I am feel sorry for you Mikesh, that you find Russian anti-war political activists a yawn.
Maybe you prefer some blood thirsty pro-war Russian song.
Or maybe you only think that the Pussy Riot anti-war rap is "ho hum" because you don't have to suffer the grief of living in exile away from your homeland and family like they have to, where if they were at home they could get 15 years in jail for their words or songs.
Or maybe it is because you can't understand their Russian lyrics that you are bored.
So here they are. Just for you. An amended version with subtitles in English so you can understand it.
[deleted long lyrics]
[The complete English “Lyrycs” are in initial link @ 1. There’s no need to dump a long copy & pasta here to force another commenter who clearly is less receptive to read it and/or view the YT clip and for others to have to scroll past. If you insist on incessantly forcing your own personal views on others perhaps it is time you start your own blog – Incognito]
Interesting to see that the cost has already sneaked over a billion. Could have restored Northland’s entire rail system for that, plus the planned link to Northport.
As someone totally into Sustainable Transport…this is really so aggravating. Just gotta wonder wtf ? 2020 Ongoing……..
What I find most frustrating is that we’re now into the 15th year of rail upgrade works where nearly every Christmas/New Year as well as most public holidays and many other weekends the network is shut down for major works and yet we’re still in this position. What have Kiwirail been doing all this time? It feels like Kiwirail have been maintaining the network like a lowly used freight network.
There is some funny satire in Stuff, Damien Grant says it was time not to sound off about what the lone libertarian sees was wrong with the world … then does a swordfish profile of any and all politicians.
"But degrowth is totally different from a recession or a government austerity program. It involves a carefully planned and managed reduction of less necessary and undesirable economic activities, and increase in activities supporting wellbeing and living within planetary boundaries. Degrowth is about reducing energy and raw material use to sustainable levels, and improving the quality of life for all."
But does it offer 'it' for 8 billion?….that is the argument unaddressed.
Of course, there are many unaddressed arguments and unanswered questions because of the sheer nature and complexity of the issue and the stage it is at. However, I’d say yes, this is the implicit premise and requirement for any adequate and appropriate policy and implementation plan at all levels & scales involved aka multi-lateral international approach. Given that many nations are at quite different levels of (socio-economic) development and political freedom and engagement, and given that there will be many internal (political) barriers, it might seem that even thinking about addressing these issues is pie-in-the-sky stuff that makes for excellent thought experiments in Philosophy departments.
Do you have any foundational problems with what is posited in the article and the current thinking about these issues, e.g., are they non-issues in your opinion? Are you simply pointing out the holes & gaps? Do you have any ideas for possible approaches or solutions to offer?
My wish for the NY is fewer Gosman-like comments (aka interminable questioning and sealioning) and more constructive debate. Many a contrarian tries to bog down debate in pedantic nitpicking and almost absurd what-if scenarios, none of which is remotely helpful unless the aim is to score a few laughs among the likeminded.
Thanks. The transcript was ok after removing the 347 paragraph marks and adding some necessary punctuation. It reminded me strongly of The Complementary Nature by Engstrøm and Kelso with a few Jungian themes.
While I ‘liked’ it, I fail to see how this grants my NY’s ‘wish’.
Good – and that is the kind of direction I would like the discussion to take as well. That would be my NY wish.
But sadly social media seems to mitigate against this wish terribly. The physical remove and anonymous nature of the connection eliminates the social feedback; we cannot see in real time the look on a persons face or body language that would normally be clues to moderate behaviour. There is little consequence to attention-seeking, narcissistic and self-aggrandising aggressive behaviour; with a ready resort to sneering derision, contempt and even disgust.
Even with the best moderation, the game seems chronically tilted in this direction.
Social media have been around for a while now and so has TS. The limitations/restrictions (but also the possibilities) are nothing new. It is my observation, one that seems to be shared with others, that the nature of comments/interactions on SM have hardened and become harsher, less tolerant and more aggressive, and even more threatening and violent in some cases. There is a plethora of articles and opinion pieces on this unfortunate development, the apparent escalation of which may coincide with the Covid-19 pandemic. (NB the pandemic is still raging!)
As I said earlier today, the TS commentariat has a critical (self-)moderating role to play in the discourse on this forum. This ranges from DNFTT to calling out and challenging others to put their best arguments forward in open/public debate in good faith that is based on mutual trust and respect.
Your YT link touches on this behaviour in a very general and is by no means a blueprint – the process might be messy, dirty, and ugly even aka robust debate but the intended outcome is all worth it.
Because the commentariat is a collective, not every commenter has to be on his/her best behaviour all the time, it is simply not possible, but also not required. As with all collectives and collective actions, such as the science system, self-correction is fundamental for good functioning and achieving desired and positive outcomes in the short and medium term and longer-term impacts for the greater good.
However, each collective and commentariat has a tipping point where discourse and action flip from net benefit to net polarising, divisive, and exclusionary aka rabbit hole and/or echo chamber. I believe that we have moved closer to this tipping point hence my NY’s wish.
I have a multitude of issues with the premise…not least of which is energy.
Michaux has determined that we are a world that consumes approx 19 terawatts of power to provide for our population and that we can at best hope for a 10 terawatt world in the near term though more likely a 5 terawatt world…and he is one of the few who has taken the time to calculate it….that suggests a sustainable population around 25% of current which is not too far removed from the pre industrial plateau of around 1 billion if you allow a premium for some energy use that wasnt available prior….the question , as always . is how we get there from here ….and all indications are we will do it the way humans have always done…messily, if we manage it at all.
Agreed. I have taken the time to read Michaux in more detail this past few days and I agree with his core numbers; it was absolutely worth the time to pick through his report. (I cannot claim to have lingered carefully over every page however.)
We consistently underestimate the magnitude of the task to transition off fossil fuels. And those who argue we can just economise our way out of the problem are not properly appreciating what we are up against either. Nor how deeply interconnected all the parts of the industrial eco-system are. Advanced mRNA vaccines for instance, are a pinnacle product of an immensely complex supply and technology chain (the story of all the elements necessary for their design, production and distribution alone would fill many volumes of notes.) Taking an arbitrary axe to any single part of the system would have unintended consequences galore.
As a first approximation, if you want us to consume per capita energy at 1950's levels, then 1950's technology is the base assumption that accompanies this. And all the social conditions that went with this. (Woke ideologies being a luxury belief only wealthy people can afford to indulge in.)
Yet the demand goes quite the other way. In order to bring the other 7b people into modernity alone – at current consumption levels would require maybe 5x more energy – 95 terawatts. Even if we halved the current per capita energy intensity to get people fully into modernity, that still comes to a staggering 50 terawatts.
No matter how you cut it, SWB renewables alone do not even touch the sides of this immense number in the long run. Even with a heroic rollout of Gen 4 nuclear 50tW would be an immense challenge – but not as impossible. The only known long term technology that is capable of delivering is nuclear fusion, but we cannot yet predict when it will be available at the required scale.
