…. the lifespan of a beef cow on a feedlot is decided by two metrics: how fast we can fatten them up, and how long their body can survive the process.
This is, ethically speaking, fucked up. And most people don’t even know it’s going on in New Zealand.
The government has signalled they will step in by the first quarter of next year to provide national guidance to councils on feedlots. In the Herald, Rachel Stewart warns “a storm’” of animal cruelty allegations is coming.
Fish and Game last night released footage of cows udder-deep in mud, struggling to walk around a saturated South Island farm. A recent rise in intensive winter grazing has been met with increasing damage to waterways and animal welfare, the group said.
….Fish and Game executive Martin Taylor said the rise of intensive winter grazing has had immediate environmental impact.
“Fish and Game has been watching this practice and what we have seen is deeply disturbing. You can see animals knee deep in mud and dirty water, with sediment washing unchecked into nearby waterways,” he said. “This mud washes into drains, streams and rivers, choking the environment and smothering insect and plant life.”
….New Zealand Veterinary Association chief veterinary officer Helen Beattie said cows in these conditions are at increased risk of lameness and mastitis, and are unable to exhibit natural behaviour like lying down to chew cud – a crucial part of rumination.
….Fish and Game says local councils are complicit in the continued degradation of lakes and waterways
“Unsightly plumes of discoloured water can be seen billowing downstream from winter feeding sites, yet the councils responsible for monitoring seem to be turning a blind eye to the damage being caused,” Taylor said.
“Some councils like Southland are using their so-called environmental plans to make it even easier for farmers to use this destructive practice.”
Thanks to Kirsty Johnston for uncovering this monstrous practice.
This barbaric………
Pregnant cows ‘suffering’ for calf blood industry
Heavily pregnant cows are being slaughtered and the blood drained from their unborn calves’ hearts to be sold for export – where it’s used to produce vaccines and fake meat.
While the practice is legal, an industry whistleblower says it frequently causes unnecessary suffering, as the pregnant cows are confined in trucks or left standing for long periods.
The Herald on Sunday’s source, who did not want to be named to protect their job, said while some farmers may legitimately have miscalculated a cow’s pregnancy, others were acting out of greed.
” Some will leave the cow pregnant as long as possible to get a bigger foetus to get more blood, to get more money,” the insider said.
“And that cow has already given her life to produce milk, I just don’t see how they justify it. I think it’s an appalling practice.”
…Until now, the industry has gone largely under the radar. The Herald on Sunday’s source decided to come forward in the wake of the mycoplasma bovis outbreak, accusing farmers who said they didn’t want to kill pregnant cattle of being hypocritical.
Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere, a senior law lecturer in the field of animal law and welfare, said there was no necessity to impregnate cows that were going to die.
” One has to consider that we’re not talking about non-sentient beings. We’re talking about animals that can feel pain and distress, and also have the capacity to feel positive emotions,” he said.
“That seems to be lost in the most graphic of ways here. We’re treating the cow as it’s seen in the law as a commodity – butjust because law recognises that as being acceptable doesn’t make it morally acceptable.”
I should have clarified , I’m not a fan of deliberately getting cows in calf to kill or waiting till they are right on the drop to send them . We send plenty of in calf cows to slaughter for ligitamate reasons
So the sum of the arguments made thus far against three horrific examples of animal abuse are:
1. Some people like eating meat.
2. It’s never going to change. People have always eaten meat.
3. People will lose their jobs.
4 You are too black and white about issues.
5. Your message is too blunt.
Let’s look at slavery in the eighteenth century.
Some people liked having slaves.
Many people said it couldn’t change.
It was argued that jobs in the cotton factories would disappear.
Heavily pregnant cows are being slaughtered and the blood drained from their unborn calves’ hearts to be sold for export – where it’s used to produce vaccines and fake meat.
You’re equating the collection of animal byproducts to the millions, including members of my own family, who suffered the most terrible deprivations and died in forced labour camps, you POS.
I am deliberately comparing the systematic torture, degradation and slaughter of sentient beings.
To quote Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere, a senior law lecturer in the field of animal law and welfare, on the matter.
” One has to consider that we’re not talking about non-sentient beings. We’re talking about animals that can feel pain and distress, and also have the capacity to feel positive emotions,” he said.
Slow down Joe 90. We are all helpless animals at times, it isn’t awful to consider both human animal and field animal suffering. It actually is an indication of reaching higher sensitivity and respect for all of us.
You don’t have a point. You have a sanctimonious, rotating grievance schedule of whatever issue of the month that you happen latch yourself on to, and then you spam the bejesus out of it.
He actually does far more damage than good with his over the top black and white approach. I was involved in the animal welfare/animal rights area on a voluntary basis for several decades and even some of the hardcore animal rightists cringe at the type of approach Ed uses. I still totally support getting rid of any form of animal cruelty etc but react quite the opposite to Ed’s dictatorial one dimensional lectures.
Ditto I have many highly qualified friends in the professional drug and alcohol counselling field. When I showed a couple of them Ed’s comments last Sunday, they had apoplexy as his approach is the exact opposite to the approaches that are proven to get results in that area. I actually wonder about his age – maturitywise rather than physical – as most people reach the realisation that the real world is not black and white but has many shades of grey by their late teens/early 20s.
…his approach is the exact opposite to the approaches that are proven to get results in that area.
So if Ed’s “shock, horror” approach doesn’t work what will to get people to acknowledge the inherent cruelty of breeding animals, often in inhumane conditions, so they can be slaughtered so humans can choose to eat animal flesh.
It’s a serious question.
What do your friends say does work in drug and alcohol counselling?
I’m genuinely interested because I was in a cafe this morning ordering a flat white (non-dairy of course) and looked in the food cabinet to find two vegetarian options (one being the ubiquitous, imagination-free frittata) while several other options had bacon in them when they would have been fine without it.
Why? Consumer expectation and habit I guess. So many people seem to think they haven’t eaten food unless it has meat in it.
More then a thousand families in my community rely directly on the meat processing industry for their livelihoods and occasionally, I’ve relied on the industry myself.
Over the years I’ve got to know lots of skilled and unskilled people who work at the plants and despite being a laborious, uncomfortable and at times, rather unpleasant job working for the likes of Talleys, they’re proud of their work and most give an actual fuck about the animals they’re processing.
They’re the ones attending to the animals welfare by using holding, herding, kill and stunning methods accurately, doing the huge days to get them through plants in a timely manner and following delays and breakdowns, doing the early calls and unscheduled OT
The folk operating the knock box are the ones reporting broken tails and the those doing the evisceration are reporting parasites and animal health and the bunging, singing, and pelting crews are the ones reporting udder and hock injuries.
And I’ve heard of breakdown saw operators reporting bruised, maltreated carcasses, too.
That’s not to say it’s all sweetness and light in the meat industry and that there aren’t some dodgy AF farming practices.
But rather than harangue, lecture, and threaten livelihoods, newly minted sensitives souls like Eddie have realise that despite their sentient being shtick, the meat industry is here to stay and if they give a rat’s arse about animal welfare, begin advocating for better practices.
Still can’t see relevant reply buttons (on two different browsers) so this one is for James lower down in the thread because I’ve restrained myself for long enough:
Most people eat meat
So f…n what? It doesn’t make it right.
Do you ever stop and consider for a second that the small, quiet voice might be the voice of reason, the voice of mercy, the voice of justice?
Or do you never hear it?
Far easier to come on hear and say “I love beef”. I was waiting for you and sure enough you appeared. And you accuse Ed of being a broken record.
I agree.
Most people do eat meat.
However, I very much doubt that most people realise how their meat is processed.
The stories about feedlots, the killing of pregnant cows and other horror stories will mean more people will stop believing the fantasy they are told about animal farming.
The Reply button seems to be inconsistent today so this is for Joe 90.
But rather than harangue, lecture, and threaten livelihoods, newly minted sensitives souls like Eddie have realise that despite their sentient being shtick, the meat industry is here to stay and if they give a rat’s arse about animal welfare, begin advocating for better practices.
Ah, no. The meat industry is here to stay? Good luck with that.
There is some huge cognitive dissonance going here Joe with someone who is concerned about how an animal was treated before they kill it. You sound like James.
Killing less cruelly is still killing. Humans do not have to eat meat to survive and if we didn’t, a huge number of other sentient beings with whom we share this planet would not have to die in distress. Or they would simply not be bred as food for humans in the first place.
Do you think even sheep with their more limited intelligence don’t know what’s going to happen to them as they are pushed up the race? I’m sure they smell it in the air.
And as for pigs, they would have an even better idea.
And don’t think I haven’t experienced the reality. Many years ago in another life I worked in a freezing works. Interesting we called them “freezing works” not killing sheds, although they are referred to as slaughterhouses. Nowadays they are referred to as meat processing plants. Call them what they are I say.
I was lucky I guess to work in the freezers but at times we went up to the top floor to see how the frozen carcasses got to us and I know it’s not pretty.
But despite my misgivings about Ed’s approach when I watch some of those clips I cry – literally. Because I know it’s wrong.
@David Mac
Do you actually have an argument in defence of feedlots and other horrific examples of animal cruelty exposed in the past 3 weeks – or is your contribution just to join in the name calling led by joe90 and James?
Ed, I don’t really want to get into a conversation about wolves with someone that comes running down the hill every morning shrieking ‘Wolves’. I think you’re obsessed and incapable of entertaining anything resembling a balanced view Ed.
@David Mac
What is a ‘balanced view’ on feedlots?
What is a ‘balanced view’ on killing pregnant cows?
What is a ‘balanced view’ on the industrialised killing and torture of 65 billion animals?
Oh give us a break Ed. This isn’t meant to be a soapbox for endless stuff from anyone. Make your point then shut up. Stop hitting us over the head with your superior ideals. You are becoming a troll. Are you in the USA did you say in one of your comments? Related to Trump perhaps?
There’s a pack of ravioli in the freezer that kinda had tonight’s dinner written on it. With tomato sauce, olives, capers, maybe some artichoke hearts.
But after those videos I’m in the mood for something with a bit more protein and texture. Burgerfuel’s special for this month with a couple of thin-sliced steaks is looking mighty appetizing rightabout now.
I’m very unlikely to get any more cats after I needed to call time on my dear old buddy, at least until I move somewhere where cat-like creatures are part of the local ecosystem. Because Gareth Morgan actually happens to be mostly right on the topic of cats in NZs natural places.
But if Gareth Morgan happened to be my neighbour, I’d be absolutely sure to get a couple more. Can you possibly think why, and how that applies to the way you present your views here?
Waitatapia Station, west of Bulls, bring cattle down from the central plateau to overwintering feedlots to keep them dry and warm and feed them locally cropped fodder.
The thread I started was about feedlots, winter grazing and killing pregnant cows.
The purpose was to highlight some of the cruellest practices going on in the industrial farming model.
If the feedlots near Bulls have the same environmental impact and treat cows like 5 Star do,yes it is an abomination.
Do you approve of the industrial farming model as highlighted by the 3 stories I highlighted?
It is pointless debating here. Real truth from you Ed. Go somewhere else and enlighten them.
Ed gives an example of why I think that there should be a stop on any one thread of say five comments. If a person can’t make his or her point in that time then they are just a waste of space.
BTW Ed, the burger I ended up getting was really gooooood. An absolutely delightful combination of the holy trinity of well-done beef mince, bacon, and cheese, with some extra trimmings you wouldn’t want to know about.
Thanks for inspiring me out of my last few days of meat-free eating to go get it.
A tenant story I have heard. The tenant knew that the owners wanted to return and take possession of the house later in the year and was waiting for advice giving a period in which to search for another rental.
Recently a phone call was received asking were they ready to be shift out so that occupation could be taken up in a week. Apparently an email had been sent months ago and hadn’t been seen by the tenant. The tenant looked through the various folders but no record of any message. In the end an extra week was allowed. But what a shock and upset to be so near to being homeless, and with children and furniture to have shelter for.
The point here reinforces my own feeling, that turning away from paper to the ephemeral world of the net, is going to be a huge disadvantage to communication.
Both systems are helpful, and using both will be wise. Perhaps a letter with a follow-up internet confirmation, or vice versa. It would have been a great thing for this tenant to have received a confirmation in the mail.
The good news is that with a little time off work, and a short search on the internet and a bit of travelling by car, a new place that is rather small but suitable for about a year was found. Big relief. But the stress for people unable to get time off work, to have public transport at suitable times and then time to tramp the streets to visit the advertised offerings for suitability, the shifting of furniture, the final cleaning to the required level for bond return, as well as looking after the children, thinking also about school and how to access it.
A big burden. Can we decide to love all our families in NZ please, and give them much more support that they can call on when needed?
The point here reinforces my own feeling, that turning away from paper to the ephemeral world of the net, is going to be a huge disadvantage to communication.
Wrong.
Shifting to digital will improve communication. Email can even force a reply.
Paper takes longer, costs more and can simply get lost.
It would have been a great thing for this tenant to have received a confirmation in the mail.
No, they should have had an agreed date for the end of the lease.
Dunno what you mean by email being able to “force a reply”. Request read-receipt can be declined.
Personally my feeling is that unless the service is documented officially (and who’s to know if an email went to an unchecked or wrong address), the end of lease doesn’t count.
In the world of Captain Hindsight, the landlord should have called the tenant and confirmed the receipt of the notice.
Seems you’re wanting an alternative to the use of covered feed pads to extend pasture rotation, control nutrient run off, effluent and leachate, manage soil structure, and during/after wet conditions, prevent pasture damage, reduce the pugging of paddocks and prevent lameness/mastitis, manage animal health and nutrition, and keep the damned beasties warm and dry.
Simon Bridges has blamed the Labour Party for Leaking his disgusting over expenditure of Tax Payers money in his cocky little jaunt through New Zealand.
Even though he already knew that was not the case.
Why do the Leaders of national lie about virtually everything. Housing crises; they lie about the Poverty affecting thousands of kiwis; lie about the so called Drug abuse of kiwi youth who apply for jobs; Lies lies Lies
Simon, like Paula, like Sir John Key, like Sir Billy English – is ignoring reality and tarring himself with the same outrageous dishonesty that defines the National Party and its followers.
It is an utter shame that nearly 42% of our Parliament is totally untrustworthy. Not only incompetent – but deliberately slippery and crooked.
Robert Fisk: Israel is building another 1,000 homes on Palestinian land and nobody is saying anything
In the week that Uri Avnery, the scourge of colonialism, died in Tel Aviv, the Israeli government announced a further enlargement of its massive colonial project in the occupied West Bank. Plans were now advanced, it said on Wednesday, for a further 1,000 “homes” in Jewish “settlements” – still the word we must use for such acts of land theft – and final approval had been given for another 382. Today, 600,000 Jewish Israelis live in about 140 colonies constructed on land belonging to another people, the Palestinians, either in the West Bank or east Jerusalem.
There is a state of normalcy about all this, the world’s last colonial conflict; a weariness with the figures, a lacklustre response to the huge construction enterprise on Palestinian territory. Charting the spread of red roofs across the hilltops of the West Bank, the swimming pools and the lawns and smart roadways, the supermarkets and orchards – all encircled by acres of barbed wire and now also by the grotesque Wall – has become not so much a “story” for us reporters covering the Middle East, but a tired routine, a tally, a scorecard of land theft, a tale to be updated with each new “settlement” announcement and subsequent protest from Palestinians whose land is taken from them, and from the woeful and corrupt Palestinian Authority. The same is true of the small Israeli activist and leftist groups – B’Tselem, for example and Avnery’s own Gush Shalom – who have bravely fought on, when even Israel stopped listening, to tell the truth of this unique form of aggression.
Never in the field of human rights has so much been owed by so many, to so few.
Great to see our PM continuing the the Key tradition of post match locker room hobnobbing with a professional sports team who exploits the occasion to plea for ( more) corporate welfare $$$ from an already pressured new government.
This bit… ‘”I said (Steve Hanson) to Grant Robertson they should be our biggest sponsors because we’re their biggest brand, and could she find some money to help us compete against the likes of England and France to help us keep our players. So there wasn’t a lot said after that.”
Seriously, footage of Ardern in the locker room should have come with a trigger alert for those of us still traumatized by such images of Key similarly fawning over these well paid sports people.
Though I guess is noteworthy in these times that such professionals have actually done their job to an acceptable standard.
Had another chuckle, re national this week when our local weekly paper came out. A wonderful photo on the front page, of our Motueka protest for the teachers strike.
Was so happy our local rag didn’t crop my sign….hehehehe…. you’ll have a giggle when you see it, it’s hard to miss… Lmao 🙂 It’s the sign in the middle with a ‘blue logo’ 😉
national party supporters are going to lose their minds about her being in the AB’s locker room.
Last years election win is the gift that keep on giving 🙂 loving it.
Hehe.. never heard comments from the players like this when key was grandstanding….
Hurricanes players Perenara and Ardie Savea and Chiefs midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown gave Ardern a kiss after the on-field presentation, with Perenara later telling the media of his gift:
“She’s special to my family and to my community so that’s something that was important for me to do.”
Congrats to the AB’s last nights game was outstanding.
The Black Ferns/Wallaroo game was much more exciting.
Both teams played with enthusiasm, competency and flair.
The win to the recently professionalised Black Ferns was richly deserved.
I confess to having dozed off in the first half of the men’s game…despite the raucous company at the RSA.
Hey Rosemary, they didn’t show the Black Ferns game on Prime, as far as I know 🙁 Hope you had a great night out, RSA is a fantastic venue for watching sport, lucky lady 🙂
Didn’t catch the first half of the AB’s.
I’ve a long standing date at 8:30pm on Saturday nights…. addicted to The Listening Post 🙂 Excellent episode this week.
They showed the Black Ferns game on prim AFTER the ABs match, even though the women’s match was played first. It was getting to be past my bed time, having been up fairly early for work yesterday.
I only watched the beginning of the women’s match, and having recorded it, was planning to watch the rest today (thanks, Rosemary, now I know who won before I watched it 😁)
Anyway, I’m with Rosemary in that I’m not happy about a Labour-led government following the Nats’ PR strategy of locker room attendance, and related photo ops.
The thing I did pick up at the beginning of the recording of the women’s game, which showed the latter part of the cup presentation, was seeing Robertson lurking in the background. (I usually switch off the recording immediately a match ends)
I think Ardern’s media presentation does have a lot to do with Ardern’s personal style. However, I have also wondered how much Robertson was in the background providing guidance. Media presentation is in his realm of past experience. And he is also a big Union fan.
I had hoped that locker room PM attendance, and celebrity PM stuff, would have gone with Key. But it seems Ardern’s government is continuing this aspect of the neoliberal consensus, at the point when neoliberalism is passing its end date.
I DO think the PM of the day should attend the matches, by sitting in the stands, in support of teams representing NZ. However, the celebrity locker room stuff does not fit with left wing values, IMO.
To call a PM visit to the All Black locker room an example of “neoliberal consensus” is truly ridiculous.
Sure, it was not done in the past, but that is because our society is more informal with more social media these days. Not neoliberalism.
Modern PM’s are much more popular media driven than was the case, and the personalities who get the role reflect that. Evident with both Key and Ardern. Both are very different to Bolger or Clark, to take their precursor PM’s from both parties.
The PM does after all have a degree in communications, so she knows exactly what popular expectations are. Most people will like the fact that she visited the guys in the dressing room. Another way of demonstrating her connectedness.
Sure, it was not done in the past, but that is because our society is more informal with more social media these days. Not neoliberalism.
It’s a mixture of both neoliberalism, and the current state of communications technologies. The form social media, and media has taken in recent times, has been strongly guided, even at times controlled, by neoliberal principles.
And the end result is the likes of Donald Trump gaining a very powerful political position, and current concerns about “fake news”. There’s too much spin and propaganda influencing voters, and this is very bad for democracy.
So, we get some political leaders who are a bit nicer than Trump, or John key e.g. Obama and Ardern, but it does not fix the deep-seated structural problems, and it is a cause for concern about the future of democracy.
