Listening to my morning funnies….aka simons interviews…..
By crikey he claims the nat mp's prefer not to stick around in parliament for too long. I guess he forgot about the likes of Dr custard, big gerry david carter, etc
Strange males. Don Brash, David Farrar, the guy next to me in 4th form Maths, all the last ACT leaders, Gareth Morgan , the political reporter sweating all over the place in 84 who still plays a part. Bruce Jesson, yes, but his heart was gold. Why do they mostly (just remembered Roger Kerr ) jump up for the rich? Maths mostly leaves out the people?
They aren't strange among males. We're all just beauteous try-ons. Or, sea-elephant beach. How near these chaps have come to overturning democracy for their psychoses.
I'm surprised journalists never pull them up on this. National has become very polished at mealy-mouthed lip service to mitigating climate change, while at the same time special-pleading for every single industry that there's no need for this particular sector to have to do anything much just yet. And yet, no journalist asks them the obvious question: "Which industries do you believe need to reduce their carbon emissions, and how quickly?
… no journalist asks them the obvious question: "Which industries do you believe need to reduce their carbon emissions, and how quickly?
No, and they never will.
Most of the journos and reporters who front the TV news and current affairs programmes are 20 to 30 somethings. It's not long since their legs were still under a school desk. They may have picked up on the theory, but have developed no instincts or true understanding of how politics works. They try to make up for it by conjuring up stupid conspiracy theories that no-one of experience would contemplate.
They were also brought up on a diet of neoliberalism which thrives on ideology for ideology's sake and frowns upon political analysis based on reality. As a result I doubt we will ever see these journos asking the insightful questions. It happens now and then, but imo it is more by accident than design.
To do what? To mix and match cargoes and ships going to different places? Fiji is better geographically, and Brisbane is only slightly worse geographically but potentially has much more traffic since it would include the Australian market.
It works really well for Singapore since they are sitting on a natural chokepoint that a surprising proportion of the world's shipping passes through. Us, we're out in the middle of fkn nowhere with bugger-all reason for anybody to coma anywhere near us.
edit: first thought; fix the typo. Second thought; nah, it works as it is.
Sheesh. Spelling it out: if China wants to build trade linkages via NZ as the linked article says, where on our coast would that logically go through I asked? And how does that affect other current discussions, like oh rail to Northport?
If it's actually a genuinely serious proposal, rather than an over-excited brainfart of the moment, then Tauranga makes much more sense. Logistically much better for the majority of what New Zealand would move through such a port and very little extra travelling distance for the ships.
Logistically, Tauranga will take too much expensive and environmentally degrading modification, to take the size of ships required.
Marsden point, with proper rail links from Waikato, and coastal feeders, is the best from the shipping point of view, but the politics mean it will be Auckland.
Eventually ports of Auckland will be moved to an artificial island in deep water.
I expect that will be the logical overseas terminal.
Looking at your original comment Sacha. Shipping is going to become increasingly more important for our consideration. So very topical for forward thinkers. Also thinking about lanes and seasons – how will it be affected by the cyclone seasons, rogue waves and current changes etc. Here is some info for the thinking citizen wishing to understand and possibly participate in decision making.
Politically it could make us more important for China using a route that avoids the northern Pacific. Ships using the Indian Ocean route would go around Australia, in north in the straits between Indonesia and Cape York and then to Brisbane or Whangarei; or along west coast Australia to southern tip like Albany then Melbourne or north Tasmania and then to Whangarei. Australia, being closely aligned to USA may be opposed to our connection to the South Indian Ocean route.
I see that Hawaii is an important port in the north Pacific (a USA state and strategically situated for them). Nothing in the south Pacific crossing from South America towards us and Australia. I'll put links about this on a separate comment for those who want to look at it further.
I was just looking for present shipping lanes and found a great interactive map which may or not be useful for the discussion but it certainly is interesting.
China (& the belt & road) is somewhat a flashpoint for the contradictions of neo-liberal internationalism.
Where as i'd say a natural win win framework of relationships between NZ & China would be more a regional to regional, people to people emphasis in creating a sense of mutually shared ownership to the international relations of the respective regions, which then generate added value and innovation feedback dynanisms in strengthening ties.
An dynamic community growth approach, rather than a Tim Grosser type slap on the back off limits thousand pages of consultancy deals, cooked up in highly rarified small revolving door economys, which are not much good for anything else.
Call me a cynic but in the time it takes to set the terms of reference of the inquiries into ANZ, I'm sure there is ferocious lobbying by the bank and its defenders to exclude anything which is going to damage the bank (and importantly, John Key) too much.
The Bernard Hickey piece yesterday covered this, the flawed idea that regulatory authorities are tasked with both censure and confidence of the banking system at the same time. They can effectively do both.
Kate MacNamara at least seems to have her eye on things.
"You sanction the foreign minister simultaneously with a request for talks," an exasperated Rouhani said and called the sanctions "outrageous and idiotic."
"The White House is afflicted by mental retardation and does not know what to do," Rouhani added.
Have to say I and most of the rest of the world agree with Rouhani on this.
A discussion about the work of a university study looking at the future of Auckland if its BAU. No thinking outside the charmed circle with the unsaid understanding that everyone should lie back and enjoy the machinations resulting from neolib present economics. A scenario of Auckland going from 1 million to 2million in quite a short time. Sigh.
Exciting joined up ideas from Victoria University political thinkers on how we can gain better politics that enable deep thought about our looming problems instead of knee jerk immediacy to ensure positive mention in the media. From Radionz – audio later.
Parliament must hold short-term thinking govts to account: report
Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
A new report finds governments are prone to short term thinking, and parliamentary scrutiny of government performance is limited, unsystematic and reactive. The report, by Victoria University's Institute for Governance and Policy Studies and staff of the Office of the Clerk, was based on interviews with a range of respondents, including current and former MPs, who variously described of parliament's oversight as "broken", "weak", "inadequate" and "patchy". Kathryn speaks with co-author and Professor of Public Policy, Jonathan Boston.
QI @ grey. YEsterday I heard JA somewhere on the MSM say something like "things always take longer than expected"
I immediately thought that just accepting that (all the roadblocks and push backs – often from the supposedly apolitical public service), it might be a nice idea to try to understand why that is – especially if you're trying to be transformational. Btw, even if you believe we have an apolitical public service (especially at senior/muddle management level fully equipped with 'the generic manager'), there is a vested interest in preserving the status quo.
Jonathon Boston's team have come up with some good ideas, and whilst we think that logically, there has to be an additional overhead in bureaucracy, my suspicions are that it'd bring about greater openness and accountability, and eventually those pushing an agenda (especially if their will is to preserve that status quo) might give up some of the bullshit and spin – especially amongs that 'generic managerial' class.
What they are suggesting is more independent advice, and more parliamentary scrutiny – from memory, including the performance of that managerial class. And it'd be somewhat different from things like the old Maori Development Commissions, headed by the likes of Tau Henare, or Paul Quinn fame (the man who disenfranchised prisoners), and which regularly used to just pinch policy off Te Puni Kokiri servers and do a bit of re-wording
And I say all that in the belief that democracy is not meant to be easy. I reckon it might actually speed a few things up, if only because it might put a rocket up a few arses and eliminate much of the bs and spin over time with those who are invested in preservation of the status quo
I remember someone I think Education Minister and someone O'Rourke I think saying that she couldn't get in to see Ed Min until about 11 pm at night with briefings to give them because of all the other interests traipsing in first. So you have to have pollies who provide their own crackers, and not rely on their store being topped up by free samples from outside.
We definitely need change and the sort of advice given when we first got offered the panacea of neolib. That advice would act on the in-crowd like being hoist by their own petard, when it came time to deliver them the same medicine they shoved down our throats, better more effective, efficient etc. We have been through their cycle, and like PM Jim Hacker about gongs given out as traditionally, we find that the system has been going for too long, and needs a deep dusting, especially round the pockets.
Even though I'm the first to commend JA and most of her enterage (with some exceptions), and some others in the coalition, we shouldn't forget that most of their adult lives have been spent knowing (more importantly, experiencing) nothing other than a neo-liberal environment. JA will go down in history as being one of NZ's better PMs.
So whilst @Anne and others – even myself, might say much of the public service dysfunction has always existed, the advent of a neo-liberal agenda has industrialised that dysfunction and made it a fucking sight worse – in some cases, almost to the extent it has become normal practice.
(I've seen my share of public servants with political ambitions leaking cabinet papers; others manipulating budgets – getting people to 'split invoices'; still others with cosy little deals with "preferred suppliers"; calling in consultants on the basis of obtaining "independent advice" when those consultants are mates.)
I'd hoped Chippie's PS reform would have been a little higher on the agenda, and when it eventually happens, let's hope there is some consideration of Boston's team's recommendations. (He's not a fool. Nor btw is one of NZ1st's former Vic Uni advisors whose name eludes me atm, even though I used to occasionally share a fag outside Von Zedlitz, ahhhhhh Jonassen! that's it).
I worry for 2023, and even 2020 could turn out to be a bit of a fuckup if we're not careful
So whilst @Anne and others – even myself, might say much of the public service dysfunction has always existed,…
Not strictly true in my case OWT.
Sure there was discrimination on the basis of gender and misogynists were plentiful, but the serious stuff didn't set in until after the PS restructuring of the 80s and 90s.
In the case of the government department I worked for, the director and his senior team were turfed out and managers etc. brought in from outside who didn't have any knowledge of the specialist work we did. Morale plummeted and many long-serving experienced people resigned or took redundancy. The department ended up in a crisis which was resolved by turning it into an SOE and turfing out the new management. They were replaced with people who knew something about the 'product' we produced.
I think you'll probably agree that PS reform is long overdue.