Which is why I argue for a mix of SWB (in locations where it makes economic sense), and nuclear fission as a phased progression. The existing SWB rollout bridges over the next decade to Gen 4 fission, which in turn bridges over the next century or so to fusion. (We have seen a similar progression within fossil fuels themselves, from coal, to oil and then gas.)
I would not claim this to be easy, but at least it is feasible.
As said to roblogic last week we may eventually develop fusion but that will require a (high level) functioning society….which is by no means guaranteed.
Continuing to prioritise economic growth is not a recipe for being a good ancestor. Nor is it a recipe for human progress …
You reject this?
If Michaux has done those calculations, as you say, then what does he propose we do and how? What alternative suggestions are out there that are more palatable (aka realistic) to you and presumably to the majority of people who are all in the same boat whether they know it, like it, or want it?
….the question , as always . is how we get there from here ….and all indications are we will do it the way humans have always done…messily, if we manage it at all.
If one rejects the foundational premise, then the question is moot.
If you read what i wrote you note I never rejected the premise that unlimited economic growth is neither sustainable nor desired, I did pose the question of how it is proposed we move from the unsustainable to the sustainable (in two seperate instances)….far from being moot it is fundamentally important.
However, you wrote that you “have a multitude of issues with the premise”.
I find your comments invariably ambiguous hence the simple question to you, to remove ambiguity and gain clarity – talking past each other is such a waste of good time.
It seems we and many others are asking the same or similar questions based on the same or similar premises. However, ideas for moving forward seem to be scant supply. Since you seem to be willing to accept his premises, what does Michaux suggest if anything?
"It seems we and many others are asking the same or similar questions based on the same or similar premises. However, ideas for moving forward seem to be scant supply. Since you seem to be willing to accept his premises, what does Michaux suggest if anything?'
Unfortunately that is not the case….(too) many are not asking that question and the point of drawing attention to Michaux's work is to demonstrate that much of what is proposed as solution is not.
His observation is we will have less, whether by choice or imposition ….how we deal with that fact is for us to decide, but the first step is acceptance.
That sounds like ‘intellectual cowardice’ to me. In other words, he [Michaux] apparently forecasts and points to doom ‘here it is folks, suck it up’ and then washes his hands off it. For example, when Shaun Hendy and his colleagues modelled the data at the time, they found an upper predicted probability of 80,000 deaths in NZ due to Covid-19. However, they ran mitigating scenarios and made plenty of suggestions to implement as public health measures. In other words, they were highly instrumental in finding solutions and didn’t stay at the sidelines letting others do the heavy lifting. That seems to be missing with Michaux – there are too many ‘influencers’ and YouTubers pretending to be public intellectuals already and they’re often poorly understood and/or misrepresented here on TS in (selective) quotes and clip-dumps.
I know the above sounds unduly harsh, so I looked up his website and to give him credit, he seems aware of this/his limitation.
I am developing a plan to transform our relationship between energy, minerals, and industrialization, as the existing proposed strategic plans are shown to be logistically impractical.
A contribution to the start of the discussion. [my italics]
I am doing work in the following sectors, to understand where we are now and what will be required in the future [my italics]
This sounds more promising than my initial superficial impression of Michaux based on your comments so far. I’ll leave it to others who have read more of his stuff to add more to this or not.
You are projecting your own emotive response upon Michaux's work.
In seeking solutions he discovered a dearth of information, gathered that information, analysed it and drew conclusions.
He has indicated the likely path of solution but the detail will likely be bespoke…what may work for one economy/location may nor be applicable/possible/desireable in another.
and all of the (potential) solutions will likely be uncomfortable in a political sense…..there is no neat easy solution on offer tied up in a bow.
Michaux sounds like quite an intellectual tour de force.
He has indicated the likely path of solution but the detail will likely be bespoke…
Excellent! So, why don’t you give us an illustration?
and all of the (potential) solutions will likely be uncomfortable in a political sense…..
Great! Again, what might these look like?
Nobody is asking for or even expecting a “neat easy solution on offer tied up in a bow” although I do like the wrapping of Christmas presents. With you, we only seem to get coal in our stockings.
You appear to suffer from never being told you catch more flies with honey than vinegar…..Ive provided numerous links…away you go, or not, it matters not to me.
Of course, I couldn’t remember those “numerous links” that you had allegedly provided, so I checked and could only find 2 in 2 separate comments of yours.
It appears that you are more of a spray-and-walk-away commenter than one who tries to make a genuine contribution by providing clear commentary and explanation to the TS readership.
Im happy to continue providing links as I come across them but am unlikely to author a post for a couple of reasons…the theme is contrary to the accepted narrative here and my writing abilities would not do it service.
Do you want to have pat on the back for each link you’ve posted, Pat? Or do you need more ‘honey’ to sweeten you up? A chocolate fish ok?
Edit: I found one more link to a 1,000-page PDF and 2 YT clips (1:12:37 and 1:19:19 long, respectively).
PS: one of the same YT clips appeared in another comment of yours.
your hubris is great…and you are too lazy to research the information provided (and you appear unable to count)…rather you appear to think if you insult posters enough they will do the work for you.
You can lead an Ass to water but you cannot make it drink
How many more times will you be playing this game of pulling teeth and when will you start to provide some answers without or instead of referring to the alleged state of mind of the one who’s asking simple questions. And when will you stop telling others what they ‘appear’ to be thinking – you are not a mind reader?
The onus is on the poster to help others along with answers to honest questions, at least initially. For example, dumping a link to a 1,000-page (!!) report on a highly specialised and technical topic is not helpful at all, it is disingenuous. In any case, you’re not commenting to and for me per se, you’re commenting to and for a much wider readership.
The derogatory labels and insults are starting to fly hard & fast now. Are you sure that you’re not projecting yourself? Instead of playing the man why don’t you start playing the ball?
You must be parched.
PS: I didn’t count “numerous links”, I counted a few rather unhelpful ones. Thus, I don’t think it is my counting that is the problemo.
Ask yourself this question. If hypothetically one of the fusion research groups – say this one for example – was to deliver cheap, clean and abundant energy tomorrow. And it could be delivered anywhere globally and would give us a real shot at avoiding the worst of the climate crisis.
Do you think this development would actually be welcomed by the anti-capitalist, de-growth, power-down crowd?
Assuming that “the anti-capitalist, de-growth, power-down crowd” is not hypothetical, who is there spokesperson, what is their website, and how much of a cohesive homogeneous crowd is this?
Seeking information from you is like pulling teeth and you know it.
Should I pay you for yet another on-line consult or do you offer this more freely than info when somebody asks for it?
In case your head is swelling, I’m not singling you out and prompt many commenters for links, clarification, and additional explanatory commentary, in Mod notes if necessary. Most are more than happy to oblige without any further prompting or prodding, unlike you, and this lifts the quality of informed robust debate here. You don’t seem to have much interest in playing part in this, and I have seen others running into the same issue with you. Here’s the thing though, I don’t think you’re incapable, I think you’re unwilling, which raises the question what your intentions are when you comment as you do – it seems counterintuitive and contradictory.
