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:
Like many people, my submission on the Zero Carbon Bill urged more ambitious targets. And if the select committee was in any doubt, they're needed:An assessment backed by the world’s major climate science bodies has found commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions must be at least tripled and increased by ...
NZ Energy and Environment Business Week reports (in Scoop) that the government is finally moving on reforming the Crown Minerals Act, including banning mining on conservation land and repealing the hated Anadarko Amendment:The Government is planning to change the Crown Minerals Act’s purpose from “promoting” mining in light of changing ...
Anti-fluoride campaigners think a new Canadian fluoride IQ study is the best thing since sliced bread but the scientific critiques warn they are wrong. Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty The new Canadian ...
Reprinted from Jacobinmag by Jane Slaughter and Chris Brooks Almost 50,000 UAW workers are on strike against GM and a two-tier labor system that undermines worker solidarity. But members may need to wage a battle on two fronts — against the company, but also against their own union leadership. Forty-nine ...
Before Jacingrant There Was Gracinda: Grant Robertson and his 2014 running mate, Jacinda Ardern. She stood at his side: loyal and obliging, as she had ever been. The media dubbed this duo “Gracinda” – a sort of political “Brangelina”. The other young people who worked alongside Robertson were also ambitious ...
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...
Is the terrorist Organisation Greenpeace and the loony Green parties around the World hiring professional internet trolls? I have noticed a trend lately where if you post research, news articles or even comments that show the manmade climate change scam to be just that, you are immediately attacked, often within ...
Today is the first day of the global climate strike. Led by schoolkids, people all around the world are going to protest to demand action on climate change. New Zealand isn't doing it till next Friday (join us!), but if you want to get active early, there's plenty to do ...
The Herald has a story today about the 400 MW of wind power currently under construction. Good news, right? Except that none of it is being driven by policy (instead, its about replacing Contact Energy's Taranaki Combined Cycle gas-fired power plant, due to shut down in 2022), and most of ...
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...
The Make It 16 campaign to lower the voting age is launching this afternoon, and they have already announced plans to challenge the law in court:The campaign, named "Make it 16" will launch at Parliament on Friday, with plans to take their case to the High Court, testing the rights ...
by Daphna Whitmore The long years of Netanyahu’s reign are drawing to an end. For years he has epitomized reactionary zionism as he oversaw hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers seize land in the West Bank. There are now 700,000 settlers, putting an end to the myth that Israel was ...
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...
The Operation Burnham inquiry continued to question senior NZDF staff today, and their shoddy coverup over their knowledge of civilian casualties continue to fall apart. If you recall, first, we were asked to believe that it was all a series of "mistakes and errors": a senior officer with multiple degrees ...
The Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2) had part of its committee stage yesterday. its a generally tedious bill about the nitty-gritty of local government reorganisation. But it includes a clause making the Local Government Commission subject to the Ombudsmen Act, and hence the OIA. Great! Except of ...
Yesterday Ihumātao's mana whenua reached a consensus that they would like their land back, and asked the government to negotiate with Fletcher's for its return. The government's response? Try and undermine that consensus, while talking about how doing anything would undermine existing Treaty settlements. The first is just more bad ...
Its Suffrage Day, the 126th anniversary of women winning the right to vote (but not stand in elections) in New Zealand. And to celebrate, the government has bought Kate Sheppard's house in Christchurch:The government has bought Kate Sheppard's former home in Christchurch for more than $4 million. The Ilam villa ...
The UN climate summit is happening in new York next week, and unlike previous years, coal-burners and denier-states are not being invited to speak:Leading economies such as Japan and Australia will not be invited to speak at next week’s crunch UN climate change summit, as their continued support for coal ...
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...
Please spread widely, and sign, to support science and rationalism over the new irrationalism sweeping universities and institutions. PROJECT NETTIE Sexual reproduction, the generation of offspring by fusion of genetic material from two different individuals, evolved over 1 billion years ago. It is the reproductive strategy of all higher animals ...
Just when I was thinking that Palmerston North's mayoral race (which includes a convicted child molester / public wanker and a convicted child beater) was the worst in the country, Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere opened his mouth:Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere is being slammed for using the words "sieg ...