Jacinda was not only in the All Blacks locker room but also at the earlier Black Ferns match and in the locker room with the team. Earlier in the day she had spoken at the first NZ Rugby Women In Governance conference and made some pretty strong statements on the need for greater equality in the support etc of women’s rugby to that of men’s rugby.
That is a ‘first’ for those many people who have been smarting at the male domination of the sport and related money distribution for many years. I really hope Ardern’s locker room attendance at both matches is seen in light of her statements in the morning and will not go amiss with too many people.
I must say, at the point when I switched off the recording, I had thought the Black ferns were the likely winners as they seemed head and shoulders above the Wallaroos.
(I record the Prime matches, and wait about 20 minutes after the game starts showing before watching, so I can FF through the ads).
Key was like an alien presence in the All Blacks’ dressing room. I suspect he was foisted on them by that horrible old Steve Hansen and that cheat non-pareil Richie McCaw.
This from New Zealand (reserve) Halfback TJ Perenara. “The values that she (Jacinda Ardern) stands by, and my family’s always been strong Labour and I’m proud to be strong Labour as well.” Its a rare thing to hear an All Black endorse the Labour party-especially a current player. (I believe Graeme Thorne and Tony Steel were All Blacks that were part of the National Party-even MP’s-at one stage.) I think Chris Laidlaw-former AB halfback-was part of the Labour Party once upon a time. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/sport/rugby/tj-perenara-gave-all-blacks-jersey-jacinda-ardern-after-last-nights-test-before-snapping-photo-together
Hes in a professional game with an amateur mindset, there’s nothing stopping him from selecting overseas All Blacks players earning tons of other peoples money.
Well, nothing but the NZRFU policy of selecting NZ based players to avoid the absurdity of privately owned, northern hemisphere clubs influencing national selection.
Football seems to have sorted that out many moons ago. The best players play for the best clubs and still get to represent their country. Rugby is amateur in that respect.
Nah. Even age group teams have trouble getting players released by their clubs.
Twelve of the 28 players initially invited to a pre-tournament camp his week are not present – eight by choice, two due to injury, and two because their professional clubs wouldn’t release them
Rosemary, I did not see either of the two matches yesterday but late last night I did read a number of media reports on the the two matches. Jacinda Ardern attended both matches – AND also a conference earlier in the day, the first ever Women in Governance conference.
At that conference she made some very relevant comments about rugby, reported by several media.
From the RadioNZ report (almost all of it):
Rugby needs to be more inclusive, particularly of women, to be fully deserving of the title of New Zealand’s national sport, the Prime Minister says.
Talking to a packed conference room at New Zealand Rugby’s first ever Women in Governance Conference in central Auckland this morning, Jacinda Ardern said rugby needs to “be a game for everyone, and that includes women”.
“For me if rugby is going to include us as women it should represent us equally, and have a relationship with us equally, both as players and spectators, and that means, as it does with every area of life, including women fairly, giving women the opportunity to excel, paying them appropriately, and providing leadership opportunities,” Ms Ardern said.
Ms Ardern said, when asked for clarification, she believed rugby does currently deserve to be called New Zealand’s national sport, ” but with that title we need to make sure we’re striving to lift the outcomes for women in sport as well”.
She was at the conference, articulating her vision for sporting gender equality, ahead of the Black Ferns and All Blacks double header against Australia at Eden Park tonight.
She called on rugby to use its “power, influence and reach” to promote inclusiveness of and respect for women across New Zealand – not just in sport – and said she hoped for a day when women’s sport was just called sport.
“[The Black Ferns] are incredible rugby players, they are incredible athletes, they are not incredible women rugby players, they are not incredible women athletes, they are just incredible rugby players and athletes,” Ms Ardern said.
In my view, I doubt that Ardern will give in to more money going the All Blacks’ way. If anything, she may well use her power to lever a much more equal distribution of any government money towards the Black Ferns. I understand that in the past Grant Robertson has also expressed similar views to the PM’s re the equality issue in relation to rugby.
In a lighter vein the Black Ferns doing a haka for Ardern.
An excerpt: NZR Chair Brent Impey said: “The objective was to bring together women who hold governance roles across rugby to create a strong network of Directors and support the growth of more women in governance and leadership roles across rugby in New Zealand.”
“The Board has prioritised diversity as part of its sucession planning and has already made important strategic commitments to women’s rugby including the appointment of former Black Ferns captain Dr Farah Palmer to the NZR Board, the appointment of NZR Head of Women’s Rugby Cate Sexton, increased funding for the women’s game, an historic first agreement that introduced professional contracts for Black Ferns, and a bid to host the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup.”
Additional actions taken to date to grow the diversity at a governance level in rugby include the implementation of the Diversity Report, three women are now seconded onto NZR Board sub-committees, the Constitution has been changed to ensure at least one female is a member of the Board Appointments Panel, and the number of appointed board positions has increased from three to six.
NZR Board Member Farah Palmer said: “NZR is committed to gender equity and is actively supporting the growth of women and girls through the Women’s Rugby Strategy.
It’s also interesting that RNZ seems to have been the main media platform where that has been reported, while Stuff focused on Ardern at the ABs. It is dangerous to be playing the cooperate media game, albeit, trying to skew it in a different direction. I would rather see a whole different approach, away from neoliberal style propaganda, to an approach that fits more with left wing values.
Women’s rugby has also been getting increasing coverage in the media, and now Prime seems to be showing their matches. When I set up to record the Black Ferns last night, was given the option to record the whole series of Black Ferns matches. This seems to be a new initiative from Prime.
But also, I recall a public talk I attended recently by an Auckland Uni professor of politics (Jennifer Curtin), about Ardern’s representation and style as PM. The biggest take-away I got from the talk was in the area of policy. It’s something that’s going on a bit below the radar, and Ardern’s initiatives around women’s rugby fits with that.
Apparently Ardern is requiring that all new policies and legislation include a gender component – ie include a report on how women’s concerns can be addressed with the policy/legislation.
I will be interested to see more of how this works out. I’d also like to see something similar with respect to income and wealth inequalities included with all policies.
Carolyn I only did a quick search so did not necessarily pick up all items on JA’s attendance at the conference or at the Black Ferns match, but RNZ was not the only one to report the earlier engagements. There were more – eg TVNZ. Did see a photo of Jacinda with Kendra Cocksedge and Lorde after the BF game but that seems to have disappeared. There seem to be more media reports on the All Blacks game. As an aside, a pretty full Saturday for JA yesterday.
I actually worked for a short time on a cross-government policy project with JA years ago when she was a fresh greenhorn in Helen Clark’s office and I was very impressed (as a much older woman) and convinced that she would eventually make it to where she is now. I just did not want to see it too soon, but I am really noticing her growing in the role.
The approaches you mention in relation to policy are well in line with the depth and breadth of her thinking etc that I saw back then and I am sure that we will see her expand these requirements for consideration of gender to other inequalities such as income, wealth, disabilities. It may not be quick enough for some here and elsewhere but she also showed maturity back then – and does now imo – in realising that Rome was not built in a day and often mistakes, backlash etc can come with doing too much, too quickly.
I was impressed with her statements etc re Curran on Friday and understand why she did not pull the plug completely at that time. There is an urgent review now underway into the appointment process for the CTO position Handley has applied for, and I suspect that if there is any hint whatsoever that Curran has muddied that, the hammer will fall again. There is a lot of steel in the Ardern psyche as well as compassion, equality etc. She is playing it careful on a lot of fronts in the situation.
I do understand that policy development is a a major strength of Ardern. However, i am still not clear on her underlying left wing values, or whether she is a soft neoliberal like Robertson. I would like to see Ardern ditch Robertson as one of her key advisors.
But also, I am concerned that Curran still has the media portfolio. It seems to indicate that Ardern (and probably Robertson, too) don’t see the re-vitalisation of public service media as being urgent. And to me that is a major problem.
But I will be watching where the policy and legislation direction goes with this government. It would be very good if it turned out Ardern is strongly left wing, and not a soft neoliberal centrist.
Carolyn, I do see where you are coming from. But you also need to understand where Ardern is coming from and who are her besties within the Labour caucus/Cabinet.
Her besties are Grant Robertson and Chris Hipkins, both of whom came into the parliamentary area of Labour with the common link between the three being Helen Clark. MS is probably much more knowledgeable of the relationships than I am. So I do not see her ditching Robertson – or Hipkins – as advisors.
Re Curran, I have seen claims that Ardern and Curran have been flatmates in Wellington. I have no idea if this is correct but as I said at 5.5.1.1.1 I believe that Ardern is being a little cautious for employment law and other legal reasons so that if she has to pull the plug completely she is covered legally in doing so. As I said, I think she is quite capable of doing so.
I can report that the women’s game commanded just as much attention from the cosmopolitan company at the FFN RSA last night as did the blokes’ game.
Being an earlier game the volume of ale consumed was low, and the informal commentary as a result was enthuastic and respectful.
Not do much for the later showcase game, as the ‘arm wrestling’ in the first half led the assemblage to resort to discussing the Australian prime ministeral shennanigans.
No booing from the RSA when Ardern went on the field to congratulate the Black Ferns.
The bumptious, barely articulate Greg Newbold stinks up the airwaves. The Panel, RNZ National, Wednesday 22 August 2018,
Jim Mora, Joe Bennett, Rebekah White, Emil Donovan
First topic for today’s program: the Crime and Justice Summit. Serious topic, and one which attracts some thoughtful and brilliant minds. Professor Greg Newbold was what Mora likes to call “the talent” in this discussion…..
JIM MORA: Andrew Little’s Crime and Justice, uh, Summit looks, ah, set to recommend have fewer people in prison, you would infer, and the pulling of other levers, as the Prime Minister puts it, to both keep New Zealanders safe and better treat and rehabilitate those behind bars. And as we’ve discussed before, doing both at the same time will be the trick. But, Panelists, you are all for this?
REBEKAH WHITE: I really—
JOE BENNETT: All for what?
REBEKAH WHITE: You go, Joe.
JOE BENNETT: No sorry, I just want to clarify, what am I “all for”?
JIM MORA: Okay. All for both the extra rehabilitative approach and getting prison numbers down.
REBEKAH WHITE: Sounds great in theory. How do you DO that?
JIM MORA: Yes, we do ask that as well.
REBEKAH WHITE: Ha ha ha.
JOE BENNETT: Heh, heh, heh, heh….
MORA: Joe, do you have an opinion on it?
JOE BENNETT:Ummm. I’m no criminologist. It’s, it’s, it’s very hard, isn’t it. Ummmm, the, I remember going to a prison once, visiting a prison, ahem, Christchurch Men’s Prison, um, for, with regards to some columns that I had written, and I went there a couple of times. And it was an appalling place. Ummm, just the bottled testosterone there, it bristled, it was, it was, you felt soiled and horrible and horrid to be there, and you couldn’t imagine that it was rehabilitative. Ah, but I remember the Governor there saying to me, and he had far more reason to know than I would, he said that only two things rehabilitated the inmates in his prison, and one was they got God, and the other one was they got the love of a good woman. And I throw that out there for what it’s worth, I can’t verify it, I can’t vindicate it, but he sounded as though he knew what he was talking about.
MORA: Memorable.
JOE BENNETT: Mmmm.
MORA: Memorable. Criminologist, uh, Professor Greg Newbold isn’t at the Summit. We’ll seek his views on it shortly, but first actually we want to ask him something else from a listener. Greg, good afternoon.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Hi. G’day.
MORA: Here’s the question for you, ahh, first up, uh. “Jim, at this summit are lots of people with all sorts of ideas on how to reduce recidivism. Lots of them make a living from this sector. Has anyone sat down and asked the criminals and prisoners what their ideas are as to what would motivate them to change their behavior and their lives? Is there any research like this?” asks Chris Malcolm. Greg, what’s the answer? What do prisoners want, what do they think will work?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Aww, they wanna get outa jail. Mo– heh!— mosta them, ahhm, they would come up with ideas, they’re not criminologists, I mean, I was in jail myself, as you know—
MORA: Mmmm.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: —for five and a half years, and um, awww, everybody had different ideas about what they’d do when they got out. The problem was that a lot of guys in prison say, when they’re in jail, they say, Ohhh, I’ve ruined my life, I shouldn’ta done this and I shouldn’ta done that, and when I get out I’m not going to make the same mistake, and then they get out and make the same mistake. You got 86 per cent recidivism in New Zealand over five years. So, ahhhhmmm, y’know, what prisoners say and what they actually do are two different things.
JOE BENNETT: Can I ask a question?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah. Please.
JOE BENNETT: Is there anywhere in the world which has, say, half that recidivism rate?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Ah, no, not that I know of. The United States has got pretty much the same as us. Ummm, we’ve got a pretty high recidivism rate, I’ll tell you, the United States is around seventy-FIVE per cent—
JOE BENNETT: What about Scandinavian countries?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah I mean people talk about Sweden and so on but you never see any real data from it. I went to a prison in Sweden once, and it was a pretty nice jail, but you know, you’ve got a different social situation and a different demographic makeup over there, so you can’t compare them. You’ve got to compare apples with apples.
MORA: When you were IN jail—
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Mmm.
MORA: —did you get an inkling of, if not what they wanted when they got out, which was to get out, but of what they needed, Greg, of what other fellow inmates needed to make them, ah, better citizens afterwards?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Ahhhh, not really, um. Most of the guys—I was in maximum security for most of my time—most of the guys up there had had horrific backgrounds, really terrible family backgrounds and childhoods, and that’s where the problem lay. A lot of them were very damaged before they came to prison and had histories of offending going back to when they were in school, absenteeism, neglectful parenting, abusive parenting, no parenting at all in some cases, and when you have a kid who’s been brought up in those circumstances, you’ve got a person who’s very very difficult to do anything with. It’s a problem which begins in childhood and is very difficult to turn around in adulthood. Quite often these guys wake up once they reach their forties and fifties, but between that age of seventeen to, say, 35 to 40 they can be pretty dangerous and pretty crazy.
MORA: And I know there are intentions, I’m sure they were voiced at the summit today and yesterday, about turning it round far earlier on in life, and that’s been discussed a lot.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Oh yeah.
MORA: Anzac Wallace, at the Summit yesterday: “If we are 52 per cent of the prison population”—meaning Maori—“why aren’t we 52 per cent of the people speaking?” Is he right, that we need the Maori voice louder here, Greg?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Well it’s no good just having—just ’cause you’re a MAORI on, uh, on, on crime or prisons. Ahhhhmmm, so I don’t think, uh, ahh, ahh, y’know, there’ll be Maoris at that thing that have got backgrounds, but ah, um, it, that’s not going to solve a problem, having a whole lotta people speaking who don’t know what they’re talking about. Um, you got seven hundred people there, and most of them won’t have any real background in criminology or corrections at all, they’ll just be people who’ve got nothing better to do for two days.
JOE BENNETT: Ha ha ha ha ha!
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: And you’ll have a big talk fest there, and everyone will come up with their own personal plans and bright ideas, but it’s not really going to make any difference.
JOE BENNETT: If you were Minister of Corrections what would you do?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: This isn’t the first one, there’ve been heaps of these bloody summits in the past. The reason I’m not there is that I’ve been to so many, and that’s all they are, talk fests, and so I didn’t bother going, I’ve got better things to do.
MORA: Were you invited, out of interest?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah yeah, I was invited to, uh, to, uh, apply to go up, which was essentially an invitation to go there, but I didn’t respond to it because I thought it would be a waste of time.
JOE BENNETT: Can I ask a question? Greg, if you were suddenly appointed Minister of Corrections today, what would you do?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: I’d start building prisons.
MORA: Seriously?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: I’d build a, I’d stop, uh, double bunking, and um, I’d set up a program for inmates who self-identify. A lot of prisoners aren’t really that interested in reforming, and I mean, where Maori are concerned, for example, 70 per cent are gang affiliated. Well, if you’re gang affiliated, um, then, uh, your chances of actually going on to a crime-free lifestyle when you get out are pretty limited. So I’d get guys who self-identify, who want to get out of gangs and don’t wanna go to jail, and I’d make things available to THEM, and the others I’d say, well get on with your lag and get out and good luck to you when you get out.
MORA: One obvious question, and I mean, I don’t really want to get into the Scandinavian model again today, because we’ve talked about it a bit on the Panel but there ARE places overseas, and countries overseas, with lower recidivism rates than ours and, getting back to the original question that Chris asked about getting into the minds of prisoners, and it was interesting to hear your viewpoint on that, and also what Anzac Wallace said, uh, isn’t it necessary to get better acquainted with the minds of Maori prisoners if we’re going to get that terrifically high number of people in prison down?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Y-y-yeah, well they talk about the Maori mind, Corrections talk about it. I don’t think Maoris have got different minds than Pakehas, quite frankly. I know lots of Maoris, they don’t think any differently to me, I was in jail with them, we all thought the same. I don’t think there’s such a thing as a Maori mind. And, ummmm, as far as that, you know, these recidivist rates, you can’t compare them internationally because they don’t ha—, there’s no standard measure for recidivism. They have different criteria and different follow-up periods, and unless you have the same follow-up period and the same criteria, you can’t compare different countries with their recidivist rates because you’re comparing apples with pears.
MORA: So you’re saying that when we hear about the success of individual overseas rehabilitative treatments, and someone says we’ve got the recidivism rate down from 49 per cent to seven per cent and measured that—
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Oh yeah, well they’re—BLOODY rubbish, absolute rubbish. AB-solute bloody nonsense. You look at that, you could look, I guarantee you, you give me that, that report and I’ll have a look at it, and I’ll find all the flaws in it. RUBBISH.
MORA: Heeeee-e-e-e! [chortling] We’ll assemble them all and present them for your, um, perusal! Ha ha!
JOE BENNETT: Ha ha!
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah yeah, give me—
MORA: Okay—
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: I’ll critique the bloody lot.
MORA: So you think nothing works. I mean, people are sending in ideas on the text, uh, “a low rate in Utah of recidivism, where prisoners are adopted by families.—Paul.” I mean, we hear all the time if you can connect prisoners with whanau for example more efficiently in prison, they are far less likely to go back to prison, so I mean, there’s a lot of pretty impressive anecdotage about this Greg.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah it is, it’s all anecdotal, that’s all it is. You could get, y’know, I mean, they talk about, they talk about strengthening family ties, Christ, most of the guys in jail come from GANGS. If you, if you, heh heh, if you strengthen family ties, specially whanau ties with Maori, all you’re strengthening is the GANG association. So, um, y’know, ya gotta be pretty careful about what you’re talking about with your, with your, ahhm, when you, when you talk about strengthening whanau [chortling] whanau links. A lot of them come from intergenerational crime families [chortling]
MORA: Well the same applies—
REBEKAH WHITE: You go.
MORA: Sorry Rebekah, I was just going to say the same applies to intergenerational Pakeha crime families you would think.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah, it does. It does, it does. And they—
MORA: Rebekah you were going to say something.
REBEKAH WHITE: Go.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: But the Maori problem is particularly bad because whereas about 30 per cent of all inmates have gang association, where Maori’s concerned it’s SEVENTY per cent. It’s a HUGE problem.
REBEKAH WHITE: So going back to those families and those associations, is there research around what kind of interventions are successful at, um, correcting the course of life that someone might be on?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Can you repeat that please?
REBEKAH WHITE: So is there research around what kinds of interventions can be, um, carried out?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah. Yeah yeah there’s a whole lot of Canadian—
REBEKAH WHITE: What are the most effective ones?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yes there’s a whole lot of Canadians which have done this very complicated regression analysis and they’ve got these programs which they say work. See, the problem is that most programs, and Integrated Centre Management, which we adopted in New Zealand in 2002, tried to emulate it. But the problem is: most of these programs that work take place in highly structured laboratory type situations where they’re fully resourced, they’ve got specialist Ph.D.-qualified people applying them, and they do have some effect on some people. But you can’t apply that across the board in a prison population of a hundred—where you’ve got ten thousand five hundred people in prison.
