Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
As a chiropractor and pain management expert I support that 100%, particularly under the auspices of formal health sector regulation. Common medical pain management approaches are not effective or suitable for tens of thousands of New Zealanders, and there should be more options on the table.
Just consider how drugs like morphine and fentanyl are legal in NZ for pain management, but marijuana is not. It simply reflects a very outdated historical situation.
Time we get over ourselves and put more options on the table.
If I were a chiropractor cynical about Big Pharma I’d wonder where some of the opposition to the use of marijuana for pain management was coming from. Luckily, I’m not 😈
It would probably be cheaper than those other drugs too. No big pharma company cut to pay.
And that’s probably the only reason as to why it’s still illegal. It’s certainly nothing to do with it being bad for you else alcohol and cigarettes would be illegal.
Why would it have anything to do with “big pharma” making it illegal? If it were legal pharmaceutical companies could patent aspects of THC and make a killing as they do with other chemicals.
You miss the point Draco. I don’t mean patenting THC itself but using THC to create a whole new class of drugs and patenting those. It doesn’t make sense to say the only reason it is illegal is because pharmaceutical companies could make a killing on patenting drugs derived from cannabis.
Was reading an article a while back (may have linked to it on TS) about magic mushrooms. Limited research is showing that it’s far better than Prozac. It does the same job, doesn’t have anywhere near the side effects that Prozac does and only requires one treatment rather than daily doses.
Of course, that’s magic mushies but it has the same problem, commercially, as marijuana – anybody can grow it and we don’t actually need any derived drugs.
As for the TPPA: A large chunk of it seems to be about IP and that means we probably won’t be able to change our IP laws to boost innovation. One such change that needs to happen, IMO, is that patents should not be allowed to apply to things that are based upon the natural laws of the universe (same as maths formula aren’t allowed to be patented/copyrighted). That would kill the drug and life patenting that we presently see.
We don’t ‘need’ the derived drugs but considering some people don’t like being stoned and magic mushroom can have unpleasant physical side effects (as well as being hard to control dosage given difference mushrooms have varying levels of the active ingredient) there is still a big market for derived versions to be created.
Your comment about big pharma blocking cannabis legalisation doesn’t make sense.
Missing the point again.
Some people don’t like to get stoned therefore there is an commercial industry in creating a drug which delivers the benefits without the high. I can’t make it more simple than that.
TatLoo..
.”Just consider how drugs like morphine and fentanyl are legal in NZ for pain management, but marijuana is not. It simply reflects a very outdated historical situation.”
Very well stated…in a nutshell.Should be quoted a lot.
For a science dude you are a bit short on the logic there doc. It reflects what is registered by medsafe, but that’s not the only thing it reflects. People can use all sorts of things for pain relief that have never been ciminilised. Why was cannabis?
If you remove the addictive nature of morphine and look primarly on it’s effect on the body it is less dangerous than marijuana. Purely from a physiological standpoint.
Call me naive, but isn’t the addictive nature what makes it so dangerous? I mean, if you go one step further and add the derivative heroine it hardly gets any more suicidal. This is by my reckoning by far – pretty much as far as it gets – dangerous than marijuana.
Some recognizable people who died from a Morphine overdose:
Hank Williams, Janet Achurch, Lenny Bruce, Tim Buckley, Chris Farley, Sigmund Freud, Paul Gray, Brent Mydland, Gram Parsons, Brad Renfro, Count Gottfried from Biesmark, Edward E. Hannegan
If you remove the addictive nature of morphine and look primarly on it’s effect on the body it is less dangerous than marijuana. Purely from a physiological standpoint.
That is the stupidest, and most dangerous incorrect statement that I’ve come across all day. I daresay it’s probably a deliberate lie.
It’s virtually impossible for someone overusing marijuana to die from it. Maybe if they choke on an accidentally swallowed joint?
In comparison it’s dead simple to die from overusing morphine (or sometimes even appropriately using it). A combination of respiratory suppression, coma and shock/cardiac arrest will typically do it.
Yes overdose is easy but in a controlled circumstance (like a hospital) morphine is extremely clean and does little to no damage to the body. That’s why it continues to be the gold standard in pain relief.
“Just consider how drugs like morphine and fentanyl are legal in NZ for pain management, but marijuana is not. It simply reflects a very outdated historical situation.”
yeah, but I wouldn’t like to see cannabis as a plant only legal by prescription. If big pharma wants to develop medicines from cannabis once its legal, more power to them. But let people use the plant itself as they see fit too.
“If big pharma wants to develop medicines from cannabis ”
Weka, they already do manufacture pain relief meds from cannabis. In Sth Africa it is available in liquid form. Can’t remember the Pharma at the moment, but will post link if I find it.
“No it should not there are plenty of proven options on the table at present.”
I don’t know about cancer – but for inflammatory arthritis flares another pain reduction option that works without knocking you out would be gratefully received.
Yes there are plenty of proven options. And there should be more. Because for plenty of patients today’s options may start off being effective but eventually end up being unsuitable, with the development of many unwanted adverse effects and reduced efficacy, over a period of months or years.
TC You have the choice to read and ‘hear’ the personal message and experience shared or move on by. Why choose to criticise the structure? Try a little kindness.
I have no prejudicial views towards drug addicts. I’m making fun of his syntax, not his former drug abuse. What do I care what he did with himself in the past or the future.
I don’t believe you. Either you think there is something wrong with being and addict and/or that being an addict = x,y,z, or you are moron. How can inferring that being a former junkie makes one stupid when it comes to English grammar not be a comment on that person’s past?
My former junkie days had no discernible effect on my ability to construct sentences, nor on my ability to solve differential equations. Your constant harping, on the other hand, has quite an effect on my ability to see good in all people.
If a person is in pain for whatever reason and finds that smoking a joint every now and then, or drinking cannabis tea, helps them, why should the medical profession or law enforcement even be involved?
I take morphine every day quite legally and don’t like the effects of cannabis on my thinking, so I don’t smoke it. There are people who have the opposite experience. Bloody hell, let them light up.
I tend to get a bit annoyed with posts like your first one regarding leukaemia as it is misleading in the extreme a bit like the pharma company who sold few million in mussel extract a few years back after misleading items suggesting it was useful for cancer and then got slapped with a wetbusticket 40k fine.
..are you suggesting all that research currently going on is a fools’ errand..?
..and if a doc..are you a cancer-treatment specialist..?
..or a g.p..?
..(just trying to get yr informed-opinion into some kinda context..eh..?..)
..and why not legalise it for those reasons/benefits you cite as being ‘useful’..
..’the analgesic and and anticachexic effects.’..?
..aren’t they enough to be getting on with ..?
..and i will counter yr link..(in which..b.t.w..many/most of the cited references are at least 20 yrs old..with an alarming number dating back to the 70’s..)..
