The topic of holding the Government to account came up in a discussion on The Standard yesterday. The results suggest that Labour didn’t do this very well last term, failing badly in the election.
[Stephanie: This comment was literally a copy-paste of an entire post from your site. This is in clear breach of the policy on “link-whoring” and you have been warned about this before.
I wonder when you’ll tire of that approach. The same principles apply to blogging.
Perpetual pissy attacks damage your own credibility. That didn’t work out well for Labour last term. The prospects are looking better under Little but it’s up to more than just him.
People can go and read yesterday’s discussion and see how Petey spins it. What a cretin this man is.
The funniest part is how he presumes to know what and why NZers like things. He was a UF candidate and booster of various weird ideas that never seem to get off the ground. Because reasons.
If you took Key out of the equation I doubt very much National would win. The opposition must ‘keep holding them to account’, after all that’s what opposition party’s do, so can’t agree there.
The single biggest thing the opposition party’s need to achieve is working contructively together. I am all for L/G/NZF to hold primary contests in winnable seats. Vote splitting is gifting National too many seats. Deals can be done so the G/NZF party’s actually win electorate seats. I mooted this with a senior Labour MP who was quite open to this approach.
Another hurdle is the large bloc of people that don’t feel compelled to vote. So how is this to be addressed? A couple of killer policies, the less is more tactic, however will this have an effect on those who do vote.
Personally I don’t like the thought of a Labour that is nothing more than National lite.
If you took PG out of the equation, we could probably have a decent conversation. Anything that happens from this point on is just a repeated of yesterday, and all the other days when PG troled for attention and to use ts to spread his beige agenda.
Fair point Draco, it tends to niggle away in the back of ones mind. Even the Greens are positioning themselves a bit lite these days too. Cutting an MP’s pay in half may rid the troughers and get people in there for the correct reason.
MP’s get too cosy sitting on 150k, lean them up, make em hungry for the cause. Also make it that much easier to slash public & state sector executives outrageously out of control & obscene salaries.
I like the Alliance’s idea that MP’s salaries be set to the same as a third year teacher. Wonder how many of National’s MPs would complain that teachers are paid too much then 😈
I made a submission to a welfare task force years ago. They asked “How can we ensure benefits are enough to live on?” My submission was to pay MPs at beneficiary rates. For some strange reason, it was not adopted.
I am all for L/G/NZF to hold primary contests in winnable seats. Vote splitting is gifting National too many seats. Deals can be done so the G/NZF party’s actually win electorate seats. I mooted this with a senior Labour MP who was quite open to this approach.
It’s an interesting idea, but I just don’t see the public buying it?
By definition, the election is to decide who represents the electorate. Having a pre-screening ballot before the election itself, that only a minority of parties contest, doesn’t seem to pass the sniff test to me.
I will credit the senior MP for suggesting a deal that the others get electorate seats, which we concurred should happen if they come forward with their best candidates i.e Peters, Marks & Norman, Hughes as examples.
@Lanthanide Well something ‘a bit outside the box’ needs to be tried or it’s ground hog day, except it’s not day, it’s 3 years. Others keep mooting not standing candidates from the outset. Which to my thinking removes a contest, atleast what I propose entails a contest. I see the positives outweighing the negatives.
In it he talks about how Labour needs to show that it is willing to engage with the Greens in a deep multi-term partnership in government. And what you suggest would be a perfect way of starting to do that.
I recommend campaigning for preferential voting in electorates as well, so that people don’t have to worry that they might waste their vote for a 3rd party candidate any more.
You have been a myopic hot and cold blowing simpleton being fooled and enamoured by this National party/government mirage!
Are you blind to the spin, bullshit, dirty politics, lies, razzmatazz and propaganda indulged in by Key, the National party, Cosby Textor, the powerful corporates, the RW blogs and MSM outfits that manage to constantly publicise a false dishonest ‘positive’ narrative of the government, drowning or ignoring the negatives, the ineptitude, the poor policies and their corrupt practices?
In comparison to National, Labour and the left are forthright, are more democratic, have enlightened values, are modern, principled, patriotic, honest and caring for the social and economic well being of all the people and the country for both the short term and the long term.
If you are a person of integrity and honesty, you will realise the truth of what I have just said.
Think it over instead of putting Labour and the left down and batting directly or indirectly for these rotten Nats and the RW rogues.
This is in clear breach of the policy on “link-whoring”
I thought link whoring involved linking and I didn’t include a link or reference to any link. Can you please clarify the policy about unlinked comments.
Penny Bright has been pinged for the same offence. If you are going to post something it should be an original comment. The Policy says “You can link to your own site provided it isn’t excessive, explains why you think it should be read (so people can decide not to go there without clicking into it), is short, and you either do it in OpenMike or within the context of the post or surrounding comments.”
So posting from your site is fine as well as long as it is a synopsis rather than the whole thing.
It was an original comment. I usually do summarise or post excerpts but I thought this topic was better complete, but if you don’t want that then so be it.
Ironically someone else posted a link, not me. A bit bemusing.
[Stephanie: It was original neither in content nor the ideas therein. Your post at YourNZ made no mention that it had originally been posted as a comment here. What you “think” bears no resemblance to the clear stated policy of this website, especially given the numerous warnings you have received for this behaviour. Stop being so bloody rude.]
A quick clarification for racebaiting’s Pooter George:
Your safest bet if you’re finding this confusing would be to not post any fucken thing at all. Your credibility could do with the karmic lift that would come with making so many TS readers instantly happy.
Allow me to end your bemusement. If you go and have a squizz at this site’s comments policy, it rules out “pasting long materials from other sites.” If the definition of “long materials” is also bemusing, as a handy rule of thumb keep in mind that “entire post from your site” totally qualifies.
I’d like clarification on your judgement. I took what you refer to as meaning long quotes of what other people have posted on other sites. MS referred to “original comment”, which it was.
I presume length wasn’t an issue, posts that size aren’t uncommon here.
No, it doesn’t. Link whoring is when you just put a link with no explanation, or you link multiple times. For someone who’s apparently been on the internet as long as you, you’re really playing the Dunce tonight.
For fuck’s sake, and for the second time, try actually reading this fucking blog’s comments policy. It says, among other things:
You can link to your own site provided it isn’t excessive, explains why you think it should be read (so people can decide not to go there without clicking into it), is short, and you either do it in OpenMike or within the context of the post or surrounding comments.
It’s perfectly clear. If you need other commenters to read this stuff and draw your attention to it, maybe you shouldn’t comment in the first place.
Look pretty professional Pete a commercial venture like this must have caught the atention of the MSM outfits for a buy in. You must be making a tidy packet out of it so should stump up for a monthly linking fee.
“I presume length wasn’t an issue, posts that size aren’t uncommon here.”
Yes. They are.
You’ve had three very clear explanations, two of them by moderators both of whom were polite and excessively generous (myself, I wish Lynn had handled it).
What is is about micky’s comment that you don’t understand?
You can link to your own site provided it isn’t excessive, explains why you think it should be read (so people can decide not to go there without clicking into it), is short, and you either do it in OpenMike or within the context of the post or surrounding comments.
I swear to god, this subthread is stupid even by the beige parrot’s standards. Liked the bit about karma though.
“I presume length wasn’t an issue, posts that size aren’t uncommon here.”
To be fair, lately he’s correct. Ask anyone who has tried to scroll through Penny’s copypasta or Phil’s .. . sparse …. textual .. efforts … on a mobile screen.
Yeah, on a phone it would be pretty bad. But Penny doesn’t post that often, and phil’s comments are more punctuation disarrays than long complete comments.
“MS referred to “original comment”, which it was. ”
For the pedantic, perhaps read that as “unique comment”, though you are not the only one who pastes the same stuff on multiple blogs including this one.
Obviously I’m not a mod here. Personally, I welcome people linking to their own blogs providing they have the courtesy to explain briefly why it’s relevant to go there. Quote a par or two at most. Save my scrolling finger…
a cautionary political-history tale for the labour party..
in greece..there was/is this political party called ‘the socialist party’..
..and like labour here..they weren’t really ‘socialist’/’labour’..
..they were centrist/neo-liberal..
..and the socialist party dominated greek politics during the 80’s and 90’s..
(with the ‘conservative’party..they did a tweedle-dum/tweedle-dee swapsies at leading the country..)
..(still sounding familiar..?..)
..anyway..this socialist (in-name-only)party has insisted on still clinging to the pillars/shards of neo-liberalisim..
(as has labour here in new zealand..c.f. their election ’14 policies..which offered absolutely nothing for the poorest/to fight the worst of inequality..)
..so..we are still in lock-step..?..that mirror-effect still prevailing..?
..well..greece has just had an election..
..where a true-left party has swept into power..
..and where that clinging-to-those-shards-of-neo-liberalism ‘socialist party’..
..that ideological first-cousin of our labour party..
..is expected to get about 5%..
..now..if that tale doesn’t have labour people quaking in their boots..
Yes it is very interesting (putting aside the human cost etc)….
Greece needs to cancel its debt, or a significant chunk of it. Or repay over time, without interest. Or, as the victorious party apparently claimed to derision, print its own euros …… which would be the ultimate irony given that that is exactly what the Eurozone does anyway …. prints money
Why should lenders get money (interest) for printing euro notes?
Greece is exposing the sham and Ponzi scheme that is our money system.
i understand the new greek leadership is calling for full cancellation of the debt..
..and a fresh start..
..(polling shows most greeks don’t actually want to leave the eu..(70%+ from memory..)
..and i wd submit that the sudden decision to print money in the eu..is in part for them to have to wriggle-room/to be able to throw some money at greece/cancel debt..
..and of course there are parties echoing this greek left party..
..in span/portugal/ ireland..
..the socialist national party is going to totally wipe out both the tories and labour in scotland..(and will become the third largest party in the british parliament..making it the very large tail wagging any labour govt..)
..and like i said..to nz labour…wake up..!..
..yr very existence is in peril..
..yr only option is to return to yr roots..
..to ‘end poverty’ by announcing a universal basic income..
..and a massive programme of building smart/clever state houses/apartments/terrace-houses/w.h.y..
(..and to out-green the greens..promising to ‘clean-up’ nz..)
..and that just for starters..
..continuing to jostle with national for their space on the ideological-spectrum..
..(polling shows most greeks don’t actually want to leave the eu..(70%+ from memory..)
I bet they fucking don’t. If the Jerries were subsidising a pleasant lifestyle for NZers to the tune of billions per year, I doubt that we’d be keen to give it up either.
They’re not living high on the hog from German largesse now the bubble’s burst, no. That gravy train reached its final station in 2008. But their interest in staying within the Euro has everything to do with wanting a return to the pre-2008 lifestyle of regarding taxes as optional and having a ridiculously low retirement age (while the Jerries paying for it got to work until 65 like the rest of us).
Electing a left-wing government and rejecting the debt the austerity fans saddled them with is a start, but it’s destined for ignominious failure unless the majority start figuring out that corruption isn’t cute local colour, and demanding extensive government services while avoiding paying any taxes isn’t a good long-term prospect.
Pysycho melt down.
The Tycoons and shipping magnates are the ones paying no taxes.
Ordinary Greeks work the longest hrs in Europe and pay taxes.
Corruption of their Politicians by the most powerful corporates most likely at the behest of the Greek non taxpaying Tycoons wining and dining Greek politicians with Goldman Sachs and rorting(rating) agencies mates on these Tycoons Luxury yatchs is the reason
Why the peasants have to pick up the their Tab.
Austerity for the peasants another bailout for the Tycoons!
Psycho and Tricledown – you both have touched on the problems. They are far more complicated then a forum like this can express. And no, actually the work hours are not the longest, you need to understand that the lunch breaks during summer (6-7 months) are stretching between 3-4 hours because of the extraordinary heat. It is not feasible to work physically, really – its not possible without inciting a dehydrated breakdown. So the the day is actually broken into 2 distinctive times: 7-12noon and 4pm -9 (or beyond for nightclubs).
The second issue is that as soon as it became known that Greece is facing a financial crisis, all (and I mean ALL) wealthy people have withdrawn they wealth and moved it to the usual hiding places. (Swiss anyone?) This left the Bank close to ruin and the Government not able to borrow.
The issue that nobody is looking at is that, Greece is to a certain extent the bastion against the east, always involved in wars from the Classical, Hellenistic, Roma, Byzantine, Ottoman right trough to the WW.
This is often forgotten and that the Greek people pay the price of being the meat between the sandwich.
As for the Germans, don’t get me wrong but if many people would be as industrious and as educated as they are, things would look a hell of a lot better, belief you me. Besides, they are also just pawns in the game of the rich.
Goldman Sachs to you PM.
The loan sharks Goldman Sachs and credit rorting agencies defrauded both Greek governments and Northern European banks Psycho.
Goldman Sachs and the rorting agencies should be paying for their Ponzi scam.
But alas No Goldman Sachs managed to get their inside man appointed to become the EU’s finance minister.
So avoiding investigation and have to pack the Losses on their corrupting Ponzi Scheme!
Pssycho facts please.
Delirous rants from are expected .
Conman believable therapy is no substitute for the truth!
Psycho white washing the truth.
So why is Europe in the doldrum.
One reason is consumption is down especially in southern Europe.
Austerity is having an effect on Northern Europe because Greece and other southern European countries are not buying BMW’s,VW’s,Merc’s, Audijs Porcshe’setc!
So their production workers are not affording holidays in Greece Southern Europe!
Europe is in the dole drum because there are 33 countries and 55 languages that have to find a common ground. NZ cannot even find this often with its own Maori people. Before you have some judgement on hand, take into consideration a people 45 000 years in the making (not 800), with distinctive cultures developed over this period and many wars fought to keep the identity. To find a bridge to span this history and forge a future that has validity for all is certainly not child’s play or indeed some black and white knight sessions from the good ol’ Anglo saxen stall.
As for the bankers wishes to simplify their means to get more money out of the working people – European Union – and the convolution resulting by the immigration to mainland Europe from the East, you would talk completely differently if this would be NZ. To put this into perspective, to cope what these countries currently trying to deal with, we are talking about 47 million people who need to be housed, educated, health service provided etc. The majority moved, incidentally – to Germany. 9.8 Million or 12% increase in the population by 2010. Who knows how many that is today. Now if this would be NZ, it would mean that 500 000 additional people need to be accommodated, with that I mean full benefits or workplaces. This is the size of it. To say that Germany (or the UK or any other major immigrant nation) has to accommodate even more is just plain ignorant.
Kapa Research Exit Poll: SYRIZA 33.5 – 37.5 ND 25 – 28 Golden Dawn 5.5 – 7.5 To Potami 5
.
The whining begins,
5m ago18:20
The sniping from Europe’s elite has already begun.
Sweden’s former prime minister Carl Bildt claims that taxpayers in other European countries will have to foot the bill for Syriza’s victory.
Carl Bildt ✔ @carlbildt
Follow
Syriza in Greece has won the election by promising that taxpayers in other Euro counties will pay even more to them. Rather daring.
7:11 AM – 26 Jan 2015
An interview with economist and Syriza candidate Yanis Varoufakis.
What is the current economic situation on the eve of the elections in Greece? Can you give a kind of snapshot?
In brief, everyone owes everyone, and no one can pay. The banks are bankrupt; they owe money to the state, to each other, to foreign banks. Citizens owe money to the banks and owe money to the state. The state owes money to everyone. So we have a triple insolvency: bankrupt banks, a bankrupt state and a bankrupt private sector. There are of course pockets, like everywhere, within society of people who are really well off. They have money in banks in Switzerland, in the city of London, on Wall Street, in Frankfurt, and even some money in the Greek banks.
But the overall situation is that — even though in the last year or so there’s been a small rebound, not in terms of income but in terms of expenditure — the economy is quite clearly still in a downward spiral that is filling everyone’s soul with negative expectations.
Looks like Syriza are on the cusp of an outright majority which will actually be preferable to a coalition with the Independent Greeks who will be way less flexible than Syriza.
I really don’t know what comes next – if exiting the Euro is off the table the new Greek Government has very little ability to do anything. The end of austerity – great concept, but if you are only able to run at a 5% budget deficit cos you received EUR12 billion in direct subsidies, you don’t have a lot of ability to do anything.
With Euro exit off the table (this is the only viable tool that Greece has to make any change to their economy) and repudiation of debt already excluded by Tsipras maybe Syriza/EU have already done a deal. Business as usual, a softening of the terms, but business as usual. Maybe throw a few subsidies out to the poor, but business as usual.
With an inability to borrow, a budget deficit, and a committment to staying in the Euro, by definition nothing can change except the terms that the EU agrees to.
And interesting to note 10 billion euros of deposits outflow from the main Greek banks since December – that’s 4% of the remaining deposit base. The banks already have a pending request in to the ECB for emergency liquidity.
Overall, not too much bargaining power from Greece………
With an inability to borrow, a budget deficit, and a committment to staying in the Euro, by definition nothing can change except the terms that the EU agrees to.
Yep, Greece’s only option is to remove themselves from the Euro.
Well – whats the alternative? Please list a few ideas in bullet point format to educate the rest of us. Please note Tsipras has already ruled out exiting the Euro.
There is a certain correlation with low income areas and dog attacks. It is happens that coloured folks in habit large chunks of those areas.
TG we have a white man around to *educate* the browner ones how to behave! Pity this will get more coverage than the fact that we have dogs attacking people and this needs to be stopped.
