How times have changed. A few years ago a friend took exception to an employer secretly taping staff at his Service Station and took him to the Employment Court – and won.
“Austerity measures, wage cuts and rising unemployment have characterised the years since the crash of 2008 for working people. For the rich and super-rich, however, they have been the occasion for clawing back every penny of the initial losses made and adding a great deal more.
Today, the world’s wealthy are richer than before the crash and the number of individuals belonging to this highly exclusive club has grown.
The annual world wealth report by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini identifies nearly 11 million “high net worth individuals” (HNWIs), defined as having more than $1 million in free cash, not including property and pensions. Their collective wealth reached $42.7 trillion in 2010, a 9.7 percent rise. This means that the wealth of this social layer has already surpassed the previous peak of $40.7 trillion reached in 2007.
…
The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US $1.25 per day, and moderate poverty as living on less than $2 a day. In 2001, some 1.1 billion people lived on less than $1 a day and 2.7 billion on less than $2 a day. Almost half of the world’s people—3 billion souls—live on less than $2.50 a day. One billion children—fully 50 percent of the world’s children—live in poverty. Six million children die of hunger every year, 17,000 every day.”
An economic and political system that tolerates such inequality and such economic brutality is an abomination and an obscenity. Yet we bleat about our won condition as we fight for our share of the cake. We are all caught living for the day, doing what we must to retain what comforts we have.
Those who have the wealth bear no useful function to our society, yet we by our own desires and demands are divided, ruled and conquered. Our compliance makes us accomplices and collaborators. We will only find redemption when we take action and expel the wealthy from our society.
Worse, we throw out items that a generation ago would still be working. We reward people to take away what should work and sell us something that will work for less long. If they raised the standards of housing, products and services, then we’d have more free time, more money left over and everything would be cheaper. Imagine that buying one toaster for your whole life, even getting it as a hand me down. And the strange thing is we will like the whole world have enough to eat, and live culturally rich lives. But no! We choose shallow regurgitated news cycle and movies, and worse of all dogmatic political economics from paid public and politicians who know better, or should be sacked or voted out. The funny, if you can see it that way, is history will call men like Brash and Key, and even Goff, fools. Their own grandchildren will be disinherited (unless a cheap form of energy is discovered), and so even today we know these men are fools since they don’t have the cheap energy source.
There’s no cheap energy source coming available for 20 years (or more). With additional safety requirements and fuel shortages, nuclear power is going to get more expensive not less. Even massive immediate discoveries in cold fusion will require many many years to commercialise safely into 100MW scale reactors.
So I reckon that by 2030 most will have to make do with a 1910’s level of per capita energy usage. It’s going to be a rough ride for western civilisation down the slope of depleting oil. $3/L petrol really is only a start.
Your grandchildren will not be disinheritted by energy depletion or a lack of the cheap material baubles of the oil age. I would prefer to think that we in three generations have disinheritted ourselves from the practical low energy based knowledge of life that our grandparents knew, and that our grandchildren will have to rediscover. Yes, life might be materially much harder but it might also be more spiritually rewarding given that we have divorced our spiriits from anything not from a manufactured technology derivation.
As a point of interest, the whole energy era of the last century has produced huge advances in knowledge and theory around mathematics and science, with towering intellects such as Einstein. Conversely in a sea of literature and arts I see no Shakespeare. Maybe technology and science have trumped the human spirit.
I agree with the sentiment. I just observe that our desires pick what we believe. Einstein had he not happened would have still seen the emergence of General Relativity, as would we have seen a ‘Darwin; if Darwin were not around. The times demanded new thought, a culture pregnant for new ideas.
Similarly now.
I find it astonishing that a man on the radio declared that people should starve and not get benefits, he sounded in his 20s having no doubt supped on the interest free student loans, and was sounded desperate to keep the good times going like he had a mortgage (may even less than the price of his home). What staggered me, was someone made unemployed might have no debts, might own their own home, might already be living a low carbon life, have savings in the local bank supporting local businesses, and doing everything right. And here was this smuck too smart for his own good, the ‘losers’ who supped on the tonic of high debt, who are carried and bailed out by the common community. Sorry but we so live in interesting times.
The great contraction has started. Do we want to make it easier on ourselves by fracting oil shale and leaving a wasteland that kills whole ecosystems for generations, killing the top predators like Eagles, or do we want to end the privately owned petroleum automobile culture and buy into wind farms that may or may not kill the odd eagle?
Activity for activity sake ‘economics’ is killing our planet, our future, and our yes very moral being, when our young smart people desperately peddle the far right wing greed at any cost is good. Sorry but real greed is knowing that too much greed harms you. We can have it all now, and nothing later, or we could have less now, more leisure time, more time with our kids doing low carbon, cost on society lowering healthy exercises running around playing footy with the kids.
I think our MSM has too many people who have too much debt and little common sense left.
But be warned they will come after us, criminalize or try to have us sanctioned for our political and social views. Its always the way with proto fascism.
Tocqueville observed of c.1840s American Democracy that Materialism was its shared value-system. That a basic urge to acquire more money and goods united all people and classes – and thus should be given free rein. Hence, American-style democratic capitalism.
What Tocqueville didn’t foresee is a time when the Materialistic ethos would become practically untenable due to shrinking resources and overpopulation. The challenge for Western democracies in coming years will be to replace Materialism with some other value-system that is compatible with democracy and broadly shared by all citizens. Otherwise, perhaps we will probably go toward some kind of Chinese-style political system.
Tocqueville was only one side of the equation though. In the 19th century there was a great interest in all things spiritual and philosophical in the US, a counter-reaction to the materialists who only believed in what they could own, buy, sell and touch.
At the end of the day the material capitalists may seem to have won out, but their victory is incomplete and as we can see now, increasingly shaky.
CV, yeah, I agree. In fact, Tocqueville himself saw religion as the great counter balance to materialism in American society. To some extent, this American religous strand continues to the present. But, just as the corporate capitalists have triumphed over the small business, the fundamentalists seem to have trumped the transcendentalists.
In some ways, the transcendentalist proto-hippy Henry David Thoreau presented a good model for a low-energy, low-labour, independent lifestyle. He was a bit unsociable though.
“Thousands to come off housing list” By Simon Collins Saturday Jun 25, 2011
________________________________________________________________________________
“With the continuation of Auckland’s serious housing crisis and families still languishing in sheds, garages and overcrowded and sub-standard accommodation, including those left homeless in Christchurch – the last thing any decent Government should be doing is privatising the state housing stock, using charities such as the Salvation Army and ‘trusts’ in a mixed economy to do it,” says Sue Henry, Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby.
“It is totally unacceptable to have Government policies in the 21st century that create instability, transience and homelessness.
There are several other aspects that are very concerning:
The ‘housing crisis’ will not be fixed by taking people off the waiting list.
