UNITED STATES PUBLICLY CONDEMNS ISRAEL
National Radio, Wednesday 26 September 2012
In a great rush a few minutes ago, I turned on National Radio for the news and could hardly believe my ears: the U.S. has finally come out and condemned Israel, just as it eventually did with other protégés such as Suharto’s Indonesia, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and apartheid South Africa.
This is the only part I heard from the news broadcast: “President Obama said that if there is a case that should arouse protests across the world today, it is a regime that tortures children and fires rockets into apartments.”
No doubt we’ll be hearing more of this remarkable political and moral volte-face as the day goes on.
Here’s what our friend Morrissey transcribed from the radio: “President Obama said that if there is a case that should arouse protests across the world today, it is a regime that tortures children and fires rockets into apartments.”
“A regime that tortures children and fires rockets into apartments.” That’s the Israeli regime.
No kidding! It’s also the NZ regime and every other country on the planet bar Switzerland. Obama was referring to Syria, Mozza was riffing on that. I’m starting to think you’re not really a Professor.
“It’s also the NZ regime and every other country on the planet bar Switzerland.”
That statement is either deliberately nonsensical, or simply dishonest.
“Obama was referring to Syria,”
The president was talking about “a regime” that “tortures children and fires rockets into apartments.” That describes Israel, which has done those things for a much longer time than Syria has.
“Mozza was riffing on that.”
To any non-ideologue of good faith who was listening, the condemnation of a regime that tortures children and fires rockets into apartments would have to be a condemnation of Israel. Of course, after the statement has been fed through the filter of hypocrisy, it only applies to officially designated enemies.
“I’m starting to think you’re not really a Professor.”
By gad, sir! I have a good mind to thrash you with a horse-whip, on the steps of your club.
Horse whipping eh? It’s the only language the likes of me understand!
Like it or not, it was a direct quote from Obama about Syria, not Israel, though as I pointed out, it could apply to pretty much any country. NZ, for example, did the first in Samoa, Parihaka, the Ureweras and elsewhere and that SAS soldier chappie who’s just retired got a VC for the latter.
(Just for the record, I’m anti-zionist and I believe in a two state solution, with the Palestinion people having a country with contiguous borders and a working port)
Some very good points there, my man. I think I’ll shelve the horse-whipping for the time being, seeing as you seem to be someone who might enjoy it a little too much for your own good.
Would you like me to put you in touch with like-minded people?
Can I just check that I’ve got Joyce and Blinglish right: basically, give up your legal rights, forget about protecting the environment, forsake the conservation estate and National Ltd™ will, maybe, provide some extra jobs . . . blackmail, divide and rule, with a touch of “serves you right”, is that how it goes?
Yep, but the important thing is the newly announced extension to the John Key Memorial Cycleway which will Joyce reckons will create at least a million jobs on the West Coast. I understand the route will now terminate inside the Spring Creek Mine, echoing the NZ economy’s disappearence down a deep, dark hole.
If you read the report, you’ll see that we at National Ltd cannot just “make some jobs” for you people. The only exception is when we say we can make some jobs. Those jobs are not jobs that can be worked, per se, they are ledger jobs for reporting purposes only. We have not read the report and don’t intend to, since we take our word. It’s about integrity. You see, it’s about the economy. We cannot go on redistributing tax payer money. This does not exclude us selling thing you own to our friends.
If you have any further questions, please make an appointment for Tuesday. We will be unexpectedly unavailable on Tuesday while we watch softball overseas. Nothing will happen between then and now, except for the stuff that is already happening, of which we have no knowledge.
Whilst watching the softball overseas can you please consider this “redistribution of taxpayer money”. If I stop paying tax do I still qualify? As a “citizen”. Do I have rights as a “citizen” or only as a taxpayer? Can you redistribute it to “citizens” or only those paying taxes? I really need to understand where I fit into your governments re distributive plans.
You are right to be humble, or at least meek. However, our lawyers have instructed us to tell you that this is no gaurantee you shall inherit the earth or the profits of your time under the National Ltd administration.
If you stop paying taxes, we will have you arrested, though this action may not be taken depending on the evaluation of your personal valuation you have yet to supply. We of course cannot view your valuation ourselves, or consider it’s contents. It is a matter of integrity. You will have to supply a certified viewer who will give us the signal by running over a person poorer than you, in a town of your choosing.
Going forward, we encourage your intent to not pay taxes, in principle, and this alone may enhance our reading of your personal valuation. As a Tradeable Work Unit, you qualify to pay us tax, but the rights of citizenship are unsure. What is citizenship? A ship made of buddhist cities? I bet I could find a lawyer who could say the opposite. Obligations on our part remain strictly defined. It is a matter of integrity, except in the case of you being unable to arouse our interest in your personal fortune or the poor person you run down surviving.
To avoid arrest the money has been ETed (I figured habeus corpus was at risk if I said it “was in the mail”. Recent events indicate the NZ Police dont quite “understand” the law). The IRD when presented with the extra payment charged me interest on not declaring this as provisional tax at the beginning of the FY, thereby defining my relationship as a taxpayer rather nicely (from their viewpoint). What was intriguing was that they had a copy of all my emails to you via GCSB, maybe they are watching you because you still talk to foreign criminal types who you used to work with.
I did take your advice: I ran down a rather rotund man with a German accent, injuring myself in the process. ACC state that they wont pay for my injuries because the gent was rather too large and should have been avoidable. My counter claim is that he was too big to avoid. Either way they are checking out my ACC levy via the aforementioned IRD. The vehicle went to the panel beater who suggested that I flag the insurance excess claim because the said German gent represents a credit risk and cant pay me for the “accident”. He was apparently formerly rich but by some dint of misfortune he met up with bad company (an MP from Epsom) and its been all downhill since. The insurance claim came back nicely, good riddance Mr B, we went bust with Christchuch, thanks for your money……
So in summary thank you for the explanation of my relationship with the state as a taxpayer: I keep paying, you transfer to your mates in Reemers who dont pay tax. With regard to citizenship I am now more informed: it is off to Greenland where plenty of new land becomes available weekly.
Thanks for your note. John is out of town and has left me in charge of correspondence and crises. If we could keep this on the hush hush, that would be good. Don’t worry about GCSB. Those guys are all pinstripes and salad lunches. Sorry to hear about the damage to your car. Germans, what have they ever given us?
Will be driving the new BMW home for Christmas. Plan to start a boutique brewery making Doppelbockbeir. Could be fun. Have you considered The South as a holiday destination? I could hook you up. Call me maybe?
Maybe the South will be good for a holiday: currently the beach in Greenland is unseasonably balmy. Even the bears have left. Do you still have penguins?
Pretty galling to hear last night the Minister of Economic Development blame the Forest and Bird Society for holding up jobs on the west cost because apparently they are stopping the whole of a plateau from being strip-mined. Actually encouraging the quarry-enclave economy to continue in New Zealand is no economic strategy and should simply embarrass him. But doubling down on making the West Coast more vulnerable to global unprocessed commodity prices such as coal is mind-spinningly dumb, and then offloading the blame to environmental defenders is just nasty.
Even worse for Minister of State owned Enterprises for not topping up Solid Energy to keep the Springfield Mine open. Not even bothering to run the ruler over social welfare and wider economic benefit costs vs keeping the mine going is bad. But holding out a cruel hope to turn miners into carpenters on the Christchurch rebuild that will never happen is reprehensible.
In reality mining on the West Coast will eventually become a thing of the past. We are at a point with the planets climate where we cant continue to burn fossil fuels regardless of the economic circumstance. As a consequence would it not be a clever move from a far sighted society to transition to a solid state economic model that does not rely upon depleting resources. Something todays and future generations can aspire to as viable and rewarding. Starting with the West Coast. Any ideas?
Latest MediaLens report released today. Follows the events of the protests across the ME.
Poses the question was the initial Embassy attack a concerted attack…
If so are the Mainstream media responsible for setting off a chain of religiously motivated protests around the world in an attempt to cover up an obvious failure in the Western intervention in the Middle east. What does this mean for the Syrian situation??
Quoted:
reporting suggested that the initial media consensus blaming a provocative film was false. The Telegraph noted:
‘A security guard wounded in the attack… has insisted it was a planned assault by Islamist fighters, and not a protest that got out of hand.
‘The guard, who works for a British firm, said there was no demonstration over a controversial anti-Islamic film before extremists stormed the compound in the eastern city of Benghazi.’
Matthew Olsen, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: ‘I would say [the four Americans] were killed in the course of a terrorist attack.’
