. At present, whistleblowers must generally make their disclosure direct to the body they ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bruce Lieberman CARLSBAD, CA. – When it comes to paying the electric bill, most people don’t give it a second thought – it’s something that in effect is “baked in.” But across California and several other states, local governments increasingly are ...
Excerpts from Being and Being Bought, by Kajsa Ekis Ekman, Spinifex Press, 2013. Part 4 Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book. This is the fourth part of a synopsis and brief commentary of the book by Daphna ...
The Democracy Virus: China’s authoritarian political system enables a level of social surveillance and control that liberal democratic societies cannot match. The Chinese Government makes full use of the latest digital technology to both punish – and reward – its citizens. The plans it formulates cannot be challenged, or hindered. Where ...
Another day, another IPCA report on criminal conduct by policy. This time they kicked a child in the head when he was handcuffed:Police chased him and yelled out for him to stop. When he turned to face the police, he threatened them with a hammer. That's when the officers tasered ...
The investigation of two of the five parties in Parliament for fraud around their election donations has pushed the issue of party funding back into the spotlight. And while there are obvious things we can do to tighten up the donations regime - a much lower declaration threshold, realtime disclosure ...
While the south of New Zealand has been struggling with too much rain in recent days, here in the north we are so very short of it (though Saturday’s forecast looks promising). Basically, we have had almost none since Christmas.As someone who relies on rain to wash the car, ...
Former National Party MP Jami-Lee RossIt comes as no surprise that Jami-Lee Ross has been named as one of the defendants in the X2 $100,000 National Party donations case currently before the courts. Click bait journalists who were chaffing at the bit to discredit the former senior whip had already ...
Stand Clear! Winston Peters is encouraging voters to think of RNZ as belonging to “The Media Party”. He wants them to see it as a politically partisan institution with its own, vicious attack-dogs in the electoral fight. If he succeeds, it will be, and probably should be, the end of ...
"You're going to need a longer runway" Gratton et al explore the ongoing effects of upward-creeping temperatures on aviation in Greece in the period since 1955 at a range of airports in that country. For longer runways impacts are measurable but with little impact on operations. For airports with shorter runways, ...
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...
Former National Party chief whip Jami-Lee Ross is one of the four people charged over National's multiple fraudulent donations. How unsurprising. Meanwhile, just days ago National leader Simon Bridges was trying to pretend the charges were nothing to do with his party. Yeah, right. When your chief whip effectively publicly ...
If you've been watching FYI for a while, you'll have noticed that the police have a bad habit of demanding ID from requesters. They have apparently been repeatedly told to stop doing this by the Ombudsman, but we all know what law enforcement thinks of the law, so thye keep ...
Collateral Damage: For the Green Phoenix to be reborn, the funeral pyre so patiently assembled by its identity politicians over the course of many fractious years – but with growing intensity over the past three – first has to be ignited. The terrible probability, of course, is that, in setting ...
If you follow politics in New Zealand you've likely noticed that the right wing have been going on and on about the Coalition Government failing to reduce poverty. In fact they’ve been incessantly claiming, in the absence of any conclusive data, that poverty has been getting worse.Yesterday, NewstalkZB reported:Mike Hosking: ...
The Herald reported over the weekend that an Auckland business owner is being targeted with asset forfeiture laws over a workplace death:A workplace fatality has seen police use a law usually associated with drugs and organised crime to seize millions of dollars in assets from a business owner because of ...
Just days after talking about how people feel "squeezed" and promising tax and service cuts as a "solution", National is talking about cancelling a rise in the minimum wage if elected: National is considering scrapping the Government's planned minimum wage increase if it wins this year's election, the party's finance ...
Nobody thinks about the next century anymore. That at least is Sci-Fi writer William Gibson’s observation (in this BBC 4 short interview, starting at 1:43:50 ). He calls it “Futures Fatigue”, but isn’t judgemental about it. Gibson notes that in the 20th century speculation about the 21st (and beyond) was common. Now ...
A Labour government desperate for the numbers crawls into bed with Winston Peters. Winston ignores the law and secretly takes money under the table from someone. When it is exposed just months out from an election, he is investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. That's what happened back in 2008. ...
So the Serious Fraud Office has another secret $100,050 National Party donation before the Courts in a major scandal that looks set to quash any chances Simon Bridges had of winning the 2020 election.Yesterday, Newsroom reported:The Serious Fraud Office prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...
Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanHousing policy is building up to be the key election issue again. In this blog I reflect on the importance of the role of the New Zealand Government in improving access to affordable housing. I look at what the Government has been doing to increase quality public housing ...
Writing on The Spinoff, Danyl Mclauchlan argues that we have a vacuum in our political system, in that there is no longer an anti-establishment party anymore:I think there’s a vacuum in our political system. There are obvious problems with the status quo but no real critics offering reform. It’s a ...
Stuff today has a piece about the government discovering it has been oversubsidising polluters for a decade under the Emissions Trading scheme:The Government is pledging to urgently fix an issue within the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), after it emerged some polluters are likely being over-compensated with taxpayer-funded carbon credits. [...] ...
The Marlborough District Council, tired of public scrutiny, wants to increase the amount it charges for LGOIMA requests:The cost of requesting official information from Marlborough's government agency could almost double after a jump in "fishing expeditions". Charges could be raised from $60 to $100 an hour for information supplied by ...
When Winston Peters was caught money laundering donations and stalking journalists, the Greens were conspicuous by their silence. It was another example of how getting along with their government partners was eroding their values and their own reputation. It was obviously unsustainable, and so now James Shaw has finally spoken ...
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...
With over 69,000 confirmed cases and 1,600 deaths, here’s your round-up of the latest coronavirus news. New disease and virus have now officially been named On the 11th February, the WHO Director General announced a new name for the disease: COVID-19 which is short for coronavirus disease 2019. The naming ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 9, 2020 through Sat, Feb 15, 2020 Editor's Pick ANALYSIS-Climate change opens up 'frontier' farmland, but at what cost to the planet?Climate change could expand farmland globally by ...
After cross-examination Jones knew he would lose the defamation case he took against film maker Renae Maihi. That’s why he threw in the towel. The weight of evidence was clearly against the old tycoon with the defense presenting fifty articles to confirm Jones’ racist views.Being unable to harass somebody into ...
Sprung! Former NZ First president, Lester Gray, chats with RNZ's Guyon Espiner in the carpark of a Tauranga shopping centre.(Photo supplied anonymously to NZ First and The BFD.)IT’S CLEAR THAT an important aspect of Jacinda Ardern’s political success is her willingness to seek – and take – advice. This ...
Ruth Cunningham, Charlotte Paul, Andrew MoorePublic health responses to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 require us to draw on our common humanity and be explicit about our values. Recognising this will help us make good decisions in difficult situations so that, for example, the need to impose restrictive measures ...
The Helen Clark Foundation has released its report on the housing crisis, and found that house-hoarders are to blame for it:Property investors are to blame for New Zealand's high house prices, a new research paper published by the Helen Clark Foundation says. [...] McArthur said previous attempts to address housing ...
The Abortion Legislation Committee has reported back on the Abortion Legislation Bill and recommended that it be passed with some amendments. Unfortunately, the latter include even more hoops to jump through for those seeking abortions after 20 weeks, including a time-wasting requirement to consult a second doctor. No-one casually seeks ...
Brexit is likely to be a disaster for the UK (how sad, never mind). But now that they're out of the EU, the latter has finaly taken the opportunity to blacklist one of their key tax havens:The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is to be put on an EU ...
I’m not quite sure of what to make of the new figures for COVID-19 (as we must now call the novel coronavirus – though I’m not sure the capitalisation is correct) from Hubei province:Image from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51495484The spike yesterday is a consequence of a using a different way of ...
Bob Jones has dropped his defamation case against Renae Maihi. Good. But at the same time, it perfectly exposes what the case was all about: not protecting Jones' reputation, but punishing someone who had dared to criticise him, and deterring others from doing the same. This rich pompous asshat dragged ...
As I've done for the past few years, I'm curating and presenting The Listening Lounge, the talk programme at Splore. On the morning of Saturday the 22nd at the Living Lounge stage, the korero goes like this.Yes, we're talking about drugs again, not just because I'm professionally interested in drug ...
What Were They Thinking? RNZ's CEO Paul Thompson (left) and Jim Mather, Chairman of the RNZ Board of Governors, attempt to justify the debacle arising out of their attempt to downgrade RNZ Concert to the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee at Parliament on Thursday, 13 February 2020.WHAT IS ...
Dame Tariana Turia with former PM John KeyWhat is it about Tariana Turia’s grudge against the Labour Party? Not content with attacking the Government over Whānau Ora funding, which was increased by $80 million in 2019, she has now made it personal by saying that Jacinda Ardern is out of her ...
Back in 2017, right after being elected, Jacinda Ardern promised that there would be no new mines on conservation land. Since then, her government has done nothing to make that happen, and now the policy has been officially "parked" for the election:West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor says the "no new ...