Prime Minister John Key promised that there would be no asset sales in this first term of government. This is what John Key promised on 14 April 2008:
GUYON Alright you rightly point out it was sold by the National government in 1998 now that brings us to this position. What is your position now as a National Party on state asset sales?
JOHN Well National’s had some time to reflect on that and the position that we’ve decided to have is the following one.
That in the first term of the National government there will be no state assets that will be sold either partially or fully.
GUYON So no state assets, you’re completely firm on that?
JOHN That’s right.”
________________________________________________________________________________
“But Housing Minister Phil Heatley has said ‘some iwi groups wanted to take over managing state houses rather than buying them, but the Government wanted to sell them.’
Prime Minister John Key is breaking this promise.
The proposed sale of any state housing stock must cease forthwith.”
………………………
Sue Henry
Spokesperson
Housing Lobby
________________________________________________________________________________
Scrap over the housing stock
Scrap over the jobs
Scrap over the hospital waiting list
Scrap over cheaper places in childcare
Scrap over the specials at the supermarket
About 460 Housing NZ homes out of 6,000 in Christchurch are estimated to be reduced due to the earthquakes in the red and orange zones. The Government in 2011 are finishing off what they started in the mid 1990s concerning the housing stock for those with the most need.
About 460 Housing NZ homes out of 6,000 in Christchurch are estimated to be reduced due to the earthquakes in the red and orange zones. The Government in 2011 are finishing off what they started in the mid 1990s concerning the housing stock for those with the most need.
Yes, on RNZ and on TV, we keep hearing about home-owners, but what I want to know is: what has become of those who were renting, especially the poor? They are possibly in a much worse position than those in the Red zone who have discovered that their insurance companies aren’t going to pay out (which is bad enough).
HNZ stock is 6,000 in Canterbury my slight error. Vicky 32 do you mean those renting HNZ homes or private rental?
It is my understanding that if a HNZ tenant HNZ have relocated people in the red zone. Some in private rental have remained in their dwelling and no doubt there are tenancy issues.
It would be good to see a topic on this: rental stories from within the red zone regardless of being a private or HNZ tenant.
I was actually thinking about both, although it seems the HNZ tenants might (for a change!) be slightly more secure than those renting privately. (What I mean by that is that an HNZ tenant can be at the mercy of a loonie tenancy manager)
‘history will call men like Brash and Key, and even Goff, fools’
Anyone who knows what is actually happening with respect to energy and environment has been calling men like Brash, Key, anf Goff fools (or criminals) for several years.
Men (and women) like Brash, Key, Goff etc. have maintained their positions by ignoring reality as a matter of policy. Reality is now knocking at the door.
‘unless a cheap form of energy is discovered’
Cheap sources of energy were discovered (coal, oil and gas). They are what got us into this mess.
Fortunately there are no other forms of cheap energy. So, the present corrupt and inefficient political-economic system will collapse, almost certainly by 2015.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council said this week that excessive sludge on beaches is not associated with the discharge of dairy farm effluent. They said that the high levels of scum is all a part of nature and that surf diatoms are a type of phytoplankton, which is a main source of food for productive shellfish beds in the surf.
I sometimes listen to Radio Live talk back Saturdays ( no rude comments please) . Most interesting fellow named Keith Lewis , Certainly well on the political left. Anyone with any information. Last night said that Key was the most dangerous politician ever in NZ .Interesting because this is my belief too. It would be interesting to know something about him.
Remember those characters who wore a smiley mask on one side of their head and a demonic one on the other? Don’t know about Lewis but the masking would fit Key to a tee don’t ya see?
Until Madoff was uncovered, he was a light that people would recommend to their friends.
So is neo-liberal economics.
We will destroy ourselves by accepting at face value anything John Key has to say, not because its right or wrong (mostly wrong) but because we consent to everything he has done, is doing and will do in our names otherwise.
Periodically I put Key on par with Muldoon. The destruction Muldoon left is still around. E.g.
1) Crewe inquiry, 2) Colin Moyle inquiry, 3) Traumatised undercover cops trying to expose the short comings of being an undercover cop in particular Patrick O’ Brien (Iam no fan of high ranking cops at PNHQ as I know they have even concealed the truth in recent times), 4) Erebus inquiry.
I feel it in my bones that Key will be another Muldoon on how he performs regarding Pike River. Muldoon was mafia like concerning his dealings with the police because he NEVER held the police to account for 1) Who fed Rochelle, 2) Ensuring there was an internal police investigation into who in police leaked the Moyle incident, 3) The damage that resulted due to police undercover work, 4) What happened to Collins diary in the lock up at Mc Murdo Sound. Either the PM can have a commission of inquiry or the police commissioner can do an inquiry.
I am yet to see how Marshall performs regarding historical police matters which are still affecting people today.
There is one major difference between Muldoon and Key Treetop. Muldoon was an overt bully and a bastard. Key is a covert bully and a bastard. Also, it became quite well known that Muldoon used the SIS for his own political purposes. I don’t think Key will have tried that one on… unlikely to get away with it in this day and age.
Anne I knew that you would respond. Your idea on a book is a first rate idea. Of interest, goings on in the 1970s are being written about more now days. My library has Vol 1 but not Vol 2 “In New Zealand As it Might Have Been” by Hugh Eldred-Grigg. There is a chapter on Moyle in it. I need to read both volumes and have a think about what has really changed in 35 years between the police and certain prime ministers.
Did you know that Muldoon was Key”s idol in Key”s teen years and Muldoon got Key interested in politics. For all I know Muldoon could be Key’s hobby!
Pink Postman – this you may mean Keith Stewart. He is one of the few talkback hosts coming from the left and his show is often very interesting. Mikey Havoc was on Radio Live recently, he also appears to come from the left. Also made interesting talkback, wish they would give him a permanet job. Talkback radio can actually provide some interesting debate occasionally as opposed to the usual rightwing propaganda believe it or not!
Yes and thank you Belldonna. In fact I was listening to Keith Lewis the wonderfull NZ tenor and got the names mixed up. Im getting old and funny ,
However I am most impressed by K.Stewart and I would like to know about his background . Like you say it makes a change to get a good Leftie on talk back
The political left gained a victory this weekend with te Mana’s Hone Harawira winning the Tai Tokerau by-election. It’s a fantastic result considering the short amount of time te Mana had to launch their campaign and the negative media campaign run against the new party…
Press Release: New Publication Available Online Now
E-Release Only
Matters To A Head
Cannabis, mental illness & recovery
By Kate K
This highly readable and exciting new book explores the links between cannabis and mental illness through the personal and professional experiences of New Zealand author Kate K.