What National have not been able to achieve…
Roads of National Significance – reduced, delayed and not wanted
Ultra Fast Broadband – not going to hit target dates
National Standards – up shit creek
Keeping NZdrs in NZ – record numbers moving to Australia
Thousands upon thousands of new jobs – increasing unemployment
Reaching parity with Australian wages – the gap geting wider
Restore integrity to government – John Banks is still a minister
Sale of assets to mum and dad investors – in a slow, uncontrolled decent into failure
Fiscally responsible government – increased government debt
Push to get people to invest in business – house prices increasing again
Earthquake recovery – people still living in damaged houses while slap-up dinners for business people and unqualified people/friends paid large sums for unskilled work.
What National have been able to achieve…
Restrictions on beneficiaries – affects the poor
Tax cuts for the rich – makes our country poorer
Reduced public service – makes public servants unemployed and poorer
Restrictive labour laws – forces the poor to stay in work and keep there mouths shut
Halved the Kiwisaver member tax credit
No national cycleway but disjointed cycleways
Fraction of the jobs promised by the national cycleway
ECE subsidies changed
Thousand more children living in welfare dependant homes
More children in poverty
Used our money to pay people sell our assets that we don’t want sold
Shifted $2 billion in wealth from taxpayers to SFC investors
Increased GST to remove more wealth from taxpayers
$400 million taken away from Working for Families
Lovely list…..its amazing how well Lord Haw Haw Key has managed to avoid the opprobrium.
PS Love the photostream picture of Betty Windsor with Shonkers.
thanks for sorting out linking tidiness for luddites like me guys 🙂
hookie; please forward me a blank cheque. today i am gonna try and find a free scholarship in my “field” of interest
NZ- a kiwi-Fruit Republic, dayo…dayaayo…daylight come and me wanna go home…
Obama startin to pound those war drums on Assad and Iran; catch a few more disillusioned Republicans i spose,
now Joyce wants to leverage Spring Creek losses to ‘get on up’ on the Denniston Plateau; what a callous, transparent, blind, optimist.
See! any body can intercept IT information in transit according to Martin Cocker of Netsafe.
China’s first aircraft carrier enters service-TWP
Christian Conservatives? – i pray they get a LIFE. Dawks! (stumbling blocks) who the freak do they think they are? God?
Christ was the most radical man the world had ever seen until the next great prophet (blessings and peace be upon his name)
and now, when i go to NEWS NOW .co.uk, i get a freakin Herald ad; ggod thing my breakfast had settled; too early int the day to throw up.
u can read all the herald has to tell in one front webpage; it sorta goes like this
crime
sex
corruption
sport
violence
social deterioration
gossip
celebrity
the worst government in my lifetime
health epidemics
poverty
blame the parents
tar the unions
crime
sex
corruption
sport
violence
gossip
drugs
celebrity
crime
sex….
Ultimately, the fading of democracy comes as little surprise. Neoliberal capitalism, already ascendant before the earthquake, has little interest in community participation, the environment, or very much besides economic gain. Rod Carr, a year on from his talk at TEDxEQCHCH, was telling staff members at the University to ‘dob in’ underperforming colleagues. A department strongly critical of the earthquake response, American Studies, has now been disestablished. Further cuts are ahead. Westfield, the owners of Riccarton Mall, has recommended to the City Council that it sells off its stock of social housing; the National government has recommended that the CCC sell its other assets. Brownlee has mobilized anti-Council sentiment to broaden the powers of CERA, an unelected body. The BNZ Tower, on the edge of Cathedral Square, has gained approval to rebuild to thirteen storeys, eliminating the possibility of a low-rise central city. The principles of the Draft Central City Plan, namely ‘community involvement’ and ‘business investment’, have never been placed in starker opposition. Government and business—the TEDxCHCH crowd—have staged a counter-revolution, using the language of ‘disaster capitalism’ to lock out the hopes and dreams of those who took part in the performance of democracy at CBS. Gerry Brownlee now fronts the advertising campaign for TEDxEQCHCH: Uncontained, which is scheduled for this September.
It seems the SAS needs a brand spanking new training facility South of Auckland. To be build by a foreign designer and ready to train our boys to work through battle scenarios on buses, trains and oil rigs. We are not allowed to know the budget and how big it’s going to be but it will be ready in 2015. Can you say US bases?
Ardmore is nicely convenient to Auckland too, which means when we have the “event” which will allow the permanent stationing of the mercenaries, they will be here quick smart.
High tech tooled up choppers, and jacked up psychos who love to blow things up and kill people, all just a stones throw away!
And right next to the commercial airport too, gee I hope all the live munitions in the area will not bother the jumbo jets!
I feel much safer already knowing that this facility will be so close by.
Commercial sensitivities = BS, and an open cheque!
WTF are they looking offshore for designers? I’m sure that any competent architect could do it after speaking with the SAS about they want in such a facility.
How to throttle protests.
How to storm a social housing complex.
How to breach a citizen advocacy clinic.
How to protect state property from the citizenry.
How to recover occupied assets of trans-national corporations.
“I frankly think that crisis initiation is very tough and it’s very hard for me to see how the US president can get us to war with Iran” says Israel lobbyist Patrick Clawson, who continues with a call for the mass murder of Americans, along the lines of the USS Maine, Lusitania, Pearl Harbor, USS Liberty, and (by implication) 9/11 orchestrated war-trigger events to get the President of the US to help Israel to start a war with Iran.
Not that he’s advocating a false flag of course! Well… maybe a sinking sub or something like that I mean “We’re in the game of using covert means against Iranians, we could get nasty about it”!!
Some well-dressed and well-spoken young protesters in Britain gatecrashed a farewell dinner for the boss of Britain’s Inland Revenue Department recently to protest against his close links with the regulated.
He was accused of signing off on a deal that saved Goldman Sachs £20m in tax payments and another which cut Vodafone’s tax bill from £8bn to £1.25bn.
Miners loose jobs, next day joyce is telling enviromentalists to pull their protests out of
the court system,to allow bathhurst to mine,there is something shonkey about this,
shonkey has shares in bank of america which funds loans to bathurst,shonkey opened
the bathhurst conference,why? this also needs some investigation,perhaps another
shonkey deal to be bought out into the public arena.
China now see Japanese aggression, the same aggression
Japanese for decades has used in whale hunting in
the southern oceans, as if Japan had a historical
right to hunt Whales in the Southern Hemisphere.
Atleast with European Whalers they came, and stayed,
married, and settled, what has Japan done but aggressively
seized resources.
It has worked out pretty well for them I reckon. And the loss of carriers at Midway was bad luck, fortunes of battle – but guaranteed in the long run Uncle Sam would pay for Japan’s defense while Mitsubishi, Toyota, Sanyo etc etc got on with the job. Ever read about a crooked Jap firm or product ???
Jap = quality and reliability.
Hmmmmm I think your memory is a little short. “Jap Crap” was a pretty accurate description of most Japanese manufactured consumer products up until the late 60’s/early 70’s.
And the loss of carriers at Midway was bad luck, fortunes of battle
Nope – the Americans knew the exact date and target of the Japanese attack, as well as the exact disposition of the enemy forces and order of battle.
The Japanese also decided to split their fleets up into smaller groups which could not support each other.
It has worked out pretty well for them I reckon.
Uh, you gotta be kidding. Hiroshima and Nagasaki for starters. What do you consider that acceptable collateral damage?
aerobubble 15
Different culture and tightened borders now – can’t compare with previous history. Also I understand there is some power group that wants to catch whales that has influence with their political leaders. Sort of like the SCF investors that got everything they wanted in NZ. Or did they? Near enough anyway. And the oil industry etc..
given the large number of state agencies with
search powers, one does need to ask the question
if evidence say discovered about ACC clients was
safe if the same ‘legal’ understanding has been
used to that against Dot Com.
It’s apparent that the GCSB routinely spies on the electronic communications of New Zealand citizens and residents. In doing so it grossly breaches our right to privacy and ignores the well defined laws it’s meant to adhere to. The lack of proper oversight and avenues for redress when things go wrong shows that the current system is not operating in the best interests of the country or its people. But what’s going to be done about the problem? Absolutely nothing while John Key is in charge…
Roll up and enjoy a great left versus right argument between Red Logix and Tighty Righty on
“Work” and the false economy of Bennett’s welfare reforms. Some good stuff gone down there.
The Whale has been doing some spouting about this analysis:
—–
[WO said:] I am proud that I am easier to read than other bloggers. But very upset to lose to Pinko in these ratings and ask for a recount.
…
Mr Bradbury’s legendary stream-of-conciousness, fifty line, single sentence paragraphs on the blog would have completely munted those stats. I’m guessing it wasn’t one of those days. I find them easy to read though – but that’s me.
Perhaps unsurprisingly Wha***** and Kiwib*** find themselves in the special class/remedial learners end of the spectrum. Indeed 🙂
well, heres my summary of a day through the looking glass;
‘in the house; 400 notifications to CYPFs a DAY-do the math
(poverty and poor human education; REPARENT)
I very comfortable listening to David Cunliffe speak; he speaks to the Worker.