So the guy who advocated for public burning and beheading feels offended because someone called him a racist!Perhaps Bob Jones hasn't heard of the very old saying; Live by the sword, die by the sword?I mean for someone who often writes opinionated nonsense about Maori; this is a ridiculous case ...
The government today announced a major support package aimed at reducing homelessness. A thousand new transitional housing places, more support for people to find homes (or not lose them in the first place), all good stuff. The one problem with it is that they're going to start charging people in ...
Courtroom Drama: There is no off-switch in a courtroom. Neither is it possible to turn the page in disgust. Ill-formed and ill-defended opinions will be exposed ruthlessly and unapologetically. As Shakespeare put it: “Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.” Sometimes the ...
As of today, the novel coronavirus spreading in China is called COVID-19. Why does it matter? Around the office, we’ve had several conversations over the past few weeks about how 2019-nCoV needed its own name. First, it was getting annoying calling it by the above designation, and ‘novel coronavirus’ doesn’t ...
by Philip Ferguson Last month B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, reported: “In 2019, Israeli security forces killed 133 Palestinians, including 28 minors. Of the casualties, 104 were killed in the Gaza Strip, 26 in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and three within ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Arms (Firearms Prohibition Orders) Amendment Bill (No 2) (Brett Hudson)Its basicly more "tough on crime" nonsense (its already illegal for unlicensed people to own guns) designed to wedge NZ First against its arsehole base. ...
In 2015 the world agreed to the Paris Agreement to fight climate change. Each country would offer a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) "that it intends to achieve", and "pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving [it]". And every five years, they'd improve on it, ratcheting up ambition until ...
In theory, the emissions trading scheme should reduce emissions. Making polluters pay for permits to pollute lets them save money by reducing pollution, giving them a financial incentive to do the right thing. But right from the start the ETS was broken with a system of free allocation, so polluters ...
Irish voters went to the polls on Saturday in parliamentary elections, and perhaps delivered a political revolution. Since independence, Irish politics has been dominated by two parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Basicly patronage networks with indistinguishable policies, their cleavage isn't ideology, but who killed whose father or grandfather in ...
Once again the Aotearoa Bike Challenge is on us, and once again I’m participating. In principle this is not hard because it does not represent a significant switch in behavior for me. I already bike nearly every day. The Bicycle The fascinating thing about cycling is the realisation that this ...
Lately there has been a great deal of misinformation regarding the origins and purpose of Skeptical Science. As John Cook wrote nearly a decade ago, Skeptical Science is primarily a website that debunks climate misinformation with peer-reviewed science. Despite the ever-worsening impacts from climate change, with record after record being broken in ...
Under Attack: By sacking not only RNZ Concert’s presenters, but also its producers and librarians, and reducing the station to an automated purveyor of classical music in-between parliamentary broadcasts, RNZ’s CEO, Paul Thompson, wasn’t simply announcing an operational shake-up, he was declaring war on one of the most important guardians of ...
Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Australian smoke plume sets recordsThe recent wildfires in Australia sent one of ...
The Global Protest to #FightInequality was powerful – thankyou and what next? Dear allies, We started the decade with a huge protest to #FightInequality that was heard around the world, including the 1% at Davos. Watch and share the highlights on facebook and twitter. A huge thank you. Together we ...
The Ministry of Health have announced a package that might ensure NZ will never experience another measles epidemic. While at the time of writing the details are still limited it appears that the important limitations in our current programme have been acknowledged and the intent is to address them. Great ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Michael BakerIn this blog we briefly summarise our assessment of the highly uncertain new coronavirus threat. Given its potential to become a severe and prolonged global pandemic, a precautionary response now means activating all components of our pandemic plan, with a particular focus on ‘keep ...
When Labour was running for election, Jacinda Ardern famously said that climate change was "my generation's nuclear free moment". The implication was that her government would take the problem seriously, and act swiftly to reduce emissions. The reality:New Zealand will emit a million more tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2020 ...
James Renwick is Professor of Physical Geography at Victoria University of Wellington. He studied at Canterbury and the University of Washington and has worked on diverse aspects of climate science, including global atmospheric circulation and Antarctic sea ice. In December 2019 he was appointed to the New Zealand Climate Change ...
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order Newly released Police data shows once again the number of fleeing drivers have continued to skyrocket with a record 512 incidents occurring in December – almost tripling the number of incidents occurring just ten years ago, says New Zealand First Law and ...
While the Provincial Growth Fund has provided $2 million to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia, Regional Economic Minister Shane Jones said he is greatly concerned that there are “issues” in implementing the projects. The Minister said the immediate solution was to pipe water from a bore ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland NZ First is calling on Rio Tinto to accept its responsibilities to the Southland community and enable the immediate removal of the toxic Aluminium Dross from the Mataura Paper Mill site. New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland, Mark Patterson ...
The Coalition Government has announced that a further $500,000 will be given to help residents in Southland and Otago to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. It follows prior government assistance of $200,000 earlier this month where the Southland Mayoral Relief Fund received $100,000 to support communities impacted by ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking about the recent droughts in the Northland region and what the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is doing to alleviate its impact. The PGF recently announced a funding of $2 million for temporary water supplies to Kaikohe and Kaitaia, ...
Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Broadcasting New Zealand First supports the commissioning of a business case to assess the viability of a new public media entity. “A strong media environment is critical for a healthy democracy. New Zealand First is a strong supporter of a diverse, independent media,” New Zealand First broadcasting spokesperson ...
Pounamou and technology industries in the West Coast region are set to receive more than $2 million in Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding. This was announced by the Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau during Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika. He said $800,000 would be given to Development West ...
Clayton Mitchell MP, New Zealand First spokesperson for Labour and Industrial Relations Unemployment and wage growth numbers released by Stats NZ today demonstrate a labour market in good shape with unemployment falling to 4.0%, the underutilisation rate falling to an 11 year low, and wage growth at a 10-year high ...
Hon. Ron Mark, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence Ron Mark, welcomes the official opening of Te Rau Aroha, a new museum at Waitangi Treaty Grounds as part of our Coalition Agreement. “It is a great honour to be part of an effective Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime MinisterGood morning,Let us start with important acknowledgements.First, this special day, in remembrance of the 28th Maori Battalion, is also to honour all those men and women who have risked their lives in the service of our country.Second, special guest Robert ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand will look to build on its relationship with the United Kingdom and recommit to the European Union, after the country officially left the continental union recently. The Minister said New Zealand already cooperates closely with Britain on defence and security issues and has ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is delivering on its commitment to unlock the potential of Māori-owned land with investments up and down the country making a genuine difference to communities, Regional Economic Development Shane Jones says.At Waitangi last year, the Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister The Government is placing temporary entry restrictions into New Zealand on all foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through mainland China to assist with the containment of the novel coronavirus and to protect New Zealand and the Pacific Islands from the disease. This ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has extended the date for people to have their say on proposed changes to improve management of whitebait across New Zealand. Submissions were due to close on 2 March 2020 but will now remain open until 9am on Monday 16 March 2020. “I have ...
The endangered toroa/Antipodean albatross has new international protection for its 100,000km annual migration, thanks to collaborative efforts led by New Zealand, Australia and Chile. Today, 130 countries agreed to strictly protect Antipodean albatross at the Conference of Parties on the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild ...
No sales to under-18-year-olds No advertising and sponsorship of vaping products and e-cigarettes No vaping or smokeless tobacco in smokefree areas Regulates vaping product safety comprehensively, - including devices, flavours and ingredients Ensure vaping products are available for those who want to quit smoking Vaping regulation that balances ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little will travel to Berlin tomorrow to represent New Zealand at a high-level summit on nuclear disarmament. This year, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) celebrates 50 years since it entered into force. “New Zealand’s proud record and leadership on nuclear disarmament is unwavering, so it’s important we are present ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit two of New Zealand’s most important Pacific partners, Fiji and Australia, next week. The visit to Fiji will be the first by a New Zealand Prime Minister in four years and comes during the 50th anniversary of Fijian independence and diplomatic relations between our ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little and New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball, have today announced the appointment of the Chief Commissioner of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the location, and the membership of the Establishment Advisory Group. Colin Carruthers QC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of the CCRC for an ...
Māori Development Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor co-announced the first horticultural finalists for the Ahuwhenua Trophy celebrating excellence in the Māori agricultural sector. The three finalists are Ngai Tukairangi Trust from Mt Maunganui, Otama Marere Trust from Tauranga, and Hineora Orchard Te Kaha 15B Ahuwhenua ...
A new kete of resources to strengthen support for students with dyslexia will provide extra tools for the new Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs) as they start in schools, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Minister launched the kete in Wellington this morning, at the first of three induction ...
The Government continues to make progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the First Reading of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill and its referral to the Social Services and Community Select Committee. “Now is the opportunity for landlords, tenants and others who want ...