REBEKAH WHITE: So we haven’t researched this in New Zealand?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah, they TRIED it, they tried it with Integrated Centre Management, they tried to apply it. But they couldn’t apply it in the real world context. It’s okay to apply these things in a laboratory context but if you try and apply them in the real world they don’t work ‘cos you don’t have the resources. Unless you’re going to spend millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars, ahhhmm, you’re not going to succeed in these things. So you’ve gotta be realistic about it. In New Zealand the Integrated Centre Management program didn’t alter recidivism rates one bit.
MORA: It’s interesting hearing the contrarian voice on this, from outside the Summit, as it were, Greg, but you’re painting a pretty grim picture of a New Zealand where our only successful strategy will be to build the mega-prison and lock more people away.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah, well I think you’ve gotta, we’ve gotta improve prison conditions. I mean you can’t even HOPE to get the kinds of achievements, the kinds of outcomes that are desired if you’ve got people crowded up in multi-cell situations. I’m writing to a bloke at the moment who’s doing a degree at the private prison in Wiri and he’s having a hell of a lot of trouble studying because he’s got a cell-mate who wants to play the guitar all the time, while he’s trying to study. You know, if you’ve got, you do get people in prison who really do wanna get out and they’re taking realistic steps to stop themselves from reoffending, but if they’re stuck in an environment where achieving their goals is impossible, then they’re bashing their head against a wall.
MORA: All right, understood, and thanks for your—
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: We’ve gotta create good prisons, with plenty of room and well resourced, and the first thing you need to do is start building capacity.
MORA: All right. Professor Greg Newbold, thank you for joining us today on The Panel.
Greg N was always a bit of a priveledged right winger @ Morrissey.
He probably should have spent his time studying gender and sexuality (not that he’s let his schooling interfere with his education in that regard).
He has however been through a bit of near death experience in recent times. So I imagine that has made him even more grumpy towards his former peers who’ve not managed to make as much good as he has.
I wouldn’t be surprised if an acceptable solution (in Greg’s mind) to recidivism would be to pump prisoners regularly with a dose of oestrogen
Can back that up Cinny sorry to pop your ballon there was clearly booing Really who cares rugby as the national game and its fans span across the political spectrum, Just enjoy the game for what it is
I was in my local, a big sports bar. When the PM was on screen one of the kitchen staff grabbed another by the arm and pointed to the screen and yelled ‘Look, Jacinda!’
If a few sad Tories in the crowd booed, it’s says nothing about how the rest of the country feels about Jacinda Ardern.
I’ve been to more football games than YOU, I would bet. I wasn’t there last night, no, but I know that most people there would have cheered for her. As everyone else here has attested, there was no audible booing for her, but there was applause for her.
So there were a few National-voting drones and boors sitting near you—that’s your problem.
I was there and she was definitely booed, not to Len Brown or Jk standards late in his last term but definitely audible undertone of booing, sorry if any balloons popped
Nup not that exercised about Jacinda. Actually quite like her just not her politics Rugby fans span across the political spectrum. I find trying to claim a political victory from it fkn rediculous. It’s just Just fact there was no booing for jacinda at black ferns presentation but definitely booing but also cheering at ab presentation Most of it is light hearted so no need to get to exercised about it I also think it’s mostly about politics intruding into a national past time than any thing else
And ed I doubt you ever watched a game of rugby in your life so with respect dear Fuck off back to your lentil patch and Galloway cat porn
By the way Ed before game enjoyed a hearty few beers a big fat juicy steak 😀
We wonder if he has abandoned his support for Deep South lynch law….
NOELLE McCARTHY: Now you have something about this Florida verdict, and Juror B-37?
…A long, rambling discussion ensues, with most of the participants clearly disgusted with the verdict. But not everyone….
CHRIS TROTTER:[very slowly, mustering all the pomp and gravitas he can] I think all this talk about the jury is most unfortunate. You have, even in this case I think, to trust the jury. In any trial, there are always items of evidence that we do not know about, even in this case I think.
….Long, extremely uncomfortable pause….
NOELLE McCARTHY:[doggedly positive] One thing the whole world is talking about, Zoe Ferguson, is the royal birth!
I have no idea what the fuck is going on in Trotter’s head these days. It seems he is absolutely convinced that there is some sort of bogeyman called “middle New Zealand” that is utterly reactionary, vindictive and constitutes some sort of impassive and monolithic electoral majority.
Trotter is an ideological coward who is terrified at the thought of any reform that might upset his imaginary bogeyman who has crossed over to the territory occupied by out of touch and fearful old men.
Sanctuary
You don’t like Chris thinking about hard, uncaring middle NZ. Sounds like you might turn into one of their advocates.
And same goes for Morrissey
This blog shouldn’t be a place of attack on people who are airing the thinking of different groups in a way that you don’t agree with. Chris opens up subjects to discussion from differing viewpoints and should not be chastised for it. I don’t agree with all he says. But it is good to look at his opinions and have the right to disagree. I found this sort of carpet bombing when discussing anything that related to rape culture here.
Just lay off the vicious attack stuff please. It doesn’t help in the effort to understand the mindsets of major players in our present society.
Christ the number of comments claiming schools must pay staff sub-acceptable wages are depressing.
I especially liked that the school thought about it enough to setup how cleaners and janitorial staff could be included in that (by taking the cleaning contractor out of the picture). Of course the cleaning contractor would never have paid the living wage.
“I especially liked that the school thought about it enough to setup how cleaners and janitorial staff could be included in that (by taking the cleaning contractor out of the picture).”
Perhaps it will be something we will see other schools emulate.
If the Government genuinely supported the Living Wage, no Government related (directly or indirectly) contract/tender would be considered unless companies vying for them paid a living wage.
I was thrilled when the new government moved quickly to lift the closure hammer from over the head of the school last December, and this news of the new direct-access pathway to enrolment should make things so much easier for families and lead to more eligible students being able to access this very special school.
Yes great news Cinny – so close to being sent down the road. Good, practical help to young females, such a good resource with experienced, caring people.
Loves Trump, hates POC, feminists, reproductive autonomy, and LGBTI folk, eugenicist, reckons the juntas of the past were the bomb, on a mission from Dog to save the country from socialism, and he could be Brazil’s next President.
On the wall of Jair Bolsonaro’s office in a modernist annex of Brazil’s Congress hang five faded black-and-white portraits. They are memoirs of a time many Brazilians would prefer to forget, when military generals ruled the country from 1964 until 1985 and the cost of insurrection was kidnap, torture and secret execution.
Bolsonaro, the de facto front runner for the Brazilian presidential election that begins on Oct. 7, is the foremost apologist for that era. He has made a career eulogizing its abuses and–for a decade after the return of democracy in 1989–calling for its reinstatement. Today he is proud of his support of the regime he served as an army captain.
He has spiritual and humane thinking and also looks at how to bring these into policies and practices that take Maori out of the valley they are in to heights of personal achievement and satisfaction.
I came to the Black Power as an act of community service.
I had trained to be a priest and was imbued with the whole Paolo Friere South American liberation theology, social justice, worker-priest, servant-leader thing. When I presented myself at the door of the whare of the Black Power they accepted me unconditionally even though I am Pakeha. I experienced a sense of belonging, whanau, and unconditional love. I didn’t stop being anything – a son to my parents, brother to my siblings, a member of my faith, a Treaty partner, a committed New Zealander. Mind you, later, it has cost my whanau dearly in terms of being labelled and having suffered prejudicial treatment by officers of the Crown, especially the police.
The greatest myth about gang life is that it’s all about crime. I can’t talk about all gangs but for the Maori gangs it is essentially an association that creates a sense of whanau as an antidote to social alienation….
True leadership is a contextual concept and within that a behaviour. Take a natural exemplar, the kuaka or bartailed godwit, which at this very time of the year, is contemplating a long flight, in a flock, from Aotearoa back to China and the Siberian steppes. The lead bird, the kahukura, takes the brunt of the wind, but the dynamics of the overlapping wings in the flowing formation creates an updraught and the leader is buoyed.
That’s a lovely notion that leadership is defined by followship, and the act of followship creates an uplift. After a time the kahukura drops back and another takes its place. So this intimates that we all have a responsibility at times to lead and at others to follow. As humans we all have feet of clay so I won’t curse someone by identifying them as a living embodiment of leadership but, as his spirit is still around us, could I nominate the late Dr Ranginui Walker as a kahukura exemplar?
On the NZ Edge blog Denis has put up a few items of importance each year.
There is a memoriam on the death of friend Ranga Tuhi. He was an artist and carver and this link shows some of his work.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoD_1PLGTLQ
Sadly you’re not ready to learn – that’s a question you should ask yourself – why the self sabotage? When you remember the answer come back for the second lesson. Let go of ego – you know you can – remember?
Indeed we are. Most of us get out of the “pretentious pseudo-gnostic arse” stage of the journey by our early twenties.
I remember stoners saying “red pill or blue pill” and “there is no spoon” when the movie was first released. Must be a retro movie that pretentious hipster teen stoners watch these days lol
Oney you have much to learn – sorta remind me of a much younger me – ha – the road will not rise until you fall – get it now? You seem a bit stuck on this – try your breathing exercises after all that’s what they are there for. Focus on the rise and fall – hopefully things will move for you now – keep at it.
I have written many critical things over the years about @SenJohnMcCain; you can easily find them. But not in this thread. Instead, I wanted to share a few observations of possible interest that I’ve accumulated over the years following this fascinating American character. 1/— Matt Welch (@MattWelch) August 25, 2018
He also disagreed with people without painting them as evil or whatever. He could agree to disagree, without treating the other person or the issue flippantly.
He was a conservative, but not to the point of being corruptly partisan. And he had gravity and dignity.
I wouldn’t want to be exactly like him, but he did have a few qualities we can’t go too far wrong cultivating in ourselves or our leaders.
I agree McFlock, unlike many from his side he didn’t seem primarily motivated by the $. I believe in his own way he was out to create a better world and if we all felt that way, regardless of our political stripe, we’d end up with something half decent.
Any radical can convince those who already agree with them; the mark of a truly effective politician is persuading those who might normally oppose you.
But some of it is a bit harsh – he didn’t just “not go along with the worst” of the anti-Obama stuff, he publicly opposed it. A Republican having an interest in foreign policy is quite exceptional these days. Putting more troops into Iraq initially might have actually enabled them to maintain order and stop the decay into sectarian violence (although there were many other issues, not just numbers. The yanks had the mindset to win the war, but winning the peace wasn’t ever on their radar).
But, yeah – he wasn’t all good. He was a conservative, after all.
Shame I liked John, for a right wing politician he was always gave us a bit of a giggle. He did bring us the laugh factory that was Sarah Palin. And his attacks by trump were at times, priceless in their comedic effect.
For my dear friend Morrissey and other conspiracy theorist on Venezuela and socialism from the economist
“Mr Maduro says this is the fault of “imperialist” powers like America, which are waging “economic war” on Venezuela. In fact, the catastrophe is caused by the crackpot socialism introduced by Hugo Chávez and continued by Mr Maduro after Chávez’s death in 2013. Expropriations and price controls have undermined private firms, depressing production. Corruption has subverted the state. Mismanagement of PDVSA, the state-owned oil company, has caused oil output to drop by half since 2014. Just as the regime has asphyxiated democracy, by rigging elections and governing without reference to the opposition-controlled legislature, so it has strangled the economy”
John Key couldn’t of saved Venezuela. Chavez chucked Maduro a hospital pass and up and died.
What we’re seeing in Venezuela is not a model of left vs right politics. It a tragic scene brought on by fairweather loaning greedy men with scant regard for the future or their responsibilities.
People like this come from all walks of life. No matter if it’s a politician milking a cash cow until it’s dead or a BOP orchardist hiring a gang of Tongan slaves. Assholes come in all colours.
Tend to agree David Mac but Venezuela never less is one of a long list of countries who have applied socialism in regard to nationalisation of the means of production that has led to misery and gross human rights abuse I do agree adopting socialist policies but maintaining a capitalist economy is a different story But surely now any pretext to full on socialism, communism is totally discredited but some in nz and on this site incredibly still back it
Not sure RT acolyte is a step up on so called corporate media I gave it 10 minutes just got silly capitalism this, neo liberalism that ( yawn) I believe The Economist has more credibility as an independent voice
I think we’re essentially socialists here in NZ bewildered. In it’s rawest form: I believe in you and what is important to you and in return you do the same for me.
Nice.
I think this has come about for a wide range of reasons. Starting with trying to scratch out livings in land that belonged to people that quite liked eating us. Moving on to the lording mine owners with sensational British Navy purchase orders that wanted to create a little Britain on the westcoast.
We’ve got plenty of reasons to have socialist roots.
I think the left have lost their way a bit….I’m old, I pine for the old days….You used to be able to tell you were meeting a man from the left from the callouses in his handshake, these days leftishness is determined with the speed that a racist can be identified.
I think being left is about aspiring to see a fair go for everyone. Far from what we see in Venezuela and I think it’s an aspiration most Kiwis would subscribe to.
“Conspiracy theorist”? That’s exactly what that dolt Key and his doltish cronies called Nicky Hager.
I presume you will provide something to support your claim that I am a conspiracy theorist. If you fail to do so, you have furnished us with yet more evidence that you do not have a clue about anything.
Thought provoking stuff, as ever , from Craig Murray.
“Air transport is simply far too cheap for the damage it causes and the resources it consumes. You cannot cause more damage to the Earth’s atmosphere with £30 worth of resources, than by buying a £30 Ryanair ticket to Barcelona. If you spend that £30 on fuel for your diesel car, or on coal and burn it in your garden, you will not come close to the damage caused by your share of emissions on that Ryanair flight.
The fundamental reason air travel has expanded to be so harmful is the international understanding that tax and duty is not charged on aviation fuel – unlike vehicle, train or maritime fuel. Even citizens of Saudi Arabia or Venezuela no longer can access fuel as cheaply as you do in effect when you fly.
….The question has become mixed with notions of democratisation of leisure. This should be tackled head on. There is no human right to go by air and have a sun soaked holiday on the Med dirt cheap. The Earth cannot afford to indulge the pollution caused by massive air tourism. The unpopularity of saying this means that few people in politics ever do, but it is nonetheless true. In view of climate change, for the public to expect Ryanair fare levels is obscene.
Mass air travel for leisure needs to be stopped. Maritime, rail and other more eco-friendly means of international communication need to be encouraged. As mankind has not even the political will to tackle these most straightforward of measures on climate change, I really do begin to despair for the future.”
The person spending their £30 Barcelona ticket money on diesel for their car may well be creating way fewer nasties but their drive is going to fall way short of Ibiza.
I like our Pacific Islands, I like visiting them. I’d sail there.
Last time in the UK I was passing through. The bus transfer, Heathrow to Luton, about 35 kms? was 22 pounds. The Easyjet flight to Amsterdam was 16 pounds.
I can’t think of anything that has been less subjected to inflation than air travel. I went to Sydney with some mates in the late 70’s. For us to go again tomorrow, the tickets are about the same price. If air travel had been subjected to the same inflationary forces as houses, taxi rides, beer, shoes and speedboats it would cost us $20k to get to Sydney and back.
According to Mr Google, London to Barcelona air and road is about the same distance and a short haul Airbus A319Neo would burn 1.93 L/100 km/passenger.
VOLKSWAGEN Golf Estate diesel would burn around 5 L/100 km.
Good evening The Am Show Myanmar should be shamed into treating there people with humane care 2 wrongs don’t make it right San Suu Kyi has to be pressured into see reality that the world does not like the way people.
I think we should give some support to the AllBlacks we have to compete with nations that have huge audiences couch has seen the money on offer for our players getting out of hand .
That’s the problem in Amecia the goverment has to protect its people before its business interest.
Ka kite ano P,S one reason one should have good manners with that ladys interdict with Nassa
Here you go 1 million electric cars sold in Europe ka pai Norway know’s a good thing when they see it clean cheap to run low maintenance electric vehicles link is below ka kite ano
Muppetissey I warned your sandfly m8 that every time they throw there lies and corruption at Eco Maori it will burn there—— and what I have said has come true you and the sandflies are out of your League so shooo away ana to kai
Good evening Newshub If some one is cutting hole’s in my waka and causing a massif leaks I would find the person and throw them out and that’s what Simon is doing .
That’s real shocking what’s happening in Myanmar these people who are causing this un humane disaster should sort there —– and help there tangata whenua out.
That dental trainee campus in Auckland that will provide half price dental care is awesome many thanks to Otago university.
Yes I believe that te mokopuna’s time on computers should be moderated and controlled they need sleep so they can learn at school I would buy learning games for my tamariki half of them did not work my tamariki are all competent computer users now thought .
Well said Ted Ka kite ano
The Crowd Goes Wild James & Mulls You are correct Mulls Lisa is one of the greatest athlete’s of Aotearoa ka pai.
Australia need to revamp the local Rugby game copy others embrace there tangata whenua players is what I say they should do I have heard that its hard to find a Rugby Union competition in some places.
You know your long in the tooth when te tangata are retiring and they are the same age as ones tamiriki ka pai Simon.
All the best to the Tuatara .
Should have known you are a Westie James Ka kite ano
Some readers may remember that I mentioned last year that I was applying for NZ citizenship. I filled out the paperwork and had my original citizenship interview in February. Everything went well until they discovered that, because I had spent five months in the US in 2017, I had not ...
by Deirdre O’Neill It is becoming quite acceptable for certain sections of the left to declare that people like me – women who are ‘gender critical’ – should not be allowed in leftist or anarchist spaces. Leaving aside the arrogance and implicit authoritarianism of this claim, its lack of critical ...
There is an article in The Conversation, written by Jeremy P. Shapiro (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University), about what he sees as the psychologically-based underpinnings of three main matters that seem to vex people all around the planet. The article is titled “The Thinking ...
. . Blogger Martyn Bradbury has won his case against unreasonable search and surveillance against the NZ Police; and subsequent Police attempts to produce evidence in secrecy, in a closed Court. His case highlights a disturbing growing trend in Aotearoa New Zealand for State power to be used against ...
The Committee of Disobedient Women has intercepted an email from Dr Emma Eejut, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Massey University to the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Jan Thomas. Dear Jan, Thank you for your courageous move. I think 10 pages of blether** should tie any of the students game enough to try holding ...
That's the only response to the findings of the Ombudsman's investigation into LGOIMA practices at the Christchurch City Council:My investigation identified serious concerns about the Council’s leadership and culture, and its commitment to openness and transparency. In particular, Council staff raised concerns with me about various methods employed by some ...
NZ First seems to be nakedly trying to enrich itself from public office:A powerful New Zealand First figure helped establish a forestry company that then pushed for money from two key funding streams controlled by a New Zealand First Minister. An RNZ investigation has found Brian Henry, lawyer for Winston ...
Behrouz Boochani is an award winning author and journalist. He is also a refugee, who for the past six years has been detained in Australia's offshore gulag on Manus Island, and in Papua New Guinea. But last night, with the cooperation of the WORD Christchurch festival and Amnesty International, he ...
Different Strokes: If a multicultural immigration policy imposes no obligation on immigrant communities to acknowledge and ultimately embrace their host nation’s most cherished traditions and values, then how is that nation to prevent itself from being reduced to a collection of inward-looking and self-replicating ethnic and cultural enclaves?THE COALITION GOVERNMENT’S ...
Protective Zone: Reading the rules and guidelines released by Massey University, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that its governing body considers the whole concept of free speech a disruptive threat to the orderly imparting of orthodox academic knowledge.IN TRUE ORWELLIAN fashion, Massey University has announced its commitment to ...