Hollande requests UN enter Syria
Greece; Poverty takes hold of the middle classes, the middle classes disappearing
the “New Poor” coming to a bungalow near you.
see Key on 3; “ahhh, (residency publicity) that runs to the heart of the matter”; wotta Dick
Spain; ” load up…load up …those rubber bullets..”
Fonterra; “drop in forthcoming capital projects, farmers to hunker down”
fortunately at present,
a “hungry market” for arable crops, yet very climate contingent
btw, Tolley the Trolley did come to carry Key’s excuses
and it’s Good Night from Him, and it’s Good Night from me. 😉
The latest Roy Morgan is out (hat tip Gobsmacked on the ‘Polls’ post).
National 43.5, Maori Party 2.5%, ACT NZ 0.5% and United Future a big fat duck egg. Totalling 46.5%.
Support for Labour is 33% (up 2%); Greens are 11.5%, New Zealand First 5%, Mana Party 1.5%, totalling 51 percent. And this before the Dotcom cock up hit the news stands.
…And only 3% of New Zealanders think the Prime Minister has done a good job trying to sell privatisation. Dotcom also inferred there was more to come that will no doubt further discredit John Key… Talk about Hoist with his own petard.
Dotcom also inferred there was more to come that will no doubt further discredit John Key…
I was quite taken aback at Key’s appearance on TV tonight. He looked almost a shadow of his former self – drawn and hollowed out looking eyes. Methinks he’s not been getting his beauty sleep…
I wonder what he was really doing in the USA when he wasn’t watching his son’s base ball game.
Electorally, assuming the MP get 3, UF 1 and ACT 1, its game on.
55 seats Lab + Greens. Add in two seats for Mana (Tiger Mountain will be pleased!) for 57 positive votes. The lukewarm puddle of piss that passes for a Government right now can only muster 58.
Winston has the casting vote with six.
Note that I’ve assumed ACT win Epsom. If the Nats run a candidate who passes the critical test of a) being alive and b) no, that’s it, breathing and upright should do it, then Key only has 57. Lab/Green/NZF have a comfortable 4-6 seat majority.
It’s this kind of polling that will see the Maori Party wondering if its best to start cuddling up to Shearer. After all, Government’s where its at for them. What would be the point of the MP in opposition? It would be a death sentence to go down with Key.
I read that poll as saying that up to 85% of kiwis want a government somewhere between the centre right and the far right. I don’t feel encouraged by it at all.
Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce has launched a broadside against the environmental opponents of The privately owned Denniston mine project. To do this Stephan Joyce has tried to draw a bow linking those who wish to stop the opening of the Dennistion mine, with the closing of the Spring Creek mine.
Everyone has been told this, including the Minister. Spring Creek is being closed because to the falling global price of commodities, especially coal, due to the recession and falling global demand.
The Minister is drawing a very long bow to suggest otherwise, and he knows this.
But he is doing it for a reason and his target is very clear.
For those of us concerned about climate change, to which burning coal is the single greatest contributor, it is an inescapable fact that we need to work with the West Coast communities that currently rely on coal as their mainstay industry….
On the other side….
Joyce and his fossil fuel mates are opportunistically trying to take advantage of the suffering of the West Coast workers and their communities to remove all environmental safeguards. Listen to his complaints about environmental “mitigations”, specifically his complaint against raising climate change. Joyce is a liar. The Minister is trying to get these workers on his side when it is he who is attacking them.
Blaming environmentalists for these job losses is a lie. This is clearly not the position in this case.
For misleading the public, the Green Party should be demanding that Joyce be forced to apologise in the house.
Because Spring Creek and Denniston are both coal exporting mines in competition with each other in a shrinking market, It is in the interests of the Spring Creek mine and the Greymouth community that Denniston never open.
Opening Denniston in the hope that coal prices will eventually recover. (dubious as this argument might be). Is the same argument being put by the workers and their union for keeping Spring Creek open. With the world slump in coal demand, to have in existence an already producing mine competing in the same area of the market, is a dagger in the heart of the Denniston project.
The publicly owned Spring Creek mine is in direct competition with the privately owned Denniston project.
The question must be asked;
With Solid Energy on the market – has possible private investor in Solid Energy, namely Bathhurst Resources, requested as a condition of sale that Spring Creek be closed?
Would an Official Information Request, if granted, reveal this?
Is Spring Creek being closed because it makes the Denniston project unviable?
Do, the underground workers of Spring Creek and the anti-coal lobby have a common interest in seeing that Denniston never opens?
Does the minister know this?
Is this the reason the Minister is trying to turn the Greymouth community’s anger against Solid Energy against the environmental opponents of Denniston?
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by Michael Roberts So the full circle is completed. The corrupt pro-business conservative New Democracy party in Greece that was ousted by the anti-capitalist Syriza party in 2015 has been returned to office in yesterday’s general election, with an outright ...
When the Australian government passed a series of new spy laws over the last few years, they pinky-promised that they wouldn't use them to spy on journalists and subvert freedom of the press. They lied:The anti-encryption laws passed by the ...
From 1975 to 1989, the spy agencies of South America's right-wing military dictatorships cooperated in Operation Condor, a joint campaign of extermination against the continent's left. Roughly 400,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 disappeared, and 60,000 murdered - kidnapped, tortured, executed, ...
When she was standing for office, Jacinda Ardern promised she would take abortion out of the Crimes Act. And to be fair, there was some early action on that, with an immediate referral of the issue to the Law Commission ...
When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
Back in May the government released its Zero Carbon Bill. While much of the bill was welcome, there was one big exception: it contained a secrecy clause, requiring the Climate Change Commission to maintain secrecy over practically everything it does. ...
by Phil Duncan This past week has marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Stonewall Inn riots in Christopher Street, New York, the event generally regarded as kicking off the gay liberation movement. Quite a few articles have ...
Southland - land of coal-burning dairy farmers - has become the first region in the country to explicitly vote against declaring a climate emergency. Their reason? They didn't want to "devalue" the word "emergency". Its an argument addressed powerfully in ...
New Zealand has a problem with police chases: officers going after fleeing drivers like rabid dogs, without any consideration for proportionality or public safety, often with fatal results. And according to an in-depth article in the Guardian today, the UK ...
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...
Holly Lawford-Smith is a senior lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Melbourne. She’s currently writing a book about radical feminism. This article appeared on Feminist Current Academics should be standing together in defence of universities’ fundamental values: the ...
The Otago Daily Times has an in-depth article about the future of wind energy in New Zealand, and it is looking bright:The news that wind will play the leading role in New Zealand’s energy future was put up in lights ...
If the sight of schoolkids striking for a future has been filling you with hope, good news: they want you to join them on September 27:Students will take to the streets again demanding action on climate change, and this time ...
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...
I have been working my way through a 47,000 document tranche of declassified US government communications related to Argentina and the “Dirty War” of 1976-83. I grew up in Argentina in the period leading up to the March 24, 1976 ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
A new website has launched in response to recent RNZ reporting about Police in Dunedin unlawfully entering people’s homes and breath-testing them. “I was disgusted when I saw what they cops were doing in Dunedin. Their behaviour undermines all of ...
Hundreds of whanau and Maori leaders gathered at a hui in Mangere last weekend where they voted unanimously for an inquiry into Oranga Tamariki. The historic meeting called for a child welfare framework to be developed by Maori, for Maori. ...
The Head of the New Zealand Maori Council has called for the Government to hold an immediate investigation into the global cosmetics company Sephora after they were caught dumping waste hundreds and thousands of waste paper products embedded with ...
Simon Shepherd: The government says its agreement with farmers, that they should pay for agricultural emissions, is historic. But there's no agreement on how. One proposal says farmers should pay a 5 per cent emissions tax. Another suggests farmers ...
The O’Brien Institute for Public Health at Calgary University has just released their report on fluoridation. This institute has, up to now, been staunchly in favour of fluoridation. However, yesterday, with regards to fluoride’s effect on the brain, ...
July 19 (BusinessDesk) - The government is looking to tighten control and impose harsher penalties after the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak revealed cracks in the country's stock management system. ...
Kia Anga Mua Ngā Hapū o Ngāpuhi (KAM) has reached a pivotal milestone following a hui yesterday at Waitangi with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the Government spent $133,530 on producing its ‘Wellbeing Budget’ document, a cost blowout largely driven by spending on graphic design and photography. The $133,530 price tag compares to $86,268 ...
Kahungunu Māori Language Awards. Nominations closed on 5 July 2019, and were judged by the Senior Management Team of Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated. The judges wish to acknowledge the very high calibre of all nominations received making it a very ...
High Court of Australia Judge, Justice Stephen Gageler, will address recent criticism of court judgment delays in Australia, at the University of Canterbury (UC) on 23 July at 6.15pm. ...