A lot of the article I strongly agree with, especially in his opening arguments describing the current situation. I am less on board with his de-growth solution; at first blush it seems to have a lot in common with WEF's Great Reset agenda. But that aside there are two aspects missing from his analysis.
One is that the we are reaching an unprecedented demographic inversion – that because population growth has peaked and will fall over the foreseeable future, this also necessarily spells the end of economic growth as well. And it is not just a case of fewer people – the very nature of the demand from older, more mature people is different. It is possible on these grounds alone that the nature of our resource demand will shift.
Countering this is the excellent Global Wealth Pyramid graphic showing just how uneven current resource consumption is. It is well and good to say the top 700m of humans are consuming wastefully – but even if by the most meticulous central planning and de-growth you halved their consumption, it is but a drop in the bucket compared to the massive un-met needs of the bottom half of humanity. It would be the pinnacle of narcissistic entitlement to demand they live in poverty forever.
The other unspoken element is any global political mechanism to ensure this vision is managed equitably across the entire planet. Such a grand vision is well beyond our current political reach.
Demographics are not the same across the globe. In addition, and related to this, nations (populations) that want/need to catch up will continue and likely even increase the pressure on global resources for the sake of economic growth and claim this as their sovereign right as well as moral imperative. Mind you, if increased frequency of extreme weather events is going to be the norm many areas on the planet will see continued and likely increased poverty.
Such a grand vision is well beyond our current political reach.
So, what do we do in the meantime? Any vision takes imagination and boldness, so where will this be coming from? From our (political) leaders? From visionaries such as Musk or a handful of scholars and thinkers? From grassroots (activists)? And what do all the other ‘ordinary’ people do: watch & wait and BAU, ridicule, resist, or run for the hills?
Fair point – I was generalising. But in broad terms almost all developed nations are now below replacement level – except the African continent. By the end of this century we are facing a population bust. Japan was the first modern nation to get there, but they had the advantage of becoming rich before they became old. Quite a few places might wind up in both conditions, low development and negative growth due to an ageing shrinking population.
Your last para gets a heartfelt agreement from me. It is why I linked to Daniel Schmachtenberger above – the idea of global emergence driven by synchronicity, connection and attraction that will evolve us toward a global society, united in purpose and values across the diversity of humanity. That is my vision, yet when I type it out in big broad strokes like this, shorn of a practical path to get there, no-one buys it. It all seems so removed from the shit and drama we face in the here and now.
Yet we have been here before. In say 1700 chattel slavery was an almost universal condition. No-one thought it was a desirable thing to fall into, but few might imagine a world without it. Yet just a century later the combination of a coal driven Industrial Revolution, and an abolitionist movement founded in the idea that all humans were equal before God, had permanently shifted our thinking.
The combination of an enabling technology, and a moral sentiment tilted toward the unity of the human race – changed everything in an emergent fashion. So why now in 2022 at the pinnacle of our collective insight and capability would we not be able to do this again?
Yes, I know that you have been indefatigably trying to build a bridge between the rather abstract problems and concrete tangible actions and integration into the daily lives of ‘ordinary’ people and I admire you for those efforts even though a sense of frustration seems to be detectable at times.
Indeed, we (i.e. the human race) have been there before, a few times, but perhaps never with the same acute sense of urgency. Unfortunately, it appears to be human reaction to close off during tough/threatening times, which seems to lead to more feelings of isolation and disenfranchisement, which in turn can lead to further disengagement.
We cannot rely on religion to give us moral guidance and instruction, if we ever could. The social contract is not what it used be either. The fact that we have very high homology between DNA, RNA, and protein sequences that indicates shared ancestry and strongly conserved evolutionary traits and high similarity with other species does also not seem to be enough either to realise our interconnectedness with fellow humans in particular and other species with whom we share this planet.
It seems as if the more we know and the more inevitable the conclusion the more resistant we become and the more in denial we act. It seems counterintuitive but I have to conclude it is all but so. No single person can solve these wicked problems, only through trans-disciplinary collective thinking, discussion, and action do we stand a chance to chip a viable path to the future.
Whilst the fundamentalist strains of religion have a negative influence, I don't think it's right to follow the polemic stance of Dawkins and other strident atheists who hold just as tightly to their own narrow fundamentalisms.
There is wisdom and insight in religion, if we see the symbols and meanings rather than the strident legalisms of the moralists and fearmongers. Quoting Richard D. Bartlett:
Take for example the story of the Fall in Genesis, when Adam & Eve are cast out from the Garden of Eden because they ate the forbidden fruit. Idealist philosopher Bernardo Kastrup blew my mind when he suggested you can read this as an allegory of the moment in history when humans developed symbolic thought, 100,000 years after we’d been anatomically modern humans. It’s a story about how we were ripped out of the web of animal instinct when we developed sufficient self-consciousness to be morally culpable for our choices. Suddenly, we gained the “knowledge of good and evil”.
The only way our society has a future is in turning away from our shadow selves and leaning into Love
But on Christmas morning while I was out walking under the soft rain, a narrow beam of sunshine slipped through a gap in the clouds, kissed my forehead and stopped me in my tracks. I shit you not, it happened just like this. I stood there crying in the street with the sun and the rain and the tears on my cheeks. In my head I was retelling my life story for the 6 millionth time, but somehow I popped out of myself and teleported into my Dad’s role. I was seeing the story play out through his eyes. I watched as his hand reached out towards me. I felt the pure love in his heart, and I knew the truth of it. No threat, no neglect, no judgement, only love. I cried because I realised he’s been standing there this whole time, since before I was even born, reaching towards me always only with love.
It is well and good to say the top 700m of humans are consuming wastefully…
"Well and good", and accurate (Sale Alert) – some 'hyperconsume' their way to the grave, resisting moderation with every fibre of their being. The clearly irrational trait of consuming to excess is an abiding mystery. Just because bacteria in a Petri dish do it, doesn't mean sentient humans on spaceship Earth must follow suit – and yet…
It would be the pinnacle of narcissistic entitlement to demand they live in poverty forever.
Can you give examples of these revolting narcissistic entitled people who demand that the 'bottom' half of humanity live in poverty 'forever' – Trump perhaps?
Consider just two adaptive behaviors that Homo sapiens shares with all other species. Humans have an innate propensity to consume available resources – often to depletion – and a parallel drive to invade and colonize all accessible habitats. https://greattransition.org/gti-forum/population-rees
Maybe removing clean energy limitations on civilisation will allow BAU growth of consumers and/or consumption ad infinitum – I sincerely hope there’s time to tell.
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Hi,I think we all made it through another week — congratulations. I’ve been digesting the new Arab Strap record, which is astonishing. In other news, I’m going to be doing a Webworm popup in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday July 13. I’ll bring a bunch of merch, and some other ...
The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am going to explore the Bill from the perspective of its proponents with their ...