Probably even to the extent that my belief is that no government (of any stripe) can promise 'transformation' (or even kindness) until such time as there is reform.
I could go on, as I know you could. It wouldn't really be of that much use tho'
Maybe you and I should just start providing specific examples. (I don't know about you, but my bottom line was that I'd never agree to any confidentiality agreement, and I never have)
(I don't know about you, but my bottom line was that I'd never agree to any confidentiality agreement, and I never have).
I had a caveat placed on me by 'management' preventing me from talking to anyone. The truth of the matter: they were conducting a rort against another government department (the RNZAF) and I effectively potted them although to be honest I didn't know it at the time. It happened exactly 30 years ago.
Hilarious to think now that it was the Defence Force who were the unsuspecting recipients. No wonder I was targeted.
I'm reminded of Paula Benefit's quip "zip it sweetie". I've zipped it for 30 years.
Teachers agree to settlement but I need a mathematician to help me understand.
"The latest offer for teachers will reinstate pay parity, give a one-off payment of $1500 to full-time teachers, increase pay by an average of 3 per cent over 3 years for all teachers, lift primary teacher base salary by $14,500, and create a new top step of $90,000."
If a teacher is on $70k and gets a 3% increase, then another 3%, then another 3% where is the magic $10,000 teachers were said to be going to get? $10,000 was the number Hipkins kept saying and the media kept repeating. Saying as if the average teacher was to get an extra 10k a year.
I don't get 10k total for three years at 80k per annum either. ??????
This perhaps indicates a need for more and better simple mathematics in schools! And perhaps it was a 10% increase over 3 years and it got morphed into $10,000.
Yes, the media obediently morphed it into $10,000. So easy for the media..
We need journalists better at maths, and with courage to oppose right wing bosses.
I am a secondary teacher. Our last contract expired October 2018. Current offer gives us 3% from July. No backdating, as MPs always get (and we used to many years ago.)
So we have lost in real terms two thirds of the inflation rate. Say 1.5%. Two thirds of that is 1%. So we get in real terms 2%, and that is trusting the official figures about inflation, cost of living, etc. But we wait another year for the next 3%. By that time we have lost another 1.5% in real, inflation-adjusted terms. Total loss of 2.5% since expiry of last contract, which is where the real pay rate should be taken from.
In July 2020 before we get another 3% or whatever, we will be in real terms only ½% better off than we were in October 2018. This is rubbish, and will not stem the flow of young, talented teachers out of the profession. They can earn better elsewhere for less work.
That $10,000 the media put round is plain bullshit.
To prevent this kind of deception, pay increases should be quoted only at yearly rate, and these deceptive 3 or 4 year agreements should be banned.
And we should all regain backpay to expiry date of previous contract, as our cosseted MPs enjoy.
PS – I ignored the one-off payment to union members because a one-off 5% payment counts for little over years, and the union members have lost more than that in union fees over years.
What has been portrayed in the media regarding the increases has played into our Ministers story of how well these greedy teachers have been paid. IMO so that teachers are forced to accept the offer. There has been managed mis information clouding the picture with step increase and increases being combined in the media releases.
And now we have this from Hopkins "We were only willing to put that money on the table because we had an undertaking that that was the final deal, so we'll be sticking to that." Now didn't the unions have to obtain from its members acceptance of the offer ? With Principals not accepting the offer does that mean that the teachers offer has been rescinded ?
If it's a 10% increase over 3 years then that means it's a 10/3% increase per year or 1/30 increase per year
80000+80000*1/30 = 82666.67
82666.67+82666.67*1/30=85422.23
85422.23+85422.23*1/30 = 88269.64
88269.64 + 1500 = 89769.64
So pretty close to $10,000
But “$10k increase” is all worked out on averages – and I would suspect that the average increase would be a lot higher than the median increase – income generally being skewed.
Teachers will be interested in the median increase ("what do I get") whereas govt will be interested in the average increase ("what is this policy going to cost us in total")
Well I took 10% increase over 3 years to mean that by the end of three years, there would have been a 10% increase on the first, base year. So there is room for confusion in the minds of the unknowing.
mpledger – As above, if it is not backdated, it is over 3.66 years for the first 3 years. That affects later years. Redo.
And where are you allowing for inflation?
Microbes in the soil is where the new antibiotics are coming from!! WtB is going to be a good person to give us the dirt on the dirt!
Interesting discussions about the new antibiotics needed on Radionz.
Superbugs. A doctor's fight against antibiotic-resistance
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Our anti-biotics are starting to fail us – with some predictions that in the next quarter of a century there could be more deaths from super bugs than heart disease or cancer. Dr. Matt McCarthy is an infectious disease doctor at Weill Cornell Medical College, a staff physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital, and the author of "Superbugs: The Race To Stop An Epidemic." He's also got first hand knowledge of the hoops you have to go through to get new drugs approved.
I'm more inclined to see phages (bacterial viruses) as the new big thing with regards to fighting bacterial infection.
The dirt on dirt is that we find new things every time we look. The scope for discoveries is enormous. Likewise we've barely a clue what's in plants, fungi, animal proteins and more.
Many fields are opening up as meta-data becomes more timely and affordable to obtain. We can take a soil sample and run a DNA test and pull out pretty much all the species therein – most of which are merely assigned numbers as we're unable to cultivate them yet. So we don't know what they do, what they make or which other species they interact with. Those species we can cultivate display remarkable variance in metabolites they produce. Some of which are antibiotics.
New enzymes, medicines, foods and more will arise from a seemingly infinite (no they're not, we've tried that already with the planet) pool of resources. Resources that are rapidly being depleted as we continue to wage war on the natural world.
Ethical science coupled with nature will take us far. Corporate biotech – a nightmare waiting to happen.
Well we always seem to want to be fighting something. That will give us something to do while we sink back to the chimpanzees hitting each other with rocks as in start of 2001 A space Odyssey. Hal may help; to explain the real world to us seeing we can't work it out for ourselves.
We'll be hooked up in a satellite queue in space soon, while there is space in the waiting lounge, we can put our sticky fingers into the earth and go into inner space. Or we can sit in the eternal waiting lounge as in film Beetlejuice, which shows people looking as vacant as in the normal airport waiting area.
Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon…. “a national suicide of the Palestinians’ current political and cultural ethos is precisely what is needed for peace.”
UCLA professor Saree Makdisi, tweeted, “Imagine The New York Times publishing a piece asking what’s wrong with Blacks, Latinx, Native American or any other community abjectly surrendering to racism, inequality and oppression.”
Israel has taken the Worlds comparative silence on the mass shooting of Palestinians (amongst other things) as a sign that the time is right..lets save the bullets and the general hassel, lets just ask the Palestinians to destroy themselves.
While I agree the choice of words was poor, it is pretty obvious that the current situation is not working for the Palestinians. There was a time when Gaza had an airport and a building boom. That is now two decades in the past.
The constant confrontation with Israel is getting Gaza nowhere. All it does is reinforce the Israeli mentality that they can't deal with the Gaza administration.
You could say the Israelis need to take the first step. In fact it needs to be the Palestinians. Israel can act the way it does for many decades hence. It is much easier for them to cope with the current situation than it is for the Palestinians.
The Palestinians therefore need to think of what they can do that is different from their current stance that will make a difference. It is clear they can't win a war, or increase rocket attacks, or anything of that nature. Israel will always be able to deal with that.
So they need to think of something different. Maybe full statehood is an unattainable dream, at least for the next 2 or 3 decades. What else can they get that will appreciably improve the current situation. In short Palestine needs to find an interim path, that will last the next two or three decades.
Wayne's words of wisdom. "While I agree the choice of words was poor, it is pretty obvious that the current situation is not working for the Palestinians."
A US cheerleader. Palestine's position is untenable thanks to US arming Israel to the teeth. Also Israeli leadership condoning and even advocating violence doesn't help. The continuous land grabs, cutting off of aid… so much history. Now they've US and NZ cheerleaders. FFS.
But, the lad threw a tennis ball.
BOOM!
The bullies of the world need to back down. These so called civilised nations -disgusting shitheels.
Easy way to think about Palestine and Israel, if Palestine gave up its guns and violent aspiration for destruction of Israel, thier support of undemocratic terrorist organisation as thier government there would be peace and progress If Israel gave up its guns there would be a genocide massacre Simple really
Moderators. this is the third time I've asked bewildered to leave me alone. He merely apes what right wing media says and gets smart, it's tedious. He also likes to use my personal information against me. It is a form of cyberstalking and I'm about had enough.
I will stop contributing if I can't come here without this guy thinking it's fair game to try his usual nonsense on.
While you have a few trolls, this one has taken a shine to me.
See below for another example. He thinks the fact I grow kumara is hugely funny.
Ignore commenters who (try to) wind you up. By that, I mean scroll past and literally do not read their comment.
You may have noticed that the same commenter pisses off many regulars here on a regular basis and often receives a vitriolic response in return.
We tend to follow a fairly light-handed approach to moderation here and I certainly don’t do ‘moderation requests’. TS is a place for robust debate and we want to keep it this way. As you know, my tolerance for personal insults and attacks is relatively low but sometimes even that resolves itself, until next time …
It does depend on which commenters are involved, context, how tired I am, and on my general mood. I don’t pretend for one second to be consistent, impartial, or correct at all times, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles here on TS and why I do prefer to warn and appeal to and for self-moderation rather than to ban 🙂
If you provide links I can come to an informed opinion rather than taking your word for it. If it turns out there is a clear case to answer I’ll give out a warning and put them on my ‘watch list’ but unless they incite violence, make personal threats, or launch into vile personal attacks, etc., I won’t block/ban them outright.
It would be sad to see you leave TS but if that’s better for you then I wish you well.
There was a crystal clear directive from TRP a few months ago that using the personal information a commenter might have offered in the past against them, and even using a commenters past comments in arguments against them would not be tolerated.
