Wanting something fun, worthwhile, altruistic, artistically creative, and political, to do on Auckland Anniversary Day? Tired of listening to politicians making boring speeches excusing BAU? Sad at the damage climate change is doing to our world?
Join the fight against coal, the number 1 cause and most easily preventable cause of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Auckland Coal Action is calling for the public to rally to protest Fonterra’s proposed new coal mine.
By continuing to build these protests we will make sure that Fonterra gets the message that the world can’t afford more new coal mines.
This holiday Monday 28 January, starting at 3pm (set up from 2pm) On the Auckland-bound side of State Highway 2 next to the site of the proposed new coal mine on the Mangatawhiri straight.
Meeting at the corner of Homestead Road (motorway overbridge) and Bell Road.
Coming from Auckland you will need to take the Mangatawhiri exit from State Highway 2 onto Mangatawhiri Road (incorrectly shown as Mangatangi Rd on Google Maps).
Coming from the East, you will need to take the Golf Road exit.
Just bring yourself and your friends. We have lots of colourful banners and signs, that they can hold, stating opposition to climate change, and coal mining.
bearing these messages:
No New Coal Mines
Coal Cooks the Climate
Back Off Fonterra
Use Wood Waste Fonterra
Coal Causes Drought
Coal = Climate Chaos = Drought
Coal Dried Milk = Climate Dried Paddocks
Coal Free Mangatawhiri
But if you or your friends want to bring along your very own creative climate change messages to present to the public and Fonterra this would be very welcome also.
What can I do?
There will be lots of returning holiday crowds for you to interact with, Bored out of their minds sitting in the traffic and interested by anything you do, to bring attention to the danger of coal to the environment.
Can anyone come?
Yes. If you are returning from your holiday why not stop and join the rally? You will only be stuck in traffic anyway!
Support the campaign against new coal mines!
If you need transport and or want to be part of our car pool or for updates on this activity go to our website or facebook page.
There was more going on there than burning energy – collaborative games (bullrush) – creating stuff in the junk pit. Rather than trying to structure children’s play through rules, just structure the environment and leave them to it. That’s what happens in early childhood education – kindergartens etc. Somehow that changes with many school playgrounds for older children – they are left with big open spaces and little in the environment to work with other than each other.
@ chris 73….+100 …interesting….I agree with this….kids need to explore all avenues of creativity in the playground…eg. war games, climbing trees and gettiing into hedges…water and sand play ….even so-called risky behaviour ….because this is how they learn to set their own safety limits
….mind you there always needs to be some loose teacher playground supervision …to ensure no bullying or real harm to kids
I remember years ago, when I was in primary school, we had this massive (in the minds of us kids) 2 story playhouse, with an outside ladder to the second story, a pole, slide, balcony with a swing bridge out the back. It was on ‘stilts’ so you could play under it as well as on it. And it had a heck of a view when you climbed up top. Us kids loved it, and upshifting to the “Standards” (not to be confused with this site), meant playing on the other side of the school, and confidence course-like arrangement of high ropes, hanging tires and swinging logs.
The playhouse was demolished not long before I left that school. Probably around the same time as the Tomorrow’s Schools reforms came in. It was replaced by some plastic looking lego type thing that seemed totally boring.
Should also remind everyone that it was National that brought in all the OSH red tape stuff.
…speaking of pissheads ( I am not one) ….but recently instead of an occasional glass of red wine( which is supposed to be good for you)….i have switched to Guiness Stout ….and omg….it really is good for you! ….full of iron and Vit Bs..( got rid of my creakiness and I feel miles younger….. ha ha) …..supposed to be good for hypertension also…….just what the doctor ordered…..so i am now drinking a glass of Guiness every night ….while my partner drinks his red wine
….also Guiness is less fattening than red wine or a glass of milk
I just hope he doesn’t go all Jurassic Park on us after the election this year. Labour can’t go with the Nats, however closely certain members of their caucus agree on most issues. But I could almost see Jones leading a breakaway faction of blue-reds (such an ugly bruised colour) that could congeal with NZF to give C&S to “the greatest party” (ie the one with most votes). Still, with the impending annihilation example of Dunne (and the MP) to show what happens to exLabourites who hook up with the Tories, such a course may not appeal.
One of a long list of prognostications about which I hope I am in error.
“..But I could almost see Jones leading a breakaway faction of blue-reds (such an ugly bruised colour) that could congeal with NZF to give C&S to “the greatest party”..”
i agree…jones is in the wrong party..
..and the cherry on the cake is..
..that he is generally deemed to be short-listed for the ‘laziest-mp-in-parliament’-award..
..he just turns up to collect his paycheck..
..his performances in portfolios has been beyond dire..
..which is part of the reason there was so much hilarity when he stood/played-stalking-horse for the right/neo-libs..in his claim on the labour..leadership role..
..with most claiming that jones probably ‘couldn’t be bothered’ putting in the necessary hard work..
..an exercise by jones that was only given any credence by the paid-for corporate/access-media hacks..
..jones is also most famed for long-lunching..being over-fed by his lobbyists..
..(rapers of the environment/exploiters of third-world workers..all of them..)
..jones is the worst kind of greedy/self-interested reactionary tory in labour drag..
..he belongs on nationals’ back bench..
..up there with that other self-serving clown..henare..
Out of curiosity what is your success rate on your long line of prognostications?
As far as Dunne goes he is merely another example of what happens when they get into the governmental bed with a larger party. They get crushed.
National or Labour, it doesn’t matter. Tell me where the Alliance Party, a Labour supporter went too.
The Alliance cracked internally and not because of outside pressure from a larger party. They have, unfortunately, forgotten the reason for being a party though. This seems to be a problem with most left leaning small parties.
I think it is a bit more general than that. If you have a look at what happens to parties other than Labour and National in the election that follows their first term in Government you find that the smaller parties all crash in popularity. I’ve only looked at what happened at the election in which they first enetered Government, not what might have happened in later elections. I mean Jim Anderton dropped from 2 to 1 but it was their first term in Powerr that did them in.
ie 1996
New Zealand First was part of the Government with 17 seats. In the next election they dropped to 5 seats.
1999.
The Alliance, in Government with 10 seats. Next election they got 2.
2002
United Future had 8 seats. Next election they got 3
2005.
New Zealand First had 7 seats. Next election none.
2008
ACT had 5 seats. Next election 1
Maori Party 5 seats. Next election 3.
In the mean time the Green Party, never part of the Government, went along, starting in 1999, with 7,9,6,9,and 14 seats. It looks as if NOT being in Government helps if you are small, don’t you think.
Poor Chooky. Conned by the Irish.
You say “Guiness Stout ……full of iron …”
I’m sorry to say but the benefits of iron from drinking Guiness are a myth.
As an example I will point you to an example of the dietician’s comments on the subject.
You would have to drink three pints of Guiness to get as much iron as a single egg yolk.
You would have to drink fifteen pints of Guiness to get as much iron as two Weetabix.
Not being English I don’t know what a Weetabix is but I assume it is like our Weetbix.
I won’t suggest you check any of the other claims. Assume they are right and you can go on drinking with a clear conscience. If you check them you may have to settle on drinking it because it tastes good.
Many years ago… stout was my choice of tipple, so I can appreciate your enthusiasm. But was a Murphys or Beamish aficionado myself.
Didn’t stop me visiting the Guinness brewery in Dublin though, and discovering that for many years a glass of Guinness was given by Dublin hospital to women after childbirth to revitalise them.
Don’t even recollect a cup of tea after delivering here…
..this is the current ‘scary’ lie that prohibitionists peddle (with some effect..) to parents of today who smoked pot back then..
..(which instill (justifiable) concerns in those parents…)
..on an anecdotal-level..from one who smoked pot then..and smokes pot now..
..yes..as confirmed in yr link..the average-quality has increased..
..but that is just ‘cos of blackmarket vagaries/forces..as in ‘cabbage’ can’t be sold now..the maket is more sophisticated..there is ‘better stuff’ just down/across the road..
..but the strength/potency of good-pot has not changed between then and now..
..(facts actually confirmed in yr anti-pot link..)
“..But while the average is up due to the availability of marijuana with a higher THC count –
– the high mark in potency (somewhere around 25-27 percent) remains relatively unchanged in the last couple decades –
– and isn’t likely to increase..”
see..!..
..court forensic records here in new zealand also confirm that fact..
..as weed busted has to be checked for potency..
..and those records show minimal (if any) increases in the potency/thc-levels of good quality dope then..
..and good quality dope now..
..basically..(back to anecdotals again) good dope has always been good dope..
..and the ‘skunk’ of today..is no stronger than the thai-sticks/afghani-hash/whatever of their youth..
..this ‘potency’-argument is almost the last rearguard action the prohibitionists/piss-pimpers have to hand..
..and like so much else peddled about marijuana over the years..
..this too is a puff of smoke/bunch of lies..
..eh..?
..and but/hey!..as those former pot-smoking parents of today will attest/remember..
..when the pot is ‘good’..you smoke/need less..
..i can reassure them..
..that this has not changed..
..and there are not nasty/super-hybrid versions of pot out there..