New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be shooting the proposal in the foot. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Associate Education Minister David Seymour is urging the PostPrimary Teachers Association to put learning ahead of ideology. He wants the union leaders to call off their teachers meetings around the country where they hope to muster the strength to undo the government’s plans to establish several ...
What are police for? "Fighting crime" is the obvious answer. If there's a burglary, they should show up and investigate. Ditto if there's a murder or sexual assault. Speeding or drunk or dangerous driving is a crime, so obviously they should respond to that. And obviously, they should respond to ...
Michael Reddell writes – I got curious yesterday about how the Australia/New Zealand real exchange rate had changed over the last decade, and so dug out the data on the changes in the two countries’ CPIs. Over the 10 years from March 2014 to March 2024, New Zealand’s ...
Graham Adams writes that 20 years after the land march, judges are quietly awarding a swathe of coastal rights to iwi. Early this month, an hour-long documentary was released by TVNZ to mark the 20th anniversary of the land-rights march to oppose Helen Clark’s Foreshore and Seabed Act. The account ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: Suspended Green MP Darleen Tana has passed an unpleasant milestone: she has now been absent for as many parliamentary sitting days as she has been present for this year. Tana is on full pay while she is suspended, and will benefit from a ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is no coincidence that two Labour should-have-been MPs are making the most noise about public sector cuts. As assistant general secretary of the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons has been at the forefront of revealing where the next round of state sector job ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a ...
This is one of the (extra) weekly columns on music or movies. Plenty of solid analyses of Possession exist online and most of them – inevitably – contain spoilers. This column is more in the way of a first-timer’s aid to getting your initial bearings. You don’t need to have ...
I am painting in oil, a portrait of a manWho has taken all the heart aches,And all the pain he can stand.I am using all the colors of blue,I have here on my stand.I am painting in oil, a portrait of a man.This has been an interesting week for me. ...
Helen Clark joins the Hoon as a special guest talking whether Aotearoa should join Aukus II, and her views on the fast track legislation and how Luxon and the new Government are performing. File Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts ...
With an election due in less than nine months, Britain’s embattled PM, Rishi Sunak, gave a useful speech earlier this week. He made a substantial case for his government, perhaps as compelling as is possible in the current environment. Quite an achievement. His overall theme was security, first pulling ...
Open access notablesPublicly expressed climate scepticism is greatest in regions with high CO2 emissions, Pearson et al., Climatic Change:We analysed a recently released corpus of climate-related tweets to examine the macro-level factors associated with public declarations of climate change scepticism. Analyses of over 2 million geo-located tweets in the U.S. showed that climate ...
You can be all negative about these charter schools if you want, but I’m here to accentuate the positive. You can get all worked up, if you want to, by the contradiction of Luxon saying We’re going to make sure that every school in the country is teaching exactly the same ...
Losing The Room: One can only speculate about what has persuaded the Coalition Government that it will pay no electoral price for unreasonably pushing ahead with policies that are so clearly against the national interest. They seem quite oblivious to the risk that by doing so they will convince an increasing ...
Name suppression decisions can be tough sometimes. No matter your views on free speech, you have to be hard-hearted not to be torn by the tug of the competing arguments. I think you can feel the Supreme Court wrestling with that in M v The King. The case for ...
The Merchants of Menace: The Coalition Government has convinced itself that the “Brahmins’” emollient functions have become much too irksome and expensive. Those who see themselves as the best hope of rebuilding New Zealand’s ailing capitalist system, appear to have convinced themselves that a little bit of blunt trauma is what their mollycoddled ...
When National first proposed its Muldoonist "fast-track" law, they were warned that it would inevitably lead to corruption. And that is exactly what has happened, with Resources Minister Shane Jones taking secret meetings with potential applicants:On Tuesday, in a Newsroom story, questions were raised about a dinner Jones ...
Buzz from the Beehive One day – hopefully – we will push that Russian rascal, Vladimir Putin, beyond breaking point. Perhaps it will happen today, when he learns that Foreign Minister Winston Peters is again tightening the thumbscrews. Peters announced further sanctions, this time on 28 individuals and 14 entities ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought New Zealand to the brink of economic and cultural chaos.TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition Government’s failure to retain, and build upon, the public ...
“Members of Parliament don’t work for us, they represent us, an entirely different thing. As with so much that has turned out badly, the re-organising of MPs’ responsibilities began with the Fourth Labour Government. That’s when they began to be treated like employees – public servants – whose diaries had ...
It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a third medical school in New Zealand, ...
Time To Choose: Like it or not, the Kiwis are either going into AUKUS’s “Pillar 2” – or they are going to China.HAD ZHENG HE’S FLEET sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks ...
Henry Ergas writes – When in Randall Jarrell’s Pictures from an Institution, a college president is accused of being a hypocrite, the novel’s narrator retorts that the description is grossly unfair. After all, the man is still far from the stage of moral development at which the charge ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ reports: The Education Review Office says too many new teachers feel poorly prepared for their jobs. In a report published on Monday, the review office said 60 percent of the principals it interviewed said their new teachers were not ready. ...
New Zealand’s economic performance and the PM’s vision Michael Reddell writes – When I wrote yesterday morning’s post, highlighting how poorly both New Zealand and its Anglo peer countries have been doing in respect of productivity in recent times (ie, in the case of New ...
Hi all,Firstly - thank you! You guys are awesome. The response I’ve received to last night’s mail has been quite overwhelming. It’s a ghastly day outside, but there are no clouds in here.In case you didn’t read my email and are wondering what on earth I’m talking about you can ...
If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this week’s announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gaye Taylor As widespread drought raises expectations for a repeat of last year’s ferocious wildfire season, response teams across Canada are grappling with the rapidly changing face of fire in a warming climate. No longer quenched by winter, nor quelled by the ...
Half of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd’s directors and its chair resigned en masse last night in protest at Christchurch City Council’s demand to front-load dividends File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The chair of Christchurch City Council’s investment company and four of its independent directors resigned in protest last ...
The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
As a follow-up to the Rings of Power trailer discussion, I thought I needed to add something. There has been some online mockery about the use of the same actor for both the Halbrand and Annatar incarnations of Sauron. The reasoning is that Halbrand with a shave and a new ...
This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
Seeing that, in order to discredit the figures and achieve moral superiority while attempting to deflect attention away from the military assault on Rafa, Israel supporters in NZ have seized on reports that casualty numbers in Gaza may be inflated … Continue reading → ...
Te Pāti Māori have launched a petition to stop the repeal of Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act. This announcement comes prior to the first reading of the Section 7AA repeal bill in Parliament today. “Section 7AA forces the Government to adhere to Te Tiriti o Waitangi with respect ...
The Government has yet again failed to do the one thing that needs to happen to ensure houses can be built – commit to ongoing funding, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Treasury officials have outlined many ways in which the Fast Track Approvals Bill is deeply flawed, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking says. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick used this year's State of the Planet to call on the Government to prioritise people and planet as the delivery of the Budget approaches. A full transcript of their speeches can be found below. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have used their State of the Planet speeches to challenge the Government to prioritise people and planet over profit as the delivery of the Budget approaches. ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
The Coalition Government’s Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, which will improve tenancy laws and help increase the supply of rental properties, has passed its first reading in Parliament says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “The Bill proposes much-needed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 that will remove barriers to increasing private ...