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Hon James Marape will visit New Zealand from 21-25 February, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “New Zealand and Papua New Guinea have a warm and friendly relationship. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Marape here and strengthening the relationship between our two countries,” ...
Thousands of children have begun receiving a free lunch on every day of the school week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. The Government’s free and healthy school lunch programme is under way for 7,000 students at 31 schools in Hawke’s Bay / Tairāwhiti and Bay of Plenty / Waiariki, extending ...
The Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni today announced a new approach that continues to broaden the Government’s social sector focus from a narrow, investment approach to one centred on people and wellbeing. Minister Sepuloni said redefining the previous approach to social investment by combining science, data and lived experience ...
The Government is strengthening the Protected Disclosures Act to provide better protection for whistle blowers, Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins said today. “The Protected Disclosures Act is meant to encourage people to speak up about serious wrongdoing in the workplace and protect them from losing their jobs or being ...
Nǐn hǎo (Hello in Mandarin). Xīn Nián Kuài Lè (Happy New Year in Mandarin) Néi Hóu (Hello in Cantonese). Sun Nin Fai Lok (Happy New Year in Cantonese) Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you for your invitation to attend this celebration today. I would like to acknowledge ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ngā ...
Tougher penalties for gun crime are a step closer with the passage of firearms reform legislation through another stage in Parliament. The Arms Legislation Bill has tonight passed its Second Reading. “The changes have one objective - to prevent firearms falling into the wrong hands,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Introduction Mr Speaker We all know why we are here today. It has been a long journey. The journey did not actually begin on 15 March 2019. It began on 30 June 1997. Almost 23 years ago, Justice Sir Thomas Thorp told us what was wrong with our firearms legislation. ...
The Government’s work to put trades and vocational education back on the agenda took another major step forward today with the passing of the Education (Vocational Education and Training Reform) Amendment Bill, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. “This is a watershed day for trades and vocational education. These law changes formalise ...
Speeding up the return of Christchurch regeneration activities to local leadership is behind the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament today by Minister Megan Woods. “As we approach nine years since the February 2011 earthquake in Canterbury, and with the transition to local leadership well underway, the time ...
Hundreds of New Zealanders and international visitors will be able to get back out into nature with the Milford Track partially reopening next week, after extensive assessments and repairs, the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced today. The popular Great Walk has been closed since 3 February after an extreme ...
Up to 110 new EV chargers nationwide in cities and regions 50 electric vehicles for ride-sharing The Government is helping deliver more infrastructure and options for low emissions transport through new projects, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. Tauranga, Nelson, Levin, New Plymouth and Oamaru are just some ...
New Zealanders are increasingly better off under this Government as wages rise and families have more disposable income, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ reported today that average household disposable incomes after housing costs rose 4.9% in 2019. This was the highest rise in four years and came as ...
All New Zealanders need to have their voices heard at work to ensure we have an inclusive and productive economy. Today we introduce a Bill to do this for workers in the New Zealand screen industry, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “The Screen Industry Workers Bill will ...
The Government has announced further help for the Southland and Otago regions to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. “I’ve approved Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG), making $500,000 available to help with the clean-up in Fiordland, Southland, and the Clutha district in Otago,” Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said. ...
Following the announcement that more than 340 schools will be funded to run events promoting vocational education, the Government has announced it will fund a further 257 events to be run by employers and industry. “These industry-run events will allow more than 30,000 students to connect with more than 2,000 ...
Today the Government is making progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in Parliament. “This Bill includes a series of reforms to improve the wellbeing of the 609,700 households that live in rented homes, and ...
A Government programme to wipe out pea weevil has achieved a world first, with Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor today announcing the successful eradication of the noxious pest from Wairarapa. This means the nearly four-year ban on pea plants and pea straw was lifted today. Commercial and home gardeners can again grow ...
Southland residents hit by flooding caused by heavy rainfall can now access help finding temporary accommodation with the Government activating the Temporary Accommodation Service, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare announced today. “The Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) has been activated by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to help ...
“Is that it?” That’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s response to Simon Bridges’ much-hyped economic speech today. “Simon Bridges just gave the most over-hyped and under-delivered speech that I can remember during my time in politics,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s not surprising. Simon Bridges literally said on the radio this morning ...
A trial deployment of the Police Eagle helicopter in Christchurch will test whether the aircraft would make a significant difference to crime prevention and community safety. “The Bell 429 helicopter will be based in Christchurch for five weeks, from 17 February to 20 March,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. “The ...
The Government has kept up the pace of its work to promote New Zealand’s trade interests and diversify our export markets, with visits to Fiji and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker. Building momentum to bring the PACER Plus trade and development agreement ...
The Coalition Government’s investment in a strong border and disrupting transnational organised crime produced record results for stopping drugs in 2019, says Minister of Customs Jenny Salesa. The illegal drugs were seized at the New Zealand border by Customs, and overseas by Customs’ international border partners before the drugs could ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off construction of a separated cycleway alongside Tamaki Drive. A two-way separated cycleway will be built along the northern side of Tamaki Drive, between the Quay Street Cycleway extension and Ngapipi Road. There will be a separate walking path alongside. Phil Twyford said giving ...
Owner-occupiers of unit and apartments living in earthquake-prone buildings will have certainty about the financial support they’ll be eligible for with the release of criteria for an upcoming assistance scheme, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. The Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme will help unit owners facing ...
Temporary restrictions on travel from China will remain in place as a precautionary measure to protect against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The restrictions which prevent foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through, mainland China from entering New Zealand have been extended for a further 8 days. This position ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today that Tairāwhiti rangatahi will benefit from an investment made by the Government’s He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) scheme. The funding will go to the Tautua Village, Kauneke programme and the Matapuna Supported Employment Programme which will fund 120 rangatahi over two years. “Both programmes work ...
All parents and caregivers need to ensure that their children go to school unless they are sick, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin said today. “The school attendance results for 2019 show, across the board, a drop in the number of students going to school regularly,” the Minister says. “Apart from ...
A Deed of Settlement agreeing redress for historical Treaty claims has been signed by the Crown and Moriori at Kōpinga Marae on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) today, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little has announced. Moriori have a tradition of peace that extends back over 600 years. This settlement ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today with Māori King Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII officially opened the country’s newest road, the $384 million Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway. The 15km four-lane highway with side and central safety barriers takes State Highway 1 east of Huntly town, across lowlands and streams ...
News broke today that Hannah Tamaki has been cast for the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars. Emily Writes explains why the religious leader and aspirant politician has no place on the show.In an exceptionally sad display of desperation, MediaWorks appears to have booked Hannah Tamaki, known for her ...
Political parties must, this election year, pledge to press forward with a massive build of “social” homes to tackle New Zealand’s human rights crisis in housing, a move that will also help reduce inequality, Peter Malcolm, spokesperson for the ...
Details of the Government's newly-announced vaping crackdown may keep New Zealanders smoking and paying exorbitant excise taxes, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union. Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, "We welcome the decision not ...
News that the Government is set to regulate vaping is welcomed. However, heavily restricting where most vape flavours can be sold is a step too far and could lead to rising smoking rates, says the Vaping Trade Association of New Zealand (VTANZ). ...
Tala Pasifika is applauding Associate Minister of Health Jenny Salesa’s Vaping Amendment Bill announcement and hopes that all parties will support the bill as a positive move for Pacific peoples trying to quit smoking. The Smoke-free Environments ...
Rawiri Waititi will stand for the Maori Party in Waiariki at September’s General Election. The 39-year-year old’s candidacy was today confirmed in Rotorua. Waiariki Maori Party Electorate Chair Verna Ohia-Gates said Waititi was an outstanding choice ...
ASH NZ congratulates Minister Salesa on the introduction of legislation to regulate vaping. ASH NZ Chair, Prof Robert Beaglehole said, “It is wonderful that a Bill will be introduced next week and we congratulate Minister Salesa on balancing the ...
Associate Minister of Health Jenny Salesa has announced, after an anxious wait, the proposed Vaping Amendment Bill. CEO of Hāpai Te Haora, Selah Hart wants to congratulate the Minister and is encouraging all parties to help bring the bill home. The Smoke-free ...
ALRANZ president Terry Bellamak and HELP Chief Executive Conor Twyford respond to the news that medical practitioners may keep the right to refuse to provide contraception to sexual assault survivors. Approximately 1 in 4 New Zealand women experience a serious sexual assault. That’s a lot of suffering. How do we care for ...
The Cancer Society calls for cross-party support to ensure vaping regulations are introduced. The Cancer Society is pleased to see the vaping Bill introduced by Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa and urges for a speedy process, supported by all political ...
Host Duncan Greive is joined by The Spinoff editor Toby Manhire to discuss the dramatic events surrounding RNZ this month on The Spinoff’s media podcast, The Fold.It’s an institution whose major point-of-difference is its stability – while the rest of media is slashing and pivoting, RNZ has shows which run ...
