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.
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Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
A look at the state of the previous government’s affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: What’s KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertson’s valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is seen some as its ‘silicon shield’ against invasion – but how will overseas expansion affect that protection? The post The state of Taiwan’s silicon shield appeared first on Newsroom. ...
There’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules – and costs – that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
After more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didn’t know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race he’d dreamed ...
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The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...
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.