Standing here in Cassino War Cemetery, among the graves looking up at the beautiful Abbey of Montecassino, it is hard to imagine the utter devastation left behind by the battles which ended here in May 1944. Hundreds of thousands of shells and bombs of every description left nothing but piled ...
I present a legislative statement on the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill Mr. Speaker, I move that the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services and Community Committee to consider the Bill. Thank you, Mr. ...
The Bill to repeal Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has had its first reading in Parliament today. The Bill reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the care and safety of children in care, says Minister for Children Karen Chhour. “When I became the Minister for Children, I made ...
Kia ora koutou, good morning, and zao shang hao. Thank you Fran for the opportunity to speak at the 2024 China Business Summit – it’s great to be here today. I’d also like to acknowledge: Simon Bridges - CEO of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. His Excellency Ambassador - Wang ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. “New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. “New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing them ...
The Coalition Government will introduce legislation this year that will enable roadside drug testing as part of our commitment to improve road safety and restore law and order, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Alcohol and drugs are the number one contributing factor in fatal road crashes in New Zealand. In ...
The Government has announced a series of immediate actions in response to the independent review of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “Kāinga Ora is a large and important Crown entity, with assets of $45 billion and over $2.5 billion of expenditure each year. It ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour is pleased that Pseudoephedrine can now be purchased by the general public to protect them from winter illness, after the coalition government worked swiftly to change the law and oversaw a fast approval process by Medsafe. “Pharmacies are now putting the medicines back on their ...
Tēnā koutou katoa. Da jia hao. Good morning everyone. Prime Minister Luxon, your excellency, a great friend of New Zealand and my friend Ambassador Wang, Mayor of what he tells me is the best city in New Zealand, Wayne Brown, the highly respected Fran O’Sullivan, Champion of the Auckland business ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
Pacific Media Watch A Māori supporter of Pacific independence movements claims the French government has “constructed the crisis” in New Caledonia by pushing the indigenous Kanak population to the edge, reports Atereano Mateariki of Waatea News. A NZ Defence Force Hercules is today evacuating about 50 New Zealanders stranded in ...
COMMENTARY:By Gordon Campbell The split opening up in Israel’s “War Cabinet” is not just between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a three-way split, set in motion by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. It was Gallant’s open criticism of Netanyahu that finally flushed ...
Reacting to today’s Budget Speech from Labour’s Finance spokesperson, Barbara Edmonds, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “It is encouraging to see that one of Labour’s stated priorities is to focus on creating ‘a level ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie Turner, System Lead, Sustainable Economies, Climateworks Centre atk work/Shutterstock In the budget last week, the government was keen to talk about its efforts to turn Australia into a renewable superpower under the umbrella of the Future Made in Australia policies. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Opposition Leader Peter Dutton might have done us a favour. As part of his budget reply speech on Thursday night he promised to stop foreigners buying existing Australian homes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Maguire, Associate Professor in Human Rights and International Law, University of Newcastle The request by Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), for arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders is a significant step in the effort to ...
RNZ Pacific A New Zealand author, journalist and media educator who has covered the Asia-Pacific region since the 1970s says liberation “must come” for Kanaky/New Caledonia. Professor David Robie sailed on board Greenpeace’s flagship Rainbow Warrior until it was bombed by French secret agents in New Zealand in July 1985 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Renwick, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Lincoln University, New Zealand Fonterra caught the business world by surprise last week with plans to sell off its consumer brands and businesses – including supermarket mainstays such as Anchor, Fresh’n Fruity and Mainland. The move ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Small, Senior lecturer, Above the Bar School of Educational Studies and Leadership, University of Canterbury With an air force plane on its way to rescue New Zealanders stranded by the violent uprising in New Caledonia, many familiar with the island’s history ...
A New Zealand government plane is heading to New Caledonia to assist with bringing New Zealanders home. Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today confirmed it was the first in a series of proposed flights. Peters said the flight would carry around 50 passengers with the most pressing needs from Nouméa ...
Regional councils must focus on building meaningful and enduring relationships with iwi and hapū to support better freshwater management, says the Auditor-General in a new report. ...
Chris Glaudel, Deputy Chief Executive of Community Housing Aotearoa, sees the announcement as a step towards addressing New Zealand’s high and rising levels of homelessness by improving our approach and system to delivering affordable homes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ali Mamouri, Research fellow, Middle East studies, Deakin University The death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash this week occurred during one of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s most challenging periods. Raisi, a prominent figure in the political elite, ...
The end of universal flu shot funding for under-12s is a step backwards for New Zealand child health, say experts from the University of Auckland and the University of Otago. New Zealand’s decision to no longer offer free influenza vaccines for all children under 12 will likely wipe out recent ...
The PSA is taking action to force the Ministry of Education to comply with its legal obligations to do everything it can to find other roles for staff it is laying off because of the Government’s spending cuts. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Waling, Senior Lecturer & Research Fellow, Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University Netflix There has been much excitement in the lead up to the first four episodes of Bridgerton’s season three, featuring leading couple Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa De Bortoli, Senior Research Fellow, Australian Council for Educational Research Taylor Flowe/Unsplash, CC BY Australian teenagers have more disruptive maths classrooms and experience bullying at greater levels than the OECD average, a new report shows. But in better news, Australian ...
Poet, editor and former bookseller Jane Arthur’s debut children’s novel Brown Bird is the story of a shy, self-conscious 11-year-old – partly based on her childhood self – venturing out of her quiet comfort zone. Children’s books are close to my heart because mostly I believe that adults are rings ...
Peter Jackson is bringing Lord of the Rings back to Wellington, producing two new Gollum films in Wellington. Madeleine Chapman (Gollum) argues with Madeleine Chapman (Smeagol) about it. First of all, I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation. Of course it’s great news!I don’t know, it gives me ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a part-time media librarian and superannuitant explains how he spends and saves. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Male Age: 65 Ethnicity: EuropeanRole: Media librarian ...
The Government’s Environmental Select Committee is refusing to engage meaningfully when it matters the most over new fast tracking environmental legislation, says Ngāti Ruanui. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Marsh, Senior Research Fellow in Public Health, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Christoph Soeder/dpa New Zealand’s decision to no longer offer free influenza vaccines for all children under 12 will likely wipe out recent gains in uptake. And it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexis Anja Kallio, Deputy Director (Research), Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University Many young people in contact with the justice system come from backgrounds of extreme poverty, parental abuse or neglect, parental incarceration and disrupted education. These complex traumas often manifest as addictions ...
The agency was found to be underperforming and ‘not financially viable’, explains Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A damning report A government-ordered ...
Asia Pacific Report For more than 76 years, Palestinians have resisted occupation, dispossession and ethnic cleansing, culminating in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Yet in the midst of this catastrophic seven months of “hell on earth”, it is a paradox that there exists an extraordinary oasis of peace and nature. ...