Farmers held a hate-march on Parliament today, complete with MAGA hats, gun-nut signs, and gendered insults. While supposedly about a grab-bag of issues - including, weirdly, mental health - it was clear that the protest was about one thing, and one thing only: climate change. And specifically, forestry "destroying" rural ...
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security released their annual report today, and I've been busy reading through it. In amongst the usual review of what they've been doing all year, there's a few interesting bits. For example, a discussion on "agency retention and disposal of information", which points out that ...
Recently more than 150 post-graduate students and young scientists presented an open letter to the Green Party via The Spinoff, encouraging them to reconsider their position on genetic modification. Their target is tackling climate change issues.[1] Can any party continue to be dismissive about genetic modification (GM) contributing to ...
by Deirdre O’Neill Under Thatcher and then Blair and continuing up until our contemporary moment, the working class has seen its culture slowly and progressively destroyed. The change from an industrial society to a service society produced a marked shift in focus from the working class as the backbone of ...
Since 2013, the Australian government has detained refugees without trial in Pacific gulags, where they are abused, tortured, and driven to suicide. The policy is not just an abuse of human rights and possible crime against humanity; it has also had a corrosive effect on the states Australia uses as ...
It seems fair to say that we currently live in a problematic political moment in world history. Democracies are in decline and dictatorships are on the rise. Primordial, sectarian and post-modern divisions have re-emerged, are on the rise or have been accentuated by political evolutions of the moment such as ...
Last month, Greenpeace head Russel Norman surrendered his speaking slot at an EPA conference to student climate activist Sorcha Carr, who told the EPA exactly what she thought of them. It was a bold move, which confronted both regulators and polluters (or, as the EPA calls them, "stakeholders") with the ...
The core principle supposedly underlying New Zealand's electoral finance regime is transparency: parties can accept large donations from rich people wanting to buy policy, but only if they tell the public they've been bought. Most parties abide by this, so we know that TOP was wholly-owned by Gareth Morgan, and ...
Today is a Member's Day, probably the second-to-last one of the year, and its a big one, with the Third Reading of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. last Member's Day it was reported back from committee, after MPs voted narrowly to make it subject to a (rules TBA) ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThe growth of the human population over the last 70 ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...
by Don Franks In 1957, E M Forster wrote, of his greatest work: “The India described in ‘A Passage to India’ no longer exists either politically or socially. Change had begun even at the time the book was published ( 1924) and during the following quarter of a century it ...
The Referendums Framework Bill was due back from select committee today. But there's no report on it. Instead, the bill has been bounced back to the House under Standing order 29593) because the Committee didn't bother to produce one. They probably tried. But given the membership of the committee (which ...
Two years into New Zealand’s Labour-led government, the long-delayed Zero Carbon Bill became law on 7 November. Passed essentially unanimously, the lengthy public debates and political manoeuvring faded away until the final passage was even anticlimactic: Flipping through the @nzstuff@DomPost I was starting to wonder if I’d dreamt ...
Now the Zero Carbon Bill is law, what's next? Obviously, the ETS changes currently before select committee are going to be the next battleground. But we're also going to get a good idea of where we're going, and if the progress the Zero Carbon Act promises is good enough, during ...
Grant PearceThe effects of the current Australian bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland (and also again in California) are devastating and far-reaching. To date, the fires have resulted in several lives being lost and many homes and properties destroyed. Here in New Zealand, the impacts have been only ...
A passing comment in a post the other day about the labour force participation rates of older people prompted me to pull down the fuller data and see what we could see about various participation rates over the decades since the HLFS began in 1986. As it happens, the ...
Distract And Divert: The rise of what we have come to call “Identity Politics” represents the ideological manifestation of the ruling class’s objective need to destroy class politics, and of the middle-class’s subjective need to justify their participation in the process.THE RELIEF of the ruling class can only be imagined. ...
"I saw a newspaper picture,From the political campaignA woman was kissing a child,Who was obviously in pain.She spills with compassion,As that young child'sFace in her hands she gripsCan you imagine all that greed and avariceComing down on that child's lips?" ...
Dr Matt Boyd, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick WilsonThe Global Health Security Index which considers pandemic threats has just been published. Unfortunately, NZ scores approximately half marks (54/100), coming in 35th in the world rankings – far behind Australia. This poor result suggests that the NZ Government needs to ...
The Zero Carbon Act is inadequate, with a weak methane target designed to give farmers a free ride. But it turns out it could have been worse: Climate Change Minister James Shaw was so desperate to get National on board, he wanted to gut that target, and leave it in ...
The Herald reprints an Australian story on a couple of tragic deaths in Bali from drinking cocktails that had methanol in them. The story argues that methanol is likely the result of home distillation. But what the young tourists were experiencing was far from a hangover. They’d consumed a toxic cocktail ...
Last month, the police announced a trial of specialist roaming armed units, which would drive round (poor, brown) areas in armoured SUVs, armed to the teeth. When they announced the trial, they told us it was about having armed police "ready to attend major incidents at any time if needed". ...
Spain went to the polls today in the second elections this year, after the Socialists (who had come to power in a confidence vote, then gone to the polls in April) rejected the offer of a coalition with the left-wing PoDemos, and instead decided to gamble n a better outcome ...
A couple of days ago I attended (and spoke at) the University of Waikato’s “LearnFest” event. There were lots of talks and sessions on very diverse aspects of teaching, mostly at tertiary level. One was by Myra Williamson from Te Piringa Faculty of Law here at Waikato, on Contract Cheating ...
There will be a transit of Mercury – the planet Mercury will pass across the face of the Sun – taking place at sunrise in New Zealand on Tuesday, 12th November. It was by observing such an event 250 years ago that James Cook and his scientist colleagues were able ...
Since becoming the world’s first openly transexual mayor and member of parliament, Georgina Beyer has been recognised as a trailblazer for trans rights. Daphna Whitmore talks with her about where she sees the current trans movement We start out talking about legislation the government put on hold that would have ...
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ...
National Messiah? Chris Luxon identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. If he is genuine in this self-characterisation, then he will take every opportunity his public office provides to proselytise on behalf of his faith. He will also feel obliged to bear witness against beliefs and practices he believes to be ...
I'm going to make a Reckless Prediction™ that the Tories have 'topped out' in the 'poll of polls' / Britain Elects multipoll tracker at about 38%, and in the next week we will start to see Labour creep up on them.In fact, we might just be seeing the start of ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Lizzie Marvelly: “I may have missed this… has @afterellen gone all terf-y? Or am I reading something incorrectly? “ https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/1191840059105742849 After Ellen is a lesbian website that is unashamedly pro-lesbian, as you’d expect. So why is Ms Marvelly so bothered about lesbians having their ...
Did you know there once was a time when it was illegal to be a gypsy (aka Romani) in Britain?That was between 1530, when the Egyptians Act was passed, and 1856, when it was repealed.Amongst other things, the act forbade the entry of 'Egyptians' into England, ordered those already there ...
Some days I sit and think, “what will I write…?” What do you say when you get to 1000 posts? Maybe you just start where you are, diverge to where this all began, then offer a collection of reader’s favourite posts, and a few of your own? (And throw in ...
Counter-Puncher: The “activists” and “radicals” (his own words) from the Indian community who took such strong exception to Shane Jones’ remarks about Immigration NZ’s treatment of arranged marriages, may end up bitterly regretting their intervention. Jones is not the sort of person who turns the other cheek to his critics.SHANE ...
In the spirit of Remember, remember the fifth of November, let's keep this in mind FOREVER.
Oh dear. Extraordinary interview on PM with Andrew Bridgen and @EvanHD just now. Bridgen was defending Jacob Rees Mogg’s Grenfell comments. Evan asked him if JRM had meant to say he would have left ...
Collision Course? In conditions of ideological white-out, the international bankers’ “Woop-Woop! Pull Up!” warning may have come too late to save global capitalism.WHAT DOES IT MEAN when international bankers are more willing to embrace radical solutions than our politicians and their electors? At both the International Monetary Fund and the ...
Pertussis (whooping cough) is a conundrum. It is a disease that was described hundreds of years ago and the bacteria that causes it (Bordetella pertussis) isolated in 1906. We have had vaccines for about 80 years but this disease is defiant in the face of human immunity. I wanted to ...
The Zero Carbon Bill has just passed its third reading, uanimously. In the end, National supported it - but we all know they'll turn around and gut it the moment they regain power. Meanwhile, I guess ACT's David Seymour didn't even bother to show up. I am on record as ...
Dr Lindsay Robertson, Dr Jerram Bateman, Professor Janet HoekMembers of the public health community hold divergent views on how access to vaping products or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products should be arranged. Some believe ENDS should be as widely available as smoked tobacco and argue for liberal ...
When the Police were trying to cover up for the National Party over Dirty Politics, they went all-in with their abuses of power. They illegally search Nicky Hager's house, violating his journalistic privilege and invading his privacy. They unlawfully acquired Hager's bank records. They did the same to left-wing blogger ...
Last month, in response to a wave of protests by Extinction Rebellion, the British government purported to ban their protests from the whole of London. It was a significant interference with the freedoms of expression and assembly, and another sign of the country's decline into tyranny. But now, a court ...
Last year, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security reported on significant problems with the intelligence warrant system. While they were unwilling to declare any warrant "irregular" (meaning unlawful) due to the recent law change, they were also not willing to give the system a clean bill of health. Now, they've ...
The National Party has come out in support of encouraging greater vaccination uptake. But it sure isn’t the way I’d do it. National’s suggested docking the benefits of those on benefit whose kids aren’t keeping up with their vaccinations. Some in National have suggested extending that to payments under Working ...
Feeding The Flames: It is simply not enough to demand an end to “corruption”, or “inequality”, or the overbearing influence of the authorities in Beijing. These are just “lowest common denominator” demands: the sort of slogans that pull people onto the streets. They are not a plan.WHERE’S THE PLAN? Across ...
The labour market statistics have been released, and unemployment has risen to 4.2%. There are 115,000 unemployed - 11,000 fewer than when Labour took office. In that time the minimum wage has gone up by $2 an hour, which shows that the right's fears about increases causing unemployment are simply ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has called for submissions on Andrew Little's tyrannicalTerrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill. Normally I encourage participation in the democratic process. I am not doing so in this case. Instead, I encourage all of you to boycott this submissions process, and to post ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIf tiny concentrations of carbon dioxide can hold enough heat ...
Aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and within it, one of the fastest sources is elite travel: billionaires flitting around the world in their private jets, spewing excessive pollution into the atmosphere just so they can avoid mixing with us dirty peasants. But in ...
That's what we face if we don't stop climate change, according to a warning from 11,000 scientists:The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from more than 11,000 scientists. “We declare clearly and unequivocally ...
by Phil Duncan Here’s just a few of the kind of threats issued day in and day out against gender-critical women – feminists, marxists, etc – overwhelmingly by MEN (albeit men identifying as women). “Kill all Terfs”. “Shoot a Terf today”. “All terfs deserve to be shot in the head”. ...
This is the third of the synopses of parts of the opening chapter of John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century (New York, Monthly Review Press, 2016). The synopsis and commentary below is written by Phil Duncan. Unlike the humble cup of coffee and t-shirt that we looked at in ...
Tom MooreTraditionally a food source and cutting tool, freshwater mussels/kākahi are now widely valued as water filters that help clean our waterbodies and maintain ecosystem health throughout Aotearoa. The improvement they provide in water quality can make it easier for other animals to live in streams and rivers, as ...
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…Installation complete: this was nothing ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is back in the House today for its second reading. While this isn't the final stage, its still effectively D-Day for the bill. Because today, at around 5pm, is when we're going to find out if it has a majority, whether National will support it or ...
Winston Peters is in court today, suing a bunch of former Minister and civil servants over their pre-election leak of his superannuation repayment. He's characterised the leak as malicious, and said that it is repugnant that his information was passed on to Ministers to use for political advantage. And he's ...
Murray CoxDo I have to finish my favourite genome? That’s an often-asked question. Geneticists generally strive to produce high-quality genomes that sequence every last gene, making full use of the state-of-the-art technologies coming on stream. Sequencing DNA means determining the order of the four chemical building blocks – called ...
Transformative Politics: The idea is to turn each recipient into an unwitting accomplice in their own transformation. From interested observer to hyped-up activist, sharing our messages promiscuously with ‘friends’. You’ll be part of an ever-expanding circulatory system, Jennifer, for the ideas that will win us the election.”JENNIFER SKITTERED her chair ...
The boycott is a fundamental tool of protest. By choosing who we buy from, we can send a message, and hopefully change corporate behaviour. Historically, boycotts have been effective, for example over apartheid in South Africa and Israel, in forcing divestment from Myanmar, and in ending bus segregation in the ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters met with Korea Racing Authority Chairperson Nak Soon Kim in Seoul today to discuss closer cooperation between the New Zealand and Korean horse racing industries. As part of the visit to the Seoul Racecourse, Mr Peters witnessed ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $10 million to establish Otago as the centre of New Zealand’s creative digital industry over the next ten years, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “The initiative will bring us closer to the vision of ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)’s skills and employment programme will help young Otago people into long-term forestry careers, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Te Ara Mahi will invest $63,000 in the 2020 school year to support eight 17 and 18 ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will support local plans to revitalise and stimulate economic development opportunities in Otago, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The four Regional Economic Development Ministers have approved an in-principle investment of $19.9 million towards the region’s ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is pleased to have received the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) report on the Coalition Government’s Mycoplasma bovis eradication efforts, which shows significant progress in the fight against the disease. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, says the report’s findings ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon David Parker, Minister for Trade and Export Growth The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing to support economic growth opportunities for Otago’s engineering and manufacturing sectors, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Trade and Export Minister David Parker announced today. Almost $20 million ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, discussed in Seoul today opportunities to work more closely in the Pacific and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Mr Peters and Minister Kang confirmed New Zealand and the ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Minister for Māori Development The three marae in the historic Parihaka Pa complex in Taranaki have been upgraded to high speed broadband with the support of the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Connecting the ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence Minister of Defence Ron Mark will today launch the Advancing Pacific Partnerships 2019 Defence Assessment during a speech at Te Papa. The Assessment outlines how Defence will partner with our Pacific Island neighbours and invest in Pacific regional security architecture. The Plan aligns with the Coalition ...
A new Provincial Growth Fund investment could create about 80 new jobs in Gisborne over the next two years, turning a local small business into a “beacon of employment” in the process. Regional Economic Development Parliamentary Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau said the PGF’s Te Ara Mahi funding stream would provide $1.6m ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer and more secure, Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing) Kris Faafoi has announced today. Both renters and landlords will benefit from the suite of practical changes to the Residential ...
The Government is asking the food industry to step up work to tackle obesity including reducing sugar, fat and salt in their products, better information for consumers, and tighter restrictions on advertising to children. Health Minister David Clark and Food Safety Minister Damien O’Connor have responded to a ...
ew, modern emergency department and outpatient facilities at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital mean better emergency care for the growing tourist mecca’s visitors and locals, says Health Minister David Clark. Today Dr Clark officially opened the hospital’s redeveloped Emergency Department and Outpatient facilities. The new facilities include: • An extended Emergency Department ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
Nelson’s Salisbury School is to be rebuilt, creating a modern and suitable learning environment for students at the residential special school, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The school for girls aged 8-15, in Richmond, was earmarked for closure by National until the process ...
The panel undertaking a comprehensive review of the Resource Management Act has identified the main issues to be addressed and options for reform and is calling for feedback to inform its final report. In July the Government announced the comprehensive review of the resource management system, including the RMA - ...
An important safety valve has been added to New Zealand’s criminal justice system with the third reading of the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill today. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) will investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “We’ve seen how our justice system can very occasionally get things spectacularly wrong, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters welcomes the tabling of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) 2019 Annual Report in Parliament today. He says the 2019 Annual Report marks the point when New Zealand’s racing industry’s decline was arrested and a turnaround started. RITA’s 2019 Annual Report recorded an industry net profit ...
The New Zealand Government is today sending 21 firefighters to help fight the ongoing catastrophic Australian bushfires. “The fires in Australia are in some of the toughest, most challenging conditions ever,” says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “As of yesterday morning, there were 100 active bushfire-related incidents across Queensland and ...
More frontline support for schools through a new education agency, as part of a redesigned Ministry of Education More support for principals and school boards including through a new centre of leadership and local leadership advisor roles New independent disputes panels for parents and students Management of school property ...
The Government’s reform of the Tomorrow’s Schools system is a watershed moment in education and an opportunity to create meaningful change for ākonga Māori and their whānau, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis said today. “Last year through Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation, Māori teachers, parents, ākonga, whānau, hapū and iwi ...
Infrastructure Minister is welcoming the first of many updated project pipelines from the newly established New Zealand Infrastructure Commission today. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, has released an expanded pipeline of major capital projects – another crucial step towards delivering better infrastructure outcomes. “The first iteration of the ...
Tougher gun laws designed to improve public safety through firearms prohibition orders are proposed in a new document released for public input. Police Minister Stuart Nash says firearms prohibition orders (FPOs) would give new powers to Police to ensure high-risk individuals come nowhere near firearms. “We have already prohibited the ...
Andy Coupe has been confirmed as TVNZ’s new Board Chair. “Mr Coupe has strong commercial and capital markets experience and TVNZ has benefited from his technical knowledge of business and finance, as well as his extensive governance experience,” the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Kris Faafoi said. Andy ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today officially opened a separated pathway, following the completion of the Kaiwharawhara Stream bridge, which will improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians along Hutt Road. The $6.8m Hutt Road project provides a separated path for cycling and pedestrians, the replacement of informal parking ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced the appointment of career diplomat Si’alei van Toor as New Zealand’s next Ambassador to Russia. “I’m pleased to appoint Ms van Toor to this position. She brings a wealth of experience to the role having previously served as Senior Trade Adviser to the ...
The Treasury’s 2019 Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) will be released on Wednesday December 11, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Coalition Government will publish the 2020 Budget Policy Statement at the same time, outlining the priorities for Budget 2020. Further details on arrangements for the release will ...
A new initiative to better support small businesses through hands-on mentoring and advice has been launched by the Minister for Small Business. The first event in the Kiwi Business Boost series of regional workshops and online tools has been launched in Wairoa by Stuart Nash. “The Business Boost initiative combines ...
The latest Quarterly Connectivity Report shows that more and more New Zealanders are moving to Ultra-fast Broadband (UFB), with Rolleston having the highest uptake at 74 per cent, as at the end of September. “This means that nearly three quarters of Rolleston’s households and businesses have moved to ultra-fast services. ...
The passing of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill will help ensure a safe planet for our kids and grandkids, the Minister for Climate Change James Shaw said today. The landmark legislation which provides a framework to support New Zealanders to prepare for, and adapt to, the effects ...
The review of Oranga Tamariki practice around the planned uplift of a Hastings baby in May shows significant failings by the Ministry and that the planned and funded changes to shift from a child crisis service to a proper care and protection service need to be accelerated, Children’s Minister Tracey ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins has wished students the best of luck for this year’s NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams which start tomorrow. Around 140,000 students will have participated in 119 NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams by the end of the exam period on 3 December. “I want to ...
Government has announced a raft of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act. The Minister has said he does not want to be seen to unduly punishing landlords. These changes do more than punish landlords however. They will punish anyone living next ...
Democracy under Fire on Firearms Law Reform - COLFO SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2019 The Government supposedly wants to “hear from all New Zealanders” about firearms law reform – unless you happen to be a licenced firearms owner. ...
From Monday 18 November New Zealand women are working for free until the end of the year because of the gender pay imbalance between men and women. ...
Award-winning investigative team Stuff Circuit is releasing its most hard-hitting documentary yet, exposing a secret the NZ Defence Force doesn’t want Kiwis to know. ...
The government has announced a suite of practical changes to the Residential Tenancies Act in its bid to make renting fairer and more secure. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happening?A number of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) has just been announced by associate minister of housing Kris ...
