In a tsunami concrete buildings seem more durable than wooden ones.
If the shake goes on for a minute, and if you are knocked off your feet then it is an indication that it is strong enough to be followed by a tsunami. And that could follow within 10 minutes, so evacuation should be asap.
I would 100 times rather be in a wooden building in an earthquake and we’ve been stupid to keep putting up concrete crap in modern building. A concrete building may stand up to a tsunami but it won’t save your life in one either.
Yes I noticed that the mention of concrete just related to tsunami. But it would be interesting to get the opinion of a professional engineerwith pragmatic approach who could tell us whether a badly built concrete building with inadequate reinforcing and possibly slab-built would be better than a badly built wooden building with no dwangs and under-spec studs. Because that is possibly the choice in NZ with anything built in the last 30 years.
I come from Napier so our family have lived in a city with the reminants of buildings from the 1931 earthquakes so we have seen how woden vs concrete buildings do stand up to a large earthquake.
I do take Maui seriously here and he/she could be correct here in some cases.
Most concrete buildings in Napier during the 1931 quake were levelled, but some stood then, and do still today.
So we know the solid reinforced designed buildings are the ones that are still here today.
When the building code here was upgraded from that earthquake we were told that Napier had ‘advanced building codes’ before other regions during the last half of the last century.
So when a building was planned around our area, we saw that heavy reinforced caged steel “lential beams” were placed around the first floor level and at the top of the second floor through the concrete blocks.
We do recall that they only had single 12mm reinfocing rods placed in every second hole of the blocks and then concrete was poured into the holes to set the rods in place.
We always wondered why every hole didnt get a reinforced rod.
We used reinforced rods in every hole of a retaining wall when we built one later in the 1980’s.
So it may be that one should think of “beefing up” the amount of reinforced steel that is used in building a concete block building now.
I hope this sheds some light on the subject.
By the way I lived in the house for several years during the 1950s that was a reconstructed home from a house that (slid) off Napier’s ‘Bluff Hill’ during the 1931 earthquake, so yes a wooden structure can survive if it doesn’t fall over a cliff, opposed to just “sliding” off.
The sod-turning ceremony at 5 King Street in Brisbane will be a groundbreaking event in more than just in the literal sense. When complete in 2018, 45 metres of the 52-metre office tower will qualify as the world’s highest to be held aloft not by steel and concrete, but timber and glue.
Right over the road from where I am right now. Foundations well progressed, and I’d imagine the first structural elements might arrive within weeks. Oh and it doesn’t burn like the concrete dude at the bottom of the article implies … the outer layer chars and that’s it.
In many respects engineered timber is a better bet in disasters than any other material.
“After the previous earthquakes, she took a big hammering on February 22. She shook like you wouldn’t believe. It always amazed me how she still stood.
I am familiar with Shand’s Emporium, also CHCH …. Know the building and city well, pre, and POST quake. Having experienced quite a few jolts there, and in Wellys etc …..
Moreover I live in a dilapidated wooden cottage on the South Coast, and have experienced many a jolt from the Solander Trench over the years!
And dwangs, or noggins… give me timber anytime over concrete!, i.e. CTV Building, Ex Drainage board building, ChCh, or Stats house in Wellington.
The Shand’s 2 story timber construction from the 1800’s has stood the best of time!
JC
I was just throwing some stuff in for consideration not trying to offer any definitive info. I actually wanted to find the engineer who started the ball rolling on the safety of much of the construction but couldn’t find him, too late too tired and I think keeping in mind stuff that was being discussed, keeping questions fresh, is something needed.
have a look at Papamoa and find the evacuation road in case of a Tsunami. Ideally you evacuate with a bicycle cause when all the geezers jump in their car to find the one road out – ooops finished. Well at least the recovery of bodies will be easy as they will be found in their cars.
There is literally no way to evacuate for many who live coastal simply because a. where too? b. one road in one road out,. and c. shall i save my effn boat?
So frankly to evacuate quickly……that is literally not gonna happen.
If they’re corporate execs or sportspeople they’re free agents, free to choose. If they’re politicians they are there on the grace of the people they represent, those that boosted them into the role.
Politicians changing horses mid-stream is misrepresentation, cheating their backers. It’s peeling the labels off Marmite jars and replacing them with Vegemite ones, well wrong.
There have been a whopping 6254 written questions submitted to Govt ministers by the Nats in the last month; for comparison, there were 964 during the equivalent period after the 2014 election.
no surprises that the infant minds of your average nat mp can only see playing childish games as their role now, as we witnessed on day one around the lie to back the speakers appointment.
maybe list mps in the opposition parties should be made redundant on election day
National tactics of stalling labour coalition to make changes is adding a mockery to PM Jacinda Ardern ‘s seeking to obtain a “National Party concensus on child poverty” eh!!!!!!!
The hard lesson learned in the first month of the Labour lead government = do not rely on or trust the National Party at any time.
The Opposition asking questions of the government is “in the interests of New Zealand.” An energised Opposition is to be expected when they are the largest party.
In contrast Labour after 2014 had only got 25% of the vote and were no doubt sufficiently demotivated not too ask very many questions. The next three years will not be the same as when the the largest party is the government.
Jeez Wayne disingenuous to the max. An opposition asking questions of a government “is in the interests of New Zealand” when those questions are relevant and seek to draw out more detail of what a government is doing and why, and perhaps highlighting ineptitude and dishonesty and so on.
An energised Opposition should also be intelligent and genuinely working in the interest of all of us, not simply clogging up the machinery of government for their own selfish ends and to show themselves to be ignorant and anti-democratic which National seem determined to do.
An energised opposition asking questions of the government is in the interest of NZders full stop. It’s an important element of our democratic process.
Its not for you or I as individuals to judge whether or not they are relevant – thats the function of society in general. If the questions don’t generate new and/or relevant insights, then society will in turn judge the oppositions questions as a waste of time, and the particular line of questioning will cease.
In and of itself having to answer lots of questions will not slow down the machinery of government.
Apparently the large number of questions has been generated because the government won’t disclose who their Ministers are meeting with. They said they needed specific questions of Ministers. Well, they are now getting them.
Even if they are declined meetings (to be fair that could be a bit excessive). It is who they are meeting with that is important. But with GCSB, quite a lot will not be disclosable.
Presumably, in line with past practise, the government will disclose the diaries of Ministers so it is all transparent as to what they are doing, including all their meetings.
We all along with the public and all the press too asked national Minsters for the last nine years and got gilich/nothing back from them National pm’s so why do you dumb National pollies now expect any answers to over ‘6000’ thousands of questions in a month now? – it doesn’t work like that!!!!!
Are you stupid or something.
Just wait untill they uncover all the financial scandals they will find as they audit the nine years of governments books lad, are you shaking?
On the seventh december we wil be watching the court proceedure as Winston presents his eveidence in discovery of the national ministers who caused the scandal leaking his private personal information or have you forgotten that???
LOL. Classic! I stand chastened. Not. Aren’t “you and I” members of society in general? I know I am. Therefore by your ” logic” I am totally qualified to judge whether these questions are relevant or not.
“Its not for you or I as individuals to judge whether or not they are relevant – thats the function of society in general.”
Actually, Grantoc, everyone who comments here is part of society in general and has every right to make their own judgement about the behaviour of our politicians. Having the same inane question (“What meetings did the minister attend on…(date)”) repeated for every day, for every Minister isn’t “holding the government to account” – it’s deliberately hovering up public servants’ time in an attempt to hold up progress in researching, developing and implementing policy. If Labour had been doing this during the last government’s time, they would have been mocked and denounced. There’s definitely a role for a focused opposition in parliament, but this isn’t it. This is just being petty and pathetic.
13377 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
What meetings did the Minister decline on 6 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13376 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister responsible for the GCSB
What meetings did the Minister decline on 5 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13375 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
What meetings did the Minister decline on 7 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13374 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister responsible for the NZ Security Intelligence Service
What meetings did the Minister decline on 4 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13373 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister responsible for the GCSB
What meetings did the Minister decline on 6 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13372 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
What meetings did the Minister decline on 8 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13371 (2017). Hon Steven Joyce to the Minister of Finance
What will be the remuneration rate for ordinary members of the newly announced Tax Working Group?
Question 24 November 2017
13370 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister responsible for the NZ Security Intelligence Service
What meetings did the Minister decline on 5 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13369 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister responsible for the GCSB
What meetings did the Minister decline on 7 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13368 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister responsible for the NZ Security Intelligence Service
What meetings did the Minister decline on 6 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13367 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister responsible for the GCSB
What meetings did the Minister decline on 8 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13366 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
What meetings did the Minister decline on 9 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13365 (2017). Hon Steven Joyce to the Minister of Finance
What is the remuneration rate for the chair of the newly announced Tax Working Group?