Let’s have less about Janes bbq then , a mild reference to kumera is hardly crime of the year I go at bleep when he goes at me I don’t troll him I just don’t agree with a lot of his comments and respond in kind in my own style , massive overreaction on his his part I don’t ; want to ruin Bleeps day and he sounds a bit precious I will desist responding to him forthwith re self censorship
you have a sense of humor I think which make me wonder if you are a rightie or just a winder uperer – either way move on – there are plenty to tussle with rather than tussle with someone who doesn't want to be tussled with. – I meant wtb there
Why don't the pair of you just agree to disagree, as I enjoy the comments from BOTH of you. Don't agree with a lot of them but it part and parcel of this site and as Iprent has expressed the site tolerates ROBUST debate. Also it makes my old grey matter work and seek other area's for info, more than can be said about the crap we read, listen to called the MSM
You are missing the point. Israel has the power to act disproportionately. It has done so, and will continue to do so. Because of Israel’s history they are not going to stop doing that.
Most nations are not going to do a BDS on Israel, not with the memory of the Nazi persecution. Neither will left wing protests have any effect. In fact a number of Middle East nations are building links with Israel. The Palestinians are even loosing support of a number of Middle East governments.
Palestine/Gaza can’t win against Israel. These days they can’t even seriously disrupt Israel.
So if Palestine/Gaza wants to change the situation, they are the ones who have to change. Their current strategy has self evidently failed. They are going to have to stop the attacks, they are going to have to accept Israel, they are going to have to change the narrative among their people. Unless they do this, nothing will change. In fact the social and economic fabric of Gaza will continue to get worse.
Israel seems bent on genocide and the rhetoric coming out here leads me to believe no different. I met Israeli soldiers on holiday in Australia. Lovely people – till they started talking about Palestine. Then it was a seething hatred. "Vermin, scum! They need to be extinguished! Indoctrinated from birth by nasty warmongering leadership and an extremely racist state.
While I've dealt with a lot of bullies over the years, I've never developed a tolerance for them.
This 'solution' on offer is typical one sided garbage – here, eat some shit, now say you like it or I'll hit you.
Palestines social and economic fabric has been unravelled for some time now. And every time they start to build a home – guess who fucking bombs it.
Nazi Germany is not an excuse for a new wave of Nazis led by the US trying this bullshit on.
And Hamas Fatah are miss understood angles Come on weepy your smarter than basing an opinion on meeting a couple of Israelites on holiday One bad kumera does not mean you right off the whole crop
I'm not condoning either sides tendencies to violence. It is just seriously one-sided. Part of the reason the Arab world hates Israel (I think that statement's too broad btw) is the company they keep.
Martin Luther Kings is still correct ,,,,, and could be talking about you wayne
““We again fell victim to the deadly Western arrogance that has poisoned the international atmosphere for so long,”
It should also come as no surprise that you would hold the moral low ground in comparison to the views of Nelson Mandela
In a 1999 speech: "Israel should withdraw from all the areas which it won from the Arabs in 1967, and in particular Israel should withdraw completely from the Golan Heights,
Miko Peled is more informed and more honest than bewildered wayne or neo-con zionists
So, it turns out that the creation of Israel had not, after all, been a haphazard fight in which the Arabs fled their homes due to the directives of their own leaders. It had been a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Jewish militia involving massacres, terrorism, and the wholesale looting of an entire nation.
"While I agree the choice of words was poor"…this is an op-ed in the New York Times, written by the Israeli representative to the United Nations.
His choice of words is very very well thought out, and deemed acceptable by both his Israeli Government bosses, and the Chief Editors of The New York Times.
They all consider it acceptable to ask a Nation and a Race of people to commit 'Cultural and Political Suicide'.
The choice of words is not 'poor'. This isn't some essay written by a 6th form social studies student.
The Israelis want the Palestinians to Culturally and Politically Cleanse themselves.
The Israelis have said it, they have acted on it.
Even more scarily, they seem to have convinced people such as yourself that cultural and political cleansing is the answer.
I still think it is bad words, even more do now that I know they were pre planned.
i am not suggesting poitical or cultural cleansing, just a rethink of the obviously failed current strategy. Maybe something like Hong Kong solution for the next period.
Ex-Nasty Party cabinet minister uses the phrase "pre planned". No doubt in a National caucus meeting such illiteracy would go un-noticed and unremarked.
Yes, I know perfectly well that it was not the correct spelling. It was being done on a phone just before the door closed on a plane. No time to correct it.
Vote in leaders that represent their best interest would be a start Not sure how you negotiate with a party who’s conviction is your destruction and once voted in democratically after Israel gave up gaza strip have never had another election
I think we are both in the same position about what should be done next. How do the Palestinians make meaningful progress toward their aspirations?
Clearly they are not making much now. Especially in Gaza where they are going backwards. Ironically in Gaza there are no Israeli settlers with designs on expropriating territory. The boundaries of Gaza are quite clear. You would think that fact would enable progress. If the Gaza/Palestine attacks stopped so would the (disproportionate) Israeli retaliation. Then the two sides could make progress. A progressive reduction of the blockade, more social and economic development. I imagine statehood would be some ways off, but as a number of self governing places show, there can be effective international recognition. Think Cook Islands, Hong Kong, Bermuda, etc.
Where they expelled from Gaza, I thought it was given up by Israel They could be living a lot better if they dropped the nonsense Note I agree their ideal in claiming lost land back is not possible but irrespective their lives could be a load better than now for themselves and their kids
The Israelis are following a simple template: ghettoisation followed by encroachment (settlements nibbling away here and there, official ones create and illegal expansions ignored). The following step is the 'cleansing' part.
You reckon the Israelis won't do the third step if the Palestinians just act like good little subjugated peons. Maybe. I'm sure some folks thought that in 1937, as well.
Gaza was only placed under restrictions after all the nonsense started, rockets, tunnels, before that I believe flow of goods and people was pretty open both Egypt and Israel side
Hmmm… I suspect that you either just a hypocrite or plain stupid.
So how does that explain the array of checkpoints all of the way through the West Bank? Not only near illegal settlements but also through areas that are wholly Palestinian.
To me that just looks like an method of ghettoisation and a way of making sure that all commerce is stifled in the West Bank outside of the illegal settlements.
What came first the chicken or the egg I know there has always been check points ( I have actually been to Gaza and through the Ramallah gate into Egypt after crossing over from Israel I lived in the Negev quite close to Gaza strip) but the flow and restrictions really ramped up after all the trouble started, Hamas take over following Israel pull out I think you know this Lprent so i will put your first question to me back to you If I am wrong I will go with B
Ashkenazi Jews (i.e. those from Eastern Europe) are the modern Israelis and have not been in Palestine for 5000 years . Sephardic Jews on the other hand do have a place in Palestine, but they are also discriminated against by the majority.
…For a more scientific take on the Jewish origin debate, recent DNA analysis of Ashkenazic Jews – a Jewish ethnic group – revealed that their maternal line is European. It has also been found that their DNA only has 3% ancient ancestry which links them with the Eastern Mediterranean (also known as the Middle East)…
But some scientists question these conclusions. “While it is clear that Ashkenazi maternal ancestry includes both Levantine [Near Eastern] and European origins—the assignment of several of the major Ashkenazi lineages to pre-historic European origin in the current study is incorrect in our view,” physician-geneticists Doron Behar and Karl Skorecki of the Rambam Healthcare Campus in Israel, whose previous work indicated a Near Eastern origins to many Ashkenazi mitochondrial types, wrote in an e-mail to The Scientist. They argue that the mitochondrial DNA data used in the new study did not represent the full spectrum of mitochondrial diversity.
National cabinet members are obliged to lie, and defend the indefensible. Some of the scoundrels continue to lie and defend the indefensible even after they slither out of office.
Israel's commercial relationships with Saudi Arabia – on multiple fronts – is running rings around the Palestinians, so they have little motivation to solve the Palestinian problem. And the Israeli natural gas tie-up with Egypt will sustain common interest for a very long time.
Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq are fully motivated to unite with the United States against Iran.
I sure wouldn't wish it on the world, but there's plenty to pull strongly conservative Jewish and Islamic states into common interest against a common foe.
Personally I'm a believer in the one state solution. Israel accepts Palestinians as voters with exactly the same rights as Jewish Israelis including conscription into the armed forces (and get rid of the exemption for ultra-orthodox at the same time). Give everyone exactly the same rights to bear arms. See if the two groups can work out a compromise by attrition of the bigots on both sides.
Eventually that is what will have to happen anyway unless the Israeli government wants to either really give up land or start an extermination that will result in some nukes being dropped on them.
Because of the way that the Israeli government has abrogated their promises and agreements over the years, I don’t think that anyone would actually believe a two party state solution could work that they are involved in. Anyone who tried it would probably wind up like Rabin.
Your solution is not going to happen. Israel has found that its wall for keeping people out has been extremely effective. Israel would much prefer to have a territory that they know is theirs and that does not let anyone they don’t want to get in. Their wall does precisely that.
So from an Israeli perspective it is far better for the Palestinians to be in Gaza and on the West Bank (or at least some of it) and not be able to come into Israel. For the last twenty years that has worked well for Israel. Why would Israel take the risk of upsetting that situation. The reality is that they won’t.
So it is back to a two state solution, but probably not on as good a terms as 20 years ago. Israel can put up with the current situation for many decades hence. It is not genocide, but it also not good for the Palestinians, especially those in Gaza. Will the Palestinians be able to accept that for decades or will they decide to negotiate?
Where do you get your nukes outcome from? Handmade backpacks? Impossible to do without a source of plutonium. Which can only come from a state. And which is traceable to specific reactors. I wouldn’t want to be in the state that did that.