This summary is provided to assist in the understanding of the Inquiry’s proceedings but does not constitute the official record. The full Minute is available at the link below. ...
The Tertiary Education Commission is laying charges under section 292A of the Education Act 1989 against three individuals for making a false representation for the purpose of receiving, or continuing to receive, free tertiary education from a tertiary education ...
New Zealand food businesses today welcomed a trio of new food safety tools, designed to make it faster, easier and more affordable to follow the rules and keep consumers safe. ...
AUT research shows that Māori children are almost four times more likely than those of European descent to be placed out of home by child protection services ...
The Government announced today that grants of up to $2,500 for energy efficient heaters are now available as part of the Government’s Warmer Kiwi Homes programme. ...
Fonterra’s use of coal has been the target of numerous grassroots campaigns in recent years. Last year 350 Aotearoa affiliated groups, Fossil Free Aoraki and 350 Nelson launched a petition dismissing the dairy giant’s initial target of no new ...
Information sessions on proposals for The Medicinal Cannabis Scheme take place in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch over the next fortnight. The sessions are open to anyone with an interest in learning more about the proposed scheme. ...
“Our children are our most vulnerable, most innocent victims and we do not want to see any more children harmed by these ‘known sex offenders’. The safety of our community must be the paramount consideration.” ...
“The announcement that Fonterra will immediately stop installing any new coal boilers or increasing capacity to burn coal is the signal that the biomass fuel supply industry welcomes” said Brian Cox, Executive Officer of the Bioenergy Association. ...
18 July 2019-- Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA) today welcomed Fonterra’s commitment to build no new coal plants, a “no brainer” for the climate crisis the world faces. The group has been urging this transition for six years now and ...
The increase in demand for cage-free eggs is set to continue according to animal rights organisation SAFE, who says the egg industry should expect this and prepare. ...
Wellington, New Zealand – 350 Pacific made a formal submission to the New Zealand Government’s Environment Parliamentary Select Committee on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, led by the Pacific Climate Warriors (PCWs) based in ...
There used to be a school of thought on the centre right side of politics that the best way to neuter the Greens as a political force would be to let them have a spell in government. Then, according to ...
Today (18 July) is Nelson Mandela International Day when the United Nations highlights the importance of humane conditions of imprisonment. In New Zealand our prisons are overcrowded and understaffed. At 214 prisoners per 100,000 people, we have the fifth ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa will take legal action over the lengthy delay in implementing pay increases for teachers. Novopay announced yesterday that teachers would have to wait until 11 September to see pay increases that they won when they settled ...
EDS has filed its submission on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill. The Bill sets targets for greenhouse gas reductions, provides for the government to set a series of carbon budgets, and sets up a new, independent, Climate ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has identified an absurd case of mission creep at Wellington City Council: the decision to spend $21,750 on two Consumer NZ investigations into different brands of bike lights. ...
The Motor Trade Association is welcoming the release of the Government’s new draft road safety strategy. MTA Chief Executive Craig Pomare says the association is pleased to see vehicle safety has been made a priority in the Road to Zero ...
The Department of Conservation continue to repeat the same old story about attacks on staff and how it is affecting their role in protecting our precious wildlife. NZ herald https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12249704 ...
The government's silence on the fact that the country's second-largest milk processor is on the brink of becoming 25% Chinese Government owned has been deafening. ...
School Strike 4 Climate NZ welcomes the coalition Government’s endeavour to take action on reducing agricultural emissions but is disappointed at the weak stance that the Government has taken on the issue. ...
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has issued a formal warning under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML/CFT Act) to seven reporting entities within the Regus Management Limited (RNZML) designated business ...
The Northland Regional Council (NRC) has voted to exclude all GM/GE precautionary provisions in its regional plan, despite years of community engagement showing support for such protection. There is a sense of betrayal following the way the NRC Chairman ...
New Zealand’s ‘mission-driven’ charities working in international aid are showing early signs of changing the way they work, in particular prioritising building the capacity and resilience of local communities to do their own development. ...
Teachers will have to wait until 11 September for pay increases won as part of their collective agreement negotiations settled in June, according to an update sent to schools today from Novopay. ...
July 16 (BusinessDesk) - Energy Minister Megan Woods says the government “won’t die in a ditch” if its goal of 100 percent renewable electricity generation isn't reached by 2035. ...
The Electricity Networks Association (ENA) is welcoming the Government’s response to the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) Report released today. Graeme Peters, chief executive of the ENA, said one of the key recommendations, endorsed by the ...
An article* published this month in the Journal of Health Organization and Management raises questions over the way health board members are elected and whether the boards are even needed. ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa's kindergarten teacher members will vote on a proposed settlement to their collective agreement after four days of negotiations with the Ministry of Education and kindergarten employers. ...
Vector has today welcomed the ICCC’s report on Accelerated Electrification . Vector agrees that accelerating the electrification of transport and process heat will play a major role in reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Initiatives to ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Porirua City Council to cancel its underwriting of a proposed Canadian-led privately owned adventure park slated for public land after a similar project created a huge liability for Christchurch ...
Youth climate change campaigners Generation Zero welcome the Interim Climate Change Committee’s (ICCC’s) reports: Accelerated Electrification and Action on agricultural emissions ; which were finally released by the Government today, almost three months ...
Fish & Game New Zealand notes the announcement today that the Government and the intensive agriculture leadership have reached a ‘historic consensus’ and are exploring using a formal sector-government agreement instead of bringing agriculture ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report on Accelerated Electrification was released today by the Minister for Energy and Resources, Hon Dr Megan Woods. ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report Action on agricultural emissions was released today by the Minister for Climate Change, Hon James Shaw and the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Damien O’Connor. ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk New Zealand’s unprecedented “internet-native mass shooting” attack on two mosques, the New Caledonia independence referendum, Fiji’s general election and news media responses are featured in the latest Pacific Journalism Review being published next week. Analysis ...
Aldous Harding is coming back to New Zealand. In the lead-up to her shows, she spoke to The Spinoff about live TV, maturity, and the weirder interpretations of her songs.Aldous Harding is calling from her home in Wales. Only a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Flannery, Planetary Scientist, Queensland University of Technology This weekend marks 50 years exactly since humans first walked on the Moon. It also marks Australia’s small but significant role in enabling NASA ...
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Aaron Jones, founder of Christchurch-based reusable bag company Zerobag.First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Zerobag.Zerobag is a New Zealand-owned ...
Aaron Kreisler looks beyond the gags in this survey of an artist and his dogsat the Christchurch Art Gallery.“The dog really must love him, it’s so incredibly patient…”, a woman says to her daughter, punctuating a screening of Coin ...
‘He wants to sleep with you,’ a close friend had said. ‘Then you’ll be able to tell if it is going to lead anywhere’: a short story by New Plymouth author Elizabeth Smither. Photography by Peter Black. ...
Opinion - The leadership visits are more interesting in that they serve as a spotlight on the two countries - politically, and on policy issues, writes Brigette Morten. ...
Created by future ACT Party leader Richard Prebble after an epic reform bender in the 80s, NZ on Air has just marked its third decade. Duncan Greive relates its history and asks: is the funder still fit for purpose?It’s a ...
It helps that he played in the New Zealand cricket team when they lost the 1992 semi-final and went on to coach India, writes Georgie Wright, daughter of JohnMy dad has taught me a fair few things over my 25 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Deep Saini discusses the week in politics with Michelle Grattan – one with a reduced pace, despite the 24 ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand, with the interview available as both audio and ...
Jacinda Ardern’s Melbourne trip wrapped up with nothing to show on longstanding trans-Tasman concerns, but was a potent reminder of her international appeal. ...
Pricing agricultural emissions first at the processor level - such as Fonterra - rather than right down at farm level stacks up as a gap measure says Catherine Leining. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne Orlando, Researcher: Children and Technology, Western Sydney University Instagram is running a social media experiment in Australia and elsewhere to see what happens when it hides the number of likes on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Cross, Research Fellow, Curtin University Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter here, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au. Billabongs in the northern Kimberley are welcome ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling You’ve probably heard that this week marks 50 years since humans first set foot on the Moon – a feat that still boggles the mind given ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Gentilin, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University As strange as it might sound, whistleblowers in Australia have reason to rejoice – so long as they are in the private sector. Thanks to new ...
The fourth season of Queer Eye drops today on Netflix. Sam Brooks reflects on his difficult relationship with the show, and where it sits in mainstream culture.For depressingly many people, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was an introduction not just to ...
The collapse of a multi-billion dollar deal to sell AMP's life insurance division to a British company for $3.6 billion is the fault of the companies, according to the Reserve Bank. ...
A poem by Miramar poet Geoff Cochrane.Channel HoppingStupa or Stuka?Weet-Bix or Welsh rabbit?Galactic aerodrome or Matchbox truck?*I’m young in my dreams, still young.*Beautiful Keanu’s wearing shades—antique shades with iodine-coloured lenses.*I’m young in my dreams, still young,and I still have some ...