Question 24 November 2017
13364 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister responsible for the NZ Security Intelligence Service
What meetings did the Minister decline on 7 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13363 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
What meetings did the Minister decline on 10 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13362 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister responsible for the NZ Security Intelligence Service
What meetings did the Minister decline on 8 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13361 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister responsible for the GCSB
What meetings did the Minister decline on 9 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13360 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
What meetings did the Minister decline on 11 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13359 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister responsible for the GCSB
What meetings did the Minister decline on 10 November?
Question 24 November 2017
13358 (2017). Hon Christopher Finlayson to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
What meetings did the Minister decline on 13 November?
Question 24 November 2017
I don’t see anything wrong with a couple of thousand people emailing the Hon Christopher Finlayson quite a number of times every day. For the sake of transparency and accountability which he is very interested in he could tell us what he’s up to. As a list MP I’m sure he’d like to share.
For years the left have had to cop the flak that comes with being in opposition.
A national sentiment that ponders: ‘How on earth is that line of attack/questioning actually going to help our nation Labour/Greens? You do nothing but moan.’
It’s time for National to slip into that coat and NZ can listen to the 6254 whines from those that lost.
I think our government need only stick to their knitting and spin the noise from the other side of the house in a way that appeals to the broader population. Perpetually moaning negative Nellies are rarely popular.
It’ll be interesting once Winston’s fishing expedition starts to bear fruit and some gaps appear in the mask. And they will, someone will see a personal advantage in saying, or leaking something to further their own ambitions at the old guard’s expense.
I suspect this hyper question tactic to keep everyone too busy to think about how and why they are in opposition, not government. Once the frustration of opposition starts to be felt there’s going to be a lot of mid-level nat MPs looking for someone to take responsibility. I doubt it will be pretty, or swift.
Is there an opportunity to classify questions as harrassment and refuse to play the game? If it is to be asked in Parliament, can they be answered en bloc and a protest made to the Speaker so it goes on record? This should be revealed to the public somehow, can the questioner be brought to a head of steam that won’t be turned off, and then the Speaker can order them from the House etc?
I think the right approach and attitude with regard the questions or their volume is nearly always: ‘Ask whatever you want, we like sharing the details of our progress.’
Apparently a national mp has confirmed it was because labour ministers won’t answer “general questions” like who didn’t they meet this month.? Thus the same question for every date.
Both of you are always suggesting everyone you don’t agree with is lying. But if you go to Kiwiblog, you will see that Mallard did ask 7,000 questions in 2010.
I know enough of this to know these things happen in fits and starts. Sometimes i would get hundreds of questions all at once, then nothing for a bit. It basically took two people in my office to answer them as their main job. I simply saw it as part of a functioning open democracy.
The volume of questions is purely being driven by Ministers and their offices refusing to answer more generalised questions, such as something along the lines of ‘Who has the Minister met with with since being sworn in?’
A very reasonable question. It not only helps to identify who might be influencing government, it also helps to target further information requests.
Ministers’ offices have been responding along the lines of ‘The minister meets with many people on many topics. We can respond to more specific questions.’
No wonder they then face the same question repeated in separate questions for each individual day.
I can’t give a definitive reason as to why others are seeking information by way of written questions vs. OIA request, but (as I understand it) the timeframe for an OIA response is 20 working days whereas the response for written questions to ministers is 6 working days. That would seem amply good reason to me.
Ultimately the volume of questions is being driven by ministers not responding to more general, yet reasonable questions.
Looks to me like this government is backing away from their supposed commitment to transparency and open government. Yet another u-turn from them.
[Anne Tolley recalls around 28,000 written questions from Trev when she was Minister of Education – on more than one occasion deriving from a common question asked separately for each of the 2500-odd public schools.]
Could it be that Anne Tolley needed to be asked the same question 28,000 times before she understood it?
Or 28,000 times before she showed a willingness to answer?
they have been the Tea Party for at least the last nine years.
they are just not hiding it anymore. National Party, the ownership Party – you are on your own – especially in sickness, old age, unemployment, child hood, if one is a person of colour or the female gender or any other gender then heterosexual male. Also don’t apply if you don’t adhere to the right religious cult. Its got at least be a patriarchy and biblical.
As medical examiner for Ansett New Zealand, he had ready access to easy targets – not just because he could control the acceptance process for young women determined to become flight attendants, but because, as he said himself, if an accusation was made, who would believe it?
Unlike his behaviour with other patients, he limited his sexual activity with the Ansett trainees – far enough to afford him some gratification, not so far that it could not be explained away as part of a normal medical examination. ….
“GROPERS” is presented by GroperWatch, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
No.1 George Herbert Walker Bush; No. 2 Bill O’Reilly; No. 3 Al Franken; No. 4 Robin Brooke; No. 5 Lester Beck; No. 6 Arnold Schwarzenegger; No. 7 Joe Biden; No. 8 Rolf Harris; No. 9 Harold Bloom; No. 10 Sir Jimmy Savile
Let’s build houseboats, that will rise up when there is flooding and can be steered into a safe harbour to ride out the storm. Now that would be a useful design and skill for us in NZ
1. An unsupported assertion that there’s a “growing disconnect” between the Merkel and the electorate.
2. The implication that Germany’s refugee policy is in some sense “controversial.”
3. The ludicrous claim that one poll showing 51% of Germans would favour a new election and 49% opposed or not giving a shit means “most Germans” want another election and Merkel has no mandate.
4. some “rise-of-the-right” scaremongering,
All of which is propaganda in service of:
1. Presenting liberal democracies as unstable and poor forms of governance compared with the stability of Russian governance.
2. Attempting to encourage the development of actual instability and poor governance in liberal democracies.
There is of course a ready market of suckers in the West for this propaganda, which is why RT exists.
PM doesn’t understand how Putin can do 3-4 hour live press conferences, off the cuff no teleprompters, no questions barred, in front of the international media, while the leaders of the no-propaganda west hide away as fast as possible in between little bits of sound bite spin.
I have to agree CV. In the year or so after I came back from my time working in Russia I read quite a number of Putin’s speeches (translated of course) and found him quite interesting. I’ve no doubt he’s capable of being ruthless when required, but that’s only one aspect of a complex and intelligent individual. Critics in the west who reflexively write him off as an ex-KGB thug almost certainly haven’t read or listened to the man at any length.
One certainly doesn’t have to be any kind Putin fanboi to recognise that in many ways his stature as an enduring statesman is far beyond almost all comparable figures in the west.
And within the context of Russian leaders over the past two centuries or more, he is by far the most outstanding since probably Catherine the Great.
As I understand it, the Russian people almost universally frown upon Yeltsin as the drunkard who almost let the west destroy Russia.
They do give him credit for one major decision though – finding the relatively obscure Putin and handing power over to him.
This is a clip of Putin addressing his commanders in the Chechen campaign in 1999, when he was a newbie I think just shortly after he took over. ‘Put your glasses down, we’ll have a drink only after we win the war.’
Mugabe took a functioning country and ran it into the ground; Putin took a country that had been through a massive crisis and has restored it. I was there in 2001 and saw for myself the poverty and hardship they Russian people were going through with my own eyes.
Now when I look on google earth at the same streets in the same city, I barely recognise the place; large new buildings, massive public redevelopment and far fewer visible signs of the lack of maintenance and run down grimness that was so confronting when I was there.
That’s just my personal experience and is proof of nothing, but it’s consistent with everything I can read. Putin has proven to be a Russian nationalist before all else, he’s put the interests of Russia first and the people can see the difference in their daily lives.
This is why he remains so very popular in a way all western leaders must envy. Note carefully; I’m not arguing that by liberal western standards he’s any kind of angel or human rights paragon. But for the average person, Putin’s delivered for them.
Comparisons with Mugabe are facile. And I must add that the west really owes Putin a huge debt for stabilising an otherwise dangerously disintegrating nuclear power nation.
Authoritarianism’s good like that. Massive public works, rearmament, Kraft durch Freude, the whole shebang. Just not so good in various other ways, that you’d think would be important to people who don’t live under authoritarian rule.
Sighs. I’m not trying to defend the clearly authoritarian aspects of any regime, be it Russian, Chinese or Fijian. They’re all unattractive and ultimately their own flaws are limiting and inevitably unravel one way or another in the long run.
But the west’s record of imposing regime change is no prettier either. I’ve personal reason to know (and in fuck awful detail) exactly how brutal Saddam Hussein’s political suppression machine was; yet I can also accept that your average Iraqi might well fondly look back on his rule as a period of peace, stability and relative prosperity.