The problem is that because of the wall, settlements, and the way that Israel has treated Gaza and the West Bank – there is no possible settlement on anything like the current basis. It simply isn't a viable state.
There is absolutely no way that any governing body in the occupied territories is going to accept a situation that leaves them as badly off or potentially worse off (see the recent history of Gaza) as they are now – and that is ALL that Israel now has to offer. Their internal politics, because of the weird dynamic that makes the extremes the only viable way to go, is steadily cutting off their options.
The deteriorating status quo that Israel can't have any kind of normal state either. They have to run a budget deficit because of running standing garrisons, effectively be propped up financially and militarily by the US, and run a siege economy always looking with askarance at their own arab citizens. At some point something won't work any more.
Anything can happen to disrupt it. America retreats into isolationism. The extremists in Israel revert further into barbarism and start emulating nazis with death camps (the resemblance between Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto is getting particularly marked). There gets to be a health disaster in Gaza or the West Bank. Or just the real lunatics in Israel start killing just because they can and being cheered on by fuckwits in government
Hell – just the situation that I see now makes me want to sanction Israel. I'd like to kick their embassy out and ban all trade with them. After all the Palestinians are in fact their citizens. If they can’t deal with them humanely – they they’re no better than the apartheid governments that we do sanction.
And I’m wondering where I can find these 6 reports to have a read over on a quiet day.
“We could name six solid Ministry of Transport rail studies and none were reviewed.”
I’ll be out bush for the next 4 to 5 days and unless I’m at one of the two pubs out bush I won’t have Internet to reply to this post or follow up either.
Iran thinks of itself as just another state, but it isn't, it's the most religiously zealous of all nations. Religion, when core to the head of state has always led to war, as religion has no self regulator as it's leader believes they speak for God. Until Iran dislodged its holythanthou leadership it going to remain a pariah. N.Korea at least has a monarchy, Kim fires the nuke, his family goes up in smoke. A holy roller however wins martyrdom. Forget Israel, Saudi Arabia, issues with Iran, stupid deranged religion zealotry at the heart of Iran natural rub up them, for at its core Iran is a global threat to stability.
I request that the management and moderators have a meeting and look at the approach of the blog. You have a set idea that was established a while ago, and it is time to review it. Everything changes these days, and it is necessary to look at processes and see if they are fit for purpose.
It seemed that the blog has matured to something that aims for higher discussion while being good natured, and reflecting people's wide interests, not just political discussion leading to better policy in the country. It is rare to get NZs discussing general important political matters, not just those personally affecting them.
People are encouraged to come and express themselves on Open Mike. Fine. When they start to troll and sneer, they have had that opportunity and they should be given a warning and then told to go for a month without a lot of heart-wrenching. Inviting people to come here but then allowing them to constantly downplay and nitpick every assay at an idea is deadening this site. It is half full of these malicious people who want to throw the spanner in the works of those trying to build community of ideas and policy.
If this is just a place where people can have a game of politics then I have been mistaken trying to put up information that would help to background policy issues. I despise the trolls here, and regard some of them as perverted as bad as sexual predators. Their object is sleazy self-satisfaction and they are here harassing good, sincere people trying to form ideas and policies that will assist all of NZ to a better level of political management. I request that the regular supporters of this blog who want to discuss left wing politics in an analytical but supportive way are allowed to get on with it instead of being hounded by trolls, nipping at heels and messing up the conversations.
I can't understand why the people who actually do the thinking and debating, which has settled to a reasonable level of robustness, do not have any standing in decisions about trolls. If regular commenters complain and wish for a troll to be removed for a period or permanently, that should be the wish of the 'elders' of the site. That would be an adult, mature example of a participatory democracy.
Bad timing Grey, or was it intentional on your part?
Anyone of a ‘thinking nature’ is currently focusing what is going on in the House tonight – far more important than your attempt to take over the TS nest as a supposed 'Greywarbler' (but in reality a 'Shining Cuckoo' in my opinion). I have wondered when you would pitch your 'takeover' but can't really be bothered focusing on it tonight. Remind us some other time Those of us of a 'thinking nature' as you refer to in your endless sactimoneous sermons are otherwise engaged tonight.
Oh, and by the way, that is from one woman in her 70s (me) to another in the same age bracket. IIRC you turned 77 in Feb 2019 a couple of years older than me, but still in the same overall age bracket.
On Tuesday, BERL chief economist Ganesh Nana unveiled a literature review, which concluded "sector wage bargaining holds no fears for New Zealanders".
Opponents often referred to a drop in productivity as a result of collective or sector bargaining, he said.
The report found there was no consistent relationship evident between union activity and productivity.
Relative economic benefits of individual contracts over collective contracts was also inconclusive.
However, there was clear evidence a growing gap between productivity and wage increases was associated with the erosion of collective bargaining.
That last point is the kicker. The mantra from the neo liberal right was deregulate and wages will increase. Deregulate and workers will grow richer. Deregulate and productivity will rise and that will flow down to workers via larger pay packets. Whereas the reality of the NZ economy is that a higher slice of the cake is now claimed by employers and a smaller slice by workers. The % claimed by employers has increased, the % claimed by workers decreased. The gain from productivity have disproportionately flowed to the holders of capital.
Hello I am off to look for grandchildren. And I do not declare my gender. Iam sorry veutoviper but you are out of touch with what is needed to face our future. If I don't get thrown out or any wider positive response to me I will happily leave it to you old people stuck in your groove of superiority and wisdom which is not justified as one looks around at our current state. Pity you didn't apply that wisdom when it was needed to shift us away from the Path of Doom. Now it seems too late for you to learn anything from anyone who you don't regard as a Suitable Authority.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
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Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
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Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
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Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
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In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
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The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
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A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
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Hosking cries into his cornflakes. At least, unlike stablemate David Farrar, he is honest about what's happening within the National Party.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12243914
Listening to my morning funnies….aka simons interviews…..
By crikey he claims the nat mp's prefer not to stick around in parliament for too long. I guess he forgot about the likes of Dr custard, big gerry david carter, etc
Wifey parrots Hubby. I wonder if they discuss this at 3am each morning before heading to work?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12243919
Wifey gets closer to the truth though:
Crikey the tories will be spinning out.
Strange males. Don Brash, David Farrar, the guy next to me in 4th form Maths, all the last ACT leaders, Gareth Morgan , the political reporter sweating all over the place in 84 who still plays a part. Bruce Jesson, yes, but his heart was gold. Why do they mostly (just remembered Roger Kerr ) jump up for the rich? Maths mostly leaves out the people?
They aren't strange among males. We're all just beauteous try-ons. Or, sea-elephant beach. How near these chaps have come to overturning democracy for their psychoses.
Looking at National's record of climate denial, which emissions would they actually cut? http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2019/06/which-emissions-does-national-want-to.html
I'm surprised journalists never pull them up on this. National has become very polished at mealy-mouthed lip service to mitigating climate change, while at the same time special-pleading for every single industry that there's no need for this particular sector to have to do anything much just yet. And yet, no journalist asks them the obvious question: "Which industries do you believe need to reduce their carbon emissions, and how quickly?
… no journalist asks them the obvious question: "Which industries do you believe need to reduce their carbon emissions, and how quickly?
No, and they never will.
Most of the journos and reporters who front the TV news and current affairs programmes are 20 to 30 somethings. It's not long since their legs were still under a school desk. They may have picked up on the theory, but have developed no instincts or true understanding of how politics works. They try to make up for it by conjuring up stupid conspiracy theories that no-one of experience would contemplate.
They were also brought up on a diet of neoliberalism which thrives on ideology for ideology's sake and frowns upon political analysis based on reality. As a result I doubt we will ever see these journos asking the insightful questions. It happens now and then, but imo it is more by accident than design.
Would a seaport at Whangarei be the logical place in NZ between China and South America? https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/392901/new-zealand-ticks-all-boxes-for-pacific-trade-and-travel-hub
To do what? To mix and match cargoes and ships going to different places? Fiji is better geographically, and Brisbane is only slightly worse geographically but potentially has much more traffic since it would include the Australian market.
It works really well for Singapore since they are sitting on a natural chokepoint that a surprising proportion of the world's shipping passes through. Us, we're out in the middle of fkn nowhere with bugger-all reason for anybody to coma anywhere near us.
edit: first thought; fix the typo. Second thought; nah, it works as it is.
"logical place in NZ"
Ahh. So the purpose is to generate lots of expensive consultancy fees and executive management positions … Got it.
Sheesh. Spelling it out: if China wants to build trade linkages via NZ as the linked article says, where on our coast would that logically go through I asked? And how does that affect other current discussions, like oh rail to Northport?
If it's actually a genuinely serious proposal, rather than an over-excited brainfart of the moment, then Tauranga makes much more sense. Logistically much better for the majority of what New Zealand would move through such a port and very little extra travelling distance for the ships.
Logistically, Tauranga will take too much expensive and environmentally degrading modification, to take the size of ships required.
Marsden point, with proper rail links from Waikato, and coastal feeders, is the best from the shipping point of view, but the politics mean it will be Auckland.
Eventually ports of Auckland will be moved to an artificial island in deep water.
I expect that will be the logical overseas terminal.
Looking at your original comment Sacha. Shipping is going to become increasingly more important for our consideration. So very topical for forward thinkers. Also thinking about lanes and seasons – how will it be affected by the cyclone seasons, rogue waves and current changes etc. Here is some info for the thinking citizen wishing to understand and possibly participate in decision making.