“There is a certain correlation with low income areas and dog attacks.”
And a correlation between higher income and fences. And between number of dogs and number of attacks in an area. Further analysis before opening his mouth might have helped silly old Bob.
very surprised one would expect that regular commenter to want to achieve anything as soon as the topic turns to “not being a dick to large portions of the population”.
Pity this will get more coverage than the fact that we have dogs attacking people and this needs to be stopped.
Well, yeah, but that would involve doing something about the large number of people who own psychotic attack dogs they don’t either look after or restrain. Good luck trying to overlook the correlation between low-income areas and dog attacks while doing that…
If he’d said lower income areas instead of South Auckland and that immigrants and Pasifika aren’t natural dog owners, this would be an entirely different conversation. The media coverage would be different too.
It was very foolish of him to mention ethnicity, indeed. Still, I expect he has no education in the social sciences and the thinking didn’t go much beyond “south Auckland, hmm that’s where all the PIs and Maoris live. Must be something to do with them.” The fact that it’s a fairly typical thought process is depressing.
The stuff about migrants strikes me as a red herring. Are new immigrants to NZ really deciding that a pit-bull/mastiff cross would make an excellent family pet, or a good watchdog? Personally, I reckon that piece of poisoned thinking is local, not alien.
mr ure, how do you deal with the dulling effect that comes from use / frequent use? Having dabbled at times over the centuries I always found that the following day the mind was blunt – like running a sharp blade over a lump of granite …..
I hate smoking pot. It makes me to complete opposite of mellow and since I have ceased smoking it about a year or so ago my memory and cognitive ability has increased dramatically.
Well one positive is states and countries where pot has been legalized usage has gone down especially amongst the young!
Crime has also gone down as well.
Instead of putting money into the failed policy of eradication.
Taxes can be raised and used on education,rehab,and funding govt instead of criminal gangs!
I don’t smoke weed amy more.
I don’t like what I’ve seen it do to people I know.
I don’t like the way when I’m with my mates who smoke they become boring as bat shit after a good go at it.
I do think It should be legalized in an effort to stop the effect of having people lured into crime in a effort to make some easy cash because it fucks communities.
“I believe people are capable of amazing things and I do believe that climate change can be halted and even reversed. I just hope it happens in my lifetime. I don’t want to become the generation that future children talk of as having destroyed the planet. I’d like to be the generation that fought back (and won) against human induced climate change. The generation that worked out how to live in harmony with the planet – that generation!” DR JENNIE MALLELA Australian National University Researcher Biology and Earth Sciences
“So whilst there is enough good and committed people we can change our path of warming,” However, he went on to add, “I am always hopeful – but 4 to 5 degrees Celsius of change will be a challenge to survive.” DR JIM SALINGER Honorary Research Associate in climate science with the University of Auckland’s School of Environment.
Read More, What Scientists Feel About Climate Change; HERE
3pm today marks the start of the campaign to stop Solid Energy, the heavily taxpayer subsidised State Coal Miner reopening the mothballed Kopuku 1 open cast mine just south of Auckland.
We are not calling for currently operating coal mines to be closed, which is what the science demands, we are merely demanding that no more be opened.
The demand that No New Coal Mine operations be started, or restarted is a moderate one.
Those who support the opening of New Coal Mines in the age of climate change inhabit the lunatic fringe.
This day marks the start of an epic battle for common sense and even conservativism against extreme ego driven radicals bent on self aggrandisement at all costs to the community the environment and the climate.
Join the campaign for common sense and against climate extremism today. Details; HERE
For me the talk that we can still avert the effects of climate change distracts from what we could be doing to create resilience and community to help people cope with the effects and the changes that are here.
‘moderate’ has its place (maybe) but around climate change it seems like a waste of time. I’d like Mana to put the line in the sand and stay on that line – as we (Mana) have done on other issues – we need leadership and the kaupapa of Mana is desperately needed to help people see and find hope. Kia kaha.
Why are the flags at half mast on the Harbour Bridge?
Radio NZ National, Monday 26 January 2015
The medieval dictatorship of Saudi Arabia is, next to the United States, the biggest funder of Al Qaeda and ISIS fanatics. The terrorists that flew jet airliners into the World Trade Center in 2001 were Saudi Arabians. Public executions are common; fifteen people have been beheaded there this year alone. In spite of all this, listeners to Radio NZ National were treated to this disgusting little announcement at 9:45 a.m. ……
KATHERINE RYAN: We’ve had a lot of texts this morning, asking about the flags flying at half-mast on the Auckland Harbour Bridge today. Well, they’re flying at half-mast at the request of the Prime Minister John Key, as a mark of respect for the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
“Why are the flags at half mast on the Harbour Bridge?”
I thought those in control might be mourning that on Auckland City’s 175th birthday so many people were suffering from the exorbitant government backed housing market in their fair city.
Officially, flying our flag at half mast may be our Right Wing government’s way of showing international solidarity with the violent undemocratic Right Wing despots that rule Saudi Arabia. Unofficially, it could also be taken as a sign of grief by the International Right, at Syriza’s peaceful democratic victory in Greece.
That is absolutely fucken disgusting but I suppose it should have been expected. John Key only cares about the rich and just doesn’t give a fuck about the damage that they do to everyone else.
+100 Morriessey….very well put…and absolutely weird! ….where are the Opposition Party leaders on this is ?….they should be making mince meat out of John Key Nact!
Just wonder whether this is what NZ aspires to be if Mr Key is supporting and admiring a nation that forces its people to belong to a state religion.
Maybe he is not aware that:
Wahhabism is the Arabic sect of the muslim religion and associated with a lot of atrocities. The majority of the world’s Wahhabis are from Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Wahhabi mission, or Dawah Wahhabiyya, is to spread purified Islam through the world, both Muslim and non-Muslim.
I for one do not want to be part of this.
The same leaders who staged a march to support Charlie Hebdo will meet at the tyrant’s funeral. Maybe a few bloggers could be flogged for their entertainment? It shouldn’t be too hard to arrange for the beheading of a rape victim as well.
No way should we be mourning the death of that slave owning murderous piece of shit. No way José.
I wonder whether they would also condemn the photo of the Jewish guy on the couch, wearing a kippah. I thought the cartoon quite appropriate, although the nose maybe went a bit far.
Without John Key I suspect National would struggle to win in 2017 and 2020. Every attempt to attack the popular John Key is ignored by the public. Nicky Hagar’s and Crim Dot Con’s scurrilous attempts to try to bring down the government actually resulted in an increased National majority as National voters flocked to the polls. John Key is a phenomenon. He is admired and respected everywhere he goes. His is the voice that those at Davos listened to. National’s current polling is 52% whilst Labour wallows on just 26%.
I cannot see John Key losing an election but assume that the Left may have a chance when he eventually retires.
No, he’s doing exactly what Key did recently on the same subject – carefully misleading rather than flat-out lying.
Key recently told The Times that New Zealand voters had given National an increased number of seats, thus implying that there’d been a swing to the Party in popular support. Just like Fisi – although Fisi rather clumsily tries to reinforce the implication by going one step further with: “…….as National voters flocked to the polls.”
National, of course, did indeed increase its seat number (from 59 to 60) – a direct corollary of an increase in wasted Party Vote at the 2014 Election (relative to 2011). But, as you’ve said, their Party Vote share actually fell marginally.
As with Farrar and so on, it’s all about leaving a mistaken impression favourable to the Nats, while allowing just the teensiest bit of wiggle room for deniability if challenged.
National MP’s in 2011 59
National MP’s in 2014 60
National votes in 2011 1,058,…..
National Votes in 2014 1,131….
That’s one more MP and 63,000 extra votes
John Key is really really liked by the public. He has never lost and probably never will.
Thanks for your unfailing attention to these details, swordfish. I’ve found your analysis of polls, and particularly the analysis of commentary on them, very illuminating.
And apologies to readers of my blog for the (unplanned) hiatus. I’ve been too busy and too tired over recent weeks (and, to be honest, I can’t say I’ve been overly happy with the quality of my prose on the blog. If even I’m getting bored with my own writing then I can’t expect anyone else to be too enthused).
I’ll probably make a brief announcement on The Standard once I start posting again. Hopefully with a bit more vim.
Remind me Labour vote was lowest in 80 years. Green numbers down and Mana Dot Con came nowhere.
Face it. As long as John Key wants to be PM he will be.
“John Key is really really liked by the public. He has never lost and probably never will”
John Key is really really fooling the public by lies, bull shit, spin, propaganda, copying of many Labour policies, indulging in dirty politics and use of big donors and their money. He has lost his mana. What does it profit a man if he wins the whole world and loses his soul?
Hardly an increase flocking to the polls. Someone elses can look at issues like population increase and boundary changes. Swordfish above has a more intricate analysis, but I’m happy to still call you a liar.
“John Key is really really liked by the public”
Yeah, that’s why only a third of eligible voters voted for his party. Like I said, liar.
Mike Williams starts as he means to go on, obviously From the Left and From the Right, Radio NZ National, Monday 26 January 2015
Matthew Hooton starts off with a minatory rant, cleverly designed to undermine and cast doubts on Andrew Little. After several minutes, it is time for the representative of “the Left” to speak. This is what he said….
MIKE WILLIAMS: Yeah, I would agree with absolutely everything Matthew just said.
While he’s not a member now, Williams encapsulates or caricatures everything that was wrong with Labour for the last six years: aged, lazy, as bloated with hot air and privilege as Mr Creosote, bereft of ideas, disconnected from the people they once pretended to champion and childishly beholden to the right simply because they have lots of bling.
And the pairing of those two oxygen thieves shows what’s wrong with political commentary on Radio NZzzzz. A solipsistic Punch and Judy show drowned in cold porridge.
Now I’ve got that out of my system, I hope to do something productive today.
Perhaps you need to switch your critical faculties on prior to listening, Kiwiri. Mike Williams does not represent Labour any more than any other ordinary party member does. He has never claimed to be speaking on that show, or any other, as an official spokesperson.
Of course he has authority in the sense that he used to be president and still has contact with senior LP leaders. But that doesn’t excuse your lazy thinking, which we also see repeated here by people who think TS is the official blog of the NZLP.
PS:
Moz, I didn’t hear the words ‘just said’ in the sentence, which possibly makes the statement worse in one sense. But, clearly, he was referring to Hooton’s comments. The problem is, much of what Hooton said in his opening piece was both factually correct and reasonably framed to begin the discussion. So, basically, your criticism is that Mike Williams agreed with comments he couldn’t reasonably disagree with. That’s a poor level of analysis from someone we know has the highest standards of accuracy and astonishingly well honed critical faculties.
he doesn’t represent labour but he has authority because he is exprez and still has contact with senior members – and is on the radio with all those credentials explicitly known.
No contradiction, marty. He’s earned the right to speak authoratively about the party, but that doesn’t mean he speaks for the party. And because his credentials and current status are well known, there is no excuse for confusion.
Because he’s not,(left wing) weka.hence his downward spiral,poverty of intellect.As you might have noticed,he scoffed at the presidential candidates ability to rash money for the party,it seems he thinks he’s the only one to have had that ability.
Politically astute and aware people may not be confused in understanding the nuances and fine points you are implying regarding Mike Williams.
The problem for Labour/left wing is that most people who hear so called left wing people like Mike Williams and Josie Pagani will take on board directly or subconsciously the negative perception about Labour or left wing created by their comments, especially when the commentator agrees and endorses the RW points made by the RW supporting commentator like Hooton.
It is astounding that experienced left wing commentators like Williams and Pagani do not understand this basic media stuff and come across as weak in their passion, support and views.
Often when I hear them I think, ‘With friends like these, who needs enemies!’
Or we should just admit that Williams and Pagani know exactly what audience they are addressing, and it’s not those in the bottom 50% of the wealth pyramid.
“So, basically, your criticism is that Mike Williams agreed with comments he couldn’t reasonably disagree with.”
No. It’s that Mike Williams isn’t doing his bloody job as a left wing commentator. He doesn’t have to agree or disagree with Hooton at all. He can just respond with a left wing perspective.
Am off to dig up Pb’s very useful comment on this.
btw, as I’m sure you know, Morrisey’s transcripts are notoriously inaccurate, and reflect their perspective and perception as much as anything.
This is in response to Pagani, but it’s general themes are appropriate,
A partisan* pundit’s job is to move the conversation towards their view, and away from their opponents. By doing that they shift the centre. A political party has to capture the centre when in opposition. It’s harder to do that when the pundits who are their supposed allies are calling them and their supporters ‘radicals’ or ‘loons’ or otherwise framing their own side as weird.
This is basic, basic, stuff. If you are a left wing pundit, then every time the right wing pundits are agreeing with you about the ‘nasty left’ and saying ‘there there’ you are getting your butt kicked at your one fucking job.
You are not, (if you are a pundit), an academic analysing the left. You are the bloody left as far as the average punter sees things. So you should be attacking the right by highlighting the ways in which the right is out of step with the centre. One fucking job.
.
” … Morrisey’s transcripts are notoriously inaccurate …”
Say it ain’t so, weka!
I have it on good authority that the atomic clock is wilfully slack in comparison to Moz. He is the one constant in this world of shadows, shams and shameless distortions of the truth. Cutting definitively through the daisies of disinformation, Morrissey Breen is the last true star in the constellation of crap that passes for modern media.
No, no, NO, I say!
I’ll not have it said that he is capable of innacuracy in any form. I demand satisfaction. I will meet you at dawn with pistols drawn if you do not withdraw your vile and bassless calumny against a writer whose every utterances is as mother’s milk to a mewling baby and equally pure of heart and essence.
Hooton’s comment was indeed correct, but he can’t resist snide observations on the side about Labour leaders. He did it in a big way to Cunliffe and he’s chosen to follow suit with Little.
Whether you agree with his strategy or not, Mike Williams chooses to ignore Hooton’s put-downs and concentrates on the issue under discussion. He’s probably right to do so because it’s better to ignore Hooton than risk giving his put-downs any more oxygen. Except when he goes over the top, Ryan has adopted a similar policy.
Btw rhinocrates as far as I know Williams is still a member of the Labour Party.
Yes he did weka. What Hooton always does is to take advantage of a discussion to throw in mischievous and invariably inaccurate barbs about Labour and Green leaders. But when you take out the barbs, his analysis of a situation is usually more or less correct. Williams ignores the barbs and bases his responses on the analysis. It’s very annoying for us listeners but except when Hooton says something which is seriously over the top, it’s probably the best course of action.
I think that Pb’s analysis stands. Just don’t agree with Hooton, because that’s what people hear at the start and that sets the tone for whatever else is said next. Williams has one job, to shift the narrative to the left, and he generally fails to do that. Maybe he thinks that by agreeing with Hooton he’s being conciliatory, but it just keeps the narrative in the centre.
We really need more actual left wing commentators, esp in that spot.
@ Rhinocrates
Incisive and humorous. Are you a journalist? Where do you publish. Oxygen thieves, Radionzzzz, Punch and Judy and porridge. Brilliant descriptions. There’s something for everyone.
Nah, I’m still grumpy about the first derogatory epithet cast at Labour by Rhinocrates. “Aged” indeed.
I also listened to the first part of the political segment on RNZ. I have to agree with Te Reo Putake above when he wrote “The problem is, much of what Hooton said in his opening piece was both factually correct and reasonably framed to begin the discussion.”
I know of the criticism levelled at Williams by various commentators here on the Standard when he states his agreement with Hooton. I suspect he does it now to wind up commentators here. This time, I listened to Hooton and Williams’s response with that criticism in mind, and I had to agree with Hooton’s first comments and Williams’s approval.
Approval can mean that he agrees; it also indicates to a listener that he is not churlish about comments from a political opponent just because he said it; it gives Williams credibility in noting what is reasonable and forrest; and it also encourages Hooton to stay reasonable and factually correct.
If he ignored Hooton’s comment by not passing any judgment, as Weka suggests, then those three pluses for that style of engagement are lost.
Don’t worry mac1 – I have privileges – I’m somewhat “aged” too 🙂
greywarshark, yes I do publish, but under my own name and in other, obscure media/fora – academic literary criticism and the odd (sometimes very odd) creative work mainly. I prefer to preserve my pseudonymity here when Hoots or Curran are collecting addresses.
mac1
Willliams could try to be slightly unbalanced on the left side though! Instead of seemingly so to the right. He could say e.g. Yes you’ve got a point there, but not a strong one, and I think on the other hand that Little is shaping up well or such.
And as for winding us up!! You’re joking aren’t you. We’re not in a game.
So if he was to think along those lines, he could get on his skateboard and roll. Time for a change anyway. Who would we get instead? Someone remembering past left, recent past left and present and who still is in touch with his left side. Not some well-rounded bloke or blokess who just spins like a top with no sharp edges.
“And as for winding us up!! You’re joking aren’t you.”
Yes, I’m joking. About Williams caring about the commentators here overly much. But when the commentators, as Phil Ure states lower down, gets it wrong and mishears because of their bias, then I’m not joking. The reason being that there’s one thing in saying that it’s serious and not a game which I’m in agreement with, and with being so wound up that people hear what they want to hear, and are plain wrong.
There’s a danger there where reasonable people fear to tread…………..
If we are full of bullshit, then we lose. To the reader, and to the voters who are at the present, according to the latest Ray Morgan, happy with Key’s government and also with business confidence above the past decade’s average, which is what I suspect Williams was talking about with the Hawkes Bay references he made.