US Trumpian Inspired Rhetoric From Anti-Trans Group Not a Good Fit with Nz Society Trans-rights support groups around the country have been dismayed by recent divisive and repellent comments by Stand Up For Women (SUFW), a group calling itself feminist ...
Sam Brooks reviews the third season of The Crown, a show that can’t decide whether it wants to humanise the monarchy or tear it all down.This review contains very mild spoilers for world history, 1964-1977.Three seasons in, there’s no doubt that The Crown is the, well, crown jewel in Netflix’s ...
An easy, flavour-packed noodle recipe from Bounty – Cooking With Vegetables, the new cookbook from national food education charity the Garden to Table Trust.The fresh flavours of these noodles are less complex than many Thai dishes, as the simple spice paste uses just a few ingredients. If you’d rather not ...
Part 2: In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department explains what ministers should be told by public servants ...
In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department summarises our governing arrangements. ...
With the 2020 cannabis referendum fast approaching, New Zealanders have a unique opportunity to let the government know what they want from drug reform. It will then be up to our policy makers to decide whether drug reform will focus on changing outcomes for those struggling under historically racist policy.By ...
It breaks my heart to think of young queer and trans people seeing this sign, and thinking there are no spaces where they will ever belong, writes Hadassah Grace. The first time I ventured into a gay bar, I vowed never to go back.It was a vulnerable time in my life. ...
It breaks my heart to think of young queer and trans people seeing this sign, and thinking there are no spaces where they will ever belong, writes Hadassah Grace. The first time I ventured into a gay bar, I vowed never to go back.It was a vulnerable time in my life. ...
Hayden Donnell looks for inspiration and innovation on how to house the city’s future.Auckland Council’s Unitary Plan has enabled a building boom. More than 14,600 building consents were issued in the city in the year to September. Despite that, houses remain extremely expensive and out-of-reach for many first home buyers. ...
Simon Shepherd: David Seymour's euthanasia bill passed this week, and next week he will be putting the finishing touches on his next bill. Is he just a very hard-working politician or is this the longest one-person election campaign known to mankind? ...
Simon Shepherd: It's Transgender Awareness Week, the same week a feminist group, Speak Up For Women, has brought Megan Murphy from Canada to speak in New Zealand. Murphy is a radical feminist who believes trans women aren't women, views that have ...
As a follow-up to our post about police station office hours for the public and in the cause of balance, we bring positive news – or rather, we are passing on the positive news which the police delivered in a press statement, It’s all about the productivity gains achieved – it ...
Books editor Catherine Woulfe follows Wellington author Lawrence Patchett into his extraordinary story of heat and humanity and history repeating. The Burning River begins like the best kind of yarn. “Someone had been there. Someone strange. In the centre of his camp, a new circle of sooted rocks. A campfire, with ...
SPECIAL REPORT: By Philip Cass in BrisbaneMelanesian Media Freedom Forum – Day two –The second day of the Melanesian Media Freedom Forum began with praise for the work of young Pacific journalists by Professor David Robie and ended with a warning that threats to journalism in the ...
In this special episode of The Real Pod, brought to you by Nando’s, we chat to the champions of My Restaurant Rules NZ 2019.In the afterglow of Rustic Kitchen’s historic win on My Restaurant Rules NZ, Duncan and Alex got on the blower with Tyson and Denise. Then we forgot ...
Hannah Kronast attends a women’s empowerment panel focused on the huge disparities in training and employment within science and technology. In the far back left-hand corner of a women’s equality and empowerment event, a male stuck up his hand. “What can men do to help?” he asked.It was at a panel ...
Our recent Spinoff Art survey provided a snapshot on gender equality in the local art scene, but it wasn’t the full story. Anna Knox continues the conversation by asking some gallery owners and directors for their responses to our findings.The Spinoff’s survey of gender bias in visual arts found that ...
Based on their study of trans wellbeing Aotearoa, the research team at Counting Ourselves find six data points that highlight the strength of our trans and non-binary community.Last month the first comprehensive national survey on transgender health and wellbeing in Aotearoa was published by the academics and researchers at Counting ...
The SpinoffBy Dr Jaimie Veale, Jack Byrne and Ahi Wi-Hongi
Ten thousand years ago, roasted hares and figs were flat-layed on Levantine flax leaves. Now, we drape prosciutto over strawberries on computer desks. Josie Adams mourns the death of the platter.Three days ago I stumbled on an accidental recreation of a 1950s platter: a giant ham, a cake that was ...
India’s decision not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership promoted by China is politically significant. But its impact on trade and prosperity is more nuanced, as Bloomberg explains.It avoids some market opening on both sides (India to agriculture; others to services) that would have been economically beneficial. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Geoff Crisp discusses the the week in politics the government’s response to the bush fires as well as the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action. They also talk about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The proposed acquisition of infant formula producer Bellamy’s Australia Ltd by China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited has been given approval by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Strict, legally enforceable conditions, have been set by the treasurer, which ...
The Council of Trade Unions (CTU) is condemning the All Saints Day evening raid on 31 October. With the arrest of over 60 union organisers, human rights defenders and activists in the Philippines province of Negros. The 16th of November is an international ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Assistant professor, University of Canberra What’s happening? Suddenly, at the level of central banks, Australia is regarded as an investment risk. On Wednesday Martin Flodén, the deputy governor of Sweden’s central bank, announced that because Australia and Canada were “not ...
SPECIAL REPORT: By Philip Cass in Brisbane Opening session – Day OneThe problems of operating in the Pacific and the impact of online news and the emergence of ‘citizen journalists’ were common concerns for all delegates to this week’s Melanesian Media Freedom Forum.The forum, held at Griffith ...
Standoff between protesters and the police at Yeung Uk Road, Hong Kong. Image by Studio Incendo – 20190825 Tsuen Wan March. CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81751531.The recent surge in social protests world-wide is quantitatively and qualitatively different than in previous ages. The advent of individualised mass communications technologies and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is going to start asking internet service providers to block certain offshore gambling websites. The decision follows former New South Wales premier ...
The Zero Carbon Act (ZCA) is over a week old, but it’s still being heavily debated and analysed. After all, depending on who you listen to, it’s the most significant new law of the year, of this Government, or even of some people’s lifetime. And it deals with a giant ...
Green MP and refugee Golriz Ghahraman was there last night when the former Manus Island detainee and acclaimed writer arrived in New Zealand.Last night, quietly and without fanfare a small group made up of human rights activists, literary folk, and just two journalists, came together at Auckland Airport to welcome ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sandra D’urso, Researcher, The Australian Centre, University of Melbourne To perform an exit is not as simple as it sounds. In fact, exiting a situation can be almost impossible for some. Exit Strategies is a new production by indie performer and theatre ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Niro Kandasamy, Tutor, University of Melbourne Sri Lanka’s presidential election on Saturday comes at a critical time for the country. The government has been in turmoil since President Maithripala Sirisena sacked the prime minister last year and replaced him with former strongman ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Hansen, Chief of Staff, The Conversation If you have kids, chances are you’ve worried about their presence on social media. Who are they talking to? What are they posting? Are they being bullied? Do they spend too much time on it? ...
New Zealand Police has won a prestigious World Class Policing Award for its ‘more street than station approach’ Mobility programme, which has saved millions of hours of officers’ time. ...
SEA-Unite SkyCity workers are expected to strike this weekend after 50 called in sick with symptoms linked to smoke inhalation from the convention centre fire. ...
In a powerful rebuff to critics who question whether the prime minister is willing to use her political capital, this morning she powerfully demonstrated her commitment to New Zealand culture.For two years, my professional life has been devoted to winning respect for the lowbrow, beaten-up, off-brand artefacts that truly define ...
MPs and staffers will likely begin moving out of their Bowen House offices over the next six months, so the building can undergo earthquake strengthening work. ...
The party that sold off the BNZ, NZ Rail, Petrocorp, Postbank, the Shipping Corporation, Air New Zealand, the State Insurance Office, the Tourist Hotel Corporation and a host of other New Zealand assets is at it again – with the assistance of its coalition ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trent Penman, Associate professor, University of Melbourne As sure as night follows day, this week’s bushfires prompted inevitable debate about whether fire authorities should have carried out more hazard reduction burning, and whether opposition from conservationists prevented this. There are two key ...
A new poem by writer and performer Freya Daly Sadgrove.TURDUCKEN I blow my body around like the huge clump of brown hairthat I once saw blowing up Cuba StreetI follow its movements with interestI put a video of it on the internet my favourite bragis that a groundskeeper ...
PHARMAC has backed down on a controversial drug brand switch affecting patients with epilepsy and mental health conditions after three people died following the change. ...
Tara Ward reviews Goodnight Kiwi, a new series that features well-known New Zealanders reading bedtime stories to kids. It’s strange to think that New Zealand television wasn’t always the 24-hour, infomercial-tastic extravangza that it is today. Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, our televisions used to go dark every night at ...
FIRST Union members at Countdown have ratified a new agreement that will set their supermarket team on a path towards a living wage, and significantly raise the pay of 15,000 workers across the country. ...
13 moments that prove the music awards are so much > than all other award showsBENEE cleaned up, every performance was somewhere between an eight and a ten, there was an unfeasible quantity of award presenter awkwardness and many nights ended very late. The music awards are over 50 and ...
While the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Commission are examining whether New Zealand laws properly balance the issues of freedom of speech and hate speech (whatever that might be), taxpayers are helping to finance Chinese propaganda. Hateful propaganda, we suggest. The Screen Production Grant has handed a $243,000 subsidy to a ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Media Peter Thompson (Stuff): A new model for public media – but have the old ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout (Viking Penguin $35)“Olive struggles to figure herself out, and has an urgent ...
After more than seven months of trying to end a tenancy to protect neighbours, a Rotorua property manager has finally received approval from the High Court to end the tenancy. ...
We agree with the Ombudsman Peter Boshier in his new report on councils QUOTE ; “leaders, officials lack of action to "ensure an approach is adopted that is consistent with openness and transparency" Un-quote. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1911/S00186/chief-ombudsman-new-report-wakeup-call-for-council-leaders.htm ...
Māori food systems are rich with potential, and whānau-based food producers across the country are looking to traditional ways to ensure their communities thrive in the future. Alice Neville reports from the Eat New Zealand Food Hui.In recent years there has been much talk – in food business, hospitality, tourism ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) commends the Government’s proposal to take school zoning responsibilities out of the hands of school boards and principals and instead have these taken up by a new Education Service Agency. ...
SINGAPORE, Nov 15, 2019 - (ACN Newswire) - Global BioLife Inc, the U.S. subsidiary of Singapore eDevelopment Ltd (SeD), will present its 3F Antimicrobial Fragrance as a new method to prevent and treat Tuberculosis at the ASM Biothreats Conference, ...
The National Party is calling for the Auditor General to investigate a bid for tax payer money made by a forestry company set up by a senior New Zealand First figure; and an award-winning author detained on Manus Island by Australia for six years has touched down in Auckland ...
Responding to news that the Screen Production Grant handed a $243,000 subsidy to a propaganda film produced by Chinese state-owned enterprises, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Louis Houlbrooke says: “Taxpayers have all been made complicit ...
The campaign to take more colour coded bins into the regions has been developed by The Packaging Forum which promotes recycling under the Government’s Love NZ brand and The Auckland Litter Prevention Steering Group which manages the Be a Tidy Kiwi ...
Shane Jones calls protesting farmers 'rednecks' following rowdy march on Parliament; and top council staff 'manipulated' reports to hide bad news from councillors and public. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodie Bradby, Professor of Physics, Australian National University There’s a lot of uncertainty in a research career. Most funding – and most jobs – are doled out by the project, or in chunks of a few years at a time. Recently, however, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wanning Sun, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Technology Sydney The Australian government has indicated that “diaspora communities” are crucial to Australia’s public diplomacy mission to promote the country abroad. It has also identified online and social media as essential ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Bright, Senior Lecturer of Addiction, Edith Cowan University For many parents whose teenage children are completing Year 12, this time of year means mixed emotions. Parents might feel proud, exhausted and excited. And as young people start heading to schoolies and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Heiko Timmers, Associate Professor of Physics, School of Science, UNSW Canberra, UNSW Much is made of the “next generation” of nuclear reactors in the debate over nuclear power in Australia. They are touted as safer than older reactors, and suitable for helping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fran Gale, Senior Lecturer, Social Work and Community Welfare, School of Social Science and Psychology, Western Sydney University Children are too rarely asked their perspectives on public spaces. Traditionally, adults make choices for children, particularly about how they live and play. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW What do a billionaire, a former vice president, and a US democratic socialist have to do with Australia’s nearly three-decade run of economic growth? More than you might think. The race for the Democratic Party’s 2020 ...
Open Mike 26/08/2018 
Some readers may remember that I mentioned last year that I was applying for NZ citizenship. I filled out the paperwork and had my original citizenship interview in February. Everything went well until they discovered that, because I had spent five months in the US in 2017, I had not ...4 hours ago
by Deirdre O’Neill It is becoming quite acceptable for certain sections of the left to declare that people like me – women who are ‘gender critical’ – should not be allowed in leftist or anarchist spaces. Leaving aside the arrogance and implicit authoritarianism of this claim, its lack of critical ...5 hours ago
There is an article in The Conversation, written by Jeremy P. Shapiro (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University), about what he sees as the psychologically-based underpinnings of three main matters that seem to vex people all around the planet. The article is titled “The Thinking ...23 hours ago
. . Blogger Martyn Bradbury has won his case against unreasonable search and surveillance against the NZ Police; and subsequent Police attempts to produce evidence in secrecy, in a closed Court. His case highlights a disturbing growing trend in Aotearoa New Zealand for State power to be used against ...1 day ago
That's the only response to the findings of the Ombudsman's investigation into LGOIMA practices at the Christchurch City Council:My investigation identified serious concerns about the Council’s leadership and culture, and its commitment to openness and transparency. In particular, Council staff raised concerns with me about various methods employed by some ...2 days ago
Different Strokes: If a multicultural immigration policy imposes no obligation on immigrant communities to acknowledge and ultimately embrace their host nation’s most cherished traditions and values, then how is that nation to prevent itself from being reduced to a collection of inward-looking and self-replicating ethnic and cultural enclaves?THE COALITION GOVERNMENT’S ...2 days ago
Recently more than 150 post-graduate students and young scientists presented an open letter to the Green Party via The Spinoff, encouraging them to reconsider their position on genetic modification. Their target is tackling climate change issues.[1] Can any party continue to be dismissive about genetic modification (GM) contributing to ...3 days ago
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...5 days ago
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If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ... 1 week ago
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…
Installation complete: this was nothing ... 2 weeks ago
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...3 days ago
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Green Party MP Gareth Hughes first entered Parliament in 2010. ...3 hours ago
The government has announced a suite of practical changes to the Residential Tenancies Act in its bid to make renting fairer and more secure. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happening?A number of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) has just been announced by associate minister of housing Kris ...4 hours ago
Many fund managers are overconfident and the public buy the illusion. ...8 hours ago
Part 2: In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department explains what ministers should be told by public servants ...9 hours ago
In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department summarises our governing arrangements. ...9 hours ago
New Zealand's coroners learnt lessons of cultural competency and communication from March 15. ...10 hours ago
As a follow-up to our post about police station office hours for the public and in the cause of balance, we bring positive news – or rather, we are passing on the positive news which the police delivered in a press statement, It’s all about the productivity gains achieved – it ...1 day ago
SPECIAL REPORT: By Philip Cass in Brisbane Melanesian Media Freedom Forum – Day two – The second day of the Melanesian Media Freedom Forum began with praise for the work of young Pacific journalists by Professor David Robie and ended with a warning that threats to journalism in the ...1 day ago
"I rang the ambulance service then went to the shed": a new short story by a master of the form, Oamaru writer Owen Marshall. ...1 day ago
India’s decision not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership promoted by China is politically significant. But its impact on trade and prosperity is more nuanced, as Bloomberg explains. It avoids some market opening on both sides (India to agriculture; others to services) that would have been economically beneficial. But ...2 days ago
Phil Goff warns of further city centre chaos as City Rail Link project enters stage three. ...2 days ago
PHARMAC has backed down on a controversial drug brand switch affecting patients with epilepsy and mental health conditions after three people died following the change. ...2 days ago
The National Party is calling for the Auditor General to investigate a bid for tax payer money made by a forestry company set up by a senior New Zealand First figure; and an award-winning author detained on Manus Island by Australia for six years has touched down in Auckland ...2 days ago
Shane Jones calls protesting farmers 'rednecks' following rowdy march on Parliament; and top council staff 'manipulated' reports to hide bad news from councillors and public. ...2 days ago
Dan Rowe nails it.
To read his brilliant article, click here.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/food/23-08-2018/why-you-should-give-a-damn-about-feedlots/
Bring on the lab meat alternatives.
Even more animal cruelty.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/food/24-08-2018/action-promised-on-intensive-farming-after-distressing-images-released/
And even more.
Thanks to Kirsty Johnston for uncovering this monstrous practice.
This barbaric………
Read the whole article here.
And do something!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12113527
Scum.
“”Some will leave the cow pregnant as long as possible to get a bigger foetus to get more blood, to get more money,” the insider said.”
I m not a fan of killing pregnant cows and I noted they use foetal blood for the fake meat industry.
I saw that.
I don’t eat fake meat.
Odds are yourself, or one of your own has benefited from diagnose using bovine foetal serum in laboratory cultures, too.
I should have clarified , I’m not a fan of deliberately getting cows in calf to kill or waiting till they are right on the drop to send them . We send plenty of in calf cows to slaughter for ligitamate reasons
So the sum of the arguments made thus far against three horrific examples of animal abuse are:
1. Some people like eating meat.
2. It’s never going to change. People have always eaten meat.
3. People will lose their jobs.
4 You are too black and white about issues.
5. Your message is too blunt.
Let’s look at slavery in the eighteenth century.
Some people liked having slaves.
Many people said it couldn’t change.
It was argued that jobs in the cotton factories would disappear.
And slavery was abolished.
Well not this lab meat.
Heavily pregnant cows are being slaughtered and the blood drained from their unborn calves’ hearts to be sold for export – where it’s used to produce vaccines and fake meat.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12113527
The gulag is being exposed.
You’re equating the collection of animal byproducts to the millions, including members of my own family, who suffered the most terrible deprivations and died in forced labour camps, you POS.
Go fuck yourself.
I am deliberately comparing the systematic torture, degradation and slaughter of sentient beings.
To quote Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere, a senior law lecturer in the field of animal law and welfare, on the matter.
” One has to consider that we’re not talking about non-sentient beings. We’re talking about animals that can feel pain and distress, and also have the capacity to feel positive emotions,” he said.
Slow down Joe 90. We are all helpless animals at times, it isn’t awful to consider both human animal and field animal suffering. It actually is an indication of reaching higher sensitivity and respect for all of us.
Exactly my point.
You devalue your argument. You’re a wanker for bringing that in especially as you’re a born again vegan.
You don’t have a point. You have a sanctimonious, rotating grievance schedule of whatever issue of the month that you happen latch yourself on to, and then you spam the bejesus out of it.
He actually does far more damage than good with his over the top black and white approach. I was involved in the animal welfare/animal rights area on a voluntary basis for several decades and even some of the hardcore animal rightists cringe at the type of approach Ed uses. I still totally support getting rid of any form of animal cruelty etc but react quite the opposite to Ed’s dictatorial one dimensional lectures.
Ditto I have many highly qualified friends in the professional drug and alcohol counselling field. When I showed a couple of them Ed’s comments last Sunday, they had apoplexy as his approach is the exact opposite to the approaches that are proven to get results in that area. I actually wonder about his age – maturitywise rather than physical – as most people reach the realisation that the real world is not black and white but has many shades of grey by their late teens/early 20s.
…his approach is the exact opposite to the approaches that are proven to get results in that area.
So if Ed’s “shock, horror” approach doesn’t work what will to get people to acknowledge the inherent cruelty of breeding animals, often in inhumane conditions, so they can be slaughtered so humans can choose to eat animal flesh.