I believe the best path forward is to promote an environment where nations come to believe that it is their best interests to gradually dial back the oppression, increase democratic accountability and sign up to global norms such as the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
It’s a process of intelligent engagement, cautious and principled that will improve matters. Assumptions of cultural superiority and arrogant interventions will not.
Putin is more open about Russia’s intentions and actions than most western leaders are about their own countries, and is more ready to front up to the news media about such.
In contrast “propaganda” (which might be described variously as PR spin by narrative or ommission) which you are so concerned about is a western speciality.
Oh, I’m pretty sure most western leaders could hold forth for several hours if fact-checking what they said was literally impossible.
As to what constitutes propaganda, I pointed out several features of that RT article as evidence for it being propaganda. The Reuters article maui referred to in response doesn’t have those features. Your assertions to the contrary are worth nothing to anyone other than you.
There’s also a Reuters article saying that half of Germans want a new election. Something tells me you would have no problem with that story.
Merkel lost 9% in the last election and there isn’t a growing disconnect? Ok..
If you hadn’t read the RT article, all you would know is that Merkel won the election and everything is hunky dory. Sure RT may be spinning it a bit, but they none the less give some decent information.
“Well, maybe I do have a personality disorder,” Tolokonnikova laughs.
“This practice is very typical in Russia today. Mental health diagnoses can be attributed to anyone who doesn’t agree with the current state of affairs.”
There’s also a Reuters article saying that half of Germans want a new election. Something tells me you would have no problem with that story.
Correct. For one thing, the Reuters article just reports the poll results without much editorialising, but more importantly, Reuters isn’t the propaganda arm of an authoritarian nationalist regime.
If you hadn’t read the RT article, all you would know is that Merkel won the election and everything is hunky dory.
I already knew that coalition talks had collapsed and Merkel’s got a problem, from following actual news media. The only thing the RT article gave me was an additional serving of Russian government propaganda, which is interesting in terms of spotting the grift, but of little use otherwise.
Correct. For one thing, the Reuters article just reports the poll results without much editorialising, but more importantly, Reuters isn’t the propaganda arm of an authoritarian nationalist regime.
Reuters is not as obviously pro US-Anglo Imperial status quo as say CNN but it’s still up there.
an authoritarian nationalist regime.
Russia? Yes Russia believes in economic and political sovereignty, and not trans-national neoliberal globalism. I guess that’s “nationalist.”
Authoritarian? Russia holds moderately free and fair elections. United Russia is very popular, and if they were less so, the Communist Party would win.
“Regime”? Good on you, you just earnt your little gold star as a propagandist yourself.
It is of course within the bounds of possibility that the assassination, intimidation and imprisonment of journalists, activists and opposition politicians that have made life so difficult for anyone who’d like to see someone other than Putin running Russia are a matter of sheer coincidence – just like it’s within the bounds of possibility that OJ will find the real killer.
Russian literally has no history of liberal democratic government. None at any time since the Russ tribes were first ruled by Peter the Great in the 10th century. There is deep absence of the cultural norms and habits that enable the delicate mechanism we take for granted and on which our system is built.
I would argue Putin has put Russia on a path where such a thing may become possible; but not for a generation or two yet.
Also consider the authoritarian security state one party Chinese Government. Which is returning China back to its status quo position as a leading civilisation (50% of the job done but still needs another generation or so).
After the catastrophic Cultural Revolution and so-called Great Leap Forward
And in the process, lifting half a billion or so people out of agrarian hand to mouth poverty.
Russian literally has no history of liberal democratic government. None at any time since the Russ tribes were first ruled by Peter the Great in the 10th century. There is deep absence of the cultural norms and habits that enable the delicate mechanism we take for granted and on which our system is built.
Which is what makes me wonder why some people post RT links here as though RT wasn’t a creation of the system you describe
At the risk of highlighting your assumed cultural superiority, other civilisational systems are quite capable of produce outstanding creativity and production.
I haven’t published any RT links at all, but there really isn’t any such thing as a gold-standard, objective, spin-free media anywhere in the world. RT is probably not a lot worse than say the NZ Herald. It’s all propaganda really, just a question of degree.
Neither is any source complete bullshit either; like most people I just try to correlate as many bits of info as I can and try to make some sense of it as best I can. And always if I try and set aside my assumptions, there are interesting stories everywhere I look.
It’s more the downsides of a lease arrangement that was made in a time when asset inflation was insignificant and review periods much longer than now. So reviews of this type of lease are pretty painful. Cornwall Park Trust was a similar situation.
Add to that, in 70’s and early 80’s Arrowtown was struggling to survive, lots of rundown 1800’s houses and cribs, so quite low CVs compared to nearby areas. Now the very bottom is $800K. And onwards and upwards from there. There’s also been a major social turnover, with wealthy, or think they are wealthy, people moving into the town displacing the previous residents. Those with freehold properties were able to exit with a good wad of cash, but with a leasehold title you haven’t got much to sell. The social turnover is hard on longer term residents as their social circle shrinks and they are unable to compete or fit in with the new, seemingly more affluent, arrivals.
The problem of old people having to leave the district in their final years isn’t new, it’s been a major problem for 40+ years and is still happening, but usually on medical grounds.
The Wakatipu has always been a difficult place to live. Rewarding in it’s own ways, but difficult. If you can’t insulate yourself from the economic and social cycles, and asset inflation, it can get impossible.
The elderly couple should have taken the 5 year lease extension at just $5,000 per annum. Ridiculous to not go for that option and worry about the rest later.
In fact, given that the Council offered that, they might even have negotiated for a 6 year lease extension at $6,000 p.a., which would have been enough to sell their house on the basis of for a very solid price.
It’s not really all that different to a licence to occupy in a rest home in that regard. There’s the assumption that the occupier isn’t going to live forever.
Reading over one of those contracts was made all the more macabre when it was my folks doing the dying. But yep, they go into details like: This is what happens if the occupiers die between paying the deposit and occupying.
My Dad countered my “Geez, all this talk about you not being here Ma and Pa’ with “You start to die the second you’re born son.’ ….I think he loves me.
A lot of quite long term residents of Arrowtown (since late 70’s) have moved on lately. They’ve found the town wasn’t their cup of tea anymore. Often with deep regret. Socially it’s another town now, even from what it was 10 years ago, but it was really changing then. We used to have a business in Buckingham St, it had an “interesting” social politics then, but I’m really glad we’re in Queenstown now.
It’s a lifestyle trend I’m seeing much more of. Couples retiring to their Huckleberry locale (I’m on the Far North coast) and then late 70’s early 80’s the more frequent 4 hour drives to see medical specialists grind, seeing more of the urban based Grandchildren appeals.
Many of the houses around me are being sold by retiree twilighters. Fab mint 70’s décor.
Another probable aspect to this situation is that the lease negotiations were handled by a council employee who’s in their 30’s or early 40’s, been in the Wakatipu a couple of years, renting at $700 + / week or huge mortgage, grossly over-qualified for the job they are doing, so earning sod all, and not making ends meet at all, and then being tasked to negotiate a sweetheart deal to keep the ex borough overseer in his leasehold home until he and his partner pass away. Really can’t see that progressing with the empathy, compassion and respect needed to get an outcome satisfactory to all parties.
Could be scenario. Then also there is the entitlement issue of many older people who feel that life should be made easy for them all the way.
They don’t pay attention to the problems that all on lower income are having. And the old men who think they know it all and just make assertions about everything, very difficult to tell them anything and get them to think around a problem, especially if they are conversing with a female.
Labour hasn’t realised what the quid pro quo is in the dark marketplace from pollies to journalists, to ensure that the right sort of verbiage is written up about government.
Back in the day when I went into Taits radio Gisborne shop to get one of my radios there were other customers being severed and I felt a chill and got goose bumps there was a elderly man dressed in black shorts and a t-shirt. I observed this man and his manner did not suit his dress code I.E it was warm but not roasting hot. A few weeks later I seen this man following me around in his blue ford falcon . because of there attention I decided to sell my lawn business and go dairy farming in the Waikatato they follow me there later On I lived in a house next to a school in Rotorua that educate Alot of the people that are oppressing me and they gave me a lot of attention.!!!!! There have been many occasions when he has interfered in me and my family life I no all the people that you have used to tried and prove your bullshit ideological theory of me but to no one can not prove what is not fact. Well last year I seen this elderly man he said that he was off course and had to land his glider on the farm I recognise him straight away as the same man from gisborne as well as goosebumps to I no what he was looking for in the forestry next to the farm they had bussed it with a helicopter a month before and they did it again 2 weeks ago after the got Frank Gallagher to sing them some bullshit lol. Now this man is high up in the state service OUR government provides and this man has been persecutioing me for 17 years and this has trained me to spot these people
A mile Away I no who you are and I no that you treat Maori as un human savage how by the way you are treating me You have given me Mana of Eco Maori and you are using OUR courts to try and cancel this out but No I will be using my Mana to fight for equality for our Lady’s and to get Maori Mana back and Mother Earth equally for all humans many thanks to you and your people PS I no that you have oppressed Alot of people of Maori culture in gisborne and this is why Gisborne is like it is today Kia Kaha
Just in case anyone needs a reminder of what a nasty sack’o’shit the Grab’em’fuhrer really is, here’s a handy summary of some of the steps he’s taken to try to push women back into a second-class subservient status.
