.
“The Taliban hanged a dead body from a crane in the main square of Herat city in western Afghanistan, a witness said Saturday (local time), in a gruesome display that signalled a return to some of the Taliban’s methods of the past.
Wazir Ahmad Seddiqi, who runs a pharmacy on the side of the square, told The Associated Press that four bodies were brought to the main square and three bodies were moved to other parts of the city for public display.
Seddiqi said the Taliban announced in the square that the four were caught taking part in a kidnapping and were killed by police.
Ziaulhaq Jalali, a Taliban appointed district police chief in Herat, said later that Taliban members rescued a father and son who had been abducted by four kidnappers after an exchange of gunfire. He said a Taliban fighter and a civilian were wounded by the kidnappers but “the four (kidnappers) were killed in crossfire”.”
…………………………………
I’ve read that such kidnappings for ransom were a common problem under the former Ashraf Ghani regime. There have also been several reports that some Afghans, while still watching & waiting with some trepidation to firm up their views on Taliban rule, nonetheless approve of their use of harsh penalties to reduce what had become previous rampant crime levels.
The lower the standard of living, the less tolerance for crime – no life sentences in the wild west. Something for government to think about as neoliberal policies push more and more of us out of the comfort zone.
"One of the founders of the Taliban and the chief enforcer of its harsh interpretation of Islamic law when they last ruled Afghanistan said the hard-line movement will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands, though perhaps not in public.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi dismissed outrage over the Taliban’s executions in the past, which sometimes took place in front of crowds at a stadium, and he warned the world against interfering with Afghanistan’s new rulers.
“Everyone criticised us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Turabi told The Associated Press, speaking in Kabul. “No-one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and we will make our laws on the Quran.
…
Cutting off of hands is very necessary for security,” he said, saying it had a deterrent effect. He said the Cabinet was studying whether to do punishments in public and will “develop a policy”. In recent days in Kabul, Taliban fighters have revived a punishment they commonly used in the past – public shaming of men accused of small-time theft.
…
He said now the Taliban would allow television, mobile phones, photos and video “because this is the necessity of the people, and we are serious about it”. He suggested that the Taliban saw the media as a way to spread their message. “Now we know instead of reaching just hundreds, we can reach millions,” he said. He added that if punishments are made public, then people may be allowed to video or take photos to spread the deterrent effect.
…
Even as Kabul residents express fear over their new Taliban rulers, some acknowledge grudgingly that the capital has already become safer in just the past month. Before the Taliban takeover, bands of thieves roamed the streets, and relentless crime had driven most people off the streets after dark."
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The worry is that they will also introduce harsh penalties against women for breaches of their strict morality precepts, dress codes & going out unescorted by a male family member.
In the past that sometimes also included forcing women to marry their rapists, I believe.
The US never did the maths on not going full Marshall plan with its occupations – the powers that be didn't want the effect that would have on the US labour market – and did have after WW2.
So they did corrupt occupations instead of rebuilt societies – it doesn't end nicely.
This article is a summary on why US citizens particularly white people die faster than those in Europe, and many die from unequality-related illness, diseases of despair like alcohol drug addiction and suicide, exceptionally poor education impacts on life outcomes, and more.
I've got a bit of a thing for birds. Some breeds are incredibly smart, especially when it comes to identifying sources of food.
Once they identify someone like me, who'll feed them, they come every day. And then the whole whanau will turn up in another day or two.
They're all individuals. You can soon recognise some. Even among sparrows. Their feather patterns all differ in some small way. Some birds are very bold & take risks; others aren't, and won't. You can see them trying to work out whether or not they dare get as close as Cheekybird here.
We feed a disabled magpie and his squeeze[s]. We think he was hit by a car and it's left him with what looks like a painful hobble and his upper mandibile broken at the nostril and pointing skyward at about 40°. He was on his last legs when he turned up four years ago, young, damn near staved to death and unable to forage with his jiggered beak, so it was touch and go for a bit.
He comes when he's called and prospered on a diet of dog roll, fat, meat trimmings, and the wit to hang out at our place during the local golf course culls.
They have been bringing a great deal of joy & interest to my life ever since I discovered that my stream is an entire, natural ecosystem, full of entrancing creatures, in the middle of a city suburb.
They all enrich my life immensely & I have now learned so much about all of the animal & aquatic life in & around this awa iti. It's nice to hear that someone here is also enjoying these little video vignettes.
The other day I heard Dr Bloomfield say that pregnant 'people' should get vaccinated. For Christs sake he is a doctor, does he know of any other people besides women who get pregnant? I am fed up with the erasure of women just to protect the feelings of men who think they feel like women. Woman isn't a feeling it is a fact, I don't feel like a woman I am a woman.
While I am on my soapbox I wonder how the MPs who are promoting the self selection of sex bill will explain to their daughters and granddaughters why they pushed for this bill that made their daughters and granddaughters compete with men and boys in sports and allow men and boys into their changing rooms and toilets. What is behind this attitude? There are far more important things to fix besides pandering to trans groups. I have decided that if I am still alive in 2023 I will vote Te Parti Maori as I will never be able to vote Labour or Green again, and of course the right is out of the question.
Good rant. It is ok to rant – when the ranty bits are peeled away what is left is often a very decent point. As yours.
Calling them pregnant 'people' really is a torch-light on an anomalous absurdity in the history of time.
Call yourself a woman, be a woman, express yourself as that to the heavens. And call out those who refuse to acknowledge who you are – like Bloomfield in that example.
Women are amazing. Raise the flags I say.
I often like the French way, and their saying right here is awesom imo … "vive la difference!"
(Trystan Reese transitioned in his early 20s and the endocrinologist managing his testosterone therapy informed him that he would become in fertile and never be able to carry a child — that the testosterone would render his uterus “uninhabitable.”
In his 30s, Reese carried and birthed a healthy baby in 2017.
“I am not a fluke,” Reese wrote for Family Equality, an organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ families. “Hundreds and maybe thousands of transgender men all over the world have successfully given birth or otherwise contributed their eggs to a pregnancy.”)
I am not going to argue the rights or wrongs of all this again, Janice, but Dr Bloomfield using inclusive language in no way diminishes who or what YOU are. Celebrate YOUR beautiful womanhood. I'm sorry if you had a bad night, I hope whatever caused it eases for you through the day.
Transmen are men in a medically fabricated way .Biologically they remain women, as the pregnancy testifies to.
You can of course change the definitions in a legalistic way, but the continued existence of the human race is still dependent on sexual reproduction , ova from women's ovaries and sperm from men's testicles.Whether or not men and women choose or are able to express this fact, we are all born of a biological woman .
I may be a minority in the current social climate but hey , minority rights are upheld in our society aren't they?
Me too Janice
I strongly identify with the description woman inextricably entwined with breasts womb, vagina etc.Not that my genitalia dictate my destiny , but they’re such a part of my experience as a woman ,I am distressed at their linguistic neutering
I’ve been a Labour then Green voter for as long as I”ve been able to vote.I can’t vote for either of them ,at present or anyone else for that matter .Thinking of putting my money and energy into grass roots activism instead.Traditional politics is geared to incremental change and short electoral cycles at a stage when we don’t have much time left.
I've just spent an hour listening to Helen Joyce speaking to this.
Although as a man this issue has only impacted me abstractly I can feel your distress and dismay at watching this post-modernist thought virus infect and dismantle every category on which our world is constructed.
It's an intellectual bio-weapon targeted at western civilisation.
I too have voted green or labour since I've been able francesca, but they both deserve severe punishment at the next election for pushing this bullshit. And I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed if there is enough of a backlash, especially but not exclusively from women, to spell the death of the green party in its present form.
I know more than one person who do not identify as cis women who have been pregnant; Janice. Scout is the much more wholesome example – and with political ambitions, is more willing to share their story in public ("Pepi" is a bit bigger now, but seems to be thriving).
"I hope that she grows up in a peaceful, loving world and environment where she can go swim in the river if she wants to or she can wear a suit if she wants to. She can come out as transgender if that's who she is and it will be safe for her to do so. She won't have to question every single move she makes like I've had to."
Perhaps Bloomfield is more concerned about spreading the vaccination message to as wide an audience as possible? Rather than enforcing colonial gender essentialism in Aotearoa. He is not one who strikes me as ignorant or simple minded.
Spreading the vaccine message by deleting the word "women"?
I think he's covering his butt wisely at a time of media lynch mobbing
Do you think it's possible that a pregnant trans man would somehow not know unless Bloomfield deleted the word woman , that it was ok to have the vaccine while pregnant?
How is it that "women" can be deleted , with the exception being when transwomen claim to be women.
Gays and lesbians began to prevail when they stopped hiding and came out proud and loud.
At least Scout agrees to have their private life made public; IFL. The less wholesome examples I could mention would not thank me for airing their dirty laundry in this public forum. Let's just say; it is still possible for trans people to be raped (I should know! Though not personally being able to fall pregnant is a small mercy there), and leave it at that.
Still, I do think that the Gender Critical are really sniping at the wrong target here. The imminent drama that is going to erupt over the introduction of Artificial Uterine Technology is going to make this kerfuffle look mild in comparison! "Pregnant People" is nowhere near as dehumanizing as "Biobags" courtesy of A. Flake (there are other people on the Philadephian research team of course, but that name does stick in mind).
Personally, I regard GC as effectively a religion that is put out that others don't obey its commandments. But the world moves on, and the cutting edge of the present day will soon look quaint and antiquated. If any are then alive to see it.
Felix; Scout is NonBinary, so falls into the category of; pregnant persons, used by Bloomfield that began this thread (with Janice up at comment 4.0). That may not be important to you, but it certainly is to them.
What do you mean "is non-binary"? Are you claiming the discovery of a new type of mammal? The fact that she is able to conceive, carry, and birth live young suggests otherwise.
Women giving birth aren't just bodies though, they're also mental/emotional people with needs around culture. In the same way I would expect health services to have culturally appropriate approaches to say Māori, I would expect the same for trans/NB people. The issue is about how this impacts on women as a sex class.
The thing that interests me more is how much of the desire of trans men or NB females to remove women's language is because of gender dysphoria and how much is politics of identity.