You’ll never set foot in one. But its emissions still effect you. Shanti Mathias reports on a campaign to make private jet owners pay for their emissions in some way. The private jet passengers saunter down the red carpet, wearing sunglasses and heels; paparazzi cameras flash. The sky is blue, ...
Quality teachers back on the front line can only be a good thing. One of the difficult things we teach in senior English classes at secondary school is the development of an idea. This involves deepening your argument, without instead “going sideways” and merely adding examples while repeating the same ...
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Pussy Riot anti-war rap as a Christmas present to all the pro-war imperialist scumbags.
Yawn. Ho hum.
I am feel sorry for you Mikesh, that you find Russian anti-war political activists a yawn.
Maybe you prefer some blood thirsty pro-war Russian song.
Or maybe you only think that the Pussy Riot anti-war rap is "ho hum" because you don't have to suffer the grief of living in exile away from your homeland and family like they have to, where if they were at home they could get 15 years in jail for their words or songs.
Or maybe it is because you can't understand their Russian lyrics that you are bored.
So here they are. Just for you. An amended version with subtitles in English so you can understand it.
[deleted long lyrics]
[The complete English “Lyrycs” are in initial link @ 1. There’s no need to dump a long copy & pasta here to force another commenter who clearly is less receptive to read it and/or view the YT clip and for others to have to scroll past. If you insist on incessantly forcing your own personal views on others perhaps it is time you start your own blog – Incognito]
Mod note
My bad, I hadn't noticed that the lyrics were in the thread. And so painstakingly transcribed them.
Sorry about that.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/motoring/300769965/hundreds-of-millions-in-contractors-claims-delay-aucklands-holiday-highway
Company's that's about 7 months behind want massive compensation for 5 week covid delay. That fletcher is involved doesn't surprise
Interesting to see that the cost has already sneaked over a billion. Could have restored Northland’s entire rail system for that, plus the planned link to Northport.
As someone totally into Sustainable Transport…this is really so aggravating. Just gotta wonder wtf ? 2020 Ongoing……..
The answer is there….but still pouring vast amounts of money into unsustainable transport roading
https://twitter.com/Ukraine/status/1607067227253272576
[image resized – Incognito]
There is some funny satire in Stuff, Damien Grant says it was time not to sound off about what the lone libertarian sees was wrong with the world … then does a swordfish profile of any and all politicians.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/130848645/damien-grant-even-contrarians-deserve-a-happy-christmas
A good article by Jack Santa Barbara although it doesn’t seem to offer any new insights and/or ideas although I’m hardly an expert.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/give-progress-a-chance-embrace-degrowth
"But degrowth is totally different from a recession or a government austerity program. It involves a carefully planned and managed reduction of less necessary and undesirable economic activities, and increase in activities supporting wellbeing and living within planetary boundaries. Degrowth is about reducing energy and raw material use to sustainable levels, and improving the quality of life for all."
But does it offer 'it' for 8 billion?….that is the argument unaddressed.
Of course, there are many unaddressed arguments and unanswered questions because of the sheer nature and complexity of the issue and the stage it is at. However, I’d say yes, this is the implicit premise and requirement for any adequate and appropriate policy and implementation plan at all levels & scales involved aka multi-lateral international approach. Given that many nations are at quite different levels of (socio-economic) development and political freedom and engagement, and given that there will be many internal (political) barriers, it might seem that even thinking about addressing these issues is pie-in-the-sky stuff that makes for excellent thought experiments in Philosophy departments.
Do you have any foundational problems with what is posited in the article and the current thinking about these issues, e.g., are they non-issues in your opinion? Are you simply pointing out the holes & gaps? Do you have any ideas for possible approaches or solutions to offer?
My wish for the NY is fewer Gosman-like comments (aka interminable questioning and sealioning) and more constructive debate. Many a contrarian tries to bog down debate in pedantic nitpicking and almost absurd what-if scenarios, none of which is remotely helpful unless the aim is to score a few laughs among the likeminded.
You might like this then:
(I would prefer it just as a transcript because I find the video adds little value in this case.)
Thanks. The transcript was ok after removing the 347 paragraph marks and adding some necessary punctuation. It reminded me strongly of The Complementary Nature by Engstrøm and Kelso with a few Jungian themes.
While I ‘liked’ it, I fail to see how this grants my NY’s ‘wish’.
Good – and that is the kind of direction I would like the discussion to take as well. That would be my NY wish.
But sadly social media seems to mitigate against this wish terribly. The physical remove and anonymous nature of the connection eliminates the social feedback; we cannot see in real time the look on a persons face or body language that would normally be clues to moderate behaviour. There is little consequence to attention-seeking, narcissistic and self-aggrandising aggressive behaviour; with a ready resort to sneering derision, contempt and even disgust.
Even with the best moderation, the game seems chronically tilted in this direction.
Social media have been around for a while now and so has TS. The limitations/restrictions (but also the possibilities) are nothing new. It is my observation, one that seems to be shared with others, that the nature of comments/interactions on SM have hardened and become harsher, less tolerant and more aggressive, and even more threatening and violent in some cases. There is a plethora of articles and opinion pieces on this unfortunate development, the apparent escalation of which may coincide with the Covid-19 pandemic. (NB the pandemic is still raging!)
As I said earlier today, the TS commentariat has a critical (self-)moderating role to play in the discourse on this forum. This ranges from DNFTT to calling out and challenging others to put their best arguments forward in open/public debate in good faith that is based on mutual trust and respect.
Your YT link touches on this behaviour in a very general and is by no means a blueprint – the process might be messy, dirty, and ugly even aka robust debate but the intended outcome is all worth it.
Because the commentariat is a collective, not every commenter has to be on his/her best behaviour all the time, it is simply not possible, but also not required. As with all collectives and collective actions, such as the science system, self-correction is fundamental for good functioning and achieving desired and positive outcomes in the short and medium term and longer-term impacts for the greater good.
However, each collective and commentariat has a tipping point where discourse and action flip from net benefit to net polarising, divisive, and exclusionary aka rabbit hole and/or echo chamber. I believe that we have moved closer to this tipping point hence my NY’s wish.
I have a multitude of issues with the premise…not least of which is energy.
Michaux has determined that we are a world that consumes approx 19 terawatts of power to provide for our population and that we can at best hope for a 10 terawatt world in the near term though more likely a 5 terawatt world…and he is one of the few who has taken the time to calculate it….that suggests a sustainable population around 25% of current which is not too far removed from the pre industrial plateau of around 1 billion if you allow a premium for some energy use that wasnt available prior….the question , as always . is how we get there from here ….and all indications are we will do it the way humans have always done…messily, if we manage it at all.
Agreed. I have taken the time to read Michaux in more detail this past few days and I agree with his core numbers; it was absolutely worth the time to pick through his report. (I cannot claim to have lingered carefully over every page however.)