That, and a tilt at cleansing the big government theocracy.
But even this plan — to fill approximately 150 judicial vacancies before the 2018 elections — is not enough for conservatives.
Enter the next element of the court-packing turducken: a new plan written by the crafty co-founder of the Federalist Society, Steven Calabresi. In a paper that deserves credit for its transparency (it features a section titled “Undoing President Barack Obama’s Judicial Legacy”), Calabresi proposes to pack the federal courts with a “minimum” of 260 — and possibly as many as 447 — newly created judicial positions. Under this plan, the 228-year-old federal judiciary would increase — in a single year — by 30 to 50 percent.
Sessions has implemented a new charging and sentencing policy that calls for prosecutors to pursue the most serious charges possible, even if that might mean minority defendants face stiff, mandatory minimum penalties. He has defended the president’s travel ban and tried to strip funding from cities with policies he considers too friendly toward undocumented immigrants.
Sessions has even adjusted the department’s legal stances in cases involving voting rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in a way that advocates warn might disenfranchise poor minorities and give certain religious people a license to discriminate.
As I keep saying to the libertarians that supported the republicans – “It’s the republicans for all their bluster about small government, who habitually increase the state’s scope, and power – term after term”
Many thanks to some media for showing the positive side to our farming culture and community it is not the people falt for the way we farm the government sets the rules it is also good to see a lot of positive story’s on Maori but you are showing to many bad stories that OUR moko don’t need to see Ka pai
In a Saturday night tweet, Trump attacked CNN, saying the network’s international division “represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly.” A few minutes later, Trump tweeted an alternative: MagaPill.com.
[…]
But while Trump presents MagaPill as the antidote to “fake news,” the site regularly traffics in unhinged conspiracy theories. Just a few hours before being endorsed by Trump, MagaPill posted a video from Liz Cronkin, a fringe figure best known for pushing the Pizzagate conspiracy. In the video, Cronkin claims there is a sex tape of Hillary Clinton with an underage girl on Anthony Weiner’s laptop.
[…]
Another recent MagaPill post features an “interesting flow chart” which combines nearly every conspiracy theory imaginable: “false flag terrorism,” “organ harvesting,” “child/human sacrifice,” “weaponize forced vaccination,” “earthquake machines.”
[…]
Another post refers to Lady Gaga as a “spirit cooker,” a conspiracy theory associated with Pizzagate that alleges Gaga participates in satanic rituals.
Just been to the local supermarket to get a bottle of wine for tonight’s dinner ( I’m the cook AGAIN”)
I noticed on the checkout there was a large stack of shithouse paper, correction excuse for shithouse paper and I noticed on the front page Heather De Plastic was writing something about Labour being out of their depth.
As I fear for my health I will not read or handle that shit,
Has any brave soul read this article and what is this bit of crap on about?
Nah that’s not it BM, boys behaviour is often excused by many as ‘boys will be boys’ like when boys play a bit rough etc ‘boys will be boys’.
I’ve said it, have you ever said it BM?
I now know better, but it wasn’t until this year when I realised that saying ‘boys will be boys’ is an excuse instead of dealing with behaviour and when we excuse their behaviour they think it’s ok to carrying behaving rough or what ever because ‘boys will be boys’
My point was simple, we had a PM who discounted the actions of a group of males from lynfield college with the comment – ‘boys will be boys’.
It seems odd that you think I was making a more sweeping statement than that. Stop being so precious.
Sexual assaults and rape happen, and most of the time it gets ignored or as donkey said “boys will be boys”. Me, I sick of having to live in a world full of rapist, and I’m over having to engage with women who are fearful of me because I’m a male.
It’s time for men to stand up and do something about this. Or you can deflect, troll, or generally be a prat – the choice is yours BM.
Many thanks to all you Lady’s around OUR WORLD for making a stand for your rights as a equal partner to men in OUR WORLD SOCIETY. As I see this paradigm shift is the only way to fix all the wrongs of OUR world society. Kai Kaha
How do I no that they are using a real life Frank Gallagher is because they were parading him around so I could see him using there dum ass intimidation tactics Ka pai
They didn’t meet me, then again I didn’t
ask, so who else didn’t they meet.
‘Last night upon the stair I met a man wo wasn’t there, he wasn’t there again tonight’.
They had a real life Frank Gallagher like the one from the TV show shamless he is whano to me he has been a alcoholic and drug addict for 25 years he will sing to any tune just to get a fix. They had him walk the street 2x so I could see him to try and intimidat and this person is there next contracted liar this is how they work Ka Pai
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Scotland Rugby says receive that Australia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npFBHdMc5NM
Please, no ABs’ spoilers! Waiting for the replay on Prime – set to record.
i Was just going to post on it when i saw this.
Thanks. There are limited places to go online while waiting for the replay.
Thanks. Watching this arvo.
Seen it now. thanks for not spoiling. Anyone else still waiting to watch it?
Gulp!@#$%^&*()
Not again!!!!!!!!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11930695
“Scientists are discussing the risks it poses at a summit in Napier this week.
They say it could trigger a massive 8.4 magnitude quake, that would cripple the lower North Island.”
In a tsunami concrete buildings seem more durable than wooden ones.
If the shake goes on for a minute, and if you are knocked off your feet then it is an indication that it is strong enough to be followed by a tsunami. And that could follow within 10 minutes, so evacuation should be asap.
I would 100 times rather be in a wooden building in an earthquake and we’ve been stupid to keep putting up concrete crap in modern building. A concrete building may stand up to a tsunami but it won’t save your life in one either.
Yes I noticed that the mention of concrete just related to tsunami. But it would be interesting to get the opinion of a professional engineerwith pragmatic approach who could tell us whether a badly built concrete building with inadequate reinforcing and possibly slab-built would be better than a badly built wooden building with no dwangs and under-spec studs. Because that is possibly the choice in NZ with anything built in the last 30 years.
Yes greywarshark; good point there.
I come from Napier so our family have lived in a city with the reminants of buildings from the 1931 earthquakes so we have seen how woden vs concrete buildings do stand up to a large earthquake.
I do take Maui seriously here and he/she could be correct here in some cases.
Most concrete buildings in Napier during the 1931 quake were levelled, but some stood then, and do still today.
So we know the solid reinforced designed buildings are the ones that are still here today.
When the building code here was upgraded from that earthquake we were told that Napier had ‘advanced building codes’ before other regions during the last half of the last century.
So when a building was planned around our area, we saw that heavy reinforced caged steel “lential beams” were placed around the first floor level and at the top of the second floor through the concrete blocks.
We do recall that they only had single 12mm reinfocing rods placed in every second hole of the blocks and then concrete was poured into the holes to set the rods in place.
We always wondered why every hole didnt get a reinforced rod.
We used reinforced rods in every hole of a retaining wall when we built one later in the 1980’s.
So it may be that one should think of “beefing up” the amount of reinforced steel that is used in building a concete block building now.
I hope this sheds some light on the subject.
By the way I lived in the house for several years during the 1950s that was a reconstructed home from a house that (slid) off Napier’s ‘Bluff Hill’ during the 1931 earthquake, so yes a wooden structure can survive if it doesn’t fall over a cliff, opposed to just “sliding” off.
The Bluff Hill isn’t a bluff either.
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jun/21/tall-timber-the-worlds-tallest-wooden-office-building-to-open-in-brisbane
Right over the road from where I am right now. Foundations well progressed, and I’d imagine the first structural elements might arrive within weeks. Oh and it doesn’t burn like the concrete dude at the bottom of the article implies … the outer layer chars and that’s it.
In many respects engineered timber is a better bet in disasters than any other material.
“After the previous earthquakes, she took a big hammering on February 22. She shook like you wouldn’t believe. It always amazed me how she still stood.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/94130193/saving-christchurchs-landmark-shands-emporium
Godd search for google
earthquake and slab buildings and engineering doubts
and
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/10337742/Learning-to-play-game-of-claims
Keh?
I am familiar with Shand’s Emporium, also CHCH …. Know the building and city well, pre, and POST quake. Having experienced quite a few jolts there, and in Wellys etc …..