Both commentators gave the relatively new Labour leader, president to be elected and to be appointed chief media advisor a year to get this perception changed. It won’t be changed by fulminating bullshit. From anywhere, Williams, Hooton or our commentariat included.
grewwarshark @ 13.1.4
Rhinocrates has yet to surpass his brilliant piece on this site about a fictional speech given by Shearer when he was leader. The problem… Shearer was putting his supermarket shopping list together at the same time and the inevitable happened. He got the two muddled. The tears of laughter streamed down my face.
That was good rhino.
But after being stirred and shaken the next commenter produced this..
One Anonymous Knucklehead 6.1
15 April 2013 at 8:18 pm
Laugh all you want. I can reveal that dirty foreigners have accessed the National Party’s website and right now are seeking to copy the government’s education policy, assett sales and economic management program in an effort to export them and destabilise their own countries the way we have this one.
That Williams eh. Have you seen those gizmo parrots with a recording device which repeats everything you say and it’s in a funny voice. Hilarious. What a pity Radio isn’t television, it’s got as vacuous with this pair of political pollies, but the parrot must be seen to be effective comedy.
On radio the humour doesn’t come off. I suggest listening to 9toNoon at 11.45 a.m. and get Pinky Agnew and Radar et al for laughs and some political stuff gets in there, probably as much as in the official discussion. Really the two fatheads known as the Hooton and Williams duo or Mutt and Mike, are neither use nor armament (Freudian slip).
edited
..and this is one of the few times i can agree with williams saying ‘i agree with matthew’..
..’cos what hooton did..he didn’t ‘undermine’ little..he just noted that @ 26% in the polls..that little has one yr to turn that around..
..that if that is still the number then..thaat there will be more talk of a leadership-change..
..what’s to argue with about that..?
..he then went on to note that the speech from little on wed is very important..
..that little has to surprise..to do a version of brashs’ orewa speech..
..in the sense of seizing the agenda..with bold policy/ideas..
..(i wd suggest a universal basic income..to end poverty in one fell swoop..
..or a return to people being able to capitalise child-benefit for housing deposit etc..
..combined with a massive building program of smart/green/clever variations on buildings..running the gamut from tiny-houses in clusters..onwards..
..hard to see what else would grab the imagination..)
..so..anyway..that was what hooton said..
..so what was to disagree with..?..and how was he ‘undermining’ little..?
..that is a serious distortion of what actually happened..there..morissy..
..to the extent..u shd withdraw it..and apologise for misleading us punters..
..but i hasten to add that pretty much everything else williams said was absolute shite..
..at one stage he was prattling on about how he and sll his middle class mates are ‘feeling pretty good’ out there..in the hawkes bay..
..ryan called him on his bullshit..and then he furiously agres with every counter argument the compere made..(!)..(as he does..)
..i think the inside of williams head must be like a fairground at full volume..
..and hooton got in the first official chicken little/’the sky is falling in!’ rightwing bout of panic at the election of the leftwing govt in greece..
Who gives a shit, Phil? Only political tragics even know what you’re talking about. It has no relevance to the vast majority of voters, especially the yoof.
a mea culpa from little/labour for neo-lib/labour losing their way –
And the reply:
Who gives a shit, Phil? Only political tragics even know what you’re talking about. It has no relevance to the vast majority of voters, especially the yoof.
So, got a response to what I actually wrote? I reckon it’s ancient history. Your counterpoint is … ?
TRP
You are in attack mode again. I thought phil made good points. Even if they don’t praise the sainted Labour Party up to the sky they sound fair and reasoned. So does have relevance.
Yes, Phil made points. But the question remains; what would be the use of Labour apologising for Lange/Douglas? Who would care? What difference would it make?
TRP
I liked what phil said and how he went through the points in 13.3. After that it was the point about possibly saying sorry that you objected to TRP.
Perhaps if you had acknowledged the earlier points, as well as disagreeing with the sorry idea, we would have had a dozen less coments. I agree with you about not saying sorry. It is not appropriate or useful, but it would be good if it could be acknowledged that Labour had taken the wrong approach in the 1980’s..
But more than that, what would energise us now is new policies backing a determination to improve NZs wellbeing, economy and support for regions infrastructure and enterprise. And we need control over our assets and resources, including not selling houses to foreign investors, Labour should give us the ability to have a stake in our own country, not continue policies downgrading our lives to make money for a few.
1) Clamp on capital controls .
2) Hair cut 50% of every bank deposit over €200K; depositers will gain rights to Greek public land and assets as an IOU.
3) Hire 20,000 people into the public service at the minimum wage, supporting services and NGOs for the poor and homeless.
4) Issue every citizen with 200,000 drachmae, the nominal equivalent of €500 for spending. Make it clear that an annual tax of 400,000 drachmae will now be levied on each citizen.
5) 10% of all public employees salaries to be paid in drachmae. 20% for the top decile of public employees.
6) Put a fully empowered government appointed member on the board of every financial institution in the country.
7) Sign extended, cheap, energy deals with Russia.
8) All government purchasing to go to local Greek companies only.
I wouldn’t call in the Troika, they are the enemy, the banksters.
Greece is a colony of Germany and France. It has nothing to gain by forcing workers to pay EU bankers out of their miserable wages.
The EU is not a partnership of equals but a convenient fiction for the bosses to pump surplus out of workers.
The central committee of Syriza wants to stay in the EU and negotiate a fair deal. This is a delusion. Lambs lying down with wolves.
Syriza must be forced by mass protests from below to break with the banksters. Then the workers in the other PIGS will be inspired to follow. The flow on effects to the rest of Europe and the world will be strong.
* Cancel all debts!
* Expropriate the capitalists and in particular the so-called “50 families”!
* Nationalize the key corporations without paying compensation and place them under worker control!
* Break all links with EU institutions and leave the Eurozone!
* Significantly increase the minimum wage!
* For a public works program in order to rebuild the country!
* For the right of national self-determination for national minorities! Equality for migrants (full citizenship rights, right to use their native language, equal wages, etc.)!
* For a workers’ government based on action councils which will organize the workers and popular masses and establish an armed workers’ militia!
* For a workers’ republic in Greece! For a United Socialist States of Europe!
CR
Email that to the new Greek leader when h gets in. He might be pleased to know that more than people in Greece support them in their efforts to restore their economy and polity.
he new Greek government has plenty of challenges ahead of it: A towering debt, chronic unemployment and relations with the rest of Europe. But it also has an urgent security problem.
Greece has become an unwitting crossroads — both for jihadists trying to reach Iraq and Syria from Europe, and for fighters returning home from the Middle East.
So, that would be a US invasion sometime in the near future then?
Voting doesn’t cause the US and NATO to ‘lose control’.
Parliament is a fig leaf in this power game.
But it will make them play their hand, sanctions, destablisation, even invasions, which will raise the game to the next level of popular armed defence of democracy against the No 1 world terrorist.
It will also bring Russia and China into play since they have an interest in seeing that Greece is not turned into ‘failed state’ to justify an invasion.
If it looks like the Economic Hitmen can’t do their job, they’ll send in real Hitmen. If I were Tsipras I’d be making sure that all the military Generals and diplomatic protection squads were on side, ASAP.
Note that Greece has been buying billions in American and German military equipment form large western corporations, using bail out funds. These orders were not subject to the austerity measures imposed by the IMF, ECB.
An article that’s interesting – there’s ittle that’s new or secret, but that’s the point – it’s all in plain sight. Anyway, some – pardon the pun – handy ammunition:
On leaving office in 1960, Eisenhower warned of the power of the emerging “Military-Industrial Complex”. With America now a plutocracy (who can gain office without huge campaign donations and without being beholden to their donors?), it’s much worse.
Cheney’s links with Halliburton and his war profiteering are well known, but this shows that rather than being the corruption of one man, the entanglement of industry, the military and congress is now wider, deeper and more insidious.
Quote: “the Boston Globe found that 80 percent of retiring three- and four-star generals went to work for defense related firms” That is, they often become lobbyists, the leash-holders of representatives.
It may not be news to many and there’s no Snowdenesque revelation of secret material – worse, it’s all plainly known already. The tracing of names and flow of funds in an accessible form is useful.
Considering the chronic mismanagement of defence programmes such as the F-35 (a costly turkey of a plane) and pressure to retire proven effective systems such as the A-10 close-support aircraft and the forcing of unwanted production of M-1 tanks that go immediately into storage, even the right-wing hawks should be concerned at the undermining of America’s defence capacity.
We may not have Lockheed Martin here, but we do have Sky City and similar dynamics are at play.
And while the military-industrial-surveillance-complex corporations keep getting the big billions, the US military is giving thousands of its service personnel and officers redundancy notices because there isn’t enough money in the Pentagon budget to pay ordinary wages and HR expenses.
Moss said Fish & Game was concerned at the recent reporting of toxic algal blooms in the region’s waterways, and believed it was another indication that local rivers, streams and estuaries were deteriorating while agriculture intensified across Southland.
“While cyanobacteria is naturally occurring, its growth is promoted by high nitrate levels, which is generally derived from stock urine.”
Fish & Game was concerned that the recent bloom was occurring so far upstream and with indications that the remainder of the summer could be drier than normal, the situation was only going to get worse, he said.
“Unless there is a concerted effort to reduce the quantity of nitrate that is being lost to both ground and surface water, these blooms are likely to become commonplace over the Southland summer.”
“I’m sure all Southlanders look forward to Environment Southland setting robust catchment nutrient limits, as they have signalled, to make sure our rivers are safe for swimming, fishing and food gathering.”
some rivers “unswinmmable”….and some rivers ain’t there any more….disappeared between the stones ……no use going there with your togs …..just hot stone wadis…and a few ribbons of slime
so sad that we are at this stage – I really believe our rivers are like veins or maybe arteries??? Anyway… they are essential, just so important – it is getting close, if not already there, when we are going to have to fight for our rivers and by that I mean literally take back that ‘commons’.
In the bay over the weekend we swam on saturday in the sea and in a river, and on sunday did the same. Lots of people (for us) there, children, laughing and fun – and the water was beautiful, cleansing and invigorating – we reveled in the environment, in the sun and water and the gift of being there enjoying our pastimes. This is for everyone, this is living. And building connection and community and resilience. I will fight for the right for everyone to be able to enjoy clean and safe water and rivers.
clean is relative for sure – our rivers in the bay are not ‘clean’ just cleaner than some others
and in the hottest parts of the day the dairy farmers spray water across their fields, water taken from the river and aquifer, and they spray it into the hot evaporating sun and then they spray some more – that to me shows total arrogance and ignorance.
This is an intereting clip of public service broadcasting from USA. The Washington Week Webcast Extra program. Gwen Ifill is a very likeable capable interviewer. This clip would be of interest to those wondering why new tech programs while expensive, employing skilled people, often don’t work properly. There the Healthcare program started and still wasn’t working right. The word that crops up continually is ‘contractors’ Q to the lead contractor – how is it going. A. Fine. We’ve got the best people working on it. And so on down the line with all the sub-contractors. Then, later. Q. What went wrong. A. I don’t know we had the best etc. And so it goes.
The tech people at the bottom had to direct themselves it seems, and they spent a month ceaselessly working to get it going. The analogy used was they were still fixing the engines while the plane was flying.
1 Why does No Right Turn Idiot/Savant pieces get sampled twice in the right column?
2 King Abdullah’s death is recognised? If somebody like Chavez dies I presume we would honour him and his country the same? I wouldn’t like repressive oil barons to get all the adulation.
You ask whether we recognized Chavez’s death by flying flags at half mast.
The answer is we did, as you can see from this link. http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/40248-city-lowers-flag-chavez.html
This is from a Tauranga paper but it does say that all Government Offices flew them that way and describes the New Zealand policy.
Of course many people might say that he was also a repressive oil baron.
The president’s death is also specified under the New Zealand Flag Notice 1986. The notice describes when the flags are flown at half-mast including the days of national commemoration and in the case of the death of a foreign head of state.
From alwyn’s link.
I/S’s post might show twice if he edited/republished it twice.
Interesting article about the rise of private armies. (Extract)
Five characteristics distinguish PMCs from other armed nonstate actors in global politics. First, they are motivated more by profit than by politics. This is not to suggest that all PMCs disregard political interests and serve merely at the whim of the highest bidder, but they are fundamentally profit-seeking entities. Second, they are structured as multinational corporations and participate in the global financial system. These are not shady “lone wolf” mercenaries stalking the jungles of the Congo during the wars of African liberation. Third, they are expeditionary in nature, meaning that they seek work in foreign lands rather than providing domestic security services. There are exceptions to this, especially when it comes to homeland defense, but in general, these firms are foreign focused and are not domestic security guards. Fourth, they typically deploy force in a military manner, as opposed to a law-enforcement one. The purpose of military force is to defeat or deter the enemy through organized violence, while law enforcement seeks to deescalate violent situations to maintain law and order. This intrinsically affects how they operate. Fifth and most important, PMCs are lethal and represent the commodification of armed conflict. There will always be exceptions to these five features, but they serve as a good test of whether an armed nonstate actor is a PMC.
(Extract.)
When the United States invaded Iraq, few imagined at the time that it would also introduce a new norm in modern warfare: the privatization of war. The next chapter explores the deepening dependency between the superpower and the private military industry and implications for the American way of war.
It seems now that the latest US invasion of Iraq was in fact largely a for-profit venture. Not proftable for the USA as a nation or its peoples, but profitable for USA Inc.
@ CR
I have the idea that there was a lot of Iraq money that had been frozen, in USA coffers. If the USA declared war they could take possession of the cash as spoils of war I suppose. Then the war would be paid for by the defending state. And the arms for the war would be bought from the USA’s businesses so the money would be passed to them and some of it would come back to the US government. Also it provided employment for the USA young men and women. A good financial scheme if they had hold of Iraq’s cash
Later I seem to remember they were said to have sent container loads of cash to Iraq, a spokesperson saying lamely that it was their money. It was not channelled into needed infrastructure replacement, it was handed over to leaders who the USA chose no doubt and only a small percentage went into the people’s hands and the economy.
If anyone has a summary of the financial dealings perhaps they could put up a link as mine is from memory and may not have been correct in the first place.
From what I read it’s going to be several tens of thousands of workers. And if IBM has picked that there is going to be large scale consolidation in the industry you can expect others to follow.
Todays Australian honours list shows just what a farce the scheme is. Not only here but in alL the former Empire countries. SIr Phillip Windsor what a joke.
The Panel is off to a typically mirth-filled start today
Radio NZ National, Monday 26 January 2015
Jim Mora, Stephen Franks, Chris Gallavin, Julie Moffett
First up today, a thoughtful, enlightening discussion about who should and should not be called terrorists….
JULIE MOFFETT: The BBC says the people who carried out the Charlie Hebdo killings should not be called terrorists.
…..Pause to indicate they’re thinking seriously…..
JIM MORA: Nnnnyeah, you would think that the Charie Hebdo killings were reasonably terroristic wouldn’t you. CHRIS GALLAVIN: Well, one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist! Oh, I don’t know WHAT’S happening Jim, quite frankly! MORA: Hur hur hur hur! CHRIS GALLAVIN: It’s summer time, Jim! MORA: Hur hur hur hur! JULIE MOFFETT: Ha ha ha ha ha!
He hasn’t appeared yet, but listeners who can bear listening to this dreck should keep an ear out for the sepulchral ex-ACT MP and S.S. man Stephen Franks, who will no doubt deliver one of his smarmy little homilies about “wickedness”.
FACT: Jim Mora never once said, last year, or in 2008-9, or in 2006: “Nnnnyeah, you would think that the Gaza/West Bank/Lebanon killings were reasonably terroristic wouldn’t you.”
.cd u plse address the issues raised in comment 13.3.
Yes, you’re correct, Phillip. Hooton was not actually lying, he was simply putting the most negative spin on the state of the Labour Party that he could possibly get away with.
My problem with Williams is that he didn’t even demur at the tone of Hooton’s disrespectful, exaggerated dismissal of Andrew Little, and announced that he agreed with everything that cynical National Party operative had just said. He was signaling from the outset that, once again, he was going to let Hooton make all the running, and was going to agree with him whenever possible. No doubt that kind of back-scratching was how Williams conducted his political career; he doesn’t seem to have noticed that there is no quid pro quo in it; Hooton simply treats him with contempt.
The grandest of the consolidated surfaces – the fifth type of terrain – is Hathor, a towering 2,950-foot (900 meter) cliff that dominates the underside of the comet’s duck-like head. Its distinctive linear features, which run both up and down and across for much of its height, reveal brighter material that suggests we’re seeing the internal structure of the comet’s head. Tucked along an alcove on the cliff are additional bright white spots less than 30 feet (10-m) across that may be patches of sublimating ice.
We should be looking for ways to nudge those comets into Mars. Get enough mass there and Mars will become livable. It’s not at the moment due to the lack of atmosphere and electromagnetic field.
Directing comets to Mars to increase it’s mass and make it livable?
Wut? Increasing Mar’s mass isn’t going to increase its magnetic field. Not to mention slamming comets into a planet is a fairly poor solution to making a planet livable.
Of course, slamming Mars with asteroids and comets still may not be enough to re-heat it’s core and thus get its magnetic field going or replace it’s atmosphere. May have to nip out to the Kuiper Belt or the Oort Cloud and grab a dwarf planet or two.