We reprint below an article from the excellent website the Economics of Imperialism by Tony Norfield This is an update of the statistics for my Index of Power, using data for 2018-19 and discussing what a country’s ranking reflects. The major change is that China’s rank has shifted up and ...
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...
Alone, Alone, All, All, Alone: To argue that the Prime Minister is the victim of her advisers’ failure to keep her informed may offer Jacinda some measure of exoneration – but only at the cost of casting her as a hopeless political ingénue. A star-dusted muppet, whose only purpose is to ...
In times of hysteria about the “World coming to an end” and “rising sea levels” so-called ‘Journalists’ who can barely spell words longer than four letters are having a ball! Though the majority of the Public have worked out that manmade climate change is nothing short of pseudo-science, and the ...
I don't want to give pblicity to certain parts of the internet that are better left to fester in their own irrelevance (I know, a bit like this place) but the listing of Chris Trotter as a 'author' on Cameron Slater's spinoff website, the BFD requires some explanation.Now, I don't ...
The text below is a Twitter thread by Heather Heying that explains the essence of sexual reproduction and it long evolutionary history. She is an evolutionary biologist and a “professor-in-exile” after she and her husband, Bret Weinstein, stood up to supporters of an enforced “Day of Absence” for white staff and teachers ...
With crunch time for new Zealand climate policy approaching, most of the New Zealand media have got on board with a global reporting effort to cover the issue. There's one strand of stories today about polling and what it shows about changing public attitudes to the crisis, but the strand ...
Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...
Current and former NZDF top brass are being publicly grilled this week by the hit and run inquiry over their public responses to allegations of civilian casualties. Previously, they've claimed there were no casualties, a position which led them to lie to Ministers and to the public. Now, they're saying ...
by Rafael D. Quiles (gender-critical gay man from Puerto Rico) The writing on the wall is right in people’s faces and people just don’t see it or don’t want to. What could actually possess a heterosexual male to want to feminize himself and claim that he is a lesbian? Because ...
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...
by the Redline blog collective At Redline we are very saddened to hear of the death of Magdalen Burns who passed away on the morning of Friday, September 13 (British time). Magdalen was a great fighter for the rights of women in general and lesbian women in particular, a defender ...
The Brexit issue has certainly brought with it a series of apparently difficult constitutional issues, many of them concerning the respective roles of the executive and parliament. Most of them arise because of the unwillingness of MPs, despite their professions to the contrary, to be bound by a constitutional rarity ...
. . This blogpost is different to my usual format of reporting on issues… Since July 1011, I have blogged on a variety of political issues; near always political and/or environmental; mostly highly critical of the previous National Government. Other issues included Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of ...
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...
The government has released its Arms Legislation Bill, containing the second tranche of changes to gun laws following the March 15 massacre. And it all looks quite sensible: a national gun register, higher penalties for illegal possession and dealing, tighter restrictions on arms dealers and shooting clubs, and a shorter ...
Private prisons are a stain on humanity. Prison operators explicitly profit from human misery, then lobby for longer prisons terms so they can keep on profiting. And in the US, prison companies run not only local and state prisons, but also Donald Trump's immigration concentration camps. Faced with this moral ...
When National was in power, they were very keen on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) - basicly, using private companies to finance public infrastructure as a way of hiding debt from the public. They were keen on using them for everything - roads, schools, hospitals. But as the UK shows, that "service" ...
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...
by Philip Ferguson Much of the left, even people who formally identify as marxists, have collapsed politically in the face of postmodern gender theory of the sort pioneered by American philosopher Judith Butler. For Butler even biological sex is socially constructed. “If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps ...
The media is reporting that the (alleged) Labour party sexual assaulter has resigned from their job at Parliament, which means hopefully he won't be turning up there making people feel unsafe in future. Good. But as with everything about this scandal, it just raises other questions. Most significantly: why the ...
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...
Property developers think there is an "oversupply" of houses in Auckland:High turnover rates and falling prices may be a sign that there are too many new houses going in to some parts of Auckland, commentators say. [...] Property developer David Whitburn said there was a "bit of an oversupply" in ...
Labour Party president Nigel Haworth resigned yesterday over the party's sexual assault scandal. But while that's good news, its unlikely to take away the stench of a coverup. Because according to Paula Bennett in Parliament yesterday, pretty much everyone in the Prime Minister's office was involved as well:I have been ...