Moreover I live in a dilapidated wooden cottage on the South Coast, and have experienced many a jolt from the Solander Trench over the years!
And dwangs, or noggins… give me timber anytime over concrete!, i.e. CTV Building, Ex Drainage board building, ChCh, or Stats house in Wellington.
The Shand’s 2 story timber construction from the 1800’s has stood the best of time!
Please correct me if I have misunderstood you!
JC
I was just throwing some stuff in for consideration not trying to offer any definitive info. I actually wanted to find the engineer who started the ball rolling on the safety of much of the construction but couldn’t find him, too late too tired and I think keeping in mind stuff that was being discussed, keeping questions fresh, is something needed.
have a look at Papamoa and find the evacuation road in case of a Tsunami. Ideally you evacuate with a bicycle cause when all the geezers jump in their car to find the one road out – ooops finished. Well at least the recovery of bodies will be easy as they will be found in their cars.
There is literally no way to evacuate for many who live coastal simply because a. where too? b. one road in one road out,. and c. shall i save my effn boat?
So frankly to evacuate quickly……that is literally not gonna happen.
I doubt there would be much of Papamoa left.
http://ptdb.niwa.co.nz/#!/db/275?out=map&map=control&colorby=validity&view=-37.7376|176.4583|10||1420|799
yep, and they are building like there is no tomorrow. I really don’t understand anyone who buys a house there.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/99190830/damien-grant-waka-jumpers-should-be-free-to-take-the-leap
waka jumping ?
list mps should get the boot , electorate mps should be allowed , imho
If they’re corporate execs or sportspeople they’re free agents, free to choose. If they’re politicians they are there on the grace of the people they represent, those that boosted them into the role.
Politicians changing horses mid-stream is misrepresentation, cheating their backers. It’s peeling the labels off Marmite jars and replacing them with Vegemite ones, well wrong.
David Mac
+1
Nats, becoming the NZ Tea Party – cynically trying to impede current government through under arm bowling – or is there a worse/more apt metaphor?
Sam Sachdeva on Twitter
Plus, the discussion that follows is important.
no surprises that the infant minds of your average nat mp can only see playing childish games as their role now, as we witnessed on day one around the lie to back the speakers appointment.
maybe list mps in the opposition parties should be made redundant on election day
National tactics of stalling labour coalition to make changes is adding a mockery to PM Jacinda Ardern ‘s seeking to obtain a “National Party concensus on child poverty” eh!!!!!!!
The hard lesson learned in the first month of the Labour lead government = do not rely on or trust the National Party at any time.
You think National should be assisting Labour? huh?
What they shouldn’t be doing is wasting the government’s time with an excess flood of questions most of which are probably bollocks.
Draco.
So, for instance, asking what the Govt is going about child suicide is in your mind ” bollocks”?
That’s one question. Not > 6000.
And according to James they’re just asking who the minister hasn’t met. It’ll be a long list about 7.6 billion names long.
So, yeah, wasting time. It’s about the only thing that the National Party and RWNJs are good at.
So which group does Trevor Mallard belong to? He has been known to lodge 300 + questions a day on occasion….
[citation needed]
And not Kiwiblog.
just because you dont like the source doesnt mean its not true.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99254200/labour-promised-transparency-in-government-but-they-seem-to-be-buckling-on-that-early
They should be acting in the interests of NZ.
The Opposition asking questions of the government is “in the interests of New Zealand.” An energised Opposition is to be expected when they are the largest party.
In contrast Labour after 2014 had only got 25% of the vote and were no doubt sufficiently demotivated not too ask very many questions. The next three years will not be the same as when the the largest party is the government.
Jeez Wayne disingenuous to the max. An opposition asking questions of a government “is in the interests of New Zealand” when those questions are relevant and seek to draw out more detail of what a government is doing and why, and perhaps highlighting ineptitude and dishonesty and so on.
An energised Opposition should also be intelligent and genuinely working in the interest of all of us, not simply clogging up the machinery of government for their own selfish ends and to show themselves to be ignorant and anti-democratic which National seem determined to do.
Grey Area
An energised opposition asking questions of the government is in the interest of NZders full stop. It’s an important element of our democratic process.
Its not for you or I as individuals to judge whether or not they are relevant – thats the function of society in general. If the questions don’t generate new and/or relevant insights, then society will in turn judge the oppositions questions as a waste of time, and the particular line of questioning will cease.
In and of itself having to answer lots of questions will not slow down the machinery of government.
Why would the malicious, dishonest National Party stop trying to waste the government’s time?
Apparently the large number of questions has been generated because the government won’t disclose who their Ministers are meeting with. They said they needed specific questions of Ministers. Well, they are now getting them.
Even if they are declined meetings (to be fair that could be a bit excessive). It is who they are meeting with that is important. But with GCSB, quite a lot will not be disclosable.
Presumably, in line with past practise, the government will disclose the diaries of Ministers so it is all transparent as to what they are doing, including all their meetings.
Wayne;
We all along with the public and all the press too asked national Minsters for the last nine years and got gilich/nothing back from them National pm’s so why do you dumb National pollies now expect any answers to over ‘6000’ thousands of questions in a month now? – it doesn’t work like that!!!!!
Are you stupid or something.
Just wait untill they uncover all the financial scandals they will find as they audit the nine years of governments books lad, are you shaking?
On the seventh december we wil be watching the court proceedure as Winston presents his eveidence in discovery of the national ministers who caused the scandal leaking his private personal information or have you forgotten that???
LOL. Classic! I stand chastened. Not. Aren’t “you and I” members of society in general? I know I am. Therefore by your ” logic” I am totally qualified to judge whether these questions are relevant or not.
“Its not for you or I as individuals to judge whether or not they are relevant – thats the function of society in general.”
Actually, Grantoc, everyone who comments here is part of society in general and has every right to make their own judgement about the behaviour of our politicians. Having the same inane question (“What meetings did the minister attend on…(date)”) repeated for every day, for every Minister isn’t “holding the government to account” – it’s deliberately hovering up public servants’ time in an attempt to hold up progress in researching, developing and implementing policy. If Labour had been doing this during the last government’s time, they would have been mocked and denounced. There’s definitely a role for a focused opposition in parliament, but this isn’t it. This is just being petty and pathetic.
“Energised”. Yeah sure.
Energised with malice and cry-baby rage.
Stacey Kirk, as ever, quick to the defense of National on this.
Cos, you know, Labour led government not being transparent as they promised.
I don’t see anything wrong with a couple of thousand people emailing the Hon Christopher Finlayson quite a number of times every day. For the sake of transparency and accountability which he is very interested in he could tell us what he’s up to. As a list MP I’m sure he’d like to share.
And there must be heaps of things he needs to know, little tidbits of plausible-sounding issues for him to investigate.
Wayne, over 4000 written questions – this looks more like National has too much time and not much to do – and you know what they say about idle hands…
Not necessarily and certainly doesn’t appear to be what National are doing ATM.
For years the left have had to cop the flak that comes with being in opposition.
A national sentiment that ponders: ‘How on earth is that line of attack/questioning actually going to help our nation Labour/Greens? You do nothing but moan.’
It’s time for National to slip into that coat and NZ can listen to the 6254 whines from those that lost.
I think our government need only stick to their knitting and spin the noise from the other side of the house in a way that appeals to the broader population. Perpetually moaning negative Nellies are rarely popular.
It’ll be interesting once Winston’s fishing expedition starts to bear fruit and some gaps appear in the mask. And they will, someone will see a personal advantage in saying, or leaking something to further their own ambitions at the old guard’s expense.
I suspect this hyper question tactic to keep everyone too busy to think about how and why they are in opposition, not government. Once the frustration of opposition starts to be felt there’s going to be a lot of mid-level nat MPs looking for someone to take responsibility. I doubt it will be pretty, or swift.
Is there an opportunity to classify questions as harrassment and refuse to play the game? If it is to be asked in Parliament, can they be answered en bloc and a protest made to the Speaker so it goes on record? This should be revealed to the public somehow, can the questioner be brought to a head of steam that won’t be turned off, and then the Speaker can order them from the House etc?
I think the right approach and attitude with regard the questions or their volume is nearly always: ‘Ask whatever you want, we like sharing the details of our progress.’
DavidMac
Smoooth.
I see that Trevor Mallard once asked 7000 questions in a month by himself – so this is not that bad after all.
James that sounds like a giveaway of your anonymity.
[citation needed]
How many questions do they actually have available to ask?
How many will the Speaker allow through?
And this really does look like the National Party simply trying to waste the government’s time.
Apparently a national mp has confirmed it was because labour ministers won’t answer “general questions” like who didn’t they meet this month.? Thus the same question for every date.
It’s their own fault.
So much for labour being open and transparent.
confirmed
Translation: lied.