It seems like a lot of song and dance to describe a condition that is pretty well universal .I think I must be non binary. I know I'm a woman..because I was born with the biological architecture that enabled me to conceive and bear children .None of it was perfect, to the male eye, small hips, practically non existent breasts, but it all worked brilliantly, milk for Africa.
Genderwise, I don't identify with any of the stereotypes of femaleness, some of them, yes, but I also have what society views as masculine traits.
Who actually conforms entirely with gender stereotypes? I venture none.
Binary sex with very rare exceptions is just a biological fact that keeps the human race reproducing itself
Gender on the other hand is a social construct, a set of societal expectations that has been pretty much dismantled over the generations.I mean really, you can pretty much do whatever the hell you like .I know women builders, electricians, doctors, soldiers, mechanics.I don't own a dress, have only worn them as a theatrical prop at a wedding, can run a chain saw and change a tire.Also love to cook and wear makeup.So I declare myself to be of non binary gender.
In fact I think we'd all be a hell of a lot better off not constructing ever more boxes to stuff ourselves and each other into
Felix; Scout is NonBinary, so falls into the category of; pregnant persons, used by Bloomfield that began this thread (with Janice up at comment 4.0). That may not be important to you, but it certainly is to them.
Likewise, it's important to many women to use language that makes us visible. This is the conflict of rights, and because No Debate was so successful, we're now in an antagonistic stand off instead of working together to negotiate a resolution. Women won't go away on this, and if we win trans people may be harmed in the process or backlash, not because women want that, but because the gender identity activists and neolibs tried to take our rights away and we fought back and society was too stupid to let both groups needs be met.
Births, Deaths, Marriages, Relationships Registration Bill and SOP 59
A quick note to see whether you – and others – are aware that the Governance and Administration Select Committee (GASC) are meeting again today and on Wednesday to hear further oral submissions on the BDMRR Bill and SOP.
The GASC has split into two subcommittees A and B which are meeting simultaneously (10am – 5pm) with both meetings being live streamed liv on the GASC Facebook site– links to these here – https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/schedule-of-meetings/
I am having a bit of trouble watching to due to my old PC crashing (and my very bad eyesight) but did catch parts of a submission about an hour ago to SubCommittee A (Rachel Boyack, ( Deputy Chair to GASC) , Elizabeth Kerekere and Nicola Grigg by a woman calling for the SC to take more time etc before rushing through the Bill and SOP in view of the possible negative effects re safety of both women and trans people ivis a vis self ID and access to safe places. Will try to determine the speaker etc a she was very articulate in the little I saw.
Thanks to you and others bringing the issue of women safe places and the issues to notice as I fully support your stance on the need to protect women’s rights to safe places while also supporting trans rights to similar safe places – and to much more simple procedures to express their gender id on relevant official documents.
I have been following this quite closely from a point of view of the parliamentary processes etc (as a former public/state servant of many years). Frankly I came away from the Second Reading of the Bill in August feeling like I had stepped Through the Looking Glass into an alternative world where up was down and black was white!
Re the Second Reading speeches, I was appalled by the attitude of certain (not all) Labour MPs (in particular Rachel Boyack) to the concerns of women re safe places and our hard fought for rights to these; whereas the National women MPs (Louise Upston, Barbara Kuriger – and in particular Nicola Grigg) mentioned these and Nicola Grigg (Nats spokesperson on Women) spoke strongly in support.
However, Collins restructuring of her Shadow Cabinet in late August has had considerable effects on Select Committee memberships and in the case of the GASC this has meant the both Upston and Kuriger are no longer on the SC with Kuriger replaced by Ian McKelvie (N) coming in as Chair of the SC, and Rachel Boyack as Deputy Chair.
I have only watched bits of the first hearing of the GASC hearing last week but was appalled at the behaviour of most of the MPs …
Any thoughts of a further post etc on this? Happy to contribute more to/participate in one – and do qualify for a women only one.
Thanks, really appreciate all that. I'm trying to write a post about last week's GAC, it's complex and it's been hard to find information. Your understanding of the process would be invaluable. I wonder if I should put up a women only post in the first instance so we can talk it through. I'm also quite busy in RL at the moment.
There's also been a lot going on on twitter re the Lancet and ACLU removing women's language.
I as incredibly heartened to see FOWL's submission last week, seeing those older 2nd wave feminists stand up and speak so strongly. One post that would be good would be all the GCF submissions outlined in one place (I haven't watched them all yet). I can link to the videos for people to watch (with time stamp). Will see how I go.
I agree that the whole thing is very complex with so many different factors and views etc.
I had to go out yesterday but spent the night watching yesterday’s GAC Subcommittee A submissions and half the Subcommittee B ones – what else is there to do between 2am and 5am? LOL
RE a post, why not leave it until after tomorrow’s GAC hearings as, in reality there is nothing more anyone can do now that submissions are closed etc. [Edit – now see that the two subcommittees are booked for further hearings all day on Friday, 1 Oct as well).
My impressions from what I have watched of yesterday’s hearings is that the submissions cover a surprisingly large range of reasons why a wide range of people think that the Bill and SOP should not go ahead as currently drafted and that the timetable for submissions, hearings etc as been/is far too rushed.
Re subcmtee A, Boyack’s performance as Chair was better than at last week’s GAC but still reflected her bias with her cutting off people who did not support her views, but as the submissions went on, she seemed to begin to realize that the whole thing was not going to be the walkover she and others hoped for …
I want to finish watching Subcmtee B before coming to any full conclusions but my impressions of McKelvie's chairing exceeded my expectations in terms of open-mindedness etc. He pulled up Deborah Russell very sharply at one point but I need to go back and watch it again as I was half asleep by then!
My overall feelings at this stage (based on my experience of appearing before Select Committees and working as a govt departmental adviser to some) is that it was thought by the govtt and GAC that they would just be able to forge ahead with the SOP proposed changes enough to do so and get this off their plate. With over 6600 written submissions received in the very short time available to make submissions -compared to 27 (?) to the original Bill back in 2017 – that alone should have been a big wake- up call to the GAC that it was not going to be that simple. LOL
A lot of people suggested that a gender ID document separate to the birth certificate but which could be presented where needed with the birth certificate which resonates with me personally …
Anyway, just my sleep deprived thoughts at this stage. Re a Post, again I don’t think it is imperative in the next few days and you/me/we could take a little more time to see what happens at the further hearings this week and possibly further on…(Note to self, check schedule for report back dates etc)
I want to go back and look again at the overall written submissions as I did a bit of a random sample last week and was surprised at the number of (form type) submissions from providers of single sex facilities like gyms who submitted questions/views on their position in allowing/disallowing self-ID people to use their facilities … Haven’t seen any oral submissions on this as yet … Were there any in last week’s GAC? Will go back and check this.
Confession time: I used to be ideologically opposed to women only or lefties only posts on the basis that this did not fit with left kaupapa and felt like gated communities with all that those represent… (I have a strong aversion to these!) You have convinced me that there is definitely a place for women only posts in terms of the response to the recent ones – and enough for me to suggest the next post on this subject should be one – but leave that to you, LOL. Not yet convinced about left only posts (but that is a totally different subject which I will leave for now, lol).
On an admin aside, how do I discretely change my email address with TS to another one I have which is more anonymous than my current one?
will reply more fully later, but I've changed your email address. See if that sticks next time you comment. You don't need a real email address, so can keep using that fake one or put in a new one yourself. Your first comment may get held up to be released manually. Unfortunately your historic comments will still have your old email address in the back end.
I can think of a few options. However discretion, and a wish to keep my body in one piece, prevents me calling Dane Coles a prostitute or Ardie Savea a trollop.
They might understand, and accept the terms, but I'm not willing to bet on it.
I think this is where the Breitbart/Peterson/Telegram crew let themselves down. Plucking terms from thin air to try win a point in culture wars of their own making.
Maintenance hole cover seems to be what they've gone for somewhere or other in the USA. Another popular one over there is utility hole cover.
Although I've personally been calling them personhole covers for years, for fun.
I also refer to policepersons.
Having worked for a year in the 70's with one really ardent (strident might be more accurate) feminist who noisily made it her business to try & eradicate the usage of "man" in any word that she could, I gave up arguing & now anywhere I think I can remove "man" from a word & replace it with "person", I do it.
My friends know that's how I roll & often find the new de-sexed word worth a smile.
Except for wopersons. No woman I've ever asked has wanted to be called a woperson. They all prefer "woman".
Felix – yes, I know, & I use them. But they don't get me as many smiles as adding person to the end of "man" ending words.
I always have that strident feminist I worked with in mind when I do call a job something like fireperson.
She got to be so outrageously anti-men, pro-women if you opened a door & held it open so she could go into a room ahead of you, she's stop & loudly announce: Don't tell me you're another of those men who think a woman can't open a door for herself!"
Bloody ridiculous! I opened them for men as well. It's just good manners to be courteous & hold a door open (especially doors with self-closing mechanisms) while letting others precede you into a room.
I never thought about. As far as I know we never had any in Welly at the time – maybe a few bouncers?
She went to London when she left. She’d have encountered a few of them there, & in Singapore & various other countries en route. She’d probably not challenge them tho. She was pretty culturally aware.
Just her social skills that were a bit suspect. I concluded she was a man-hater but subsequently learnt she had happily married a very nice bloke & they had 2 nice kids.
Probably got a bit more life experience overseas, grew up & calmed down. She was otherwise quite a smart cookie.
I have not piled into this debate and don't intend to start now except to say I'm with you Janice.
It is #$$%# (choose your own swear word) nonsense calling a pregnant woman a pregnant person. I suspect Bloomfield was coerced into using the term.
My take is: stop dehumanising people and turning them into nothing objects by refusing to acknowledge the differences between us which is worthy of celebration not eradication.
I recall the 1970s and 80s when it became a social crime to refer to chairwoman and chairman. It had to be chairperson which to my mind amounted to an insult on both your houses.
The NOW has fought for "gender equality" for decades – equal opportunity in public society, but has been unable to make an effective defence of the safety of biological women, because it was not set up to do this.