Whangarei presumably has a good port. Also Opua was used for years. One company extols the northern advantages. https://www.shiprepair.co.nz/perfect-deep-water-port/
Other: Info about ports and hydrographic risk assessment from LINZ
Factors about Whangarei – Marine Occurrence Report from Transport Accident Incident Commission: https://taic.org.nz/sites/default/files/inquiry/documents/03-211.pdf
Politically it could make us more important for China using a route that avoids the northern Pacific. Ships using the Indian Ocean route would go around Australia, in north in the straits between Indonesia and Cape York and then to Brisbane or Whangarei; or along west coast Australia to southern tip like Albany then Melbourne or north Tasmania and then to Whangarei. Australia, being closely aligned to USA may be opposed to our connection to the South Indian Ocean route.
I see that Hawaii is an important port in the north Pacific (a USA state and strategically situated for them). Nothing in the south Pacific crossing from South America towards us and Australia. I'll put links about this on a separate comment for those who want to look at it further.
Major Pacific 'chokepoints'. http://ontheworldmap.com/oceans-and-seas/pacific-ocean/pacific-ocean-major-ports-map.html
I was just looking for present shipping lanes and found a great interactive map which may or not be useful for the discussion but it certainly is interesting.
https://www.vox.com/2016/4/25/11503152/shipping-routes-map
Another: http://www.shiptraffic.net/2001/04/south-pacific-ocean-ship-traffic.html
Details for cargo ships: http://arimotravels.com/how-long-does-it-take-a-cargo-ship-to-cross-the-pacific/
and – Experience of being a passenger on a cargo ship. http://arimotravels.com/crossing-the-pacific-cargo-ship-travel-experience/
Further on the Whangarei port possibility.
In the Indian Ocean coming down west Australia and along south Australia coast. http://ontheworldmap.com/oceans-and-seas/indian-ocean/indian-ocean-major-ports-map.html
South China sea – https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/map/South-China-Sea-political-map.htm
Study from Victoria uni. NZ: https://www.victoria.ac.nz/chinaresearchcentre/programmes-and-projects/china-symposiums/china-and-the-pacific-the-view-from-oceania/10-Yu-Changsen-The-Pacific-Islands-in-Chinese-Geo-strategic-Thinking.pdf
2013 study on risk to Australian ports. http://global-cities.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Climate-resilient-ports-series-Risks.pdf
Australian ports at a glance
Map showing bottom of Ocean – trenches etc. https://www.britannica.com/place/Pacific-Ocean
China (& the belt & road) is somewhat a flashpoint for the contradictions of neo-liberal internationalism.
Where as i'd say a natural win win framework of relationships between NZ & China would be more a regional to regional, people to people emphasis in creating a sense of mutually shared ownership to the international relations of the respective regions, which then generate added value and innovation feedback dynanisms in strengthening ties.
An dynamic community growth approach, rather than a Tim Grosser type slap on the back off limits thousand pages of consultancy deals, cooked up in highly rarified small revolving door economys, which are not much good for anything else.
Bold move from Bridges on Collins. Thought the conventional wisdom was to give troublesome caucus members more to do rather than less?
Call me a cynic but in the time it takes to set the terms of reference of the inquiries into ANZ, I'm sure there is ferocious lobbying by the bank and its defenders to exclude anything which is going to damage the bank (and importantly, John Key) too much.
The Bernard Hickey piece yesterday covered this, the flawed idea that regulatory authorities are tasked with both censure and confidence of the banking system at the same time. They can effectively do both.
Kate MacNamara at least seems to have her eye on things.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/113761618/anzs-100000-maintenance-bill-for-former-ceos-luxury-house
What a surprise that Julie Christie's brother is a mouthy shithead. https://thespinoff.co.nz/food/25-06-2019/leo-molloy-mad-dog-of-the-viaduct/
I see he hasn't changed since his days in Palmy.
Doesn't say much for thespinoff that they didn't spin him off. Being famous for being infamous, mining the lowlife NZs.
His nickname on racing forums was/is the 'Poison Dwarf'.
Utter wanker. Twohanded skinbreaker.
Have to say I and most of the rest of the world agree with Rouhani on this.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12243880
Both CTM and NZ Herald: 'Iran's downing of a US drone'. Herald says it twice in this one article.
While the story is newsworthy, the Herald's version of events is biased and laced with propaganda; and really shouldn't be spread.
I thought that Irani gentleman is being very pointed about an obvious but obfuscated truth in a statesman-like way.
Just look at the link photo. Three bully boys putting on their best bully boy act. We're gonna show you who is boss of this world.
Not a lot of difference to this picture except the guns are not on display in the White House photo.
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/mafia-three-men-clan-arrived-meeting-366259814
The Ayatollah will be roling.
https://twitter.com/tomgara/status/1143242660485959681
American's reach is beyond the grave now? That's just too much tech.
Unsung New Zealander (and lovely man) making waves in world fisheries management: http://www.tunapacific.org/2019/06/24/advocate-for-fair-fishing-the-2019-seafood-champion-of-the-world/
Lovely man and wonderful human being.
I thought that might have been about Shane Jones?
I like this fish story – https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/392962/fishhead-freecycle-scheme-gets-leftover-kaimoana-to-porirua-families
"lovely man" should have been a clue 🙂
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018701382/what-will-auckland-s-future-workforce-look-like
A discussion about the work of a university study looking at the future of Auckland if its BAU. No thinking outside the charmed circle with the unsaid understanding that everyone should lie back and enjoy the machinations resulting from neolib present economics. A scenario of Auckland going from 1 million to 2million in quite a short time. Sigh.
Exciting joined up ideas from Victoria University political thinkers on how we can gain better politics that enable deep thought about our looming problems instead of knee jerk immediacy to ensure positive mention in the media. From Radionz – audio later.
Parliament must hold short-term thinking govts to account: report
Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
A new report finds governments are prone to short term thinking, and parliamentary scrutiny of government performance is limited, unsystematic and reactive. The report, by Victoria University's Institute for Governance and Policy Studies and staff of the Office of the Clerk, was based on interviews with a range of respondents, including current and former MPs, who variously described of parliament's oversight as "broken", "weak", "inadequate" and "patchy". Kathryn speaks with co-author and Professor of Public Policy, Jonathan Boston.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018701385/report-parl-must-hold-short-term-thinking-govts-to-account
Lots of meaty discussion here (or for vegetarians – crunchy celery and carrots). Something all politicistas? will want to follow.
QI @ grey. YEsterday I heard JA somewhere on the MSM say something like "things always take longer than expected"
I immediately thought that just accepting that (all the roadblocks and push backs – often from the supposedly apolitical public service), it might be a nice idea to try to understand why that is – especially if you're trying to be transformational. Btw, even if you believe we have an apolitical public service (especially at senior/muddle management level fully equipped with 'the generic manager'), there is a vested interest in preserving the status quo.
Jonathon Boston's team have come up with some good ideas, and whilst we think that logically, there has to be an additional overhead in bureaucracy, my suspicions are that it'd bring about greater openness and accountability, and eventually those pushing an agenda (especially if their will is to preserve that status quo) might give up some of the bullshit and spin – especially amongs that 'generic managerial' class.
What they are suggesting is more independent advice, and more parliamentary scrutiny – from memory, including the performance of that managerial class. And it'd be somewhat different from things like the old Maori Development Commissions, headed by the likes of Tau Henare, or Paul Quinn fame (the man who disenfranchised prisoners), and which regularly used to just pinch policy off Te Puni Kokiri servers and do a bit of re-wording
And I say all that in the belief that democracy is not meant to be easy. I reckon it might actually speed a few things up, if only because it might put a rocket up a few arses and eliminate much of the bs and spin over time with those who are invested in preservation of the status quo
Hi Owt.
I remember someone I think Education Minister and someone O'Rourke I think saying that she couldn't get in to see Ed Min until about 11 pm at night with briefings to give them because of all the other interests traipsing in first. So you have to have pollies who provide their own crackers, and not rely on their store being topped up by free samples from outside.
We definitely need change and the sort of advice given when we first got offered the panacea of neolib. That advice would act on the in-crowd like being hoist by their own petard, when it came time to deliver them the same medicine they shoved down our throats, better more effective, efficient etc. We have been through their cycle, and like PM Jim Hacker about gongs given out as traditionally, we find that the system has been going for too long, and needs a deep dusting, especially round the pockets.
Indeed.
Even though I'm the first to commend JA and most of her enterage (with some exceptions), and some others in the coalition, we shouldn't forget that most of their adult lives have been spent knowing (more importantly, experiencing) nothing other than a neo-liberal environment. JA will go down in history as being one of NZ's better PMs.
So whilst @Anne and others – even myself, might say much of the public service dysfunction has always existed, the advent of a neo-liberal agenda has industrialised that dysfunction and made it a fucking sight worse – in some cases, almost to the extent it has become normal practice.
(I've seen my share of public servants with political ambitions leaking cabinet papers; others manipulating budgets – getting people to 'split invoices'; still others with cosy little deals with "preferred suppliers"; calling in consultants on the basis of obtaining "independent advice" when those consultants are mates.)
I'd hoped Chippie's PS reform would have been a little higher on the agenda, and when it eventually happens, let's hope there is some consideration of Boston's team's recommendations. (He's not a fool. Nor btw is one of NZ1st's former Vic Uni advisors whose name eludes me atm, even though I used to occasionally share a fag outside Von Zedlitz, ahhhhhh Jonassen! that's it).
I worry for 2023, and even 2020 could turn out to be a bit of a fuckup if we're not careful
Oh, if that all happens, the only excuse will be that "National did it too", or even "National were the first to do it".
So whilst @Anne and others – even myself, might say much of the public service dysfunction has always existed,…
Not strictly true in my case OWT.
Sure there was discrimination on the basis of gender and misogynists were plentiful, but the serious stuff didn't set in until after the PS restructuring of the 80s and 90s.
In the case of the government department I worked for, the director and his senior team were turfed out and managers etc. brought in from outside who didn't have any knowledge of the specialist work we did. Morale plummeted and many long-serving experienced people resigned or took redundancy. The department ended up in a crisis which was resolved by turning it into an SOE and turfing out the new management. They were replaced with people who knew something about the 'product' we produced.