[This isn’t a place for a long advertisement, thanks, though you’ll probably get away with something short and a link to your web site. r0b]
This has made my day – smart girls from a decile one school and bees – one of the most important ecological issues of out time.
Against the odds, four young Kiwi girls have out-smarted some of the world’s top problem solvers. Oturu School placed second in the community section at the International Future Problem Solving Finals in the United States….
Deputy principal Heather Greaves, who travelled with the students, said the judges were impressed by the students’ ambitious plan to save the honey bee.
1000 new species, including a new species of dolphin, found in the Papua New Guinea rainforests and coast; profound, because this is now the third largest rain forest in the world, is on our door step and is at risk from climate change and exploitation of resources – such wonderful diversity, just found, but could be gone in a century.
Second – you may remember those TV road safety adverts with the old scary guy with the roulette wheel who decided whether they would crash, near miss, be killed, etc. How about a campaign at major intersection with people dressed as Key, English, etc, but instead having ‘Asset sales’, Privatisation, no GST increase, etc as the outcomes.
I do love the ads idea, only problem is that it is a very negative and downbeat campaign. Labour needs to present a different vision of the future, not just negate National’s crap.
It could however form the basis of a secondary viral campaign 🙂
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If you’ve ever had the misfortune of having to rent a property on the open market in New Zealand, which is one of the most expensive in the entire world, you’ll likely be keenly aware of just how arrogant and entitled landlords and their real estate agents can be.Unfortunately for ...
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights:In this legal blog we outline some ...
by Equipo Jurídico Pueblos and Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (25/03/2020) An escape plan in question On the night of March 21st and the early morning of the 22nd, the forces of the Colombian state stormed into the Modelo prison in Bogotá, murdering 23 prisoners and injuring 83, in response to the ...
When the government banned semi-automatic weapons in response to a terrorist atrocity, gun-nuts were outraged. Mired in toxic American gun culture, they thought owning weapons whose sole purpose was killing people was some sort of "constitutional right", a necessity for "defending themselves" against the government. Now, the Court of Appeal ...
Just before midnight on Wednesday March 25, Aotearoa New Zealand entered a countrywide alert level four lockdown. For at least the next four weeks, everyone who isn’t an essential worker is confined to their bubble. We are doing this to stop the explosive growth in people contracting and dying from ...
. . Lock Down: Day 1 – A photo essay with observations . Day one of the Level 4 nationwide lock-down (or, DefCon 4 as I sometimes cheekily call it) started at 11.59PM on 25 March. For a moment, most of the nation held it’s collective breath. In that brief ...
Broad, Sunlit Uplands: How those words fired my young imagination! Or, perhaps, it is more accurate to say: how those words fused, in my young mind, with the image printed on every packet of Fielder’s Cornflour. Always fascinated by history, especially modern history, I cannot hear Churchill’s wonderfully evocative words, even ...
. . 24 March 2020 9.46AM Number of covid19 cases in Aotearoa New Zealand: 102 . As of 11.59 on Thursday, most of New Zealand will go into “lock down”. People will be expected not to travel to work; not to socialise; and to stay home. I will not be ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections A respected research group, Project Drawdown, finds that deploying solutions consistent with meeting the Paris climate targets would cost tens of trillions of dollars globally. But crucially, those outlays would also yield long-term savings many times larger than the up-front costs. The new 2020 Drawdown ...
It will pass. What happens next? Not immediately, but longer term. There are many opinions, fewer certainties. Will it “change everything!” as many confidently, and contradictorily predict? In this post I look at how foresight can help bound some of the uncertainties so you can more objectively consider the future. ...
We’ve been meaning t write something on Cuba and the coronavirus but have just discovered a very good article on the subject in the US left publication Jacobin. The article looks at how Cuba, a poor country but one where capitalism has been done away with, is leading the way ...
In 2018, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey - two British citizens who had purportedly been stripped of their citizenship by the British government - were captured while fighting for Isis in Syria. The British government then conspired to hand them over to the US, and agreed to provide evidence ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world".Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...
The domestic travel ban has been lifted for stranded foreign tourists trying to get to international airports to fly home, after the Coalition Government announced a plan to help the tens of thousands of foreigners stranded here. Foreign Minister Rt. Hon. Winston Peters spoke with RNZ's Susie Ferguson said foreign ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters believes the country is rediscovering its resilience and self-reliance through its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.He says he is heartened that the mass majority of New Zealanders are following lockdown rules and that the government looking at the future, including paying to keep much ...
New Zealand can emulate the success of the US after the Great Depression by exploiting our own resources to turn the economy around quickly, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr. Peters told Magic Talk that New Zealand has an opportunity to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic a "superior, ...
All 45 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel are either on their way back to New Zealand, or already in the country, according to Defence Minister Ron Mark."Twenty-eight personnel arrived back in New Zealand last week and are in isolation at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base in ...
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...
We know people are feeling anxious about COVID-19. While the situation is serious, New Zealand has a world-class health system and we’re well-prepared to keep New Zealanders safe. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging New Zealanders overseas to stay where they are amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are reaching a point where the best option for most New Zealanders offshore is to shelter in place, by preparing to safely stay where they are.” "This includes following the instructions ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging the tens of thousands of New Zealanders travelling overseas to consider sheltering in place, in light of COVID-19. “Since 18 March, we have been warning New Zealanders offshore that the window for flying ...
Ground-breaking law has passed that will decriminalise abortion and ensure women and pregnant people seeking abortions have compassionate healthcare. ...
The Green Party says that the measures announced by the Government today will help families and businesses to prioritise our collective health and wellbeing in the response to COVID-19. ...
As New Zealanders brace for a global downturn due to Covid-19, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says his Coalition Government’s rescue package "more significant" than any other he's seen around the world. The Coalition is to reveal a multi-billion-dollar stimulus plan on Tuesday afternoon designed to cushion the economic blow ...
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...
The Government’s plan to cushion the blow of COVID-19 by supporting incomes, jobs and businesses, and position the economy to recover has been backed by another international report. International credit rating agency Moody’s today reaffirmed its highest Aaa credit rating on New Zealand, saying the economy is expected to remain ...
National sports organisations have been given certainty of funding to ensure they can remain viable through the COVID-19 pandemic, Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “The global spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on sport and recreation in New Zealand, including the cancellation or postponement of ...
Changes have been made to allow butchers to process pork, only for supply to supermarkets or other processors or retailers that are open, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “We carefully weighed the risk of allowing butchers to open their shops for retail customers, but the risk of spreading COVID-19 ...
Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
A Government WhatsApp channel has been launched to help make information more easily accessible and shareable in the fight against COVID-19. Govt.NZ, which is free to use on any mobile device, will carry information and news for the public, businesses, healthcare providers, not for profits and local government. It can ...