..with what i have compiled over more recent times..
The last time I saw my mother, Momina Bibi, was the evening before Eid al-Adha. She was preparing my children’s clothing and showing them how to make sewaiyaan, a traditional sweet made of milk. She always used to say: the joy of Eid is the excitement it brings to the children.
Last year, she never had that experience. The next day, 24 October 2012, she was dead, killed by a US drone that rained fire down upon her as she tended her garden.
I nearly cried. I’m trying to get my head around in how many ways this is truly awful.The people who order this stuff are criminals (but even that label is too simple for them).
It was a temporary expedient from the 3.7 update. Looks like there was a bug to do with the identicons at gravator with it. It was giving the empty person display
Fixed now.
But I’ll leave these icons on over the weekend for their amusement value..
Soon to be joined by Shonky? Then it will be Rats on the run. And I also wonder how many Nats will be buying new suitcases to leave, after the next election, before the vitriol of the country descends upon their heads.
The Herald hits the panic button as their finest Jonolists, O’Sullivan and Armstrong, tag team to tell us why Shonkey’s in charge and got options for a win in 2014.
They have to lay the ground now to make Colin Craig sound palatable to the National voters of the North Shore. “This cup-of-tea candidate won’t make you look like total pawns the way Banks did to your mates in Epsom! Honest!”
According to this NZ Herald article, rent in Auckland is going through the roof. So who is this policy (LVR) favouring? Existing house owners but mostly LANDLORDS. This National government is just atrocious, they are really fucking up so much.
Another major FAIL.
The answer is clearly a CGT (comprehensive, not half arsed like Australia’s) also taking away the tax deductibility of interest cost on investment houses. And a massive social housing programme focussed on Auckland, this shit that National talk about increasing supply of land will lead to a reduction in the cost of housing is absolute bull shit…greedy land owners will simply not sell as soon as there is a slight reduction in their value of the land.
Trying to fit more than 30% of NZ’s population on less than 0.3% of the country’s land area isn’t a great move.
IMO it’s time for extensive regional development. Let’s get businesses and industry moving to centres like… Whangarei, Rotorua, Napier/Hastings, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Blenheim, Timaru, Oamaru, Dunedin, Invercargill.
“Trying to fit more than 30% of NZ’s population on less than 0.3% of the country’s land area isn’t a great move.”
When its framed like that Tat, it does seem ridiculous. But yes, there is some real need for policy that will rebalance some aspects in our economy and currently house prices in Auckland are way out of whack, in my view New Zealand’s biggest issue because expensive house rentals (which are a function of house prices) are one of the main causes of poverty.
IMO, one of the biggest drivers of regional development in previous decades was the awards rates as moving out of the big cities wouldn’t result in a massive decrease in income.
1. Bring in comprehensive capital gains tax.
2. Get rid of interest deductibility cost on mortgages for residential rentals (actually probably a very tricky policy to write without causing preserve consequences and incentives)
3. End government “accommodation supplement”.
These policies if acted in tandem would probably drop house prices by 20-30% overnight.
This National government is just atrocious, they are really fucking up so much.
No they’re not as they’re doing precisely what the rentier class want – upping the incomes of the rentiers without the rentiers having to do any more or even to produce any wealth.
Ennui is very much a socialist on social issues….during the work week Ennui manages companies which employ lots of people. This week E was hatching plans for one company to increase jobs from 25 to 35 over the next year despite the hard trading conditions. Thats called creating employment and expanding the tax base. E deals with lots of companies, most are struggling, they don’t pay tax because they don’t make a profit…the tax is raised via PAYE and GST. The owners of these companies get short return for risking their money to create more, in the process of which people get jobs. That risk goes without recognition by most of the workers, most of the contributors to this column.
The point of the above is this: every other person on this column rants about who the government should be funding, paying, subsidising etc etc etc. Nobody stops to consider where the cash comes from. The assumption is that even if the pot is unlimited that they have a divine right to some part of it.
This might sound like some RWNJ post: it is not. It merely states how real places of work function, how the real economy is underpinned. before you next demand subsidies for your own interests please take a pause and ask: where will the cash come from? Who pays? What does that mean to other employers and workers?
Excellent point Ennui. Where does the money come from? I am an employer myself, although on a smaller scale than you.
Consider this in terms of the macroeconomy:
– If the Government is making a surplus, it is taking more money from households and the private sector than it is putting back in, to the dollar.
– If the Government is making a deficit, it is providing more money to households and the private sector than it is taking out, to the dollar.
Also:
There are a huge amount of non-circulating hoarded dollars at the moment. If you think about it as tens of millions of hundred dollar notes sitting in a deep freezer the size of a small warehouse, not getting anything useful done in the community (but helping the banks and wall St out a great deal) you get the idea.
Last point: only one entity in the world can manufacture valid NZD and issue them – the NZ Government.
Ennui: You’ll have probably noticed over time that I’m kind of obsessed with exports – especially ones that have little to do with animals and trees. There is a reason for that.
..a capital gains tax..yes..(and increases in tax paid only for the top earners..not those struggling/juggling in the middle..)
..but perhaps the simplest/most straightforward/least painful revenue-gatherer..
..is a financial transaction tax..where each inter-bank transaction accrues a miniscule bite on it..with the volume of transactions adding up to a serious amount of money..
..and don’t forget that treasury research showed that a financial transaction tax on the banks/ters..
..would raise enough revenue to enable us to do away with g.s.t..
..whoar..!..eh..?
..so the question has to be:..why not..?
..hope that helps answer yr ‘where will the money come from?’-question..
Yep. I have been looking to purchase a small business over the last year, all of the businesses that I have seen for sale NONE seem to be making decent taxable profits, if any. But GST is a real prick of a tax for small businesses, as small businesses often sell at “price points” that customers are really resistant to pay above, so English’s GST increase in Oct 2010 basically meant that many small businesses have had to absorb the 2.5% GST increase therefore reducing margin and taxable income. So I think your comment shows why Income Tax should be raised before GST…the Top Marginal tax rate needs to be increased and CGT needs to be implemented, it seems that the only houses and farms that are being purchased these days are by people who already own several and dont actually need them.
Small businesses are really struggling in New Zealand, no doubt about that. Brian Gaynor on RNZ the other day mentioned that people above 55 have a lot of money and people below 30 have plenty of money to spend but most people between these age groups are struggling, I guess this group are trying to raise a family and buy a house.
This is where DC”s Labour will encourage policy that stimulates the economy (I think he mentioned “new keynesian” in TS once?) I hope (perhaps a decrease in GST would help stimulate at the same time as helping the poor). And also as Iprent points out…we need more exports, but Im happy if it comes from farms as long as it doesn’t stuff up our rivers/environment.