Yep @ Anne. I think we're in agreement.
I think you'll probably agree that PS reform is long overdue.
Probably even to the extent that my belief is that no government (of any stripe) can promise 'transformation' (or even kindness) until such time as there is reform.
I could go on, as I know you could. It wouldn't really be of that much use tho'
Maybe you and I should just start providing specific examples. (I don't know about you, but my bottom line was that I'd never agree to any confidentiality agreement, and I never have)
(I don't know about you, but my bottom line was that I'd never agree to any confidentiality agreement, and I never have).
I had a caveat placed on me by 'management' preventing me from talking to anyone. The truth of the matter: they were conducting a rort against another government department (the RNZAF) and I effectively potted them although to be honest I didn't know it at the time. It happened exactly 30 years ago.
Hilarious to think now that it was the Defence Force who were the unsuspecting recipients. No wonder I was targeted.
I'm reminded of Paula Benefit's quip "zip it sweetie". I've zipped it for 30 years.
Teachers agree to settlement but I need a mathematician to help me understand.
"The latest offer for teachers will reinstate pay parity, give a one-off payment of $1500 to full-time teachers, increase pay by an average of 3 per cent over 3 years for all teachers, lift primary teacher base salary by $14,500, and create a new top step of $90,000."
If a teacher is on $70k and gets a 3% increase, then another 3%, then another 3% where is the magic $10,000 teachers were said to be going to get? $10,000 was the number Hipkins kept saying and the media kept repeating. Saying as if the average teacher was to get an extra 10k a year.
I don't get 10k total for three years at 80k per annum either. ??????
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/113780355/live-primary-teachers-union-nzei-negotiate-governments-latest-pay-offer
This perhaps indicates a need for more and better simple mathematics in schools! And perhaps it was a 10% increase over 3 years and it got morphed into $10,000.
Yes, the media obediently morphed it into $10,000. So easy for the media..
We need journalists better at maths, and with courage to oppose right wing bosses.
I am a secondary teacher. Our last contract expired October 2018. Current offer gives us 3% from July. No backdating, as MPs always get (and we used to many years ago.)
So we have lost in real terms two thirds of the inflation rate. Say 1.5%. Two thirds of that is 1%. So we get in real terms 2%, and that is trusting the official figures about inflation, cost of living, etc. But we wait another year for the next 3%. By that time we have lost another 1.5% in real, inflation-adjusted terms. Total loss of 2.5% since expiry of last contract, which is where the real pay rate should be taken from.
In July 2020 before we get another 3% or whatever, we will be in real terms only ½% better off than we were in October 2018. This is rubbish, and will not stem the flow of young, talented teachers out of the profession. They can earn better elsewhere for less work.
That $10,000 the media put round is plain bullshit.
To prevent this kind of deception, pay increases should be quoted only at yearly rate, and these deceptive 3 or 4 year agreements should be banned.
And we should all regain backpay to expiry date of previous contract, as our cosseted MPs enjoy.
PS – I ignored the one-off payment to union members because a one-off 5% payment counts for little over years, and the union members have lost more than that in union fees over years.
What has been portrayed in the media regarding the increases has played into our Ministers story of how well these greedy teachers have been paid. IMO so that teachers are forced to accept the offer. There has been managed mis information clouding the picture with step increase and increases being combined in the media releases.
And now we have this from Hopkins "We were only willing to put that money on the table because we had an undertaking that that was the final deal, so we'll be sticking to that." Now didn't the unions have to obtain from its members acceptance of the offer ? With Principals not accepting the offer does that mean that the teachers offer has been rescinded ?
Primary teachers with a degree (Q3+) as well as a diploma will go up a big step in the pay scale as well as having the pay rise. Others with teaching degree only (Q3) or no degree (trained in earlier days in the former Teachers' Colleges Q1 & Q2) also get big rises. Here's a link showing the progressions:https://campaigns.nzei.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/20190614-Proposed-Terms-of-Settlement-PTCA-1.pdf
If it's a 10% increase over 3 years then that means it's a 10/3% increase per year or 1/30 increase per year
80000+80000*1/30 = 82666.67
82666.67+82666.67*1/30=85422.23
85422.23+85422.23*1/30 = 88269.64
88269.64 + 1500 = 89769.64
So pretty close to $10,000
But “$10k increase” is all worked out on averages – and I would suspect that the average increase would be a lot higher than the median increase – income generally being skewed.
Teachers will be interested in the median increase ("what do I get") whereas govt will be interested in the average increase ("what is this policy going to cost us in total")
Well I took 10% increase over 3 years to mean that by the end of three years, there would have been a 10% increase on the first, base year. So there is room for confusion in the minds of the unknowing.
mpledger – As above, if it is not backdated, it is over 3.66 years for the first 3 years. That affects later years. Redo.
And where are you allowing for inflation?
New Kiwirail investment includes bigger container wagons to take on truckies: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/392851/kiwirail-spend-hundreds-of-new-locomotives-and-wagons
Microbes in the soil is where the new antibiotics are coming from!! WtB is going to be a good person to give us the dirt on the dirt!
Interesting discussions about the new antibiotics needed on Radionz.
Superbugs. A doctor's fight against antibiotic-resistance
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Our anti-biotics are starting to fail us – with some predictions that in the next quarter of a century there could be more deaths from super bugs than heart disease or cancer. Dr. Matt McCarthy is an infectious disease doctor at Weill Cornell Medical College, a staff physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital, and the author of "Superbugs: The Race To Stop An Epidemic." He's also got first hand knowledge of the hoops you have to go through to get new drugs approved.
Audio later.
I'm more inclined to see phages (bacterial viruses) as the new big thing with regards to fighting bacterial infection.
The dirt on dirt is that we find new things every time we look. The scope for discoveries is enormous. Likewise we've barely a clue what's in plants, fungi, animal proteins and more.
Many fields are opening up as meta-data becomes more timely and affordable to obtain. We can take a soil sample and run a DNA test and pull out pretty much all the species therein – most of which are merely assigned numbers as we're unable to cultivate them yet. So we don't know what they do, what they make or which other species they interact with. Those species we can cultivate display remarkable variance in metabolites they produce. Some of which are antibiotics.
New enzymes, medicines, foods and more will arise from a seemingly infinite (no they're not, we've tried that already with the planet) pool of resources. Resources that are rapidly being depleted as we continue to wage war on the natural world.
Ethical science coupled with nature will take us far. Corporate biotech – a nightmare waiting to happen.
Well we always seem to want to be fighting something. That will give us something to do while we sink back to the chimpanzees hitting each other with rocks as in start of 2001 A space Odyssey. Hal may help; to explain the real world to us seeing we can't work it out for ourselves.
We'll be hooked up in a satellite queue in space soon, while there is space in the waiting lounge, we can put our sticky fingers into the earth and go into inner space. Or we can sit in the eternal waiting lounge as in film Beetlejuice, which shows people looking as vacant as in the normal airport waiting area.
Fran O not happy that Peters and Robertson refer to Key as 'Mr Key'…paywalled at NZH..
Fran O'Sullivan: Winston Peters gunning for wrong ANZ scalp ''
I think she's getting a salary top up from one of Key's blind trusts.
Hey if it can't see who it is giving money to, how can I get into the elite queue?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/24/opinion/palestinian-peace-bahrain-conference.html
Israel has taken the Worlds comparative silence on the mass shooting of Palestinians (amongst other things) as a sign that the time is right..lets save the bullets and the general hassel, lets just ask the Palestinians to destroy themselves.
And, apparently, thats just fine.
While I agree the choice of words was poor, it is pretty obvious that the current situation is not working for the Palestinians. There was a time when Gaza had an airport and a building boom. That is now two decades in the past.
The constant confrontation with Israel is getting Gaza nowhere. All it does is reinforce the Israeli mentality that they can't deal with the Gaza administration.
You could say the Israelis need to take the first step. In fact it needs to be the Palestinians. Israel can act the way it does for many decades hence. It is much easier for them to cope with the current situation than it is for the Palestinians.
The Palestinians therefore need to think of what they can do that is different from their current stance that will make a difference. It is clear they can't win a war, or increase rocket attacks, or anything of that nature. Israel will always be able to deal with that.
So they need to think of something different. Maybe full statehood is an unattainable dream, at least for the next 2 or 3 decades. What else can they get that will appreciably improve the current situation. In short Palestine needs to find an interim path, that will last the next two or three decades.
Wayne's words of wisdom. "While I agree the choice of words was poor, it is pretty obvious that the current situation is not working for the Palestinians."
A US cheerleader. Palestine's position is untenable thanks to US arming Israel to the teeth. Also Israeli leadership condoning and even advocating violence doesn't help. The continuous land grabs, cutting off of aid… so much history. Now they've US and NZ cheerleaders. FFS.
But, the lad threw a tennis ball.
BOOM!
The bullies of the world need to back down. These so called civilised nations -disgusting shitheels.
Easy way to think about Palestine and Israel, if Palestine gave up its guns and violent aspiration for destruction of Israel, thier support of undemocratic terrorist organisation as thier government there would be peace and progress If Israel gave up its guns there would be a genocide massacre Simple really
I'm simply not interested in your opinion so stop answering to my posts. Haven't you got any mates?
Still weepy bleepy I see
Don’t like answers to your post, simple fix Don’t post 👍
Moderators. this is the third time I've asked bewildered to leave me alone. He merely apes what right wing media says and gets smart, it's tedious. He also likes to use my personal information against me. It is a form of cyberstalking and I'm about had enough.
I will stop contributing if I can't come here without this guy thinking it's fair game to try his usual nonsense on.