The transgender use the same arguments they did and thus they have been unable to counter them.
Possibly women need to form an alternative organisation, to continue that fight for equality but also the rights and safety of those born biologically female, including fair competition in physical activity (sport).
I can understand the concern, but I can also recall quite a few couples (and particularly the woman in the couple, announcing a pregnancy with "we are pregnant" – perhaps just naturally inclusive speech acknowledging past contribution to the event, but also perhaps reinforcing the need to encourage support in the future. Language can be a funny thing . . .
My soapbox is that there is too much noise about what gender women who identify as men are when they are pregnant. I do however, agree with the terms pregnant females or pregnant people.
This comes from being a 15 year-old pregnant person back in the day – in no way was I a 'woman' – female definitely, but woman and all the maturity and cultural baggage that entails, no. And there are a fair number of kids who are younger than that who have to deal with pregnancies. Calling all pregnant people 'women' renders these young people invisible.
I'd much rather gender activists put some time into the issues pregnant kids face. The grown-up self-identified can work it out for themselves.
there's how we feel about it personally, and then there's public health messaging.
At 15 years old would you have understood that the term 'pregnant woman' applied to you if someone on the telly had said it was safe for pregnant women to get x treatment?
I believe public health messaging would be improved if pregnant females were referred to pregnant people. I really did not see myself as a woman when I was a pregnant girl (I was just 15, not nearly 16), and I think young people would be more inclined to use ante-natal services and there would be fewer hidden pregnancies, if terminology was more inclusive. Of course there are a wide variety of views even among young teens about how they feel.
Bu as a grown woman I can understand entirely how it feels to have biology denied over and over again by demands for language and space to reflect trans rights at the expense of the needs of biological women. It's just on this issue that I think there is a good reason for changing the terminology. I'd have liked women (including me) to have thought of this a long time ago.
A quick glance at morning papers and I suggest you don't bother, it's a wall to wall whine fest of butt hurt middle class entitlement and boomer reckons.
I breathlessly await our fearlessly identarian print media to run a story about an Otara cleaner in a MIQ facility who lives with seven other people and doesn't know anyone who has ever used MIQ.
The 1980s called and asked for its unconscious racism back.
The inability to confront the race element to class in this country is an outright act of racism itself, something that should be socialism 101 but apparently escapes certain complacent old people around here.
[RL: Take a week off. You are a repeat offender with these racist and ageist tropes. Next ban will be longer.]
Yes, “marxist” is certainly used as a pejorative by some posting and commenting here–“closet marxist” (as used several times this year by Redlogix), “undercover marxist” and other references.
Marxist should be able to be used as a descriptor similar to social democrat or tory.
Marxism isn't a condition, it's a method of analysing socioeconomics, particularly capitalism. That you sling it around as a pejorative further demonstrates your lack of understanding of it.
You have a tendency to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds, Sanc … sometimes you adopt an explicitly anti-Woke persona … but then you also frequently indulge in the crude, low resolution ritualised virtue-signalling closely associated with an Upper-Middle Woke cadrelooking to enhance their in-group prestige & signal elevated social status.
Like some of the more financially privileged, socially-divorced commenters here, you wouldn’t have a fucking clue about what’s happening in lower & mixed income areas … instead you indulge in ludicrously misjudged moral posturing & performative narcissism … masquerading as ‘altruism’ & the possession of unusually refined sensibilities.
Yes, like you my understanding is that all white people are wealthy & morally suspect, all poor people are brown, all brown people are both poor & eternally innocent & virtuous.
Like I say: “crude, low resolution ritualised virtue-signalling” from a cadre of narcissistic & paternalistic middle-class professionals without a fucking clue.
It's just a completely pragmatic numbers game – we cannot give unrestricted right of return to all expats without endangering the people already here. It sucks for the expats who want to get back, but it's the sort of thing that happens in crises – the less bad of two unpleasant options has to be chosen.
I'm a bit surprised at times that some expats don't seem to understand something so obvious. It does sound entitled, but we should hold back on the criticism without first thinking about how we might behave in a similar situation.
All this stuff about "living in fear" and "hermit kingdoms" is just middle class shorthand for "I'm vaccinated, fuck South Auckland I want my overseas holiday."
A quick read through John Key's Herald piece today left me with the overall impression of a very rich privileged man not happy he perhaps has not been able to go to Hawaii or wherever he goes to continue his comfortable lifestyle and meet up with his influential contacts.
The actual day to day reality and logistics of doing what he wants is glossed over.
The staggering thing about Key's piece is it's glib know nothing-learnt nothingness. If it had been printed last April then fair enough, but it is simply a rinse and repeat of every failed right wing COVID strategy of the past 18 months given prominence by dint of his wealth and privilege. It is the winners of the neoliberal consensus clinging to their pre-pandemic ideology where their privilege was assured.
Lets be honest the MIQ system offer cheap shots to a lazy emotional knee jerk MSM – a conveyer belt of the sleek, articulate and entitled global middle class complaining at the unfairness of having to wait in queue like everyone else. The biggest whine about sportspeople getting special treatment from these MIQ complainers is that they feel insulted to be informed they are not the most important people in the world. But here is the rub – if the government did allow these people to buy their way in via a rubbish private MIQ and covid escaped (as it has, easily, from ever other attempt to run MIQ privately), they'd be blamed. If the government allowed private MIQ for the rich the likes of Andrea Vance would segue seamlessly from bitterly complaining she can't go "home" on holiday to shedding bitter crocodile tears on behalf of the poor who can't afford private MIQ.
the pandemic has underlined to harsh nature of our class divide, and the near total dominance in our media the of the middle class neoliberal consensus.
In Guyon Espiner’s RNZ podcast series on claims of PRC interference in politics & academia here, Sir John basically saw no problems. Said he’s on Xi’s Christmas Card list & still gets a card from him every year. 😎
Key is a 'smooth operator' – says and does all the right things to your face, just be aware of the knife he has ready to slip between your ribs if the need arises.
As for his Xmas card list – I think we'd all be quite astonished at who was on it.
Don’t think I am. Or, if I am, they’re not getting delivered.
Wonder if Winston Peters is on it?
And Ardern, & Mahuta?
I imagine most country’s leaders have all the other leaders on the Xmas Card Lists. Even a few Muslim ones. But I imagine Key stays on Xi’s cos’ he don’t make no waves & is probably still putting plenty of business his way, so to speak.
Being an old, white man myself, how is it wrong to mention it in reference to other old, white men? Isn't it like black people using the N word to each other?
After all, it can’t be racist, ageist or sexist, can it?
So when I call someone a 'privileged old white man', the pejorative must be the word 'privileged', because it assumes, to some, that all old white men must be?
Should I apologise to Key for calling him privileged, even though he is?
Old white guy here too Alien, (well 50ish), & hetero! It amazes me how precious & sensitive other white guys are, it's quite embarrassing really. How dare anyone criticize us!
Yes it can when used as a pejorative implying that all people of that particular hue have some intrinsic moral disorder
In this case the particular hue was old white men of privilege (getting to write in the MSM). There's an implication in the phrasing that privilege is the issue here, relative to say brown people who are relegated to facebook. It's a shorthand way of talking about the three axes of class based oppression (socio economic class, sex, and ethinity/race). Pretty standard aspect of left wing politics. I'm curious if you see the issue here the analysis itself, or the way it was phrased in this instance (eg casual social media type reckon thrown out without much analysis).
One it's no longer true that Maori and Pacific voices are relegated to facebook – a quick glance shows they have a substantial media presence, a development we can both celebrate and encourage.
Secondly if the idea of a Treaty partnership is to mean anything, the goal of building the capacity of both partners can be the only legitimate path forward. If we are going to play zero sum game between the ethnicities that comprise modern NZ – we will reap a terrible price. Think Yugoslavia for example.
Thirdly if anyone was to casually – even as a lazy shorthand – denigrate any other skin colour – brown, yellow or black – everyone here would instantly recognise what was happening. The only reason why sneering at white people has been allowed to slide – seems to be the unspoken ideology that Europeans are held to be collectively guilty of all the evils in the world and are thus fair game.
All of this falls out of an intersectionality theory explicitly constructed to ensure older, white males are unconditionally categorised as the 'privileged oppressor class'. The definition of racism is to ascribe moral deficiencies to a class of people based on personal characteristics they have no control over – skin colour, sex, and age being the primary ones.
The implication of privilege is not obvious to everyone.
The "pale stale male" -type rhetoric that ignores the fundamental injustices of class in NZ — housing costs, renters rights, worker exploitation, high cost of living, two tier justice system, etc. — that affect everyone. Although the profile of privilege has a certain look, plenty of white people do not enjoy the ‘bounty’ that neoliberalism has delivered to NZ
Identity issues matter but class solidarity should be first, IMO.
That reference did not appear in The Alien's comment upthread, and instead it came across as careless abuse.
I don’t take it personally, but the trend of people like Ricardo Menendez casually insulting a large segment of NZ society just seems like a political self-own.
Yeah, I'm not sure about what I think about TA's opening comment here. The comparison with N word doesn't really work in this context. Maybe.
Can you please show me examples of RM's words (even as you see them)? I do agree there are issues for working class people, especially men, when they're not factored in to identity politics, and we should be dealing with this better by now in politics generally.
Perhaps RMM was trolling or just ignorant when he said "there sure are a lot of old white men on these walls", then went on to ridicule the oath of allegiance, address Parliament in Spanish, and make a mockery of his portfolio with his "Are you OK Boomer?" comment.
It's useful to note those advantaged by growing wealth derived from, and yet limited taxation, our property market and by open borders reducing working class wages.
And the attempt by some of that demographic to use identity politics to protect themselves from criticism of their privilege – calling it ageist, sexist and racist.
In the pandemic, there have been two phases – the first where this group supported elimination, the second where they support vaccination as a ticket to a return to the pre pandemic order.
In that they see a trade off (complacent in their entitlement of expectation that decades of privilege will make them healthy enough to cope with infection) they are prepared to make for the sake of lifestyle (the same lifestyle that also places long term GW concerns as secondary).