Saarbo
That’s a good point. I can’t see why anyone thoughtful would consider it good to have a two figure rate, and more to be continually raising the flat tax of GST. Isn’t it collected on all the things that lower income people would put their money towards? Though does that include rent? I don’t pay rent and I’ve forgotten.
But it’s a great way to get a large proportion back by the government of every $ going into the hand of beneficiaries. Sort of like a flag fall for purchases.
Why should I have to pay 15% to the government for every step in living and transacting I make with others trying to make a living. Now I do regard that as theft!
And I first came across it in Switzerland. In the 70’s it was a country so wealthy that they hardly seemed to have any sale for second hand utility goods. They tended to update and store the older still useful ones in the basement. Which most of them had as a design feature.
They were wealthy enough to pay 15% VAT or gst. We are not. It would be a useful and reasonable tax if it was 5%. More becomes a burden on the lower income who are actually more in outcome mode.
GST is payable on commercial rent, but not on domestic rent. I don’t really know why this is so. It could be argued that rent is an investment return, like interest, but that argument would apply just as much to commercial rent as to domestic.
GST needs to be reduced to 5.0%, but kept as a mechanism with which the government can control consumption and money supply if necessary, in the future.
GST is actually a quite unjust tax as it is applied as a one size fits all approach to gather revenue. A person earning $ 15.00 per hour is by far harder hit with GST on every living expense that anyone at $ 30.00. Hence it is inherently unjust. The role of any government, regardless what colors they fly, is the fair and just treatment of its citizen/residents. My feeling is that income tax should be teared in incremental steps – the more you earn, the more tax you pay – and GST reduced (8% ?). I don’t belief that a universal transaction tax will help either as this is just another way to grab money from those who can ill afford this. Most transactions these days are electronic and hence will have the tax deducted straight away. Giving cash deals that can be manipulated in tax terms even more reason to exist.
Yes Greywarbler, There have been a number of suggestion that we need to put the GST rate up to 17.5% to deal with our aging population http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1102/S00020/threat-of-175-gst-sickening.htm . One of the reason I understand that Treasury like GSt is that they believe that it is difficult to avoid paying, which is incredibly naive…there are plenty of people dealing in cash deals to avoid gst. I reckon it should be 10% at the most. I understand that GST makes up $15 billion of tax revenue, so if it was reduced to 10% then the Govt would have to find around $5 billion from other sources….its a really horrible tax in my view, it amazes me that treasury and other economic commentators often talk about raising it more.
Saarbo
Thanks interesting. This business about Treasury wanting things simpler. Its such an oxymoron when you think that computers are supposed to be great because it makes calculation and number crunching simpler, so why Treasury bothers about simpler as if we have rows of clerks perched at desks with quill pens.
It’s just bloody laziness and poverty of mind. It’s the same thinking that wants to introduce flat tax rather than have progressive as needed. It’s the same sort of thinking that won’t be bothered with tax tables where wage tax is calculated from different columns, used to be general and then for people with dependent children, F1, F2, F3 which I think was where the tax breaks stopped.
More help for larger families might then have involved applying for a state house to help with their care. A change in this method of up-front tax breaks had been replaced by special help for working families which gets a hostile reaction from members of society who view themselves as self-generated special treasures to the world now they have landed. Other babies and little ones can go jump. If it was Treasury that acrtivated the tax changes – they lack common sense. Call in a child of five (G.Marx) or Peter Dunne (interchangeable).
(Referring to families, I am listening to Radionz 11.12 Paul Ehrlich – Predicting Collapse on Radionz saying that modern people who love children choose to have small families, not large ones. They care about the type of future their children will have by joining with others in limiting the overpopulation we already have.)
Nobody stops to consider where the cash comes from.
Actually, I’ve considered that for quite some time and have said on numerous occasions (another time down thread) that we need to stop the cash coming from the private banks bearing interest and that it should come from government without interest.
The assumption is that even if the pot is unlimited that they have a divine right to some part of it.
They do. It is, after all, the peoples economy and their resources being used.
It merely states how real places of work function, how the real economy is underpinned.
It represents how the present system works. There’s one thing wrong with that – the present system doesn’t work and thus it needs to be changed.
[sigh] . . . another John Key lie. He told Failfax that the tip off regarding Len Brown’s affair was just Mark Mitchell gossiping at a cocktail party. Turns out, that’s not true. According to the now sorrowful Penny Webster . . .
. . . the comment Mr Mitchell made to her was not at a cocktail party or as part of idle gossip.
“I was in a business meeting with Mark over electoral/council matters when our conversation turned to local government elections and the mayoral campaign.
“Mark made a passing comment, something like ‘scuttlebutt floating around for a while about the mayor having a skeleton in his closet; if there is a skeleton I hope that his wife and children know because families are always the victims in these sort of things’.
I laughed, saying, ‘I’m sure it isn’t correct,’ and he agreed with me . . .
. . . when lies designed to distance National Ltd™ from the attempted blackmail of Len Brown come straight from the top and, now, involve public apologies for even involving a National Ltd™ MP, my spidey senses start tingling. The New Zealand Fox News Herald Sunday paper apparently has an interview with Luigi Weewedgie; it will be interesting to see if the distancing efforts are carried through there as well.
Mark Mitchell, MP for North Shore, is a former NZ Policeman who..
“launched an international business career which included the start-up of my own company specialising in hostage rescue, supply chain security and risk management. Working closely with the World Economic Forum, I helped to establish Logistic Emergency Response Teams…. ”
see http://www.markmitchell.co.nz/mark-mitchell-profile.html
Mitchell’s father-in-law Frank Gill was a National Party North Shore MP as well as being a minister and ambasador to Washington.
Mitchell is a well integrated into the National Party real power structures. Mitchell is also well integrated into the Special Services network, the Police and the Intelligence Services.
Mark Mitchell knew about the Len Brown affair because there was a professional project to displace Len that went beyond the Palino/Slater/Wewege amateurs.
The Nats/Rodney Hide wanted control over Auckland.
Wellington did not want an independent Auckland.
Had a Nat stooge like Palino or Williamson won Auckland the new Rail projects would be cancelled or hobbled. Urban sprawl would be encouraged. The Auckland Council would become a tame lapdog for National and Wellington.
The Council CEO and many of the CCO Boards and C level execs were appointed by National, Rodney Hide and Wellington. They are all for replacement under a Leftish Len and Council.
There are many powerful people who were disappointed that Len could not be challenged by a credible candidate. The prospect of a damaging scandal was a god-send.
John Key, for whom Mark Mitchell seconds for the busy neighbouring Helensville MP from time to time, knows more about the plan to displace Len than he is saying.