The government will introduce laws to further regulate vaping and e-cigarettes, including tightening age restrictions, barring advertising, and regulating where they can be sold and used. ...
If you’re not the foraging type, fear not: supermarket berries will work just fine (but imagine how wholesome you’ll feel if you pick your own!)This is one of my favourite times of the year, when we pile the kids in the car and head east, over the hills to where ...
It’s called ‘CANZUK’, and it’s a bad idea. New Zealand should not be suckered in by dreams of Empire 2.0, writes Lewis Holden.The clock struck 11 on January 31, 2020 and it was all over. Britain was out of the European Union after 47 years. Under the much-maligned Brexit deal ...
As a rising Hindu nationalism exerts itself in India, online Indian communities in New Zealand are also seeing a growth in Islamophobic sentiment.It was the scariest night of his life.Mohammad still remembers hiding in a shallow ditch with his family. He remembers covering his one-year-old brother’s mouth each time the ...
Being a new parent is scary and overwhelming and you can forget that it’s also full of happiness. Simon Day shares the moments of joy that have pulled him through the first eight weeks of being a new dad to twins. It’s 3:36am and I’ve just fed, changed, burped, and put ...
The Labour Party says it has received money from two of the people facing charges in relation to National Party donations but says they were above board. ...
New Zealand First’s action to halt the introduction of a ‘feebate’ scheme designed to support the nation’s transition to low-emission vehicles is a leap back into the industrial age, says Drive Electric Chairman Mark Gilbert. “While ...
Staff expenses at the Reserve Bank – which have increased by an average 4.4% a year since 2009/11 – surged by 14.8% in the 12 months to 2018/19. Total staff numbers increased by an average 3.4 a year during those nine years but shot up by 19 in 2018/19 from ...
The Socialist Equality Group is holding a protest rally on Sunday February 23 in Wellington to demand freedom for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Sunday 23 February, 3:00pm Cuba Street (Left Bank intersection) ...
By Felipe F. Salvosa II in Manila ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo Lopez Katigbak has broken his silence amid the controversy over renewal of the Philippine TV giant’s broadcast franchise, which expires in one month. Katigbak, in a video posted on the ABS-CBN News site and aired over flagship ...
RNZ management wants to grow a youth audience without having to build a costly new platform. Anna Dean offers a bunch – none of which involves scrapping RNZ Concert.Over the next few weeks RNZ National Concert staff are set to take part in strategy workshops focused on “growth in audience reach, ...
Today LockerRoom brings you the first episode of Pure As, a mini documentary series on the Silver Ferns' personal journeys to World Cup glory. So much of the magic and composure Silver Ferns captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio brings to the netball court today was learned from years of sitting on the ...
"He was an energy vacuum, a shit magnet, a waste of skin": a black comedy by Nelson writer Grant Smithies. The stars he saw were blue, green, golden. Little lights swam around slowly, then went out one by one. His face felt hot. His left eye wasn’t working. And ...
Yes, it’s still summer and, en route to that final festival or beach bolt-hole, the season of the road trip. Here Spinoff Art co-editor Mark Amery runs down some of the best North Island contemporary art stopovers, and the mavericks behind them. We cross the Cook Strait next year, promise.Back ...
The Star Wars prequels are universally regarded as the nadir of the franchise, but at least they gave us spinoff series The Clone Wars, writes Sam BrooksNobody likes the Star Wars prequels. Though that statement is slightly hyperbolic, it’s not far from the truth. Even if you can make a ...
Jai Breitnauer on what happens when male role models start disappearing from a child’s life.Recently, we saw a ghost from the past. Once a regular visitor to our home, there just after the birth of our first child and a constant presence for more than a decade, this individual disappeared ...
Dragon Quest: Your Story feels like an hour-and-a-half-long highlight reel of an adventure spanning dozens of hours, but it’s damn fun, writes Felix Walton.One of Netflix’s current hustles seems to be grabbing movies with little to no hope of a wide release and publishing them as “Netflix Originals.” The latest ...
The Ministry of Education is proposing a number of changes to NCEA Level One, including the merging of several subjects to be phased in over the next five years. Felix Walton looks into how, and why, these changes are happening.Why are they changing things now?They aren’t changing things now, per ...
Pacific Media Centre Chinese authorities are systematically harassing Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups even after they have left the country, according to new testimonies gathered by Amnesty International. Uyghur New Zealanders were among those interviewed, despite the threat of further intimidation. The case studies, published online today, reveal ...
A victim of the Generate KiwiSaver hack is considering legal action to seek compensation for stress and the risk of identity theft. One of the 26,000 KiwiSavers who had personal information, including their physical address, IRD number, bank statements and identification, stolen by an unknown third party has sought advice ...
Healthcare appliance manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare has upped its profit forecasts for the third time this year, with increased sales off the back of the coronavirus. The company now expects a full year net profit of between $260 and $270 million, up 1.9 percent on its previous forecast. Chief ...
Power company Genesis Energy has taken a significant financial hit and lowered its guidance, because of lower hydro generation and gas shortages. Net profit for the six months ended December fell 81.4 percent to $9.2 million, from slightly lower revenue of $1.3 billion. Lower inflows for its hydro power stations ...
Kiwibank's first half profit is down on flat revenue growth and increased operations and compliance costs. The New Zealand-owned bank's net profit fell 18 percent to $51 million in the six months to December, compared with the year earlier's $62m. "As expected the bank faced rising operating costs due to ...
The New Zealand Bar Association has urged Parliament to balance carefully the need to reform legislation in respect of sexual violence with the need to ensure that only the guilty are convicted. The Association told the Justice Select Committee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Michelle Grattan talks with Assistant Professor Caroline Fisher about the week in politics, including the extension of the coronavirus travel ban, the royal commission into the bushfires, and labor’s stance on a compulsory superannuation guarantee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Steen, Professor of Midwifery, University of South Australia In a new parenting podcast, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, said she used hypnobirthing techniques to help her get through severe morning sickness – a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum. She also used the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samuel Alexander, Research fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne This article is the first in a three-part series on radical ideas to solve the environmental crisis. As the Productivity Commission confirmed this week, Australia’s economy has enjoyed uninterrupted growth for ...
The Nats are accusing Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor of being slow to act on a tuberculosis outbreak in Hawke’s Bay. Is it a fair cop? OSPRI confirmed an outbreak in Hawke’s Bay in April last year, but a disease management response wasn’t put in place until October, National agriculture spokesman ...
Porirua City Council is scratching its head on how it's going to meet the costs of a $2 billion bill to bring its water network up to scratch over the next two to three decades. ...
The sentencing of Grace Millane’s killer to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years marks the end of a judicial process that can only have been extremely harrowing for her family. They had already experienced the loss of their daughter, ...
Twenty years ago, Auckland’s streets were ruled by diesel-hating narcs. Josie Adams looks back at the short-lived 0800 SMOKEY campaign.For five chaotic weeks in 2000, the Auckland Regional Council experimented with extreme, multi-level peer pressure. The goal: to get cleaner-burning fuel into Auckland cars. The method: turning citizens against each ...
The National Party donations scandal that had nothing to do with the National Party was the big news of the week. James Elliott has some thoughts on that. Simon Bridges has climbed into double digits as preferred Prime Minister in the latest political polling which is significant for two reasons. ...
He thought he’d moved on, but the news the Holden brand was being killed off hit Trevor McKewen harder than he expected. Here he reminisces about a youthful infatuation that never quite burned out.A part of me died this week and I didn’t see it coming.Holden has shut up shop ...
Today the unnamed man found guilty of murdering Grace Millane was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 17. “One person has been locked away but are New Zealand women any safer?” asks White Ribbon Manager Rob McCann. “We certainly ...
Pacific Media Watch An Australian federal court decision upholding the legality of the police raid on the Sydney headquarters of the national public broadcaster ABC last June has dealt a major blow to the protection of journalists’ sources and poses a grave danger for the future of public interest ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20)What is going on, Auckland? Is it just ...
A poem by US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.The FightThe rising sun paints the feet of night-crawling enemies. And they scatter into the burning hills. I have fought each of them. I know them by name. From before I could speak. I’ve used every weapon. To make them retreat. Yet they ...
A string of toy companies are facing legal action for selling unsafe toys that pose choking hazards for young children. Yesterday, Cinevan International was fined $81,000 and another four companies are before the courts. Businesses have been using a sticker on the packaging saying 'not suitable for children under three' ...
The Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee, Gareth Hughes, is calling for public submissions on the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, which was referred to the committee on 20 February 2020. The Residential Tenancies Act ...
ANALYSIS:By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has embarked on a state visit to New Zealand. It is the first visit to New Zealand by a sitting PNG prime minister since Marape’s predecessor Peter O’Neill’s trip in 2013. Marape, who rolled O’Neill ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentDonations scandals Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Who are the people at the centre of the SFO political donation row? Collette ...