I can recall a time not so very long ago when any call to reduce immigration would be instantly branded racist. Or how appalling Winston Peters was for raising the issue. Now this is all turned on it's head, very confusing.
Besides we aren't talking about 'open border' immigration – it's about the ability of New Zealand citizens to return to the only country they have an unalienable right to live in.
If you want to make an argument to close NZ’s borders indefinitely – which reads as your underlying message – then make the case honestly.
I was not making an argument for closing borders permanently and to say that was is a misrepresentation.
A pandemic is like a war, and no government has international mobility of its citizens as a priority in wartime.
PS It seems to have escaped you, but the government planned an immigration reset prior to the pandemic (and was part of their coalition agreement with NZF in the previous term). And based on Labour principles – a housing crisis and need to improve our wage levels with rising rent cost.
Not a damned problem with the term, no matter who uses it. I could talk about it as a reflection of the disproportionate homogeneity in capitalist and civic power structures, but it would largely fall on deaf ears.
culture wars have finally made it to The Standard; Muttonbird? Where have you been?!
But at least people here do generally have some facts they can link to, if pushed, rather than simply pulling rank opinions from various orifices. I may not always agree with the interpretation, but it's better than claiming ubstantiated revealed wisdom from unquestionable authority.
What was the typo for future reference; Incognito? That was my first thought, but I couldn't see anything obvious, nor was I using a different (nonspam-magnet) email. Probably something like a double space – that is hard to detect by eyeball.
Sorry but not the token, in recent times I have been commenting and I have clearly stated I am trans, and I'm ancient as well so i seem to tick both boxes and according to some on here I also tick the male box as well though I respectfully disagree with them on that one
[Please stick to the pre-approved e-mail address, thanks]
That's nice to read; JP, I am not on the site as much as I once was so must have missed most of your contributions. Good that someone else is here to wave the pastel tricolour flag! It is sometimes a bit of an interesting exercise to put words to ideas that seem so very basic that one does not often articulate them. Also rather wearying at other times.
Being older Takatāpui myself (if not quite over the border to ancient), I do find that the young ones – particularly around universities, where they have ample support networks, do come off as rather brash. It is strange being around trans people who don't expect to be beaten and harrased as a matter of course for being how they are. Also rather inspiring.
It's already got a reputation as a place unsafe for trans people, which was probably the SUFWs plan, which is sad, as there are few safe places for them anyway, a "left" wing blog shouldn't be.
He's an economist, he was prepared to go with another week at Level 4 in Auckland (presumably to reduce risk it would compromise latter moves to opening up).
He saw the Hendry modelling as scaremongering (doubted it as an accurate forecast – confusing the issue because such models are not forecasts, the information is acted on so the threat is avoided), or maybe the public release of it.
As a current insider, he may simply be of the control the narrative school to manage the public.
But then again, the people knowing might scare them from accepting an earlier opening up, so manage the public into getting used to a little spread (de facto end of elimination), then a little more with higher vaccination rates and soon chastity is discarded totally when drunk on the fruit of freedom.
Perhaps don't present to the public THE extreme case "He said the modelling assumes the country would have no restrictions."- So We listen and hear 7,000 deaths p.a. and 100,000 infections. Did any involved; Hendy, PM, Dir of health, advisors not think of how the headline nos. would impact on those watching or reading a report on the 1:00pm briefing, or that no govt. would allow that to happen?IMO this was totally managed. Perhaps those in power thought that such a forecast would create urgency for people to be vaccinated, and did not contemplate what other reactions and to minimise these, especially with the mindset given what we have seen in the world and from our lockdowns ?
In our household we are fortunate to have someone who was required as part of their qualifications to attain l3 statistics and explain in part along with google some understanding to the "Outbreak tracking and projections: Update for data as at 1pm 7th September 2021"
The leading category of death changes with age. Medical conditions were the most common cause of death in children aged younger than 15 years, suicide was the most common category in those aged 15–19 years and injury was the main cause in those aged 20–24 years.
The death spiral starts long before conception and birth and ends with death of individuals whose changes for a fulfilling life were cut short by a multitude of circumstances and missed opportunities. To argue that some of those deaths are caused by single ‘stupid’ personal choices of the young person and/or their parents is completely missing the complexity of this societal problem and frankly is absurd beyond words. Still, this is exactly what many are doing, in their thinking, in their talking, and in their acting. And by “many” I don’t mean Government.
Totally agree – the questions this report raise are important and deserve considerable attention.
I'd suggest that there are two ways to get our response wrong – one is to blame everything on the 'bad choices' of the individual. The other, very common here, is to place all the blame on some ill-defined, non-falsifiable concept of 'systemic racism'.
Both are crude simplifications at best, at worst they prevent real debate on what we might actually do to make a difference. It turns out that helping people is really hard – and yet we persist in pretending simplistic tropes will be of any use.
People and cultures differ from each other in multiple complex dimensions which makes difference in outcomes inevitable. Even just determining what we can and should change is a challenging question.
I was astounded by the crackpot thinking involved in accusing the NZ medical profession of systematic racism.
The media discussion was of course careful to point out about 2.something years of the 7 year expected age disparity seemed to be due to smoking related health outcomes. I will focus on that as the issues with the conception of systematic are similar with the rest, but less obvious. Of note the 7 year headline disparity was not adjusted it was all the apparent failing of health professionals.
Now smoking is known to be an individual choice with negative health outcomes which is more often practiced these days by NZ maori than other ethnicities. So in expecting health outcomes proportional to ethnic background being the definition of no systematic racism, we require actually much better health outcomes in NZ maori population. So much better in fact that the negative health outcomes of smoking are 100% negated (e.g maori have no negative health outcomes due to smoking, while other ethnicities do).
This makes it apparent that the charge of systematic racism is not saying NZ health professionals are practicing racists, its just saying they don't perform medical miracles. This is a fundamentally stupid way to analyse NZs health system of course.
The Taliban have rounded up dozens of Islamic State Khorasan fighters in Jalabad. A spokesman said this is an extension of a security operation currently being conducted in Kabul.
Another sob-story article from National Party embedded journalist, Tracey Watkins.
The narrative is always the same: 'We're not saying MIQ isn't necessary, it just needs to be perfect, now, so I can swan in and out as I please'.
And, 'It's the fault of the majority of mean, xenophobic Kiwis who clearly don't know what's good for them'.
And, 'To speak out is heresy'.
Grow a pair, Tracey. Of course this is as insulting to Kiwis who have worked so hard over the last 18 months to protect the vulnerable as John Keys' PR release across all media today.
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
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span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
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The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
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 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
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“The Taliban hanged a dead body from a crane in the main square of Herat city in western Afghanistan, a witness said Saturday (local time), in a gruesome display that signalled a return to some of the Taliban’s methods of the past.
Wazir Ahmad Seddiqi, who runs a pharmacy on the side of the square, told The Associated Press that four bodies were brought to the main square and three bodies were moved to other parts of the city for public display.
Seddiqi said the Taliban announced in the square that the four were caught taking part in a kidnapping and were killed by police.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/300416050/taliban-hang-dead-body-in-afghan-citys-main-square
Ziaulhaq Jalali, a Taliban appointed district police chief in Herat, said later that Taliban members rescued a father and son who had been abducted by four kidnappers after an exchange of gunfire. He said a Taliban fighter and a civilian were wounded by the kidnappers but “the four (kidnappers) were killed in crossfire”.”
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I’ve read that such kidnappings for ransom were a common problem under the former Ashraf Ghani regime. There have also been several reports that some Afghans, while still watching & waiting with some trepidation to firm up their views on Taliban rule, nonetheless approve of their use of harsh penalties to reduce what had become previous rampant crime levels.
The lower the standard of living, the less tolerance for crime – no life sentences in the wild west. Something for government to think about as neoliberal policies push more and more of us out of the comfort zone.
TALIBAN: STRICT PUNISHMENTS & EXECUTIONS TO RETURN
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/300414740/taliban-official-strict-punishment-and-executions-will-return
"One of the founders of the Taliban and the chief enforcer of its harsh interpretation of Islamic law when they last ruled Afghanistan said the hard-line movement will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands, though perhaps not in public.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi dismissed outrage over the Taliban’s executions in the past, which sometimes took place in front of crowds at a stadium, and he warned the world against interfering with Afghanistan’s new rulers.
“Everyone criticised us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Turabi told The Associated Press, speaking in Kabul. “No-one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and we will make our laws on the Quran.
…
Cutting off of hands is very necessary for security,” he said, saying it had a deterrent effect. He said the Cabinet was studying whether to do punishments in public and will “develop a policy”. In recent days in Kabul, Taliban fighters have revived a punishment they commonly used in the past – public shaming of men accused of small-time theft.
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He said now the Taliban would allow television, mobile phones, photos and video “because this is the necessity of the people, and we are serious about it”. He suggested that the Taliban saw the media as a way to spread their message. “Now we know instead of reaching just hundreds, we can reach millions,” he said. He added that if punishments are made public, then people may be allowed to video or take photos to spread the deterrent effect.
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Even as Kabul residents express fear over their new Taliban rulers, some acknowledge grudgingly that the capital has already become safer in just the past month. Before the Taliban takeover, bands of thieves roamed the streets, and relentless crime had driven most people off the streets after dark."
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The worry is that they will also introduce harsh penalties against women for breaches of their strict morality precepts, dress codes & going out unescorted by a male family member.
In the past that sometimes also included forcing women to marry their rapists, I believe.
That's pretty much on the cards unfortunately.
The US never did the maths on not going full Marshall plan with its occupations – the powers that be didn't want the effect that would have on the US labour market – and did have after WW2.
So they did corrupt occupations instead of rebuilt societies – it doesn't end nicely.
Warren Zevon – Veracruz – YouTube
"Let Zapata take the rest" is the only exit strategy from that.
Stuff's Sharon Murdoch on Afghans trying to get here, today
Dunno why my iPad2 can't get "URL.jpg" images to actually display in Comments here. Trying from my PC:
https://i.imgflip.com/5o91bd.jpg
This article is a summary on why US citizens particularly white people die faster than those in Europe, and many die from unequality-related illness, diseases of despair like alcohol drug addiction and suicide, exceptionally poor education impacts on life outcomes, and more.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/19/americas-mortality-gap-should-sound-a-blaring-alarm-across-the-atlantic
It's the first study that has helped me understand the sustained popularity of Donald Trump and the central southern states.
