Open mike 25/12/2015
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6:00 am, December 25th, 2015 - 36 comments
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The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willisâ making. ...4 days ago
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Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...5 days ago
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A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...5 days ago
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Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under Nationalâs Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...5 days ago
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The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...5 days ago
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The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...6 days ago
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The Governmentâs latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...6 days ago
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With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willisâ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Governmentâs books to surplus. ...6 days ago
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The Governmentâs announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning itâs a real terms pay reduction for many. ...6 days ago
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All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...6 days ago
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The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing.   ...6 days ago
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The Government has failed to keep its promise to âsuper chargeâ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...7 days ago
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The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata MÄori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for MÄori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...1 week ago
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Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...1 week ago
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Todayâs announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the countryâs rail network. ...2 weeks ago
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After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
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The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing. ...2 weeks ago
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Seasons Greetings to all and the very best for 2016.
‘
Merry Christmas – EVERYONE – and all the best for 2016.
+1
Greetings to all Standarnistas, have a great day comrades.
Merry Christmas you mad buggers!
You too, you young sod đ
And to everyone else
May I ask one of you authors to guest post Incognito’s comment (below) – perhaps over the weekend? It is very good and so topical. Thanks.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-24122015/#comment-1112263
Oh, and don’t stuff yourselves with too much food and good wine – remember, there’s another day tomorrow. Now I’m off to do exactly that….
Merry Xmas.
Good idea.
I also support this – an extremely good and thoughtful comment from Incognito.
My very best wishes to everyone for this special time of year, and for 2016.
AND a very big thank you to all those people who keep TS a special place to come – and particularly to Lynn for letting us be part of TS and all his time and efforts keeping the site running; and all the authors (who I will not attempt to name for fear of missing someone!) And my fellow commenters.
I have been keeping a list of and links articles etc that have popped up over the last week or so which people here might be interested in and might have missed in the lead up to the holidays, the Hager and Dotcom decisions etc. I will drip feed these onto Open Mike over the next week or so.
Thank you veutoviper for your supportive comment. My best wishes to you for the coming year. I look forward to your list appearing on TS over the next little while.
When survival was the daily task of early hominids concepts such as âworkâ and âemploymentâ were non-existent. You hunted, gathered, fended off wild beasts and sought shelter for your people.
The model presented (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-de-villiers/as-it-is-in-heaven_b_8375662.html) explores the human condition in a perfect world and lands us right back where we started.
Thank you Ant for this interesting comment and that link. As you do on Christmas Day, Iâve been doing a little reading on Utopia and I came across some of the writings and work of Zygmunt Bauman. The planet described in the Huff Post link sounds very much like a âclassical Utopiaâ: a reliable, predictable, more secure World that can be trusted and that is not subject to uncertainties and thus more fear-free.
In his book Liquid Times: Living in an Age of Uncertainty Bauman quotes Italo Calvino, The invisible cities (Le cittĂ invisibili):
âThe hell of the living is not something that will be: if there is one, it is what is already here, the hell where we live every day, that we form by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the hell and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and learning: seek and be able to recognize who and what, in the midst of the hell, are not hell, then make them endure, give them space.â
I tend to interpret the return of the mission back to Earth [referring to the Huff Post piece] as the second option in the above quote and that they (we?) are by no means âright back where we startedâ. I think the author of the Huff Post would lean a similar way; the clues, as I see them, are in the first and last sentences of his blog.
Thank you Anne! I hope you enjoyed Christmas Day in good company with some food and a glass of good wine or two. I personally quite like the GewĂŒrztraminer variety.
To friends and whanau Nollaig Shona!
Frohe Weihnachten from a Winter-ish Vienna… I’m pretty sure I’ve had colder Christmases in Wellington.
Merry Christmas to all the Standardistas.
Thanks for keeping me (somewhat) sane for another year, and ensuring my sense of humour continues apace with my cynicism.
Especial thanks to lprent, the authors and the regular commenters who make this site my first stop in the mornings.
A merry Sufi Christmas to all.
Oh in that case,
http://www.livescience.com/42077-8-ways-mushrooms-explain-santa.html
(probably best not to try that at home Standardistas).
Wishing all Standardistas a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and thanks to everyone, especially lprent, for another year of great conversation.
And it would hardly be Christmas without Shane and Kirsty
Shane’s got himself a new set of choppers too.
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/dec/20/shane-macgowan-a-wreck-reborn-new-teeth-tv-special
I’ve got your hand
You just trust ‘me’
Everything will be fine
Trust ‘me’
Indeed he has – I was delighted that he insisted on a gold one. Being able to bite and apple is one thing, wholly surrendering to dental respectability is another.
Better.
Trivia time:
Shane was filmed at the piano, but he cannot play the instrument. Instead the pianist was shot with Shane’s rings on his fingers, and Shane was made to look like he was playing the piano.
Matt Dillon appears in the first few shots as a police officer
There is no NYPD Chior. Only a pipe band. And the shot of them singing has them singing the song from the Mickey Mouse Club, but slown down. They do not know the words to ‘Galway Bay’.
Interesting. Still, it is a beautiful song.
Peace everyone.
But not too peaceful for too long. There’s the enemy gloating on the horizon.
Otherwise relax for now.
“We’ll meet again,
Don’t know where,
Don’t know when….”
If you can’t do ‘the job’.
We will not meet again.
https://youtu.be/Q5Iak0oDWIc
Since Christmas is the time we at least SAY Krillipsy type platitudes, and at least (hopefully) think about other people within our Public…… many thanks, Kia Kaha’s, etc. to City Missions, Sikh and other temples, Salvation Armies, Refuges and any other charities who’re doing the work of our government (as it claims its 1st world status) has become a necessity.
Krillipsy?
Merry Christmas from Taranaki. Which turned out a fine day with no gales for the first time this season.
Cool, calm and collected, babe.
Nice.
Here is the audio (only) of the original John Lennon version of Happy Christmas (War is Over):
https://archive.org/details/HappyXmaswarIsOver
One more Christmas song/ Video – This released by Veterans for Peace UK: “Christmas Truce”. Singer is Fenya
http://veteransforpeace.org.uk/2015/christmas-truce-video/