For the month of July, Josie Adams is taking on the challenge of being low-waste. That means minimising plastics, emissions, and even recyclables. Each week we release her diary. This is week two.Read week one here.I’ll be honest, week two ...
By Royson Willie in Port Vila Two Vanuatu Daily Post journalists were literally given a pat-down by the police criminal investigation unit yesterday over a story they had written about the vehicle of the Chairman of the Public Service ...
By Gorothy Kenneth in Port Moresby Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape will visit Australia this weekend for a week-long state visit and the Bougainville independence referendum in less than three months is expected to be high on ...
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...
Wtf did we just watch?That sound you heard was a million furries screaming in ecstasy as their fantasy and everyone else’s nightmare came to life in the form of the first trailer for the live action version of Cats.Is it ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Three Women by Lisa Taddeo (Bloomsbury, $35)Fucking ...
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...
As we mark the fiftieth anniversary the July 20th Moon landing Dr Nick Long reflects on what that's meant for New Zealand and considers the space 'gold rush' ahead. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Griebsch, Specialist and Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Medicine, University Veterinary Teaching Hospital Sydney, Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney Recently reported cases of the often fatal bacterial infection ...
My selection of the eight best morning news links from here and overseas, along with eight lunchtime lean-back long reads. Also, the full list of links, including Jacinda Ardern's trip to Australia, the big emissions report, Fonterra's coal move and a new ...
Heaven is a place on earth, and June is saving the world one ’80s pop hit at a time. Tara Ward recaps season 4, episode 9 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Praise be, for there was a tiny bit of good news ...
Finance companies say they shouldn’t have to be ‘fit and proper’ even though in some cases they charge more than the planned clampdown on high cost lending. A group of finance companies that charges well over the government’s proposed cap on ...
An ANZ shareholder is demanding the bank disclose more information about the sale of an Auckland residential property to its former chief executive and his family. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentForeign Affairs and trade Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): The new, ...
Tara Ward sets out on a valiant quest to find the best apple in Aotearoa. The idea that every apple is a good apple is fake news. We’ve all got stories about shit experiences with apples, when it looked good on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Sarkissian, Operations Scientist, CSIRO The role Australia played in relaying the first television images of astronaut Neil Armstrong’s historic walk on the Moon 50 years ago this July features in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lyndal Sleep, Research Fellow, Griffith University In Australia’s social security laws, the “couple rule” is used to determine if a person is in a relationship, tying access to Centrelink payments to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Walker, Lecturer (Management), Victoria University of Wellington We live in a society obsessed with performance. For both young and old, competitions, awards and rankings are an inescapable feature of life. How ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan O’Connell, Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne One-third of all preschools may lack a qualified teacher in the next four years if nothing changes, my new modelling shows. Currently, half of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirsty Volz, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Of all the mantras for modernism, the one I think most befitting for Australian mid-century modern houses is L’esprit Nouveau – The New Spirit. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Skifield snowmaking a sign of the future, vaccination rates fall alarmingly, and construction industry encouraged to lower emissions.Snowmaking has saved the ski industry from disaster this year, after the weather ...
Neil Armstrong may have been the first man on the moon, but if we define the ‘space race’ as spaceflight capability, the Soviets won it hands down, writes Jennifer Frost. ...
Open mike 26/09/2012 
As the entry on Wikipedia shows (and no, one doesn’t necessarily have to regard Wikipedia as the be-all and end-all of truth, because it isn’t on a great many things, to agree with the following): “…a fallacious argument that concludes ...36 mins ago
by Daphna Whitmore The story of how the world awoke to a big injustice is starting to be told. The Pacific Games held this month in Samoa is another chapter. On the podium was Laurel Hubbard, the giant transgender weightlifter, ...8 hours ago
Our conversations and push against specific supremacist and ultra-Nationalist groups, and the pseudo-intellectual underpinnings of them, need to mature at all levels. But in doing so, it’s going to have to include a more thorough and brutally honest self-examination ...1 day ago
This week, in the wake of National's opposition to even talking about reducing agricultural emissions and Simon Bridges' refusal to recognise that there is a climate emergency, I've been saying that National is unfit to govern. And it looks like ...1 day ago
Something I missed: not only did Youth MPs declare a climate emergency; they also launched a campaign to lower the voting age to 16:Youth Parliament week in Parliament has seen the establishment of Make it 16, a campaign to ...1 day ago
I have been reading and listening to the aftermath of Trump’s comments about the four female first term Democratic representatives, all of whom are “people of color.” I found the US coverage interesting both as evidence of partisanship and the ...2 days ago
The proposed Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill treats biogenic methane emissions differently from all other carbon emissions. The latter are to be measured net so that emissions from fossil fuels can be offset by carbon stored in trees. ...3 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...3 days ago
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On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...4 days ago
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...4 days ago
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...1 week ago
1 week ago
2 weeks ago
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...3 weeks ago
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...3 weeks ago
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...3 weeks ago
Image Credit: Blog Writing Tips. I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the ... 3 weeks ago
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...4 days ago
A new website has launched in response to recent RNZ reporting about Police in Dunedin unlawfully entering people’s homes and breath-testing them. “I was disgusted when I saw what they cops were doing in Dunedin. Their behaviour undermines all of ...7 hours ago
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk New Zealand’s unprecedented “internet-native mass shooting” attack on two mosques, the New Caledonia independence referendum, Fiji’s general election and news media responses are featured in the latest Pacific Journalism Review being published next week. Analysis ...5 hours ago
Aldous Harding is coming back to New Zealand. In the lead-up to her shows, she spoke to The Spinoff about live TV, maturity, and the weirder interpretations of her songs.Aldous Harding is calling from her home in Wales. Only a ...5 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Flannery, Planetary Scientist, Queensland University of Technology This weekend marks 50 years exactly since humans first walked on the Moon. It also marks Australia’s small but significant role in enabling NASA ...9 hours ago
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Aaron Jones, founder of Christchurch-based reusable bag company Zerobag.First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Zerobag.Zerobag is a New Zealand-owned ...10 hours ago
Aaron Kreisler looks beyond the gags in this survey of an artist and his dogs at the Christchurch Art Gallery.“The dog really must love him, it’s so incredibly patient…”, a woman says to her daughter, punctuating a screening of Coin ...13 hours ago
‘He wants to sleep with you,’ a close friend had said. ‘Then you’ll be able to tell if it is going to lead anywhere’: a short story by New Plymouth author Elizabeth Smither. Photography by Peter Black. ...13 hours ago
Opinion - The leadership visits are more interesting in that they serve as a spotlight on the two countries - politically, and on policy issues, writes Brigette Morten. ...14 hours ago
Created by future ACT Party leader Richard Prebble after an epic reform bender in the 80s, NZ on Air has just marked its third decade. Duncan Greive relates its history and asks: is the funder still fit for purpose?It’s a ...15 hours ago
It helps that he played in the New Zealand cricket team when they lost the 1992 semi-final and went on to coach India, writes Georgie Wright, daughter of JohnMy dad has taught me a fair few things over my 25 ...20 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Deep Saini discusses the week in politics with Michelle Grattan – one with a reduced pace, despite the 24 ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cherie Hugo, Teaching Fellow, Nutrition & Dietetics, Bond University The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety this week turned its attention to food and nutrition. The testimony of maggots in ...1 day ago
Jacinda Ardern’s Melbourne trip wrapped up with nothing to show on longstanding trans-Tasman concerns, but was a potent reminder of her international appeal. ...1 day ago
Pricing agricultural emissions first at the processor level - such as Fonterra - rather than right down at farm level stacks up as a gap measure says Catherine Leining. ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Cross, Research Fellow, Curtin University Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter here, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au. Billabongs in the northern Kimberley are welcome ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Gentilin, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University As strange as it might sound, whistleblowers in Australia have reason to rejoice – so long as they are in the private sector. Thanks to new ...1 day ago
The fourth season of Queer Eye drops today on Netflix. Sam Brooks reflects on his difficult relationship with the show, and where it sits in mainstream culture.For depressingly many people, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was an introduction not just to ...1 day ago
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NEWSFLASH!!!!
UNITED STATES PUBLICLY CONDEMNS ISRAEL
National Radio, Wednesday 26 September 2012
In a great rush a few minutes ago, I turned on National Radio for the news and could hardly believe my ears: the U.S. has finally come out and condemned Israel, just as it eventually did with other protégés such as Suharto’s Indonesia, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and apartheid South Africa.
This is the only part I heard from the news broadcast: “President Obama said that if there is a case that should arouse protests across the world today, it is a regime that tortures children and fires rockets into apartments.”
No doubt we’ll be hearing more of this remarkable political and moral volte-face as the day goes on.