Yes because the plan was to make Len have numerous affairs, get free or cheap rates from hotels, be a reference for his mistress, send threatening texts, go on record as saying theres nothing else and then go into hiding after the story breaks
or
Len can’t keep it in his pants, tells far too many lies and brought it all on himself
Yes because the plan was to make tempt Len into having numerous an affairs, enabled by mates at SkyCity get free or cheap rates from hotels, then set up to be a reference for his mistress, while operatives send threatening texts, while John Key goes on record as saying “there’s nothing” here else to see here, and then go send Luigi into hiding after the story breaks
Sorry but I’m sticking with the more obvious explanation that a very ordinary mayor who should know better displayed some stunning lack of judgement over a prolonged period the rest is all just a rise show.
It does look like that, with first prize being Len’s resignation, and second prize being a Len who is weakened by public scandal, and hence compliant. I personally hope it goes the other way, and that Len seeks to redeem himself by doing battle against them for his city.
I don’t think Len has been weakened by the affair as most people just don’t care. What has happened is that most people are sickened by the RWNJs poking their nose into other peoples bedrooms.
“I don’t think Len has been weakened by the affair as most people just don’t care.”
I wouldn’t be to sure about that. Sure I don’t care, you don’t care and it seems most people here don’t care but I wonder about the left-wing yet socially conservative, religious faction who may have voted because of Brown’s self professed religious values. Something to take into account.
I think the question isn’t really whether Len has been weakened, as we’re just not in a situation where weakening him crowns another person. The vast majority of left voters aren’t going to defect to Minto or Bright, and the right doesn’t have a solid candidate.
If there were the option of a by-election with someone right enough for the right and socially liberal enough for a chunk of the left (coughMauriceWilliamsoncough) then it could be a completely different matter.
Ah ! I think you’ve got it, Olwyn. I’ve been wondering what’s behind it all.
Mark Mitchell – with his background of security and SIS – would not have deliberately tipped off Penny Webster without some sort of ulterior motive. This way the “real powers” in National give a drubbing to Collins’ mates – Slater, Palino – while at the same time putting Len more firmly in their power. I hope like you, Olwyn, that Len – silly stupid idiot that he’s been – can see he’s also been used by the top Nats, and redeems himself by battling more intensely for his city’s good, than for his own future.
The sad part about all this is that real people are involved, Mr Brown’s wife and children. I do not belief hat NZlanders are as vulgar as Americans when it comes to revealing and “marketing” affairs hoping for a “Bill Clinton”. The reality is that there should be more focus on the move to divide a country into city states. When I look at your comment, this is already taking place. Back to the times of the Medici then….
Mark Mitchell knew about the Len Brown affair because there was a professional project to displace Len that went beyond the Palino/Slater/Wewege amateurs.
Seems like it. Wewege has got “operative” written all over him. There’s a heap load of cash tied up in Auckland’s assets which, thus far, Len Brown has managed to keep largely intact. Must have been incredibly frustrating for the business elite to have had the carefully laid down plans, as put in place by Rodney Hide for John Banks to deliver, stymied by pesky democracy and some upstart from Manukau. Plenty of incentive to set up a honey-trap.
Air Commodore Frank Gill millsy. I am told he insisted on being called Air Commodore at all times. A leery old goat. How do I know? He tried it on me and no… he got short shrift!
Paid him back. He rang for a weather forecast one Xmas holiday many years ago. He and Muldoon were off for a summer boat cruise around North Cape. I told them not to go because there was a trop. cyclone moving into the area. They didn’t go. The cyclone trundled into the West Tasman and swiftly petered out which we already knew was going to happen. Gave me a few giggles.
Frank Gill ….. I remember how we used to ridicule the guy – including amongst the little Natty Khandallah Woodmancote Road ilk I once had the misfortune of dwelling amongst.
He was around during suspender-belt Skeith’s reign.
I have a vague recollection of his being referred to as “Taxi Frank”.
I could delve further into the annals of the brain, but I think I’d rather go and piss on his grave – so if you could give me directions as to where that is, I’ll remember next time I’m in his vicinity. As I relieve myself, I’ll be confident I’m expressing (figuratively) the feelings of most that ever had anything to do with the prick.
(I’ve a weak bladder dontcha know – I put it down to being the offspring of the tall story teller of WWII tales).
It’s a bugger though sometimes. I often wonder about the legacy some of these Nattyists think they’re leaving their offspring (when all/most of their bullshit emerges – as it surely will).
Simon Bridges …. Paula Bennett … Nucki Kaye?? … Hek Yea! Parata.
Christ! they’re full of it!.
Must be a bugger to know that – before you die – your offspring will come to know that you were an utter cunt
… Mitchell is also well integrated into the Special Services network, the Police and the Intelligence Services.
Very, very interesting. Thank you Not a PS Staffer. You appear to be an insider (sort of) on the politician in question. Could it be Mark Mitchell was instructed by someone to drop hints to a councillor associated with Len Brown about the impending scandal? If so, we can but speculate as to the reason why…
I enjoyed The Climate Casino, and felt that I learned a lot from it. Yet as I read it, I couldn’t help wondering whom, exactly, the book was written for. It is, after all, a calm, reasoned tract, marshaling the best available scientific and economic evidence on behalf of a pragmatic policy approach. And here’s the thing: just about everyone responsive to that kind of argument already favors strong climate action. It’s the other guys who constitute the problem.
An idea. For getting the meaning and value of young people, and their parents, thinking and involved in politics. Could work very well in South Auckland.
This morning 9..30ish on Radionz a biologist, dealing with amphibians, was talking about getting people in Haiti to take more interest in their environment and learn about it and how to preserve it. He referred to one mountain that has more frog types on it than most other places on the planet, and endangered.
He said they have lots of problems in Haiti and therefore they have not much time to think about such things. And there was not much factual knowledge about frogs. The idea was that frogs could pee or spit on you and you would go blind. So people tended to kill them on sight.
So the team got an idea for the youngsters to find out information as a project. They would go and observe and were given cameras to get a record of the habits and lifestyle and locations of these frogs and then of course they were all shown to the youngsters and their parents. In the few months before they finished that project the understanding of frogs was wide, the attitude had changed.
What if there were groups given subjects to cover, with teams who wanted to work together and choose a subject from a set list of aspects of society and be in charge of an inexpensive and appropriate camera? Making films is in. It would be awesome, and great record for family interest, cultural and neighbourhood interest and history, as background for interested local people to work for better conditions along with the children who wanted to participate. So Pacifica would get their children involved early in political forays into policy. Half of that non-voting group there would vanish and would continue to decrease to perhaps an 80/20 swing away from non-voting. Could be done I think.