We consistently underestimate the magnitude of the task to transition off fossil fuels. And those who argue we can just economise our way out of the problem are not properly appreciating what we are up against either. Nor how deeply interconnected all the parts of the industrial eco-system are. Advanced mRNA vaccines for instance, are a pinnacle product of an immensely complex supply and technology chain (the story of all the elements necessary for their design, production and distribution alone would fill many volumes of notes.) Taking an arbitrary axe to any single part of the system would have unintended consequences galore.
As a first approximation, if you want us to consume per capita energy at 1950's levels, then 1950's technology is the base assumption that accompanies this. And all the social conditions that went with this. (Woke ideologies being a luxury belief only wealthy people can afford to indulge in.)
Indeed, but who’s even proposing this?? It’s certainly not in the article that I linked to, quite the opposite in fact.
Yet the demand goes quite the other way. In order to bring the other 7b people into modernity alone – at current consumption levels would require maybe 5x more energy – 95 terawatts. Even if we halved the current per capita energy intensity to get people fully into modernity, that still comes to a staggering 50 terawatts.
No matter how you cut it, SWB renewables alone do not even touch the sides of this immense number in the long run. Even with a heroic rollout of Gen 4 nuclear 50tW would be an immense challenge – but not as impossible. The only known long term technology that is capable of delivering is nuclear fusion, but we cannot yet predict when it will be available at the required scale.
Which is why I argue for a mix of SWB (in locations where it makes economic sense), and nuclear fission as a phased progression. The existing SWB rollout bridges over the next decade to Gen 4 fission, which in turn bridges over the next century or so to fusion. (We have seen a similar progression within fossil fuels themselves, from coal, to oil and then gas.)
I would not claim this to be easy, but at least it is feasible.
As said to roblogic last week we may eventually develop fusion but that will require a (high level) functioning society….which is by no means guaranteed.
The foundational premise of the article is this:
You reject this?
If Michaux has done those calculations, as you say, then what does he propose we do and how? What alternative suggestions are out there that are more palatable (aka realistic) to you and presumably to the majority of people who are all in the same boat whether they know it, like it, or want it?
If one rejects the foundational premise, then the question is moot.
If you read what i wrote you note I never rejected the premise that unlimited economic growth is neither sustainable nor desired, I did pose the question of how it is proposed we move from the unsustainable to the sustainable (in two seperate instances)….far from being moot it is fundamentally important.
Good!
However, you wrote that you “have a multitude of issues with the premise”.
I find your comments invariably ambiguous hence the simple question to you, to remove ambiguity and gain clarity – talking past each other is such a waste of good time.
It seems we and many others are asking the same or similar questions based on the same or similar premises. However, ideas for moving forward seem to be scant supply. Since you seem to be willing to accept his premises, what does Michaux suggest if anything?
"It seems we and many others are asking the same or similar questions based on the same or similar premises. However, ideas for moving forward seem to be scant supply. Since you seem to be willing to accept his premises, what does Michaux suggest if anything?'
Unfortunately that is not the case….(too) many are not asking that question and the point of drawing attention to Michaux's work is to demonstrate that much of what is proposed as solution is not.
His observation is we will have less, whether by choice or imposition ….how we deal with that fact is for us to decide, but the first step is acceptance.
That sounds like ‘intellectual cowardice’ to me. In other words, he [Michaux] apparently forecasts and points to doom ‘here it is folks, suck it up’ and then washes his hands off it. For example, when Shaun Hendy and his colleagues modelled the data at the time, they found an upper predicted probability of 80,000 deaths in NZ due to Covid-19. However, they ran mitigating scenarios and made plenty of suggestions to implement as public health measures. In other words, they were highly instrumental in finding solutions and didn’t stay at the sidelines letting others do the heavy lifting. That seems to be missing with Michaux – there are too many ‘influencers’ and YouTubers pretending to be public intellectuals already and they’re often poorly understood and/or misrepresented here on TS in (selective) quotes and clip-dumps.
I know the above sounds unduly harsh, so I looked up his website and to give him credit, he seems aware of this/his limitation.
https://www.simonmichaux.com/ [first time this link appears on TS; so much for drawing attention to his work]
Further down it reads:
This sounds more promising than my initial superficial impression of Michaux based on your comments so far. I’ll leave it to others who have read more of his stuff to add more to this or not.
You are projecting your own emotive response upon Michaux's work.
In seeking solutions he discovered a dearth of information, gathered that information, analysed it and drew conclusions.
He has indicated the likely path of solution but the detail will likely be bespoke…what may work for one economy/location may nor be applicable/possible/desireable in another.
and all of the (potential) solutions will likely be uncomfortable in a political sense…..there is no neat easy solution on offer tied up in a bow.
Michaux sounds like quite an intellectual tour de force.
Excellent! So, why don’t you give us an illustration?
Great! Again, what might these look like?
Nobody is asking for or even expecting a “neat easy solution on offer tied up in a bow” although I do like the wrapping of Christmas presents. With you, we only seem to get coal in our stockings.
You appear to suffer from never being told you catch more flies with honey than vinegar…..Ive provided numerous links…away you go, or not, it matters not to me.
You have??
Of course, I couldn’t remember those “numerous links” that you had allegedly provided, so I checked and could only find 2 in 2 separate comments of yours.
It appears that you are more of a spray-and-walk-away commenter than one who tries to make a genuine contribution by providing clear commentary and explanation to the TS readership.
In fact, you said as much here (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-26-05-2022/#comment-1890435):
Do you want to have pat on the back for each link you’ve posted, Pat? Or do you need more ‘honey’ to sweeten you up? A chocolate fish ok?
Edit: I found one more link to a 1,000-page PDF and 2 YT clips (1:12:37 and 1:19:19 long, respectively).
PS: one of the same YT clips appeared in another comment of yours.
your hubris is great…and you are too lazy to research the information provided (and you appear unable to count)…rather you appear to think if you insult posters enough they will do the work for you.
You can lead an Ass to water but you cannot make it drink
How many more times will you be playing this game of pulling teeth and when will you start to provide some answers without or instead of referring to the alleged state of mind of the one who’s asking simple questions. And when will you stop telling others what they ‘appear’ to be thinking – you are not a mind reader?
The onus is on the poster to help others along with answers to honest questions, at least initially. For example, dumping a link to a 1,000-page (!!) report on a highly specialised and technical topic is not helpful at all, it is disingenuous. In any case, you’re not commenting to and for me per se, you’re commenting to and for a much wider readership.
The derogatory labels and insults are starting to fly hard & fast now. Are you sure that you’re not projecting yourself? Instead of playing the man why don’t you start playing the ball?
You must be parched.
PS: I didn’t count “numerous links”, I counted a few rather unhelpful ones. Thus, I don’t think it is my counting that is the problemo.
@Incog
Ask yourself this question. If hypothetically one of the fusion research groups – say this one for example – was to deliver cheap, clean and abundant energy tomorrow. And it could be delivered anywhere globally and would give us a real shot at avoiding the worst of the climate crisis.
Do you think this development would actually be welcomed by the anti-capitalist, de-growth, power-down crowd?