Meanwhile, back to the books….
wotta u like? u satirist u.
“u satirist u”.
Nothing satirical about it. It seems our friend Morrissey took the president’s words as genuine.
The satire on view here is entirely by President Obama.
George W. Obama.
Pur the pipe down, Prof, Mozza was clearly being satirical. Obama was talking about Syria, obviously.
Here’s what our friend Morrissey transcribed from the radio: “President Obama said that if there is a case that should arouse protests across the world today, it is a regime that tortures children and fires rockets into apartments.”
“A regime that tortures children and fires rockets into apartments.” That’s the Israeli regime.
No kidding! It’s also the NZ regime and every other country on the planet bar Switzerland. Obama was referring to Syria, Mozza was riffing on that. I’m starting to think you’re not really a Professor.
“It’s also the NZ regime and every other country on the planet bar Switzerland.”
That statement is either deliberately nonsensical, or simply dishonest.
“Obama was referring to Syria,”
The president was talking about “a regime” that “tortures children and fires rockets into apartments.” That describes Israel, which has done those things for a much longer time than Syria has.
“Mozza was riffing on that.”
To any non-ideologue of good faith who was listening, the condemnation of a regime that tortures children and fires rockets into apartments would have to be a condemnation of Israel. Of course, after the statement has been fed through the filter of hypocrisy, it only applies to officially designated enemies.
“I’m starting to think you’re not really a Professor.”
By gad, sir! I have a good mind to thrash you with a horse-whip, on the steps of your club.
Horse whipping eh? It’s the only language the likes of me understand!
Like it or not, it was a direct quote from Obama about Syria, not Israel, though as I pointed out, it could apply to pretty much any country. NZ, for example, did the first in Samoa, Parihaka, the Ureweras and elsewhere and that SAS soldier chappie who’s just retired got a VC for the latter.
(Just for the record, I’m anti-zionist and I believe in a two state solution, with the Palestinion people having a country with contiguous borders and a working port)
Yep.
Some very good points there, my man. I think I’ll shelve the horse-whipping for the time being, seeing as you seem to be someone who might enjoy it a little too much for your own good.
Would you like me to put you in touch with like-minded people?
here’s a link to what he said and what he was talking about. Welcome to realpolitik.
The relationship is definitely changing, this sort of thing would have been unheard of not very long ago.
US Envoys Stay Seated For Ahmadinejad’s UN Speech, Israel Walks Out Alone!
http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2012/09/25/us-envoys-stay-seated-for-ahmadinejads-un-speech-israel-walks-out-alone/
God bless Israel and Lebanon , let’s hope they finally recognise each others’ existence.
And before long, Israel will be condemning the U.S.?
thats funny!
It’s a tricky one, presedent Obama needs to do this, I doubt Israel will retaliate, it’s about opening the dialog at the moment.
.
Can I just check that I’ve got Joyce and Blinglish right: basically, give up your legal rights, forget about protecting the environment, forsake the conservation estate and National Ltd™ will, maybe, provide some extra jobs . . . blackmail, divide and rule, with a touch of “serves you right”, is that how it goes?
Thanks National Ltd™ – I’m lovin’ it.
Yep, but the important thing is the newly announced extension to the John Key Memorial Cycleway which will Joyce reckons will create at least a million jobs on the West Coast. I understand the route will now terminate inside the Spring Creek Mine, echoing the NZ economy’s disappearence down a deep, dark hole.
Ha! progress, I will pump up the tyres and add a parachute.
Sorry only the rich get Parachutes…. Golden ones!
If you read the report, you’ll see that we at National Ltd cannot just “make some jobs” for you people. The only exception is when we say we can make some jobs. Those jobs are not jobs that can be worked, per se, they are ledger jobs for reporting purposes only. We have not read the report and don’t intend to, since we take our word. It’s about integrity. You see, it’s about the economy. We cannot go on redistributing tax payer money. This does not exclude us selling thing you own to our friends.
If you have any further questions, please make an appointment for Tuesday. We will be unexpectedly unavailable on Tuesday while we watch softball overseas. Nothing will happen between then and now, except for the stuff that is already happening, of which we have no knowledge.
Dear John,
Whilst watching the softball overseas can you please consider this “redistribution of taxpayer money”. If I stop paying tax do I still qualify? As a “citizen”. Do I have rights as a “citizen” or only as a taxpayer? Can you redistribute it to “citizens” or only those paying taxes? I really need to understand where I fit into your governments re distributive plans.
Most humbly,
Mr Bored
Dear Mr Bored,
You are right to be humble, or at least meek. However, our lawyers have instructed us to tell you that this is no gaurantee you shall inherit the earth or the profits of your time under the National Ltd administration.
If you stop paying taxes, we will have you arrested, though this action may not be taken depending on the evaluation of your personal valuation you have yet to supply. We of course cannot view your valuation ourselves, or consider it’s contents. It is a matter of integrity. You will have to supply a certified viewer who will give us the signal by running over a person poorer than you, in a town of your choosing.
Going forward, we encourage your intent to not pay taxes, in principle, and this alone may enhance our reading of your personal valuation. As a Tradeable Work Unit, you qualify to pay us tax, but the rights of citizenship are unsure. What is citizenship? A ship made of buddhist cities? I bet I could find a lawyer who could say the opposite. Obligations on our part remain strictly defined. It is a matter of integrity, except in the case of you being unable to arouse our interest in your personal fortune or the poor person you run down surviving.
Stay humble, bottomfeeder,
National Ltd
Dear John,
To avoid arrest the money has been ETed (I figured habeus corpus was at risk if I said it “was in the mail”. Recent events indicate the NZ Police dont quite “understand” the law). The IRD when presented with the extra payment charged me interest on not declaring this as provisional tax at the beginning of the FY, thereby defining my relationship as a taxpayer rather nicely (from their viewpoint). What was intriguing was that they had a copy of all my emails to you via GCSB, maybe they are watching you because you still talk to foreign criminal types who you used to work with.
I did take your advice: I ran down a rather rotund man with a German accent, injuring myself in the process. ACC state that they wont pay for my injuries because the gent was rather too large and should have been avoidable. My counter claim is that he was too big to avoid. Either way they are checking out my ACC levy via the aforementioned IRD. The vehicle went to the panel beater who suggested that I flag the insurance excess claim because the said German gent represents a credit risk and cant pay me for the “accident”. He was apparently formerly rich but by some dint of misfortune he met up with bad company (an MP from Epsom) and its been all downhill since. The insurance claim came back nicely, good riddance Mr B, we went bust with Christchuch, thanks for your money……
So in summary thank you for the explanation of my relationship with the state as a taxpayer: I keep paying, you transfer to your mates in Reemers who dont pay tax. With regard to citizenship I am now more informed: it is off to Greenland where plenty of new land becomes available weekly.
Yours far less humbly
Mr B Esq.
Hello Mr. B Esq.,
Thanks for your note. John is out of town and has left me in charge of correspondence and crises. If we could keep this on the hush hush, that would be good. Don’t worry about GCSB. Those guys are all pinstripes and salad lunches. Sorry to hear about the damage to your car. Germans, what have they ever given us?
Will be driving the new BMW home for Christmas. Plan to start a boutique brewery making Doppelbockbeir. Could be fun. Have you considered The South as a holiday destination? I could hook you up. Call me maybe?
Bill E.
Dear Bill,
Maybe the South will be good for a holiday: currently the beach in Greenland is unseasonably balmy. Even the bears have left. Do you still have penguins?
B Esq
Uturn – key words, “of which we have no knowledge” – message for the day?
Shearer did some really good straight talk on the Key/Banks/English scandal just now on Morning Report.
If he keeps this up he could be leader of the opposition some day.
[audio src="http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20120926-0714-pm_under_pressure_over_dotcom_spy_scandal-048.mp3" /]
Thanks for that felix, ‘Dottie’ has really got them dazed and confused. Blinglish takes the fall? don’t think he likes Key enough to do that.
Shearer did way better than usual in terms of knowing his subject.
Could be?, that’s mean.
Thanks for the link as I missed it live. Yep, he’s definitely getting better. Agree re clear straight talk. Good to give credit where credit due 🙂
“Yep, he’s definitely getting better.”
In the same manner, Mr John Banks, who has not told any ooutrageous lies this week, is also “getting better.”
You are without doubt a man of infinite generosity, LynW.
felix – great, Shearer finally showed after nearly one year!!
Pretty galling to hear last night the Minister of Economic Development blame the Forest and Bird Society for holding up jobs on the west cost because apparently they are stopping the whole of a plateau from being strip-mined. Actually encouraging the quarry-enclave economy to continue in New Zealand is no economic strategy and should simply embarrass him. But doubling down on making the West Coast more vulnerable to global unprocessed commodity prices such as coal is mind-spinningly dumb, and then offloading the blame to environmental defenders is just nasty.