Not to mention slamming comets into a planet is a fairly poor solution to making a planet livable.
Earth’s magnetic field comes from it’s internal dynamo. There is nothing to suggest slamming a planet with comets will do anything about reheating its core and kicking off the dynamo. Least of all anything to do with mass (look at Venus – very similar mass to earth, tiny magnetic field)
“Worked for Earth.”
Firstly it wasn’t just being slammed with comets that made earth livable but, secondly, if you have a few hundreds of million years available then go right ahead.
“May have to nip out to the Kuiper Belt or the Oort Cloud and grab a dwarf planet or two.”
Wow…really? Just “nip” out there and shackle a dwarf planet, send it back to mars and slam it into it. Wow.
This is stupid even for you. These are events that are millions on millions on millions of the years in the making. I can’t even
not to mention all the new planetary shrapnel flying around the solar system from all these impacts.
And then rather than waiting 100million years for mars to cool enough for us to live on, maybe we should just drop some unobtanium bombs down a really long martian mine shaft and melt the core that way? 😉
“We have sailed many weeks, we have sailed many days,
(Seven days to the week I allow),
But a Snark, on the which we might lovingly gaze,
We have never beheld till now!
Your link showing the supposed ‘Space Station Footage of The North Pole Opening to Hollow Earth’ seems suspect to me.
I am skeptical.
If the theory is true, then it is astonishing that the scientists have not confirmed this. Besides, there are thousands of satellites from scores of different countries circling the globe. None of them have photographed or indicated the voracity of the theory.
I had never heard of ‘hollow Earth’!
So I googled and found lots of links.
Here is one:
At the closest point to the Earth, asteroid 2004 BL86 will be at a distance of 1.2 million kilometers which – approximately three times the distance from the Earth to the moon. Estimated to be 0.5 km in diameter, it is classified by scientists as potentially dangerous.
Here is a good article to understand the ‘revolution’ that has been instigated by the young. Could be a harbinger for similar future revolutions all over the capitalist western countries sooner or later:
——————
Greece Shows What Can Happen When The Young Revolt Against Corrupt Elites
By Paul Mason
January 25, 2015 “ICH” – “The Guardian” – At Syriza’s HQ, the cigarette smoke in the cafe swirls into shapes. If those could reflect the images in the minds of the men hunched over their black coffees, they would probably be the faces of Che Guevara, or Aris Velouchiotis, the second world war Greek resistance fighter. These are veteran leftists who expected to end their days as professors of such esoteric subjects as development economics, human rights law and who killed who in the civil war. Instead, they are on the brink of power.
Black coffee and hard pretzels are all the cafe provides, together with the possibility of contracting lung cancer. But on the eve of the vote, I found its occupants confident, if bemused.
However, Syriza HQ is not the place to learn about radicalisation. The fact that a party with a “central committee” even got close to power has nothing to do with a sudden swing to Marxism in the Greek psyche. It is, instead, testimony to three things: the strategic crisis of the eurozone, the determination of the Greek elite to cling to systemic corruption, and a new way of thinking among the young.
* The Eurozone’s crisis is easiest to understand – because its consequences can be read so easily in the macroeconomic figures. The IMF predicted Greece would grow as the result of its aid package in 2010. Instead, the economy has shrunk by 25%. Wages are down by the same amount. Youth unemployment stands at 60% – and that is among those who are still in the country.
* So the economic collapse – about which all Greeks, both right and leftwing, are bitter – is not just seen as a material collapse. It demonstrated complete myopia among the European policy elite. In all of drama and comedy there is no figure more laughable as a rich man who does not know what he is doing. For the past four years the troika – the European Commission, IMF and European Central Bank – has provided Greeks with just such a spectacle.
* As for the Greek oligarchs, their misrule long predates the crisis. These are not only the famous shipping magnates, whose industry pays no tax, but the bosses of energy and construction groups and football clubs. As one eminent Greek economist told me last week: “These guys have avoided paying tax through the Metaxas dictatorship, the Nazi occupation, a civil war and a military junta.” They had no intention of paying taxes as the troika began demanding Greece balance the books after 2010, which is why the burden fell on those Greeks trapped in the PAYE system – a workforce of 3.5 million that fell during the crisis to just 2.5 million.
* From outside, Greece looks like a giant negative: but what lies beneath the rise of the radical left is the emergence of positive new values – among a layer of young people much wider than Syriza’s natural support base. These are the classic values of the networked generation:
self-reliance, creativity, the willingness to treat life as a social experiment,
a global outlook.
*I’ve reported the Greek crisis since it began, and what changed in 2015 was this: Syriza had already won the solid support of about 25% of voters on the issues of Europe and economics. But now a further portion of the Greek electorate, above all the young, are signalling they’ve had enough of corruption and elites.
* Greece, though an outlier, has always been a signifier, too: this is what happens when modern capitalism fails. For there are inept bureaucrats and corrupt elites everywhere.
* We face two years of electoral uncertainty in Europe, with the far left or the hard right now vying for power in Spain, France and the Netherlands. Some are proclaiming this “the end of neoliberalism”.
I’m not sure of that. All that’s certain is that Greece shows how it could end.
The Communist Tendency inside Syriza opposes the formation of a government with the Independent Greeks, an openly bourgeois right-wing anti-immigration UKIP-type party.
Despite winning more than 50% of the vote in the cities Syriza fell short of an absolute majority by 2 seats.
The Communist Tendency argues that this will put a limit on Syriza’s ability to pursue a strong anti-capitalist agenda that meet the needs of its popular constituency.
Being in government with a rightwing bourgeois party will also provide and an excuse for conciliatory elements within Syriza to make concessions to the Troika.
By rejecting the Independent Greeks and exposing the anti-worker refusal of the KKE (Communist Party of Greece) to join the government, Syriza sends a clear message to its supporters that it will not form a government with the bourgeoisie and should go back to the country to win an outright majority.
Another privileged farmer apologist. This one’s pretty gobsmacking. I wonder if there is some cultural reason why some farmers seem unable to understand how this would come across (although willing to bet it made plenty of other farmers cringe too).
This week, its case against AB Wood Holdings convinced the judge to impose a $134,500 fine after the death of one of its workers. The apple orchardist had dared to Grow Apple Trees On A Slope, a terrible example of Doing A Thing. Not only that, the company hadn’t bothered to flatten the slope, so the worker rolled his tractor while mowing the orchard and died.
@ weka
This Narelle Henson seems to have quite a lot of negative comment. People Thinking at the Same Time as They are Doing Things. Another example of our outdated educaton system. People who have learned to write their names, and read but not realise the import of the information or their connection with other human beings.
This is one of her items. This guy has 23 companies and 10 have been liquidated in one year, was written in 2014.
I guess this must be similar to the story of some of those cowboy builders. I have heard it said they would start a new company for each house and then close it down so there was no entity to claim on.
I have to say that is a rubbish article all right it seems like a war of the dimwitted journalist on either side of the farming fence at the mo
I can only assume stuff are cutting costs buy hiring morons.
By my informal count, every feminist active in the area is to be sanctioned. This takes care of social justice warriors with a vengeance — not only do the GamerGaters get to rewrite their own page (and Zoe Quinn’s, Brianna Wu’s, Anita Sarkeesian’s, etc.); feminists are to be purged en bloc from the encyclopedia.
There’s always going to be some issues with a community edited encyclopedia but the ones that should be getting banned from editing it are the ones that are lying.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
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A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
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The topic of holding the Government to account came up in a discussion on The Standard yesterday. The results suggest that Labour didn’t do this very well last term, failing badly in the election.
[Stephanie: This comment was literally a copy-paste of an entire post from your site. This is in clear breach of the policy on “link-whoring” and you have been warned about this before.
Anyone interested in Pete’s thoughts on the Labour party in Opposition can go here:
http://yournz.org/2015/01/26/holding-government-to-account-versus-harassment/%5D
🙄
Responses to this comment will be republished at Yawns.
I wonder when you’ll tire of that approach. The same principles apply to blogging.
Perpetual pissy attacks damage your own credibility. That didn’t work out well for Labour last term. The prospects are looking better under Little but it’s up to more than just him.
You’re too dishonest to admit that you’re soliciting free content for your own benefit, so I’m going to do it for you.
Thanks for the public service OAB.
PG’s comment above looks like a straight cut and paste from a post on his site.
🙂
People can go and read yesterday’s discussion and see how Petey spins it. What a cretin this man is.
The funniest part is how he presumes to know what and why NZers like things. He was a UF candidate and booster of various weird ideas that never seem to get off the ground. Because reasons.
I thought you did very well yesterday putting that case – watertight it was although some drips cannot be contained 🙂
If you took Key out of the equation I doubt very much National would win. The opposition must ‘keep holding them to account’, after all that’s what opposition party’s do, so can’t agree there.
The single biggest thing the opposition party’s need to achieve is working contructively together. I am all for L/G/NZF to hold primary contests in winnable seats. Vote splitting is gifting National too many seats. Deals can be done so the G/NZF party’s actually win electorate seats. I mooted this with a senior Labour MP who was quite open to this approach.
Another hurdle is the large bloc of people that don’t feel compelled to vote. So how is this to be addressed? A couple of killer policies, the less is more tactic, however will this have an effect on those who do vote.
Personally I don’t like the thought of a Labour that is nothing more than National lite.
If you took PG out of the equation, we could probably have a decent conversation. Anything that happens from this point on is just a repeated of yesterday, and all the other days when PG troled for attention and to use ts to spread his beige agenda.
It’s not as none of the main parties actually do anything for the majority of those that don’t vote.
And that’s all they’ve been since 1984.
Fair point Draco, it tends to niggle away in the back of ones mind. Even the Greens are positioning themselves a bit lite these days too. Cutting an MP’s pay in half may rid the troughers and get people in there for the correct reason.
MP’s get too cosy sitting on 150k, lean them up, make em hungry for the cause. Also make it that much easier to slash public & state sector executives outrageously out of control & obscene salaries.
I like the Alliance’s idea that MP’s salaries be set to the same as a third year teacher. Wonder how many of National’s MPs would complain that teachers are paid too much then 😈
I made a submission to a welfare task force years ago. They asked “How can we ensure benefits are enough to live on?” My submission was to pay MPs at beneficiary rates. For some strange reason, it was not adopted.
Not a strange reason – your suggestion was just stupid.
Perhaps if you had of come up with sensible suggestions you could have helped.
In what way was it stupid?
After all, the MPs have expense accounts to cover their work expenses.
apparently if we don’t pay them hundreds of thousands a year, the calibre of MPs we have will be even lower.
Let’s all just try and figure out how that might even be conceivably possible…
What’s stupid about it? Don’t they stand because they want to serve the community? They would still have their limousines and their expense accounts.
Perhaps if you had come up with a sensible reason you could have helped.
+100 Skinny…good points
YEP
+ 1..
It’s an interesting idea, but I just don’t see the public buying it?
By definition, the election is to decide who represents the electorate. Having a pre-screening ballot before the election itself, that only a minority of parties contest, doesn’t seem to pass the sniff test to me.
I will credit the senior MP for suggesting a deal that the others get electorate seats, which we concurred should happen if they come forward with their best candidates i.e Peters, Marks & Norman, Hughes as examples.
@Lanthanide Well something ‘a bit outside the box’ needs to be tried or it’s ground hog day, except it’s not day, it’s 3 years. Others keep mooting not standing candidates from the outset. Which to my thinking removes a contest, atleast what I propose entails a contest. I see the positives outweighing the negatives.
Funny thing is, the Standard just bounced me to this post that Ad wrote:
http://thestandard.org.nz/from-the-thick-of-it-to-borgen/
In it he talks about how Labour needs to show that it is willing to engage with the Greens in a deep multi-term partnership in government. And what you suggest would be a perfect way of starting to do that.
+ 1..
An interesting read looking back. This should be sorted at conference, probably the single biggest issue, along with policy platform.
@DPG yes that’s a good idea but would get gamed I suspect.
I recommend campaigning for preferential voting in electorates as well, so that people don’t have to worry that they might waste their vote for a 3rd party candidate any more.
Ahhhh good point.
PG setting the discussion agenda again. This seems to be a tactic to crowd out more useful and constructive discussion.
+1
Edit, looks like a moderator has fixed it.
Bearded
+2 To use Paul’s method of reply to PG : zzzzzzzzzzzzz
This is a polite request that people who link to Yawns do so using the “do not link” webpage, so as not to increase traffic.
http://www.donotlink.com/cf65
Pity that people rate it as “offensive” when they should just rate it “nonsense”.
Depends how you feel about beige I guess 🙂
“Anyone interested in Pete’s thoughts on the Labour party in Opposition can go here:”
Thanks, but no thanks
maybe pete should write a book..?
..’the thoughts of (former united party branch secretary)- pete’ as a working title.?
..or maybe he cd go a bit edgy..?
‘..i’m pete..!..let me p.g. all over you!’..?
..so..off ya go pete..!..
..the nation awaits..!
You have been a myopic hot and cold blowing simpleton being fooled and enamoured by this National party/government mirage!
Are you blind to the spin, bullshit, dirty politics, lies, razzmatazz and propaganda indulged in by Key, the National party, Cosby Textor, the powerful corporates, the RW blogs and MSM outfits that manage to constantly publicise a false dishonest ‘positive’ narrative of the government, drowning or ignoring the negatives, the ineptitude, the poor policies and their corrupt practices?
In comparison to National, Labour and the left are forthright, are more democratic, have enlightened values, are modern, principled, patriotic, honest and caring for the social and economic well being of all the people and the country for both the short term and the long term.
If you are a person of integrity and honesty, you will realise the truth of what I have just said.
Think it over instead of putting Labour and the left down and batting directly or indirectly for these rotten Nats and the RW rogues.
I thought link whoring involved linking and I didn’t include a link or reference to any link. Can you please clarify the policy about unlinked comments.
Penny Bright has been pinged for the same offence. If you are going to post something it should be an original comment. The Policy says “You can link to your own site provided it isn’t excessive, explains why you think it should be read (so people can decide not to go there without clicking into it), is short, and you either do it in OpenMike or within the context of the post or surrounding comments.”
So posting from your site is fine as well as long as it is a synopsis rather than the whole thing.
It was an original comment. I usually do summarise or post excerpts but I thought this topic was better complete, but if you don’t want that then so be it.
Ironically someone else posted a link, not me. A bit bemusing.
[Stephanie: It was original neither in content nor the ideas therein. Your post at YourNZ made no mention that it had originally been posted as a comment here. What you “think” bears no resemblance to the clear stated policy of this website, especially given the numerous warnings you have received for this behaviour. Stop being so bloody rude.]
A quick clarification for racebaiting’s Pooter George:
Your safest bet if you’re finding this confusing would be to not post any fucken thing at all. Your credibility could do with the karmic lift that would come with making so many TS readers instantly happy.
Allow me to end your bemusement. If you go and have a squizz at this site’s comments policy, it rules out “pasting long materials from other sites.” If the definition of “long materials” is also bemusing, as a handy rule of thumb keep in mind that “entire post from your site” totally qualifies.
I’d like clarification on your judgement. I took what you refer to as meaning long quotes of what other people have posted on other sites. MS referred to “original comment”, which it was.
I presume length wasn’t an issue, posts that size aren’t uncommon here.
The key words are “other sites”. Just summarise and put in a link.
“Just summarise and put in a link.”
Which often gets called link whoring. But ok, I’ll follow your advice.
No, it doesn’t. Link whoring is when you just put a link with no explanation, or you link multiple times. For someone who’s apparently been on the internet as long as you, you’re really playing the Dunce tonight.
Hmm, duncetrole, that’s a subtype I guess.
“Link whoring is when you just put a link with no explanation, or you link multiple times. ”
I don’t do that. But that’s bollocks as a definition, it’s far from all that’s referred to as link whoring.
Wiki definitions:
Noun
link whoring
(Internet, idiomatic) The practice of going out of one’s way to place links to one’s website on someone else’s webpage.
Noun
link whore (plural ‘link whoars’)
(idiomatic, Internet) Someone who goes to great lengths to get other people to link to his/her website or blog
‘link whoars’
roflnui
“I don’t do that.”
I didn’t say you do.
“But that’s bollocks as a definition, it’s far from all that’s referred to as link whoring.”
Of course, but for the purposes of this conversation it’s what gets treated as link whoring on ts.
You seem to be having considerable comprehension problems in this subthread.
…ok, I’ll follow your advice.
To the letter, I’m sure.
To the spirit, not so much.
In summation:
It was original neither in content nor the ideas therein.
…ideas that never seem to get off the ground.
Which often gets called link whoring.
For fuck’s sake, and for the second time, try actually reading this fucking blog’s comments policy. It says, among other things:
You can link to your own site provided it isn’t excessive, explains why you think it should be read (so people can decide not to go there without clicking into it), is short, and you either do it in OpenMike or within the context of the post or surrounding comments.
It’s perfectly clear. If you need other commenters to read this stuff and draw your attention to it, maybe you shouldn’t comment in the first place.
Look pretty professional Pete a commercial venture like this must have caught the atention of the MSM outfits for a buy in. You must be making a tidy packet out of it so should stump up for a monthly linking fee.
“I presume length wasn’t an issue, posts that size aren’t uncommon here.”
Yes. They are.
You’ve had three very clear explanations, two of them by moderators both of whom were polite and excessively generous (myself, I wish Lynn had handled it).