My god, he’s obese AND fat? That must make him the worst human being ever!!!! There are certainly no other things we could criticise Shane Jones for at all!!!! 🙄
Looking at the parts you have quoted in your blog post and what you have put here – how about try giving up these ad hominem attacks. If you actually had a point it was completely obscured for me by your bullshit personal attacks.
Reading your blog post – Shane Jones was making an argument from the other side of the aisle of the cannabis debate. He chose to highlight the issues that Maori culture has with legal and illegal drugs as well as confronting the fact that a pro-cannabis white guy was able to speak on the marae when their own women weren’t afforded the same courtesy. From the sounds of it, he was making a responsible, progressive and inclusive speech against the promotion of cannabis – and you choose to personally insult him for it rather than attempt to rebut any of the points he raised.
I guess it just goes to display that ad hominem is the only sustainable level of “debate” you’re capable of
He wasn’t actually attacking the speaker for being white but pointing out the issue within Maori culture where an outside male can get up to speak to promote whatever they so wish but Maori women are ignored and do not have the right to speak on the marae – so not an ad hominem (from your blog “It was particularly “galling” that a Pakeha man could make such a speech on a marae when Maori women were not accorded that privilege”)
And, despite what you say about Shane Jones being true, it does not make your argument any less of an ad hominem. What does his weight have to do with the argument for decriminalization of cannabis?
Zorr, and got caned on that same Marae for His outlandish attack on the Pakeha speaker, looks like we will have to add to the ‘crimes’ of Jones ‘closet racist’ as well…
You will have to put a link so I can see it on context, but on the face of it I don’t think she is talking about height. It would be like me saying something like ‘what a little shit’. Would you think I was referring to a short person?
Why bring in height though? Shes is making a negative reference.
You cant link to a particular twitter quote, unless your sign it to that
page or something. I think it had to do with the guy who used the internet
to hunt down a woman he meet overseas.
I hear that David Cunliffe also attended but was refused permission to go on stage. The whole thing was a Key love in. Strange that Key, who is a self confessed agnostic, should be heralded in this way.
Parachute also hosted Sue Bradford a while ago, to talk about the S59 Amendment, so I don’t know if this was deliberately partisan.
There are zero reasons for thinking Christians, or people of conscience, to support the two-faced bankster Key. Christian values cohere much more with original Labour policy as enacted by Mickey Savage and his “applied Christianity”.
(Jesus talked about loving thy neighbour and helping the needy … not the legalistic and weird traditions from the old testament, or the anti science insanity popular in US churches)
IIRC Cunliffe is a churchgoer of some description?
“However, the Government points to the annual study by the Ministry of Social Development, Household Incomes in New Zealand, to support Key’s claim that the gap is diminishing, rather than widening.
The Government says that while there is no doubt some families are in difficult circumstances, the income survey shows there is no evidence of rising income inequality over the past two decades. It argues that inequality is actually lower now than a decade ago according to internationally accepted measures.
It’s certainly a big lie, but I think I’ll wait for a while before awarding the title of: “The big lie being sold this election”. They are only warming up and sound-checking at this point of the election year.
The HES is compiled by using data from interviews and surveys – hardly likely to appeal to the full demographic of NZ – but more likely to skew the data in favour of massaged numbers in his favour. This samples only 5000 households – so Key can legitimately claim“In NZ we have 5,000 households who indicate that they are faring well”.
You would have thought he didn’t have the full statistics department with census figures, along with IRD, MSD etc at his disposal.
If the media can’t do this basic research before reprinting his claims, then Cunliffe needs to address it clearly tomorrow – and stop the meme.
According to Labour’s figures, the top 1 per cent of income earners own 16 per cent of the total wealth, worth around $77 billion, while the bottom 200,000 income earners are, in contrast, $4.7b in debt.
No-one in the bottom 20 per cent owns more than $6000 in assets, its figures show.
Labour’s figures also suggest that incomes at the top have increased while those in the middle and bottom have stagnated 30 years on from the 1984 election that installed the fourth Labour government and unleashed a wave of economic reforms.
After-tax incomes for the bottom 10 percent were $9700 in 1984 and had only increased by $11,000 in 2011 – a 13.4 per cent increase, according to Labour.
But incomes for the top 10 per cent had increased 78 per cent to $100,200 over the same period.
[Key’s response: “Despite what our political opponents try to claim, it is simply not true that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer,” Key told a business audience during his state-of-the-nation speech on Thursday.]
After-tax incomes for the bottom 10 percent were $9700 in 1984 and had only increased by $11,000 in 2011 – a 13.4 per cent increase, according to Labour
$9700 increased by $11000 is 13.4 % increase, Labour’s maths is crap
According to Labour’s figures, the top 1 per cent of income earners own 16 per cent of the total wealth, worth around $77 billion, while the bottom 200,000 income earners are, in contrast, $4.7b in debt
The 1% ( business people) have a lot more debt than 4.7b
There is tho a huge difference between the money making debt racked up by the 1% and the money draining debt racked up by the 10% at the bottom of the income scale…
..it isn’t just the bone-headed/piss-merchant-pimper arguments jones posits that piss me off…
..it is that he..as an animal-fat/sugar-addict..(washed down by the product he pimps/celebrates consuming on-air..booze)
..is a walking/textbook example of all that is wrong with the ‘pakeha-diet’ so many maori are addicted to..
..and the cause of the off-the-wall health-problems/premature-deaths that plague maori..
..and that this obese fat/sugar/booze-sodden/burping/farting walking example of ill-health..
..points at cannabis as being a ‘problem’ to/for maori..
..the eye-watering hypocrisies/ignorances that displays..
..does kinda take the breath away..
..eh..?..
..just the facts that ending prohibition would see less maori jailed..
..less maori with alcohol-induced/fostered violence/health problems…
(as legalising/regulating/taxing cannabis means alcohol-consumption would plummet..a fact pimp-jones and his booze-pushing paymasters are very well aware of..)
..just those two facts should totally dispel any ideas that jones works in/for the interests of maori..
..shane jones works in/for the interests of shane jones..
..and his scum corporate-paymasters/death-pushers..
…well get on with making your Phillip Ure Vegan Sausage alternatives to pies then….and offer the likes of Shanes Jones an easy alternative( he can eat them while he fantasises about his fillies)
….for most people boiling up beans and rice is a chore…but a baked, boiled ,barbequed or fried sausage is easy
Long term benefitaries savings get eaten into when inflation and so interest rates push savings into the $80 week threshold, when 70% is taken off. $80 has not moved in decades for most.
’81. Had friends whose husband was laid off, and while he was looking for a job, she had to be careful, not to cross the $80.00 threshold. They had three children, and she could easily have earnt more, but they would have been worse off. It was the same with him, the old Labour Dept. kept “offering” him the odd day’s work here and there, which meant they would have been worse off. To be better off, he needed 3 days work a week, not 1 or 2, due to tax and abatements.
Nothing forces you to read what I say bad12. I guess that you are merely pissed of because I have in the past pointed out when YOU have made statements that had no basis in fact.
In the meantime I hope that the person who did make this statement will tell me where it is documented so that I can look up the details. It sounds quite appalling.
As for bad12’s proposal “perhaps you think … are getting richer”. Where on earth do you get such strange ideas about the things you “think” I believe?
alwyn, of course you have every right to say whatever it is that you continue to whine about and my shut up was merely a rhetorical reaction to your latest snivel knowing it was hardly going to silence you,
Your propensity to whine appears to be brought about by your ‘snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory’ in your haste to attempt to negate a point i made, ‘only’ a 58% rise in the party vote for the Green Party between elections 2008 and 2011 in the Auckland City electorates held by National is hardly something victorious for a ‘wing-nut’ to want to have published and the fact that you have has me continuously going Ha Ha Ha at you,
If you have a further comment to make in relation to a comment i have made perhaps you could stop the cryptic bullshit and link to it, i realize that gobbledygook is your language of choice but such having been imported from the planet of the stupid most here would have no means of translation,(in relation to your last little whine)…
You might as well give up you know. After all I was the one who told you that the Green vote went up by 58% between elections wasn’t it? You never did seem to realise that did you? All you could seem to do was to make up a b.s story about how well the Greens did in the National held Auckland electorates, claiming that they had DOUBLED their vote in those electorates. The truth of course was that they had exactly the same percentage increase there as they did everywhere else.
How, by the way do you think that anybody could not realise that the party had a 58% increase in the nationwide vote? You do realise don’t you that they increased their seats from 9 to 14 and that that requires a percentage increase of the magnitude that occurred. Perhaps the details of the MMP system are beyond you.
It is rather difficult to come up with any further link for your benefit. I offered you the simple to understand elections.org.nz but that appeared to be too difficult for you to follow.
Finding any site that contains material that supports your fantasies is of course impossible. There aren’t any because they are just that. Fantasies.
Alwyn, you espouse right-wing policy. Therefore, you are either stupid, delusional, or venal, and your opinions are of no use in this forum.
Bad12’s point that the Greens are taking votes off the Foreign Corporations and Farmers Party renders your bad faith statements about what you say you believe about Dotcom’s constituency moot, and the fact of your bad faith makes them irrelevant.