That’s a shedload of hypotheticals!
Assuming that “the anti-capitalist, de-growth, power-down crowd” is not hypothetical, who is there spokesperson, what is their website, and how much of a cohesive homogeneous crowd is this?
Getting a straight answer from you is like pulling teeth and you know it.
It is evident you have more interest in posturing than seeking information that may lead to solutions despite claims to the contrary.
You can continue stroking your ego with someone else.
Seeking information from you is like pulling teeth and you know it.
Should I pay you for yet another on-line consult or do you offer this more freely than info when somebody asks for it?
In case your head is swelling, I’m not singling you out and prompt many commenters for links, clarification, and additional explanatory commentary, in Mod notes if necessary. Most are more than happy to oblige without any further prompting or prodding, unlike you, and this lifts the quality of informed robust debate here. You don’t seem to have much interest in playing part in this, and I have seen others running into the same issue with you. Here’s the thing though, I don’t think you’re incapable, I think you’re unwilling, which raises the question what your intentions are when you comment as you do – it seems counterintuitive and contradictory.
A lot of the article I strongly agree with, especially in his opening arguments describing the current situation. I am less on board with his de-growth solution; at first blush it seems to have a lot in common with WEF's Great Reset agenda. But that aside there are two aspects missing from his analysis.
One is that the we are reaching an unprecedented demographic inversion – that because population growth has peaked and will fall over the foreseeable future, this also necessarily spells the end of economic growth as well. And it is not just a case of fewer people – the very nature of the demand from older, more mature people is different. It is possible on these grounds alone that the nature of our resource demand will shift.
Countering this is the excellent Global Wealth Pyramid graphic showing just how uneven current resource consumption is. It is well and good to say the top 700m of humans are consuming wastefully – but even if by the most meticulous central planning and de-growth you halved their consumption, it is but a drop in the bucket compared to the massive un-met needs of the bottom half of humanity. It would be the pinnacle of narcissistic entitlement to demand they live in poverty forever.
The other unspoken element is any global political mechanism to ensure this vision is managed equitably across the entire planet. Such a grand vision is well beyond our current political reach.
Demographics are not the same across the globe. In addition, and related to this, nations (populations) that want/need to catch up will continue and likely even increase the pressure on global resources for the sake of economic growth and claim this as their sovereign right as well as moral imperative. Mind you, if increased frequency of extreme weather events is going to be the norm many areas on the planet will see continued and likely increased poverty.
So, what do we do in the meantime? Any vision takes imagination and boldness, so where will this be coming from? From our (political) leaders? From visionaries such as Musk or a handful of scholars and thinkers? From grassroots (activists)? And what do all the other ‘ordinary’ people do: watch & wait and BAU, ridicule, resist, or run for the hills?
Fair point – I was generalising. But in broad terms almost all developed nations are now below replacement level – except the African continent. By the end of this century we are facing a population bust. Japan was the first modern nation to get there, but they had the advantage of becoming rich before they became old. Quite a few places might wind up in both conditions, low development and negative growth due to an ageing shrinking population.
Your last para gets a heartfelt agreement from me. It is why I linked to Daniel Schmachtenberger above – the idea of global emergence driven by synchronicity, connection and attraction that will evolve us toward a global society, united in purpose and values across the diversity of humanity. That is my vision, yet when I type it out in big broad strokes like this, shorn of a practical path to get there, no-one buys it. It all seems so removed from the shit and drama we face in the here and now.
Yet we have been here before. In say 1700 chattel slavery was an almost universal condition. No-one thought it was a desirable thing to fall into, but few might imagine a world without it. Yet just a century later the combination of a coal driven Industrial Revolution, and an abolitionist movement founded in the idea that all humans were equal before God, had permanently shifted our thinking.
The combination of an enabling technology, and a moral sentiment tilted toward the unity of the human race – changed everything in an emergent fashion. So why now in 2022 at the pinnacle of our collective insight and capability would we not be able to do this again?
Yes, I know that you have been indefatigably trying to build a bridge between the rather abstract problems and concrete tangible actions and integration into the daily lives of ‘ordinary’ people and I admire you for those efforts even though a sense of frustration seems to be detectable at times.
Indeed, we (i.e. the human race) have been there before, a few times, but perhaps never with the same acute sense of urgency. Unfortunately, it appears to be human reaction to close off during tough/threatening times, which seems to lead to more feelings of isolation and disenfranchisement, which in turn can lead to further disengagement.
We cannot rely on religion to give us moral guidance and instruction, if we ever could. The social contract is not what it used be either. The fact that we have very high homology between DNA, RNA, and protein sequences that indicates shared ancestry and strongly conserved evolutionary traits and high similarity with other species does also not seem to be enough either to realise our interconnectedness with fellow humans in particular and other species with whom we share this planet.
It seems as if the more we know and the more inevitable the conclusion the more resistant we become and the more in denial we act. It seems counterintuitive but I have to conclude it is all but so. No single person can solve these wicked problems, only through trans-disciplinary collective thinking, discussion, and action do we stand a chance to chip a viable path to the future.
Very nice wrap Incog. Your last sentence is absolutely on the nail, yet acting in this collective mode requires a transformation of the human heart.
Too many people wanting to control the world, before they have even learned to master themselves.
And for something completely different:
Another one from the South
Enjoyed the song, but pessimism is warranted
James Hansen: There Is a Lot More Warming in the Pipeline (dailykos.com)
Hansen argues that we are on track for 10ºC and will see warming equivalent to the PETM mass extinctions over the next 100 years.
Whilst the fundamentalist strains of religion have a negative influence, I don't think it's right to follow the polemic stance of Dawkins and other strident atheists who hold just as tightly to their own narrow fundamentalisms.
There is wisdom and insight in religion, if we see the symbols and meanings rather than the strident legalisms of the moralists and fearmongers. Quoting Richard D. Bartlett:
The only way our society has a future is in turning away from our shadow selves and leaning into Love
"Well and good", and accurate (Sale Alert) – some 'hyperconsume' their way to the grave, resisting moderation with every fibre of their being. The clearly irrational trait of consuming to excess is an abiding mystery. Just because bacteria in a Petri dish do it, doesn't mean sentient humans on spaceship Earth must follow suit – and yet…
Can you give examples of these revolting narcissistic entitled people who demand that the 'bottom' half of humanity live in poverty 'forever' – Trump perhaps?
Maybe removing clean energy limitations on civilisation will allow BAU growth of consumers and/or consumption ad infinitum – I sincerely hope there’s time to tell.
Fucker murdered 30 or more youngters. He'll do it again.
https://twitter.com/mradamtaylor/status/1606296763194671105
Cold blooded as a rattlesnake an cunning as a shithouse rat not a dude you'd want in your neighborhood .
Morale is high.
/
A video emerged that appears to be showing "L/DPR" commander beating soldiers who evacuated two wounded as a group of 10 people, instead of taking a position as they were meant to. (shared by @DefMon3)
https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1607085505291898882