The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy. Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
Ardern says the role of planning for moving out of lockdown is not the Government's alone Businesses should plan how they will operate in an environment where intensive contact tracing would be needed post-lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. The Government was working on additional guidance for the move to Level 3 ...
Netflix’s four-part series Unorthodox traces a woman’s escape from a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. Emily Writes considers the lessons we can all learn from her journey. There was a moment watching Netflix’s miniseries Unorthodox when I felt like I was actually in Berlin, where much of the show is ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...
By RNZ Pacific The number of people with Covid-19 in the Pacific continues to climb with French Polynesia hitting 40 cases, Guam now over 90 and the US state of Hawai’i suffering its third coronavirus death. In the past day, another person tested positive for Covid-19 in French Polynesia. ...
We needed a reasonable period of time to allow the recent surging wave of highly geared first home buyers to get financially comfortable. We didn’t get it, writes David Hargreaves of interest.co.nz.You know, I was really beginning to think (as well as hope) that we might just get away with it.By ‘it’ ...
Being stuck inside all day might be wearing you and your kids down, but there’s never been a better time to encourage them to pick up their musical instrument and get stuck into writing songs. Mike Chunn from Play It Strange explains how. Mums and dads and households with teenage children. ...
Siouxsie Wiles on the vitriolic correspondence she’s received since the Covid-19 outbreak struck, and the realities of communicating evidence.I recently received an email and text from someone telling me they are planning to email my boss, the University of Auckland vice chancellor. They are going to ask for me to ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, five of New Zealand’s best writers chronicle the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, Fiona Farrell.There’s a sign sticky-taped to the bakery window. Closed Until Further Notice. Stay Safe NZ and Be Kind. We will get through this!We all know where the words ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Covid-19 is a real threat to older people, but these Central Otago seniors are embracing technology, experiencing no FOMO, and finding new ways to connect and share, finds Jill Herron When the full lockdown began on March 25 it meant the end of going for a swim, spa or to ...
Former editor of the Woman's Weekly, Nicky Pellegrino, bids farewell to the magazine that brought information and fun to generations of New Zealand women. All those stories. Gone. Stories about our politics, our health, our education, our aspirations. Stories about the houses we lived in and the gardens we grew, ...
As small businesses fight for their survival in the Covid-19 lockdown, it seems one of the country’s biggest retail landlords is not keen to share the pain. On the one side, you have Jonathan*. Jonathan runs a small business out of South Auckland’s Sylvia Park - New Zealand’s biggest mall. ...
With no Covid-19 cases and its economy desperate to restart, the Chathams is keen to go fishing again, writes Jim Kayes.It shouldn’t really be a surprise. They are, after all, ahead of New Zealand by 45 minutes.And though they are part of Wellington’s Rongotai electorate, the fiercely ...
On Friday night, the government quietly laid down some lockdown rules via a legal order under the Health Act. Law professor Andrew Geddis explains what it means for all of us (including David Clark). As the first week of level four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was ...
The health and wellbeing of people working and being held inside our prisons needs to be a priority, writes JustSpeak director Tania Sawicki Mead. Kelvin Davis’s interview on The Hui last weekend made it clear that precautions taken by Corrections to stop the spread of Covid-19 will create an unprecedented restriction ...
Like countless New Zealanders stranded overseas, Wellingtonian Rosie O’Hagan will be braving authorities, airlines, airports and uncertainty to make it back from the other side of the world, writes Jim Kayes.Rosie O’Hagan hadn’t stepped outside for three weeks.When she finally did – around midnight on Friday ...
PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY:By David Robie A rather beautiful Guåhan legend is rather poignant in these stressed pandemic times. It is one about survival and cooperation. In ancient times, goes the story, a giant fish was eating great chunks out of this western Pacific island. The men used muscle ...
Simon Wren-Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford, raises good questions about Britain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them seem germane to this country’s response. Wren-Lewis posted his critique on his Mainly Macro blog under the heading Following the Science or a ...
Alex Casey speaks to a dream expert about why so many people are suddenly remembering their vivid and often horrible dreams. As the days begin to blur together and the only thing we get between sleeps is unimaginably horrible news and an embarrassing tootle around the block, it’s no surprise ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...
Medical centres across the country are condensing services, moving online, and ushering in pandemic plans. Josie Adams assesses what it’s like to access and provide essential medical care under alert level four.On Monday, Sandra Russell woke up before dawn and drove to Milford to get her blood tested. She has ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, writer and doctor Glenn Colquhoun, with the second of his Letters to Hone Tūwhare and his Travelling Band of Constant Companions. ...
ANALYSIS:By Haiqing Yu of RMIT University and Michael Keane of Curtin University China has gradually emerged out of its shadow of despair as the epicentre where the coronavirus pandemic started. Now, there is face saving required – as well as agenda-setting in the global power play. China played ...
Tech giant Google has released a giant global data set which shows how different countries are locking down, and which NZ regions are most compliant with its lockdown.A giant set of reports released by Google, created using its anonymised cellphone location data reveals the scale of human behaviour change the ...
Comedian Penny Ashton writes on the necessity of the arts, especially during lockdown.On March 22, everyone’s favourite fiscal bloodhounds, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, sent out a tweet in response to Creative New Zealand’s announcement that it will dedicate an emergency response package to helping New Zealand’s artists, in the ...
Wellington writer Philippa Swan’s new novel TheNight of All Souls is an homage to Pulitzer-winning and all-round fabulous American writer Edith Wharton. Wharton died in 1937 but, Swan writes, she’s very much of the moment. Nobody does social distancing like Wharton did. While Wharton was still comparatively young, she created the ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Normally heaving year-round, Queenstown has ground to an eerie halt as Covid-19 cases rise and tourism income plummets, reports Paul Taylor. On a hill behind Queenstown's coronavirus Covid-19 community testing centre, the resort's iconic Skyline gondola sits motionless. More than 17 million people are estimated to have ridden the gondola ...
Are we drinking more in the lockdown? Hard to know, writes David Slack, but we’re certainly having to get creative about it. Almost every phone call I’ve answered this week has begun the same way: “You still off the drink, then?” Fair question. What a time to be not drinking. ...
Kiwi clinical psychologist Desiree Dickerson is stuck with her family in Spain and has written a guide in Nature: "Seven tips to manage your mental health and well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak." It’s Day 17 of the Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. In a small village on the Mediterranean coast, about ...
"Will our ills be cured? Will our feet carry us? For how long?": a short story set in Henderson by West Auckland writer Serie Barford.I learned to drive a tractor when I was a kid feeding out hay with my cousins on a dairy farm down the line. I ...
Without active testing in the community our Covid-19 picture isn’t complete, an epidemiologist says. David Williams reports. There are worse places to be self-isolating than Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty, says Bridget Robson, who lives on a two-acre block and keeps chickens. “We live in a beautiful part of ...