I’m thinking that if shes not allowed unsupervised contact with her own kid then maybe its not a good idea to allow her unsupervised contact with many kids but thats only my opinion of course. I’m sure the parents of kids would be delighted if they were to find out (which of course they won’t)
I take it that you didn’t fully read the article and missed this bit:
Council spokesman Peter Lind said before any teacher was granted registration, they needed to demonstrate they had been satisfactorily trained to teach, were likely to be a satisfactory teacher, were of good character as evidenced by a police check and were fit to be a teacher.
Seems that she’s not automatically going to become a teacher and, to be honest, all the things that she’s accused of doing are the result of a crashed relationship. It’s more than likely that she’s over them.
People coming of benefits happens all the time, they’re just usually aren’t accompanied by news articles with judgemental subtexts from paid reporters pushing an agenda.
Anyway, when the present government gets fu*ked over next year, you’ll see a lot more ‘good news’, as everyone knows there are many less unemployed under a Labour led government.
That will make you happy too, no? 😉
It’s a fair cop, guvnor. Given how unemployment reached historic highs under national from the historic lows under the last Labour government, you’d think righties, who love to moan about job seekers, would be sworn socialists by now and eager to change leadership at a moments notice.
I’m guessing many aren’t really interested in reducing unemployment at all, and enjoy the easy meat, beat up scapegoating instead.
—–Hapless StandardistaTe Reo Putake tapped that out on one miserable Wednesday morning in August 2012. It has not yet been ascertained what hallucinogenic substance, if any, was responsible for that minor classic. http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-01082012/#comment-500824
Crazy-ass predictions that make no sense is a series devoted to the deluded, the dull, and the dimwitted. Comments, suggestions and submissions for the series will be gratefully received.
Did you make a note of this post to reference at a later date or just go back through the archives until you found something?
I have a long memory. The other day, my old friend swam into my consciousness for some reason, and due to some untraceable series of synaptic connections, I recalled he had made a bizarre statement about the NRL. A quick boolean exercise soon found the offending statement. That’s the thing with the internet: as poor John Palino is finding out, whatever foolish or knavish message you post, tweet, reddit or email, it will come back to haunt you.
He’s a stalker, Chris. Fixated on me for what feels like years now. I suppose its a step up from his earlier efforts on other forums where he used to stalk himself under a variety of pseudonyms. Perhaps the meds are finally kicking in?
The funny thing about this post is that my prediction remains as true today as it was last year. The Pirates (for that is the name of the team) have already been formed. The NRL will look at confirming expansion post season next year and the two teams likely to be added in season 2017 are the Pirates and the provisionally named Brisbane Bombers. Though the latter is under pressure from a bid from the Central Coast that is extremely popular with fans across Oz.
Anyhoo, just another bit of Breen bullshit. Nothing to worry about, really.
He’s a stalker, Chris. Fixated on me for what feels like years now.
Oy vey! What rich irony coming from someone whose entire raison d’être seems to be the stalking of this writer, i.e., moi.
I suppose its a step up from his earlier efforts on other forums [sic] where he used to stalk himself under a variety of pseudonyms.
Oh? Could you provide some evidence to back up that remarkable allegation? I would note that you have already been burned on this forum, earning a stern warning from the headmaster Mr. Prent, after you had foolishly insinuated I was another poster.
Perhaps the meds are finally kicking in?
Oy vey! Can we work on the jokes, old buddy? You’re not achieving ANY cut-through at the moment.
The funny thing about this post is that my prediction remains as true today as it was last year. The Pirates (for that is the name of the team) have already been formed. The NRL will look at confirming expansion post season next year and the two teams likely to be added in season 2017 are the Pirates and the provisionally named Brisbane Bombers. Though the latter is under pressure from a bid from the Central Coast that is extremely popular with fans across Oz.
We look forward to the Perth Pirates taking Perth by storm. One thing is for sure if they DO get off the ground (something that NRL players rarely have to do, by the way) is that tickets will be easy to come by.
Anyhoo, just another bit of Breen bullshit. Nothing to worry about, really.
Hmmmmm. Judging by how exercised you are over this, I’d say you were more than a little worried.
Lanthanide, your inability to formulate a coherent reply comes out again, I see. Are you really that hopeless? No wonder you sprang to the defence of poor Hekia Parata when I outed her all that time ago; you were identifying with her inarticulateness as much as her crazy message.
Hey, Lanthanide, instead of hanging around our minor squabbles, shouldn’t you be hard at work trying to convince us why this morning’s tsunami in Fukushima poses no dangers? No dangers at all?
I don’t know if that howler is a reflection on your honesty or your perception or your state of mind, or all three.
What on earth are you going to say next? “Try-scoring occurs with monotonous regularity in cricket”? “Wimbledon AFC looking good to win this year’s European Champions League”? “Jumping occurs with monotonous regularity in ice hockey”?
Any or all of those would make more sense than your classic.
Jumping occurs with monotonous regularity in league. :rolleyes: About the fifth tackle of every second set, by my count. The other sets end in grubbers.
In that entire highlights reel, there were three, maybe four, modest attempts at jumping, not one of them contested.
Then there’s this collection which includes plenty more of the jumping you’ve apparently never spotted:
Oh sure, they play the odd game there, but the NRL has no hope of establishing itself in Perth. There’s too much competition from Australian football (two professional teams, one of which played in the AFL grand final last month), rugby (Go the Force!) and soccer.
There’s only one Perth team in the AFL, Moz. In this year’s AFL Grand Final, Hawthorn defeated the team from the city of Fremantle.
Okay, in the same way Counties-Manukau (South Auckland) is not really in Auckland, Port Adelaide is not really in Adelaide, Brooklyn is not really in New York, Salford is not really in Manchester and Everton is not really in Liverpool. You’ve got it on a technicality, my friend. Props to you!
Was very disturbed at the level of debate over the Meridian sale.
for all the dummies out there the price wan’t really the issue.
That was then and now the lucky buyers can sit back and enjoy the revenue stream for the rest of their lives.
nice for some.
1764 – Benjamin Franklin is asked by officials of the Bank of England to explain the prosperity of the colonies in America. He replies,
“That is simple. In the Colonies we issue our own money. It is called Colonial Scrip. We issue it in proper proportion to the demands of trade and industry to make the products pass easily from the producers to the consumers. In this manner creating for ourselves our own paper money, we control its purchasing power, and we have no interest to pay no one.”
As a result of Franklin’s statement, the British Parliament hurriedly passed the Currency Act of 1764. This prohibited colonial officials from issuing their own money and ordered them to pay all future taxes in gold or silver coins.Referring to after this act was passed, Franklin would state the following in his autobiography, “In one year, the conditions were so reversed that the era of prosperity ended, and a depression set in, to such an extent that the streets of the colonies were filled with the unemployed…
David Cunliffe has already said that he won’t be changing the banking system and so there’s no chance that he will be making life better as it really is the change that needs to be done before all other changes that will bring about prosperity for all.