Cheekybird feeling chatty
I've got a bit of a thing for birds. Some breeds are incredibly smart, especially when it comes to identifying sources of food.
Once they identify someone like me, who'll feed them, they come every day. And then the whole whanau will turn up in another day or two.
They're all individuals. You can soon recognise some. Even among sparrows. Their feather patterns all differ in some small way. Some birds are very bold & take risks; others aren't, and won't. You can see them trying to work out whether or not they dare get as close as Cheekybird here.
Yes – animals keep us grounded if you watch closely.
We feed a disabled magpie and his squeeze[s]. We think he was hit by a car and it's left him with what looks like a painful hobble and his upper mandibile broken at the nostril and pointing skyward at about 40°. He was on his last legs when he turned up four years ago, young, damn near staved to death and unable to forage with his jiggered beak, so it was touch and go for a bit.
He comes when he's called and prospered on a diet of dog roll, fat, meat trimmings, and the wit to hang out at our place during the local golf course culls.
Good on ya, joe. 👍🏼
Sounds like youre my kind of people. 🐧
Drat! 😠 Here’s the missing apostrophe: ‘
I thoroughly enjoy your animal videos Gezza (3). Keep 'em coming please. Animals are a shining light in a threarening world.
Thank you very much, mary. ❤️ I will post more.
They have been bringing a great deal of joy & interest to my life ever since I discovered that my stream is an entire, natural ecosystem, full of entrancing creatures, in the middle of a city suburb.
They all enrich my life immensely & I have now learned so much about all of the animal & aquatic life in & around this awa iti. It's nice to hear that someone here is also enjoying these little video vignettes.
The other day I heard Dr Bloomfield say that pregnant 'people' should get vaccinated. For Christs sake he is a doctor, does he know of any other people besides women who get pregnant? I am fed up with the erasure of women just to protect the feelings of men who think they feel like women. Woman isn't a feeling it is a fact, I don't feel like a woman I am a woman.
While I am on my soapbox I wonder how the MPs who are promoting the self selection of sex bill will explain to their daughters and granddaughters why they pushed for this bill that made their daughters and granddaughters compete with men and boys in sports and allow men and boys into their changing rooms and toilets. What is behind this attitude? There are far more important things to fix besides pandering to trans groups. I have decided that if I am still alive in 2023 I will vote Te Parti Maori as I will never be able to vote Labour or Green again, and of course the right is out of the question.
Sorry for the rant, I had a bad night.
Good rant. It is ok to rant – when the ranty bits are peeled away what is left is often a very decent point. As yours.
Calling them pregnant 'people' really is a torch-light on an anomalous absurdity in the history of time.
Call yourself a woman, be a woman, express yourself as that to the heavens. And call out those who refuse to acknowledge who you are – like Bloomfield in that example.
Women are amazing. Raise the flags I say.
I often like the French way, and their saying right here is awesom imo … "vive la difference!"
It may be a bit more complicated. From http://www.healthline.com/health/pregnancy/transgender-pregnancy-moving-past-misconceptions
(Trystan Reese transitioned in his early 20s and the endocrinologist managing his testosterone therapy informed him that he would become in fertile and never be able to carry a child — that the testosterone would render his uterus “uninhabitable.”
In his 30s, Reese carried and birthed a healthy baby in 2017.
“I am not a fluke,” Reese wrote for Family Equality, an organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ families. “Hundreds and maybe thousands of transgender men all over the world have successfully given birth or otherwise contributed their eggs to a pregnancy.”)
I am not going to argue the rights or wrongs of all this again, Janice, but Dr Bloomfield using inclusive language in no way diminishes who or what YOU are. Celebrate YOUR beautiful womanhood. I'm sorry if you had a bad night, I hope whatever caused it eases for you through the day.
Transmen are men in a medically fabricated way .Biologically they remain women, as the pregnancy testifies to.
You can of course change the definitions in a legalistic way, but the continued existence of the human race is still dependent on sexual reproduction , ova from women's ovaries and sperm from men's testicles.Whether or not men and women choose or are able to express this fact, we are all born of a biological woman .
I may be a minority in the current social climate but hey , minority rights are upheld in our society aren't they?
Me too Janice
I strongly identify with the description woman inextricably entwined with breasts womb, vagina etc.Not that my genitalia dictate my destiny , but they’re such a part of my experience as a woman ,I am distressed at their linguistic neutering
I’ve been a Labour then Green voter for as long as I”ve been able to vote.I can’t vote for either of them ,at present or anyone else for that matter .Thinking of putting my money and energy into grass roots activism instead.Traditional politics is geared to incremental change and short electoral cycles at a stage when we don’t have much time left.
I've just spent an hour listening to Helen Joyce speaking to this.
Although as a man this issue has only impacted me abstractly I can feel your distress and dismay at watching this post-modernist thought virus infect and dismantle every category on which our world is constructed.
It's an intellectual bio-weapon targeted at western civilisation.
.
Queer Theory dogmatists … one of the most prominent in this Country being a former author at The Standard. These people are inherently autocratic.
good link
thanks for that
On listening to Helen I'm struck by how much of this was pre-figured by the Jungian ideas of anima and animus. Just a thought.
I've always had the sense that we can draw on the animus or anima when needed
I too have voted green or labour since I've been able francesca, but they both deserve severe punishment at the next election for pushing this bullshit. And I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed if there is enough of a backlash, especially but not exclusively from women, to spell the death of the green party in its present form.
I know more than one person who do not identify as cis women who have been pregnant; Janice. Scout is the much more wholesome example – and with political ambitions, is more willing to share their story in public ("Pepi" is a bit bigger now, but seems to be thriving).
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nowtolove.co.nz/amp/parenting/pregnancy-birth/kiwi-trans-parent-scout-barbour-evans-giving-birth-41213
Perhaps Bloomfield is more concerned about spreading the vaccination message to as wide an audience as possible? Rather than enforcing colonial gender essentialism in Aotearoa. He is not one who strikes me as ignorant or simple minded.
Spreading the vaccine message by deleting the word "women"?
I think he's covering his butt wisely at a time of media lynch mobbing
Do you think it's possible that a pregnant trans man would somehow not know unless Bloomfield deleted the word woman , that it was ok to have the vaccine while pregnant?
How is it that "women" can be deleted , with the exception being when transwomen claim to be women.
Gays and lesbians began to prevail when they stopped hiding and came out proud and loud.
It's the language now being widely used in the medical profession.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/lancet-accused-of-sexism-after-calling-women-bodies-with-vaginas/LVKGWR73TN4AZSCAFSSSILQPRE/
One wonders if new editions of Gray’s Anatomy will be adapted accordingly.
and will the dictionary be banned?
Not new editions, so how long before citing old editions becomes sanctioned ….
I agree FN, & really, thanks.
At least Scout agrees to have their private life made public; IFL. The less wholesome examples I could mention would not thank me for airing their dirty laundry in this public forum. Let's just say; it is still possible for trans people to be raped (I should know! Though not personally being able to fall pregnant is a small mercy there), and leave it at that.
Still, I do think that the Gender Critical are really sniping at the wrong target here. The imminent drama that is going to erupt over the introduction of Artificial Uterine Technology is going to make this kerfuffle look mild in comparison! "Pregnant People" is nowhere near as dehumanizing as "Biobags" courtesy of A. Flake (there are other people on the Philadephian research team of course, but that name does stick in mind).
Personally, I regard GC as effectively a religion that is put out that others don't obey its commandments. But the world moves on, and the cutting edge of the present day will soon look quaint and antiquated. If any are then alive to see it.
Forget now, why do you think it is noteworthy that a woman became pregnant and gave birth to a baby?
Felix; Scout is NonBinary, so falls into the category of; pregnant persons, used by Bloomfield that began this thread (with Janice up at comment 4.0). That may not be important to you, but it certainly is to them.
What do you mean "is non-binary"? Are you claiming the discovery of a new type of mammal? The fact that she is able to conceive, carry, and birth live young suggests otherwise.
it's a term of self-identification of gender identity (not sex).
Then it has zero bearing on her pregnancy, hence my initial question.
Women giving birth aren't just bodies though, they're also mental/emotional people with needs around culture. In the same way I would expect health services to have culturally appropriate approaches to say Māori, I would expect the same for trans/NB people. The issue is about how this impacts on women as a sex class.
The thing that interests me more is how much of the desire of trans men or NB females to remove women's language is because of gender dysphoria and how much is politics of identity.
I would never say someone is JUST a body, but to describe someone as neither male nor female is to say that we are not bodies at all.
Which is especially preposterous in the context of pregnancy. Is there anything MORE binary on earth than mammalian sexual reproduction?
It seems like a lot of song and dance to describe a condition that is pretty well universal .I think I must be non binary. I know I'm a woman..because I was born with the biological architecture that enabled me to conceive and bear children .None of it was perfect, to the male eye, small hips, practically non existent breasts, but it all worked brilliantly, milk for Africa.
Genderwise, I don't identify with any of the stereotypes of femaleness, some of them, yes, but I also have what society views as masculine traits.
Who actually conforms entirely with gender stereotypes? I venture none.
Binary sex with very rare exceptions is just a biological fact that keeps the human race reproducing itself
Gender on the other hand is a social construct, a set of societal expectations that has been pretty much dismantled over the generations.I mean really, you can pretty much do whatever the hell you like .I know women builders, electricians, doctors, soldiers, mechanics.I don't own a dress, have only worn them as a theatrical prop at a wedding, can run a chain saw and change a tire.Also love to cook and wear makeup.So I declare myself to be of non binary gender.