What is is about micky’s comment that you don’t understand?
You can link to your own site provided it isn’t excessive, explains why you think it should be read (so people can decide not to go there without clicking into it), is short, and you either do it in OpenMike or within the context of the post or surrounding comments.
I swear to god, this subthread is stupid even by the beige parrot’s standards. Liked the bit about karma though.
“I presume length wasn’t an issue, posts that size aren’t uncommon here.”
To be fair, lately he’s correct. Ask anyone who has tried to scroll through Penny’s copypasta or Phil’s .. . sparse …. textual .. efforts … on a mobile screen.
Yeah, on a phone it would be pretty bad. But Penny doesn’t post that often, and phil’s comments are more punctuation disarrays than long complete comments.
“MS referred to “original comment”, which it was. ”
For the pedantic, perhaps read that as “unique comment”, though you are not the only one who pastes the same stuff on multiple blogs including this one.
Obviously I’m not a mod here. Personally, I welcome people linking to their own blogs providing they have the courtesy to explain briefly why it’s relevant to go there. Quote a par or two at most. Save my scrolling finger…
a cautionary political-history tale for the labour party..
in greece..there was/is this political party called ‘the socialist party’..
..and like labour here..they weren’t really ‘socialist’/’labour’..
..they were centrist/neo-liberal..
..and the socialist party dominated greek politics during the 80’s and 90’s..
(with the ‘conservative’party..they did a tweedle-dum/tweedle-dee swapsies at leading the country..)
..(still sounding familiar..?..)
..anyway..this socialist (in-name-only)party has insisted on still clinging to the pillars/shards of neo-liberalisim..
(as has labour here in new zealand..c.f. their election ’14 policies..which offered absolutely nothing for the poorest/to fight the worst of inequality..)
..so..we are still in lock-step..?..that mirror-effect still prevailing..?
..well..greece has just had an election..
..where a true-left party has swept into power..
..and where that clinging-to-those-shards-of-neo-liberalism ‘socialist party’..
..that ideological first-cousin of our labour party..
..is expected to get about 5%..
..now..if that tale doesn’t have labour people quaking in their boots..
..and if it isn’t a wake-up call..
..they would have to be dead from the neck up..
..i.m.n.s.h.o…
Yes it is very interesting (putting aside the human cost etc)….
Greece needs to cancel its debt, or a significant chunk of it. Or repay over time, without interest. Or, as the victorious party apparently claimed to derision, print its own euros …… which would be the ultimate irony given that that is exactly what the Eurozone does anyway …. prints money
Why should lenders get money (interest) for printing euro notes?
Greece is exposing the sham and Ponzi scheme that is our money system.
Ponzi
Ponzi
Ponzi
i understand the new greek leadership is calling for full cancellation of the debt..
..and a fresh start..
..(polling shows most greeks don’t actually want to leave the eu..(70%+ from memory..)
..and i wd submit that the sudden decision to print money in the eu..is in part for them to have to wriggle-room/to be able to throw some money at greece/cancel debt..
..and of course there are parties echoing this greek left party..
..in span/portugal/ ireland..
..the socialist national party is going to totally wipe out both the tories and labour in scotland..(and will become the third largest party in the british parliament..making it the very large tail wagging any labour govt..)
..and like i said..to nz labour…wake up..!..
..yr very existence is in peril..
..yr only option is to return to yr roots..
..to ‘end poverty’ by announcing a universal basic income..
..and a massive programme of building smart/clever state houses/apartments/terrace-houses/w.h.y..
(..and to out-green the greens..promising to ‘clean-up’ nz..)
..and that just for starters..
..continuing to jostle with national for their space on the ideological-spectrum..
..will just see you ending up in the dustbin..
..along with yr greek first cousins..
..and u will be where you will deserve to be..
..(polling shows most greeks don’t actually want to leave the eu..(70%+ from memory..)
I bet they fucking don’t. If the Jerries were subsidising a pleasant lifestyle for NZers to the tune of billions per year, I doubt that we’d be keen to give it up either.
given the realities in greece..
..and austerity-policies/selling of assets demanded by merkel..
..yr claim that they are somehow living high on the hog..
..from german largesse..
..is beyond glib..
They’re not living high on the hog from German largesse now the bubble’s burst, no. That gravy train reached its final station in 2008. But their interest in staying within the Euro has everything to do with wanting a return to the pre-2008 lifestyle of regarding taxes as optional and having a ridiculously low retirement age (while the Jerries paying for it got to work until 65 like the rest of us).
Electing a left-wing government and rejecting the debt the austerity fans saddled them with is a start, but it’s destined for ignominious failure unless the majority start figuring out that corruption isn’t cute local colour, and demanding extensive government services while avoiding paying any taxes isn’t a good long-term prospect.
Pysycho melt down.
The Tycoons and shipping magnates are the ones paying no taxes.
Ordinary Greeks work the longest hrs in Europe and pay taxes.
Corruption of their Politicians by the most powerful corporates most likely at the behest of the Greek non taxpaying Tycoons wining and dining Greek politicians with Goldman Sachs and rorting(rating) agencies mates on these Tycoons Luxury yatchs is the reason
Why the peasants have to pick up the their Tab.
Austerity for the peasants another bailout for the Tycoons!
Psycho and Tricledown – you both have touched on the problems. They are far more complicated then a forum like this can express. And no, actually the work hours are not the longest, you need to understand that the lunch breaks during summer (6-7 months) are stretching between 3-4 hours because of the extraordinary heat. It is not feasible to work physically, really – its not possible without inciting a dehydrated breakdown. So the the day is actually broken into 2 distinctive times: 7-12noon and 4pm -9 (or beyond for nightclubs).
The second issue is that as soon as it became known that Greece is facing a financial crisis, all (and I mean ALL) wealthy people have withdrawn they wealth and moved it to the usual hiding places. (Swiss anyone?) This left the Bank close to ruin and the Government not able to borrow.
The issue that nobody is looking at is that, Greece is to a certain extent the bastion against the east, always involved in wars from the Classical, Hellenistic, Roma, Byzantine, Ottoman right trough to the WW.
This is often forgotten and that the Greek people pay the price of being the meat between the sandwich.
As for the Germans, don’t get me wrong but if many people would be as industrious and as educated as they are, things would look a hell of a lot better, belief you me. Besides, they are also just pawns in the game of the rich.
only public servants could retire at 55. everyone else at 65. the ps havent been able to retire at 55 for some years now.
Goldman Sachs to you PM.
The loan sharks Goldman Sachs and credit rorting agencies defrauded both Greek governments and Northern European banks Psycho.
Goldman Sachs and the rorting agencies should be paying for their Ponzi scam.
But alas No Goldman Sachs managed to get their inside man appointed to become the EU’s finance minister.
So avoiding investigation and have to pack the Losses on their corrupting Ponzi Scheme!
Pssycho facts please.
Delirous rants from are expected .
Conman believable therapy is no substitute for the truth!
Psycho white washing the truth.
So why is Europe in the doldrum.
One reason is consumption is down especially in southern Europe.
Austerity is having an effect on Northern Europe because Greece and other southern European countries are not buying BMW’s,VW’s,Merc’s, Audijs Porcshe’setc!
So their production workers are not affording holidays in Greece Southern Europe!
Europe is in the dole drum because there are 33 countries and 55 languages that have to find a common ground. NZ cannot even find this often with its own Maori people. Before you have some judgement on hand, take into consideration a people 45 000 years in the making (not 800), with distinctive cultures developed over this period and many wars fought to keep the identity. To find a bridge to span this history and forge a future that has validity for all is certainly not child’s play or indeed some black and white knight sessions from the good ol’ Anglo saxen stall.
As for the bankers wishes to simplify their means to get more money out of the working people – European Union – and the convolution resulting by the immigration to mainland Europe from the East, you would talk completely differently if this would be NZ. To put this into perspective, to cope what these countries currently trying to deal with, we are talking about 47 million people who need to be housed, educated, health service provided etc. The majority moved, incidentally – to Germany. 9.8 Million or 12% increase in the population by 2010. Who knows how many that is today. Now if this would be NZ, it would mean that 500 000 additional people need to be accommodated, with that I mean full benefits or workplaces. This is the size of it. To say that Germany (or the UK or any other major immigrant nation) has to accommodate even more is just plain ignorant.
The present Labour Party caucus still has some distance to go in terms of shaking itself off from ACTing lite after the 1980s.
Looks like a Syriza win,
Skai TV exit poll: Syriza 36-39 ND 24-27 Potami 6,5-8,5 GDawn 6-8 KKE 5-7 Pasok 4-6 Ind.Grks 2,5-4,5 GPap 2-3
Kapa Research Exit Poll: SYRIZA 33.5 – 37.5 ND 25 – 28 Golden Dawn 5.5 – 7.5 To Potami 5
.
The whining begins,
5m ago18:20
The sniping from Europe’s elite has already begun.
Sweden’s former prime minister Carl Bildt claims that taxpayers in other European countries will have to foot the bill for Syriza’s victory.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/jan/25/greek-election-syriza-confident-of-victory-live-updates
Great news. That will mean that Yanis Varoufakis chap will be able to implement his ideas.
In the interview below he talks about how people have been “liquidized” during the last few years. Appropriate term.
So, what will the ‘mainstream’ ‘left wing’ parties do? Solidarity or muttering nervously in a corner?
they/it is gone…their ‘labour party’ has got a single-figure result..
..’solidarity’..to what..?
..the neo-liberalism/austerity-policies that the people they used to rule over have so rejected..?
..so i think ‘muttering nervously in a corner’ will be their only option..
..and if labour here don’t get their ideological shit together..
..and ditch neo-liberalism..
..they too could well be looking for a corner to ‘mutter nervously’ in..
Brilliant site here for watching the Greek election result live.
http://ekloges.ypes.gr/current/v/public/index.html?lang=en#{“cls”:”level”,”params”:{“level”:”epik”,”id”:1}}
Click on “Parties” at the top
Thanks for that Bearded Git. Looks like the Island of Crete (long a bastion for the Left in Greece)* is leading the way, giving roughly 45% to Syriza.
*and, of course, with close WWII emotional ties to New Zealand.
David Gormley @dayvyg
Syriza supporters singing anti-fascist anthem Bella Ciao at the party’s election centre in Athens: http://youtu.be/AStrn7jDqtE
https://twitter.com/dayvyg/status/559424335329644544
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bella_ciao
An interview with economist and Syriza candidate Yanis Varoufakis.
What is the current economic situation on the eve of the elections in Greece? Can you give a kind of snapshot?
In brief, everyone owes everyone, and no one can pay. The banks are bankrupt; they owe money to the state, to each other, to foreign banks. Citizens owe money to the banks and owe money to the state. The state owes money to everyone. So we have a triple insolvency: bankrupt banks, a bankrupt state and a bankrupt private sector. There are of course pockets, like everywhere, within society of people who are really well off. They have money in banks in Switzerland, in the city of London, on Wall Street, in Frankfurt, and even some money in the Greek banks.
But the overall situation is that — even though in the last year or so there’s been a small rebound, not in terms of income but in terms of expenditure — the economy is quite clearly still in a downward spiral that is filling everyone’s soul with negative expectations.
https://ricochet.media/en/305/the-greek-canary-in-the-european-coal-mine-an-interview-with-yanis-varoufakis
Looks like Syriza are on the cusp of an outright majority which will actually be preferable to a coalition with the Independent Greeks who will be way less flexible than Syriza.
I really don’t know what comes next – if exiting the Euro is off the table the new Greek Government has very little ability to do anything. The end of austerity – great concept, but if you are only able to run at a 5% budget deficit cos you received EUR12 billion in direct subsidies, you don’t have a lot of ability to do anything.
With Euro exit off the table (this is the only viable tool that Greece has to make any change to their economy) and repudiation of debt already excluded by Tsipras maybe Syriza/EU have already done a deal. Business as usual, a softening of the terms, but business as usual. Maybe throw a few subsidies out to the poor, but business as usual.
With an inability to borrow, a budget deficit, and a committment to staying in the Euro, by definition nothing can change except the terms that the EU agrees to.
And interesting to note 10 billion euros of deposits outflow from the main Greek banks since December – that’s 4% of the remaining deposit base. The banks already have a pending request in to the ECB for emergency liquidity.
Overall, not too much bargaining power from Greece………
Yep, Greece’s only option is to remove themselves from the Euro.
I agree – and I do not see this ending well for Greece.
The banksters have the biggest guns in this game.
Paul Mason explained it fairly well in the Guardian.
Well – whats the alternative? Please list a few ideas in bullet point format to educate the rest of us. Please note Tsipras has already ruled out exiting the Euro.
The only way out would be either to forgive the debt or to space it at 0% for 100 years.
SPCA’s Bob Kerridge doubles down on his racist rhetoric about dog attacks this morning http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/20164830/head-of-auckland-spca-stands-by-ethnic-comments after being taken to task for them yesterday http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/264487/dog-attack-ethnicity-comment-%27offensive%27
There is a certain correlation with low income areas and dog attacks. It is happens that coloured folks in habit large chunks of those areas.
TG we have a white man around to *educate* the browner ones how to behave! Pity this will get more coverage than the fact that we have dogs attacking people and this needs to be stopped.
“There is a certain correlation with low income areas and dog attacks.”
And a correlation between higher income and fences. And between number of dogs and number of attacks in an area. Further analysis before opening his mouth might have helped silly old Bob.
Also a correlation between white people and racism.
stereotyping racist and bullshit artist
no wonder it never stops when those claiming the moral high ground in this arena undertake the exact behaviour they abhor
fail
very dissapointing from such an important organisation and one wonders what he thought he might achieve.
ha ha very clever, but the reference was to you weka
very dissapointing from such a regular commenter and one wonders what he thought he might achieve.
very surprised one would expect that regular commenter to want to achieve anything as soon as the topic turns to “not being a dick to large portions of the population”.
as opposed to being a dick to the largest portion of the population, as if size of the portion makes a difference ….
some things never change around here ………………………………
Touche McFlock.
oh look, mutual back-patting, how cute
And when you say something sensible, you’ll get a wee pat on the back, too.
Yeah – because non-whites cannot be racist.
I didn’t know that.
/lol
I think you and vto might have missed the point I was making. Correlation is not causation.
Probably. Brain wires have been haywire today – must be that comet getting closer …
Pity this will get more coverage than the fact that we have dogs attacking people and this needs to be stopped.
Well, yeah, but that would involve doing something about the large number of people who own psychotic attack dogs they don’t either look after or restrain. Good luck trying to overlook the correlation between low-income areas and dog attacks while doing that…
If he’d said lower income areas instead of South Auckland and that immigrants and Pasifika aren’t natural dog owners, this would be an entirely different conversation. The media coverage would be different too.
It was very foolish of him to mention ethnicity, indeed. Still, I expect he has no education in the social sciences and the thinking didn’t go much beyond “south Auckland, hmm that’s where all the PIs and Maoris live. Must be something to do with them.” The fact that it’s a fairly typical thought process is depressing.
The stuff about migrants strikes me as a red herring. Are new immigrants to NZ really deciding that a pit-bull/mastiff cross would make an excellent family pet, or a good watchdog? Personally, I reckon that piece of poisoned thinking is local, not alien.
I thought most owners of dangerous dogs tended to be bogan pakeha.
The owners of the most dangerous dogs, that are actually trained to attack people, are ngati poaka.
Funnily enough, the only dog that has ever bitten me was a Labrador, not generally thought of as dangerous.
It’s the bloody corgis I have to watch out for. Vicious little fuckers.
There is also a correlation between probability of prosecution and wealth. In this case, the correlation is negative.
kerridge..the vivisection-pimp..has also been factchecked by the head of auckland animal control..
..she says there is no ethnic-basis/stand-outs around the owners of dogs who attack..
..racist bob just disengaged his brain..
..and let his prejudices talk..
..and of course..the media..with their constant diet of nasty dogs on chains..and owned by brown-people..
..have only fed/fostered these prejudices..
..but kerridge should have known to factcheck before opening his mouth..
..as his claim is both factually-inaccurate..and racist..
That just shows that some palagis shouldn’t be allowed to use their mouths without adult supervision.
silly old men give old men a bad name
“..7 States That Are Next in Line to Legalise Marijuana..
..Four states and DC have already legalized marijuana –
– here’s the next crop..”
(cont..)
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/next-seven-states-legalize-pot
mr ure, how do you deal with the dulling effect that comes from use / frequent use? Having dabbled at times over the centuries I always found that the following day the mind was blunt – like running a sharp blade over a lump of granite …..
I hate smoking pot. It makes me to complete opposite of mellow and since I have ceased smoking it about a year or so ago my memory and cognitive ability has increased dramatically.
Well one positive is states and countries where pot has been legalized usage has gone down especially amongst the young!
Crime has also gone down as well.
Instead of putting money into the failed policy of eradication.
Taxes can be raised and used on education,rehab,and funding govt instead of criminal gangs!
@ vto..do u use alcohol..?
..’cos that hangover effect – i get that from alcohol..
..not from pot..(esp. not from moderate use..)
p. ure, no I don’t use alcohol
so no blunting of sharp mind of yours thru use of pot? hmmmmmm ………. I will believe though thousands may not ..
I don’t smoke weed amy more.
I don’t like what I’ve seen it do to people I know.
I don’t like the way when I’m with my mates who smoke they become boring as bat shit after a good go at it.