Jolly good old fellow. As I said to bad12, you are not required to read what I say and there won’t be an exam on the material.
If reading things that present a viewpoint that differs from what you want to believe upsets your delicate little stomach don’t bother. You are quite entitled to believe that the world is flat, and was created in 4004 BC if it makes you happy. As long as lprent et al, don’t object I shall contribute occasionally.
“Pip, pip and toodle ooh” as Bertie Wooster would say.
alwyn, did you like my faux outrage, as good if not better then that which you usually exhibit don’t you think, the proof of that is that you bit and bit on it big time, more fool you,
Oh the link i mention, your answer to that little last point i made in my previous comment shows you up as belonging in the Dunce’s corner,(a fact not lost on most here),and my pointing this out is simply as an educative hint to you,
Most people would have realized that as an answer to your post of 3.11pm i was eluding to the last two lines of your relevant whine as ‘cryptic bullshit’, not you of course which is why i consider you to be a virtual dummy,(a useful tool is a dummy),
Laughably i knew all along what you were referring to even if you havn’t the nous to have worked it out, and, as a wing-nut i believe your sole use here is simply to provide me with the pleasure of laughing at you, so along with the faux outrage i used a little pretense of not understanding for my personal amusement,(at you),
As far as the particular last two lines of your comment at 3.11pm goes do you not understand the ‘interrogative’ nature of the words ”perhaps you think”, its a question not a statement…
Psst, was the nationwide, Ha ha ha, increase in the Green Party vote of the magnitude that occurred ALL from National held electorates,(you are just so hilarious)…
Listening to RadioNZ National this morning it was a little disquieting to learn that radiation shown to have emanated from the Fukushima disaster has now been shown to have reached the west coast of the US and Canada,
Given that it is only a matter of time, with large amounts of contaminated water still spewing into the Pacific ocean after 3 years, that such contamination will be taken up by seaweed and hence move into the fin-fish and bi-valves resident in the ocean and from there into the human food chain,
Of course as fish are all part of their own food chain and considering the fact that fish do not necessarily remain in the one hemisphere sooner or later it’s pretty much a certainty that we are all going to get a dose high enough to be not good for our health from our seas,
On a related topic we would think that those workers involved in the cleanup of the mess at Fukushima would be treated like hero’s in Japan for agreeing to go anywhere near the failed nuclear plant let alone work in the place,
Not likely, the link below explains just who these workers are and what happens to the extra $100 dollars a day the Japanese Government is said to have provided for each worker at the site of the actual melt-down and in the surrounding radiation zone,
If the link doesn’t work which is quite often the fate of the ones i attempt try Googling: Homeless used by Japanese in Fukushima cleanup,
The Greens have unveiled a new policy which would see schools in lower income areas turned into hubs which would meet all the health, social and welfare needs of poor families.
That’s really really awesome…in fact, it’s a total game changer for communities.
One small issue is that in the new economy, education is not the game changer that it once was. I hope the Greens realise this. Without a full employment policy, a phenomena we are going to see more and more of from now on are educated unemployed with student debt.
What i would call a ‘good start’ from Mets and the Green Party, perhaps a little light in the vein of treating the symptoms and not the cause, but, nothing there to scare the middle class who would buy into Slippery the Prime Ministers ‘devil beast’ and ‘Green Taliban’ rubbish,
i totally agree with CV in that at some point the fact that there is not enough employment for everybody in our economy has to be addressed either by the State providing a lot more of it or providing a lot more to those effected by it,
Given that, an election year might not be the best time to start such a debate but for the parties of the left to just accept the status quo is simply unacceptable and amounts to marking time befor the next attack upon the unemployed and beneficiaries in general occurs,
The ‘Hubs’ in secondary schools sounds promising, i have a long held belief that the children of the poor miss out hugely in terms of socialization where their parents cannot afford the cost of fees for sports clubs, music lessons and a myriad other activities where the kids show a real skill and the school cannot offer a raised level of training/learning,
My view is that either through the schools or through a direct partnering with the particular organization the fees for inclusion of the kids who’s parents cannot afford their participation along with any uniform, instruments etc should be included in the activities of such proposed secondary school ‘Hubs’,
Good start to the year Green Party, with David Cunliffe set to launch tomorrow the scene is set for a ‘real’ fight in 2014,(as opposed to the mainly rear-gaurd action i feel 2011 was),
My vote with the Party numbers and the polls on the up is still leaning toward the Mana Party, but, the Green Party will be the recipient of my ‘political budget’ for the year which should help provide advertising and electioneering worth far more than just my one vote…
Given that, an election year might not be the best time to start such a debate but for the parties of the left to just accept the status quo is simply unacceptable and amounts to marking time befor the next attack upon the unemployed and beneficiaries in general occurs,
Actually, I think the beginning of an election year is a great time to start the debate – especially after 5 years of National which came after the preceding 25 years of neo-liberal failure.
Excellent idea middxkea. Wasn’t that the same principle behind Whanau Ora? (Sp?) The disconnect between agencies has defeated past efforts to coordinate help.
I’m all for the educational/community hubs – just a couple of points about having them at schools.
1. Many of the disengaged have had disastrous experiences at schools – and will be loathe to return to them in a positive way later on in their lives. You may miss out on reaching those who have the most to benefit – just because of the choice of venue.
2. Schools are already underresourced and overcrowded – where are the facilities and capacity that will allow this to happen without capital investment?
3. You are introducing the community – many of whom are unknown individuals – into the school environment – how do you then ensure safety for both those individuals and the students of that school?
4. Future governments – using the MoE – can destroy these programmes even if they are successful by claiming they are focusing on “getting back to basics”
Alternatives:
1. Adjust the stated policy to deal with these potential problems and ensure that the continuation of these programmes is strengthened.
2. Create community hubs in local community facilities that are underutilised – obvious choice is to use local sports facilities that are not in use during the weekdays. Ensure cooperation between schools and hubs but try to set up hubs so that the communities own them – makes it more likely to survive long-term.
Most of the furniture is the wrong size for adults in schools and the layout is usually wrong. They tend to feel a bit officious and formal
Sports facilities make more sense – they are built for a more similar purpose ( often from lotteries grants), and could possibly be extended or adapted for wider use.
Yes – it is a possibility – if the school is not having after school activities.
And is that time optimal for those we wish to engage? I would assume that some will be at home looking after their returning school aged children, and those delivering the services will also be working outside of “normal hours”.
Local sports facilities are often empty during school days and most evenings. For the amount of investment and maintenance they are often underutilised.
Note: I impatiently reposted my previous comment on
today’s Open Mike and see Karol has since posted on the Green Party educational policy. If there are further discussions, may pay to transfer there.
Metiria, said the election was shaping up to be about inequality. It was a very passionate speech and very well attended despite the crap Wellington weather.
Talking to Green activists from around NZ it seems that people are ready for change, meetings are very well attended and membership is up. There is a buzz that I haven’t experienced before.
Keys days are numbered
I note that the Indonesian Coal contract has been cancelled and that any coal required for the standby generator at Huntly will be now be locally sourced.
Work for miners in Huntly, rather than overseas sourced.
Regarding your editorial “Censors on Campus” (Jan. 18): Writing from the epicenter of progressive thought, San Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its “one percent,” namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the “rich.”
From the Occupy movement to the demonization of the rich embedded in virtually every word of our local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, I perceive a rising tide of hatred of the successful one percent. There is outraged public reaction to the Google buses carrying technology workers from the city to the peninsula high-tech companies which employ them. We have outrage over the rising real-estate prices which these “techno geeks” can pay. We have, for example, libelous and cruel attacks in the Chronicle on our number-one celebrity, the author Danielle Steel, alleging that she is a “snob” despite the millions she has spent on our city’s homeless and mentally ill over the past decades.
This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent “progressive” radicalism unthinkable now?
Would be great to hear about it from anyone in Wellington who is able to attend
DATE: Friday, 31 January
VENUE: Rutherford House, Lecture Theatre 3, Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Victoria University of Wellington
TIME: 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Well, it is finally official. Whale oil is banning anyone who disagrees with his views. For a long time it has been very obvious Cameron Slater’s little site had been nothing but a national party platform, but now he is making it official by blocking anyone who holds a different view.
Yes it is his own website and he gets to make the rules. However he can no longer pretend he is anything but a national party mouthpiece.
See there is some discussion related to the Jones foot-in-mouth re: cannabis above.
To put another spin on it, there is a good opinion piece in Granny today regarding the ongoing prohibition on cannabis. Which of course creates crime and social dysfunction where there should otherwise be none.
Judging by the comments below (not all from fellow NORML supporters, I assume) the opinion piece, a position on the ongoing prohibition would be my top “nice-to-have” in Cunliffe’s state of the nation.
Meanwhile Dunne retains political oxygen by bowing down to legal-high manufacturers. Those who argue that “pot has gotten so much stronger” would be well-advised to try a quick taste test of street cannabis vs. that synthetic cannabinoid shit.
People are starting to realise that dragging people through the justice system for having a few joints in their pockets is a waste of time and resources.