In fact I think we'd all be a hell of a lot better off not constructing ever more boxes to stuff ourselves and each other into
Likewise, it's important to many women to use language that makes us visible. This is the conflict of rights, and because No Debate was so successful, we're now in an antagonistic stand off instead of working together to negotiate a resolution. Women won't go away on this, and if we win trans people may be harmed in the process or backlash, not because women want that, but because the gender identity activists and neolibs tried to take our rights away and we fought back and society was too stupid to let both groups needs be met.
weka
Births, Deaths, Marriages, Relationships Registration Bill and SOP 59
A quick note to see whether you – and others – are aware that the Governance and Administration Select Committee (GASC) are meeting again today and on Wednesday to hear further oral submissions on the BDMRR Bill and SOP.
The GASC has split into two subcommittees A and B which are meeting simultaneously (10am – 5pm) with both meetings being live streamed liv on the GASC Facebook site– links to these here – https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/schedule-of-meetings/
I am having a bit of trouble watching to due to my old PC crashing (and my very bad eyesight) but did catch parts of a submission about an hour ago to SubCommittee A (Rachel Boyack, ( Deputy Chair to GASC) , Elizabeth Kerekere and Nicola Grigg by a woman calling for the SC to take more time etc before rushing through the Bill and SOP in view of the possible negative effects re safety of both women and trans people ivis a vis self ID and access to safe places. Will try to determine the speaker etc a she was very articulate in the little I saw.
Thanks to you and others bringing the issue of women safe places and the issues to notice as I fully support your stance on the need to protect women’s rights to safe places while also supporting trans rights to similar safe places – and to much more simple procedures to express their gender id on relevant official documents.
I have been following this quite closely from a point of view of the parliamentary processes etc (as a former public/state servant of many years). Frankly I came away from the Second Reading of the Bill in August feeling like I had stepped Through the Looking Glass into an alternative world where up was down and black was white!
Re the Second Reading speeches, I was appalled by the attitude of certain (not all) Labour MPs (in particular Rachel Boyack) to the concerns of women re safe places and our hard fought for rights to these; whereas the National women MPs (Louise Upston, Barbara Kuriger – and in particular Nicola Grigg) mentioned these and Nicola Grigg (Nats spokesperson on Women) spoke strongly in support.
However, Collins restructuring of her Shadow Cabinet in late August has had considerable effects on Select Committee memberships and in the case of the GASC this has meant the both Upston and Kuriger are no longer on the SC with Kuriger replaced by Ian McKelvie (N) coming in as Chair of the SC, and Rachel Boyack as Deputy Chair.
I have only watched bits of the first hearing of the GASC hearing last week but was appalled at the behaviour of most of the MPs …
Any thoughts of a further post etc on this? Happy to contribute more to/participate in one – and do qualify for a women only one.
Thanks, really appreciate all that. I'm trying to write a post about last week's GAC, it's complex and it's been hard to find information. Your understanding of the process would be invaluable. I wonder if I should put up a women only post in the first instance so we can talk it through. I'm also quite busy in RL at the moment.
There's also been a lot going on on twitter re the Lancet and ACLU removing women's language.
I as incredibly heartened to see FOWL's submission last week, seeing those older 2nd wave feminists stand up and speak so strongly. One post that would be good would be all the GCF submissions outlined in one place (I haven't watched them all yet). I can link to the videos for people to watch (with time stamp). Will see how I go.
and yes, I've been shocked and seriously unimpressed with some of the GAC members.
I agree that the whole thing is very complex with so many different factors and views etc.
I had to go out yesterday but spent the night watching yesterday’s GAC Subcommittee A submissions and half the Subcommittee B ones – what else is there to do between 2am and 5am? LOL
RE a post, why not leave it until after tomorrow’s GAC hearings as, in reality there is nothing more anyone can do now that submissions are closed etc. [Edit – now see that the two subcommittees are booked for further hearings all day on Friday, 1 Oct as well).
My impressions from what I have watched of yesterday’s hearings is that the submissions cover a surprisingly large range of reasons why a wide range of people think that the Bill and SOP should not go ahead as currently drafted and that the timetable for submissions, hearings etc as been/is far too rushed.
Re subcmtee A, Boyack’s performance as Chair was better than at last week’s GAC but still reflected her bias with her cutting off people who did not support her views, but as the submissions went on, she seemed to begin to realize that the whole thing was not going to be the walkover she and others hoped for …
I want to finish watching Subcmtee B before coming to any full conclusions but my impressions of McKelvie's chairing exceeded my expectations in terms of open-mindedness etc. He pulled up Deborah Russell very sharply at one point but I need to go back and watch it again as I was half asleep by then!
My overall feelings at this stage (based on my experience of appearing before Select Committees and working as a govt departmental adviser to some) is that it was thought by the govtt and GAC that they would just be able to forge ahead with the SOP proposed changes enough to do so and get this off their plate. With over 6600 written submissions received in the very short time available to make submissions -compared to 27 (?) to the original Bill back in 2017 – that alone should have been a big wake- up call to the GAC that it was not going to be that simple. LOL
A lot of people suggested that a gender ID document separate to the birth certificate but which could be presented where needed with the birth certificate which resonates with me personally …
Anyway, just my sleep deprived thoughts at this stage. Re a Post, again I don’t think it is imperative in the next few days and you/me/we could take a little more time to see what happens at the further hearings this week and possibly further on…(Note to self, check schedule for report back dates etc)
I want to go back and look again at the overall written submissions as I did a bit of a random sample last week and was surprised at the number of (form type) submissions from providers of single sex facilities like gyms who submitted questions/views on their position in allowing/disallowing self-ID people to use their facilities … Haven’t seen any oral submissions on this as yet … Were there any in last week’s GAC? Will go back and check this.
Confession time: I used to be ideologically opposed to women only or lefties only posts on the basis that this did not fit with left kaupapa and felt like gated communities with all that those represent… (I have a strong aversion to these!) You have convinced me that there is definitely a place for women only posts in terms of the response to the recent ones – and enough for me to suggest the next post on this subject should be one – but leave that to you, LOL. Not yet convinced about left only posts (but that is a totally different subject which I will leave for now, lol).
On an admin aside, how do I discretely change my email address with TS to another one I have which is more anonymous than my current one?
will reply more fully later, but I've changed your email address. See if that sticks next time you comment. You don't need a real email address, so can keep using that fake one or put in a new one yourself. Your first comment may get held up to be released manually. Unfortunately your historic comments will still have your old email address in the back end.
He must be right, because people keep asking me if I am expecting twins
At the other end of the spectrum I note that we will now use batter for batsman.
So, what are we going to call a hooker or loose forward now ??
A batter?
No useing the term batsmen in cricket any more , fucking world is losing the plot.
I can think of a few options. However discretion, and a wish to keep my body in one piece, prevents me calling Dane Coles a prostitute or Ardie Savea a trollop.
They might understand, and accept the terms, but I'm not willing to bet on it.
What are manhole covers called these days?
I think this is where the Breitbart/Peterson/Telegram crew let themselves down. Plucking terms from thin air to try win a point in culture wars of their own making.
So personhole covers?
Yeah, rock on, bud.
Maintenance hole cover seems to be what they've gone for somewhere or other in the USA. Another popular one over there is utility hole cover.
Although I've personally been calling them personhole covers for years, for fun.
I also refer to policepersons.
Having worked for a year in the 70's with one really ardent (strident might be more accurate) feminist who noisily made it her business to try & eradicate the usage of "man" in any word that she could, I gave up arguing & now anywhere I think I can remove "man" from a word & replace it with "person", I do it.
My friends know that's how I roll & often find the new de-sexed word worth a smile.
Except for wopersons. No woman I've ever asked has wanted to be called a woperson. They all prefer "woman".
A problem to be named 'Chapman' eh?!
That would have been fun working with her back in the 70's!
Sometimes there are non-sexed words available that do a better job of description. Police Officer, for example.
Felix – yes, I know, & I use them. But they don't get me as many smiles as adding person to the end of "man" ending words.
I always have that strident feminist I worked with in mind when I do call a job something like fireperson.
She got to be so outrageously anti-men, pro-women if you opened a door & held it open so she could go into a room ahead of you, she's stop & loudly announce: Don't tell me you're another of those men who think a woman can't open a door for herself!"
Bloody ridiculous! I opened them for men as well. It's just good manners to be courteous & hold a door open (especially doors with self-closing mechanisms) while letting others precede you into a room.
If you're a doorperson it's a crucial part of the job.
😄
I never thought about. As far as I know we never had any in Welly at the time – maybe a few bouncers?
She went to London when she left. She’d have encountered a few of them there, & in Singapore & various other countries en route. She’d probably not challenge them tho. She was pretty culturally aware.
Just her social skills that were a bit suspect. I concluded she was a man-hater but subsequently learnt she had happily married a very nice bloke & they had 2 nice kids.
Probably got a bit more life experience overseas, grew up & calmed down. She was otherwise quite a smart cookie.
butt plug
Bum-dumb-tish!
I have not piled into this debate and don't intend to start now except to say I'm with you Janice.
It is #$$%# (choose your own swear word) nonsense calling a pregnant woman a pregnant person. I suspect Bloomfield was coerced into using the term.
My take is: stop dehumanising people and turning them into nothing objects by refusing to acknowledge the differences between us which is worthy of celebration not eradication.
I recall the 1970s and 80s when it became a social crime to refer to chairwoman and chairman. It had to be chairperson which to my mind amounted to an insult on both your houses.
The NOW has fought for "gender equality" for decades – equal opportunity in public society, but has been unable to make an effective defence of the safety of biological women, because it was not set up to do this.
The transgender use the same arguments they did and thus they have been unable to counter them.
Possibly women need to form an alternative organisation, to continue that fight for equality but also the rights and safety of those born biologically female, including fair competition in physical activity (sport).
100% agree with your sentiments Janice (4). Don’t apologise for your rant. You said it as it is and I thank you for doing so.
[fixed minor typo in user name]
he was actually polite
The Lancet just called self identified non males 'bodies with vaginas'. 🙂
https://twitter.com/DrJessTaylor/status/1441710202449850369/photo/1
greta link Sabine
I can understand the concern, but I can also recall quite a few couples (and particularly the woman in the couple, announcing a pregnancy with "we are pregnant" – perhaps just naturally inclusive speech acknowledging past contribution to the event, but also perhaps reinforcing the need to encourage support in the future. Language can be a funny thing . . .