Policyholders fear the sale of AMP LIfe to a Bermuda-based 'zombie fund guru' could leave them stranded because a legal gap means the FMA is powerless to protect them ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide When booking a luxury cruise, you generally expect relaxation and enjoyment, not forced quarantine and distress. Unfortunately, for the thousands of vacationers trapped on cruise ships in Asia the past month, what started as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Courtney Hempton, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University The Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board has this week published a report detailing the first six months of the legislation in action in Victoria. The report reveals 52 people legally ended their lives from the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Blanca del Rosal Rabes, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Swinburne University of Technology Brain temperature is implicated in many common conditions including stroke, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and headaches. Changes in brain temperature can indicate there is a disease developing, but researchers ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese will commit a Labor government to adopting a target of zero net emissions by 2050, in a speech titled “Leadership in a New Climate” to be delivered on Friday. The opposition leader’s embrace ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy N. W. Jackson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian Venom Research Unit, University of Melbourne This is an article from I’ve Always Wondered, a series where readers send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. Send your question to alwayswondered@theconversation.edu.auWho would ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamen Franklen Gussen, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology In 1971, a Time magazine article, titled “Should New York City Be the 51st State?”, observed: States have not only short-changed and hamstrung their cities but are themselves the least creative ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ida Kubiszewski, Associate professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Labor’s treasury spokesman, Jim Chalmers, wants to follow New Zealand’s example and introduce a “wellbeing budget” alongside the traditional budget that stresses economic growth, when Labor is next in office. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona Andreallo, Honorary research fellow, University of Sydney A sea of oversized hair bows bobs through primary school gates each morning. It might be dismissed as a harmless children’s fad but big bows are back, driven by current fashions, tween influencers and ...
The Government of New Zealand has recognized that the country is facing a housing crisis, said Leilani Farha, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, at the end of her visit to the country . “While the Government has taken important steps ...
Survey results released today by the Helen Clark Foundation and the New Zealand Drug Foundation show that support for cannabis legalisation grows when people know more about the proposed legislation. When respondents were asked how they would vote ...
In today’s edition: Views on cannabis legalisation could hardly be tighter, the Papua New Guinea PM arrives in NZ, and bad light threatens cricket on the radio.A new poll published this morning finds that 46% of those surveyed would vote yes, and 44% no, with 10% undecided. That’s a markedly different ...
Open mike 25/12/2012 
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 16, 2020 through Sat, Feb 22, 2020 Editor's Pick JP Morgan economists warn climate crisis is threat to human race Leaked report for world’s major fossil fuel financier says ...14 hours ago
Last week the Wall Street Journal published an article ‘The Dangerous Denial of Sex by two scientists Colin Wright and Emma Hilton. Write is an evolutionary biologist at Penn State and Hilton is a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester. It is well worth reading the article in full. Here ...1 day ago
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...1 day ago
Winston Peters - Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the NZ First PartyWe all know that politics can be pretty messy at times. Just look at the Dirty Politics saga in New Zealand, the misgovernment of the Australian bushfires or the recent Trump impeachment debacle in the US. In a ...1 day ago
Last Monday SpaceX launched another clutch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, bringing up to 300 the number of these units intended to bring 5G internet to the whole globe. In this post I present a movie showing how all 300 such satellites will be zipping around our planet over ...2 days ago
The recent floods in Southland have highlighted the issue of Rio Tinto's illegal toxic waste dump in Mataura. But according to Newsroom, there's an even worse mess in Ruakaka near Whangarei:A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to ...2 days ago
The Democracy Virus: China’s authoritarian political system enables a level of social surveillance and control that liberal democratic societies cannot match. The Chinese Government makes full use of the latest digital technology to both punish – and reward – its citizens. The plans it formulates cannot be challenged, or hindered. Where ...3 days ago
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...4 days ago
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...7 days ago
...2 weeks ago
We're taking action on child poverty, getting Kiwis into the trades, and more ...1 day ago
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...2 days ago
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has extended the date for people to have their say on proposed changes to improve management of whitebait across New Zealand. Submissions were due to close on 2 March 2020 but will now remain open until 9am on Monday 16 March 2020. “I have ...9 hours ago
News broke today that Hannah Tamaki has been cast for the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars. Emily Writes explains why the religious leader and aspirant politician has no place on the show.In an exceptionally sad display of desperation, MediaWorks appears to have booked Hannah Tamaki, known for her ...2 hours ago
Political parties must, this election year, pledge to press forward with a massive build of “social” homes to tackle New Zealand’s human rights crisis in housing, a move that will also help reduce inequality, Peter Malcolm, spokesperson for the ...3 hours ago
Nationwide councils have underspent on water infrastructure by billions, Wellington is one of the first to feel the fallout. ...3 hours ago
The government will introduce laws to further regulate vaping and e-cigarettes, including tightening age restrictions, barring advertising, and regulating where they can be sold and used. ...14 hours ago
Staff expenses at the Reserve Bank – which have increased by an average 4.4% a year since 2009/11 – surged by 14.8% in the 12 months to 2018/19. Total staff numbers increased by an average 3.4 a year during those nine years but shot up by 19 in 2018/19 from ...1 day ago
By Felipe F. Salvosa II in Manila ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo Lopez Katigbak has broken his silence amid the controversy over renewal of the Philippine TV giant’s broadcast franchise, which expires in one month. Katigbak, in a video posted on the ABS-CBN News site and aired over flagship ...1 day ago
Today LockerRoom brings you the first episode of Pure As, a mini documentary series on the Silver Ferns' personal journeys to World Cup glory. So much of the magic and composure Silver Ferns captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio brings to the netball court today was learned from years of sitting on the ...2 days ago
"He was an energy vacuum, a shit magnet, a waste of skin": a black comedy by Nelson writer Grant Smithies. The stars he saw were blue, green, golden. Little lights swam around slowly, then went out one by one. His face felt hot. His left eye wasn’t working. And ...2 days ago
Peter Griffin looks past the rollercoaster ride that is cryptocurrency to find out its true potential. ...2 days ago
A victim of the Generate KiwiSaver hack is considering legal action to seek compensation for stress and the risk of identity theft. One of the 26,000 KiwiSavers who had personal information, including their physical address, IRD number, bank statements and identification, stolen by an unknown third party has sought advice ...2 days ago
Apple is the latest tech firm to warn that Kiwis may lose access to streaming content if a new parental guidance law goes ahead. ...2 days ago
Healthcare appliance manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare has upped its profit forecasts for the third time this year, with increased sales off the back of the coronavirus. The company now expects a full year net profit of between $260 and $270 million, up 1.9 percent on its previous forecast. Chief ...2 days ago
Power company Genesis Energy has taken a significant financial hit and lowered its guidance, because of lower hydro generation and gas shortages. Net profit for the six months ended December fell 81.4 percent to $9.2 million, from slightly lower revenue of $1.3 billion. Lower inflows for its hydro power stations ...2 days ago
Kiwibank's first half profit is down on flat revenue growth and increased operations and compliance costs. The New Zealand-owned bank's net profit fell 18 percent to $51 million in the six months to December, compared with the year earlier's $62m. "As expected the bank faced rising operating costs due to ...2 days ago
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has landed the first blow in the demolition of a leaky St John call centre in Auckland. ...2 days ago
The National Party donations scandal that had nothing to do with the National Party was the big news of the week. James Elliott has some thoughts on that. Simon Bridges has climbed into double digits as preferred Prime Minister in the latest political polling which is significant for two reasons. ...2 days ago
A string of toy companies are facing legal action for selling unsafe toys that pose choking hazards for young children. Yesterday, Cinevan International was fined $81,000 and another four companies are before the courts. Businesses have been using a sticker on the packaging saying 'not suitable for children under three' ...2 days ago
The number of 14 and 15 year olds who have tried cannabis has fallen by more than a quarter. ...3 days ago
Paid parking on weekends looks set to stay, as Wellington Mayor Andy Foster struggles to find support for his agenda around the council table. ...3 days ago
Southland cleanup highlights climate change threat - Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage; and new taskforce to look at Wellington water issues. ...3 days ago
Policyholders fear the sale of AMP LIfe to a Bermuda-based 'zombie fund guru' could leave them stranded because a legal gap means the FMA is powerless to protect them ...3 days ago
Over the next three weeks Rod Oram will be cycling the length of New Zealand ...3 days ago
A Merry Christmas to all Students of Comedy and Comedians
That bloke in Auckland who’s had his name suppressed, Jimmy Savile, Sacha Baron Cohen….2012 has been the Year of Reassessment of the Comedian.
Thanks to everyone who read about and debated the issue of Sacha Baron Cohen’s monstrous behaviour—even if you raged, obfuscated or indignantly denied that your favorite comedian was a moral imbecile. For many of you, having had to think for the first time about the politics of laughter, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. You may still insist that Baron Cohen’s behaviour was simply fun, or ironic, or “edgy” or “pushing the envelope”, but from now on you’ll also have that nagging doubt, called a conscience, in your mind when—if—you watch Bruno again.