Even worse for Minister of State owned Enterprises for not topping up Solid Energy to keep the Springfield Mine open. Not even bothering to run the ruler over social welfare and wider economic benefit costs vs keeping the mine going is bad. But holding out a cruel hope to turn miners into carpenters on the Christchurch rebuild that will never happen is reprehensible.
Not to mention claiming the miners’ union opposed the new Denniston mine proposal, when the opposite is true.
In reality mining on the West Coast will eventually become a thing of the past. We are at a point with the planets climate where we cant continue to burn fossil fuels regardless of the economic circumstance. As a consequence would it not be a clever move from a far sighted society to transition to a solid state economic model that does not rely upon depleting resources. Something todays and future generations can aspire to as viable and rewarding. Starting with the West Coast. Any ideas?
You know, I wonder if SE’s retrenchment is more because union membership at the SOE’s is greater than among the privately owned coal companies?
Latest MediaLens report released today. Follows the events of the protests across the ME.
Poses the question was the initial Embassy attack a concerted attack…
If so are the Mainstream media responsible for setting off a chain of religiously motivated protests around the world in an attempt to cover up an obvious failure in the Western intervention in the Middle east. What does this mean for the Syrian situation??
Quoted:
reporting suggested that the initial media consensus blaming a provocative film was false. The Telegraph noted:
‘A security guard wounded in the attack… has insisted it was a planned assault by Islamist fighters, and not a protest that got out of hand.
‘The guard, who works for a British firm, said there was no demonstration over a controversial anti-Islamic film before extremists stormed the compound in the eastern city of Benghazi.’
Matthew Olsen, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: ‘I would say [the four Americans] were killed in the course of a terrorist attack.’
FULL ARTICLE: http://www.medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=697:us-consulate-killings-spontaneous-religious-or-planned-political&catid=25:alerts-2012&Itemid=69
Shalom. and now the news..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/iconic-israeli-newspaper-maariv-faces-collapse-critics-allege-its-part-of-anti-media-blitz/2012/09/25/4345d464-0749-11e2-9eea-333857f6a7bd_story.html?
Feel free to add to this lists…
What National have not been able to achieve…
Roads of National Significance – reduced, delayed and not wanted
Ultra Fast Broadband – not going to hit target dates
National Standards – up shit creek
Keeping NZdrs in NZ – record numbers moving to Australia
Thousands upon thousands of new jobs – increasing unemployment
Reaching parity with Australian wages – the gap geting wider
Restore integrity to government – John Banks is still a minister
Sale of assets to mum and dad investors – in a slow, uncontrolled decent into failure
Fiscally responsible government – increased government debt
Push to get people to invest in business – house prices increasing again
Earthquake recovery – people still living in damaged houses while slap-up dinners for business people and unqualified people/friends paid large sums for unskilled work.
What National have been able to achieve…
Restrictions on beneficiaries – affects the poor
Tax cuts for the rich – makes our country poorer
Reduced public service – makes public servants unemployed and poorer
Restrictive labour laws – forces the poor to stay in work and keep there mouths shut
Halved the Kiwisaver member tax credit
No national cycleway but disjointed cycleways
Fraction of the jobs promised by the national cycleway
ECE subsidies changed
Thousand more children living in welfare dependant homes
More children in poverty
Used our money to pay people sell our assets that we don’t want sold
Shifted $2 billion in wealth from taxpayers to SFC investors
Increased GST to remove more wealth from taxpayers
$400 million taken away from Working for Families
Lovely list…..its amazing how well Lord Haw Haw Key has managed to avoid the opprobrium.
PS Love the photostream picture of Betty Windsor with Shonkers.
+1
Sums up capitalism quite well.
thanks for sorting out linking tidiness for luddites like me guys 🙂
hookie; please forward me a blank cheque. today i am gonna try and find a free scholarship in my “field” of interest
NZ- a kiwi-Fruit Republic, dayo…dayaayo…daylight come and me wanna go home…
Obama startin to pound those war drums on Assad and Iran; catch a few more disillusioned Republicans i spose,
now Joyce wants to leverage Spring Creek losses to ‘get on up’ on the Denniston Plateau; what a callous, transparent, blind, optimist.
See! any body can intercept IT information in transit according to Martin Cocker of Netsafe.
China’s first aircraft carrier enters service-TWP
Christian Conservatives? – i pray they get a LIFE. Dawks! (stumbling blocks) who the freak do they think they are? God?
Christ was the most radical man the world had ever seen until the next great prophet (blessings and peace be upon his name)
and now, when i go to NEWS NOW .co.uk, i get a freakin Herald ad; ggod thing my breakfast had settled; too early int the day to throw up.
u can read all the herald has to tell in one front webpage; it sorta goes like this
crime
sex
corruption
sport
violence
social deterioration
gossip
celebrity
the worst government in my lifetime
health epidemics
poverty
blame the parents
tar the unions
crime
sex
corruption
sport
violence
gossip
drugs
celebrity
crime
sex….
An post about Chch from the inside…
Ultimately, the fading of democracy comes as little surprise. Neoliberal capitalism, already ascendant before the earthquake, has little interest in community participation, the environment, or very much besides economic gain. Rod Carr, a year on from his talk at TEDxEQCHCH, was telling staff members at the University to ‘dob in’ underperforming colleagues. A department strongly critical of the earthquake response, American Studies, has now been disestablished. Further cuts are ahead. Westfield, the owners of Riccarton Mall, has recommended to the City Council that it sells off its stock of social housing; the National government has recommended that the CCC sell its other assets. Brownlee has mobilized anti-Council sentiment to broaden the powers of CERA, an unelected body. The BNZ Tower, on the edge of Cathedral Square, has gained approval to rebuild to thirteen storeys, eliminating the possibility of a low-rise central city. The principles of the Draft Central City Plan, namely ‘community involvement’ and ‘business investment’, have never been placed in starker opposition. Government and business—the TEDxCHCH crowd—have staged a counter-revolution, using the language of ‘disaster capitalism’ to lock out the hopes and dreams of those who took part in the performance of democracy at CBS. Gerry Brownlee now fronts the advertising campaign for TEDxEQCHCH: Uncontained, which is scheduled for this September.
http://keaandcattle.com/cultureandsociety/goodbye-letter-to-christchurch
i have said it before; that V.C is a VERY unhelpful man 🙁
It seems the SAS needs a brand spanking new training facility South of Auckland. To be build by a foreign designer and ready to train our boys to work through battle scenarios on buses, trains and oil rigs. We are not allowed to know the budget and how big it’s going to be but it will be ready in 2015. Can you say US bases?
Great, just what we need to guarantee New Zealand remaining a free country.
Ardmore is nicely convenient to Auckland too, which means when we have the “event” which will allow the permanent stationing of the mercenaries, they will be here quick smart.
High tech tooled up choppers, and jacked up psychos who love to blow things up and kill people, all just a stones throw away!
And right next to the commercial airport too, gee I hope all the live munitions in the area will not bother the jumbo jets!
I feel much safer already knowing that this facility will be so close by.
Commercial sensitivities = BS, and an open cheque!
QFT
WTF are they looking offshore for designers? I’m sure that any competent architect could do it after speaking with the SAS about they want in such a facility.
How to throttle protests.
How to storm a social housing complex.
How to breach a citizen advocacy clinic.
How to protect state property from the citizenry.
How to recover occupied assets of trans-national corporations.
Look stop telling them what to do bud, I want u too write out ten times ….
“I will not speak Evil to National” 🙂
The SAS have been based at Ardmore as long as I can remember. What is it exactly that’s “brand spanking new” about this base?
“I frankly think that crisis initiation is very tough and it’s very hard for me to see how the US president can get us to war with Iran” says Israel lobbyist Patrick Clawson, who continues with a call for the mass murder of Americans, along the lines of the USS Maine, Lusitania, Pearl Harbor, USS Liberty, and (by implication) 9/11 orchestrated war-trigger events to get the President of the US to help Israel to start a war with Iran.
Not that he’s advocating a false flag of course! Well… maybe a sinking sub or something like that I mean “We’re in the game of using covert means against Iranians, we could get nasty about it”!!
This is worth a look at Interest.co
http://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/61291/wednesdays-top-10-nz-mint-tax-avoidance-protesters-black-tie-pain-spain-mainly-around-
Some well-dressed and well-spoken young protesters in Britain gatecrashed a farewell dinner for the boss of Britain’s Inland Revenue Department recently to protest against his close links with the regulated.
He was accused of signing off on a deal that saved Goldman Sachs £20m in tax payments and another which cut Vodafone’s tax bill from £8bn to £1.25bn.