I do think It should be legalized in an effort to stop the effect of having people lured into crime in a effort to make some easy cash because it fucks communities.
Tried to fix the spelling when I push edit it goes there but won’t show offending post
i agree..it’s not for everyone..
..and i find that boring people don’t become interesting when stoned..
..but interesting/funny people often stay interesting/funny..when stoned..
Not in Saudi
Read More, What Scientists Feel About Climate Change; HERE
3pm today marks the start of the campaign to stop Solid Energy, the heavily taxpayer subsidised State Coal Miner reopening the mothballed Kopuku 1 open cast mine just south of Auckland.
We are not calling for currently operating coal mines to be closed, which is what the science demands, we are merely demanding that no more be opened.
The demand that No New Coal Mine operations be started, or restarted is a moderate one.
Those who support the opening of New Coal Mines in the age of climate change inhabit the lunatic fringe.
This day marks the start of an epic battle for common sense and even conservativism against extreme ego driven radicals bent on self aggrandisement at all costs to the community the environment and the climate.
Join the campaign for common sense and against climate extremism today. Details; HERE
Kia ora Pat
Good luck with this campaign.
For me the talk that we can still avert the effects of climate change distracts from what we could be doing to create resilience and community to help people cope with the effects and the changes that are here.
‘moderate’ has its place (maybe) but around climate change it seems like a waste of time. I’d like Mana to put the line in the sand and stay on that line – as we (Mana) have done on other issues – we need leadership and the kaupapa of Mana is desperately needed to help people see and find hope. Kia kaha.
I am extremely slow to escape moderation today.
Any reason?
[r0b: sorry – random chance – no one is about. lprent – can we fix Pat always going to mod??]
Why are the flags at half mast on the Harbour Bridge?
Radio NZ National, Monday 26 January 2015
The medieval dictatorship of Saudi Arabia is, next to the United States, the biggest funder of Al Qaeda and ISIS fanatics. The terrorists that flew jet airliners into the World Trade Center in 2001 were Saudi Arabians. Public executions are common; fifteen people have been beheaded there this year alone. In spite of all this, listeners to Radio NZ National were treated to this disgusting little announcement at 9:45 a.m. ……
KATHERINE RYAN: We’ve had a lot of texts this morning, asking about the flags flying at half-mast on the Auckland Harbour Bridge today. Well, they’re flying at half-mast at the request of the Prime Minister John Key, as a mark of respect for the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
https://news.vice.com/article/woman-is-publicly-beheaded-in-saudi-arabias-tenth-execution-of-2015
Excuse my language, but fuck that. Get that flag back up.
More lies and absolute hypocrisy by Key and the USA.
No credibility. None
Too late. The flag is being manipulated by tricKey. He wants to change it and is now half-masting it.
“Why are the flags at half mast on the Harbour Bridge?”
I thought those in control might be mourning that on Auckland City’s 175th birthday so many people were suffering from the exorbitant government backed housing market in their fair city.
Officially, flying our flag at half mast may be our Right Wing government’s way of showing international solidarity with the violent undemocratic Right Wing despots that rule Saudi Arabia. Unofficially, it could also be taken as a sign of grief by the International Right, at Syriza’s peaceful democratic victory in Greece.
Maybe we should ban women drivers and have some public stonings beheadings as well!
If you want those things, talk to someone from ACT, Family First and/or the Sensible Sentencing Trust.
It’s National that are lowering the flag to honour such.
Can I start my list of suitable contenders for stoning/beheading?
Taking the hands off some bankster style rentier thieves may be a start.
Put the flags on the Auckland Harbour Bridge up to top mast in international celebration.
http://socialistparty.ie/2015/01/blog-from-athens-paul-murphy-on-syriza-victory/
That is absolutely fucken disgusting but I suppose it should have been expected. John Key only cares about the rich and just doesn’t give a fuck about the damage that they do to everyone else.
+100 Morriessey….very well put…and absolutely weird! ….where are the Opposition Party leaders on this is ?….they should be making mince meat out of John Key Nact!
where are the Opposition Party leaders on this?
They’re busy writing speeches about how Nicky Hager and Kim Dotcom cost them the election.
lol…hope not
the same place they were when an innocent person was detained for intending on staying at dotcoms place…
Just wonder whether this is what NZ aspires to be if Mr Key is supporting and admiring a nation that forces its people to belong to a state religion.
Maybe he is not aware that:
Wahhabism is the Arabic sect of the muslim religion and associated with a lot of atrocities. The majority of the world’s Wahhabis are from Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Wahhabi mission, or Dawah Wahhabiyya, is to spread purified Islam through the world, both Muslim and non-Muslim.
I for one do not want to be part of this.
The same leaders who staged a march to support Charlie Hebdo will meet at the tyrant’s funeral. Maybe a few bloggers could be flogged for their entertainment? It shouldn’t be too hard to arrange for the beheading of a rape victim as well.
No way should we be mourning the death of that slave owning murderous piece of shit. No way José.
but the oil! think of the oil. And and the USA! Think of the USA!
Syriza in Greece might even achieve an absolute majority.
Also here is Syriza’s 40-point plan: http://links.org.au/node/2888
should be interesting to see what happens
A brief report of four points of their programme is compelling and persuasive enough for many:
Ensuring:
~ that no family is without water or electricity (in nine months of 2013, 240,000 households had their power cut because of unpaid bills)
~ that no one can be made homeless
~ that the very lowest pensions are raised
~ that urgent steps are taken to relieve child poverty (now at 40%)
This cartoon “violated press Standards of Practice”
according to the Australian Press Council
See the cartoon here….
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.638240
See how unfair it was by clicking here…..
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/20/israelis-cheer-gaza-bombing
and here….
Perhaps the august and learned members of the APC needed to speak to Sir Gerald Kaufman….
why were these principles not applied to the Charlie hebdo thing?
Is it because the jewish religion is more important than the muslim religion?
It has nothing to do with religion or ethnicity.
I wonder whether they would also condemn the photo of the Jewish guy on the couch, wearing a kippah. I thought the cartoon quite appropriate, although the nose maybe went a bit far.
Without John Key I suspect National would struggle to win in 2017 and 2020. Every attempt to attack the popular John Key is ignored by the public. Nicky Hagar’s and Crim Dot Con’s scurrilous attempts to try to bring down the government actually resulted in an increased National majority as National voters flocked to the polls. John Key is a phenomenon. He is admired and respected everywhere he goes. His is the voice that those at Davos listened to. National’s current polling is 52% whilst Labour wallows on just 26%.
I cannot see John Key losing an election but assume that the Left may have a chance when he eventually retires.
You are telling lies Fisi. National got 47.31% of the vote in 2011 and 47.04% of the vote in 2014. That looks like a decrease to me.
http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2011/partystatus.html
http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2014/partystatus.html
No, he’s doing exactly what Key did recently on the same subject – carefully misleading rather than flat-out lying.
Key recently told The Times that New Zealand voters had given National an increased number of seats, thus implying that there’d been a swing to the Party in popular support. Just like Fisi – although Fisi rather clumsily tries to reinforce the implication by going one step further with: “…….as National voters flocked to the polls.”
National, of course, did indeed increase its seat number (from 59 to 60) – a direct corollary of an increase in wasted Party Vote at the 2014 Election (relative to 2011). But, as you’ve said, their Party Vote share actually fell marginally.
As with Farrar and so on, it’s all about leaving a mistaken impression favourable to the Nats, while allowing just the teensiest bit of wiggle room for deniability if challenged.
well said
You are probably right except that after the speciaks were counted Nationals vote was roundabout the same as in 2011.
No, he’s wrong http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-26012015/#comment-957076
National MP’s in 2011 59
National MP’s in 2014 60
National votes in 2011 1,058,…..
National Votes in 2014 1,131….
That’s one more MP and 63,000 extra votes
John Key is really really liked by the public. He has never lost and probably never will.
…….
National Party-Vote Percentage in 2011 47.3%
National Party-Vote Percentage in 2014 47.0%
Opposition Bloc Vote in 2011 1,034,021
Opposition Bloc Vote in 2014 1,104,288
(= + 70,267)
Two can play at this game, sweetness.
Thanks for your unfailing attention to these details, swordfish. I’ve found your analysis of polls, and particularly the analysis of commentary on them, very illuminating.
+1
Cheers for that, Lanth and Weka. Appreciate it.
And apologies to readers of my blog for the (unplanned) hiatus. I’ve been too busy and too tired over recent weeks (and, to be honest, I can’t say I’ve been overly happy with the quality of my prose on the blog. If even I’m getting bored with my own writing then I can’t expect anyone else to be too enthused).
I’ll probably make a brief announcement on The Standard once I start posting again. Hopefully with a bit more vim.
Remind me Labour vote was lowest in 80 years. Green numbers down and Mana Dot Con came nowhere.
Face it. As long as John Key wants to be PM he will be.
Finally sussed who you are fisiani ….
http://thestandard.org.nz/trump-or-palin-for-the-us-presidency/#comment-957356
You are most definitely a loony republican..
“Green numbers down…..”
Greens down 0.4 points
Nats down 0.3 points
Both down in percentage of the vote
Both up in raw number of votes (largely due to increased turnout)
Once again, that tendency of yours to make superficially plausible-sounding claims that, on closer inspection, turn out to be utter bollocks.
“John Key is really really liked by the public. He has never lost and probably never will”
John Key is really really fooling the public by lies, bull shit, spin, propaganda, copying of many Labour policies, indulging in dirty politics and use of big donors and their money. He has lost his mana. What does it profit a man if he wins the whole world and loses his soul?
I think Key’s soul ceased to be relevant a long time ago.
probably around the time he started his BCom and (alledgedly) didn’t notice the schism in the nation that the ’81 tour caused.
Jealousy gets you nowhere
that would be why you keep hanging around.
Hardly an increase flocking to the polls. Someone elses can look at issues like population increase and boundary changes. Swordfish above has a more intricate analysis, but I’m happy to still call you a liar.
“John Key is really really liked by the public”
Yeah, that’s why only a third of eligible voters voted for his party. Like I said, liar.
Mike Williams starts as he means to go on, obviously
From the Left and From the Right, Radio NZ National, Monday 26 January 2015
Matthew Hooton starts off with a minatory rant, cleverly designed to undermine and cast doubts on Andrew Little. After several minutes, it is time for the representative of “the Left” to speak. This is what he said….
MIKE WILLIAMS: Yeah, I would agree with absolutely everything Matthew just said.
….ad nauseam….
While he’s not a member now, Williams encapsulates or caricatures everything that was wrong with Labour for the last six years: aged, lazy, as bloated with hot air and privilege as Mr Creosote, bereft of ideas, disconnected from the people they once pretended to champion and childishly beholden to the right simply because they have lots of bling.
And the pairing of those two oxygen thieves shows what’s wrong with political commentary on Radio NZzzzz. A solipsistic Punch and Judy show drowned in cold porridge.
Now I’ve got that out of my system, I hope to do something productive today.
lol
Well, when I hear Williams on RNZ, I can’t help but think that Labour has nothing much to offer, e.g. why bother.
Perhaps you need to switch your critical faculties on prior to listening, Kiwiri. Mike Williams does not represent Labour any more than any other ordinary party member does. He has never claimed to be speaking on that show, or any other, as an official spokesperson.
Of course he has authority in the sense that he used to be president and still has contact with senior LP leaders. But that doesn’t excuse your lazy thinking, which we also see repeated here by people who think TS is the official blog of the NZLP.
PS:
Moz, I didn’t hear the words ‘just said’ in the sentence, which possibly makes the statement worse in one sense. But, clearly, he was referring to Hooton’s comments. The problem is, much of what Hooton said in his opening piece was both factually correct and reasonably framed to begin the discussion. So, basically, your criticism is that Mike Williams agreed with comments he couldn’t reasonably disagree with. That’s a poor level of analysis from someone we know has the highest standards of accuracy and astonishingly well honed critical faculties.
Is it the heat?
Isn’t that a contradiction TRP
he doesn’t represent labour but he has authority because he is exprez and still has contact with senior members – and is on the radio with all those credentials explicitly known.
No contradiction, marty. He’s earned the right to speak authoratively about the party, but that doesn’t mean he speaks for the party. And because his credentials and current status are well known, there is no excuse for confusion.
The problem isn’t that he has connections to Labour. It’s that for some infathomable reason he can’t represent a left wing view.
Like so many others who were senior or well connected within Labour.
Because he’s not,(left wing) weka.hence his downward spiral,poverty of intellect.As you might have noticed,he scoffed at the presidential candidates ability to rash money for the party,it seems he thinks he’s the only one to have had that ability.
Politically astute and aware people may not be confused in understanding the nuances and fine points you are implying regarding Mike Williams.
The problem for Labour/left wing is that most people who hear so called left wing people like Mike Williams and Josie Pagani will take on board directly or subconsciously the negative perception about Labour or left wing created by their comments, especially when the commentator agrees and endorses the RW points made by the RW supporting commentator like Hooton.
It is astounding that experienced left wing commentators like Williams and Pagani do not understand this basic media stuff and come across as weak in their passion, support and views.
Often when I hear them I think, ‘With friends like these, who needs enemies!’
Or we should just admit that Williams and Pagani know exactly what audience they are addressing, and it’s not those in the bottom 50% of the wealth pyramid.
The great thing about Williams on RNZ is that he has the effect of turning off any critical faculties.
“So, basically, your criticism is that Mike Williams agreed with comments he couldn’t reasonably disagree with.”
No. It’s that Mike Williams isn’t doing his bloody job as a left wing commentator. He doesn’t have to agree or disagree with Hooton at all. He can just respond with a left wing perspective.
Am off to dig up Pb’s very useful comment on this.
btw, as I’m sure you know, Morrisey’s transcripts are notoriously inaccurate, and reflect their perspective and perception as much as anything.
This is in response to Pagani, but it’s general themes are appropriate,
http://thestandard.org.nz/josie-pagani-replies/#comment-753124
” … Morrisey’s transcripts are notoriously inaccurate …”
Say it ain’t so, weka!
I have it on good authority that the atomic clock is wilfully slack in comparison to Moz. He is the one constant in this world of shadows, shams and shameless distortions of the truth. Cutting definitively through the daisies of disinformation, Morrissey Breen is the last true star in the constellation of crap that passes for modern media.
No, no, NO, I say!
I’ll not have it said that he is capable of innacuracy in any form. I demand satisfaction. I will meet you at dawn with pistols drawn if you do not withdraw your vile and bassless calumny against a writer whose every utterances is as mother’s milk to a mewling baby and equally pure of heart and essence.
For shame, weka, for shame!
Hey, I can do bass if I really have to. So there. 😛
I’ll act as your second if you like. Weka might like to ask McFlock, or someone like that to hold his pistol for him.
Not sure who this Weka bloke is, but if McFlock is his second it’ll probably be fun to watch.
I agree with TRP @ 13.1.2.1
Hooton’s comment was indeed correct, but he can’t resist snide observations on the side about Labour leaders. He did it in a big way to Cunliffe and he’s chosen to follow suit with Little.
Whether you agree with his strategy or not, Mike Williams chooses to ignore Hooton’s put-downs and concentrates on the issue under discussion. He’s probably right to do so because it’s better to ignore Hooton than risk giving his put-downs any more oxygen. Except when he goes over the top, Ryan has adopted a similar policy.
Btw rhinocrates as far as I know Williams is still a member of the Labour Party.
I haven’t listened to the clip. Did Williams say he agreed with Hooton or not?
Yes he did weka. What Hooton always does is to take advantage of a discussion to throw in mischievous and invariably inaccurate barbs about Labour and Green leaders. But when you take out the barbs, his analysis of a situation is usually more or less correct. Williams ignores the barbs and bases his responses on the analysis. It’s very annoying for us listeners but except when Hooton says something which is seriously over the top, it’s probably the best course of action.
I think that Pb’s analysis stands. Just don’t agree with Hooton, because that’s what people hear at the start and that sets the tone for whatever else is said next. Williams has one job, to shift the narrative to the left, and he generally fails to do that. Maybe he thinks that by agreeing with Hooton he’s being conciliatory, but it just keeps the narrative in the centre.
We really need more actual left wing commentators, esp in that spot.
Someone like Scoop’s Gordon Campbell would be ideal. He wouldn’t let Hooton get away with anything.
Gordon Campbell would be great! (although I don’t think I’ve heard him on radio before).
… while I’m at it: a man dubiously blessed with the ability to suck all of the oxygen out of a room and refill it with methane. So there.
@ Rhinocrates
Incisive and humorous. Are you a journalist? Where do you publish. Oxygen thieves, Radionzzzz, Punch and Judy and porridge. Brilliant descriptions. There’s something for everyone.
Nah, I’m still grumpy about the first derogatory epithet cast at Labour by Rhinocrates. “Aged” indeed.
I also listened to the first part of the political segment on RNZ. I have to agree with Te Reo Putake above when he wrote “The problem is, much of what Hooton said in his opening piece was both factually correct and reasonably framed to begin the discussion.”
I know of the criticism levelled at Williams by various commentators here on the Standard when he states his agreement with Hooton. I suspect he does it now to wind up commentators here. This time, I listened to Hooton and Williams’s response with that criticism in mind, and I had to agree with Hooton’s first comments and Williams’s approval.
Approval can mean that he agrees; it also indicates to a listener that he is not churlish about comments from a political opponent just because he said it; it gives Williams credibility in noting what is reasonable and forrest; and it also encourages Hooton to stay reasonable and factually correct.