The Green Parties Russell Norman on Prime News tonight refused to back away from Green Party policy that Marijuana should be decriminalized saying that like all policy, the decriminalization policy will be ‘on the table’ in any future coalition negotiation with Labour…
I think it was a bad idea about the MJ issue. They should have instead raised the possibility of a Royal Commission that would look into our drug laws. Nice and safe — at least they could get a dialog going about it with the possibility of backing away from it if things got too hairy, and it would let everyone have their say about it all.
Now they are going to leave themselve vulnerable on this issue, and probably let this over shadow their education reforms.
Millsy, the Green Party are not willing to back away from policies hammered out by the Party members over many years just for political expediency,
If we simply trade away everything we stand for nothing, as indicated by both Metiria and Russell this is hardly a ‘die in a ditch’ policy that the Green Party would try and push Labour into and i believe that David Cunliffe, cleverly, believes that this should be a conscience vote by the Parliament…
In a wonderfully manipulated news cycle last week, John Key Bill English and numerous talking heads told us all in breathless antici . . . . pation of exciting times ahead and how HSBC declared we were going to be a rockstar economy in 2014.
Interesting Open Mike today….
perhaps I should have a shot at flogging off my van-load of pre-twisted, pre-loved knickers (at knock down prices).
All sizes …. all colours.
Make me an offer- job lot. And if your name is Shane, I’ll even throw in a few feelthy pictures.
Indeed, Mets was educated amidst the anger of the beneficiary movement surrounding the Shiply/Richardson TINA of benefit cuts as well as getting the formal stuff from Uni all the while a solo-mum,
It’s a good start to the election year with more to come from David Cunliffe tomorrow, ”it’s not a matter of IF this happens it’s a matter of how and when” so said Labour’s Jacinda Adhern on Prime News tonight so it appears that with this policy Labour and the Green Party see eye to eye,
Expect Slippery the Prime Minister, finding no division to be exploited, to throw a hissy fit, simpering along the lines of the ‘devil beast’ as National’s education policy is made to look like the neo-liberal orphan dressed in rags begging for an audience…
Despite overwhelming support for Euromaidan Yanukovych seems to be hanging on with Putins support.
18 regions – against the current government!
[…]
As of 25 January in seven areas captured RSA, the other eleven of these institutions or blocked, or people preparing for such protests. Only two regions – Lugansk and Crimea – openly oppose Yevromaydanu* and express their support for Yanukovych.
Algood Karol, time to square the eyes with a bit of television, tomorrow is another day which should belong to David Cunliffe with His addition of another nail in the coffin of Slipery’s god-awful government…
Wow, what is “wrong” with Prime TV now, they have put out a small series of excellent programs under the title ‘Keeping it Pure’. It seems that they have given in to the “Green Talibans”, and allowed them to spread their “radical” “ideology” promoting a more “sustainable” and “environmentally balanced” economy and society.
What a brilliant and enlightening program, I cannot believe that the MSM is allowing this.
Maybe it is time for David Farrar to chat to Key and tell him to put the pressure on Prime TV, we cannot have this, can we? The truth being presented to the people?! It must be the Green Party behind it.
Washington Trade Daily has reported that ministers from all TPPA countries, except one developing country, have dropped their objections to the US-based intellectual property chapter, with some modifications.
So, the US corporations got what they wanted and NZ is truly fucked courtesy of this government.
We need SPIRIT, and MORE in this election year, for the labour movement and “the left” to win, so take heart, keep up the fight and talk, involve, share and spread. Some great spirit comes from stuff like music. Here a taste of a “left” band from Chile, Illapu, great stuff, invigorating, I think:
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
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Panui! Panui! Panui!
Wanting something fun, worthwhile, altruistic, artistically creative, and political, to do on Auckland Anniversary Day? Tired of listening to politicians making boring speeches excusing BAU? Sad at the damage climate change is doing to our world?
Join the fight against coal, the number 1 cause and most easily preventable cause of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Auckland Coal Action is calling for the public to rally to protest Fonterra’s proposed new coal mine.
Building on our series of successful on Labour Weekend, at Easter Weekend and Queens Birthday Weekend, help us make this Monday’s Auckland Anniversary Day our most successful protest ever.
By continuing to build these protests we will make sure that Fonterra gets the message that the world can’t afford more new coal mines.
This holiday Monday 28 January, starting at 3pm (set up from 2pm) On the Auckland-bound side of State Highway 2 next to the site of the proposed new coal mine on the Mangatawhiri straight.
Meeting at the corner of Homestead Road (motorway overbridge) and Bell Road.
Coming from Auckland you will need to take the Mangatawhiri exit from State Highway 2 onto Mangatawhiri Road (incorrectly shown as Mangatangi Rd on Google Maps).
Coming from the East, you will need to take the Golf Road exit.
Click here for a map of the area: http://www.wises.co.nz/l/waikato/mangatawhiri/bell+road/#c/-37.221375/175.148721/15/
What should I bring?
Just bring yourself and your friends. We have lots of colourful banners and signs, that they can hold, stating opposition to climate change, and coal mining.
bearing these messages:
No New Coal Mines
Coal Cooks the Climate
Back Off Fonterra
Use Wood Waste Fonterra
Coal Causes Drought
Coal = Climate Chaos = Drought
Coal Dried Milk = Climate Dried Paddocks
Coal Free Mangatawhiri
But if you or your friends want to bring along your very own creative climate change messages to present to the public and Fonterra this would be very welcome also.
What can I do?
There will be lots of returning holiday crowds for you to interact with, Bored out of their minds sitting in the traffic and interested by anything you do, to bring attention to the danger of coal to the environment.
Can anyone come?
Yes. If you are returning from your holiday why not stop and join the rally? You will only be stuck in traffic anyway!
Support the campaign against new coal mines!
If you need transport and or want to be part of our car pool or for updates on this activity go to our website or facebook page.
http://aucklandcoalaction.org/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/aklcoal/
Oh, Jenny’s back.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/9650581/School-ditches-rules-and-loses-bullies
– Heres something I think we can all agree on
chris73 – born again anarchist.
I suspect a lot of collaborative engagement, and less competitive jockeying for positions of power.
Naah its just common sense that kids need to burn off energy
There was more going on there than burning energy – collaborative games (bullrush) – creating stuff in the junk pit. Rather than trying to structure children’s play through rules, just structure the environment and leave them to it. That’s what happens in early childhood education – kindergartens etc. Somehow that changes with many school playgrounds for older children – they are left with big open spaces and little in the environment to work with other than each other.
I think the PC brigade had bullrush banned years ago, or did that get reversed?
My mum hated bullrush but only because of the damage done to our clothes (three boys)
Oh yes, the more energy they go through at school, means more peace in the home.
@ chris 73….+100 …interesting….I agree with this….kids need to explore all avenues of creativity in the playground…eg. war games, climbing trees and gettiing into hedges…water and sand play ….even so-called risky behaviour ….because this is how they learn to set their own safety limits
….mind you there always needs to be some loose teacher playground supervision …to ensure no bullying or real harm to kids
See I knew there could be cross-party support 🙂
we’ll convert you yet…you do seem to be a frequent visitor….maybe you like our company?( ha ha)
I liked what Shane Jones had to say…
Of course you did.
It’s a great idea.
Yes – great idea.
If you want to spread those new wings of yours – have a look at
Forest kindergartens – and Adventure Playgrounds.
Kids burning off energy indeed.
I remember years ago, when I was in primary school, we had this massive (in the minds of us kids) 2 story playhouse, with an outside ladder to the second story, a pole, slide, balcony with a swing bridge out the back. It was on ‘stilts’ so you could play under it as well as on it. And it had a heck of a view when you climbed up top. Us kids loved it, and upshifting to the “Standards” (not to be confused with this site), meant playing on the other side of the school, and confidence course-like arrangement of high ropes, hanging tires and swinging logs.
The playhouse was demolished not long before I left that school. Probably around the same time as the Tomorrow’s Schools reforms came in. It was replaced by some plastic looking lego type thing that seemed totally boring.
Should also remind everyone that it was National that brought in all the OSH red tape stuff.
just fuck off..!..shane jone..!
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/shane-jones-proves-what-a-reactionary-arsewipe-he-truly-is/
(excerpt:.)
“.. (ed:..and seriously..!
..an obese/fat/porn-addicted pisshead..
..saying cannabis ‘is a problem’..?
..is kinda beyond irony..eh..?..”
shane jones..putting the ‘act’ in reactionary…
…speaking of pissheads ( I am not one) ….but recently instead of an occasional glass of red wine( which is supposed to be good for you)….i have switched to Guiness Stout ….and omg….it really is good for you! ….full of iron and Vit Bs..( got rid of my creakiness and I feel miles younger….. ha ha) …..supposed to be good for hypertension also…….just what the doctor ordered…..so i am now drinking a glass of Guiness every night ….while my partner drinks his red wine
….also Guiness is less fattening than red wine or a glass of milk
Go the Irish!…..at last I have found my drink
Jones is a dinosaur.