And you SHOULD watch it again if you want. Please don’t feel bad if you watch a video of Bruno or Borat or The Dictator from now on; they’re funny and you have my blessing if you fall about laughing as you watch them. Only from now on, perhaps, you’ll be a tad more aware of what is happening when he interviews that poor fellow captioned “Terrorist group leader, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade”, and just what Baron Cohen and his producers were quite deliberately doing.
Coming up after the Holiday break: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT SEINFELD.
“Coming up after the Holiday break: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT SEINFELD.”
Why? Because he’s Jewish? I don’t find him funny, but that doesn’t seem to be what your agenda is. I’m surprised you haven’t rehashed the whole Woody Allen incest thing. What next? Blood libel? Merry goddam Christmas to you too.
Because he’s Jewish?
No, we need to have a critical look at Seinfeld because he’s a nasty ideologue with a particularly objectionable modus operandi.
I don’t find him funny,
Well, I do. I find Sacha Baron Cohen funny too, most of the time. And Bob Hope. But they are (or were) all shills for some unconscionably evil enterprises.
…but that doesn’t seem to be what your agenda is.
Our analysis incorporates some study of their comedy routines, naturally, but our agenda is of course to encourage people to engage critically with the material they watch, and think about why they are laughing at official victims (in the Occupied Territories) or sneering callously at the down and out on the streets of American cities.
I’ve refrained from commenting on a line and a half of wild and choleric ranting by Populuxe1, where he riffs insanely about “incest” and “blood libel”.
Borat was awful and I couldn’t watch the hurt inflicted upon other innocent people for the entire film. I think I watched the first 10 minutes before leaving in disgust. I found it as entertaining as watching animals being tourtured. When Bruno came out I didn’t bother…some of the Dictator material I found funny but after Borat I only watched short clips on youtube.
Seinfeld!? Oi vey! I liked Seinfeld. Looking forward to a new prospective in the new year to grow my mind. Politics of comedy is intellectually stimulating.
Merry Christmas and joy to you in 2013 Morrissey.
And a Merry Christmas to you, my friend.
Will Hutton on the Bankster scam that made banksters rich, at the expense of the majority of us.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/23/banking-reform-ubs?CMP=twt_gu
If there was ever an area of our system that needs attacking, dismantling and re-setting it is the banking sector.
It has indeed become nothing but a taxer, a rentier, a do-nothing waste of space draining our daily toil from us before it even hits our wallets.
Tha banking system is inorganic evil.
It is entirely feasible to have a system of credit without the destruction that comes from interest. Interest needs to be peeled off from credit, amongst more.
Got an example vto?
Well no, it was just my minds creation, but I have a lot of faith in those… It would go like this – zero percent interest rates, which is almost the case already.
But of course that too doesn’t quite resolve the issue, which is credit’s reach into society to such an extent that it becomes part of the fabric. Best example of this being the housing market. Housing values are to the level they are entirely due to the issue of credit (interest bearing or otherwise, virtually, following the logic). If interest rates were zero housing values would probably stay right up of course, but who would waste time issuing credit if that ws the case? Perhaps government or some other non-profit or joint-between-stakes approach. The urge to keep issuing credit due to its profitable nature needs to be taken out.
The only problem with removing the right ot issue credit (print money) from private banks and placing it elsewhere is that, humans being humans, we will find some way to work it to an advantage. Of course if it was placed with a government type organisation then the urge to use it for political advantage (rather than private profit advantage as now) is smack in the face. The disadvantages with this are probably greater than if it remained with private, given the power resting with government.
Methinks I need to read more on it and do more thinking but one thing is sure and, using the example above, keeping house values high surely advantages private banks only and I fail to see the use in this, especially when other areas are bereft of funds (those funds being our daily toil). I mean, imagine if instead of one third of your working toiling week going to pay for your roof, it was only one quarter or one tenth……. not hard to see the results.
There is no advantage to high capital values. All it does is require people to take on debt. I like Foodstuffs approach when it comes to buying and selling New Worlds and PaknSaves and hmmm four squares. etc. What they do is require the sale of any of their supermarkets to be at a multiple of one years earnings (as I recall..), and be to an approved operator through their system. What this does it focus attention on revenue and income instead of capital. This means owners get ownership easier and without silly cripping debt. And this is the right approach – hence their success.
Our current obsession with capital over revenue is destructive. The banking system prefers an obssession with capital of course.
bit of a ramble but full belly and sleepy christmas eyes …
Unless you make government democratic rather than hierarchical thus having it being one person one vote for the creation and use of that money.
It’s a it more complex than that. What we have is a requirement to get the capital (money) back plus revenue. What we need to do is change it so that money used to build something productive (power stations, telecommunications, high tech fab plant) doesn’t need to produce a monetary return or even pay for itself. What it provides is all that’s required.
A new report on temperatures recorded over time in West Antarctica concludes the area has been warming faster than previously thought:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/science/earth/west-antarctica-warming-faster-than-thought-study-finds.html?_r=0
Very interesting karol. Yet while this is disturbing in itself, the most dramatic threat in West Antarctica is not so much the surface and air termperatures … but the sea temperatures.
What most people don’t really grasp is that the WAIS (West Antarctic Ice Shelf) is grounded well below sea-level. This means that if warm water gets between the base of the glacier and the bed-rock it can be broken up very rapidly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Antarctic_Ice_Sheet
Back in 2009 I posted this:
That’s 3-4m within a decade.
More info:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wcc.110/pdf
For their down playing of climate change and their willingness to be part of an administration that will allow the <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escarpment_Mine_Project<Massive Opencast, (Escarpment) coal mine at Denniston to proceed.
The Green Party get awarded the Lump of Coal.
While Green Party leaders may be lauded by both Labour and National and their allies in the MSM and the unions for their “acceptance of the realities of coalition government”, their “responsibility” and their “pragmatism” and their prioritising of jobs and economics over the environment……
It is for this ‘pragmatic’ behaviour, (in reality a sick sell out), that the Green Party get my lump of coal in their stocking this Christmas mourning.
At the same time Jenny if a Labour/Green govt were to get into power and then attempt to de-carbonise the NZ economy by 10% in 2015, and each year thereafter… they would be thrown out in the 2017 election. If not sooner by massive protests in the streets.
The New Zealand public is not yet ready for this. If they were they would be demanding action even from this current government.
That is the problem. Not the Green Party.
I call bullshit on this.
Twenty thousands marched to stop mining on conservation land. There are dozens of environmental groups in existence and being set up.
Many thousands in this country have protested for nuclear free and anti aparthied and anti war.
Where is the political will for the massive protests and pressure you claim are in support of doing nothing, to come from?
The only political pressure to continue with the fossil fuel economy is coming from the fossil fuel and roading lobbies themselves. Obviously this lobby has intimidated the Greens. I suppose with all their money and power this lobby will try and drum up some sort of fake mass opposition movement. But so far there is no sign of it.
The Greens are being frightened by shadows.
You say that the New Zealand public is not ready for this. I say that through cowardice and ignorance of New Zealand history no lead is being given by those who should be giving it.
As long as there is no lead being given, what can people do, other than what they are doing now, in their small groups?
What do you think you are achieving by being confrontational with me?
Yes change is happening. Yes there are groups who are doing fantastic work and I hugely respect the time and energy they are putting into it. Eventually it will bring results.
But the fact is that de-carbonising the New Zealand economy will have a real, direct impact on how we live our lives. The large majority of ordinary people are, for a whole bunch of reasons, some better than others … are simply not emotionally ready for that change.
And right now any political party that seriously challenged that fact would be slaughtered by the media. Hell look at the hammering we got for simply passing a law to stop adults from assaulting children. The S59 Reform was the turning point that let John Key into power… what hope if we try and take their cars and toys away from them before they are willing to let them go?
Quit attacking your allies. Really. What I’m looking for is less emotional noise and some hard sense about how to deal with this constructively.
Maybe it is not New Zealanders “who are simply not emotionally ready”, but the Greens.
If you want some hard sense about how to deal with this then you have openly and strongly demand the actions that are required.
The Green Party policy is no new coal mines. This is a realistic policy. Globally coal extraction and use has been identified as the number 1 cause of climate change. Taking a hard line against the coal industry is what is required.
But instead the Green Party are prepared to ditch their principle of no new coal mines for cabinet positions.
“But instead the Green Party are prepared to ditch their principle of no new coal mines for cabinet positions.”
Liar.
“Obviously this lobby has intimidated the Greens. ”
[citation needed]
What else could it be?
Why are the Green Party shying away from raising Climate Change?
Is it cowardice?
Is it intimidation?
Is it lack of faith in New Zealanders?
Is it corruption?
The simplest explanation will do.