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...
There has been a lot of talk about Boris Johnson wanting an election, and he has blustered with great gusto about 'chicken' Jeremy Corbyn refusing one, but I think there are many reasons why he is secretly glad he has been refused the opportunity:The Tories are an utter rabble,tearing themselves ...
Scottish appeal court judges have declared that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to the October Brexit deadline is unlawful. The three judges, chaired by Lord Carloway, Scotland’s most senior judge, overturned an earlier ruling that the courts did not have the powers to interfere in the prime ...
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...
I understand there's some stuff going round about how the SIS "was removed from the list of public offices covered by the Public Records Act in 2017". The context of course being their records derived from US torture, which will be disposed of or sealed. The good news is that ...
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ...
Australia is burning down again, and meanwhile its natural disaster minister is denying climate change:Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, has said that he doesn’t “know if climate change is manmade”. Clarifying earlier comments that the question is “irrelevant” when considering the Coalition government’s response to ...
Auckland Philippines Solidarity is excited to host Professor Judy Taguiwalo for a speaking tour of NZ in September. She is a well-known activist in the Philippines and was a political prisoner under the Marcos dictatorship. Professor Taguiwalo briefly served as a Cabinet member under President Duterte but was forced from ...
This open letter to the Green Party was penned after an opinion piece by Jill Abigail, a feminist and founding member of the party, was censored by the Greens’ leadership. (Redline has reprinted her article here).The intolerance of the Green Party leaders and their acceptance of the misogyny of gender ...
Today is a Member's day, and David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill continues its slow crawl through its committee stage. They're spending the whole day on it today, though the first hour is likely to be spent on voting left over from last time. After that they'll move on ...
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has cautioned the nation and policy makers on the 2018 Census figures released today and indicated that while some work has been done the fact that Maori remained unrepresented as a national figure in the tally on the day ...
A ground-breaking study which looks at how Māori and Samoan peoples describe their experience of youth justice across three different but comparable countries is calling for participants. ...
New Zealand’s 34th Census of Population and Dwellings was held on 6 March 2018. We combined data from the census forms with administrative data to create the 2018 Census dataset, which meets Stats NZ’s quality criteria for population structure ...
Results from the 2018 Census show New Zealand’s cultural make-up is becoming more diverse after high population growth in the past five years, Stats NZ said today. ...
Population growth since 2013 has resulted in one new general electorate in the North Island but no change to the number of Māori electorates for the next general election, Stats NZ said today. ...
As the public submissions process draws to a close, and with more than 900 submissions received to date, the Royal Commission is still urging people to come forward if they have information which may help with its inquiries. “We have twice extended ...
Amending the rules on black hole expenditure and loss continuity shows excellent judgment from the Government, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
If we want New Zealand to be the best place in the world to be a child, the Government needs to increase benefits, remove sanctions, individualise benefits, and fix abatement rates now, says Child Poverty Action Group and ActionStation . ...
Today the we have another chance to do the right thing to really lift incomes for thousands of people in this country who are missing out, says The Salvation Army Te Ope Whakaora. ...
Saving the ocean’s environment continues tomorrow as Ngati Ruanui Iwi takes on Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) who wish to mine iron sand off the South Taranaki Bight in the Tasman Sea in what has been a five-year battle. ...
Wellington - 23 September 2019 -- Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) and Greenpeace are in the Court of Appeal in Wellington this week, defending last year’s High Court ruling that quashed Trans-Tasman Resources’ (TTR) consent to mine the South ...
“Climate change is here - we all need to do our part.” Monday 23rd September 2019. Press Release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre Climate change is happening. CEAC – compendium facts tribute to ‘Climate Change Week’ https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/115098866/exceptionally-rare-warming-above-antarctica-may-be-affecting-nzs-weather ...
Criminal law changes are now increasingly being used by politicians as a vote gathering tool pandering to lynch mob special interest groups. To look tough against crime, govts constantly increase penalties, create new crimes, and make it harder to get ...
It has been two years since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called climate change her generation's nuclear free moment. And on Monday, against a backdrop of global climate protest, she will give the opening speech at the United Nation's climate ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson is under intense scrutiny. New figures show economic growth has slowed to levels not seen for six years. And he has chosen not to answer questions about when he heard about serious allegations of a sexual assault cover-up ...