I just hope he doesn’t go all Jurassic Park on us after the election this year. Labour can’t go with the Nats, however closely certain members of their caucus agree on most issues. But I could almost see Jones leading a breakaway faction of blue-reds (such an ugly bruised colour) that could congeal with NZF to give C&S to “the greatest party” (ie the one with most votes). Still, with the impending annihilation example of Dunne (and the MP) to show what happens to exLabourites who hook up with the Tories, such a course may not appeal.
One of a long list of prognostications about which I hope I am in error.
@ parsp..
“..But I could almost see Jones leading a breakaway faction of blue-reds (such an ugly bruised colour) that could congeal with NZF to give C&S to “the greatest party”..”
i agree…jones is in the wrong party..
..and the cherry on the cake is..
..that he is generally deemed to be short-listed for the ‘laziest-mp-in-parliament’-award..
..he just turns up to collect his paycheck..
..his performances in portfolios has been beyond dire..
..which is part of the reason there was so much hilarity when he stood/played-stalking-horse for the right/neo-libs..in his claim on the labour..leadership role..
..with most claiming that jones probably ‘couldn’t be bothered’ putting in the necessary hard work..
..an exercise by jones that was only given any credence by the paid-for corporate/access-media hacks..
..jones is also most famed for long-lunching..being over-fed by his lobbyists..
..(rapers of the environment/exploiters of third-world workers..all of them..)
..jones is the worst kind of greedy/self-interested reactionary tory in labour drag..
..he belongs on nationals’ back bench..
..up there with that other self-serving clown..henare..
..peas in a fucken pod..
..those two..
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
Out of curiosity what is your success rate on your long line of prognostications?
As far as Dunne goes he is merely another example of what happens when they get into the governmental bed with a larger party. They get crushed.
National or Labour, it doesn’t matter. Tell me where the Alliance Party, a Labour supporter went too.
nah..!..alwyn..
..it’s those mesh-stockings/suspender-belts/fanny-flashing micro-skirts/crimson-painted-lips he wears/affects ..
.. that make dunne different..
..but most importantly..
.it is that ‘for sale/hire – short-time ok!..eftpos-accepted’ sign dunne has hanging around his neck..
..that makes him stand out from the others..
..phillip ure..
The Alliance cracked internally and not because of outside pressure from a larger party. They have, unfortunately, forgotten the reason for being a party though. This seems to be a problem with most left leaning small parties.
I think it is a bit more general than that. If you have a look at what happens to parties other than Labour and National in the election that follows their first term in Government you find that the smaller parties all crash in popularity. I’ve only looked at what happened at the election in which they first enetered Government, not what might have happened in later elections. I mean Jim Anderton dropped from 2 to 1 but it was their first term in Powerr that did them in.
ie 1996
New Zealand First was part of the Government with 17 seats. In the next election they dropped to 5 seats.
1999.
The Alliance, in Government with 10 seats. Next election they got 2.
2002
United Future had 8 seats. Next election they got 3
2005.
New Zealand First had 7 seats. Next election none.
2008
ACT had 5 seats. Next election 1
Maori Party 5 seats. Next election 3.
In the mean time the Green Party, never part of the Government, went along, starting in 1999, with 7,9,6,9,and 14 seats. It looks as if NOT being in Government helps if you are small, don’t you think.
Poor Chooky. Conned by the Irish.
You say “Guiness Stout ……full of iron …”
I’m sorry to say but the benefits of iron from drinking Guiness are a myth.
As an example I will point you to an example of the dietician’s comments on the subject.
You would have to drink three pints of Guiness to get as much iron as a single egg yolk.
You would have to drink fifteen pints of Guiness to get as much iron as two Weetabix.
Not being English I don’t know what a Weetabix is but I assume it is like our Weetbix.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1222684/Dont-believe-say-Guiness-isnt-good-you.html
I won’t suggest you check any of the other claims. Assume they are right and you can go on drinking with a clear conscience. If you check them you may have to settle on drinking it because it tastes good.
Many years ago… stout was my choice of tipple, so I can appreciate your enthusiasm. But was a Murphys or Beamish aficionado myself.
Didn’t stop me visiting the Guinness brewery in Dublin though, and discovering that for many years a glass of Guinness was given by Dublin hospital to women after childbirth to revitalise them.
Don’t even recollect a cup of tea after delivering here…
I play it safe and try to have both 😉
But Guiness is out of most beneficiaries price range. Also Paula won’t like us drinking on the benefit even if it is good for our health.
1L a month ration for all NZers over 18, I say.
@ phillip ure on ..”saying cannabis ‘is a problem’..?”
News form USA debate:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/jan/24/patrick-kennedy/has-potency-pot-changed-president-obama-was-high-s/
@ chooky..
re yr link..
..this is the current ‘scary’ lie that prohibitionists peddle (with some effect..) to parents of today who smoked pot back then..
..(which instill (justifiable) concerns in those parents…)
..on an anecdotal-level..from one who smoked pot then..and smokes pot now..
..yes..as confirmed in yr link..the average-quality has increased..
..but that is just ‘cos of blackmarket vagaries/forces..as in ‘cabbage’ can’t be sold now..the maket is more sophisticated..there is ‘better stuff’ just down/across the road..
..but the strength/potency of good-pot has not changed between then and now..
..(facts actually confirmed in yr anti-pot link..)
“..But while the average is up due to the availability of marijuana with a higher THC count –
– the high mark in potency (somewhere around 25-27 percent) remains relatively unchanged in the last couple decades –
– and isn’t likely to increase..”
see..!..
..court forensic records here in new zealand also confirm that fact..
..as weed busted has to be checked for potency..
..and those records show minimal (if any) increases in the potency/thc-levels of good quality dope then..
..and good quality dope now..
..basically..(back to anecdotals again) good dope has always been good dope..
..and the ‘skunk’ of today..is no stronger than the thai-sticks/afghani-hash/whatever of their youth..
..this ‘potency’-argument is almost the last rearguard action the prohibitionists/piss-pimpers have to hand..
..and like so much else peddled about marijuana over the years..
..this too is a puff of smoke/bunch of lies..
..eh..?
..and but/hey!..as those former pot-smoking parents of today will attest/remember..
..when the pot is ‘good’..you smoke/need less..
..i can reassure them..
..that this has not changed..
..and there are not nasty/super-hybrid versions of pot out there..
..neither then..nor now..
phillip ure..
My god, he’s obese AND fat? That must make him the worst human being ever!!!! There are certainly no other things we could criticise Shane Jones for at all!!!! 🙄
good old qot..
..can always be relied upon to get it wrong..
..’fat-addicted’..as in addicted to animal-fat/flesh..
..mm-kay..?
..just like yr good self..eh..?
..any other questions..?
..as by any measures..
..he is clinically-obese/prime candidate for the nasty-outcomes from that adopted pakeha-diet/addiction-pattern..
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
Looking at the parts you have quoted in your blog post and what you have put here – how about try giving up these ad hominem attacks. If you actually had a point it was completely obscured for me by your bullshit personal attacks.
Reading your blog post – Shane Jones was making an argument from the other side of the aisle of the cannabis debate. He chose to highlight the issues that Maori culture has with legal and illegal drugs as well as confronting the fact that a pro-cannabis white guy was able to speak on the marae when their own women weren’t afforded the same courtesy. From the sounds of it, he was making a responsible, progressive and inclusive speech against the promotion of cannabis – and you choose to personally insult him for it rather than attempt to rebut any of the points he raised.
I guess it just goes to display that ad hominem is the only sustainable level of “debate” you’re capable of
@ zorr..if you read the actual report..there..zorr..
..you will find that jones just adhom-ed the pro cannabis speaker..
..for being ‘pakeha’..(!)..and for daring to make that case..(!)
..and you are just fine with that..eh..?
..and everything i have said about jones is true/fact..
..please point me at what i have said that you think is untrue..
..jones is what he is..
..i am just pointing that out..
..and his hypocrisies in pimping the drug that does the most harm to maori/nz..
..and just making up lies/bullshit about the least harmful intoxicant of them all..
..unpleasant facts do not necessarily translate to ad hominems..
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
and zorr..you get a special conflate/strawman-argument award..
..first you bracket pot and alcohol together..’
..when/whereas alcohol is most certainly a problem..
..(and is advertised/glamourised on tv/by the likes of jones.. etc..)
..but the main problem with cannabis for maori communities..
..is people getting busted/jailed for it..(doh..!..)
..and then you somehow drag the women speaking on marae issue into it..
..w.t.f.has that got to do with the pot-debate/the lies/bullshit of/from jones..?
..phillip ure.
He wasn’t actually attacking the speaker for being white but pointing out the issue within Maori culture where an outside male can get up to speak to promote whatever they so wish but Maori women are ignored and do not have the right to speak on the marae – so not an ad hominem (from your blog “It was particularly “galling” that a Pakeha man could make such a speech on a marae when Maori women were not accorded that privilege”)
And, despite what you say about Shane Jones being true, it does not make your argument any less of an ad hominem. What does his weight have to do with the argument for decriminalization of cannabis?
@ zorr..
“..from your blog “It was particularly “galling”..”
just be clear..zorr…they are jones’ words…
..not mine…as yr comment cd read..
..and he said of the pro-cannabis-speaker..whose name is macdonald..