How about when Russel Norman mentioned ‘printing money’ a short while ago (another word for the quantitative easing that numerous other Western nations have been doing flat out for the last 5 years or so) … and the media instantly jump on him as ‘crazy, irresponsible, extremist and generally loopy’?
Now imagine if he came out and said that in 2015 New Zealand was going to shut down it’s carbon use by 10%? Or more because National had delayed acting?
The Greens would be crucified by the John Armstrongs and Fran O’Sullivan’s of the media. It would be used constantly all through the election campaign as a massive stick to beat them with.
And the point of loosing another election in 2014 is?
“What else could it be?”
You’re being disingenuous Jenny. We’ve had plenty of conversations about what else it could be. See also RL’s comment.
At least you are admitting that you are making this shit up.
There is a world of difference between the following two statements:
“Obviously this lobby has intimidated the Greens.”
“I don’t understand the Green’s strategy and I’m worried that they will make too many compromises on CC issues if they become part of govt”
The fact that you use the former, even when you know that it is a lie, tells us alot about your motivations.
When, and only when, the middle class see pictures on their TVs of waves breaking upon the tarmac of Wellington Airport and rolling through the departure lounge will they be snapped out of their comfort zone long enough to ‘demand’ action,
The Green Party is only 10-11% of the vote and therefor can hardly DICTATE to the wider electorate that action has to occur now,(even if the consensus of science says it must),
Unless you suggest a 1 party Green state any such actions where the majority are being dictated to against it’s will would collapse the vote of any coalition that the Greens were part of at the following election and the Tories would just reverse whatever changes the Greens had made,
I should cop some flak for this, BUT, the future of the planet does not rely upon whether the Denniston plateau is mined or remains un-mined, the same amount of carbon WILL be produced to the atmosphere by whomever the coal is to be sold to whether that coal comes from Denniston or somewhere else in the world,
My view is that the Greens should walk away from Kyoto, impose a carbon tax and spend that into the economy planting trees everywhere until such time as there are no more places to plant those trees or the amount of trees planted makes New Zealand a carbon neutral country, secondly a portion of such a tax should be set aside for research into technology’s which reduce carbon emission and technology’s which are capable of capturing and storing carbon already present in the atmosphere,
As a Green Party member i am insulted by your use of the word ‘cowardice’ in reference to the Green Party and would ask you, what would you rather have a Green Party that gets done what is possible with regards the climate and social justice. or a Green Party that in Government for the first time commits electoral suicide…
@bad12
This is not the point.
New Zealand produces 0.2% of green house gases. (This is from all sources agriculture included.) If New Zealand were to stop all emissions tomorrow, it would have little quantitive impact.
New Zealand’s biggest contribution to stopping global warming can only be qualitative.
A nationwide ban on coal mining and coal use, is the needed symbolic stand that Sir Peter Gluckman is talking about. Grabbing the world’s attention, inspiring millions to demand the same thing from their governments.
Coal must be phased out, and soon.
Stopping coal is the minimum that must be done to stop worldwide catastrophe.
Stopping the Denniston open cast coal mine is a necessary first step on the way to that larger goal of stopping all coal mining.
And is it really that hard?
The mining and use of asbestos has been banned worldwide. It can be argued that the death and destruction from continuing to mine and burn coal will dwarf that caused by asbestos.
Jenny, but it IS the point, China, India, and the US to name 3 are country’s who use coal as an integral part of their economy’s, and crowd power in all 3 economy’s is sadly lacking to have that use banned,
We can as a country only proceed so far and as i point out above, i would prefer that we walk away from Kyoto and instead resort to a carbon tax to be used to plant trees of sufficient number so as to get us as an economy as close to being carbon neutral as possible, along with a like investment in research to find technology’s which are capable of capturing carbon emissions at source and research into a means of mas carbon capture from the atmosphere, that is the best example we can show the world,
So as you have not seen fit to answer my question on whether or not you favor a suicidal Green presence in the next or any future Government i suppose i have to take your lack of reply as assent in that is what you favor,
Simply because what you continue to propose is electoral suicide for the Greens…
Have to partially disagree Red. I think the NZ public actually is ready and with just a little info and understanding, I believe they can be motivated to protest and pressure for action to be taken by government.
To get action from above, it’s always been necessary to apply pressure from below.
I think that’s where we’re at. Consider the general reaction in comments to the couple of posts I’ve put up so far on global warming. Just a couple of years back, I suspect those posts would have met with howls of derision.
And we have a simple scientific fact to focus peoples’ minds and it’s not one you need a degree to grasp and/or explain. 4 degrees = impossible future. And the 4 degreesfigure isn’t coming from individual scientists or whatever, but from the World Bank and the International Energy Authority….very conservative institutions.
I’m hopeful
OK … but among the people I’m working with and meet; there is silence. Either they simply don’t want to know, or they suspect the truth and really don’t want to confront it.
This is reflected in how the media has almost completely stopped talking about it as well.
This is fear-driven behaviour. We won’t get the co-operation needed from the mass of people globally unless we can get them to confront that fear openly.
I’m sure it can be done; it might even happen a lot sooner and faster than any of us imagine. But right now we’re at more of a ‘sticking point’ than a ‘tipping’ one.
People need (at least) these three things:
– the skills and support to deal with the fear and cognitive dissonance. I see very little work being done on this in NZ.
– information and a way of getting involved that allows them to take positive action that may save their children and grandchildren’s lives. Transition Towns and allied movements are leading the way on this. Everywhere in NZ now has some kind of positive action that can be done at an individual level.
– information about CC that doesn’t tell them we’re all fuckd and going to die. That information needs to be presented at a lay person’s level. If the MSM media aren’t doing this, then how else can it be done?
It’s true that there is a lot of silence. But silence is easily broken. And I know some people have devoted their energies to the act of avoidance…because it’s too scary or whatever.
But I also know that other people are really receptive and just waiting for some nascent form of protest to form that they would then join in with.
And when I’m done with these posts I know my energies are going to be focussed on helping to bring that opportunity about. And I know I have a shit hot talent for instigating grass/flax roots activism/protest – just I’ve been in ‘retired’ mode for several years.
So maybe (putting aside the fact that I don’t think you live in these parts and that I wouldn’t know you from a bar of soap if you walked right up to me) we’ll get to say ‘hello’ out on the streets sometime in the New Year 😉
Mebbe Bill. Got to sort some shit out in my life before I go activist again. Sounds like you have a good plan though 🙂
You have my guarantee of that Bill
I suppose that depends upon where you think the sticking point is. From what I can make out it’s more with the politicians and business than with the people.
Politicians and business people are always going to try and maintain the status quo. Important change gets led by the people. Enough people want something to change, and do something about it, politicians and business follows.
But that’s just it, they [politicians] don’t or, at least, most of them don’t. They seem to think that they’re there to lead the way rather than being representatives.
Ah, I see what you mean now.
Exactly, this is why a strong lead on this issue at this time is vital. And why the Green Party decision to stop giving that lead at this time will prove to be a fatal mistake.
I partially agree, I think people are more ready now than they were. I just don’t think the Green Party should be leading the charge any more than they already are. Their experience over many elections now is that it is very easy for their floating voters to get scared off at election time. Either by MSM or NACT fearmongering, or by people not understanding MMP and voting for Labour to prevent NACT winning. The next election is crucial. I don’t think the GP should be risking anything at this point in time. Once they are in govt they may up the ante on CC.
Instead, what we need is NGO action, from grassroots all the way through to corporate/business. Jenny is right about one thing, we need leadership. But we also need mass involvement at the community level. The 350 campaign some years ago mobilised alot of people, esp those no engaged in traditional political activism. What happened to that energy and action?
I completely agree with what you said in the If thread – we need information that people can assimilate and work with rather than the ‘we’re all fucked and humanity is going extinct’ argument. The posts you’ve been doing on Anderson’s work strike a good balance: this is a very serious situation AND we are still able to do something so let’s do it.
To get action from above, it’s always been necessary to apply pressure from below.
Agreed – and on all the pressing issues; climate, peak resources, poverty, sustainable economics, closing the inequality gap, measuring success in terms of activities that benefit society not any old economic activity, adequate social security, etc.
Merry Christmas Bill
Why on earth would you be hopeful about anything which was pushed by either of these two entities Bill?
People are definitely not going to get what they ask for, and sooner than later, they will be yet again wondering how it went to far against what they imagined the solutions looked like!
I’m not. But the fact that they are (rightly or wrongly is beside the point here) generally regarded as authoratative sources of information…and given their conservatism too…their latest prognoses on AGW serve as useful reference points.
Telling lies again Jenny? Please present some evidence that the GP supports mining of the Dennistion Plateau. And that evidence will have to concretely refute what the GP have on their own website.
http://www.greens.org.nz/searchresults?search=denniston
“BOOS and jeers from about 150 protestors greeted Prime Minister John Key as he entered Bathurst Resources’ new Wellington offices late yesterday.