[citation needed]
You keep coming out with all this BS so I suspect that you’re just lying.
Draco and OAB,
Both of you are always suggesting everyone you don’t agree with is lying. But if you go to Kiwiblog, you will see that Mallard did ask 7,000 questions in 2010.
I know enough of this to know these things happen in fits and starts. Sometimes i would get hundreds of questions all at once, then nothing for a bit. It basically took two people in my office to answer them as their main job. I simply saw it as part of a functioning open democracy.
Stop moaning about it.
Kiwiblog is not a viable source as it’s known propaganda device of the National Party.
Depends upon the questions doesn’t it. If they’re simply asking who he hasn’t seen then it’s wasting time.
everyone you don’t agree with is lying.
I assume National Party MPs and their enablers are lying, because as a group:
1. You tell so many lies and,
2. You believe so many lies.
Boy, meet wolf.
Nope not telling lies – here is the backup
From National mp
Brett Hudson
The volume of questions is purely being driven by Ministers and their offices refusing to answer more generalised questions, such as something along the lines of ‘Who has the Minister met with with since being sworn in?’
A very reasonable question. It not only helps to identify who might be influencing government, it also helps to target further information requests.
Ministers’ offices have been responding along the lines of ‘The minister meets with many people on many topics. We can respond to more specific questions.’
No wonder they then face the same question repeated in separate questions for each individual day.
I can’t give a definitive reason as to why others are seeking information by way of written questions vs. OIA request, but (as I understand it) the timeframe for an OIA response is 20 working days whereas the response for written questions to ministers is 6 working days. That would seem amply good reason to me.
Ultimately the volume of questions is being driven by ministers not responding to more general, yet reasonable questions.
Looks to me like this government is backing away from their supposed commitment to transparency and open government. Yet another u-turn from them.
[Anne Tolley recalls around 28,000 written questions from Trev when she was Minister of Education – on more than one occasion deriving from a common question asked separately for each of the 2500-odd public schools.]
Could it be that Anne Tolley needed to be asked the same question 28,000 times before she understood it?
Or 28,000 times before she showed a willingness to answer?
That’s a nonsense question that can’t actually be answered in meaningful way as it’s simply too broad.
No it doesn’t as it’s missing any context. In the month since being sworn the minister has probably met hundreds, if not thousands of people.
That’s not how transparent government works. Transparent government would have the information already publicly available.
And I can recall having climbed Mount Everest in 1901 despite not having been born or having left the country.
Actual data please.
The assertions of a National Party MP aren’t evidence of anything. They tell so many lies. This one, for example, pretends to “understand” things.
It may be that Bishop is breaking with National Party values and telling the truth. His word ain’t worth shit though.
they have been the Tea Party for at least the last nine years.
they are just not hiding it anymore. National Party, the ownership Party – you are on your own – especially in sickness, old age, unemployment, child hood, if one is a person of colour or the female gender or any other gender then heterosexual male. Also don’t apply if you don’t adhere to the right religious cult. Its got at least be a patriarchy and biblical.
GROPERS
No. 11: Dr. Morgan Fahey
https://www.mcnz.org.nz/assets/News-and-Publications/Booklets/History-of-the-Medical-Council/files/basic-html/page135.html
“GROPERS” is presented by GroperWatch, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
No.1 George Herbert Walker Bush; No. 2 Bill O’Reilly; No. 3 Al Franken; No. 4 Robin Brooke; No. 5 Lester Beck; No. 6 Arnold Schwarzenegger; No. 7 Joe Biden; No. 8 Rolf Harris; No. 9 Harold Bloom; No. 10 Sir Jimmy Savile
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11947935
team nz should take the money offered by the uae and run , yacht races are a tv thing for most kiwis so were it is doesn’t matter
I believe the hosts set the rules of engagement. Lets go for a radical America’s Cup rule change and turn it into a race to build houses.
Let’s build houseboats, that will rise up when there is flooding and can be steered into a safe harbour to ride out the storm. Now that would be a useful design and skill for us in NZ
A lesson for any MMP govt that thinks it can ignore public sentiment:
https://www.rt.com/news/410943-merkel-out-of-step-with-germans/
More like a lesson in how the Russian government runs a TV version of the Nats’ “fomenting happy mischief” blog.
It was a solid piece of journalism on the aftermath of the German elections.
A 60 second read and I know exactly what the state of the play in Germany is better than any stuff or NZ Herald piece.
A 60-second read and you’ve picked up:
1. An unsupported assertion that there’s a “growing disconnect” between the Merkel and the electorate.
2. The implication that Germany’s refugee policy is in some sense “controversial.”
3. The ludicrous claim that one poll showing 51% of Germans would favour a new election and 49% opposed or not giving a shit means “most Germans” want another election and Merkel has no mandate.
4. some “rise-of-the-right” scaremongering,
All of which is propaganda in service of:
1. Presenting liberal democracies as unstable and poor forms of governance compared with the stability of Russian governance.
2. Attempting to encourage the development of actual instability and poor governance in liberal democracies.
There is of course a ready market of suckers in the West for this propaganda, which is why RT exists.
Are you an arbitrator of propaganda, Milt?
PM doesn’t understand how Putin can do 3-4 hour live press conferences, off the cuff no teleprompters, no questions barred, in front of the international media, while the leaders of the no-propaganda west hide away as fast as possible in between little bits of sound bite spin.
I have to agree CV. In the year or so after I came back from my time working in Russia I read quite a number of Putin’s speeches (translated of course) and found him quite interesting. I’ve no doubt he’s capable of being ruthless when required, but that’s only one aspect of a complex and intelligent individual. Critics in the west who reflexively write him off as an ex-KGB thug almost certainly haven’t read or listened to the man at any length.
One certainly doesn’t have to be any kind Putin fanboi to recognise that in many ways his stature as an enduring statesman is far beyond almost all comparable figures in the west.
And within the context of Russian leaders over the past two centuries or more, he is by far the most outstanding since probably Catherine the Great.
As I understand it, the Russian people almost universally frown upon Yeltsin as the drunkard who almost let the west destroy Russia.
They do give him credit for one major decision though – finding the relatively obscure Putin and handing power over to him.
This is a clip of Putin addressing his commanders in the Chechen campaign in 1999, when he was a newbie I think just shortly after he took over. ‘Put your glasses down, we’ll have a drink only after we win the war.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdJmdSwX8Qs
“Since your Here …”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/25/putin-new-russian-empire-ukraine
his stature as an enduring statesman is far beyond almost all comparable figures in the west.
If what Putin has amounts to stature and statesmanship, so was Robert Mugabe’s.
Mugabe took a functioning country and ran it into the ground; Putin took a country that had been through a massive crisis and has restored it. I was there in 2001 and saw for myself the poverty and hardship they Russian people were going through with my own eyes.
Now when I look on google earth at the same streets in the same city, I barely recognise the place; large new buildings, massive public redevelopment and far fewer visible signs of the lack of maintenance and run down grimness that was so confronting when I was there.
That’s just my personal experience and is proof of nothing, but it’s consistent with everything I can read. Putin has proven to be a Russian nationalist before all else, he’s put the interests of Russia first and the people can see the difference in their daily lives.
This is why he remains so very popular in a way all western leaders must envy. Note carefully; I’m not arguing that by liberal western standards he’s any kind of angel or human rights paragon. But for the average person, Putin’s delivered for them.
Comparisons with Mugabe are facile. And I must add that the west really owes Putin a huge debt for stabilising an otherwise dangerously disintegrating nuclear power nation.
Authoritarianism’s good like that. Massive public works, rearmament, Kraft durch Freude, the whole shebang. Just not so good in various other ways, that you’d think would be important to people who don’t live under authoritarian rule.
Sighs. I’m not trying to defend the clearly authoritarian aspects of any regime, be it Russian, Chinese or Fijian. They’re all unattractive and ultimately their own flaws are limiting and inevitably unravel one way or another in the long run.
But the west’s record of imposing regime change is no prettier either. I’ve personal reason to know (and in fuck awful detail) exactly how brutal Saddam Hussein’s political suppression machine was; yet I can also accept that your average Iraqi might well fondly look back on his rule as a period of peace, stability and relative prosperity.
I believe the best path forward is to promote an environment where nations come to believe that it is their best interests to gradually dial back the oppression, increase democratic accountability and sign up to global norms such as the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
It’s a process of intelligent engagement, cautious and principled that will improve matters. Assumptions of cultural superiority and arrogant interventions will not.
Authoritarian governments, authoritarian regime change, both practised by authoritarian trash.
No stature or statesmanship attaches to either.
PM understands very well how Putin can do that. What he doesn’t understand is what convinces you it’s in some way relevant to the discussion.