It’s a serious question.
What do your friends say does work in drug and alcohol counselling?
I’m genuinely interested because I was in a cafe this morning ordering a flat white (non-dairy of course) and looked in the food cabinet to find two vegetarian options (one being the ubiquitous, imagination-free frittata) while several other options had bacon in them when they would have been fine without it.
Why? Consumer expectation and habit I guess. So many people seem to think they haven’t eaten food unless it has meat in it.
Dude’s clueless.
More then a thousand families in my community rely directly on the meat processing industry for their livelihoods and occasionally, I’ve relied on the industry myself.
Over the years I’ve got to know lots of skilled and unskilled people who work at the plants and despite being a laborious, uncomfortable and at times, rather unpleasant job working for the likes of Talleys, they’re proud of their work and most give an actual fuck about the animals they’re processing.
They’re the ones attending to the animals welfare by using holding, herding, kill and stunning methods accurately, doing the huge days to get them through plants in a timely manner and following delays and breakdowns, doing the early calls and unscheduled OT
The folk operating the knock box are the ones reporting broken tails and the those doing the evisceration are reporting parasites and animal health and the bunging, singing, and pelting crews are the ones reporting udder and hock injuries.
And I’ve heard of breakdown saw operators reporting bruised, maltreated carcasses, too.
That’s not to say it’s all sweetness and light in the meat industry and that there aren’t some dodgy AF farming practices.
But rather than harangue, lecture, and threaten livelihoods, newly minted sensitives souls like Eddie have realise that despite their sentient being shtick, the meat industry is here to stay and if they give a rat’s arse about animal welfare, begin advocating for better practices.
What is grey about industrial factory farming like this?
Still can’t see relevant reply buttons (on two different browsers) so this one is for James lower down in the thread because I’ve restrained myself for long enough:
Most people eat meat
So f…n what? It doesn’t make it right.
Do you ever stop and consider for a second that the small, quiet voice might be the voice of reason, the voice of mercy, the voice of justice?
Or do you never hear it?
Far easier to come on hear and say “I love beef”. I was waiting for you and sure enough you appeared. And you accuse Ed of being a broken record.
You come over a real bully boy in your manner, joe.
I will not be silenced by your abusive tone.
People once said slavery was ‘there to stay.’
People argued that they’d lose jobs if slavery went.
Thanks to the courage of people like William Wilberforce it was abolished.
Oh look, Eddie thinks he’s the Willy Wilberforce of his day.
Conceited twit.
I love beef – although don’t eat as much as I used to – I prefer pork and chicken.
However the beef I do eat is with homekill for first light farms – they put out an amazing product.
It would be nice if you could debate the issue and not attack the messenger.
Your bullying style is abhorrent to many.
There are significant issues with the industrial farming in New Zealand
Feedlots.
Winter grazing.
The killing of pregnant cows for profit.
Most people eat meat.
You are the ones who attacks people and their morals because they eat meat.
What is an issue for you might not be an issue for the majority.
But you are like a broken record.
Who are these many?
I agree.
Most people do eat meat.
However, I very much doubt that most people realise how their meat is processed.
The stories about feedlots, the killing of pregnant cows and other horror stories will mean more people will stop believing the fantasy they are told about animal farming.
You make a lot of assumptions that people are ignorant of facts if they think different to you.
People are still going to eat meat and enjoy it.
Roll on bbq season.
The Reply button seems to be inconsistent today so this is for Joe 90.
But rather than harangue, lecture, and threaten livelihoods, newly minted sensitives souls like Eddie have realise that despite their sentient being shtick, the meat industry is here to stay and if they give a rat’s arse about animal welfare, begin advocating for better practices.
Ah, no. The meat industry is here to stay? Good luck with that.
There is some huge cognitive dissonance going here Joe with someone who is concerned about how an animal was treated before they kill it. You sound like James.
Killing less cruelly is still killing. Humans do not have to eat meat to survive and if we didn’t, a huge number of other sentient beings with whom we share this planet would not have to die in distress. Or they would simply not be bred as food for humans in the first place.
Do you think even sheep with their more limited intelligence don’t know what’s going to happen to them as they are pushed up the race? I’m sure they smell it in the air.
And as for pigs, they would have an even better idea.
And don’t think I haven’t experienced the reality. Many years ago in another life I worked in a freezing works. Interesting we called them “freezing works” not killing sheds, although they are referred to as slaughterhouses. Nowadays they are referred to as meat processing plants. Call them what they are I say.
I was lucky I guess to work in the freezers but at times we went up to the top floor to see how the frozen carcasses got to us and I know it’s not pretty.
But despite my misgivings about Ed’s approach when I watch some of those clips I cry – literally. Because I know it’s wrong.
How do you spot a vegan at a party?
Just wait, they’ll tell you.
To James
It is clear many people had no idea about feedlots in NZ from Checkpoint’s coverage.
@David Mac
Do you actually have an argument in defence of feedlots and other horrific examples of animal cruelty exposed in the past 3 weeks – or is your contribution just to join in the name calling led by joe90 and James?
Ed, I don’t really want to get into a conversation about wolves with someone that comes running down the hill every morning shrieking ‘Wolves’. I think you’re obsessed and incapable of entertaining anything resembling a balanced view Ed.
Does your poo smell?
@David Mac
What is a ‘balanced view’ on feedlots?
What is a ‘balanced view’ on killing pregnant cows?
What is a ‘balanced view’ on the industrialised killing and torture of 65 billion animals?
Oh give us a break Ed. This isn’t meant to be a soapbox for endless stuff from anyone. Make your point then shut up. Stop hitting us over the head with your superior ideals. You are becoming a troll. Are you in the USA did you say in one of your comments? Related to Trump perhaps?
GW
Leave the insults out of it..as you request others to do…
Are you ok?…your comments are becoming increasingly angry by your previous measures..
There’s a pack of ravioli in the freezer that kinda had tonight’s dinner written on it. With tomato sauce, olives, capers, maybe some artichoke hearts.
But after those videos I’m in the mood for something with a bit more protein and texture. Burgerfuel’s special for this month with a couple of thin-sliced steaks is looking mighty appetizing rightabout now.
Making a smart comment does not equal a cogent argument against cruelty to animals.
Feedlots are an abomination.
I’m very unlikely to get any more cats after I needed to call time on my dear old buddy, at least until I move somewhere where cat-like creatures are part of the local ecosystem. Because Gareth Morgan actually happens to be mostly right on the topic of cats in NZs natural places.
But if Gareth Morgan happened to be my neighbour, I’d be absolutely sure to get a couple more. Can you possibly think why, and how that applies to the way you present your views here?
Pointless debating with you.
Waitatapia Station, west of Bulls, bring cattle down from the central plateau to overwintering feedlots to keep them dry and warm and feed them locally cropped fodder.
Are they an abomination?
The thread I started was about feedlots, winter grazing and killing pregnant cows.
The purpose was to highlight some of the cruellest practices going on in the industrial farming model.
If the feedlots near Bulls have the same environmental impact and treat cows like 5 Star do,yes it is an abomination.
Do you approve of the industrial farming model as highlighted by the 3 stories I highlighted?
It is pointless debating here. Real truth from you Ed. Go somewhere else and enlighten them.
Ed gives an example of why I think that there should be a stop on any one thread of say five comments. If a person can’t make his or her point in that time then they are just a waste of space.
My five are about up so I will withdraw.
BTW Ed, the burger I ended up getting was really gooooood. An absolutely delightful combination of the holy trinity of well-done beef mince, bacon, and cheese, with some extra trimmings you wouldn’t want to know about.
Thanks for inspiring me out of my last few days of meat-free eating to go get it.
What tenants knew already but its nice to have Consumer NZ speak out
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/106256411/rise-of-property-management-industry-significantly-disadvantaging-tenants-consumer-nz-says
A tenant story I have heard. The tenant knew that the owners wanted to return and take possession of the house later in the year and was waiting for advice giving a period in which to search for another rental.
Recently a phone call was received asking were they ready to be shift out so that occupation could be taken up in a week. Apparently an email had been sent months ago and hadn’t been seen by the tenant. The tenant looked through the various folders but no record of any message. In the end an extra week was allowed. But what a shock and upset to be so near to being homeless, and with children and furniture to have shelter for.
The point here reinforces my own feeling, that turning away from paper to the ephemeral world of the net, is going to be a huge disadvantage to communication.
Both systems are helpful, and using both will be wise. Perhaps a letter with a follow-up internet confirmation, or vice versa. It would have been a great thing for this tenant to have received a confirmation in the mail.
The good news is that with a little time off work, and a short search on the internet and a bit of travelling by car, a new place that is rather small but suitable for about a year was found. Big relief. But the stress for people unable to get time off work, to have public transport at suitable times and then time to tramp the streets to visit the advertised offerings for suitability, the shifting of furniture, the final cleaning to the required level for bond return, as well as looking after the children, thinking also about school and how to access it.
A big burden. Can we decide to love all our families in NZ please, and give them much more support that they can call on when needed?
Wrong.
Shifting to digital will improve communication. Email can even force a reply.
Paper takes longer, costs more and can simply get lost.
No, they should have had an agreed date for the end of the lease.
A fixed-term lease doesn’t suit everyone.
Dunno what you mean by email being able to “force a reply”. Request read-receipt can be declined.
Personally my feeling is that unless the service is documented officially (and who’s to know if an email went to an unchecked or wrong address), the end of lease doesn’t count.
In the world of Captain Hindsight, the landlord should have called the tenant and confirmed the receipt of the notice.
DTB
You are so sure of yourself. Pity that you don’t live in the real world.
I do live in the real world.
It is you who are refusing to change with it.
Yes, he attacks me for challenging the present farming model.
Seems you’re wanting an alternative to the use of covered feed pads to extend pasture rotation, control nutrient run off, effluent and leachate, manage soil structure, and during/after wet conditions, prevent pasture damage, reduce the pugging of paddocks and prevent lameness/mastitis, manage animal health and nutrition, and keep the damned beasties warm and dry.
Shifting to digital will improve communication…
WRONG!
Yes DTB, you have a digital fetish, I get it…
The ‘real world’ you claim to live in…tell me all about it…genuinely interested how you see the digital world , ‘as real’..
It’s not the digital world that’s real.
It’s how it changes the way we interact with the world.
How it allows us to accept reality the way it is rather than through the delusional ideologies of yesteryear.
Simon’s Denials
Simon Bridges has blamed the Labour Party for Leaking his disgusting over expenditure of Tax Payers money in his cocky little jaunt through New Zealand.
Even though he already knew that was not the case.
Why do the Leaders of national lie about virtually everything. Housing crises; they lie about the Poverty affecting thousands of kiwis; lie about the so called Drug abuse of kiwi youth who apply for jobs; Lies lies Lies
Simon, like Paula, like Sir John Key, like Sir Billy English – is ignoring reality and tarring himself with the same outrageous dishonesty that defines the National Party and its followers.
It is an utter shame that nearly 42% of our Parliament is totally untrustworthy. Not only incompetent – but deliberately slippery and crooked.
They have to else no one would ever vote for them.
Robert Fisk: Israel is building another 1,000 homes on Palestinian land and nobody is saying anything
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/israel-settlement-expansion-1000-new-homes-palestinian-land-robert-fisk-wheres-the-outrage-a8504471.html
Well we know where we can find builders if we need them eddy.
Hell – labour can’t build that many in Auckland. So quite the achievement.
Great to see our PM continuing the the Key tradition of post match locker room hobnobbing with a professional sports team who exploits the occasion to plea for ( more) corporate welfare $$$ from an already pressured new government.
SSDD.
” … plea for ( more) corporate welfare…” Please elucidate, with references.
Philj, I think this maybe the article Rosemary is referring too.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12113673
This bit… ‘”I said (Steve Hanson) to Grant Robertson they should be our biggest sponsors because we’re their biggest brand, and could she find some money to help us compete against the likes of England and France to help us keep our players. So there wasn’t a lot said after that.”
Thanks Cindy, can’t link from my phone.
Seriously, footage of Ardern in the locker room should have come with a trigger alert for those of us still traumatized by such images of Key similarly fawning over these well paid sports people.
Though I guess is noteworthy in these times that such professionals have actually done their job to an acceptable standard.
I. Of course I meant ‘Cinny’, damn predictive text and fat fingers! 😉
Hehehe sweet as Rosemary,
Had another chuckle, re national this week when our local weekly paper came out. A wonderful photo on the front page, of our Motueka protest for the teachers strike.
Was so happy our local rag didn’t crop my sign….hehehehe…. you’ll have a giggle when you see it, it’s hard to miss… Lmao 🙂 It’s the sign in the middle with a ‘blue logo’ 😉
You get top of the class for the most effective and readable sign Cinny.
I could see Value the children And Then Value their Teachers too. Stand outs.
I’d’ve thought Fonterra would be a bit bigger. They pay their execs as if they were.
Thanks Cinny, the link does provide an insight into how corporate and government relate, a bit like a PPP.Cheers.
national party supporters are going to lose their minds about her being in the AB’s locker room.
Last years election win is the gift that keep on giving 🙂 loving it.
Hehe.. never heard comments from the players like this when key was grandstanding….
Hurricanes players Perenara and Ardie Savea and Chiefs midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown gave Ardern a kiss after the on-field presentation, with Perenara later telling the media of his gift:
“She’s special to my family and to my community so that’s something that was important for me to do.”
Congrats to the AB’s last nights game was outstanding.
The Black Ferns/Wallaroo game was much more exciting.
Both teams played with enthusiasm, competency and flair.
The win to the recently professionalised Black Ferns was richly deserved.
I confess to having dozed off in the first half of the men’s game…despite the raucous company at the RSA.
Hey Rosemary, they didn’t show the Black Ferns game on Prime, as far as I know 🙁 Hope you had a great night out, RSA is a fantastic venue for watching sport, lucky lady 🙂
Didn’t catch the first half of the AB’s.
I’ve a long standing date at 8:30pm on Saturday nights…. addicted to The Listening Post 🙂 Excellent episode this week.
https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/
They showed the Black Ferns game on prim AFTER the ABs match, even though the women’s match was played first. It was getting to be past my bed time, having been up fairly early for work yesterday.
I only watched the beginning of the women’s match, and having recorded it, was planning to watch the rest today (thanks, Rosemary, now I know who won before I watched it 😁)
Anyway, I’m with Rosemary in that I’m not happy about a Labour-led government following the Nats’ PR strategy of locker room attendance, and related photo ops.
The thing I did pick up at the beginning of the recording of the women’s game, which showed the latter part of the cup presentation, was seeing Robertson lurking in the background. (I usually switch off the recording immediately a match ends)
I think Ardern’s media presentation does have a lot to do with Ardern’s personal style. However, I have also wondered how much Robertson was in the background providing guidance. Media presentation is in his realm of past experience. And he is also a big Union fan.
I had hoped that locker room PM attendance, and celebrity PM stuff, would have gone with Key. But it seems Ardern’s government is continuing this aspect of the neoliberal consensus, at the point when neoliberalism is passing its end date.
I DO think the PM of the day should attend the matches, by sitting in the stands, in support of teams representing NZ. However, the celebrity locker room stuff does not fit with left wing values, IMO.
carolyn_nth
To call a PM visit to the All Black locker room an example of “neoliberal consensus” is truly ridiculous.
Sure, it was not done in the past, but that is because our society is more informal with more social media these days. Not neoliberalism.
Modern PM’s are much more popular media driven than was the case, and the personalities who get the role reflect that. Evident with both Key and Ardern. Both are very different to Bolger or Clark, to take their precursor PM’s from both parties.
The PM does after all have a degree in communications, so she knows exactly what popular expectations are. Most people will like the fact that she visited the guys in the dressing room. Another way of demonstrating her connectedness.
At least she didn’t do a 3 way handshake.
It’s a mixture of both neoliberalism, and the current state of communications technologies. The form social media, and media has taken in recent times, has been strongly guided, even at times controlled, by neoliberal principles.
And the end result is the likes of Donald Trump gaining a very powerful political position, and current concerns about “fake news”. There’s too much spin and propaganda influencing voters, and this is very bad for democracy.
So, we get some political leaders who are a bit nicer than Trump, or John key e.g. Obama and Ardern, but it does not fix the deep-seated structural problems, and it is a cause for concern about the future of democracy.
The Labour Party will be aiming to equal the National Party vote next time at the polls.
There will be some on the left side of politics that won’t be happy to see Jacinda locker-room schmoozing. She doesn’t need to win their votes.
Jacinda was not only in the All Blacks locker room but also at the earlier Black Ferns match and in the locker room with the team. Earlier in the day she had spoken at the first NZ Rugby Women In Governance conference and made some pretty strong statements on the need for greater equality in the support etc of women’s rugby to that of men’s rugby.
That is a ‘first’ for those many people who have been smarting at the male domination of the sport and related money distribution for many years. I really hope Ardern’s locker room attendance at both matches is seen in light of her statements in the morning and will not go amiss with too many people.
What she said and links etc at 5.5 below.
The Black Ferns/Wallaroo game was much more exciting.
????
Rosemary, the score in the women’s game was even more lopsided than the men’s game. How exactly was it “much more exciting” than the men’s game?
Both teams played with enthusiasm, competency and flair.
Really? Both teams? Then why did one get thrashed?
I am amazed at the speed and skill of women’s rugby, but to say that they are “more exciting” than the All Blacks is just ridiculous.
I must say, at the point when I switched off the recording, I had thought the Black ferns were the likely winners as they seemed head and shoulders above the Wallaroos.
(I record the Prime matches, and wait about 20 minutes after the game starts showing before watching, so I can FF through the ads).
The women’s game is more dynamic and interesting have to say. When their star players are there its like watching the early days of Cullen and Lomu.
While the men’s can be like watching an arm wrestle sometimes..
Key was like an alien presence in the All Blacks’ dressing room. I suspect he was foisted on them by that horrible old Steve Hansen and that cheat non-pareil Richie McCaw.
This from New Zealand (reserve) Halfback TJ Perenara. “The values that she (Jacinda Ardern) stands by, and my family’s always been strong Labour and I’m proud to be strong Labour as well.” Its a rare thing to hear an All Black endorse the Labour party-especially a current player. (I believe Graeme Thorne and Tony Steel were All Blacks that were part of the National Party-even MP’s-at one stage.) I think Chris Laidlaw-former AB halfback-was part of the Labour Party once upon a time. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/sport/rugby/tj-perenara-gave-all-blacks-jersey-jacinda-ardern-after-last-nights-test-before-snapping-photo-together
Steve would rather the government spend money on a bidding war over pro sports players than a bidding war to keep medicines affordable for kiwis.
Hes in a professional game with an amateur mindset, there’s nothing stopping him from selecting overseas All Blacks players earning tons of other peoples money.
Well, nothing but the NZRFU policy of selecting NZ based players to avoid the absurdity of privately owned, northern hemisphere clubs influencing national selection.
Arent the Super rugby sides here in NZ ‘privately owned’ ?
Private ownership partnered with franchise unions under the auspices of the NZRFU, who dictate player salaries and availability.
Football seems to have sorted that out many moons ago. The best players play for the best clubs and still get to represent their country. Rugby is amateur in that respect.
Nah. Even age group teams have trouble getting players released by their clubs.
Twelve of the 28 players initially invited to a pre-tournament camp his week are not present – eight by choice, two due to injury, and two because their professional clubs wouldn’t release them
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/nz-teams/105732207/national-u20-football-team-hit-by-player-withdrawals-ahead-of-world-cup-qualifiers
Rosemary, I did not see either of the two matches yesterday but late last night I did read a number of media reports on the the two matches. Jacinda Ardern attended both matches – AND also a conference earlier in the day, the first ever Women in Governance conference.
At that conference she made some very relevant comments about rugby, reported by several media.