..he called him a ‘half-stoned creature from Macdonald’s farm’..
..and this ignorant-prick pretends to be fit to head a ministry..?
..and if we are riffing on names..
..jones sure needs to do a lot of ‘jonesing’..
..to shed his suite of life-threatening addictions..
..eh..?
phillip ure..
@ zorr..
“..What does his weight have to do with the argument for decriminalization of cannabis?..”
..because of the fact he lies about the most harmless of intoxicants..
..and pimps for the most harmful intoxicant..to/for nz’ers..
..from a body showing all the outcomes from his life spent feeding his addictions to animal-flesh/fats/sugar/alcohol..
..his screaming hypocrisies/ignorances make his body-shape/personal-addictions entirely relevant..to the debate..
..he is the walking example of all that is wrong about/with that adopted pakeha-diet/addiction-patterns..
..he make himself relevant..
..phillip ure..
Zorr, and got caned on that same Marae for His outlandish attack on the Pakeha speaker, looks like we will have to add to the ‘crimes’ of Jones ‘closet racist’ as well…
Qot:
So let me get this right, its wrong to have a go at someone’s weight (I agree)
You have bought this up regarding, Jesse Ryder and Shane Jones.
But its okay to have a go at someones height. (judging by what you said on Twitter).
Dont you think that is hypocritical?
Link please Brett.
weka:
On her twitter page she said.
That’s up to you, I personally have no space to sympathize for entitled little men who demand women’s attention.
So she has a go at anyone who makes fun of someones weight, but she is okay with
taking pot shots at someones height.
You will have to put a link so I can see it on context, but on the face of it I don’t think she is talking about height. It would be like me saying something like ‘what a little shit’. Would you think I was referring to a short person?
She was referring to this?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11192295
He doesn’t look short to me.
weka:
Why bring in height though? Shes is making a negative reference.
You cant link to a particular twitter quote, unless your sign it to that
page or something. I think it had to do with the guy who used the internet
to hunt down a woman he meet overseas.
Key appealing to the born again christian vote
What will Colin say?
http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9650503/PM-snags-votes-at-Parachute-music-festival
I hear that David Cunliffe also attended but was refused permission to go on stage. The whole thing was a Key love in. Strange that Key, who is a self confessed agnostic, should be heralded in this way.
@ m.s..
re cunnliffe spurned..
is that correct..?
..i wd like to report on it..
..so confirmation would be appreciated..
..phillip ure..
.
Parachute also hosted Sue Bradford a while ago, to talk about the S59 Amendment, so I don’t know if this was deliberately partisan.
There are zero reasons for thinking Christians, or people of conscience, to support the two-faced bankster Key. Christian values cohere much more with original Labour policy as enacted by Mickey Savage and his “applied Christianity”.
(Jesus talked about loving thy neighbour and helping the needy … not the legalistic and weird traditions from the old testament, or the anti science insanity popular in US churches)
IIRC Cunliffe is a churchgoer of some description?
The big lie being sold this election.
“However, the Government points to the annual study by the Ministry of Social Development, Household Incomes in New Zealand, to support Key’s claim that the gap is diminishing, rather than widening.
The Government says that while there is no doubt some families are in difficult circumstances, the income survey shows there is no evidence of rising income inequality over the past two decades. It argues that inequality is actually lower now than a decade ago according to internationally accepted measures.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9648389/Rich-and-poor-in-election-focus
Paul
It’s certainly a big lie, but I think I’ll wait for a while before awarding the title of: “The big lie being sold this election”. They are only warming up and sound-checking at this point of the election year.
Yes. John Key refers to a extrapolated study taken from the Household Economic Survey to give credit to his lies.
The HES is compiled by using data from interviews and surveys – hardly likely to appeal to the full demographic of NZ – but more likely to skew the data in favour of massaged numbers in his favour. This samples only 5000 households – so Key can legitimately claim “In NZ we have 5,000 households who indicate that they are faring well”.
You would have thought he didn’t have the full statistics department with census figures, along with IRD, MSD etc at his disposal.
If the media can’t do this basic research before reprinting his claims, then Cunliffe needs to address it clearly tomorrow – and stop the meme.
…thanks Paul….says it all
According to Labour’s figures, the top 1 per cent of income earners own 16 per cent of the total wealth, worth around $77 billion, while the bottom 200,000 income earners are, in contrast, $4.7b in debt.
No-one in the bottom 20 per cent owns more than $6000 in assets, its figures show.
Labour’s figures also suggest that incomes at the top have increased while those in the middle and bottom have stagnated 30 years on from the 1984 election that installed the fourth Labour government and unleashed a wave of economic reforms.
After-tax incomes for the bottom 10 percent were $9700 in 1984 and had only increased by $11,000 in 2011 – a 13.4 per cent increase, according to Labour.
But incomes for the top 10 per cent had increased 78 per cent to $100,200 over the same period.
[Key’s response: “Despite what our political opponents try to claim, it is simply not true that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer,” Key told a business audience during his state-of-the-nation speech on Thursday.]
After-tax incomes for the bottom 10 percent were $9700 in 1984 and had only increased by $11,000 in 2011 – a 13.4 per cent increase, according to Labour
$9700 increased by $11000 is 13.4 % increase, Labour’s maths is crap
According to Labour’s figures, the top 1 per cent of income earners own 16 per cent of the total wealth, worth around $77 billion, while the bottom 200,000 income earners are, in contrast, $4.7b in debt
The 1% ( business people) have a lot more debt than 4.7b
There is tho a huge difference between the money making debt racked up by the 1% and the money draining debt racked up by the 10% at the bottom of the income scale…
But bang-on if Watkins should have written “to” instead of “by”.
We often blame the owners and the editors, but perhaps we should lay as much blame with those who let their names be printed atop the lies.
Journalism without credible fact is propaganda
and New Zealand is drowning in it
@..freedom..
..media ‘names’..
..that was one of the takeaways i took from the media scrum after key spoke last week..
..at that fat-cat lunch..
..how despite key spouting a litany of easily proveable-lies..in speech/transcript..
..those corporate/access-media types just didn’t call him on it..(they never do..)
(‘cleaner-rivers’..’no poverty/inequality’ being just two of them..)..
..yet were cunnlife to not dot one ‘i’..not cross one ‘t’..
..these access-media types..
..would be all over him..
..(a bit like what happens to a meat pie that comes within coo-ee of shane jones..eh..?..)
..were they all absent the week journalistic-ethics/imperatives were taught at journalism-school..?
..you’d hafta ask..
phillip ure..
…he would be better to try a Phillip Ure Vegan Sausage
aye chooky..never a truer word spoken in jest..
..it isn’t just the bone-headed/piss-merchant-pimper arguments jones posits that piss me off…
..it is that he..as an animal-fat/sugar-addict..(washed down by the product he pimps/celebrates consuming on-air..booze)
..is a walking/textbook example of all that is wrong with the ‘pakeha-diet’ so many maori are addicted to..
..and the cause of the off-the-wall health-problems/premature-deaths that plague maori..
..and that this obese fat/sugar/booze-sodden/burping/farting walking example of ill-health..
..points at cannabis as being a ‘problem’ to/for maori..
..the eye-watering hypocrisies/ignorances that displays..
..does kinda take the breath away..
..eh..?..
..just the facts that ending prohibition would see less maori jailed..
..less maori with alcohol-induced/fostered violence/health problems…
(as legalising/regulating/taxing cannabis means alcohol-consumption would plummet..a fact pimp-jones and his booze-pushing paymasters are very well aware of..)
..just those two facts should totally dispel any ideas that jones works in/for the interests of maori..
..shane jones works in/for the interests of shane jones..
..and his scum corporate-paymasters/death-pushers..
..end of story..
..and it has always been thus..
..phillip ure
…well get on with making your Phillip Ure Vegan Sausage alternatives to pies then….and offer the likes of Shanes Jones an easy alternative( he can eat them while he fantasises about his fillies)
….for most people boiling up beans and rice is a chore…but a baked, boiled ,barbequed or fried sausage is easy
Disabled people are getting poorer. Noticed they weren’t mentioned at all.
…yes I do hope that attention from Labour and the Greens will be put on to the plight of the disabled….they are doubly disadvantaged
Long term benefitaries savings get eaten into when inflation and so interest rates push savings into the $80 week threshold, when 70% is taken off. $80 has not moved in decades for most.
’81. Had friends whose husband was laid off, and while he was looking for a job, she had to be careful, not to cross the $80.00 threshold. They had three children, and she could easily have earnt more, but they would have been worse off. It was the same with him, the old Labour Dept. kept “offering” him the odd day’s work here and there, which meant they would have been worse off. To be better off, he needed 3 days work a week, not 1 or 2, due to tax and abatements.
Where does this statement come from? Is there any documented evidence for it on the web?
If so, where can I find confirmation for what you are saying?
Oh shut up alwyn, your nonsensical whining is a total bore, perhaps you think people with disabilities are all getting richer…
Nothing forces you to read what I say bad12. I guess that you are merely pissed of because I have in the past pointed out when YOU have made statements that had no basis in fact.