NZDF Attends Commemorations to Mark International Mission in East Timor A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent participated today in the 20th anniversary commemorations of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) mission in Dili. The commemoration ...
They’ve only been up and running for a few months, but a New Zealand not-for-profit has already made a big impact on period poverty in New Zealand. ...
The allocation of money for publicly funded broadcasting for election campaigns should be turned on it's head according to Massey University professor of communication design Claire Robinson. ...
Disappointment expressed by Fletcher Building CEO, Ross Taylor, reflects the increasing frustration held by many with this Government’s failure to protect private property rights.[1] ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee today launched an eight-week, nationwide call for evidence on options available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ...
Social Credit has lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman over the way the Overseas Investment Office is handling its official information request for disclosure of documents on the sale of Westland Milk Products to Chinese company Inner Mongolian ...
This Friday in Solidarity with the Global Climate Strike All of the SodaStream’s e-commerce platforms and head office operations will be closed to kick-off the week-long event, and employees will march the #CLIMATESTRIKE in Auckland on 27 September. ...
Federated Farmers congratulates the Auditor-General’s office on its release today of its report Managing Freshwater Quality: Challenges and Opportunities. ...
Growth has now slowed to a 6-year low, and downside risks are dominating. June quarter GDP growth came in at 0.5%qoq, in line with our expectation, and slightly above consensus. Although there were a few sensational reports of the chance of a negative print. ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is calling the release of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA) framework a good first step in balancing New Zealand’s response to climate change. ...
Family First NZ says that a new Colorado report compiled by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area finds marijuana-positive traffic fatalities, hospitalisations, marijuana use, and illegal market activity have exploded since marijuana legalization. ...
This year’s Ratepayers’ Report , local government league tables released yesterday, reveals which local councils owe the most and which owe the least. ...
Rachel MacGregor welcomes the decision released today by Justice Hinton. The key issue on which all the various litigation has been based is the question, did Colin Craig sexually harass Rachel. That question has been answered – he did. Justice ...
The Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) has today ratified a ground breaking pay deal with Dunedin Railways which will see all union members being paid a living wage and the lowest paid receiving an 18% wage increase. Higher paid RMTU members ...
Inclusion for trans women/men and non-binary peoples has today been announced as the cornerstone of a new resolution for the National Council of Women New Zealand (NCWNZ). ...
It took a testy Morning Report interview this week to remind me that Simon Bridges was still the Leader of the Opposition. Until then, he had been largely invisible as the events of recent weeks unfolded. ...
The National Council of Women NZ has today welcomed the news that the Government has purchased Kate Sheppard’s house in Christchurch, the base for the NZ suffrage campaign. ...
The Māori Party supports mana whenua of Ihumātao and acknowledges their coming together to reach consensus on the future of their whenua. “We also acknowledge the leadership of the Kīngitanga who have played an important role in supporting ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is questioning why, for the second time, Jacinda Ardern has appointed a Crown-owned company Chief Executive to Chair her “Business Advisory Council”, following her announcement that Mercury CEO Fraser Whineray ...
Responding to the Government’s decision to give around $300 million to Amazon as a sweetener for filming a TV series in New Zealand, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “As a matter of simple waste, this is striking, ...
I am very pleased with Air New Zealand’s Decision to backdown and withdraw their application to trademark into a logo Kia Ora. I said at the time that it was an ill conceived idea and poorly thought out – more importantly it should never have been ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa members will be joining with others across the union movement by wearing black and white in support of pay equity on Suffrage Day tomorrow, and urging the Government to commit to a settlement for teacher aides this year. ...
Yesterday’s announcement from the Minister for Immigration, to improve temporary work visas for migrant workers, provides some positive changes but more detail is needed. The Council of Trade Unions fundamentally supports the principle of making ...
Nerds, rejoice. The day of reckoning is finally upon us, with the release of the data from the 2018 census. So what are some of the interesting facts and figures?Forget about how badly this Census was botched. Forget about how there are concerns over how accurate the response data is, ...
A perfectly preserved set of Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit and Veges went on sale this week. Hayden Donnell delivers an exclusive update on their fate.Everyone remembers their first encounter with Junk & Disorderly’s set of Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit & Veges. There’s something overpowering about the experience. The Butter looms ...