While you have a few trolls, this one has taken a shine to me.
See below for another example. He thinks the fact I grow kumara is hugely funny.
There is no option to block him.
Ignore commenters who (try to) wind you up. By that, I mean scroll past and literally do not read their comment.
You may have noticed that the same commenter pisses off many regulars here on a regular basis and often receives a vitriolic response in return.
We tend to follow a fairly light-handed approach to moderation here and I certainly don’t do ‘moderation requests’. TS is a place for robust debate and we want to keep it this way. As you know, my tolerance for personal insults and attacks is relatively low but sometimes even that resolves itself, until next time …
It does depend on which commenters are involved, context, how tired I am, and on my general mood. I don’t pretend for one second to be consistent, impartial, or correct at all times, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles here on TS and why I do prefer to warn and appeal to and for self-moderation rather than to ban 🙂
Well he keeps following me round and after three attempts to stop it there is not a word spoken to him. So you can keep bewildered and I will go.
It is a pattern of harassment you should be on top of.
Go well, I'm out.
If you provide links I can come to an informed opinion rather than taking your word for it. If it turns out there is a clear case to answer I’ll give out a warning and put them on my ‘watch list’ but unless they incite violence, make personal threats, or launch into vile personal attacks, etc., I won’t block/ban them outright.
It would be sad to see you leave TS but if that’s better for you then I wish you well.
PS the other moderators may see it differently.
See my comment to muttonbird below bleeps before you finally go
Noted, thanks.
There was a crystal clear directive from TRP a few months ago that using the personal information a commenter might have offered in the past against them, and even using a commenters past comments in arguments against them would not be tolerated.
I understand every moderator is different though.
Indeed, we all moderate in different ways, which adds an element of unpredictability and surprise, just like ‘real life’ 😉
Yesterday, I warned another recidivist commenter to leave things of the past in the past. It was his third and last warning.
We all live busy lives and cannot and do not want to micro-manage and/or police the site.
As you know, TRP has not been around for a while.
Let’s have less about Janes bbq then , a mild reference to kumera is hardly crime of the year I go at bleep when he goes at me I don’t troll him I just don’t agree with a lot of his comments and respond in kind in my own style , massive overreaction on his his part I don’t ; want to ruin Bleeps day and he sounds a bit precious I will desist responding to him forthwith re self censorship
@Bewildered, you are obviously a happy supporter racist apartheid of or a complete fucking moron, probably both.
And I love you to Adrian ❤️
you have a sense of humor I think which make me wonder if you are a rightie or just a winder uperer – either way move on – there are plenty to tussle with rather than tussle with someone who doesn't want to be tussled with. – I meant wtb there
Done as per above, I am self censoring any comms with the bleep, not a peep to the bleep from now on 👍
Why don't the pair of you just agree to disagree, as I enjoy the comments from BOTH of you. Don't agree with a lot of them but it part and parcel of this site and as Iprent has expressed the site tolerates ROBUST debate. Also it makes my old grey matter work and seek other area's for info, more than can be said about the crap we read, listen to called the MSM
You are missing the point. Israel has the power to act disproportionately. It has done so, and will continue to do so. Because of Israel’s history they are not going to stop doing that.
Most nations are not going to do a BDS on Israel, not with the memory of the Nazi persecution. Neither will left wing protests have any effect. In fact a number of Middle East nations are building links with Israel. The Palestinians are even loosing support of a number of Middle East governments.
Palestine/Gaza can’t win against Israel. These days they can’t even seriously disrupt Israel.
So if Palestine/Gaza wants to change the situation, they are the ones who have to change. Their current strategy has self evidently failed. They are going to have to stop the attacks, they are going to have to accept Israel, they are going to have to change the narrative among their people. Unless they do this, nothing will change. In fact the social and economic fabric of Gaza will continue to get worse.
Israel seems bent on genocide and the rhetoric coming out here leads me to believe no different. I met Israeli soldiers on holiday in Australia. Lovely people – till they started talking about Palestine. Then it was a seething hatred. "Vermin, scum! They need to be extinguished! Indoctrinated from birth by nasty warmongering leadership and an extremely racist state.
While I've dealt with a lot of bullies over the years, I've never developed a tolerance for them.
This 'solution' on offer is typical one sided garbage – here, eat some shit, now say you like it or I'll hit you.
Palestines social and economic fabric has been unravelled for some time now. And every time they start to build a home – guess who fucking bombs it.
Nazi Germany is not an excuse for a new wave of Nazis led by the US trying this bullshit on.
And Hamas Fatah are miss understood angles Come on weepy your smarter than basing an opinion on meeting a couple of Israelites on holiday One bad kumera does not mean you right off the whole crop
Tunnels and bombs bleepy, tunnels and bombs. The Arab world wants Israel gone and the Palestinian people are their weapon of choice.
I'm not condoning either sides tendencies to violence. It is just seriously one-sided. Part of the reason the Arab world hates Israel (I think that statement's too broad btw) is the company they keep.
Bewilderfuddled – You get out what you put in. Israel has treated Palestinians so badly that Israel now thoroughly deserves Hamas Fatah.
Martin Luther Kings is still correct ,,,,, and could be talking about you wayne
““We again fell victim to the deadly Western arrogance that has poisoned the international atmosphere for so long,”
It should also come as no surprise that you would hold the moral low ground in comparison to the views of Nelson Mandela
Miko Peled is more informed and more honest than bewildered wayne or neo-con zionists
"While I agree the choice of words was poor"…this is an op-ed in the New York Times, written by the Israeli representative to the United Nations.
His choice of words is very very well thought out, and deemed acceptable by both his Israeli Government bosses, and the Chief Editors of The New York Times.
They all consider it acceptable to ask a Nation and a Race of people to commit 'Cultural and Political Suicide'.
The choice of words is not 'poor'. This isn't some essay written by a 6th form social studies student.
The Israelis want the Palestinians to Culturally and Politically Cleanse themselves.
The Israelis have said it, they have acted on it.
Even more scarily, they seem to have convinced people such as yourself that cultural and political cleansing is the answer.
I still think it is bad words, even more do now that I know they were pre planned.
i am not suggesting poitical or cultural cleansing, just a rethink of the obviously failed current strategy. Maybe something like Hong Kong solution for the next period.
Ex-Nasty Party cabinet minister uses the phrase "pre planned". No doubt in a National caucus meeting such illiteracy would go un-noticed and unremarked.
Yes, I know perfectly well that it was not the correct spelling. It was being done on a phone just before the door closed on a plane. No time to correct it.
I do understand what your position is Wayne, I simply don't agree this is the way forward. I also don't know enough to posit an alternative…
Vote in leaders that represent their best interest would be a start Not sure how you negotiate with a party who’s conviction is your destruction and once voted in democratically after Israel gave up gaza strip have never had another election
I think we are both in the same position about what should be done next. How do the Palestinians make meaningful progress toward their aspirations?
Clearly they are not making much now. Especially in Gaza where they are going backwards. Ironically in Gaza there are no Israeli settlers with designs on expropriating territory. The boundaries of Gaza are quite clear. You would think that fact would enable progress. If the Gaza/Palestine attacks stopped so would the (disproportionate) Israeli retaliation. Then the two sides could make progress. A progressive reduction of the blockade, more social and economic development. I imagine statehood would be some ways off, but as a number of self governing places show, there can be effective international recognition. Think Cook Islands, Hong Kong, Bermuda, etc.
Your suggestion is predicated on the assumption that the Palestinians can do anything to stop the trend towards their total expulsion by the Israelis.
I do not believe that this is the case.
Where they expelled from Gaza, I thought it was given up by Israel They could be living a lot better if they dropped the nonsense Note I agree their ideal in claiming lost land back is not possible but irrespective their lives could be a load better than now for themselves and their kids
The Israelis are following a simple template: ghettoisation followed by encroachment (settlements nibbling away here and there, official ones create and illegal expansions ignored). The following step is the 'cleansing' part.
You reckon the Israelis won't do the third step if the Palestinians just act like good little subjugated peons. Maybe. I'm sure some folks thought that in 1937, as well.
Gaza was only placed under restrictions after all the nonsense started, rockets, tunnels, before that I believe flow of goods and people was pretty open both Egypt and Israel side
Hmmm… I suspect that you either just a hypocrite or plain stupid.
So how does that explain the array of checkpoints all of the way through the West Bank? Not only near illegal settlements but also through areas that are wholly Palestinian.
To me that just looks like an method of ghettoisation and a way of making sure that all commerce is stifled in the West Bank outside of the illegal settlements.
What came first the chicken or the egg I know there has always been check points ( I have actually been to Gaza and through the Ramallah gate into Egypt after crossing over from Israel I lived in the Negev quite close to Gaza strip) but the flow and restrictions really ramped up after all the trouble started, Hamas take over following Israel pull out I think you know this Lprent so i will put your first question to me back to you If I am wrong I will go with B
The Israeli occupation came first.
Welcome to the world of New Zealand politics, Siobhan. This fellow is a notorious dissembler. You're arguing in good faith, he's still a politician.
May be the money they are offering the Palestinians they could offer to the Jews to fuck of to there natural homeland the USA there problem fixed.