My soapbox is that there is too much noise about what gender women who identify as men are when they are pregnant. I do however, agree with the terms pregnant females or pregnant people.
This comes from being a 15 year-old pregnant person back in the day – in no way was I a 'woman' – female definitely, but woman and all the maturity and cultural baggage that entails, no. And there are a fair number of kids who are younger than that who have to deal with pregnancies. Calling all pregnant people 'women' renders these young people invisible.
I'd much rather gender activists put some time into the issues pregnant kids face. The grown-up self-identified can work it out for themselves.
there's how we feel about it personally, and then there's public health messaging.
At 15 years old would you have understood that the term 'pregnant woman' applied to you if someone on the telly had said it was safe for pregnant women to get x treatment?
I believe public health messaging would be improved if pregnant females were referred to pregnant people. I really did not see myself as a woman when I was a pregnant girl (I was just 15, not nearly 16), and I think young people would be more inclined to use ante-natal services and there would be fewer hidden pregnancies, if terminology was more inclusive. Of course there are a wide variety of views even among young teens about how they feel.
Bu as a grown woman I can understand entirely how it feels to have biology denied over and over again by demands for language and space to reflect trans rights at the expense of the needs of biological women. It's just on this issue that I think there is a good reason for changing the terminology. I'd have liked women (including me) to have thought of this a long time ago.
A quick glance at morning papers and I suggest you don't bother, it's a wall to wall whine fest of butt hurt middle class entitlement and boomer reckons.
On the upside, Clint Heine admits that the animosity “has taken a toll on me personally” and feels less likely to ever return to NZ permanently.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/300412931/our-tribal-nature-explained-the-team-of-5-million-v-the-kiwis-who-just-want-to-come-home
I breathlessly await our fearlessly identarian print media to run a story about an Otara cleaner in a MIQ facility who lives with seven other people and doesn't know anyone who has ever used MIQ.
Every person pictured in that story is a member of an extremely privileged … middle class, with an extra helping of pretty … woman syndrome.
[RL: Deleted gratuitous references to skin colour. Be more careful.]
The 1980s called and asked for its unconscious racism back.
The inability to confront the race element to class in this country is an outright act of racism itself, something that should be socialism 101 but apparently escapes certain complacent old people around here.
[RL: Take a week off. You are a repeat offender with these racist and ageist tropes. Next ban will be longer.]
See Moderation Note.
RL: The Standard is a poorer place without Sanc.
Yes it would be.
And I have yet to see a valid argument to accept the casual denigration of anyone on the basis of their skin colour.
Swordfish nails it below.
Personal attacks are OK, but criticism of class interest is forbidden when one notes the preponderance of any group in that class?
Considering the opprobrium directed at 'Marxists', that seems to be the case.
Yes, “marxist” is certainly used as a pejorative by some posting and commenting here–“closet marxist” (as used several times this year by Redlogix), “undercover marxist” and other references.
Marxist should be able to be used as a descriptor similar to social democrat or tory.
Unlike skin colour, marxism is a condition you have chosen.
Marxism isn't a condition, it's a method of analysing socioeconomics, particularly capitalism. That you sling it around as a pejorative further demonstrates your lack of understanding of it.
.
You have a tendency to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds, Sanc … sometimes you adopt an explicitly anti-Woke persona … but then you also frequently indulge in the crude, low resolution ritualised virtue-signalling closely associated with an Upper-Middle Woke cadre looking to enhance their in-group prestige & signal elevated social status.
Like some of the more financially privileged, socially-divorced commenters here, you wouldn’t have a fucking clue about what’s happening in lower & mixed income areas … instead you indulge in ludicrously misjudged moral posturing & performative narcissism … masquerading as ‘altruism’ & the possession of unusually refined sensibilities.
How dare people not brown nor working class show solidarity ….
.
Yes, like you my understanding is that all white people are wealthy & morally suspect, all poor people are brown, all brown people are both poor & eternally innocent & virtuous.
Like I say: “crude, low resolution ritualised virtue-signalling” from a cadre of narcissistic & paternalistic middle-class professionals without a fucking clue.
Modelling is a science and it says what it says about population demographics, and income and wealth disparity.
You mean people like your brothers, Mike Hosking and Sean Plunkett and Peter Williams?
It's just a completely pragmatic numbers game – we cannot give unrestricted right of return to all expats without endangering the people already here. It sucks for the expats who want to get back, but it's the sort of thing that happens in crises – the less bad of two unpleasant options has to be chosen.
I'm a bit surprised at times that some expats don't seem to understand something so obvious. It does sound entitled, but we should hold back on the criticism without first thinking about how we might behave in a similar situation.
ha ha yes it is… you know why of course… they are the only ones who read papers now…
All this stuff about "living in fear" and "hermit kingdoms" is just middle class shorthand for "I'm vaccinated, fuck South Auckland I want my overseas holiday."
That's pretty much what I see as well.
Enjoy your ban Sanc. Your posts are the only reason why I come here these days.
true that.
Thanks for the warning. I'm getting heartily sick of it.
Edit: Your 5.2.1… Bang on!
A quick read through John Key's Herald piece today left me with the overall impression of a very rich privileged man not happy he perhaps has not been able to go to Hawaii or wherever he goes to continue his comfortable lifestyle and meet up with his influential contacts.
The actual day to day reality and logistics of doing what he wants is glossed over.
The staggering thing about Key's piece is it's glib know nothing-learnt nothingness. If it had been printed last April then fair enough, but it is simply a rinse and repeat of every failed right wing COVID strategy of the past 18 months given prominence by dint of his wealth and privilege. It is the winners of the neoliberal consensus clinging to their pre-pandemic ideology where their privilege was assured.
Lets be honest the MIQ system offer cheap shots to a lazy emotional knee jerk MSM – a conveyer belt of the sleek, articulate and entitled global middle class complaining at the unfairness of having to wait in queue like everyone else. The biggest whine about sportspeople getting special treatment from these MIQ complainers is that they feel insulted to be informed they are not the most important people in the world. But here is the rub – if the government did allow these people to buy their way in via a rubbish private MIQ and covid escaped (as it has, easily, from ever other attempt to run MIQ privately), they'd be blamed. If the government allowed private MIQ for the rich the likes of Andrea Vance would segue seamlessly from bitterly complaining she can't go "home" on holiday to shedding bitter crocodile tears on behalf of the poor who can't afford private MIQ.
the pandemic has underlined to harsh nature of our class divide, and the near total dominance in our media the of the middle class neoliberal consensus.
It's always instructive to see what people do with a little bit of moral power.
In Guyon Espiner’s RNZ podcast series on claims of PRC interference in politics & academia here, Sir John basically saw no problems. Said he’s on Xi’s Christmas Card list & still gets a card from him every year. 😎
Key is a 'smooth operator' – says and does all the right things to your face, just be aware of the knife he has ready to slip between your ribs if the need arises.
As for his Xmas card list – I think we'd all be quite astonished at who was on it.
Don’t think I am. Or, if I am, they’re not getting delivered.
Wonder if Winston Peters is on it?
And Ardern, & Mahuta?
I imagine most country’s leaders have all the other leaders on the Xmas Card Lists. Even a few Muslim ones. But I imagine Key stays on Xi’s cos’ he don’t make no waves & is probably still putting plenty of business his way, so to speak.
I somehow think Scotty from Marketing isn't going to get one this year.
Using open mike so as not to derail MS' thread.
Being an old, white man myself, how is it wrong to mention it in reference to other old, white men? Isn't it like black people using the N word to each other?
After all, it can’t be racist, ageist or sexist, can it?
Yes it can when used as a pejorative implying that all people of that particular hue have some intrinsic moral disorder
That's confusing me now, being an old white male.
So when I call someone a 'privileged old white man', the pejorative must be the word 'privileged', because it assumes, to some, that all old white men must be?
Should I apologise to Key for calling him privileged, even though he is?
Old white guy here too Alien, (well 50ish), & hetero! It amazes me how precious & sensitive other white guys are, it's quite embarrassing really. How dare anyone criticize us!
In this case the particular hue was old white men of privilege (getting to write in the MSM). There's an implication in the phrasing that privilege is the issue here, relative to say brown people who are relegated to facebook. It's a shorthand way of talking about the three axes of class based oppression (socio economic class, sex, and ethinity/race). Pretty standard aspect of left wing politics. I'm curious if you see the issue here the analysis itself, or the way it was phrased in this instance (eg casual social media type reckon thrown out without much analysis).
That’s an argument with some merit – my response:
One it's no longer true that Maori and Pacific voices are relegated to facebook – a quick glance shows they have a substantial media presence, a development we can both celebrate and encourage.
Secondly if the idea of a Treaty partnership is to mean anything, the goal of building the capacity of both partners can be the only legitimate path forward. If we are going to play zero sum game between the ethnicities that comprise modern NZ – we will reap a terrible price. Think Yugoslavia for example.
Thirdly if anyone was to casually – even as a lazy shorthand – denigrate any other skin colour – brown, yellow or black – everyone here would instantly recognise what was happening. The only reason why sneering at white people has been allowed to slide – seems to be the unspoken ideology that Europeans are held to be collectively guilty of all the evils in the world and are thus fair game.
All of this falls out of an intersectionality theory explicitly constructed to ensure older, white males are unconditionally categorised as the 'privileged oppressor class'. The definition of racism is to ascribe moral deficiencies to a class of people based on personal characteristics they have no control over – skin colour, sex, and age being the primary ones.
This emperor has no clothes.
The implication of privilege is not obvious to everyone.
The "pale stale male" -type rhetoric that ignores the fundamental injustices of class in NZ — housing costs, renters rights, worker exploitation, high cost of living, two tier justice system, etc. — that affect everyone. Although the profile of privilege has a certain look, plenty of white people do not enjoy the ‘bounty’ that neoliberalism has delivered to NZ
Identity issues matter but class solidarity should be first, IMO.
In this case, the word privilege was used as a qualifier, so it was nothing to do with white people generally, or even white men generally.