In the meantime I hope that the person who did make this statement will tell me where it is documented so that I can look up the details. It sounds quite appalling.
As for bad12’s proposal “perhaps you think … are getting richer”. Where on earth do you get such strange ideas about the things you “think” I believe?
alwyn, of course you have every right to say whatever it is that you continue to whine about and my shut up was merely a rhetorical reaction to your latest snivel knowing it was hardly going to silence you,
Your propensity to whine appears to be brought about by your ‘snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory’ in your haste to attempt to negate a point i made, ‘only’ a 58% rise in the party vote for the Green Party between elections 2008 and 2011 in the Auckland City electorates held by National is hardly something victorious for a ‘wing-nut’ to want to have published and the fact that you have has me continuously going Ha Ha Ha at you,
If you have a further comment to make in relation to a comment i have made perhaps you could stop the cryptic bullshit and link to it, i realize that gobbledygook is your language of choice but such having been imported from the planet of the stupid most here would have no means of translation,(in relation to your last little whine)…
You might as well give up you know. After all I was the one who told you that the Green vote went up by 58% between elections wasn’t it? You never did seem to realise that did you? All you could seem to do was to make up a b.s story about how well the Greens did in the National held Auckland electorates, claiming that they had DOUBLED their vote in those electorates. The truth of course was that they had exactly the same percentage increase there as they did everywhere else.
How, by the way do you think that anybody could not realise that the party had a 58% increase in the nationwide vote? You do realise don’t you that they increased their seats from 9 to 14 and that that requires a percentage increase of the magnitude that occurred. Perhaps the details of the MMP system are beyond you.
It is rather difficult to come up with any further link for your benefit. I offered you the simple to understand elections.org.nz but that appeared to be too difficult for you to follow.
Finding any site that contains material that supports your fantasies is of course impossible. There aren’t any because they are just that. Fantasies.
Alwyn, you espouse right-wing policy. Therefore, you are either stupid, delusional, or venal, and your opinions are of no use in this forum.
Bad12’s point that the Greens are taking votes off the Foreign Corporations and Farmers Party renders your bad faith statements about what you say you believe about Dotcom’s constituency moot, and the fact of your bad faith makes them irrelevant.
Jolly good old fellow. As I said to bad12, you are not required to read what I say and there won’t be an exam on the material.
If reading things that present a viewpoint that differs from what you want to believe upsets your delicate little stomach don’t bother. You are quite entitled to believe that the world is flat, and was created in 4004 BC if it makes you happy. As long as lprent et al, don’t object I shall contribute occasionally.
“Pip, pip and toodle ooh” as Bertie Wooster would say.
I didn’t say your opinion is challenging, or uncomfortable, I said it’s worthless and irrelevant, rendered so by your bad faith.
alwyn, did you like my faux outrage, as good if not better then that which you usually exhibit don’t you think, the proof of that is that you bit and bit on it big time, more fool you,
Oh the link i mention, your answer to that little last point i made in my previous comment shows you up as belonging in the Dunce’s corner,(a fact not lost on most here),and my pointing this out is simply as an educative hint to you,
Most people would have realized that as an answer to your post of 3.11pm i was eluding to the last two lines of your relevant whine as ‘cryptic bullshit’, not you of course which is why i consider you to be a virtual dummy,(a useful tool is a dummy),
Laughably i knew all along what you were referring to even if you havn’t the nous to have worked it out, and, as a wing-nut i believe your sole use here is simply to provide me with the pleasure of laughing at you, so along with the faux outrage i used a little pretense of not understanding for my personal amusement,(at you),
As far as the particular last two lines of your comment at 3.11pm goes do you not understand the ‘interrogative’ nature of the words ”perhaps you think”, its a question not a statement…
Psst, was the nationwide, Ha ha ha, increase in the Green Party vote of the magnitude that occurred ALL from National held electorates,(you are just so hilarious)…
Alwyn:
http://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/newsroom/factsheets/future-focus/abatement.html
Listening to RadioNZ National this morning it was a little disquieting to learn that radiation shown to have emanated from the Fukushima disaster has now been shown to have reached the west coast of the US and Canada,
Given that it is only a matter of time, with large amounts of contaminated water still spewing into the Pacific ocean after 3 years, that such contamination will be taken up by seaweed and hence move into the fin-fish and bi-valves resident in the ocean and from there into the human food chain,
Of course as fish are all part of their own food chain and considering the fact that fish do not necessarily remain in the one hemisphere sooner or later it’s pretty much a certainty that we are all going to get a dose high enough to be not good for our health from our seas,
On a related topic we would think that those workers involved in the cleanup of the mess at Fukushima would be treated like hero’s in Japan for agreeing to go anywhere near the failed nuclear plant let alone work in the place,
Not likely, the link below explains just who these workers are and what happens to the extra $100 dollars a day the Japanese Government is said to have provided for each worker at the site of the actual melt-down and in the surrounding radiation zone,
If the link doesn’t work which is quite often the fate of the ones i attempt try Googling: Homeless used by Japanese in Fukushima cleanup,
http://www.reuters.com/…/us-fukushima-workers-idUSBRE9BT00520131230
Special Report: Japan’s homeless recruited for murky Fukushima clean-up
Just got back from Metiria speech in Wellington.
The Greens have unveiled a new policy which would see schools in lower income areas turned into hubs which would meet all the health, social and welfare needs of poor families.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9651543/Greens-unveil-school-hub-plan
Brilliant
That’s really really awesome…in fact, it’s a total game changer for communities.
One small issue is that in the new economy, education is not the game changer that it once was. I hope the Greens realise this. Without a full employment policy, a phenomena we are going to see more and more of from now on are educated unemployed with student debt.
What i would call a ‘good start’ from Mets and the Green Party, perhaps a little light in the vein of treating the symptoms and not the cause, but, nothing there to scare the middle class who would buy into Slippery the Prime Ministers ‘devil beast’ and ‘Green Taliban’ rubbish,
i totally agree with CV in that at some point the fact that there is not enough employment for everybody in our economy has to be addressed either by the State providing a lot more of it or providing a lot more to those effected by it,
Given that, an election year might not be the best time to start such a debate but for the parties of the left to just accept the status quo is simply unacceptable and amounts to marking time befor the next attack upon the unemployed and beneficiaries in general occurs,
The ‘Hubs’ in secondary schools sounds promising, i have a long held belief that the children of the poor miss out hugely in terms of socialization where their parents cannot afford the cost of fees for sports clubs, music lessons and a myriad other activities where the kids show a real skill and the school cannot offer a raised level of training/learning,
My view is that either through the schools or through a direct partnering with the particular organization the fees for inclusion of the kids who’s parents cannot afford their participation along with any uniform, instruments etc should be included in the activities of such proposed secondary school ‘Hubs’,
Good start to the year Green Party, with David Cunliffe set to launch tomorrow the scene is set for a ‘real’ fight in 2014,(as opposed to the mainly rear-gaurd action i feel 2011 was),
My vote with the Party numbers and the polls on the up is still leaning toward the Mana Party, but, the Green Party will be the recipient of my ‘political budget’ for the year which should help provide advertising and electioneering worth far more than just my one vote…
Actually, I think the beginning of an election year is a great time to start the debate – especially after 5 years of National which came after the preceding 25 years of neo-liberal failure.
Excellent idea middxkea. Wasn’t that the same principle behind Whanau Ora? (Sp?) The disconnect between agencies has defeated past efforts to coordinate help.
And it is a much better way to spend taxpayers dollars as well!
@ greens..
..that is all good-policy..
..and i like how labour are supporting it..
..and how with this policy..the greens have trumped a key tory policy-plank..
..(their re-invented scout-troop approach to problems on education..
.their .’and if you get five pips..you get to be assistant troop-leader’-bullshit..)
..well done there..those greens..
phillip ure..
pretty sucky/blowy on that pot-issue tho’..eh..?
..and how about that cunnliffe/labour..?
..whoar..!..
..cunnliffe just ‘won’t say’..
.phillip ure..
Now this is a much better policy. Will do more for the education of our young people than something that has been lifted from a movie script.
I’m all for the educational/community hubs – just a couple of points about having them at schools.
1. Many of the disengaged have had disastrous experiences at schools – and will be loathe to return to them in a positive way later on in their lives. You may miss out on reaching those who have the most to benefit – just because of the choice of venue.
2. Schools are already underresourced and overcrowded – where are the facilities and capacity that will allow this to happen without capital investment?
3. You are introducing the community – many of whom are unknown individuals – into the school environment – how do you then ensure safety for both those individuals and the students of that school?
4. Future governments – using the MoE – can destroy these programmes even if they are successful by claiming they are focusing on “getting back to basics”
Alternatives:
1. Adjust the stated policy to deal with these potential problems and ensure that the continuation of these programmes is strengthened.
2. Create community hubs in local community facilities that are underutilised – obvious choice is to use local sports facilities that are not in use during the weekdays. Ensure cooperation between schools and hubs but try to set up hubs so that the communities own them – makes it more likely to survive long-term.