How do you hold a funeral service with the country in lockdown? Where there’s a will – and a tech-savvy uncle – there’s a way, Erin Kavanagh-Hall discovered.I was floating somewhere in the Cook Strait when I heard my grandfather’s funeral had been cancelled.I should elaborate. It was a Monday, ...
‘Stay in your bubble’ didn’t exist 100 years ago, but our ancestors would want us to know how essential it is to do so, says Jai Breitnauer.It was a warm but slightly grey January day in 2019 when I pulled the car over to the side of SH1, just south ...
David Clark’s misadventure in mountain biking was a stupid, but ultimately forgivable offence. The bigger problem is the continued uncertainty around what is and isn’t appropriate activity in lockdown, as Sam Sachdeva writes. Given the pressure he and his Cabinet colleagues are under, it is little surprise Health Minister David ...
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...
Every day at 1pm New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announces precise figures on the number of confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in the country. He is working on the best information available, and during this week the level of community transmission was put at around ...
Most of New Zealand's MPs are in lockdown just like the rest of us, confined to their neighbourhoods and stuck in their bubbles. Checkpoint called a few to ask them what they're doing. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Deery, Lecturer in Early Childhood Education, University of Melbourne “Stupid coronavirus!” I heard my six-year-old mumble while talking in her sleep. Earlier that day her swimming and basketball lessons were cancelled, a birthday party postponed, and she had to race with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University “Zoombombing” in case you haven’t heard, is the unsavoury practice of posting distressing comments, pictures or videos after gatecrashing virtual meetings hosted by the videoconferencing app Zoom. With hundreds of millions ...
Analysis - A leading epidemiologist says health authorities 'really have no idea' of the extent of community spread, Parliament's Epidemic Response Committee gets its teeth into what's going on during the lockdown and the horrendous economic imp ...
The fifth in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall, covering the Covid-19 epidemic within New Zealand. We’ll publish the latest set each day on The Spinoff.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersInformation about confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 ...
The Finance Minister says struggling companies will be able to put some debt into hibernation, under new legislation unveiled today. Watch the latest government update here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Editor’s note: The following is current as at April 3, 2020. Things are changing quickly so best to keep an eye on the latest information from WA Health, as well as the federal government.This article ...
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling What does the COVID-19 pandemic sound like? For this episode, Dallas Rogers – a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney – asked academic colleagues from all over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sven Gallasch, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), “but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the ...
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Of the larger European countries, Italy is now in third place for known cases per person in the population. Spain has overtaken Switzerland for ...
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui and Te Kaahui o Rauru are celebrating the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South Taranaki Bight. The Court of Appeal found that there ...
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...
Pacific Media Watch The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has strongly condemned the shoot-to-kill order by President Rodrigo Duterte this week as a ‘dangerous’ opening to target and kill anyone in a public space. “We are raising the alarm in the international community on President ...
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...
The SpinoffBy Ashleigh Rushton, Lisa McLaren, Marion Tan & Sara Harrison
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Young people in Australia are among the fastest-growing group to contract COVID19. According to the Department of Health, there are now more cases in Australia among people aged 20 – 29 years than any ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Pattinson, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult at the best of times. But it can be even harder when you’re anxious or have something on your mind – a global pandemic, for example. ...
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...
The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand is delighted that the government has moved quickly to provide an initial financial support package for pharmacy. The $15 million package was paid this week to pharmacy contract holders. Pharmaceutical Society president ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...
A new poem by Wellington poet and bookseller Ash Davida Jane. washed up! it gets tiring pushing the fire alarm every nightbut things keep catching on fireor sometimes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Welcome to the second edition of our lockdown Top 10s. A reminder that this chart has nothing to do with sales or launches or the publishing cycle; these are just books the Unity team love – and this week it’s westerns, full of big skies and long rides and showdowns.AUCKLANDAll ...
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster’s plan to cover revenue shortfalls through borrowing without cutting low priority spending is immoral, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “Businesses and households across the country are meeting financial challenges ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin John Brophy, Emeritus Professor of Creative writing, University of Melbourne “Katrina, I had in mind a prayer, but only this came,” Bruce Dawe wrote to his infant daughter, new-born, in intensive care, her life in the balance, declaring as poets must ...
The shock closure of Bauer NZ – and with it all of the country’s current affairs magazines – is a stark reminder of the fragile state of local media, writes Mel Bunce, the author of a book on the subject.It is a dark week for journalism in New Zealand, with ...
Join Leonie Hayden as she works through the first four weeks of Scotty Morrison’s Māori Made Easy.Rāmere/FridayWe made it to the end of week one e te whānau. It wasn’t that hard! In fact it was… Māori made easy.To end our week of pronunciation practice we’re going to revisit everything we ...
Open mike 26/06/2011 
. . April 4: Day 10 of living in lock-down… I wake up to a fine Saturday morning which normally would be like an early Christmas. But it’s Day 10 of Level 4 Lock Down. What will my fellow New Zealanders be doing on a day like this – staying ...4 hours ago
Some time during the night we went over the 850,000 views mark. We might have had our millionth view by the end of this year – certainly by early next year. Most of the people involved in Redline spent years and years producing various small left-wing papers and selling them ...4 hours ago
Comfortably, in the very first round, with an impressive 56% of the votes.I wonder, did members of the Shadow Cabinet start tweeting their resignations during Starmer's victory speech, or is that only a trick the right pull?It is odd how all the talk of how the next leader "needs to ...5 hours ago
One of the key voices in this extraordinary time in which we live is that of University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker. Philip Matthews did an an excellent job this weekend of capturing the way he became the man for this moment in a profile for The Press.But one ...5 hours ago
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed the nation today about the decline in daylight New Zealand has been experiencing over the previous few months. She said “As many of you will notice, our attempts to stem the dwindling of the daylight over the last few months have been completely ...20 hours ago
As the first week of Level Four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was (and was not) allowed under its “rules”. Partly these were driven by some apparently contradictory messages from different authority figures and explanations carried in the media. Partly they reflected a somewhat sketchy legal basis ...1 day ago
We must root out the traitors among us! ...2 days ago
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...2 days ago
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...2 days ago
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...2 days ago
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...3 days ago
46 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects Global response of evapotranspiration ratio to climate conditions and watershed characteristics in a changing environment Greenhouse effect: the relative contributions of emission height and total absorption Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Climate change induced a ...4 days ago