In our latest local elections 2019 race briefing (read the rest here), Don Rowe looks at the two horse race to control the tourism capital of New Zealand.The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.Where?Queenstown, ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Foreign affairs and trade Derek Cheng (Herald): Jacinda Ardern to take climate change stage in ...
The Government has included two small tax changes with its 32 page 'Economic Plan' that paints a big picture for economic and wellbeing transformation. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simone Casey, Research Associate, Future Social Service Institute, RMIT University In all Australia’s capital cities, average share-house rents in the inner suburbs (where jobs are concentrated) leave people without enough money for food and other basics, new research shows. This research, for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Lenten, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics and Finance, La Trobe University Tonight is the AFL’s annual night of nights, the red-carpet spectacular known as the Brownlow Medal vote count. The Brownlow is awarded to the season’s “fairest and best” player. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gianluca Demartini, Associate professor, The University of Queensland The information we encounter online everyday can be misleading, incomplete or fabricated. Being exposed to “fake news” on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can influence our thoughts and decisions. We’ve already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Howard Manns, Lecturer in Linguistics, Monash University Not to put a damper on things, but Australian food hasn’t always made us happy little Vegemites. One needn’t look further than the humble meat pie to see how our love/hate relationship with Aussie tucker ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirrie J Ballard, Professor, Speech Pathology, University of Sydney Sam is a high school drama teacher — articulate, funny, smart. It’s an ordinary day and she isn’t feeling great, but pushes through. At morning tea, she spills coffee down her shirt; at ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Penelope Carroll, Researcher in Public Health, Massey University Our research project explored the everyday lives of disabled young people, aged from 12 to 25 years, with mobility, vision and hearing impairments. We measured and asked them about factors that enabled or constrained ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jagannath Adhikari, Sessional Lecturer, UNSW Reducing emissions from deforestation and farming is an urgent global priority if we want to control climate change. However, like many climate change problems, the solution is complicated. Cutting down forests to plant edible crops feeds some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Margaret Kristin Merga, Senior Lecturer in Education, Edith Cowan University Reading aloud can help young children learn about new words and how to sound them. There’s great value too in providing opportunities for children to enjoy regular silent reading, which is sustained ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lili Pâquet, Lecturer in Writing, University of New England In Dervla McTiernan’s book, The Scholar, published earlier this year, women are consistently used as the “fall guys” for men with high aspirations. Two young women are killed when they uncover fraud. Another ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Indonesia to send contaminated recycling back to NZ, LAWA report shows water quality dropping at more sites than not, and Spark Sport suffers harsh weekend.Shipping containers full of contaminated recycling could be shipped back to New Zealand, Anna Whyte from One News reported ...
Solomon Islands and Kiribati last week dramatically switched diplomatic allegiances from Taiwan to China, a shift with possibly wide-ranging implications writes Stephen Hoadley of the University of Auckland. ...
Jacinda Ardern has a busy agenda for her second trip to the annual leaders' week, not least a high-profile sit-down with US President Donald Trump. ...
An Auckland mayoral candidate has reacted furiously to an advertising approach from Māori Television, which he says was a pay-for-play offer of coverage. Alex Braae reports. Craig Lord, a long-shot candidate for the Auckland mayoralty, has described an advertising offer from Māori Television as inappropriate, and close to “extortion.”In an email ...
Two important World Cup contests played out on Saturday night; one of which has consequences not just for this tournament in Japan, but possibly the next one in France, too. ...
Two important World Cup contests played out on Saturday night; one of which has consequences not just for this tournament in Japan, but possibly the next one in France, too. ...
Until our mental health system gets its promised overhaul, we need to find cost-effective and creative ways for mental health professionals to increase their awareness across all areas of diversity. ...
Assessing the fallout – for better and for worse – of Spark’s dismal RWC debut.The worst fears of Spark came true over the weekend, as issues impacted its stream of the All Blacks’ pivotal matchup with South Africa, leading to it transferring the livestream to TVNZ’s Duke. The following day ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison was frank, when quizzed at a news conference during his visit to Washington, on whether he would be seeking to travel to China in the next year. “Well, you have to be invited ...