Most of the furniture is the wrong size for adults in schools and the layout is usually wrong. They tend to feel a bit officious and formal
Sports facilities make more sense – they are built for a more similar purpose ( often from lotteries grants), and could possibly be extended or adapted for wider use.
Hi Molly,
Just in regards to your point #3 — this can easily be solved by utilising the facilities after hours and on weekends/school holidays.
Hi millsy,
Yes – it is a possibility – if the school is not having after school activities.
And is that time optimal for those we wish to engage? I would assume that some will be at home looking after their returning school aged children, and those delivering the services will also be working outside of “normal hours”.
Local sports facilities are often empty during school days and most evenings. For the amount of investment and maintenance they are often underutilised.
Note: I impatiently reposted my previous comment on
today’s Open Mike and see Karol has since posted on the Green Party educational policy. If there are further discussions, may pay to transfer there.
Metiria, said the election was shaping up to be about inequality. It was a very passionate speech and very well attended despite the crap Wellington weather.
Talking to Green activists from around NZ it seems that people are ready for change, meetings are very well attended and membership is up. There is a buzz that I haven’t experienced before.
Keys days are numbered
Thanks for the update Middxkea, that is very good to hear 🙂
[I just posted this and it disappeared, so hopefully there is not going to be a double up]
I note that the Indonesian Coal contract has been cancelled and that any coal required for the standby generator at Huntly will be now be locally sourced.
Work for miners in Huntly, rather than overseas sourced.
They really are awful people.
Regarding your editorial “Censors on Campus” (Jan. 18): Writing from the epicenter of progressive thought, San Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its “one percent,” namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the “rich.”
From the Occupy movement to the demonization of the rich embedded in virtually every word of our local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, I perceive a rising tide of hatred of the successful one percent. There is outraged public reaction to the Google buses carrying technology workers from the city to the peninsula high-tech companies which employ them. We have outrage over the rising real-estate prices which these “techno geeks” can pay. We have, for example, libelous and cruel attacks in the Chronicle on our number-one celebrity, the author Danielle Steel, alleging that she is a “snob” despite the millions she has spent on our city’s homeless and mentally ill over the past decades.
This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent “progressive” radicalism unthinkable now?
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304549504579316913982034286
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/01/25/vc-firm-disavows-founders-letter-comparing-outrage-against-rich-to-nazi-view-of-jews/
Josh Marshall on the Perkins’ fuckwittery.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-brittle-grip-part-2
It appears that Perce Harpham is giving a lecture on Universal Basic Income
http://binews.org/2014/01/wellington-new-zealand-reducing-inequality-through-universal-basic-income/
Would be great to hear about it from anyone in Wellington who is able to attend
DATE: Friday, 31 January
VENUE: Rutherford House, Lecture Theatre 3, Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Victoria University of Wellington
TIME: 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Well, it is finally official. Whale oil is banning anyone who disagrees with his views. For a long time it has been very obvious Cameron Slater’s little site had been nothing but a national party platform, but now he is making it official by blocking anyone who holds a different view.
Yes it is his own website and he gets to make the rules. However he can no longer pretend he is anything but a national party mouthpiece.
See there is some discussion related to the Jones foot-in-mouth re: cannabis above.
To put another spin on it, there is a good opinion piece in Granny today regarding the ongoing prohibition on cannabis. Which of course creates crime and social dysfunction where there should otherwise be none.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11191645
Judging by the comments below (not all from fellow NORML supporters, I assume) the opinion piece, a position on the ongoing prohibition would be my top “nice-to-have” in Cunliffe’s state of the nation.
Meanwhile Dunne retains political oxygen by bowing down to legal-high manufacturers. Those who argue that “pot has gotten so much stronger” would be well-advised to try a quick taste test of street cannabis vs. that synthetic cannabinoid shit.
…eh?… (apologies to phillip ure)
People are starting to realise that dragging people through the justice system for having a few joints in their pockets is a waste of time and resources.
@ pigman..
..wow..!..on that comments-thread..
..i really hope it is brought to the attention of those too-scared-to-do-anything..labour mp’s..
..i am heartened by the overwhelming approval for ending prohibition..
..and the large number arguing for legalisation/regulation/taxation..
..and not that halfway-house worst of both worlds decriminalisation the greens are pushing (ever so softly..ever so softly.)
..taken as a poll..these comments must surely embolden them to go the whole hog..?
..you’d think..?
..and to call for the colorado-model..
..and to actually argue passionately for it..(as do the commenters in that thread..)
..(not as turia does it..handling it like a smelly-object on the sole of the shoe..
..best to be wiped-off/hosed-down..and never mentioned again..)
;;having turia ‘arguing’ this..
..is like expecting the mad butcher to make the vegan-case..
..it ain’t gonna happen..
phillip ure..
The Green Parties Russell Norman on Prime News tonight refused to back away from Green Party policy that Marijuana should be decriminalized saying that like all policy, the decriminalization policy will be ‘on the table’ in any future coalition negotiation with Labour…
I think it was a bad idea about the MJ issue. They should have instead raised the possibility of a Royal Commission that would look into our drug laws. Nice and safe — at least they could get a dialog going about it with the possibility of backing away from it if things got too hairy, and it would let everyone have their say about it all.
Now they are going to leave themselve vulnerable on this issue, and probably let this over shadow their education reforms.
Millsy, the Green Party are not willing to back away from policies hammered out by the Party members over many years just for political expediency,
If we simply trade away everything we stand for nothing, as indicated by both Metiria and Russell this is hardly a ‘die in a ditch’ policy that the Green Party would try and push Labour into and i believe that David Cunliffe, cleverly, believes that this should be a conscience vote by the Parliament…
Herald bias in reporting. Part 478.
Green education policy headlined as $90 million.
National education policy headlined as $ 357million.
Only later in articles does one read Green policy is per annum and Nat policy over 3 years.
What a rag.
Yeah and TV 1 lead story is Lorde at the Grammys. Green’s education announcement comes 2nd.
In a wonderfully manipulated news cycle last week, John Key Bill English and numerous talking heads told us all in breathless antici . . . . pation of exciting times ahead and how HSBC declared we were going to be a rockstar economy in 2014.
You might want to wait before buying tickets to the show . . .
https://topinfopost.com/2014/01/25/hsbc-bank-may-collapse
Interesting Open Mike today….
perhaps I should have a shot at flogging off my van-load of pre-twisted, pre-loved knickers (at knock down prices).
All sizes …. all colours.
Make me an offer- job lot. And if your name is Shane, I’ll even throw in a few feelthy pictures.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9651543/Greens-unveil-school-hub-plan
Go the Greens. Keep the faith and fight hard. You might be surprised at the following.
But I do think Metiria looks better in glasses. She is a kiwi treasure that woman.
On this, I agree with you, vto.
Indeed, Mets was educated amidst the anger of the beneficiary movement surrounding the Shiply/Richardson TINA of benefit cuts as well as getting the formal stuff from Uni all the while a solo-mum,
It’s a good start to the election year with more to come from David Cunliffe tomorrow, ”it’s not a matter of IF this happens it’s a matter of how and when” so said Labour’s Jacinda Adhern on Prime News tonight so it appears that with this policy Labour and the Green Party see eye to eye,
Expect Slippery the Prime Minister, finding no division to be exploited, to throw a hissy fit, simpering along the lines of the ‘devil beast’ as National’s education policy is made to look like the neo-liberal orphan dressed in rags begging for an audience…
Despite overwhelming support for Euromaidan Yanukovych seems to be hanging on with Putins support.
18 regions – against the current government!
[…]
As of 25 January in seven areas captured RSA, the other eleven of these institutions or blocked, or people preparing for such protests. Only two regions – Lugansk and Crimea – openly oppose Yevromaydanu* and express their support for Yanukovych.
Euromaidan*
Google translation
Those clever Aussies behind Juice Rap News are at it again http://youtu.be/0VD33jRpeMM
Algood Karol, time to square the eyes with a bit of television, tomorrow is another day which should belong to David Cunliffe with His addition of another nail in the coffin of Slipery’s god-awful government…
Wow, what is “wrong” with Prime TV now, they have put out a small series of excellent programs under the title ‘Keeping it Pure’. It seems that they have given in to the “Green Talibans”, and allowed them to spread their “radical” “ideology” promoting a more “sustainable” and “environmentally balanced” economy and society.
What a brilliant and enlightening program, I cannot believe that the MSM is allowing this.
Maybe it is time for David Farrar to chat to Key and tell him to put the pressure on Prime TV, we cannot have this, can we? The truth being presented to the people?! It must be the Green Party behind it.
Tune in 08.30 pm next Sunday, for the next piece.
Groser sells out – not even for 30 pieces of silver
So, the US corporations got what they wanted and NZ is truly fucked courtesy of this government.
Syriza Succeeds in Greece by Challenging European Left
We need SPIRIT, and MORE in this election year, for the labour movement and “the left” to win, so take heart, keep up the fight and talk, involve, share and spread. Some great spirit comes from stuff like music. Here a taste of a “left” band from Chile, Illapu, great stuff, invigorating, I think:
El concierto completo de Illapu 2013:
Look who’s not akshilly smiling.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9652303/Key-preaches-to-the-converted-at-festival