Image credit: Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ... 4 days ago
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...4 days ago
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...5 days ago
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...6 days ago
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...1 week ago
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...1 week ago
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights: In this legal blog we outline some ...1 week ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world". Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...2 days ago
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...1 week ago
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The scale of what we face right now is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Overcoming it is our common purpose. ...2 weeks ago
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...2 days ago
Ardern says the role of planning for moving out of lockdown is not the Government's alone Businesses should plan how they will operate in an environment where intensive contact tracing would be needed post-lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. The Government was working on additional guidance for the move to Level 3 ...51 mins ago
Netflix’s four-part series Unorthodox traces a woman’s escape from a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. Emily Writes considers the lessons we can all learn from her journey. There was a moment watching Netflix’s miniseries Unorthodox when I felt like I was actually in Berlin, where much of the show is ...1 hour ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...2 hours ago
By RNZ Pacific The number of people with Covid-19 in the Pacific continues to climb with French Polynesia hitting 40 cases, Guam now over 90 and the US state of Hawai’i suffering its third coronavirus death. In the past day, another person tested positive for Covid-19 in French Polynesia. ...3 hours ago
Covid-19 is a real threat to older people, but these Central Otago seniors are embracing technology, experiencing no FOMO, and finding new ways to connect and share, finds Jill Herron When the full lockdown began on March 25 it meant the end of going for a swim, spa or to ...10 hours ago
Former editor of the Woman's Weekly, Nicky Pellegrino, bids farewell to the magazine that brought information and fun to generations of New Zealand women. All those stories. Gone. Stories about our politics, our health, our education, our aspirations. Stories about the houses we lived in and the gardens we grew, ...10 hours ago
As small businesses fight for their survival in the Covid-19 lockdown, it seems one of the country’s biggest retail landlords is not keen to share the pain. On the one side, you have Jonathan*. Jonathan runs a small business out of South Auckland’s Sylvia Park - New Zealand’s biggest mall. ...10 hours ago
With no Covid-19 cases and its economy desperate to restart, the Chathams is keen to go fishing again, writes Jim Kayes. It shouldn’t really be a surprise. They are, after all, ahead of New Zealand by 45 minutes. And though they are part of Wellington’s Rongotai electorate, the fiercely ...10 hours ago
Like countless New Zealanders stranded overseas, Wellingtonian Rosie O’Hagan will be braving authorities, airlines, airports and uncertainty to make it back from the other side of the world, writes Jim Kayes. Rosie O’Hagan hadn’t stepped outside for three weeks. When she finally did – around midnight on Friday ...24 hours ago
Simon Wren-Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford, raises good questions about Britain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them seem germane to this country’s response. Wren-Lewis posted his critique on his Mainly Macro blog under the heading Following the Science or a ...1 day ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...1 day ago
Normally heaving year-round, Queenstown has ground to an eerie halt as Covid-19 cases rise and tourism income plummets, reports Paul Taylor. On a hill behind Queenstown's coronavirus Covid-19 community testing centre, the resort's iconic Skyline gondola sits motionless. More than 17 million people are estimated to have ridden the gondola ...1 day ago
Are we drinking more in the lockdown? Hard to know, writes David Slack, but we’re certainly having to get creative about it. Almost every phone call I’ve answered this week has begun the same way: “You still off the drink, then?” Fair question. What a time to be not drinking. ...1 day ago
Kiwi clinical psychologist Desiree Dickerson is stuck with her family in Spain and has written a guide in Nature: "Seven tips to manage your mental health and well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak." It’s Day 17 of the Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. In a small village on the Mediterranean coast, about ...1 day ago
"Will our ills be cured? Will our feet carry us? For how long?": a short story set in Henderson by West Auckland writer Serie Barford. I learned to drive a tractor when I was a kid feeding out hay with my cousins on a dairy farm down the line. I ...1 day ago
Without active testing in the community our Covid-19 picture isn’t complete, an epidemiologist says. David Williams reports. There are worse places to be self-isolating than Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty, says Bridget Robson, who lives on a two-acre block and keeps chickens. “We live in a beautiful part of ...1 day ago
David Clark’s misadventure in mountain biking was a stupid, but ultimately forgivable offence. The bigger problem is the continued uncertainty around what is and isn’t appropriate activity in lockdown, as Sam Sachdeva writes. Given the pressure he and his Cabinet colleagues are under, it is little surprise Health Minister David ...1 day ago
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...2 days ago
Most of New Zealand's MPs are in lockdown just like the rest of us, confined to their neighbourhoods and stuck in their bubbles. Checkpoint called a few to ask them what they're doing. ...2 days ago
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...2 days ago
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...2 days ago
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...2 days ago
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...2 days ago
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...2 days ago
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...2 days ago
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...2 days ago
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...2 days ago
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...2 days ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...2 days ago
Vodafone says its continuing to see significant increases in calls and data on its networks after the first week of level 4 lockdown. ...2 days ago
‘
Spying on workers made legal.
Presumably this new law also makes it legal for unions to install secret cameras to spy on bosses and hire private detectives to do so?
I can’t wait the day, that a manager is caught on tape plotting to victimise a worker who dares to join a union.
How times have changed. A few years ago a friend took exception to an employer secretly taping staff at his Service Station and took him to the Employment Court – and won.
How mad is that! Wow, sneaky… (I haven’t heard that reported on the radio or TV)
Wealth of the world’s richest rose nearly 10 percent in 2010
“Austerity measures, wage cuts and rising unemployment have characterised the years since the crash of 2008 for working people. For the rich and super-rich, however, they have been the occasion for clawing back every penny of the initial losses made and adding a great deal more.
Today, the world’s wealthy are richer than before the crash and the number of individuals belonging to this highly exclusive club has grown.
The annual world wealth report by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini identifies nearly 11 million “high net worth individuals” (HNWIs), defined as having more than $1 million in free cash, not including property and pensions. Their collective wealth reached $42.7 trillion in 2010, a 9.7 percent rise. This means that the wealth of this social layer has already surpassed the previous peak of $40.7 trillion reached in 2007.
…
The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US $1.25 per day, and moderate poverty as living on less than $2 a day. In 2001, some 1.1 billion people lived on less than $1 a day and 2.7 billion on less than $2 a day. Almost half of the world’s people—3 billion souls—live on less than $2.50 a day. One billion children—fully 50 percent of the world’s children—live in poverty. Six million children die of hunger every year, 17,000 every day.”
An economic and political system that tolerates such inequality and such economic brutality is an abomination and an obscenity. Yet we bleat about our won condition as we fight for our share of the cake. We are all caught living for the day, doing what we must to retain what comforts we have.
Those who have the wealth bear no useful function to our society, yet we by our own desires and demands are divided, ruled and conquered. Our compliance makes us accomplices and collaborators. We will only find redemption when we take action and expel the wealthy from our society.