From the RadioNZ report (almost all of it):
Rugby needs to be more inclusive, particularly of women, to be fully deserving of the title of New Zealand’s national sport, the Prime Minister says.
Talking to a packed conference room at New Zealand Rugby’s first ever Women in Governance Conference in central Auckland this morning, Jacinda Ardern said rugby needs to “be a game for everyone, and that includes women”.
“For me if rugby is going to include us as women it should represent us equally, and have a relationship with us equally, both as players and spectators, and that means, as it does with every area of life, including women fairly, giving women the opportunity to excel, paying them appropriately, and providing leadership opportunities,” Ms Ardern said.
Ms Ardern said, when asked for clarification, she believed rugby does currently deserve to be called New Zealand’s national sport, ” but with that title we need to make sure we’re striving to lift the outcomes for women in sport as well”.
She was at the conference, articulating her vision for sporting gender equality, ahead of the Black Ferns and All Blacks double header against Australia at Eden Park tonight.
She called on rugby to use its “power, influence and reach” to promote inclusiveness of and respect for women across New Zealand – not just in sport – and said she hoped for a day when women’s sport was just called sport.
“[The Black Ferns] are incredible rugby players, they are incredible athletes, they are not incredible women rugby players, they are not incredible women athletes, they are just incredible rugby players and athletes,” Ms Ardern said.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/364912/rugby-needs-to-be-more-inclusive-to-deserve-title-of-national-sport-pm
There are also some good comments on the different way that male and female rugby is treated are also in this piece this morning on RNZ News.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/sport/364950/eden-park-double-header-crowds-tries-and-the-pm
In my view, I doubt that Ardern will give in to more money going the All Blacks’ way. If anything, she may well use her power to lever a much more equal distribution of any government money towards the Black Ferns. I understand that in the past Grant Robertson has also expressed similar views to the PM’s re the equality issue in relation to rugby.
In a lighter vein the Black Ferns doing a haka for Ardern.
And another related link I have just seen which gives more information about the Conference which was inaugurated and held by NZ Rugby.
http://www.voxy.co.nz/sport/5/319206
An excerpt:
NZR Chair Brent Impey said: “The objective was to bring together women who hold governance roles across rugby to create a strong network of Directors and support the growth of more women in governance and leadership roles across rugby in New Zealand.”
“The Board has prioritised diversity as part of its sucession planning and has already made important strategic commitments to women’s rugby including the appointment of former Black Ferns captain Dr Farah Palmer to the NZR Board, the appointment of NZR Head of Women’s Rugby Cate Sexton, increased funding for the women’s game, an historic first agreement that introduced professional contracts for Black Ferns, and a bid to host the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup.”
Additional actions taken to date to grow the diversity at a governance level in rugby include the implementation of the Diversity Report, three women are now seconded onto NZR Board sub-committees, the Constitution has been changed to ensure at least one female is a member of the Board Appointments Panel, and the number of appointed board positions has increased from three to six.
NZR Board Member Farah Palmer said: “NZR is committed to gender equity and is actively supporting the growth of women and girls through the Women’s Rugby Strategy.
Thanks, veuto. That’s very interesting.
It’s also interesting that RNZ seems to have been the main media platform where that has been reported, while Stuff focused on Ardern at the ABs. It is dangerous to be playing the cooperate media game, albeit, trying to skew it in a different direction. I would rather see a whole different approach, away from neoliberal style propaganda, to an approach that fits more with left wing values.
Women’s rugby has also been getting increasing coverage in the media, and now Prime seems to be showing their matches. When I set up to record the Black Ferns last night, was given the option to record the whole series of Black Ferns matches. This seems to be a new initiative from Prime.
But also, I recall a public talk I attended recently by an Auckland Uni professor of politics (Jennifer Curtin), about Ardern’s representation and style as PM. The biggest take-away I got from the talk was in the area of policy. It’s something that’s going on a bit below the radar, and Ardern’s initiatives around women’s rugby fits with that.
Apparently Ardern is requiring that all new policies and legislation include a gender component – ie include a report on how women’s concerns can be addressed with the policy/legislation.
I will be interested to see more of how this works out. I’d also like to see something similar with respect to income and wealth inequalities included with all policies.
Carolyn I only did a quick search so did not necessarily pick up all items on JA’s attendance at the conference or at the Black Ferns match, but RNZ was not the only one to report the earlier engagements. There were more – eg TVNZ. Did see a photo of Jacinda with Kendra Cocksedge and Lorde after the BF game but that seems to have disappeared. There seem to be more media reports on the All Blacks game. As an aside, a pretty full Saturday for JA yesterday.
I actually worked for a short time on a cross-government policy project with JA years ago when she was a fresh greenhorn in Helen Clark’s office and I was very impressed (as a much older woman) and convinced that she would eventually make it to where she is now. I just did not want to see it too soon, but I am really noticing her growing in the role.
The approaches you mention in relation to policy are well in line with the depth and breadth of her thinking etc that I saw back then and I am sure that we will see her expand these requirements for consideration of gender to other inequalities such as income, wealth, disabilities. It may not be quick enough for some here and elsewhere but she also showed maturity back then – and does now imo – in realising that Rome was not built in a day and often mistakes, backlash etc can come with doing too much, too quickly.
I was impressed with her statements etc re Curran on Friday and understand why she did not pull the plug completely at that time. There is an urgent review now underway into the appointment process for the CTO position Handley has applied for, and I suspect that if there is any hint whatsoever that Curran has muddied that, the hammer will fall again. There is a lot of steel in the Ardern psyche as well as compassion, equality etc. She is playing it careful on a lot of fronts in the situation.
I do understand that policy development is a a major strength of Ardern. However, i am still not clear on her underlying left wing values, or whether she is a soft neoliberal like Robertson. I would like to see Ardern ditch Robertson as one of her key advisors.
But also, I am concerned that Curran still has the media portfolio. It seems to indicate that Ardern (and probably Robertson, too) don’t see the re-vitalisation of public service media as being urgent. And to me that is a major problem.
But I will be watching where the policy and legislation direction goes with this government. It would be very good if it turned out Ardern is strongly left wing, and not a soft neoliberal centrist.
Carolyn, I do see where you are coming from. But you also need to understand where Ardern is coming from and who are her besties within the Labour caucus/Cabinet.
Her besties are Grant Robertson and Chris Hipkins, both of whom came into the parliamentary area of Labour with the common link between the three being Helen Clark. MS is probably much more knowledgeable of the relationships than I am. So I do not see her ditching Robertson – or Hipkins – as advisors.
Re Curran, I have seen claims that Ardern and Curran have been flatmates in Wellington. I have no idea if this is correct but as I said at 5.5.1.1.1 I believe that Ardern is being a little cautious for employment law and other legal reasons so that if she has to pull the plug completely she is covered legally in doing so. As I said, I think she is quite capable of doing so.
I can report that the women’s game commanded just as much attention from the cosmopolitan company at the FFN RSA last night as did the blokes’ game.
Being an earlier game the volume of ale consumed was low, and the informal commentary as a result was enthuastic and respectful.
Not do much for the later showcase game, as the ‘arm wrestling’ in the first half led the assemblage to resort to discussing the Australian prime ministeral shennanigans.
No booing from the RSA when Ardern went on the field to congratulate the Black Ferns.
Good report and good to hear, Rosemary. Cheers.
Was some quite audible booing at park at end of game for the PM
The bumptious, barely articulate Greg Newbold stinks up the airwaves.
The Panel, RNZ National, Wednesday 22 August 2018,
Jim Mora, Joe Bennett, Rebekah White, Emil Donovan
First topic for today’s program: the Crime and Justice Summit. Serious topic, and one which attracts some thoughtful and brilliant minds. Professor Greg Newbold was what Mora likes to call “the talent” in this discussion…..
JIM MORA: Andrew Little’s Crime and Justice, uh, Summit looks, ah, set to recommend have fewer people in prison, you would infer, and the pulling of other levers, as the Prime Minister puts it, to both keep New Zealanders safe and better treat and rehabilitate those behind bars. And as we’ve discussed before, doing both at the same time will be the trick. But, Panelists, you are all for this?
REBEKAH WHITE: I really—
JOE BENNETT: All for what?
REBEKAH WHITE: You go, Joe.
JOE BENNETT: No sorry, I just want to clarify, what am I “all for”?
JIM MORA: Okay. All for both the extra rehabilitative approach and getting prison numbers down.
REBEKAH WHITE: Sounds great in theory. How do you DO that?
JIM MORA: Yes, we do ask that as well.
REBEKAH WHITE: Ha ha ha.
JOE BENNETT: Heh, heh, heh, heh….
MORA: Joe, do you have an opinion on it?
JOE BENNETT:Ummm. I’m no criminologist. It’s, it’s, it’s very hard, isn’t it. Ummmm, the, I remember going to a prison once, visiting a prison, ahem, Christchurch Men’s Prison, um, for, with regards to some columns that I had written, and I went there a couple of times. And it was an appalling place. Ummm, just the bottled testosterone there, it bristled, it was, it was, you felt soiled and horrible and horrid to be there, and you couldn’t imagine that it was rehabilitative. Ah, but I remember the Governor there saying to me, and he had far more reason to know than I would, he said that only two things rehabilitated the inmates in his prison, and one was they got God, and the other one was they got the love of a good woman. And I throw that out there for what it’s worth, I can’t verify it, I can’t vindicate it, but he sounded as though he knew what he was talking about.
MORA: Memorable.
JOE BENNETT: Mmmm.
MORA: Memorable. Criminologist, uh, Professor Greg Newbold isn’t at the Summit. We’ll seek his views on it shortly, but first actually we want to ask him something else from a listener. Greg, good afternoon.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Hi. G’day.
MORA: Here’s the question for you, ahh, first up, uh. “Jim, at this summit are lots of people with all sorts of ideas on how to reduce recidivism. Lots of them make a living from this sector. Has anyone sat down and asked the criminals and prisoners what their ideas are as to what would motivate them to change their behavior and their lives? Is there any research like this?” asks Chris Malcolm. Greg, what’s the answer? What do prisoners want, what do they think will work?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Aww, they wanna get outa jail. Mo– heh!— mosta them, ahhm, they would come up with ideas, they’re not criminologists, I mean, I was in jail myself, as you know—
MORA: Mmmm.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: —for five and a half years, and um, awww, everybody had different ideas about what they’d do when they got out. The problem was that a lot of guys in prison say, when they’re in jail, they say, Ohhh, I’ve ruined my life, I shouldn’ta done this and I shouldn’ta done that, and when I get out I’m not going to make the same mistake, and then they get out and make the same mistake. You got 86 per cent recidivism in New Zealand over five years. So, ahhhhmmm, y’know, what prisoners say and what they actually do are two different things.
JOE BENNETT: Can I ask a question?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah. Please.
JOE BENNETT: Is there anywhere in the world which has, say, half that recidivism rate?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Ah, no, not that I know of. The United States has got pretty much the same as us. Ummm, we’ve got a pretty high recidivism rate, I’ll tell you, the United States is around seventy-FIVE per cent—
JOE BENNETT: What about Scandinavian countries?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah I mean people talk about Sweden and so on but you never see any real data from it. I went to a prison in Sweden once, and it was a pretty nice jail, but you know, you’ve got a different social situation and a different demographic makeup over there, so you can’t compare them. You’ve got to compare apples with apples.
MORA: When you were IN jail—
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Mmm.
MORA: —did you get an inkling of, if not what they wanted when they got out, which was to get out, but of what they needed, Greg, of what other fellow inmates needed to make them, ah, better citizens afterwards?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Ahhhh, not really, um. Most of the guys—I was in maximum security for most of my time—most of the guys up there had had horrific backgrounds, really terrible family backgrounds and childhoods, and that’s where the problem lay. A lot of them were very damaged before they came to prison and had histories of offending going back to when they were in school, absenteeism, neglectful parenting, abusive parenting, no parenting at all in some cases, and when you have a kid who’s been brought up in those circumstances, you’ve got a person who’s very very difficult to do anything with. It’s a problem which begins in childhood and is very difficult to turn around in adulthood. Quite often these guys wake up once they reach their forties and fifties, but between that age of seventeen to, say, 35 to 40 they can be pretty dangerous and pretty crazy.
MORA: And I know there are intentions, I’m sure they were voiced at the summit today and yesterday, about turning it round far earlier on in life, and that’s been discussed a lot.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Oh yeah.
MORA: Anzac Wallace, at the Summit yesterday: “If we are 52 per cent of the prison population”—meaning Maori—“why aren’t we 52 per cent of the people speaking?” Is he right, that we need the Maori voice louder here, Greg?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Well it’s no good just having—just ’cause you’re a MAORI on, uh, on, on crime or prisons. Ahhhhmmm, so I don’t think, uh, ahh, ahh, y’know, there’ll be Maoris at that thing that have got backgrounds, but ah, um, it, that’s not going to solve a problem, having a whole lotta people speaking who don’t know what they’re talking about. Um, you got seven hundred people there, and most of them won’t have any real background in criminology or corrections at all, they’ll just be people who’ve got nothing better to do for two days.
JOE BENNETT: Ha ha ha ha ha!
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: And you’ll have a big talk fest there, and everyone will come up with their own personal plans and bright ideas, but it’s not really going to make any difference.
JOE BENNETT: If you were Minister of Corrections what would you do?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: This isn’t the first one, there’ve been heaps of these bloody summits in the past. The reason I’m not there is that I’ve been to so many, and that’s all they are, talk fests, and so I didn’t bother going, I’ve got better things to do.
MORA: Were you invited, out of interest?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah yeah, I was invited to, uh, to, uh, apply to go up, which was essentially an invitation to go there, but I didn’t respond to it because I thought it would be a waste of time.
JOE BENNETT: Can I ask a question? Greg, if you were suddenly appointed Minister of Corrections today, what would you do?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: I’d start building prisons.
MORA: Seriously?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: I’d build a, I’d stop, uh, double bunking, and um, I’d set up a program for inmates who self-identify. A lot of prisoners aren’t really that interested in reforming, and I mean, where Maori are concerned, for example, 70 per cent are gang affiliated. Well, if you’re gang affiliated, um, then, uh, your chances of actually going on to a crime-free lifestyle when you get out are pretty limited. So I’d get guys who self-identify, who want to get out of gangs and don’t wanna go to jail, and I’d make things available to THEM, and the others I’d say, well get on with your lag and get out and good luck to you when you get out.
MORA: One obvious question, and I mean, I don’t really want to get into the Scandinavian model again today, because we’ve talked about it a bit on the Panel but there ARE places overseas, and countries overseas, with lower recidivism rates than ours and, getting back to the original question that Chris asked about getting into the minds of prisoners, and it was interesting to hear your viewpoint on that, and also what Anzac Wallace said, uh, isn’t it necessary to get better acquainted with the minds of Maori prisoners if we’re going to get that terrifically high number of people in prison down?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Y-y-yeah, well they talk about the Maori mind, Corrections talk about it. I don’t think Maoris have got different minds than Pakehas, quite frankly. I know lots of Maoris, they don’t think any differently to me, I was in jail with them, we all thought the same. I don’t think there’s such a thing as a Maori mind. And, ummmm, as far as that, you know, these recidivist rates, you can’t compare them internationally because they don’t ha—, there’s no standard measure for recidivism. They have different criteria and different follow-up periods, and unless you have the same follow-up period and the same criteria, you can’t compare different countries with their recidivist rates because you’re comparing apples with pears.
MORA: So you’re saying that when we hear about the success of individual overseas rehabilitative treatments, and someone says we’ve got the recidivism rate down from 49 per cent to seven per cent and measured that—
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Oh yeah, well they’re—BLOODY rubbish, absolute rubbish. AB-solute bloody nonsense. You look at that, you could look, I guarantee you, you give me that, that report and I’ll have a look at it, and I’ll find all the flaws in it. RUBBISH.
MORA: Heeeee-e-e-e! [chortling] We’ll assemble them all and present them for your, um, perusal! Ha ha!
JOE BENNETT: Ha ha!
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah yeah, give me—
MORA: Okay—
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: I’ll critique the bloody lot.
MORA: So you think nothing works. I mean, people are sending in ideas on the text, uh, “a low rate in Utah of recidivism, where prisoners are adopted by families.—Paul.” I mean, we hear all the time if you can connect prisoners with whanau for example more efficiently in prison, they are far less likely to go back to prison, so I mean, there’s a lot of pretty impressive anecdotage about this Greg.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah it is, it’s all anecdotal, that’s all it is. You could get, y’know, I mean, they talk about, they talk about strengthening family ties, Christ, most of the guys in jail come from GANGS. If you, if you, heh heh, if you strengthen family ties, specially whanau ties with Maori, all you’re strengthening is the GANG association. So, um, y’know, ya gotta be pretty careful about what you’re talking about with your, with your, ahhm, when you, when you talk about strengthening whanau [chortling] whanau links. A lot of them come from intergenerational crime families [chortling]
MORA: Well the same applies—
REBEKAH WHITE: You go.
MORA: Sorry Rebekah, I was just going to say the same applies to intergenerational Pakeha crime families you would think.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah, it does. It does, it does. And they—
MORA: Rebekah you were going to say something.
REBEKAH WHITE: Go.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: But the Maori problem is particularly bad because whereas about 30 per cent of all inmates have gang association, where Maori’s concerned it’s SEVENTY per cent. It’s a HUGE problem.
REBEKAH WHITE: So going back to those families and those associations, is there research around what kind of interventions are successful at, um, correcting the course of life that someone might be on?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Can you repeat that please?
REBEKAH WHITE: So is there research around what kinds of interventions can be, um, carried out?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah. Yeah yeah there’s a whole lot of Canadian—
REBEKAH WHITE: What are the most effective ones?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yes there’s a whole lot of Canadians which have done this very complicated regression analysis and they’ve got these programs which they say work. See, the problem is that most programs, and Integrated Centre Management, which we adopted in New Zealand in 2002, tried to emulate it. But the problem is: most of these programs that work take place in highly structured laboratory type situations where they’re fully resourced, they’ve got specialist Ph.D.-qualified people applying them, and they do have some effect on some people. But you can’t apply that across the board in a prison population of a hundred—where you’ve got ten thousand five hundred people in prison.
REBEKAH WHITE: So we haven’t researched this in New Zealand?
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah, they TRIED it, they tried it with Integrated Centre Management, they tried to apply it. But they couldn’t apply it in the real world context. It’s okay to apply these things in a laboratory context but if you try and apply them in the real world they don’t work ‘cos you don’t have the resources. Unless you’re going to spend millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars, ahhhmm, you’re not going to succeed in these things. So you’ve gotta be realistic about it. In New Zealand the Integrated Centre Management program didn’t alter recidivism rates one bit.
MORA: It’s interesting hearing the contrarian voice on this, from outside the Summit, as it were, Greg, but you’re painting a pretty grim picture of a New Zealand where our only successful strategy will be to build the mega-prison and lock more people away.
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: Yeah, well I think you’ve gotta, we’ve gotta improve prison conditions. I mean you can’t even HOPE to get the kinds of achievements, the kinds of outcomes that are desired if you’ve got people crowded up in multi-cell situations. I’m writing to a bloke at the moment who’s doing a degree at the private prison in Wiri and he’s having a hell of a lot of trouble studying because he’s got a cell-mate who wants to play the guitar all the time, while he’s trying to study. You know, if you’ve got, you do get people in prison who really do wanna get out and they’re taking realistic steps to stop themselves from reoffending, but if they’re stuck in an environment where achieving their goals is impossible, then they’re bashing their head against a wall.
MORA: All right, understood, and thanks for your—
PROFESSOR GREG NEWBOLD: We’ve gotta create good prisons, with plenty of room and well resourced, and the first thing you need to do is start building capacity.
MORA: All right. Professor Greg Newbold, thank you for joining us today on The Panel.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/thepanel/audio/2018659262/will-justice-summit-achieve-anything
Greg N was always a bit of a priveledged right winger @ Morrissey.