Allow me to do you a favour and explain.
Putin is more open about Russia’s intentions and actions than most western leaders are about their own countries, and is more ready to front up to the news media about such.
In contrast “propaganda” (which might be described variously as PR spin by narrative or ommission) which you are so concerned about is a western speciality.
Oh, I’m pretty sure most western leaders could hold forth for several hours if fact-checking what they said was literally impossible.
As to what constitutes propaganda, I pointed out several features of that RT article as evidence for it being propaganda. The Reuters article maui referred to in response doesn’t have those features. Your assertions to the contrary are worth nothing to anyone other than you.
While you, and the rest of us in the west, are the most propagandised of all. It’s hilarious.
So, it’s hilarious, but beyond that, not something you can describe in any way other than bald assertions that won’t persuade anybody.
There’s also a Reuters article saying that half of Germans want a new election. Something tells me you would have no problem with that story.
Merkel lost 9% in the last election and there isn’t a growing disconnect? Ok..
If you hadn’t read the RT article, all you would know is that Merkel won the election and everything is hunky dory. Sure RT may be spinning it a bit, but they none the less give some decent information.
They’ve done nothing more than cite a poll.
https://www.zdf.de/politik/politbarometer/politbarometer-extra-jamaika-100.html
Strange comment, Joe
What point is it that statement of yours is attempting to ‘disprove’?
Or was your comment in support?
Thanks J 9.
“Well, maybe I do have a personality disorder,” Tolokonnikova laughs.
“This practice is very typical in Russia today. Mental health diagnoses can be attributed to anyone who doesn’t agree with the current state of affairs.”
http://www.newsweek.com/pussy-riot-takes-you-inside-putins-prison-where-justice-system-721362
There’s also a Reuters article saying that half of Germans want a new election. Something tells me you would have no problem with that story.
Correct. For one thing, the Reuters article just reports the poll results without much editorialising, but more importantly, Reuters isn’t the propaganda arm of an authoritarian nationalist regime.
If you hadn’t read the RT article, all you would know is that Merkel won the election and everything is hunky dory.
I already knew that coalition talks had collapsed and Merkel’s got a problem, from following actual news media. The only thing the RT article gave me was an additional serving of Russian government propaganda, which is interesting in terms of spotting the grift, but of little use otherwise.
Reuters is not as obviously pro US-Anglo Imperial status quo as say CNN but it’s still up there.
Russia? Yes Russia believes in economic and political sovereignty, and not trans-national neoliberal globalism. I guess that’s “nationalist.”
Authoritarian? Russia holds moderately free and fair elections. United Russia is very popular, and if they were less so, the Communist Party would win.
“Regime”? Good on you, you just earnt your little gold star as a propagandist yourself.
It is of course within the bounds of possibility that the assassination, intimidation and imprisonment of journalists, activists and opposition politicians that have made life so difficult for anyone who’d like to see someone other than Putin running Russia are a matter of sheer coincidence – just like it’s within the bounds of possibility that OJ will find the real killer.
About 20% of Russians want to see someone other than Putin running Russia (although they don’t know who).
Oh and of course, you, Westminster, the Pentagon, Congress, the CIA, etc. etc.
Is this the 20 % you refer to…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/09/russia-siberian-cell-death-pussy-riot
Or is that just in the Ukraine …
http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/05/08/despite-concerns-about-governance-ukrainians-want-to-remain-one-country/
Pussy riot don’t even have 20% support in Russia. More like 2%.
@PM
Russian literally has no history of liberal democratic government. None at any time since the Russ tribes were first ruled by Peter the Great in the 10th century. There is deep absence of the cultural norms and habits that enable the delicate mechanism we take for granted and on which our system is built.
I would argue Putin has put Russia on a path where such a thing may become possible; but not for a generation or two yet.
Also consider the authoritarian security state one party Chinese Government. Which is returning China back to its status quo position as a leading civilisation (50% of the job done but still needs another generation or so).
After the catastrophic Cultural Revolution and so-called Great Leap Forward
And in the process, lifting half a billion or so people out of agrarian hand to mouth poverty.
Russian literally has no history of liberal democratic government. None at any time since the Russ tribes were first ruled by Peter the Great in the 10th century. There is deep absence of the cultural norms and habits that enable the delicate mechanism we take for granted and on which our system is built.
Which is what makes me wonder why some people post RT links here as though RT wasn’t a creation of the system you describe
At the risk of highlighting your assumed cultural superiority, other civilisational systems are quite capable of produce outstanding creativity and production.
I haven’t published any RT links at all, but there really isn’t any such thing as a gold-standard, objective, spin-free media anywhere in the world. RT is probably not a lot worse than say the NZ Herald. It’s all propaganda really, just a question of degree.
Neither is any source complete bullshit either; like most people I just try to correlate as many bits of info as I can and try to make some sense of it as best I can. And always if I try and set aside my assumptions, there are interesting stories everywhere I look.
Has Doctorow got the wrong end of the stick with his assertion?.
https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/934076133112287232
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11947871
the market says old people should fuck off if they are poor
It’s more the downsides of a lease arrangement that was made in a time when asset inflation was insignificant and review periods much longer than now. So reviews of this type of lease are pretty painful. Cornwall Park Trust was a similar situation.
Add to that, in 70’s and early 80’s Arrowtown was struggling to survive, lots of rundown 1800’s houses and cribs, so quite low CVs compared to nearby areas. Now the very bottom is $800K. And onwards and upwards from there. There’s also been a major social turnover, with wealthy, or think they are wealthy, people moving into the town displacing the previous residents. Those with freehold properties were able to exit with a good wad of cash, but with a leasehold title you haven’t got much to sell. The social turnover is hard on longer term residents as their social circle shrinks and they are unable to compete or fit in with the new, seemingly more affluent, arrivals.
The problem of old people having to leave the district in their final years isn’t new, it’s been a major problem for 40+ years and is still happening, but usually on medical grounds.
The Wakatipu has always been a difficult place to live. Rewarding in it’s own ways, but difficult. If you can’t insulate yourself from the economic and social cycles, and asset inflation, it can get impossible.
The elderly couple should have taken the 5 year lease extension at just $5,000 per annum. Ridiculous to not go for that option and worry about the rest later.
In fact, given that the Council offered that, they might even have negotiated for a 6 year lease extension at $6,000 p.a., which would have been enough to sell their house on the basis of for a very solid price.
it screamed to me an offer from the council that says ”you’ll be dead in 5 years any way ”
It’s not really all that different to a licence to occupy in a rest home in that regard. There’s the assumption that the occupier isn’t going to live forever.
Reading over one of those contracts was made all the more macabre when it was my folks doing the dying. But yep, they go into details like: This is what happens if the occupiers die between paying the deposit and occupying.
My Dad countered my “Geez, all this talk about you not being here Ma and Pa’ with “You start to die the second you’re born son.’ ….I think he loves me.
They don’t own the land and the house is more than fifty years old, so at best they might be able to sell the lease.
House probably has negative value, ie it’s a cost to remove.
A lot of quite long term residents of Arrowtown (since late 70’s) have moved on lately. They’ve found the town wasn’t their cup of tea anymore. Often with deep regret. Socially it’s another town now, even from what it was 10 years ago, but it was really changing then. We used to have a business in Buckingham St, it had an “interesting” social politics then, but I’m really glad we’re in Queenstown now.
It’s a lifestyle trend I’m seeing much more of. Couples retiring to their Huckleberry locale (I’m on the Far North coast) and then late 70’s early 80’s the more frequent 4 hour drives to see medical specialists grind, seeing more of the urban based Grandchildren appeals.
Many of the houses around me are being sold by retiree twilighters. Fab mint 70’s décor.
Another probable aspect to this situation is that the lease negotiations were handled by a council employee who’s in their 30’s or early 40’s, been in the Wakatipu a couple of years, renting at $700 + / week or huge mortgage, grossly over-qualified for the job they are doing, so earning sod all, and not making ends meet at all, and then being tasked to negotiate a sweetheart deal to keep the ex borough overseer in his leasehold home until he and his partner pass away. Really can’t see that progressing with the empathy, compassion and respect needed to get an outcome satisfactory to all parties.
Could be scenario. Then also there is the entitlement issue of many older people who feel that life should be made easy for them all the way.
They don’t pay attention to the problems that all on lower income are having. And the old men who think they know it all and just make assertions about everything, very difficult to tell them anything and get them to think around a problem, especially if they are conversing with a female.
Heather du Plessis-Allan says, “So far, the pattern is that Labour is out of its depth.”
If being out of one’s depth was serious she wouldn’t have a keyboard, someone would have taken it off her.