If he ignored Hooton’s comment by not passing any judgment, as Weka suggests, then those three pluses for that style of engagement are lost.
Don’t worry mac1 – I have privileges – I’m somewhat “aged” too 🙂
greywarshark, yes I do publish, but under my own name and in other, obscure media/fora – academic literary criticism and the odd (sometimes very odd) creative work mainly. I prefer to preserve my pseudonymity here when Hoots or Curran are collecting addresses.
I think you said it best.
Labour remains a crawling mass (mess?) of class contradictions.
@ rhinocrates
Sometime you may have to blow your own horn before the poachers come along and cut if off!
mac1
Willliams could try to be slightly unbalanced on the left side though! Instead of seemingly so to the right. He could say e.g. Yes you’ve got a point there, but not a strong one, and I think on the other hand that Little is shaping up well or such.
And as for winding us up!! You’re joking aren’t you. We’re not in a game.
So if he was to think along those lines, he could get on his skateboard and roll. Time for a change anyway. Who would we get instead? Someone remembering past left, recent past left and present and who still is in touch with his left side. Not some well-rounded bloke or blokess who just spins like a top with no sharp edges.
“And as for winding us up!! You’re joking aren’t you.”
Yes, I’m joking. About Williams caring about the commentators here overly much. But when the commentators, as Phil Ure states lower down, gets it wrong and mishears because of their bias, then I’m not joking. The reason being that there’s one thing in saying that it’s serious and not a game which I’m in agreement with, and with being so wound up that people hear what they want to hear, and are plain wrong.
There’s a danger there where reasonable people fear to tread…………..
If we are full of bullshit, then we lose. To the reader, and to the voters who are at the present, according to the latest Ray Morgan, happy with Key’s government and also with business confidence above the past decade’s average, which is what I suspect Williams was talking about with the Hawkes Bay references he made.
Both commentators gave the relatively new Labour leader, president to be elected and to be appointed chief media advisor a year to get this perception changed. It won’t be changed by fulminating bullshit. From anywhere, Williams, Hooton or our commentariat included.
grewwarshark @ 13.1.4
Rhinocrates has yet to surpass his brilliant piece on this site about a fictional speech given by Shearer when he was leader. The problem… Shearer was putting his supermarket shopping list together at the same time and the inevitable happened. He got the two muddled. The tears of laughter streamed down my face.
for those who missed it
http://thestandard.org.nz/weapons-of-mass-distraction/#comment-619185
Oh dear, I nearly split my side all over again.
That was good rhino.
But after being stirred and shaken the next commenter produced this..
One Anonymous Knucklehead 6.1
15 April 2013 at 8:18 pm
Laugh all you want. I can reveal that dirty foreigners have accessed the National Party’s website and right now are seeking to copy the government’s education policy, assett sales and economic management program in an effort to export them and destabilise their own countries the way we have this one.
That Williams eh. Have you seen those gizmo parrots with a recording device which repeats everything you say and it’s in a funny voice. Hilarious. What a pity Radio isn’t television, it’s got as vacuous with this pair of political pollies, but the parrot must be seen to be effective comedy.
On radio the humour doesn’t come off. I suggest listening to 9toNoon at 11.45 a.m. and get Pinky Agnew and Radar et al for laughs and some political stuff gets in there, probably as much as in the official discussion. Really the two fatheads known as the Hooton and Williams duo or Mutt and Mike, are neither use nor armament (Freudian slip).
edited
i have to call you on that..morrissey..
..i went and listened to it..
..and this is one of the few times i can agree with williams saying ‘i agree with matthew’..
..’cos what hooton did..he didn’t ‘undermine’ little..he just noted that @ 26% in the polls..that little has one yr to turn that around..
..that if that is still the number then..thaat there will be more talk of a leadership-change..
..what’s to argue with about that..?
..he then went on to note that the speech from little on wed is very important..
..that little has to surprise..to do a version of brashs’ orewa speech..
..in the sense of seizing the agenda..with bold policy/ideas..
..(i wd suggest a universal basic income..to end poverty in one fell swoop..
..or a return to people being able to capitalise child-benefit for housing deposit etc..
..combined with a massive building program of smart/green/clever variations on buildings..running the gamut from tiny-houses in clusters..onwards..
..hard to see what else would grab the imagination..)
..so..anyway..that was what hooton said..
..so what was to disagree with..?..and how was he ‘undermining’ little..?
..that is a serious distortion of what actually happened..there..morissy..
..to the extent..u shd withdraw it..and apologise for misleading us punters..
..but i hasten to add that pretty much everything else williams said was absolute shite..
..at one stage he was prattling on about how he and sll his middle class mates are ‘feeling pretty good’ out there..in the hawkes bay..
..ryan called him on his bullshit..and then he furiously agres with every counter argument the compere made..(!)..(as he does..)
..i think the inside of williams head must be like a fairground at full volume..
..and hooton got in the first official chicken little/’the sky is falling in!’ rightwing bout of panic at the election of the leftwing govt in greece..
..predicting doom/gloom/disaster for all..
a mea culpa from little/labour for neo-lib/labour losing their way –
– wouldn’t go amiss..
Who gives a shit, Phil? Only political tragics even know what you’re talking about. It has no relevance to the vast majority of voters, especially the yoof.
you can look at greece..and spain..and portugal..and ireland..and scotland..and say that..?
..and please tell us how a steady-as-she-goes strategy will drag (a withering neo-lib) labour above 26%..in the forseeable-future..?
..do you reckon leave it until just before the next election..?
..if not that..what..?
..and in labour election policy ’14..
..did you support the policy of doing nothing for the poorest..?
..and do you think labour should continue with such a policy..
..going into 2017..?
Put those goalposts back, Phil, they don’t belong to you.
yeah..thanks for not answering..
..do u think it makes u look good..?
..unable to defend yr orifice-pluck on any level..eh..?
..and i’ll tell u that u supported that give the poorest nothing..eh..?
Drug fucked again, Phil? Can’t even remember your original comment? Focus, man, focus!
my original comment unpacked morrisseys’ comment..
,..what on earth r u rabbiting on about..?
Yes, quite. The comment I was replying to:
a mea culpa from little/labour for neo-lib/labour losing their way –
And the reply:
Who gives a shit, Phil? Only political tragics even know what you’re talking about. It has no relevance to the vast majority of voters, especially the yoof.
So, got a response to what I actually wrote? I reckon it’s ancient history. Your counterpoint is … ?
13.3.1.1.1
So no answer at all? Ok, that was a fun discussion.
how about stopping yr stupid game..
..and answering one question..?
..did u support the labour ’14 election-policy of giving/doing nothing for the poorest..?
I asked first.
TRP
You are in attack mode again. I thought phil made good points. Even if they don’t praise the sainted Labour Party up to the sky they sound fair and reasoned. So does have relevance.
Yes, Phil made points. But the question remains; what would be the use of Labour apologising for Lange/Douglas? Who would care? What difference would it make?
quite a few people wd ‘care’..
..and it wd mark a clear break from the past..
..that is the ‘difference’ it wd make’.
..labour just doing more of the same old same old..
..will get the same old same old result..
..the withering will continue..
TRP
I liked what phil said and how he went through the points in 13.3. After that it was the point about possibly saying sorry that you objected to TRP.
Perhaps if you had acknowledged the earlier points, as well as disagreeing with the sorry idea, we would have had a dozen less coments. I agree with you about not saying sorry. It is not appropriate or useful, but it would be good if it could be acknowledged that Labour had taken the wrong approach in the 1980’s..
But more than that, what would energise us now is new policies backing a determination to improve NZs wellbeing, economy and support for regions infrastructure and enterprise. And we need control over our assets and resources, including not selling houses to foreign investors, Labour should give us the ability to have a stake in our own country, not continue policies downgrading our lives to make money for a few.
Cheers, Phil. Basically, it would achieve nothing much and risk being another ‘sorry’ moment. Why bother?
how about you now answer my election ’14 s.f.a. 4 poorest question..?
..did u support that policy..?
..do u think it is a policy labour should take into election ’17..?
“..Why bother?..”
..really..?
..u have a labour party that has slumped to mid-twenties support..
..where have all those former labour supporters gone..?
..and why..?
..and how to get them back..
..that is what shd ‘bother’ labour-people..
..and the fact is a lot left because labour has betrayed basic principles/them..
(..and..y’know..!..how cd labours’ election-policy for the poorest in ’14..
..in a country/time with record inequality/poverty (both child and adult..)
..and our ‘labour’ party..went into an election a few months ago..
..promising to do absolutely nothing for those suffering the worst from that poverty/inequality..
..how the fuck cd that not be a big fucken neon-sign..
..saying..’labour party..!..lost..!’..
..that is all just part of the reasons why u shd ‘bother’..eh..?
What Greece / Syriza / Tsipras should do
1) Clamp on capital controls .
2) Hair cut 50% of every bank deposit over €200K; depositers will gain rights to Greek public land and assets as an IOU.
3) Hire 20,000 people into the public service at the minimum wage, supporting services and NGOs for the poor and homeless.
4) Issue every citizen with 200,000 drachmae, the nominal equivalent of €500 for spending. Make it clear that an annual tax of 400,000 drachmae will now be levied on each citizen.
5) 10% of all public employees salaries to be paid in drachmae. 20% for the top decile of public employees.
6) Put a fully empowered government appointed member on the board of every financial institution in the country.
7) Sign extended, cheap, energy deals with Russia.
8) All government purchasing to go to local Greek companies only.
THEN
Invite the Troika in for talks.
Oh yeah, Syriza should enter into coalition with both Potami and Pasok to create unbreakable numbers in their parliament.
Looks like they have an absolute majority
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-25/greek-exit-polls-hint-massive-victory-syriza-live-webcast
So the don’t need to make alliances with parties that will drag them down.
I wouldn’t call in the Troika, they are the enemy, the banksters.
Greece is a colony of Germany and France. It has nothing to gain by forcing workers to pay EU bankers out of their miserable wages.
The EU is not a partnership of equals but a convenient fiction for the bosses to pump surplus out of workers.
The central committee of Syriza wants to stay in the EU and negotiate a fair deal. This is a delusion. Lambs lying down with wolves.
Syriza must be forced by mass protests from below to break with the banksters. Then the workers in the other PIGS will be inspired to follow. The flow on effects to the rest of Europe and the world will be strong.
* Cancel all debts!
* Expropriate the capitalists and in particular the so-called “50 families”!
* Nationalize the key corporations without paying compensation and place them under worker control!
* Break all links with EU institutions and leave the Eurozone!
* Significantly increase the minimum wage!
* For a public works program in order to rebuild the country!
* For the right of national self-determination for national minorities! Equality for migrants (full citizenship rights, right to use their native language, equal wages, etc.)!
* For a workers’ government based on action councils which will organize the workers and popular masses and establish an armed workers’ militia!
* For a workers’ republic in Greece! For a United Socialist States of Europe!
http://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/europe/greece-election-statement/
And so it has started – the presstitutes are wanting to see Syriza break up over infighting and disagreements:
http://www.newsweek.com/greeces-syriza-could-face-schism-after-likely-election-triumph-301774
Thing is, I am betting that the Greek populace don’t give a flying &$%*(# about the corporate media any more.
CR
Email that to the new Greek leader when h gets in. He might be pleased to know that more than people in Greece support them in their efforts to restore their economy and polity.
Already done 🙂
What a world we live in…
And timed perfectly for the Syriza win:
So, that would be a US invasion sometime in the near future then?
The way I see it, the US and its proxies have pretty much already had control of Greece for the last 5 years.
But it looks like they’re about to lose that control with the voting in of Syriza.
Voting doesn’t cause the US and NATO to ‘lose control’.
Parliament is a fig leaf in this power game.
But it will make them play their hand, sanctions, destablisation, even invasions, which will raise the game to the next level of popular armed defence of democracy against the No 1 world terrorist.
It will also bring Russia and China into play since they have an interest in seeing that Greece is not turned into ‘failed state’ to justify an invasion.
Q. Do you really believe that Syriza stand a chance of being ‘let out’ without the cartels firing bigger artillery ?
If it looks like the Economic Hitmen can’t do their job, they’ll send in real Hitmen. If I were Tsipras I’d be making sure that all the military Generals and diplomatic protection squads were on side, ASAP.
He will do well to survive if he even attempts to walk the talk from a couple of years back
That said the Euro is dead in the water one way or another
The Euro is dead in the water. It was dead from the time it was mooted but the Europeans got it dumped upon them anyway.
Note that Greece has been buying billions in American and German military equipment form large western corporations, using bail out funds. These orders were not subject to the austerity measures imposed by the IMF, ECB.
What a fukcing scam.
The entire monetary system is a scam but that’s slowly becoming more known.
Nope but that doesn’t mean that Greece doesn’t get out from under the thumb of the banksters and new feudal lords.
An article that’s interesting – there’s ittle that’s new or secret, but that’s the point – it’s all in plain sight. Anyway, some – pardon the pun – handy ammunition:
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-triumph-of-the-military-industrial-congressional-complex-a27d6e5fb1a8
On leaving office in 1960, Eisenhower warned of the power of the emerging “Military-Industrial Complex”. With America now a plutocracy (who can gain office without huge campaign donations and without being beholden to their donors?), it’s much worse.
Cheney’s links with Halliburton and his war profiteering are well known, but this shows that rather than being the corruption of one man, the entanglement of industry, the military and congress is now wider, deeper and more insidious.
Quote: “the Boston Globe found that 80 percent of retiring three- and four-star generals went to work for defense related firms” That is, they often become lobbyists, the leash-holders of representatives.
It may not be news to many and there’s no Snowdenesque revelation of secret material – worse, it’s all plainly known already. The tracing of names and flow of funds in an accessible form is useful.
Considering the chronic mismanagement of defence programmes such as the F-35 (a costly turkey of a plane) and pressure to retire proven effective systems such as the A-10 close-support aircraft and the forcing of unwanted production of M-1 tanks that go immediately into storage, even the right-wing hawks should be concerned at the undermining of America’s defence capacity.
We may not have Lockheed Martin here, but we do have Sky City and similar dynamics are at play.
And while the military-industrial-surveillance-complex corporations keep getting the big billions, the US military is giving thousands of its service personnel and officers redundancy notices because there isn’t enough money in the Pentagon budget to pay ordinary wages and HR expenses.
So what ru saying phil that
I’m getting quite a few of the links opening in old posts bug. Anyone else?
Occasionally.
Yes, and the Replies tab occasionally showing someone else’s replies.
Yesterday I got all of Pete George’s replies in my ‘replies tab’. So to all of you, I’d just like to say: STOP IT!!!
😛
OMG – you have my sympathies 🙂
Yes, I’m getting this too.
Lynn, you should have a look at this.
The replies tab? He knows and is working on that.
btw, if you click on the replies tab and then refresh the page it reverts back to your own replies list.
Thanks for tip
Sometimes. Had it go to other peoples replies list a few times tonight after refresh.
Two rivers that are unswimmable,
Moss said Fish & Game was concerned at the recent reporting of toxic algal blooms in the region’s waterways, and believed it was another indication that local rivers, streams and estuaries were deteriorating while agriculture intensified across Southland.
“While cyanobacteria is naturally occurring, its growth is promoted by high nitrate levels, which is generally derived from stock urine.”
Fish & Game was concerned that the recent bloom was occurring so far upstream and with indications that the remainder of the summer could be drier than normal, the situation was only going to get worse, he said.
“Unless there is a concerted effort to reduce the quantity of nitrate that is being lost to both ground and surface water, these blooms are likely to become commonplace over the Southland summer.”
“I’m sure all Southlanders look forward to Environment Southland setting robust catchment nutrient limits, as they have signalled, to make sure our rivers are safe for swimming, fishing and food gathering.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/65339658/Waikaia-river-safe-for-fishing-but-not-swimming
The reality of our rivers today. The Waitara.
@Delwynd1 @dairymanNZ @Tikorangi @hamish_keith yes Waitara is holding…that is our new water standard…holding to wadeable not swimmable.
Council sign on risk in swimming and other activities in the Waitara river https://twitter.com/Tikorangi/status/559255523791351808
some rivers “unswinmmable”….and some rivers ain’t there any more….disappeared between the stones ……no use going there with your togs …..just hot stone wadis…and a few ribbons of slime
so sad that we are at this stage – I really believe our rivers are like veins or maybe arteries??? Anyway… they are essential, just so important – it is getting close, if not already there, when we are going to have to fight for our rivers and by that I mean literally take back that ‘commons’.
In the bay over the weekend we swam on saturday in the sea and in a river, and on sunday did the same. Lots of people (for us) there, children, laughing and fun – and the water was beautiful, cleansing and invigorating – we reveled in the environment, in the sun and water and the gift of being there enjoying our pastimes. This is for everyone, this is living. And building connection and community and resilience. I will fight for the right for everyone to be able to enjoy clean and safe water and rivers.
clean is relative for sure – our rivers in the bay are not ‘clean’ just cleaner than some others
and in the hottest parts of the day the dairy farmers spray water across their fields, water taken from the river and aquifer, and they spray it into the hot evaporating sun and then they spray some more – that to me shows total arrogance and ignorance.
“This is for everyone, this is living.”
Completely agree.
We need to legislate nature rights. It’s the only way to protect nature and human-proof it.