By Michael Andrew Social media and tech industries have been replicating the ugliest aspects of capitalism from the 1800s, according to an AUT computer science lecturer. Associate Professor Tony Clear says that social media and tech executives are taking advantage of unregulated markets in a similar way as wealthy ...
Covering Climate Now: There’s a range of dairy-free ice creams available these days, but it’s a fair bet none will be as delicious – or satisfying – as making your own. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!If the latest stats ...
Covering Climate Action: Ahead of the UN’s Climate Action Summit, artist Joseph Michael and composer Rhian Sheehan teamed up to create Voices For The Future, a 30-minute installation projected onto the UN buildings.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Joseph Michael is ...
New Zealand banning Huawei’s 5G network equipment won’t impact you nearly as much as the US’s recent moves against Huawei phones, writes Henry Burrell. Twenty years ago, you would have shown off your flash new Ericsson or Nokia. How times change. Now, those two entities exist only to provide mobile network ...
Op-Ed by Kaveh Zahedi, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)Kaveh Zahedi is Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).In less than ten days world leaders will be ...
Grant McDougall reviews Kilgour’s new solo album, Bobbie’s A Girl, which sees him reflecting on the deaths of his friend and former bandmate, Peter Gutteridge and his own mother, Helen Kilgour. There is a passage in Shayne Carter’s excellent recent autobiography, Dead People I Have Known, in which he describes ...
New Zealand painter-poet Gregory O’Brien has just published a new collection of essays and art; pitched as a “field notebook … my whale survey”, Always Song in the Water drifts from his own front lawn in Hataitai, up to Northland and way, way across the Pacific. It’s the sort of ...
Ruby Porterlooks into New Zealand’s future when the sea level rises 10, 25 and 80 metres, and finds out how much of Auckland will be left.I grew up in Ponsonby, but the only bay I knew around here was Cox’s. It’s fed by a creek which was once a mahinga ...
Opening up a skid pad, create more housing for single people and make the central city dog friendly: policies from Christchurch's lesser-known mayoral candidates. ...
Josie Adams, Hayden Donnell, and Alice Webb-Liddall read thousands of policy statements to find the climate change deniers, fudgers, prevaricators (and believers) running in our local elections.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.One of the problems ...
The paintings of Colin McCahon convey dissonance and uncertainty, writes Shannon Te Ao. So what does this say about us? And why are we maintaining this Pākehā male narrative at the expense of more inclusive representation?Colin McCahon would have turned 100 on August the 1st. If you keep one eye ...
Amanda Thompson spends a day with the New Zealand men’s roller derby squad as they prepare for next year’s world champs in the US.Let’s play a word game. Let’s list some contact sports and the top teams in those codes.Say rugby. Are you thinking about the All Blacks yet? What ...
Covering Climate Now:Dietary Requirements is The Spinoff’s monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms. This month, we go crazy for crickets in a climate week special.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. ...
To mark International Day of Peace, Dr Rebecca Dudley of the New Zealand Red Cross explores the role that New Zealanders play in the global story of war and peace. Personal stories about war almost always begin with a memory.A humid afternoon in South Sudan.A calm Wednesday evening in Beirut.A bustling ...
The history of tattoo art in Japan is deep-rooted and complex – and so is the cultural aversion to tattooed bodies, explains Brian Ashcraft, the author of a book on subject.Tonight, when the All Blacks take the field, they’ll be covering up. In order not to run afoul of Japanese ...
Covering Climate Now: Saying climate change is important is one thing. So why are we so incapable of having a real conversation about what actually addressing it will mean? Sam McGlennon investigates. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Up until a week ago, ...
"This is what Wellington boy said, after he finished his quick and bloody deed. You know what your problem is? Once a slut, always a slut": a short story by Auckland writer Eileen Merriman. ...
Michael Mann, a climatologist and famous press critic, talks to the Columbia Journalism Review about the dangers of both understating and overstating the dangers of climate change. ...