What happened to the value of Colonial Scrip, and to the Colonial economy as a whole, when the foreign bankers demanded that remittances to them were made only in gold or silver?
I’m guessing that Cunliffe is well aware of that piece of history too.
Only if we let them which is why I’d change the system via referenda. If they tried to change it back afterwards then we’d know that they were working against democracy.
That knowledge is fine, but it won’t provide the foreign currency needed to pay our bills for fuel, drugs and critical chemicals/parts/machinery/technology.
Don’t need foreign currency for that. We buy them with our currency and then they can buy what they want of the resources/products we have available. They could even sell it on the Forex to get whatever currency the want at whatever the exchange rate is or they can negotiate.
DTB
Unfortunately the ability to learn, understand and accept lessons from the past are not part of our highly evolved development. In a generation the right wing have been able to change NZs culture and carry out practices that go against the country’s and the people’s interests long term.
In one generation the knowledge prevailing in the past one has largely gone. Though that knowledge was only partly considered, what was understood has not been passed on through formal education, parental discussion etc.
So Cunliffe has to get in with the promise of finding better ways of running the country and providing the economy with a proper system that suits the people. It’s a big ask without offering something even bigger and more different. Something done long ago that is bound to raise the highest hostility and howling derision from NACTs that would destabilise his procession to PM and scare off the middle classes.
They think they know a lot and that their putea saved up was a sign of their acumen, mental and physical, but many of them are mere children being handed foil wrapped chocolate and told its gold. They believe in the stability of NACTs and their wisdom, even with the evidence of failure before them. While it can be blamed on some externality NACT followers and most of the middle class as well, will cling onto their allegiance to the present economic system.
Yep, quite aware of that which is why I push for better education of these things but sometimes think that only the complete collapse of society will bring about the needed lessons.
Yes, you are right and the ground work is being laid at the education level. Unfortunately, this is not a NZ issue. What makes it so difficult to counter any perceived notion by the generation that we will see govern NZ in 20 years time, is the complete lack of world historical knowledge. Not propaganda, knowledge. I look at people like Mr Bridges and I cringe. A men without a conscience, his only drive is the satisfaction of his vanity and zest for celebrity status. Somebody must have raised this child to become what he is today.
The neoliberals knew that in order for their project to succeed, they had to enforce a kind of nationwide (global?) political economic amnesia. You can even see it in the USA where the lessons of the New Deal have been thoroughly forgotten/ignored.
And to dull down curiosity about both the past and the present.
Kiwi homes are being wrapped with plywood containing an arsenic treatment banned in several overseas countries because of toxicity concerns
Dr Meriel Watts, who has a PhD in pesticide risk assessment and policy, said CCA-treated timber products posed an “unacceptable risk for public health”, particularly for young children.
“Basically wrapping homes in CCA-treated plywood is a very bad idea,” she told The Press.
One senior figure in the Canterbury construction industry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the sealant properties of some forms of the plywood created dangerously unhealthy homes, trapping toxins and moisture inside.
“[Timber] workers have to handle it with gloves and full body suits, and we are wrapping our houses with it,” he said.
“Why on earth are we using these products?”
Workmate Alistair Young said he knew the timber products were “all full of a lot of s…”.
“Cutting it all the time, that’s a problem. A lot of guys get headaches cutting it, so we’ve got masks and gloves but I don’t use them.”
In my considered opinion, the 2013 Auckland Mayoral election, was phony as.
In my considered opinion, those who really run the Auckland region, the (unelected) Committee for Auckland are actually very happy with Mayor Len Brown and Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse.
But – to keep up appearances that this Auckland Mayoral election was ‘left’ vs ‘right’ – as opposed to the reality of the corporate minority vs the public majority, enter political ‘newby’ / ‘novice’ John Palino, who has never attended a single Council meeting in his life.
Having the former President of the National Party, John Slater, as his ‘campaign manager'(?), helped to give the Palino camp the ‘right’ stamp of approval (as it were).
But, in my considered opinion, John Palino was never expected or supposed to win the Auckland Mayoralty.
Unfortunately, for those who REALLY run Auckland, with the very public revelations of the Len Brown ‘affair’ – things have now got quite ‘out of hand’ (as it were).
So – how best to deal with this?
Simple.
Get an ‘inquiry’ / ‘investigation’ set up, which will slap Len Brown on the hand, censure him, do anything but require him to stand down?
Look who is organising this ‘inquiry’:
Doug McKay, CEO of Auckland Council ( a member of the Committee for Auckland), passes the inquiry to Ernst and Young (a member company of the Committee for Auckland).
Who else is a member of the Committee for Auckland?
Where I think Len Brown has ‘crossed the line’, is in the alleged use of a Sky City hotel room (rooms), for his illicit sexual liaison(s), which, in my considered opinion, make him effectively ‘beholden’ and arguably potentially subject to blackmail.
I note that on 27 June 2013, Len Brown argued in favour of the International Convention Centre (Sky City) Bill (deal), at the Auckland Council Governing Body Meeting.
I also note that it appears that Auckland Council has failed to do any ‘due diligence’ on the increased risk of money-laundering at Sky City arising from this International Convention Centre (Sky City) Bill (deal).
That is why, it is my intention on Tuesday 29 October 2013, to formally request the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to conduct an investigation into these matters.
High time for a New Zealand Independent Commission Against Corruption, and enforceable ‘Codes of Conduct’ for both local and central government elected representatives?
Because wordpress 3.7 had a wee bug to do with the usual identicon – it wasn’t displaying them, but was displaying an empty head (which is what it still shows at the backend).
I flipped it to a different type of gravatar at the front end and that worked. After I solved how to set it correctly, I had a whim that said to leave it on the “new” ones for this weekend. sysop’s choice for people using default identicons 😈
The best way to “fix” it is to upload one or more images to gravatar ( http://en.gravatar.com ) against your email “address”. From memory, the email address doesn’t even have to be valid for the second and subsequent ones on an account.
The image you choose can be uploaded from anything. Most people just put a query into google, select image(s), save them to their hard disk and then upload them. Personally I use gimp ( http://www.gimp.org/ ) to make mine unique.
The image will then show on most wordpress (and blogger? and others?) websites whenever you use that email “address”
I shunt my image on all my social media including facebook etc
BTW: I thought that the “grumpy face icon” suited you..
And I thought Shearer had poor delivery. Follow the punctuation, buddy. And don’t stop when the line on the cue card ends… read on to the next line without missing a beat.
No, it’s not the first time Lanthanide. He’s been practising his elocution in front of a mirror. You can tell by the emphasis on some of the words. What a dick! I used to talk like that when I was a kid practising my poetry reading in front of a mirror. Fancied myself as being good at it… and I fancied myself.