Du Plessis out of her depth as a journalist
Labour hasn’t realised what the quid pro quo is in the dark marketplace from pollies to journalists, to ensure that the right sort of verbiage is written up about government.
Out of her depth was my response as well. What credentials does she have to comment on anything?
Back in the day when I went into Taits radio Gisborne shop to get one of my radios there were other customers being severed and I felt a chill and got goose bumps there was a elderly man dressed in black shorts and a t-shirt. I observed this man and his manner did not suit his dress code I.E it was warm but not roasting hot. A few weeks later I seen this man following me around in his blue ford falcon . because of there attention I decided to sell my lawn business and go dairy farming in the Waikatato they follow me there later On I lived in a house next to a school in Rotorua that educate Alot of the people that are oppressing me and they gave me a lot of attention.!!!!! There have been many occasions when he has interfered in me and my family life I no all the people that you have used to tried and prove your bullshit ideological theory of me but to no one can not prove what is not fact. Well last year I seen this elderly man he said that he was off course and had to land his glider on the farm I recognise him straight away as the same man from gisborne as well as goosebumps to I no what he was looking for in the forestry next to the farm they had bussed it with a helicopter a month before and they did it again 2 weeks ago after the got Frank Gallagher to sing them some bullshit lol. Now this man is high up in the state service OUR government provides and this man has been persecutioing me for 17 years and this has trained me to spot these people
A mile Away I no who you are and I no that you treat Maori as un human savage how by the way you are treating me You have given me Mana of Eco Maori and you are using OUR courts to try and cancel this out but No I will be using my Mana to fight for equality for our Lady’s and to get Maori Mana back and Mother Earth equally for all humans many thanks to you and your people PS I no that you have oppressed Alot of people of Maori culture in gisborne and this is why Gisborne is like it is today Kia Kaha
You must be m8 with Rickards A with the same ideological bullshit views on humans and religion Ka Kaha
Just in case anyone needs a reminder of what a nasty sack’o’shit the Grab’em’fuhrer really is, here’s a handy summary of some of the steps he’s taken to try to push women back into a second-class subservient status.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-sexual-harassment-discrimination_us_5a15b385e4b03dec8249b7e5?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
That, and a tilt at cleansing the big government theocracy.
But even this plan — to fill approximately 150 judicial vacancies before the 2018 elections — is not enough for conservatives.
Enter the next element of the court-packing turducken: a new plan written by the crafty co-founder of the Federalist Society, Steven Calabresi. In a paper that deserves credit for its transparency (it features a section titled “Undoing President Barack Obama’s Judicial Legacy”), Calabresi proposes to pack the federal courts with a “minimum” of 260 — and possibly as many as 447 — newly created judicial positions. Under this plan, the 228-year-old federal judiciary would increase — in a single year — by 30 to 50 percent.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/conservatives-have-a-breathtaking-plan-for-trump-to-pack-the-courts/2017/11/21/b7ce90d4-ce43-11e7-9d3a-bcbe2af58c3a_story.html?utm_term=.024763e24cae
Sessions has implemented a new charging and sentencing policy that calls for prosecutors to pursue the most serious charges possible, even if that might mean minority defendants face stiff, mandatory minimum penalties. He has defended the president’s travel ban and tried to strip funding from cities with policies he considers too friendly toward undocumented immigrants.
Sessions has even adjusted the department’s legal stances in cases involving voting rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in a way that advocates warn might disenfranchise poor minorities and give certain religious people a license to discriminate.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/while-eyes-are-on-russia-sessions-dramatically-reshapes-the-justice-department/2017/11/24/dd52d66a-b8dd-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story.html
As I keep saying to the libertarians that supported the republicans – “It’s the republicans for all their bluster about small government, who habitually increase the state’s scope, and power – term after term”
Yep idiot bigot Joe I was trying to get some one to see OUR WORLD and society future reality
Many thanks to some media for showing the positive side to our farming culture and community it is not the people falt for the way we farm the government sets the rules it is also good to see a lot of positive story’s on Maori but you are showing to many bad stories that OUR moko don’t need to see Ka pai
Not satisfied with his Spacey comments, Morrissey says more stupid shit.
https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/11/morrissey-says-hed-kill-donald-trump-for-the-safety-of-humanity/
Addled dotard is addled.
In a Saturday night tweet, Trump attacked CNN, saying the network’s international division “represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly.” A few minutes later, Trump tweeted an alternative: MagaPill.com.
[…]
But while Trump presents MagaPill as the antidote to “fake news,” the site regularly traffics in unhinged conspiracy theories. Just a few hours before being endorsed by Trump, MagaPill posted a video from Liz Cronkin, a fringe figure best known for pushing the Pizzagate conspiracy. In the video, Cronkin claims there is a sex tape of Hillary Clinton with an underage girl on Anthony Weiner’s laptop.
[…]
Another recent MagaPill post features an “interesting flow chart” which combines nearly every conspiracy theory imaginable: “false flag terrorism,” “organ harvesting,” “child/human sacrifice,” “weaponize forced vaccination,” “earthquake machines.”
[…]
Another post refers to Lady Gaga as a “spirit cooker,” a conspiracy theory associated with Pizzagate that alleges Gaga participates in satanic rituals.
https://thinkprogress.org/what-is-magapill-1fb18b6f2ed0/
Just been to the local supermarket to get a bottle of wine for tonight’s dinner ( I’m the cook AGAIN”)
I noticed on the checkout there was a large stack of shithouse paper, correction excuse for shithouse paper and I noticed on the front page Heather De Plastic was writing something about Labour being out of their depth.
As I fear for my health I will not read or handle that shit,
Has any brave soul read this article and what is this bit of crap on about?
No
Don’t read the Herald. Someone commented about it earlier though.
Du Plessis is a tragic excuse for a journalist.
Her bias is so obvious.
This song has the same title as a comment by our for pm john key – “Boy’s will be boys”.
How about you have a listen, and we work together to stop boys being boys when it comes to sexually assaulting women and girls.
Big Ups to Stella Donnelly for this track and the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQLd-p5lvZU&ab_channel=StellaDonnellyVEVO
Why does the left wing think it’s acceptable to make sweeping comments about men? and especially Caucasian men
It’s a shame this woman has been sexually assaulted but it’s not acceptable to tar and feather all men because of what happened to her.
It’s a good thing no-one has been tarred and feathered then, eh.
Why does BM think it’s acceptable to make sweeping comments about the left wing? Is he a total hypocrite or just a little bit thick?
#notalllefties lol
I’ll bring the feathers.
Stockholm syndrome.
Nah that’s not it BM, boys behaviour is often excused by many as ‘boys will be boys’ like when boys play a bit rough etc ‘boys will be boys’.
I’ve said it, have you ever said it BM?
I now know better, but it wasn’t until this year when I realised that saying ‘boys will be boys’ is an excuse instead of dealing with behaviour and when we excuse their behaviour they think it’s ok to carrying behaving rough or what ever because ‘boys will be boys’
“As a mother of two boys, I have heard the phrase “boys will be boys” approximately 4,000 times. At first I shrugged it off as an innocuous cliche that other parents of sons used to bond with each other, the kind of knee-jerk reaction people have when they see a little girl and say “Isn’t she cute?” It wasn’t until my own son started acting out aggressively that I realized how dismissive and dangerous a phrase it really was.“
Geeze BM, touchy much??!?
My point was simple, we had a PM who discounted the actions of a group of males from lynfield college with the comment – ‘boys will be boys’.
It seems odd that you think I was making a more sweeping statement than that. Stop being so precious.
Sexual assaults and rape happen, and most of the time it gets ignored or as donkey said “boys will be boys”. Me, I sick of having to live in a world full of rapist, and I’m over having to engage with women who are fearful of me because I’m a male.
It’s time for men to stand up and do something about this. Or you can deflect, troll, or generally be a prat – the choice is yours BM.
Many thanks to all you Lady’s around OUR WORLD for making a stand for your rights as a equal partner to men in OUR WORLD SOCIETY. As I see this paradigm shift is the only way to fix all the wrongs of OUR world society. Kai Kaha
How do I no that they are using a real life Frank Gallagher is because they were parading him around so I could see him using there dum ass intimidation tactics Ka pai
What?
They didn’t meet me, then again I didn’t
ask, so who else didn’t they meet.
‘Last night upon the stair I met a man wo wasn’t there, he wasn’t there again tonight’.
Eco maori,
William (not Frank) Gallagher made a disgusting speech regarding the treaty and other issues. Not pleasant.
They had a real life Frank Gallagher like the one from the TV show shamless he is whano to me he has been a alcoholic and drug addict for 25 years he will sing to any tune just to get a fix. They had him walk the street 2x so I could see him to try and intimidat and this person is there next contracted liar this is how they work Ka Pai