Open mike 26/01/2014 
Like many people, my submission on the Zero Carbon Bill urged more ambitious targets. And if the select committee was in any doubt, they're needed:An assessment backed by the world’s major climate science bodies has found commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions must be at least tripled and increased by ...19 mins ago
Anti-fluoride campaigners think a new Canadian fluoride IQ study is the best thing since sliced bread but the scientific critiques warn they are wrong. Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty The new Canadian ... 1 hour ago
Reprinted from Jacobinmag by Jane Slaughter and Chris Brooks Almost 50,000 UAW workers are on strike against GM and a two-tier labor system that undermines worker solidarity. But members may need to wage a battle on two fronts — against the company, but also against their own union leadership. Forty-nine ...17 hours ago
Before Jacingrant There Was Gracinda: Grant Robertson and his 2014 running mate, Jacinda Ardern. She stood at his side: loyal and obliging, as she had ever been. The media dubbed this duo “Gracinda” – a sort of political “Brangelina”. The other young people who worked alongside Robertson were also ambitious ...1 day ago
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...2 days ago
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...3 days ago
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...3 days ago
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...3 days ago
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...4 days ago
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...4 days ago
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...4 days ago
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...5 days ago
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...5 days ago
Why is New Zealand climate change policy so crap? The Herald this morning has a long article on the twists and turns of climate change policy in New Zealand [paywalled / depaywall script], which shows where we've been. The short version is that the government first began worrying about this ...5 days ago
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...5 days ago
6 days ago
7 days ago
Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...7 days ago
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...1 week ago
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...1 week ago
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...1 week ago
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...1 week ago
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...1 week ago
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...2 weeks ago
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...2 weeks ago
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...2 weeks ago
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ... 2 weeks ago
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...2 weeks ago
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...2 weeks ago
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...2 weeks ago
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...2 weeks ago
Firearm owners can now seek the modification of eligible prohibited firearms, and a list of Approved Gunsmiths is available on the Police website. ...2 hours ago
Nerds, rejoice. The day of reckoning is finally upon us, with the release of the data from the 2018 census. So what are some of the interesting facts and figures?Forget about how badly this Census was botched. Forget about how there are concerns over how accurate the response data is, ...21 mins ago
A perfectly preserved set of Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit and Veges went on sale this week. Hayden Donnell delivers an exclusive update on their fate.Everyone remembers their first encounter with Junk & Disorderly’s set of Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit & Veges. There’s something overpowering about the experience. The Butter looms ...29 mins ago
In our latest local elections 2019 race briefing (read the rest here), Don Rowe looks at the two horse race to control the tourism capital of New Zealand.The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.Where?Queenstown, ...1 hour ago
The government is investing $14 million into the Hawke's Bay, for food innovation and employment opportunities. ...2 hours ago
An essay and review by Russell Brown in response to a newly-published guide to the future: medical cannabis. ...3 hours ago
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
The Government has included two small tax changes with its 32 page 'Economic Plan' that paints a big picture for economic and wellbeing transformation. ...4 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simone Casey, Research Associate, Future Social Service Institute, RMIT University In all Australia’s capital cities, average share-house rents in the inner suburbs (where jobs are concentrated) leave people without enough money for food and other basics, new research shows. This research, for ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Lenten, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics and Finance, La Trobe University Tonight is the AFL’s annual night of nights, the red-carpet spectacular known as the Brownlow Medal vote count. The Brownlow is awarded to the season’s “fairest and best” player. But ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gianluca Demartini, Associate professor, The University of Queensland The information we encounter online everyday can be misleading, incomplete or fabricated. Being exposed to “fake news” on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can influence our thoughts and decisions. We’ve already ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirrie J Ballard, Professor, Speech Pathology, University of Sydney Sam is a high school drama teacher — articulate, funny, smart. It’s an ordinary day and she