He probably should have spent his time studying gender and sexuality (not that he’s let his schooling interfere with his education in that regard).
He has however been through a bit of near death experience in recent times. So I imagine that has made him even more grumpy towards his former peers who’ve not managed to make as much good as he has.
I wouldn’t be surprised if an acceptable solution (in Greg’s mind) to recidivism would be to pump prisoners regularly with a dose of oestrogen
Don,t get too excited Cinny, i was there and she got booed by the crowd
reals? Lucky you Alan. hope you had a great night. Couldn’t hear any booing via the TV.
Can back that up Cinny sorry to pop your ballon there was clearly booing Really who cares rugby as the national game and its fans span across the political spectrum, Just enjoy the game for what it is
I was in my local, a big sports bar. When the PM was on screen one of the kitchen staff grabbed another by the arm and pointed to the screen and yelled ‘Look, Jacinda!’
If a few sad Tories in the crowd booed, it’s says nothing about how the rest of the country feels about Jacinda Ardern.
Liar. She was cheered. The only politician to be booed at Eden Park was John Key.
you weren’t there were you
I’ve been to more football games than YOU, I would bet. I wasn’t there last night, no, but I know that most people there would have cheered for her. As everyone else here has attested, there was no audible booing for her, but there was applause for her.
So there were a few National-voting drones and boors sitting near you—that’s your problem.
Yes Alan and his mates booed.
So that equates to the crowd booing.
so you weren’,t there, confirmed
What’s confirmed is that you live in your own little hateful world. Why did you boo her, by the way?
I was there and she was definitely booed, not to Len Brown or Jk standards late in his last term but definitely audible undertone of booing, sorry if any balloons popped
The funniest comment thus far!
Was there also an “audible undertone” of “any balloons popped”?
You must been sitting next to Alan and heard him.
That was you wasn’t it Ally.
It may have been bewildered.
Nup not that exercised about Jacinda. Actually quite like her just not her politics Rugby fans span across the political spectrum. I find trying to claim a political victory from it fkn rediculous. It’s just Just fact there was no booing for jacinda at black ferns presentation but definitely booing but also cheering at ab presentation Most of it is light hearted so no need to get to exercised about it I also think it’s mostly about politics intruding into a national past time than any thing else
And ed I doubt you ever watched a game of rugby in your life so with respect dear Fuck off back to your lentil patch and Galloway cat porn
By the way Ed before game enjoyed a hearty few beers a big fat juicy steak 😀
Has Chris Trotter modified his brutal views in the last five years?
I note that the leading philosopher Chris “Haw Haw” Trotter is contributing his two cents’ worth to the discussion about the Crime and Justice Summit.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-summit-of-folly-why-middle-new.html
We wonder if he has abandoned his support for Deep South lynch law….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/chris-trotter-reckons-zimmerman-jury.html
I have no idea what the fuck is going on in Trotter’s head these days. It seems he is absolutely convinced that there is some sort of bogeyman called “middle New Zealand” that is utterly reactionary, vindictive and constitutes some sort of impassive and monolithic electoral majority.
Trotter is an ideological coward who is terrified at the thought of any reform that might upset his imaginary bogeyman who has crossed over to the territory occupied by out of touch and fearful old men.
He’s a coward and a scoundrel. I’ll never forgive him for his expression of glee at the suffering of Julian Assange….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/an-unusually-inane-and-depraved-edition.html
Sanctuary
You don’t like Chris thinking about hard, uncaring middle NZ. Sounds like you might turn into one of their advocates.
And same goes for Morrissey
This blog shouldn’t be a place of attack on people who are airing the thinking of different groups in a way that you don’t agree with. Chris opens up subjects to discussion from differing viewpoints and should not be chastised for it. I don’t agree with all he says. But it is good to look at his opinions and have the right to disagree. I found this sort of carpet bombing when discussing anything that related to rape culture here.
Just lay off the vicious attack stuff please. It doesn’t help in the effort to understand the mindsets of major players in our present society.
With all the political news this week, I’ve forgotten to post something that is very dear to my heart.
THANK YOU COALITION GOVERNMENT FOR MAKING GOOD ON A PROMISE.
This news is huge and it brings so much hope to some very vulnerable girls and their families. Salisbury School saves lives.
Salisbury School tips roll increase after Government announces wider access
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/106496222/salisbury-school-tips-roll-increase-after-government-announces-wider-access
Speaking of schools.
Corinna School in Waitangirua, Porirua is the first in New Zealand to be fully accredited as a living wage primary school.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/106536924/meet-the-porirua-people-working-at-new-zealands-first-living-wage-primary-school
Christ the number of comments claiming schools must pay staff sub-acceptable wages are depressing.
I especially liked that the school thought about it enough to setup how cleaners and janitorial staff could be included in that (by taking the cleaning contractor out of the picture). Of course the cleaning contractor would never have paid the living wage.
“I especially liked that the school thought about it enough to setup how cleaners and janitorial staff could be included in that (by taking the cleaning contractor out of the picture).”
Perhaps it will be something we will see other schools emulate.
If the Government genuinely supported the Living Wage, no Government related (directly or indirectly) contract/tender would be considered unless companies vying for them paid a living wage.
Fantastic, Cinny.
I was thrilled when the new government moved quickly to lift the closure hammer from over the head of the school last December, and this news of the new direct-access pathway to enrolment should make things so much easier for families and lead to more eligible students being able to access this very special school.
Yes great news Cinny – so close to being sent down the road. Good, practical help to young females, such a good resource with experienced, caring people.
Loves Trump, hates POC, feminists, reproductive autonomy, and LGBTI folk, eugenicist, reckons the juntas of the past were the bomb, on a mission from Dog to save the country from socialism, and he could be Brazil’s next President.
On the wall of Jair Bolsonaro’s office in a modernist annex of Brazil’s Congress hang five faded black-and-white portraits. They are memoirs of a time many Brazilians would prefer to forget, when military generals ruled the country from 1964 until 1985 and the cost of insurrection was kidnap, torture and secret execution.
Bolsonaro, the de facto front runner for the Brazilian presidential election that begins on Oct. 7, is the foremost apologist for that era. He has made a career eulogizing its abuses and–for a decade after the return of democracy in 1989–calling for its reinstatement. Today he is proud of his support of the regime he served as an army captain.
http://time.com/5375731/jair-bolsonaro/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jair_Bolsonaro#Political_views
If you like good (political) parody: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/08/why-the-nordic-model-wont-work-in-the-u-s
That was funny
“It’s no accident that Bernie Sanders is from Vermont. Hope leftists like six-month winters.”
Thinking of Denis O’Reilly a regular spokesperson about and for gangs in NZ and particularly Black Power. Here is a piece about him, The NZ Herald has often published about and with him.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11602653
He has spiritual and humane thinking and also looks at how to bring these into policies and practices that take Maori out of the valley they are in to heights of personal achievement and satisfaction.
I came to the Black Power as an act of community service.
I had trained to be a priest and was imbued with the whole Paolo Friere South American liberation theology, social justice, worker-priest, servant-leader thing. When I presented myself at the door of the whare of the Black Power they accepted me unconditionally even though I am Pakeha. I experienced a sense of belonging, whanau, and unconditional love. I didn’t stop being anything – a son to my parents, brother to my siblings, a member of my faith, a Treaty partner, a committed New Zealander. Mind you, later, it has cost my whanau dearly in terms of being labelled and having suffered prejudicial treatment by officers of the Crown, especially the police.
The greatest myth about gang life is that it’s all about crime. I can’t talk about all gangs but for the Maori gangs it is essentially an association that creates a sense of whanau as an antidote to social alienation….
True leadership is a contextual concept and within that a behaviour. Take a natural exemplar, the kuaka or bartailed godwit, which at this very time of the year, is contemplating a long flight, in a flock, from Aotearoa back to China and the Siberian steppes. The lead bird, the kahukura, takes the brunt of the wind, but the dynamics of the overlapping wings in the flowing formation creates an updraught and the leader is buoyed.
That’s a lovely notion that leadership is defined by followship, and the act of followship creates an uplift. After a time the kahukura drops back and another takes its place. So this intimates that we all have a responsibility at times to lead and at others to follow. As humans we all have feet of clay so I won’t curse someone by identifying them as a living embodiment of leadership but, as his spirit is still around us, could I nominate the late Dr Ranginui Walker as a kahukura exemplar?
I think he has become ‘the apple of my eye’ after reading about his work.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12032153
Denis O’Reilly offers solution to Hawke’s Bay apple picking crisis
On the NZ Edge blog Denis has put up a few items of importance each year.
There is a memoriam on the death of friend Ranga Tuhi. He was an artist and carver and this link shows some of his work.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoD_1PLGTLQ
http://www.nzedge.com/news/
NZ Edge.com
The global life of NZ
Aotearoa Whanau Whanui Ki Te Ao Nui
Senator John McCain has died.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/364956/us-senator-john-mccain-dies-aged-81
RIP John McCain. You were who you were and whilst we hardly agreed I wish you well on your journey.
Your comments are often less than flattering to commentators here , MM…
McCain is responsible for an unfathomable amount of human misery….
Looked in the mirror lately?
[whispers] there is no mirror…
No mirror required for self reflection, Marty…
Less than flattering was an understatement, in case you didn’t pick that up…
So in being abusive to others here, yet well wishing to JM for his journey…confused ?
So you fall again. Try to keep your eyes open for the obvious next time eh?
I did consider the eulogy to JM may have been sarcasm…but there was no conclusive evidence in your initial comment, or follow up to mine…
Was it sarcasm ?
Fail again. Not good enough. End.
Brilliant, Marty…Nothing to learn here…
Sadly you’re not ready to learn – that’s a question you should ask yourself – why the self sabotage? When you remember the answer come back for the second lesson. Let go of ego – you know you can – remember?
Marty, your comments in this specific exchange tell a very clear tale…
See if you can learn about yourself…as I have done…through your commentary over the years…
We’re all at various stages of our journeys…different levels…different understandings…
Indeed we are. Most of us get out of the “pretentious pseudo-gnostic arse” stage of the journey by our early twenties.
I remember stoners saying “red pill or blue pill” and “there is no spoon” when the movie was first released. Must be a retro movie that pretentious hipster teen stoners watch these days lol
Oney you have much to learn – sorta remind me of a much younger me – ha – the road will not rise until you fall – get it now? You seem a bit stuck on this – try your breathing exercises after all that’s what they are there for. Focus on the rise and fall – hopefully things will move for you now – keep at it.
Vale John McCain.
Interesting thread.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1033152993649209344.html
He was a man of integrity and respect.
He also disagreed with people without painting them as evil or whatever. He could agree to disagree, without treating the other person or the issue flippantly.
He was a conservative, but not to the point of being corruptly partisan. And he had gravity and dignity.
I wouldn’t want to be exactly like him, but he did have a few qualities we can’t go too far wrong cultivating in ourselves or our leaders.
I agree McFlock, unlike many from his side he didn’t seem primarily motivated by the $. I believe in his own way he was out to create a better world and if we all felt that way, regardless of our political stripe, we’d end up with something half decent.
‘Theyre all’ out to create a ‘better world’…
Well expressed McFlock.
Any radical can convince those who already agree with them; the mark of a truly effective politician is persuading those who might normally oppose you.
The saltiest obit you’re likely to to ever read.
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2018/08/mccain
Yeah, there’s a lot in that which is true.
But some of it is a bit harsh – he didn’t just “not go along with the worst” of the anti-Obama stuff, he publicly opposed it. A Republican having an interest in foreign policy is quite exceptional these days. Putting more troops into Iraq initially might have actually enabled them to maintain order and stop the decay into sectarian violence (although there were many other issues, not just numbers. The yanks had the mindset to win the war, but winning the peace wasn’t ever on their radar).
But, yeah – he wasn’t all good. He was a conservative, after all.
Shame I liked John, for a right wing politician he was always gave us a bit of a giggle. He did bring us the laugh factory that was Sarah Palin. And his attacks by trump were at times, priceless in their comedic effect.
Rest in peace John.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/world/us-senator-john-mccain-dies
Julie Bishop resigns
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/364961/australia-s-foreign-minister-resigns-from-cabinet
Soymun could be next.
For my dear friend Morrissey and other conspiracy theorist on Venezuela and socialism from the economist
“Mr Maduro says this is the fault of “imperialist” powers like America, which are waging “economic war” on Venezuela. In fact, the catastrophe is caused by the crackpot socialism introduced by Hugo Chávez and continued by Mr Maduro after Chávez’s death in 2013. Expropriations and price controls have undermined private firms, depressing production. Corruption has subverted the state. Mismanagement of PDVSA, the state-owned oil company, has caused oil output to drop by half since 2014. Just as the regime has asphyxiated democracy, by rigging elections and governing without reference to the opposition-controlled legislature, so it has strangled the economy”
John Key couldn’t of saved Venezuela. Chavez chucked Maduro a hospital pass and up and died.
What we’re seeing in Venezuela is not a model of left vs right politics. It a tragic scene brought on by fairweather loaning greedy men with scant regard for the future or their responsibilities.
People like this come from all walks of life. No matter if it’s a politician milking a cash cow until it’s dead or a BOP orchardist hiring a gang of Tongan slaves. Assholes come in all colours.
Tend to agree David Mac but Venezuela never less is one of a long list of countries who have applied socialism in regard to nationalisation of the means of production that has led to misery and gross human rights abuse I do agree adopting socialist policies but maintaining a capitalist economy is a different story But surely now any pretext to full on socialism, communism is totally discredited but some in nz and on this site incredibly still back it
For and different perspective, independent of the corporate media.
Not sure RT acolyte is a step up on so called corporate media I gave it 10 minutes just got silly capitalism this, neo liberalism that ( yawn) I believe The Economist has more credibility as an independent voice
” I believe The Economist has more credibility as an independent voice”
That would make you a useful idiot then. There are so many who haunt this site.
Idiot. You know nothing.
I think we’re essentially socialists here in NZ bewildered. In it’s rawest form: I believe in you and what is important to you and in return you do the same for me.
Nice.
I think this has come about for a wide range of reasons. Starting with trying to scratch out livings in land that belonged to people that quite liked eating us. Moving on to the lording mine owners with sensational British Navy purchase orders that wanted to create a little Britain on the westcoast.
We’ve got plenty of reasons to have socialist roots.
I think the left have lost their way a bit….I’m old, I pine for the old days….You used to be able to tell you were meeting a man from the left from the callouses in his handshake, these days leftishness is determined with the speed that a racist can be identified.
I think being left is about aspiring to see a fair go for everyone. Far from what we see in Venezuela and I think it’s an aspiration most Kiwis would subscribe to.
“Conspiracy theorist”? That’s exactly what that dolt Key and his doltish cronies called Nicky Hager.
I presume you will provide something to support your claim that I am a conspiracy theorist. If you fail to do so, you have furnished us with yet more evidence that you do not have a clue about anything.
Thought provoking stuff, as ever , from Craig Murray.
“Air transport is simply far too cheap for the damage it causes and the resources it consumes. You cannot cause more damage to the Earth’s atmosphere with £30 worth of resources, than by buying a £30 Ryanair ticket to Barcelona. If you spend that £30 on fuel for your diesel car, or on coal and burn it in your garden, you will not come close to the damage caused by your share of emissions on that Ryanair flight.
The fundamental reason air travel has expanded to be so harmful is the international understanding that tax and duty is not charged on aviation fuel – unlike vehicle, train or maritime fuel. Even citizens of Saudi Arabia or Venezuela no longer can access fuel as cheaply as you do in effect when you fly.
….The question has become mixed with notions of democratisation of leisure. This should be tackled head on. There is no human right to go by air and have a sun soaked holiday on the Med dirt cheap. The Earth cannot afford to indulge the pollution caused by massive air tourism. The unpopularity of saying this means that few people in politics ever do, but it is nonetheless true. In view of climate change, for the public to expect Ryanair fare levels is obscene.
Mass air travel for leisure needs to be stopped. Maritime, rail and other more eco-friendly means of international communication need to be encouraged. As mankind has not even the political will to tackle these most straightforward of measures on climate change, I really do begin to despair for the future.”
Read it all here.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/08/time-to-end-cheap-flights/
The person spending their £30 Barcelona ticket money on diesel for their car may well be creating way fewer nasties but their drive is going to fall way short of Ibiza.
I like our Pacific Islands, I like visiting them. I’d sail there.
Last time in the UK I was passing through. The bus transfer, Heathrow to Luton, about 35 kms? was 22 pounds. The Easyjet flight to Amsterdam was 16 pounds.
I can’t think of anything that has been less subjected to inflation than air travel. I went to Sydney with some mates in the late 70’s. For us to go again tomorrow, the tickets are about the same price. If air travel had been subjected to the same inflationary forces as houses, taxi rides, beer, shoes and speedboats it would cost us $20k to get to Sydney and back.
You are at odds with Craig Murray’s viewpoint.
According to Mr Google, London to Barcelona air and road is about the same distance and a short haul Airbus A319Neo would burn 1.93 L/100 km/passenger.
VOLKSWAGEN Golf Estate diesel would burn around 5 L/100 km.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_economy_in_aircraft#Short-haul_flights
http://www.fuelmileage.co.uk/list-manufacturers/VOLKSWAGEN
Well researched.
Thank you.
The point is that you ain’t gonna jump in that there “Golf” and pop down to Barcelona for a long weekend. So the fuel comparisons are a bit pointless.
The crime family tRump.
https://www.newsweek.com/now-eric-trump-accused-stealing-cancer-charity-636044
Nonsense.
Look how the bears are celebrating sep11.
When the Mongolians are participating, ya know things are humming.
https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russia-prepares-largest-war-games-since-1981-with-combat-readiness-drills-62576
Good evening The Am Show Myanmar should be shamed into treating there people with humane care 2 wrongs don’t make it right San Suu Kyi has to be pressured into see reality that the world does not like the way people.
I think we should give some support to the AllBlacks we have to compete with nations that have huge audiences couch has seen the money on offer for our players getting out of hand .
That’s the problem in Amecia the goverment has to protect its people before its business interest.
Ka kite ano P,S one reason one should have good manners with that ladys interdict with Nassa
Here you go 1 million electric cars sold in Europe ka pai Norway know’s a good thing when they see it clean cheap to run low maintenance electric vehicles link is below ka kite ano
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/26/electric-cars-exceed-1m-in-europe-as-sales-soar-by-more-than-40-per-cent#top.
Talk about inappropriate! I wonder what the great Theodore Dalrymple
would say if he realized he’d been cited by Stephen Franks.
Who said satire is dead?
http://www.stephenfranks.co.nz/theodore-dalrymple-profiles-a-notable-nz-murderer/comment-page-1/#comment-901474
Muppetissey I warned your sandfly m8 that every time they throw there lies and corruption at Eco Maori it will burn there—— and what I have said has come true you and the sandflies are out of your League so shooo away ana to kai
Good evening Newshub If some one is cutting hole’s in my waka and causing a massif leaks I would find the person and throw them out and that’s what Simon is doing .
That’s real shocking what’s happening in Myanmar these people who are causing this un humane disaster should sort there —– and help there tangata whenua out.
That dental trainee campus in Auckland that will provide half price dental care is awesome many thanks to Otago university.
Yes I believe that te mokopuna’s time on computers should be moderated and controlled they need sleep so they can learn at school I would buy learning games for my tamariki half of them did not work my tamariki are all competent computer users now thought .
Well said Ted Ka kite ano
The Crowd Goes Wild James & Mulls You are correct Mulls Lisa is one of the greatest athlete’s of Aotearoa ka pai.
Australia need to revamp the local Rugby game copy others embrace there tangata whenua players is what I say they should do I have heard that its hard to find a Rugby Union competition in some places.
You know your long in the tooth when te tangata are retiring and they are the same age as ones tamiriki ka pai Simon.
All the best to the Tuatara .
Should have known you are a Westie James Ka kite ano