The ultrafast broadband project is the proof that privatisation of infrastructure doesn’t work. If we hadn’t privatised Telecom we wouldn’t have to be forking billions of taxpayer dollars to get Telecom to what needs to be done because it would have been done already.
We have been over this before Draco – it isn’t proof of anything outside of proof positive of what you think might have happened if what Draco thinks would have happened happened.
…what he has shown us over the last few years has exposed him as being ‘emotionally, spiritually and compassionately unintelligent.
Good comments Vanessa. Of course that is an apt description of most right-wingers. That is why they are right-wingers. They have little to no empathy for people outside their own self serving circles. They are spiritually barren – especially the conservative rump church goers like Colin Craig. Their thinking processes are simplistic and almost philistine in nature. Here’s an example:
was reading a profile of this Nat MP, Mark Mitchell – the one who leaked the Brown scandal to councillor, Penny Webster and who apparently has close ties to the police, defence force and our intelligence agencies. In his own words “I’m passionate about law and order. I just want to see the bad ones locked up”. That no doubt includes climatological scientists, so-called tree huggers and anyone who is associated with that subversive organisation called Greenpeace. And one of the most primeval of all of them is that monkey the Aussies have just elected as their prime minister. Despite the rapidly increasing size and frequency of the bush fires etc., he still scoffs at and denies the overwhelming evidence of Global Warming/Climate Change.
These are the real bad ones. The ones who should be locked up and throw away their keys.
[lprent: shunted to OpenMike as some rich moron thinks that they can read science and has therefore gone quite off topic… ]
Anne,
Do you still seriously believe in global warming ??
Fact , no temperature increase in the last 15 years , when is it going to start again, 5,15, 50 , 500, or 5million years ????????.
Wake up , it’s a con which has become political not factual .
Lucy is a real example of the delusional green brigade.
You have got to hand it to green peace , they have her fooled and are happy to take advantage of her falling profile, with a bit of luck they will con her into making a protest Russia.
Throw away the key.
NASA scientists say 2012 was the ninth warmest of any year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. With the exception of 1998, the nine warmest years in the 132-year record all have occurred since 2000, with 2010 and 2005 ranking as the hottest years on record.
Question for rich the other: are the years 2005 and 2010 (the hottest years on record according to NASA) within “the last 15 years”?
Supplementary: do you even give a shit, if they are?
Tat loo
So what you are saying is the 2000 IPCC page report on this con is wrong , the 15 years of NO warming is their figure , the actual truth is 18yrs but we won’t quibble over 3yrs.
This topic has become highly political because some governments around the world have been completely fooled and their reputations are at stake.
Lucy might like to make a movie on the topic , perhaps the title should be [ The Greatest Con on Earth ] and may I suggest she asks Joyce for a SUBSIDY which would be funded from tax from workers pay packets.
Have you looked at the summary figures for ocean warming?
Actually – strike that. We know that you are merely repeating some other moron and haven’t bothered to read the report.
Perhaps you could tell us what the IPCC found for heat storage in the oceans over the last 15 years? Possibly what the heat storage capacity of salt water is compared to seal level air? In fact demonstrate ANY ability to read and understand the IPCC report section one?
You really are a wanker too incapable of doing your own work. You just echo the strokes for some other fool.
So what you are saying is the 2000 IPCC page report on this con is wrong , the 15 years of NO warming is their figure
NASA does the business, my man. Remote sensing is what they do. One good thing about having an active superpower in the world. So let’s run the quote again- with just one exception, the 9 warmest years in the 132 year record have happened since 2000.
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Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ star is on the rise, having just added the Energy, Local Government and Revenue portfolios to his responsibilities - but there is nothing ambitious about the Government’s new climate targets. Photo: SuppliedLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
It may have been a short week but there’s been no shortage of things that caught our attention. Here is some of the most interesting. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at public transport ridership in 2024 On Thursday Connor asked some questions ...
The East Is Red: Journalists and commentators are referring to the sudden and disruptive arrival of DeepSeek as a second “Sputnik moment”. (Sputnik being the name given by the godless communists of the Soviet Union to the world’s first artificial satellite which, to the consternation and dismay of the Americans, ...
Hi,Back on inauguration day we launched a ridiculous RFK Jr. “brain worms” tee on the Webworm store, and I told you I’d be throwing my profits over to Mutual Aid LA and Rainbow Youth New Zealand. Just to show I am not full of shit, here are the receipts. I ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump over Gaza and Ukraine.Health expert and author David Galler ...
In an uncompromising paper Treasury has basically told the Government that its plan for a third medical school at Waikato University is a waste of money. Furthermore, the country cannot afford it. That advice was released this week by the Treasury under the Official Information Act. And it comes as ...
Back in November, He Pou a Rangi provided the government with formal advice on the domestic contribution to our next Paris target. Not what the target should be, but what we could realistically achieve, by domestic action alone, without resorting to offshore mitigation. Their answer was startling: depending on exactly ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest David Patman and ...
I don't like to spend all my time complaining about our government, so let me complain about the media first.Senior journalistic Herald person Thomas Coughlan reported that Treasury replied yeah nah, wrong bro to Luxon's claim that our benighted little country has been in recession for three years.His excitement rose ...
Back in 2022, when the government was consulting internally about proactive release of cabinet papers, the SIS opposed it. The basis of their opposition was the "mosaic effect" - people being able to piece together individual pieces of innocuous public information in a way which supposedly harms "national security" (effectively: ...
With The Stroke Of A Pen:Populism, especially right-wing populism, invests all the power of an electoral/parliamentary majority in a single political leader because it no longer trusts the bona fides of the sprawling political class among whom power is traditionally dispersed. Populism eschews traditional politics, because, among populists, traditional politics ...
I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. ...
Mr Mojo Rising: Economic growth is possible, Christopher Luxon reassures us, but only under a government that is willing to get out of the way and let those with drive and ambition get on with it.ABOUT TWELVE KILOMETRES from the farm on the North Otago coast where I grew up stands ...
You're nearly a good laughAlmost a jokerWith your head down in the pig binSaying, 'Keep on digging.'Pig stain on your fat chinWhat do you hope to findDown in the pig mine?You're nearly a laughYou're nearly a laughBut you're really a crySongwriter: Roger Waters.NZ First - Kiwi Battlers.Say what you like ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Climate denial is dead. Renewable energy denial is here. As “alternative facts” become the norm, it’s worth looking at what actual facts tell us about how renewable energy sources like solar and wind are lowering the price of electricity. As ...
SIR GEOFFREY PALMER is worried about democracy. In his Newsroom website post of 27 January 2025 he asserts that “the future of democracy across the world now seems to be in question.” Following a year of important electoral contests across the world, culminating in Donald Trump’s emphatic recapture of the ...