isn’t feeling great, but pushes through. At morning tea, she spills coffee down her shirt; at ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Penelope Carroll, Researcher in Public Health, Massey University Our research project explored the everyday lives of disabled young people, aged from 12 to 25 years, with mobility, vision and hearing impairments. We measured and asked them about factors that enabled or constrained ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jagannath Adhikari, Sessional Lecturer, UNSW Reducing emissions from deforestation and farming is an urgent global priority if we want to control climate change. However, like many climate change problems, the solution is complicated. Cutting down forests to plant edible crops feeds some ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Margaret Kristin Merga, Senior Lecturer in Education, Edith Cowan University Reading aloud can help young children learn about new words and how to sound them. There’s great value too in providing opportunities for children to enjoy regular silent reading, which is sustained ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lili Pâquet, Lecturer in Writing, University of New England In Dervla McTiernan’s book, The Scholar, published earlier this year, women are consistently used as the “fall guys” for men with high aspirations. Two young women are killed when they uncover fraud. Another ...5 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Indonesia to send contaminated recycling back to NZ, LAWA report shows water quality dropping at more sites than not, and Spark Sport suffers harsh weekend.Shipping containers full of contaminated recycling could be shipped back to New Zealand, Anna Whyte from One News reported ...7 hours ago
The Chinese NZ Herald is in the spotlight for its operational arrangements China, which experts say amount to CCP state control. ...7 hours ago
Luisa Avaiki may be ruing the missed opportunity, but her Warriors women still made history - twice - at Mt Smart Stadium. ...7 hours ago
An Auckland mayoral candidate has reacted furiously to an advertising approach from Māori Television, which he says was a pay-for-play offer of coverage. Alex Braae reports. Craig Lord, a long-shot candidate for the Auckland mayoralty, has described an advertising offer from Māori Television as inappropriate, and close to “extortion.”In an email ...8 hours ago
Two important World Cup contests played out on Saturday night; one of which has consequences not just for this tournament in Japan, but possibly the next one in France, too. ...8 hours ago
By Michael Andrew Social media and tech industries have been replicating the ugliest aspects of capitalism from the 1800s, according to an AUT computer science lecturer. Associate Professor Tony Clear says that social media and tech executives are taking advantage of unregulated markets in a similar way as wealthy ...1 day ago
Covering Climate Now: There’s a range of dairy-free ice creams available these days, but it’s a fair bet none will be as delicious – or satisfying – as making your own. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!If the latest stats ...1 day ago
Covering Climate Action: Ahead of the UN’s Climate Action Summit, artist Joseph Michael and composer Rhian Sheehan teamed up to create Voices For The Future, a 30-minute installation projected onto the UN buildings.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Joseph Michael is ...1 day ago
Op-Ed by Kaveh Zahedi, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
Grant McDougall reviews Kilgour’s new solo album, Bobbie’s A Girl, which sees him reflecting on the deaths of his friend and former bandmate, Peter Gutteridge and his own mother, Helen Kilgour. There is a passage in Shayne Carter’s excellent recent autobiography, Dead People I Have Known, in which he describes ...1 day ago
New Zealand painter-poet Gregory O’Brien has just published a new collection of essays and art; pitched as a “field notebook … my whale survey”, Always Song in the Water drifts from his own front lawn in Hataitai, up to Northland and way, way across the Pacific. It’s the sort of ...1 day ago
Ruby Porter looks into New Zealand’s future when the sea level rises 10, 25 and 80 metres, and finds out how much of Auckland will be left.I grew up in Ponsonby, but the only bay I knew around here was Cox’s. It’s fed by a creek which was once a mahinga ...1 day ago
The paintings of Colin McCahon convey dissonance and uncertainty, writes Shannon Te Ao. So what does this say about us? And why are we maintaining this Pākehā male narrative at the expense of more inclusive representation?Colin McCahon would have turned 100 on August the 1st. If you keep one eye ...2 days ago
Amanda Thompson spends a day with the New Zealand men’s roller derby squad as they prepare for next year’s world champs in the US.Let’s play a word game. Let’s list some contact sports and the top teams in those codes.Say rugby. Are you thinking about the All Blacks yet? What ...2 days ago
To mark International Day of Peace, Dr Rebecca Dudley of the New Zealand Red Cross explores the role that New Zealanders play in the global story of war and peace. Personal stories about war almost always begin with a memory.A humid afternoon in South Sudan.A calm Wednesday evening in Beirut.A bustling ...2 days ago
The history of tattoo art in Japan is deep-rooted and complex – and so is the cultural aversion to tattooed bodies, explains Brian Ashcraft, the author of a book on subject.Tonight, when the All Blacks take the field, they’ll be covering up. In order not to run afoul of Japanese ...2 days ago
Covering Climate Now: Saying climate change is important is one thing. So why are we so incapable of having a real conversation about what actually addressing it will mean? Sam McGlennon investigates. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Up until a week ago, ...2 days ago
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