John Key receives a letter from a jilted lover: http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/dear-john-love-has-gone.html
Miners loose jobs, next day joyce is telling enviromentalists to pull their protests out of
the court system,to allow bathhurst to mine,there is something shonkey about this,
shonkey has shares in bank of america which funds loans to bathurst,shonkey opened
the bathhurst conference,why? this also needs some investigation,perhaps another
shonkey deal to be bought out into the public arena.
Indeed, it comes under the – Who are the major shareholders in Bathurst file…
followed by
Who has shares/interest in the major shareholders of Bathurst!
SNAFU
China now see Japanese aggression, the same aggression
Japanese for decades has used in whale hunting in
the southern oceans, as if Japan had a historical
right to hunt Whales in the Southern Hemisphere.
Atleast with European Whalers they came, and stayed,
married, and settled, what has Japan done but aggressively
seized resources.
Japan’s plans ran into problems off Midway in 1942
Yeah Japan was pretty much screwed from the time the US managed to break their naval code.
Choosing war against the USA was never going to work out well for Japan.
It has worked out pretty well for them I reckon. And the loss of carriers at Midway was bad luck, fortunes of battle – but guaranteed in the long run Uncle Sam would pay for Japan’s defense while Mitsubishi, Toyota, Sanyo etc etc got on with the job. Ever read about a crooked Jap firm or product ???
Jap = quality and reliability.
Hmmmmm I think your memory is a little short. “Jap Crap” was a pretty accurate description of most Japanese manufactured consumer products up until the late 60’s/early 70’s.
Nope – the Americans knew the exact date and target of the Japanese attack, as well as the exact disposition of the enemy forces and order of battle.
The Japanese also decided to split their fleets up into smaller groups which could not support each other.
Uh, you gotta be kidding. Hiroshima and Nagasaki for starters. What do you consider that acceptable collateral damage?
aerobubble 15
Different culture and tightened borders now – can’t compare with previous history. Also I understand there is some power group that wants to catch whales that has influence with their political leaders. Sort of like the SCF investors that got everything they wanted in NZ. Or did they? Near enough anyway. And the oil industry etc..
given the large number of state agencies with
search powers, one does need to ask the question
if evidence say discovered about ACC clients was
safe if the same ‘legal’ understanding has been
used to that against Dot Com.
Spooks – a law unto themselves
It’s apparent that the GCSB routinely spies on the electronic communications of New Zealand citizens and residents. In doing so it grossly breaches our right to privacy and ignores the well defined laws it’s meant to adhere to. The lack of proper oversight and avenues for redress when things go wrong shows that the current system is not operating in the best interests of the country or its people. But what’s going to be done about the problem? Absolutely nothing while John Key is in charge…
Roll up and enjoy a great left versus right argument between Red Logix and Tighty Righty on
“Work” and the false economy of Bennett’s welfare reforms. Some good stuff gone down there.
Yes, prism. Some comments have made a very good read, with various people, including RL & DTB providing some very good arguments and evidence.
Pete, stand up. Your stats on blog readability as posted on the Standard,
are getting some comment on other blogs. Tim Selwyn over at Tumeke put up a post on it this afternoon:
http://www.tumeke.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/and-you-thought-national-standards-were.html
Onya Pete!, we got a “Yeah Na M8” from Whaleoil M8!
Hey we should throw a party and invite them over M8.
Yeah Naa M8!
Pete: thumbs up mate. I’ll get the choir to do an extra chorus of the Red Flag for ya.
Cheers. It’s nice to be appreciated.
well, heres my summary of a day through the looking glass;
‘in the house; 400 notifications to CYPFs a DAY-do the math
(poverty and poor human education; REPARENT)
I very comfortable listening to David Cunliffe speak; he speaks to the Worker.
Hollande requests UN enter Syria
Greece; Poverty takes hold of the middle classes, the middle classes disappearing
the “New Poor” coming to a bungalow near you.
see Key on 3; “ahhh, (residency publicity) that runs to the heart of the matter”; wotta Dick
Spain; ” load up…load up …those rubber bullets..”
Fonterra; “drop in forthcoming capital projects, farmers to hunker down”
fortunately at present,
a “hungry market” for arable crops, yet very climate contingent
btw, Tolley the Trolley did come to carry Key’s excuses
and it’s Good Night from Him, and it’s Good Night from me. 😉
The latest Roy Morgan is out (hat tip Gobsmacked on the ‘Polls’ post).
National 43.5, Maori Party 2.5%, ACT NZ 0.5% and United Future a big fat duck egg. Totalling 46.5%.
Support for Labour is 33% (up 2%); Greens are 11.5%, New Zealand First 5%, Mana Party 1.5%, totalling 51 percent. And this before the Dotcom cock up hit the news stands.
…and before the job losses in the mines and Nuplex? Labour may have just hit the ‘there is an alternative to doing nothing’ button at the right time.
http://www.roymorgan.com/ Up to 23 September
…And only 3% of New Zealanders think the Prime Minister has done a good job trying to sell privatisation. Dotcom also inferred there was more to come that will no doubt further discredit John Key… Talk about Hoist with his own petard.
Dotcom also inferred there was more to come that will no doubt further discredit John Key…
I was quite taken aback at Key’s appearance on TV tonight. He looked almost a shadow of his former self – drawn and hollowed out looking eyes. Methinks he’s not been getting his beauty sleep…
I wonder what he was really doing in the USA when he wasn’t watching his son’s base ball game.
Electorally, assuming the MP get 3, UF 1 and ACT 1, its game on.
55 seats Lab + Greens. Add in two seats for Mana (Tiger Mountain will be pleased!) for 57 positive votes. The lukewarm puddle of piss that passes for a Government right now can only muster 58.
Winston has the casting vote with six.
Note that I’ve assumed ACT win Epsom. If the Nats run a candidate who passes the critical test of a) being alive and b) no, that’s it, breathing and upright should do it, then Key only has 57. Lab/Green/NZF have a comfortable 4-6 seat majority.
It’s this kind of polling that will see the Maori Party wondering if its best to start cuddling up to Shearer. After all, Government’s where its at for them. What would be the point of the MP in opposition? It would be a death sentence to go down with Key.
true, and instead of getting crumbs, they’ll get mango skins.
Better watch that your roof painting ass doesn’t get reported to Paula Benefit.
I read that poll as saying that up to 85% of kiwis want a government somewhere between the centre right and the far right. I don’t feel encouraged by it at all.
not sure if anyone else has drawn this comparison yet: Paula Bennett = Dolores Umbridge.
http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Dolores_Umbridge
Also, every time she talks about ‘wrapping around’ all I can think of is the face-hugging alien in Alien.
Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce has launched a broadside against the environmental opponents of The privately owned Denniston mine project. To do this Stephan Joyce has tried to draw a bow linking those who wish to stop the opening of the Dennistion mine, with the closing of the Spring Creek mine.
Minister Blames environmentalists for the closing of Spring Creek
The Forest and Bird Protection Society has branded Joyce’s comments as “mischievious” and “opportunistic”.
Let’s get this clear.
Everyone has been told this, including the Minister. Spring Creek is being closed because to the falling global price of commodities, especially coal, due to the recession and falling global demand.
The Minister is drawing a very long bow to suggest otherwise, and he knows this.
But he is doing it for a reason and his target is very clear.
For those of us concerned about climate change, to which burning coal is the single greatest contributor, it is an inescapable fact that we need to work with the West Coast communities that currently rely on coal as their mainstay industry….
On the other side….
Joyce and his fossil fuel mates are opportunistically trying to take advantage of the suffering of the West Coast workers and their communities to remove all environmental safeguards. Listen to his complaints about environmental “mitigations”, specifically his complaint against raising climate change. Joyce is a liar. The Minister is trying to get these workers on his side when it is he who is attacking them.
Blaming environmentalists for these job losses is a lie. This is clearly not the position in this case.
For misleading the public, the Green Party should be demanding that Joyce be forced to apologise in the house.
Because Spring Creek and Denniston are both coal exporting mines in competition with each other in a shrinking market, It is in the interests of the Spring Creek mine and the Greymouth community that Denniston never open.
Opening Denniston in the hope that coal prices will eventually recover. (dubious as this argument might be). Is the same argument being put by the workers and their union for keeping Spring Creek open. With the world slump in coal demand, to have in existence an already producing mine competing in the same area of the market, is a dagger in the heart of the Denniston project.
The publicly owned Spring Creek mine is in direct competition with the privately owned Denniston project.
The question must be asked;
With Solid Energy on the market – has possible private investor in Solid Energy, namely Bathhurst Resources, requested as a condition of sale that Spring Creek be closed?
Would an Official Information Request, if granted, reveal this?
Is Spring Creek being closed because it makes the Denniston project unviable?
Do, the underground workers of Spring Creek and the anti-coal lobby have a common interest in seeing that Denniston never opens?
Does the minister know this?
Is this the reason the Minister is trying to turn the Greymouth community’s anger against Solid Energy against the environmental opponents of Denniston?