This is an intereting clip of public service broadcasting from USA. The Washington Week Webcast Extra program. Gwen Ifill is a very likeable capable interviewer. This clip would be of interest to those wondering why new tech programs while expensive, employing skilled people, often don’t work properly. There the Healthcare program started and still wasn’t working right. The word that crops up continually is ‘contractors’ Q to the lead contractor – how is it going. A. Fine. We’ve got the best people working on it. And so on down the line with all the sub-contractors. Then, later. Q. What went wrong. A. I don’t know we had the best etc. And so it goes.
The tech people at the bottom had to direct themselves it seems, and they spent a month ceaselessly working to get it going. The analogy used was they were still fixing the engines while the plane was flying.
1 Why does No Right Turn Idiot/Savant pieces get sampled twice in the right column?
2 King Abdullah’s death is recognised? If somebody like Chavez dies I presume we would honour him and his country the same? I wouldn’t like repressive oil barons to get all the adulation.
You ask whether we recognized Chavez’s death by flying flags at half mast.
The answer is we did, as you can see from this link.
http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/40248-city-lowers-flag-chavez.html
This is from a Tauranga paper but it does say that all Government Offices flew them that way and describes the New Zealand policy.
Of course many people might say that he was also a repressive oil baron.
Repressive to capital perhaps. But he did survive a US sponsored military coup, which is quite a feat.
The president’s death is also specified under the New Zealand Flag Notice 1986. The notice describes when the flags are flown at half-mast including the days of national commemoration and in the case of the death of a foreign head of state.
From alwyn’s link.
I/S’s post might show twice if he edited/republished it twice.
Interesting article about the rise of private armies. (Extract)
Five characteristics distinguish PMCs from other armed nonstate actors in global politics. First, they are motivated more by profit than by politics. This is not to suggest that all PMCs disregard political interests and serve merely at the whim of the highest bidder, but they are fundamentally profit-seeking entities. Second, they are structured as multinational corporations and participate in the global financial system. These are not shady “lone wolf” mercenaries stalking the jungles of the Congo during the wars of African liberation. Third, they are expeditionary in nature, meaning that they seek work in foreign lands rather than providing domestic security services. There are exceptions to this, especially when it comes to homeland defense, but in general, these firms are foreign focused and are not domestic security guards. Fourth, they typically deploy force in a military manner, as opposed to a law-enforcement one. The purpose of military force is to defeat or deter the enemy through organized violence, while law enforcement seeks to deescalate violent situations to maintain law and order. This intrinsically affects how they operate. Fifth and most important, PMCs are lethal and represent the commodification of armed conflict. There will always be exceptions to these five features, but they serve as a good test of whether an armed nonstate actor is a PMC.
(Extract.)
When the United States invaded Iraq, few imagined at the time that it would also introduce a new norm in modern warfare: the privatization of war. The next chapter explores the deepening dependency between the superpower and the private military industry and implications for the American way of war.
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/25/secrets_of_modern_mercenaries_inside_the_rise_of_private_armies/
It seems now that the latest US invasion of Iraq was in fact largely a for-profit venture. Not proftable for the USA as a nation or its peoples, but profitable for USA Inc.
@ CR
I have the idea that there was a lot of Iraq money that had been frozen, in USA coffers. If the USA declared war they could take possession of the cash as spoils of war I suppose. Then the war would be paid for by the defending state. And the arms for the war would be bought from the USA’s businesses so the money would be passed to them and some of it would come back to the US government. Also it provided employment for the USA young men and women. A good financial scheme if they had hold of Iraq’s cash
Later I seem to remember they were said to have sent container loads of cash to Iraq, a spokesperson saying lamely that it was their money. It was not channelled into needed infrastructure replacement, it was handed over to leaders who the USA chose no doubt and only a small percentage went into the people’s hands and the economy.
If anyone has a summary of the financial dealings perhaps they could put up a link as mine is from memory and may not have been correct in the first place.
Holy crap. IBM laying off 100,000 employees. That would be like a quarter of Wellington…got to have a ripple effect over in NZ
http://investmentwatchblog.com/get-ready-ibm-about-to-layoff-26-of-its-employees-starting-next-week/
Apparently tens of thousands of those jobs going will be in India. There goes India’s long heralded middle class IT boom.
10k workers is very approximately 3% of the IT workers in India, in a sector that’s adding c.200k jobs per year.
From what I read it’s going to be several tens of thousands of workers. And if IBM has picked that there is going to be large scale consolidation in the industry you can expect others to follow.
India middle class >270 million.
Drop in bucket.
“..10 best vegan cookbooks..
..the cookbooks that use the healthiest ingredients –
– and prove there is life after cheese..”
(cont..)
http://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/food-drink/10-best-vegan-cookbooks-10-best-cookbooks-best-cookery-books-best-cook-books-9999167.html
(i like that line..’life after cheese’..heh..!..)
Todays Australian honours list shows just what a farce the scheme is. Not only here but in alL the former Empire countries. SIr Phillip Windsor what a joke.
The Panel is off to a typically mirth-filled start today
Radio NZ National, Monday 26 January 2015
Jim Mora, Stephen Franks, Chris Gallavin, Julie Moffett
First up today, a thoughtful, enlightening discussion about who should and should not be called terrorists….
JULIE MOFFETT: The BBC says the people who carried out the Charlie Hebdo killings should not be called terrorists.
…..Pause to indicate they’re thinking seriously…..
JIM MORA: Nnnnyeah, you would think that the Charie Hebdo killings were reasonably terroristic wouldn’t you.
CHRIS GALLAVIN: Well, one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist! Oh, I don’t know WHAT’S happening Jim, quite frankly!
MORA: Hur hur hur hur!
CHRIS GALLAVIN: It’s summer time, Jim!
MORA: Hur hur hur hur!
JULIE MOFFETT: Ha ha ha ha ha!
He hasn’t appeared yet, but listeners who can bear listening to this dreck should keep an ear out for the sepulchral ex-ACT MP and S.S. man Stephen Franks, who will no doubt deliver one of his smarmy little homilies about “wickedness”.
FACT: Jim Mora never once said, last year, or in 2008-9, or in 2006: “Nnnnyeah, you would think that the Gaza/West Bank/Lebanon killings were reasonably terroristic wouldn’t you.”
@ morrissy..
..cd u plse address the issues raised in comment 13.3..
@ phillip ure
You’d be lucky. IIRC Felix tried to achieve that unsuccessfully.
i am actually gobsmacked the facts of the matter were twisted so much..
..and that he won’t answer/address the questions just compounds that..
.cd u plse address the issues raised in comment 13.3.
Yes, you’re correct, Phillip. Hooton was not actually lying, he was simply putting the most negative spin on the state of the Labour Party that he could possibly get away with.
My problem with Williams is that he didn’t even demur at the tone of Hooton’s disrespectful, exaggerated dismissal of Andrew Little, and announced that he agreed with everything that cynical National Party operative had just said. He was signaling from the outset that, once again, he was going to let Hooton make all the running, and was going to agree with him whenever possible. No doubt that kind of back-scratching was how Williams conducted his political career; he doesn’t seem to have noticed that there is no quid pro quo in it; Hooton simply treats him with contempt.
space sciency comet stuff
http://www.universetoday.com/118444/latest-research-reveals-a-bizarre-and-vibrant-rosettas-comet/#more-118444
one of the few times that I rate ‘balance’ is the contrast of looking out as well as in, looking locally well as universally. Space is cool.
We should be looking for ways to nudge those comets into Mars. Get enough mass there and Mars will become livable. It’s not at the moment due to the lack of atmosphere and electromagnetic field.
Directing comets to Mars to increase it’s mass and make it livable?
Wut? Increasing Mar’s mass isn’t going to increase its magnetic field. Not to mention slamming comets into a planet is a fairly poor solution to making a planet livable.
Da faq you talking about
Molten core
Magnetic field
Of course, slamming Mars with asteroids and comets still may not be enough to re-heat it’s core and thus get its magnetic field going or replace it’s atmosphere. May have to nip out to the Kuiper Belt or the Oort Cloud and grab a dwarf planet or two.
Worked for Earth.
Earth’s magnetic field comes from it’s internal dynamo. There is nothing to suggest slamming a planet with comets will do anything about reheating its core and kicking off the dynamo. Least of all anything to do with mass (look at Venus – very similar mass to earth, tiny magnetic field)
“Worked for Earth.”
Firstly it wasn’t just being slammed with comets that made earth livable but, secondly, if you have a few hundreds of million years available then go right ahead.
“May have to nip out to the Kuiper Belt or the Oort Cloud and grab a dwarf planet or two.”
Wow…really? Just “nip” out there and shackle a dwarf planet, send it back to mars and slam it into it. Wow.
This is stupid even for you. These are events that are millions on millions on millions of the years in the making. I can’t even
not to mention all the new planetary shrapnel flying around the solar system from all these impacts.
And then rather than waiting 100million years for mars to cool enough for us to live on, maybe we should just drop some unobtanium bombs down a really long martian mine shaft and melt the core that way? 😉
Yeah, typical RWNJ – just can’t think long term.
Wow…
I am thinking long-term you nitwit. You are apparently not. You have really jumped the shark this time
😈 😆
lol
By the time that plan is due to work at the earliest possible opportunity, we either won’t need mars at all, or we’ll have been long-extinct.
“Earth’s magnetic field comes from it’s internal dynamo.”
You don’t know what you’re talking about.
😆 😆
“I’d like to see that land beyond the (North) Pole. That area beyond the Pole is the Center of the Great Unknown:”
Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd
🙄
“We have sailed many weeks, we have sailed many days,
(Seven days to the week I allow),
But a Snark, on the which we might lovingly gaze,
We have never beheld till now!
Your link showing the supposed ‘Space Station Footage of The North Pole Opening to Hollow Earth’ seems suspect to me.
I am skeptical.
If the theory is true, then it is astonishing that the scientists have not confirmed this. Besides, there are thousands of satellites from scores of different countries circling the globe. None of them have photographed or indicated the voracity of the theory.
I had never heard of ‘hollow Earth’!
So I googled and found lots of links.
Here is one:
how will increasing the mass generate a magnetic field?
And how big would mars have to get, given mars is 1/10th the mass of earth. That’s a shedload of comets.
Talking about things going past at high speed:
Probably need a good set of binoculars though.
stephen franks on the panel..
..ew..!..just ew..!
..multi-layered/multi-faceted..’ew..!’..
Greece’s new Finance Minister: “we are going to destroy the Greek oligarchy system”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-25/greeces-new-finmin-warns-we-are-going-destroy-greek-oligarchy-system
And here, on the Max Keiser show some time back:
The Guardian : ‘”The hour of the left has come. Hope has arrived”
I hope that things will get better for Greece in the next few years.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/25/athens-celebration-of-alexis-tsipras-syriza-win
@Clemgeopin….yes hope that things will get better for a lot of people in the next few years… this is worth watching
‘Wealth Abyss’
http://rt.com/shows/crosstalk/226067-great-recession-recovers-world/
Interesting and intriguing scenario in Greece!
Here is a good article to understand the ‘revolution’ that has been instigated by the young. Could be a harbinger for similar future revolutions all over the capitalist western countries sooner or later:
——————
Greece Shows What Can Happen When The Young Revolt Against Corrupt Elites
By Paul Mason
January 25, 2015 “ICH” – “The Guardian” – At Syriza’s HQ, the cigarette smoke in the cafe swirls into shapes. If those could reflect the images in the minds of the men hunched over their black coffees, they would probably be the faces of Che Guevara, or Aris Velouchiotis, the second world war Greek resistance fighter. These are veteran leftists who expected to end their days as professors of such esoteric subjects as development economics, human rights law and who killed who in the civil war. Instead, they are on the brink of power.
Black coffee and hard pretzels are all the cafe provides, together with the possibility of contracting lung cancer. But on the eve of the vote, I found its occupants confident, if bemused.
However, Syriza HQ is not the place to learn about radicalisation. The fact that a party with a “central committee” even got close to power has nothing to do with a sudden swing to Marxism in the Greek psyche. It is, instead, testimony to three things: the strategic crisis of the eurozone, the determination of the Greek elite to cling to systemic corruption, and a new way of thinking among the young.
Read more here:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article40812.htm
Some interesting bits from the above article:
* The Eurozone’s crisis is easiest to understand – because its consequences can be read so easily in the macroeconomic figures. The IMF predicted Greece would grow as the result of its aid package in 2010. Instead, the economy has shrunk by 25%. Wages are down by the same amount. Youth unemployment stands at 60% – and that is among those who are still in the country.
* So the economic collapse – about which all Greeks, both right and leftwing, are bitter – is not just seen as a material collapse. It demonstrated complete myopia among the European policy elite. In all of drama and comedy there is no figure more laughable as a rich man who does not know what he is doing. For the past four years the troika – the European Commission, IMF and European Central Bank – has provided Greeks with just such a spectacle.
* As for the Greek oligarchs, their misrule long predates the crisis. These are not only the famous shipping magnates, whose industry pays no tax, but the bosses of energy and construction groups and football clubs. As one eminent Greek economist told me last week: “These guys have avoided paying tax through the Metaxas dictatorship, the Nazi occupation, a civil war and a military junta.” They had no intention of paying taxes as the troika began demanding Greece balance the books after 2010, which is why the burden fell on those Greeks trapped in the PAYE system – a workforce of 3.5 million that fell during the crisis to just 2.5 million.
* From outside, Greece looks like a giant negative: but what lies beneath the rise of the radical left is the emergence of positive new values – among a layer of young people much wider than Syriza’s natural support base. These are the classic values of the networked generation:
self-reliance, creativity, the willingness to treat life as a social experiment,
a global outlook.
*I’ve reported the Greek crisis since it began, and what changed in 2015 was this: Syriza had already won the solid support of about 25% of voters on the issues of Europe and economics. But now a further portion of the Greek electorate, above all the young, are signalling they’ve had enough of corruption and elites.
* Greece, though an outlier, has always been a signifier, too: this is what happens when modern capitalism fails. For there are inept bureaucrats and corrupt elites everywhere.
* We face two years of electoral uncertainty in Europe, with the far left or the hard right now vying for power in Spain, France and the Netherlands. Some are proclaiming this “the end of neoliberalism”.
I’m not sure of that. All that’s certain is that Greece shows how it could end.
The Communist Tendency inside Syriza opposes the formation of a government with the Independent Greeks, an openly bourgeois right-wing anti-immigration UKIP-type party.
Despite winning more than 50% of the vote in the cities Syriza fell short of an absolute majority by 2 seats.
The Communist Tendency argues that this will put a limit on Syriza’s ability to pursue a strong anti-capitalist agenda that meet the needs of its popular constituency.
Being in government with a rightwing bourgeois party will also provide and an excuse for conciliatory elements within Syriza to make concessions to the Troika.
By rejecting the Independent Greeks and exposing the anti-worker refusal of the KKE (Communist Party of Greece) to join the government, Syriza sends a clear message to its supporters that it will not form a government with the bourgeoisie and should go back to the country to win an outright majority.
http://www.marxist.com/against-a-coalition-of-syriza-and-independent-greeks-decleration-by-the-communis-tendency-of-syriza-26-january-2015.htm
Another privileged farmer apologist. This one’s pretty gobsmacking. I wonder if there is some cultural reason why some farmers seem unable to understand how this would come across (although willing to bet it made plenty of other farmers cringe too).
This week, its case against AB Wood Holdings convinced the judge to impose a $134,500 fine after the death of one of its workers. The apple orchardist had dared to Grow Apple Trees On A Slope, a terrible example of Doing A Thing. Not only that, the company hadn’t bothered to flatten the slope, so the worker rolled his tractor while mowing the orchard and died.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/opinion/65410259/narelle-henson-why-farmers-doing-things-is-risky-business
@ weka
This Narelle Henson seems to have quite a lot of negative comment. People Thinking at the Same Time as They are Doing Things. Another example of our outdated educaton system. People who have learned to write their names, and read but not realise the import of the information or their connection with other human beings.
Narelle’s a RWNJ playing at being a jonolist.
This is one of her items. This guy has 23 companies and 10 have been liquidated in one year, was written in 2014.
I guess this must be similar to the story of some of those cowboy builders. I have heard it said they would start a new company for each house and then close it down so there was no entity to claim on.
I have heard stats about how marvellous we are for making it easy to do business. Our once respected and a bit slow system of registering companies has been oiled and ratcheted up so the rats can shit easier.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/63297550/Hamilton-man-fights-10-liquidations-in-nine-months
That CV is odd. I see what you mean about wannabe.
Is she the one associated with the nutjobs at Maxim?
She is connected with the Maxim Institute.
Where the hell do they find these easily chipped careerist types.
I have to say that is a rubbish article all right it seems like a war of the dimwitted journalist on either side of the farming fence at the mo
I can only assume stuff are cutting costs buy hiring morons.
Wikipedia Has Banned Five Feminist Editors From Gamergate Articles & More
There’s always going to be some issues with a community edited encyclopedia but the ones that should be getting banned from editing it are the ones that are lying.
Interesting development given Jimmy Wales basically told the gamergaters off in Dec (assuming that’s genuine).
http://www.themarysue.com/jimmy-wales-not-taking-gamergate-crap/
Nigel Haworth and Robert Gallagher nominees for Labour Party Presidency. Both are current office holders.
.
Does anyone have any direct experience of working with either of them?
.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11392042