Um, I think Jews have been in holy land for about 5000 years there Pete Your letting hatred of Jews and Yanks cloud your judgment
Ashkenazi Jews (i.e. those from Eastern Europe) are the modern Israelis and have not been in Palestine for 5000 years . Sephardic Jews on the other hand do have a place in Palestine, but they are also discriminated against by the majority.
http://theconversation.com/ashkenazic-jews-mysterious-origins-unravelled-by-scientists-thanks-to-ancient-dna-97962
…For a more scientific take on the Jewish origin debate, recent DNA analysis of Ashkenazic Jews – a Jewish ethnic group – revealed that their maternal line is European. It has also been found that their DNA only has 3% ancient ancestry which links them with the Eastern Mediterranean (also known as the Middle East)…
Study you quote is not conclusive
But some scientists question these conclusions. “While it is clear that Ashkenazi maternal ancestry includes both Levantine [Near Eastern] and European origins—the assignment of several of the major Ashkenazi lineages to pre-historic European origin in the current study is incorrect in our view,” physician-geneticists Doron Behar and Karl Skorecki of the Rambam Healthcare Campus in Israel, whose previous work indicated a Near Eastern origins to many Ashkenazi mitochondrial types, wrote in an e-mail to The Scientist. They argue that the mitochondrial DNA data used in the new study did not represent the full spectrum of mitochondrial diversity.
Its military aid from the usa which allows the extreme actions of ultra zionists to take place.
https://mikopeled.com/category/gaza/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAwhsu-Gg3M
National cabinet members are obliged to lie, and defend the indefensible. Some of the scoundrels continue to lie and defend the indefensible even after they slither out of office.
Israel's commercial relationships with Saudi Arabia – on multiple fronts – is running rings around the Palestinians, so they have little motivation to solve the Palestinian problem. And the Israeli natural gas tie-up with Egypt will sustain common interest for a very long time.
Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq are fully motivated to unite with the United States against Iran.
I sure wouldn't wish it on the world, but there's plenty to pull strongly conservative Jewish and Islamic states into common interest against a common foe.
Personally I'm a believer in the one state solution. Israel accepts Palestinians as voters with exactly the same rights as Jewish Israelis including conscription into the armed forces (and get rid of the exemption for ultra-orthodox at the same time). Give everyone exactly the same rights to bear arms. See if the two groups can work out a compromise by attrition of the bigots on both sides.
Eventually that is what will have to happen anyway unless the Israeli government wants to either really give up land or start an extermination that will result in some nukes being dropped on them.
Because of the way that the Israeli government has abrogated their promises and agreements over the years, I don’t think that anyone would actually believe a two party state solution could work that they are involved in. Anyone who tried it would probably wind up like Rabin.
Iprent,
Your solution is not going to happen. Israel has found that its wall for keeping people out has been extremely effective. Israel would much prefer to have a territory that they know is theirs and that does not let anyone they don’t want to get in. Their wall does precisely that.
So from an Israeli perspective it is far better for the Palestinians to be in Gaza and on the West Bank (or at least some of it) and not be able to come into Israel. For the last twenty years that has worked well for Israel. Why would Israel take the risk of upsetting that situation. The reality is that they won’t.
So it is back to a two state solution, but probably not on as good a terms as 20 years ago. Israel can put up with the current situation for many decades hence. It is not genocide, but it also not good for the Palestinians, especially those in Gaza. Will the Palestinians be able to accept that for decades or will they decide to negotiate?
Where do you get your nukes outcome from? Handmade backpacks? Impossible to do without a source of plutonium. Which can only come from a state. And which is traceable to specific reactors. I wouldn’t want to be in the state that did that.
And as a coincidence, Jared Kruschner is on Al Jarezza tonight. Being interviewed in the historic rooms in the White House.
The problem is that because of the wall, settlements, and the way that Israel has treated Gaza and the West Bank – there is no possible settlement on anything like the current basis. It simply isn't a viable state.
There is absolutely no way that any governing body in the occupied territories is going to accept a situation that leaves them as badly off or potentially worse off (see the recent history of Gaza) as they are now – and that is ALL that Israel now has to offer. Their internal politics, because of the weird dynamic that makes the extremes the only viable way to go, is steadily cutting off their options.
The deteriorating status quo that Israel can't have any kind of normal state either. They have to run a budget deficit because of running standing garrisons, effectively be propped up financially and militarily by the US, and run a siege economy always looking with askarance at their own arab citizens. At some point something won't work any more.
Anything can happen to disrupt it. America retreats into isolationism. The extremists in Israel revert further into barbarism and start emulating nazis with death camps (the resemblance between Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto is getting particularly marked). There gets to be a health disaster in Gaza or the West Bank. Or just the real lunatics in Israel start killing just because they can and being cheered on by fuckwits in government
Hell – just the situation that I see now makes me want to sanction Israel. I'd like to kick their embassy out and ban all trade with them. After all the Palestinians are in fact their citizens. If they can’t deal with them humanely – they they’re no better than the apartheid governments that we do sanction.
I’ve seen this press release from this organisation on scoop,
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1906/S00322/rail-is-about-economics-wellbeing-environment.htm
And I’m wondering where I can find these 6 reports to have a read over on a quiet day.
“We could name six solid Ministry of Transport rail studies and none were reviewed.”
I’ll be out bush for the next 4 to 5 days and unless I’m at one of the two pubs out bush I won’t have Internet to reply to this post or follow up either.
Cleangreen
You should know about where the six MoT reports could be found on the literature? Can you give these or a guide to what ExKiwiforces is asking>
Do you know all about the Scoop piece linked above? This is the last line that intrigues him.
'We could name six solid Ministry of Transport rail studies and none were reviewed. Why?'
Iran thinks of itself as just another state, but it isn't, it's the most religiously zealous of all nations. Religion, when core to the head of state has always led to war, as religion has no self regulator as it's leader believes they speak for God. Until Iran dislodged its holythanthou leadership it going to remain a pariah. N.Korea at least has a monarchy, Kim fires the nuke, his family goes up in smoke. A holy roller however wins martyrdom. Forget Israel, Saudi Arabia, issues with Iran, stupid deranged religion zealotry at the heart of Iran natural rub up them, for at its core Iran is a global threat to stability.
Agree and much the same with Palestinians leadership, especially Hamas
Oh for fuck sake the biggest problem in the middle east is the Yanks and the Jews mainly the yanks.
That’s not a logical argument Pete, its a circular reasoning, your predicate is your conclusion
Quite idiotic really, Iran is one of the most stable, democratic countries in the Middle east and you're trying to say it's one of the most dangerous.
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/iran
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/israel
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/saudi-arabia
Does not a Minister from the NZ Labour party NOT understand how a union operates.
The union could NOT made such an undertaking. It had to go to a vote by IT's members, and Chris guess what not everyone accepted your offer.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/education/news/article.cfm?c_id=35&objectid=12244135
"We were only willing to put that money on the table because we had an undertaking that that was the final deal, so we'll be sticking to that.".
True – It appears that Hipkins has little idea.
Foolish of him to speak like that. The PPTA vote has not come in yet. They actually gain so little in real terms that I hope they vote no.
Hipkins now deserves it if it goes that way.
I request that the management and moderators have a meeting and look at the approach of the blog. You have a set idea that was established a while ago, and it is time to review it. Everything changes these days, and it is necessary to look at processes and see if they are fit for purpose.
It seemed that the blog has matured to something that aims for higher discussion while being good natured, and reflecting people's wide interests, not just political discussion leading to better policy in the country. It is rare to get NZs discussing general important political matters, not just those personally affecting them.
People are encouraged to come and express themselves on Open Mike. Fine. When they start to troll and sneer, they have had that opportunity and they should be given a warning and then told to go for a month without a lot of heart-wrenching. Inviting people to come here but then allowing them to constantly downplay and nitpick every assay at an idea is deadening this site. It is half full of these malicious people who want to throw the spanner in the works of those trying to build community of ideas and policy.
If this is just a place where people can have a game of politics then I have been mistaken trying to put up information that would help to background policy issues. I despise the trolls here, and regard some of them as perverted as bad as sexual predators. Their object is sleazy self-satisfaction and they are here harassing good, sincere people trying to form ideas and policies that will assist all of NZ to a better level of political management. I request that the regular supporters of this blog who want to discuss left wing politics in an analytical but supportive way are allowed to get on with it instead of being hounded by trolls, nipping at heels and messing up the conversations.
I can't understand why the people who actually do the thinking and debating, which has settled to a reasonable level of robustness, do not have any standing in decisions about trolls. If regular commenters complain and wish for a troll to be removed for a period or permanently, that should be the wish of the 'elders' of the site. That would be an adult, mature example of a participatory democracy.
Bad timing Grey, or was it intentional on your part?
Anyone of a ‘thinking nature’ is currently focusing what is going on in the House tonight – far more important than your attempt to take over the TS nest as a supposed 'Greywarbler' (but in reality a 'Shining Cuckoo' in my opinion). I have wondered when you would pitch your 'takeover' but can't really be bothered focusing on it tonight. Remind us some other time Those of us of a 'thinking nature' as you refer to in your endless sactimoneous sermons are otherwise engaged tonight.
Oh, and by the way, that is from one woman in her 70s (me) to another in the same age bracket. IIRC you turned 77 in Feb 2019 a couple of years older than me, but still in the same overall age bracket.
A report out from BERL today laying out the benefits of Industry based bargained Collective Agreements.
http://www.union.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Sector-wage-bargaining-Pipiri-2019.pdf
That last point is the kicker. The mantra from the neo liberal right was deregulate and wages will increase. Deregulate and workers will grow richer. Deregulate and productivity will rise and that will flow down to workers via larger pay packets. Whereas the reality of the NZ economy is that a higher slice of the cake is now claimed by employers and a smaller slice by workers. The % claimed by employers has increased, the % claimed by workers decreased. The gain from productivity have disproportionately flowed to the holders of capital.
Hello I am off to look for grandchildren. And I do not declare my gender. Iam sorry veutoviper but you are out of touch with what is needed to face our future. If I don't get thrown out or any wider positive response to me I will happily leave it to you old people stuck in your groove of superiority and wisdom which is not justified as one looks around at our current state. Pity you didn't apply that wisdom when it was needed to shift us away from the Path of Doom. Now it seems too late for you to learn anything from anyone who you don't regard as a Suitable Authority.