Worse, we throw out items that a generation ago would still be working. We reward people to take away what should work and sell us something that will work for less long. If they raised the standards of housing, products and services, then we’d have more free time, more money left over and everything would be cheaper. Imagine that buying one toaster for your whole life, even getting it as a hand me down. And the strange thing is we will like the whole world have enough to eat, and live culturally rich lives. But no! We choose shallow regurgitated news cycle and movies, and worse of all dogmatic political economics from paid public and politicians who know better, or should be sacked or voted out. The funny, if you can see it that way, is history will call men like Brash and Key, and even Goff, fools. Their own grandchildren will be disinherited (unless a cheap form of energy is discovered), and so even today we know these men are fools since they don’t have the cheap energy source.
There’s no cheap energy source coming available for 20 years (or more). With additional safety requirements and fuel shortages, nuclear power is going to get more expensive not less. Even massive immediate discoveries in cold fusion will require many many years to commercialise safely into 100MW scale reactors.
So I reckon that by 2030 most will have to make do with a 1910’s level of per capita energy usage. It’s going to be a rough ride for western civilisation down the slope of depleting oil. $3/L petrol really is only a start.
Your grandchildren will not be disinheritted by energy depletion or a lack of the cheap material baubles of the oil age. I would prefer to think that we in three generations have disinheritted ourselves from the practical low energy based knowledge of life that our grandparents knew, and that our grandchildren will have to rediscover. Yes, life might be materially much harder but it might also be more spiritually rewarding given that we have divorced our spiriits from anything not from a manufactured technology derivation.
As a point of interest, the whole energy era of the last century has produced huge advances in knowledge and theory around mathematics and science, with towering intellects such as Einstein. Conversely in a sea of literature and arts I see no Shakespeare. Maybe technology and science have trumped the human spirit.
I agree with the sentiment. I just observe that our desires pick what we believe. Einstein had he not happened would have still seen the emergence of General Relativity, as would we have seen a ‘Darwin; if Darwin were not around. The times demanded new thought, a culture pregnant for new ideas.
Similarly now.
I find it astonishing that a man on the radio declared that people should starve and not get benefits, he sounded in his 20s having no doubt supped on the interest free student loans, and was sounded desperate to keep the good times going like he had a mortgage (may even less than the price of his home). What staggered me, was someone made unemployed might have no debts, might own their own home, might already be living a low carbon life, have savings in the local bank supporting local businesses, and doing everything right. And here was this smuck too smart for his own good, the ‘losers’ who supped on the tonic of high debt, who are carried and bailed out by the common community. Sorry but we so live in interesting times.
The great contraction has started. Do we want to make it easier on ourselves by fracting oil shale and leaving a wasteland that kills whole ecosystems for generations, killing the top predators like Eagles, or do we want to end the privately owned petroleum automobile culture and buy into wind farms that may or may not kill the odd eagle?
Activity for activity sake ‘economics’ is killing our planet, our future, and our yes very moral being, when our young smart people desperately peddle the far right wing greed at any cost is good. Sorry but real greed is knowing that too much greed harms you. We can have it all now, and nothing later, or we could have less now, more leisure time, more time with our kids doing low carbon, cost on society lowering healthy exercises running around playing footy with the kids.
I think our MSM has too many people who have too much debt and little common sense left.
But be warned they will come after us, criminalize or try to have us sanctioned for our political and social views. Its always the way with proto fascism.
Tocqueville observed of c.1840s American Democracy that Materialism was its shared value-system. That a basic urge to acquire more money and goods united all people and classes – and thus should be given free rein. Hence, American-style democratic capitalism.
What Tocqueville didn’t foresee is a time when the Materialistic ethos would become practically untenable due to shrinking resources and overpopulation. The challenge for Western democracies in coming years will be to replace Materialism with some other value-system that is compatible with democracy and broadly shared by all citizens. Otherwise, perhaps we will probably go toward some kind of Chinese-style political system.
Tocqueville was only one side of the equation though. In the 19th century there was a great interest in all things spiritual and philosophical in the US, a counter-reaction to the materialists who only believed in what they could own, buy, sell and touch.
At the end of the day the material capitalists may seem to have won out, but their victory is incomplete and as we can see now, increasingly shaky.
CV, yeah, I agree. In fact, Tocqueville himself saw religion as the great counter balance to materialism in American society. To some extent, this American religous strand continues to the present. But, just as the corporate capitalists have triumphed over the small business, the fundamentalists seem to have trumped the transcendentalists.
In some ways, the transcendentalist proto-hippy Henry David Thoreau presented a good model for a low-energy, low-labour, independent lifestyle. He was a bit unsociable though.
MORE broken promises from National and John Key?
This time on the privatisation of state housing assets?
This is a BIGGIE!
Looking forward to ALL the parties that are opposed to privatisation and assets sales going BALLISTIC on this one!
Seen this?
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1106/S00319/stop-privatisation-of-state-housing-assets.htm
26 June 2011
PRESS RELEASE: Response from Sue Henry Spokesperson Housing Lobby:
“STOP PRIVATISATION OF STATE HOUSING ASSETS!”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10734409
“Thousands to come off housing list” By Simon Collins Saturday Jun 25, 2011
________________________________________________________________________________
“With the continuation of Auckland’s serious housing crisis and families still languishing in sheds, garages and overcrowded and sub-standard accommodation, including those left homeless in Christchurch – the last thing any decent Government should be doing is privatising the state housing stock, using charities such as the Salvation Army and ‘trusts’ in a mixed economy to do it,” says Sue Henry, Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby.
“It is totally unacceptable to have Government policies in the 21st century that create instability, transience and homelessness.
There are several other aspects that are very concerning:
The ‘housing crisis’ will not be fixed by taking people off the waiting list.
Prime Minister John Key promised that there would be no asset sales in this first term of government. This is what John Key promised on 14 April 2008:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0804/S00195.htm
“Transcript: Agenda IV’s John Key
Monday, 14 April 2008, 10:57 am
Article: Agenda
GUYON Alright you rightly point out it was sold by the National government in 1998 now that brings us to this position. What is your position now as a National Party on state asset sales?
JOHN Well National’s had some time to reflect on that and the position that we’ve decided to have is the following one.
That in the first term of the National government there will be no state assets that will be sold either partially or fully.
GUYON So no state assets, you’re completely firm on that?
JOHN That’s right.”
________________________________________________________________________________
“But Housing Minister Phil Heatley has said ‘some iwi groups wanted to take over managing state houses rather than buying them, but the Government wanted to sell them.’
Prime Minister John Key is breaking this promise.
The proposed sale of any state housing stock must cease forthwith.”
………………………
Sue Henry
Spokesperson
Housing Lobby
________________________________________________________________________________
Penny Bright
http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
Scrap over the housing stock
Scrap over the jobs
Scrap over the hospital waiting list
Scrap over cheaper places in childcare
Scrap over the specials at the supermarket
About 460 Housing NZ homes out of 6,000 in Christchurch are estimated to be reduced due to the earthquakes in the red and orange zones. The Government in 2011 are finishing off what they started in the mid 1990s concerning the housing stock for those with the most need.