Here's the original comment,
.https://thestandard.org.nz/keys-baaaack/#comment-1818629
'Pale, stale, male' is an obvious pejorative. This is different from using the words white, male/man, old as descriptors.
That reference did not appear in The Alien's comment upthread, and instead it came across as careless abuse.
I don’t take it personally, but the trend of people like Ricardo Menendez casually insulting a large segment of NZ society just seems like a political self-own.
Yeah, I'm not sure about what I think about TA's opening comment here. The comparison with N word doesn't really work in this context. Maybe.
Can you please show me examples of RM's words (even as you see them)? I do agree there are issues for working class people, especially men, when they're not factored in to identity politics, and we should be dealing with this better by now in politics generally.
Perhaps RMM was trolling or just ignorant when he said "there sure are a lot of old white men on these walls", then went on to ridicule the oath of allegiance, address Parliament in Spanish, and make a mockery of his portfolio with his "Are you OK Boomer?" comment.
Like saying lefties are "Marxists", then!
It's useful to note those advantaged by growing wealth derived from, and yet limited taxation, our property market and by open borders reducing working class wages.
And the attempt by some of that demographic to use identity politics to protect themselves from criticism of their privilege – calling it ageist, sexist and racist.
In the pandemic, there have been two phases – the first where this group supported elimination, the second where they support vaccination as a ticket to a return to the pre pandemic order.
In that they see a trade off (complacent in their entitlement of expectation that decades of privilege will make them healthy enough to cope with infection) they are prepared to make for the sake of lifestyle (the same lifestyle that also places long term GW concerns as secondary).
by open borders reducing working class wages.
I can recall a time not so very long ago when any call to reduce immigration would be instantly branded racist. Or how appalling Winston Peters was for raising the issue. Now this is all turned on it's head, very confusing.
Besides we aren't talking about 'open border' immigration – it's about the ability of New Zealand citizens to return to the only country they have an unalienable right to live in.
If you want to make an argument to close NZ’s borders indefinitely – which reads as your underlying message – then make the case honestly.
I was not making an argument for closing borders permanently and to say that was is a misrepresentation.
A pandemic is like a war, and no government has international mobility of its citizens as a priority in wartime.
PS It seems to have escaped you, but the government planned an immigration reset prior to the pandemic (and was part of their coalition agreement with NZF in the previous term). And based on Labour principles – a housing crisis and need to improve our wage levels with rising rent cost.
The exact phrase I used was 'closed indefinitely'.
Because when you argue against all reasonable plans to resume global travel – this is the logical implication you are making.
Planning a definitive time for re-opening is implausible. And only a fool would proffer one and keep to it. There are too many variables.
Approaching that description myself.
Not a damned problem with the term, no matter who uses it. I could talk about it as a reflection of the disproportionate homogeneity in capitalist and civic power structures, but it would largely fall on deaf ears.
I'm not ancient at 54, though I am literally old enough to be a dad to everyone on my work crew, so a little artistic licence on my part.
Totally agree about the usage of the term, especially being able to tick all the boxes.
Maybe it does give cause for grinding axes – Or at least sharpening the legs of their zimmer frames. lol
I see the culture wars have finally made it to The Standard.
Carnage.
culture wars have finally made it to The Standard; Muttonbird? Where have you been?!
But at least people here do generally have some facts they can link to, if pushed, rather than simply pulling rank opinions from various orifices. I may not always agree with the interpretation, but it's better than claiming ubstantiated revealed wisdom from unquestionable authority.
[fixed typo in user name]
Comment awaiting moderation. Is there a mod note somewhere I should have read? I am on mobile, so can't see replies button (nor sidebar).
Whatever, it's a nice day down in Otepoti. I should be getting on with gardening rather than being the token trans commenter on TS.
Minor typo in user name fixed
What was the typo for future reference; Incognito? That was my first thought, but I couldn't see anything obvious, nor was I using a different (nonspam-magnet) email. Probably something like a double space – that is hard to detect by eyeball.
Forgot now
Respect 👍
Sorry but not the token, in recent times I have been commenting and I have clearly stated I am trans, and I'm ancient as well so i seem to tick both boxes and according to some on here I also tick the male box as well though I respectfully disagree with them on that one
[Please stick to the pre-approved e-mail address, thanks]
That's nice to read; JP, I am not on the site as much as I once was so must have missed most of your contributions. Good that someone else is here to wave the pastel tricolour flag! It is sometimes a bit of an interesting exercise to put words to ideas that seem so very basic that one does not often articulate them. Also rather wearying at other times.
Being older Takatāpui myself (if not quite over the border to ancient), I do find that the young ones – particularly around universities, where they have ample support networks, do come off as rather brash. It is strange being around trans people who don't expect to be beaten and harrased as a matter of course for being how they are. Also rather inspiring.
Thanks Forget Now appreciate what you are saying. I know we disagree over these issues, but having a discussion /debate is important.
I try to play the ball not the person, but happy to be challenged when people feel otherwise.
I think you will find that the culture wars have been on this blog for a while now.
Every single open mike thread always seems to turn into a discussion about trans issues.
It's already got a reputation as a place unsafe for trans people, which was probably the SUFWs plan, which is sad, as there are few safe places for them anyway, a "left" wing blog shouldn't be.
What's the bet National's alternative Covid plan features Des Gorman and the new poster boy for the ‘let it rip’ crowd, Rodney Jones.
And "peer reviewed" by the developers of home spit tests.
Jones "maybe" being misrepresented.
He's an economist, he was prepared to go with another week at Level 4 in Auckland (presumably to reduce risk it would compromise latter moves to opening up).
He saw the Hendry modelling as scaremongering (doubted it as an accurate forecast – confusing the issue because such models are not forecasts, the information is acted on so the threat is avoided), or maybe the public release of it.
As a current insider, he may simply be of the control the narrative school to manage the public.
But then again, the people knowing might scare them from accepting an earlier opening up, so manage the public into getting used to a little spread (de facto end of elimination), then a little more with higher vaccination rates and soon chastity is discarded totally when drunk on the fruit of freedom.
Perhaps don't present to the public THE extreme case "He said the modelling assumes the country would have no restrictions."- So We listen and hear 7,000 deaths p.a. and 100,000 infections. Did any involved; Hendy, PM, Dir of health, advisors not think of how the headline nos. would impact on those watching or reading a report on the 1:00pm briefing, or that no govt. would allow that to happen?IMO this was totally managed. Perhaps those in power thought that such a forecast would create urgency for people to be vaccinated, and did not contemplate what other reactions and to minimise these, especially with the mindset given what we have seen in the world and from our lockdowns ?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/covid-19/452180/modeller-stands-by-government-s-covid-19-data-release-amid-criticism
In our household we are fortunate to have someone who was required as part of their qualifications to attain l3 statistics and explain in part along with google some understanding to the "Outbreak tracking and projections: Update for data as at 1pm 7th September 2021"
https://cpb-ap-se2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.auckland.ac.nz/dist/d/75/files/2017/01/outbreak-tracking-and-projections.pdf
Reply
Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee: 15th data report: 2015–19 | Te Rōpū Arotake Auau Mate o te Hunga Tamariki, Taiohi: Te pūrongo raraunga 15: 2015–19
The death spiral starts long before conception and birth and ends with death of individuals whose changes for a fulfilling life were cut short by a multitude of circumstances and missed opportunities. To argue that some of those deaths are caused by single ‘stupid’ personal choices of the young person and/or their parents is completely missing the complexity of this societal problem and frankly is absurd beyond words. Still, this is exactly what many are doing, in their thinking, in their talking, and in their acting. And by “many” I don’t mean Government.
Totally agree – the questions this report raise are important and deserve considerable attention.
I'd suggest that there are two ways to get our response wrong – one is to blame everything on the 'bad choices' of the individual. The other, very common here, is to place all the blame on some ill-defined, non-falsifiable concept of 'systemic racism'.
Both are crude simplifications at best, at worst they prevent real debate on what we might actually do to make a difference. It turns out that helping people is really hard – and yet we persist in pretending simplistic tropes will be of any use.
People and cultures differ from each other in multiple complex dimensions which makes difference in outcomes inevitable. Even just determining what we can and should change is a challenging question.
I was astounded by the crackpot thinking involved in accusing the NZ medical profession of systematic racism.
The media discussion was of course careful to point out about 2.something years of the 7 year expected age disparity seemed to be due to smoking related health outcomes. I will focus on that as the issues with the conception of systematic are similar with the rest, but less obvious. Of note the 7 year headline disparity was not adjusted it was all the apparent failing of health professionals.
Now smoking is known to be an individual choice with negative health outcomes which is more often practiced these days by NZ maori than other ethnicities. So in expecting health outcomes proportional to ethnic background being the definition of no systematic racism, we require actually much better health outcomes in NZ maori population. So much better in fact that the negative health outcomes of smoking are 100% negated (e.g maori have no negative health outcomes due to smoking, while other ethnicities do).
This makes it apparent that the charge of systematic racism is not saying NZ health professionals are practicing racists, its just saying they don't perform medical miracles. This is a fundamentally stupid way to analyse NZs health system of course.
Micah the "shrink the conflict prophet" is the new good keen man Talmud court philosopher in the Bennett bookshop.
It’s simply to govern the West Bank as if Palestinian lives do matter.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/16/middleeast/israel-palestinian-conflict-cmd-intl/index.html
The Taliban have rounded up dozens of Islamic State Khorasan fighters in Jalabad. A spokesman said this is an extension of a security operation currently being conducted in Kabul.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ojnC0_37ZYc
Another sob-story article from National Party embedded journalist, Tracey Watkins.
The narrative is always the same: 'We're not saying MIQ isn't necessary, it just needs to be perfect, now, so I can swan in and out as I please'.
And, 'It's the fault of the majority of mean, xenophobic Kiwis who clearly don't know what's good for them'.
And, 'To speak out is heresy'.
Grow a pair, Tracey. Of course this is as insulting to Kiwis who have worked so hard over the last 18 months to protect the vulnerable as John Keys' PR release across all media today.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300415938/miq-is-broken–why-do-so-few-kiwis-care
shit
https://twitter.com/psirides/status/1441642131399970816