Mr Key was there to meet the management of the Australian mining company which is planning New Zealand’s biggest open cast mine on the West Coast. The PM and Energy and Resources Minister Phil Heatley were confronted by a crowd of environmental activists and Green Party MPs rallying against coal mining.
National MP Simon Bridges and Labour’s West Coast MP Damien O’Conner had both slipped in to the building prior to the Prime Minister’s arrival. The Bathurst mine proposal is for the Denniston Plateau in the West Coast.
The proposed mine site is on public conservation land near the largest current opencast mining operation in New Zealand, State-owned Solid Energy’s Stockton coal mine.
Green Party Conservation spokesperson Eugenie Sage expressed her disappointment following the Prime Minister’s remarks in the House of Parliament that the Denniston mine could proceed due to historical consent.
“It’s disappointing that the Prime Minister doesn’t seem to realise that the Conservation Minister still has an access application to consider,” Ms Sage said.
“Coming here today is sending a strong signal to the Department of Conservation and the minister that the government will be approving this mine.””
http://www.newswire.co.nz/2012/03/prime-minister-mines-boos-jeers-on-street/
I guess what this really means is that the GP are lying through their teeth to get the votes and then intend to reneg on that once in govt and support the mining of the plateau 🙄
You can’t have it both ways Jenny. You want the GP to protest things to do with CC, but when they do, you tell lies about them.
I have never said that the Green Party are “against” mining the Denniston Plateau. I have said that the Green Party are prepared to bargain this away to get cabinet positions.
This is something that you don’t deny.
It is entirely possible to be against something, and still do the opposite.
If the Green Party really wanted to stop Denniston they should immediately release a press statement now that they will not be part of any administration either National or Labour that let it proceed.
This would certainly give the investors and shareholders at Bathurst Resources pause for thought, before ploughing any more money into developing this mine.
“I have said that the Green Party are prepared to bargain this away to get cabinet positions.”
Please show some evidence for that statement.
The few politicians that I’ve spoken too have confirmed that it is only the top 4-5 cabinet ministers including the PM that get to effect any real change (with the exception of private members bills of course). The rest are just warming the bench and making up the numbers in the hope that one day they will be in the top 5. Perhaps the greens have realised this and have made a judgement call to let denniston go through so they can effect greater change with cabinet positions.. possibly even legislation to stop or at least phase out coal mining altogether amongst other things.
Maybe they have PP. But your wondering out loud is different than Jenny telling lies about the GP by stating opinion as fact. She’s just making it up.
Myself, I doubt that any decisions have been made at this stage. I also think that the GP has the potential to change MMP and how coalition govts form. No idea if they will though. Much depends on how many votes they get. It’s a long time until the next election.
You are either deliberately making stuff up about what I have said or not said. Or do you just misunderstand it?
I think weka is being more than fair in pointing out your deductive leaps.
When you say the greens have or haven’t issued a press release containing a specific hypothetical statement, that’s a verifiable fact.
When you ascribe a motive as to why they have or haven’t issued this specific hypothetical statement, you’re making stuff up.
What felix said.
Jenny, anytime you want to produce ANY evidence that what you say about the GP is true, fine by me.
Where did you get/hear this information from ? The wikipedia link is not working so I couldn’t verify it there, and I cannot find anything on the Green Party website about them downplaying either climate change or the Denniston mining effects. Please clarify.
Solo mums, I love you all the most.
You have the most important job of all, and often have to do it under a barrage of criticism.
Just remember “you only need a dick to run the country, it only takes a mother to raise a son.”
What ever you do, don’t take Paula’s pills unless you want to.
If my old girl had been coerced into stopping at one or two, I wouldn’t be 3 of 5.
I’m just a dreamer, but you could have an Einstein, Hawkins, Dr Barnardos or Florence Nightingale, and let’s face it, they can’t get here soon enough. So make love, not Paula’s day. Get any stick at WINZ and we’ll come down and contracept their mouths.
Track 9 @ http://www.al1en.org
Alpha 1
I hear what they say and I know that it’s rough. It beats you down.
Every night on the news when the going gets tough. They put you down.
You know solo mum, down my road, it’s all right. You aint so bad.
You’re not on your own Alpha one, 3 of 5. Born Alpha tribe.
Lift your head up little sister. Lift your face up to the son.
Don’t let anyone say you’re shit, love. Make them always prove you’re wrong.
Take that flower by the hand, love. And then you’ve got to make him understand.
He’s got to stand up for all the sisters if he wants to be an Alpha man.
I know what they say and I know that it’s wrong. But they wheel you out.
Every night on the news when they’ve done something wrong. Appease the crowd.
You know solo mum, on my road, we’re all right. We aint so bad.
You’re not on your own Alpha one, 3 of 5. with your Alpha pride.
Keep your head up pretty sister. Hold your face up to the sun.
We don’t let anyone say we’re shit, love. We don’t ever let anyone say we’re wrong.
Take the flower by his hand, love. Teach him how to grow up strong.
You only need a dick to run the country. You only need a mother to raise a son.
Merry Christmas to Te Pati Maori, i have had cause to ponder today just what it would take for the once promising Maori Party to come to it’s senses,
The loss of both Sharple’s and Flavell’s seats in 2014 should just about do it…
Little birds tell me that Tony Ryall is to be the new minister for education. Quelle surprise.
Mmmm, now that will be interesting. Who gets health?
Return of Nick Smith?
The Carter’s in or out of the Parliament confuse me,but, the current one with the back-woodsy type portfolio that i cannot remember the name of and who is said to be the next Speaker of the House,
I think Nick Smith is going to pick up Carter’s portfolio when they drag Him back from Siberia for a vodka laced rehabilitation, it’s thought that Carters portfolio is so obscure,(it must be if i can’t remember what it is). that even Smith is unlikely to make a hash of it, but hats off to Nick i bet it don’t take him long to do so…
Do you mean the little bird on the TV news the other night, me thinks that Slippery will keep His word on Hekia remaining right where she is,(that’s cause for definite surprise),
I cannot see anyone in Nationals line-up capable of doing the job Ryall has with the Health portfolio have and Hekia is doing one hell of a good job destroying the peace of mind of the Education sector which is what i believe the outcome sought by Slippery’s National Government really is,
Wreck the ability of the sector to function properly, destroy any individual schools ability to budget properly with NO-NO-Pay and across the field ‘they’ are halfway to replacing the Boards with hand picked Commissioners,
Hell the Bizness sector has probably been in Slippery’s ear about just how expensive it is to set up a charter school and why should they have to when there are 1000’s of schools out there just ripe for a negative take-over from the charter schools mob…
No, my little birds perch considerably closer to power than the media
The words “break the unions” were uttered
Tony Ryall should remember that all political careers end in failure.
If he succeeded in ‘breaking the unions’ in education then that would amount to the most radical ‘reform’ of the education sector achieved by any government. So much for this being a ‘centrist’ government.
It would also lead to the crumbling of what has been a consistently high quality state education system and leave the door wide open to the overall educational quality reductions that come from privatising mass education (e.g., would one ‘provider’ ever share its ‘successful’ educational IP with another? If so, why? Markets inevitably create distortions in social systems of cooperation. :-)).
I say this simply because the collective values of the teaching profession, as currently supported through a unionised workforce, are part of what is needed to produce quality public education. Those values are not the foundation of mass private education.
So, if you are correct in that intention, Ryall’s appointment as education minister would either be a disaster for his career or a disaster for public education. If I were Ryall I would not want the former – for obvious reasons – and I also wouldn’t want the latter.
Why would he wish to go down in history as the minister who undermined public education and initiated a decline in educational attainment in New Zealand’s children? The so-called ‘tail’ would inevitably lengthen significantly. (And don’t get me onto supposed high level ‘accountability’ measures to ensure schools/children ‘achieve’ – they would be laughable if they weren’t so dangerous.)
(WYSIWYG doesn’t seem to appear as an option anymore for me.)
Sure it is, your little bird probably watched the same news item on TV3 as what i did…
You are both incorrect and tiresome.
24 hours ago TV3 news was saying exactly the same as what you are about the future prospects of Hekia,
Perhaps you could ask your ‘little birdy’ to be a lot less tardy in the future, after all what’s the point of having a ‘little birdy’ if they are beaten by the MSM in breaking the latest gossip…
Well I’m inclined to take pop at his word. Nothing wrong with having scuttlebutt arrive from several independent sources….
i will take the hint…
The media were speculating, quite accurately as it happens. I wasn’t. You seem to have the impression I was trying to impress you. mate, I wouldn’t [deleted]. [ B – Be nice 😉 ]
i read the other day, trees are not being replanted in our country as fast as they are being harvested.
-Ent (whistle)
(and that is not the Kaka’s fault either)
🙂
“Consumptionomics”
This was just on National Radio. Worth while checking out, right now.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/writers/audio/2541235/chandran-nair-consumptionomics.asx