Yes, on RNZ and on TV, we keep hearing about home-owners, but what I want to know is: what has become of those who were renting, especially the poor? They are possibly in a much worse position than those in the Red zone who have discovered that their insurance companies aren’t going to pay out (which is bad enough).
HNZ stock is 6,000 in Canterbury my slight error. Vicky 32 do you mean those renting HNZ homes or private rental?
It is my understanding that if a HNZ tenant HNZ have relocated people in the red zone. Some in private rental have remained in their dwelling and no doubt there are tenancy issues.
It would be good to see a topic on this: rental stories from within the red zone regardless of being a private or HNZ tenant.
I was actually thinking about both, although it seems the HNZ tenants might (for a change!) be slightly more secure than those renting privately. (What I mean by that is that an HNZ tenant can be at the mercy of a loonie tenancy manager)
‘history will call men like Brash and Key, and even Goff, fools’
Anyone who knows what is actually happening with respect to energy and environment has been calling men like Brash, Key, anf Goff fools (or criminals) for several years.
Men (and women) like Brash, Key, Goff etc. have maintained their positions by ignoring reality as a matter of policy. Reality is now knocking at the door.
‘unless a cheap form of energy is discovered’
Cheap sources of energy were discovered (coal, oil and gas). They are what got us into this mess.
Fortunately there are no other forms of cheap energy. So, the present corrupt and inefficient political-economic system will collapse, almost certainly by 2015.
The week that was 19 – 26 June
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council said this week that excessive sludge on beaches is not associated with the discharge of dairy farm effluent. They said that the high levels of scum is all a part of nature and that surf diatoms are a type of phytoplankton, which is a main source of food for productive shellfish beds in the surf.
I sometimes listen to Radio Live talk back Saturdays ( no rude comments please) . Most interesting fellow named Keith Lewis , Certainly well on the political left. Anyone with any information. Last night said that Key was the most dangerous politician ever in NZ .Interesting because this is my belief too. It would be interesting to know something about him.
Remember those characters who wore a smiley mask on one side of their head and a demonic one on the other? Don’t know about Lewis but the masking would fit Key to a tee don’t ya see?
Until Madoff was uncovered, he was a light that people would recommend to their friends.
So is neo-liberal economics.
We will destroy ourselves by accepting at face value anything John Key has to say, not because its right or wrong (mostly wrong) but because we consent to everything he has done, is doing and will do in our names otherwise.
“…the most dangerous politician in ever in NZ…”
This is very, very true.
Periodically I put Key on par with Muldoon. The destruction Muldoon left is still around. E.g.
1) Crewe inquiry, 2) Colin Moyle inquiry, 3) Traumatised undercover cops trying to expose the short comings of being an undercover cop in particular Patrick O’ Brien (Iam no fan of high ranking cops at PNHQ as I know they have even concealed the truth in recent times), 4) Erebus inquiry.
I feel it in my bones that Key will be another Muldoon on how he performs regarding Pike River. Muldoon was mafia like concerning his dealings with the police because he NEVER held the police to account for 1) Who fed Rochelle, 2) Ensuring there was an internal police investigation into who in police leaked the Moyle incident, 3) The damage that resulted due to police undercover work, 4) What happened to Collins diary in the lock up at Mc Murdo Sound. Either the PM can have a commission of inquiry or the police commissioner can do an inquiry.
I am yet to see how Marshall performs regarding historical police matters which are still affecting people today.
There is one major difference between Muldoon and Key Treetop. Muldoon was an overt bully and a bastard. Key is a covert bully and a bastard. Also, it became quite well known that Muldoon used the SIS for his own political purposes. I don’t think Key will have tried that one on… unlikely to get away with it in this day and age.
Anne I knew that you would respond. Your idea on a book is a first rate idea. Of interest, goings on in the 1970s are being written about more now days. My library has Vol 1 but not Vol 2 “In New Zealand As it Might Have Been” by Hugh Eldred-Grigg. There is a chapter on Moyle in it. I need to read both volumes and have a think about what has really changed in 35 years between the police and certain prime ministers.
Did you know that Muldoon was Key”s idol in Key”s teen years and Muldoon got Key interested in politics. For all I know Muldoon could be Key’s hobby!
Pink Postman – this you may mean Keith Stewart. He is one of the few talkback hosts coming from the left and his show is often very interesting. Mikey Havoc was on Radio Live recently, he also appears to come from the left. Also made interesting talkback, wish they would give him a permanet job. Talkback radio can actually provide some interesting debate occasionally as opposed to the usual rightwing propaganda believe it or not!
Yes and thank you Belldonna. In fact I was listening to Keith Lewis the wonderfull NZ tenor and got the names mixed up. Im getting old and funny ,
However I am most impressed by K.Stewart and I would like to know about his background . Like you say it makes a change to get a good Leftie on talk back
Sour Grapes
The political left gained a victory this weekend with te Mana’s Hone Harawira winning the Tai Tokerau by-election. It’s a fantastic result considering the short amount of time te Mana had to launch their campaign and the negative media campaign run against the new party…
Press Release: New Publication Available Online Now
E-Release Only
Matters To A Head
Cannabis, mental illness & recovery
By Kate K
This highly readable and exciting new book explores the links between cannabis and mental illness through the personal and professional experiences of New Zealand author Kate K.
[This isn’t a place for a long advertisement, thanks, though you’ll probably get away with something short and a link to your web site. r0b]
To contact the author:
Kate K
16 Beach Haven Place
Paraparaumu 5032
M. 021 024 79861
Email: 444kate@gmail.com
http://katekennedyonline.blogspot.com
Deborah Coddington nails into National and ACT for trashing their female MPs and loving recycled old male ones
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10734513
This has made my day – smart girls from a decile one school and bees – one of the most important ecological issues of out time.
Awesome 🙂
Two thoughts for this evening, one profound, one mildly amusing/creative.
First the profound – look at the pictures on here http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2011/jun/26/wwf-animal-research#/?picture=376126227&index=0
1000 new species, including a new species of dolphin, found in the Papua New Guinea rainforests and coast; profound, because this is now the third largest rain forest in the world, is on our door step and is at risk from climate change and exploitation of resources – such wonderful diversity, just found, but could be gone in a century.
Second – you may remember those TV road safety adverts with the old scary guy with the roulette wheel who decided whether they would crash, near miss, be killed, etc. How about a campaign at major intersection with people dressed as Key, English, etc, but instead having ‘Asset sales’, Privatisation, no GST increase, etc as the outcomes.
I do love the ads idea, only problem is that it is a very negative and downbeat campaign. Labour needs to present a different vision of the future, not just negate National’s crap.
It could however form the basis of a secondary viral campaign 🙂