The Government hasn’t stopped talking about growth since the Prime Minister made his “yes” speech at the Auckland Chamber of Commerce last week. But so far, the measures announced would seem hardly likely to suddenly pitch New Zealand into the fast-growth East Asian league. The digital nomad announcement hardly deserved ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has hailed a drop in the domestic component of inflation, saying it increases the prospect of mortgage rate reductions and a lower cost of living for Kiwi households. Stats NZ reported today that inflation was 2.2 per cent in the year to December, the second consecutive ...
Two new appointed members and one reappointed member of the Employment Relations Authority have been announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden today. “I’m pleased to announce the new appointed members Helen van Druten and Matthew Piper to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and welcome them to ...
Health NZ's CEO has resigned, but frontline healthworkers are sceptical that installing new leadership will make any difference to a system grappling with problems. ...
Gail Duncan, Chairperson of the St Peter’s on Willis Social Justice Group, one of the organisations invited to submit on the Bill, says the Government’s actions are unprecedented. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amani Kasherwa, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, The University of Queensland In late January, a rebel group that has long caused mayhem in the sprawling African nation of Democratic Republic of Congo took control of Goma, a major city of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yee-Fui Ng, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University An ad falsely depicting independent candidate Alex Dyson as a Greens member.ABC News/Supplied The highly pertinent case of a little-known independent candidate in the Victorian seat of Wannon has exposed a gaping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland Nik/Unsplash You might have heard that eating too many eggs will cause high cholesterol levels, leading to poor health. Researchers have examined the science behind this myth again, and ...
Everything you missed from the third day of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard four hours of oral submission. Read our recaps of day one of the hearings here, and day two here. Parliament was quiet on Friday for the third day of hearings on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Jeffries, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology, Western Sydney University Tijana Simic/Shutterstock The news last week that three people in Sydney were hospitalised with botulism after receiving botox injections has raised questions about the regulation of the cosmetic injectables industry. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jens Blotevogel, Principal Research Scientist and Team Leader for Remediation Technologies, CSIRO Mino Surkala, Shutterstock Lithium-ion batteries are part of everyday life. They power small rechargeable devices such as mobile phones and laptops. They enable electric vehicles. And larger versions store ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edith Jennifer Hill, Associate Lecturer, Learning & Teaching Innovation, Flinders University Netflix Netflix’s new limited series, Apple Cider Vinegar, tells the story of the elaborate cancer con orchestrated by Australian blogger Annabelle (Belle) Gibson. The first episode opens with Gibson’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Scientist, Monash University Greece’s government has just declared a state of emergency on the island of Santorini, as earthquakes shake the island multiple times a day and sometimes only minutes apart. The “earthquake swarm” is also affecting other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Western Australian state election will be held on March 8. A Newspoll, conducted January 29 to February 4 from a sample ...
She’s back behind the wheel, and this time, she wants to find out what it is that makes us tick. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. After a prolific career on stage and screen, 83-year-old Miriam Margolyes is on the road again. ...
A new poem by Jordan Hamel. Real Poet Every word earned its place and so did he, so should you. Real poet lives in the capital but writes himself into the Mackenzie country golden hour, man of the paper land, he neglects to mention his pollen ...
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 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Press, $25) No better time to get ...
The committee has published this list to inform the public about its work, and to give clarity to submitters who have contacted the committee asking if they will be invited to make an oral submission. ...
Alex Casey and Gabi Lardies dissect their Laneway 2025 experience. Gabi Lardies: Hi Alex :))))))) Congratulations on not getting sunburnt. Everyone I talked to at Laneway yesterday was braving the sun for one thing. Charli XCX. How was your brat experience?Alex Casey: We will talk about the rest of ...
The US President's suggestion, which sparked enormous debate globally, has been labelled as a threat, not a proposal, by the Federation of Islamic Associations. ...
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Remembering the renowned New Zealand writer, who died on February 5, 2025. The Stopover When the trout rise like compassion It is worth watching when the hinds come down from the hills with a new message it will be as well to listen. – Brian Turner Poet, environmentalist, sportsman, journalist, ...
Survivors can choose to have former High Court judge Paul Davison assess their individual claims to tailor payments to their personal circumstances. ...
Are we too modest when it comes to celebrating our putrid plant life?She’s beauty. She’s grace. She smells like a decaying corpse and lurks in the backrooms of Auckland Zoo, wallowing tragically in a bucket. In recent weeks an Australian corpse plant named Putricia has captured the noses and ...
Politicians from the coalition government received a frosty reception at Waitangi this year, but Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka says the pōwhiri that received so much attention was just one part of many events throughout the week. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Allen, Postdoctoral research associate, Griffith University A humpback whale mother and calf on the New Caledonian breeding grounds.Mark Quintin All known human languages display a surprising pattern: the most frequent word in a language is twice as frequent as ...
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The clock is ticking in the great chain chase. 2025 is an election year in New Zealand. Not the general variation, obviously, but the local form. If you’re thinking of running, nominations open in just five months, and your chances are good – about 50% across the various races; in ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/25/marijuana-cancer_n_4158865.html
“..A scientist in the United Kingdom has found that compounds derived from marijuana can kill cancerous cells found in people with leukemia..”
phillip ure..
Interesting Phil but a lot of work still to do before there’s any place for cannabinoids in the treatment of any cancers.
We could decriminalise now for management of pain and side effects of treatments though.
As a chiropractor and pain management expert I support that 100%, particularly under the auspices of formal health sector regulation. Common medical pain management approaches are not effective or suitable for tens of thousands of New Zealanders, and there should be more options on the table.
Just consider how drugs like morphine and fentanyl are legal in NZ for pain management, but marijuana is not. It simply reflects a very outdated historical situation.
Time we get over ourselves and put more options on the table.
+1
It would probably be cheaper than those other drugs too. No big pharma company cut to pay.
If I were a chiropractor cynical about Big Pharma I’d wonder where some of the opposition to the use of marijuana for pain management was coming from. Luckily, I’m not 😈
And that’s probably the only reason as to why it’s still illegal. It’s certainly nothing to do with it being bad for you else alcohol and cigarettes would be illegal.
🙄
🙄 😆 😈 😛
Why would it have anything to do with “big pharma” making it illegal? If it were legal pharmaceutical companies could patent aspects of THC and make a killing as they do with other chemicals.
Why would they be able to patent that which they didn’t invent?
You miss the point Draco. I don’t mean patenting THC itself but using THC to create a whole new class of drugs and patenting those. It doesn’t make sense to say the only reason it is illegal is because pharmaceutical companies could make a killing on patenting drugs derived from cannabis.
Was reading an article a while back (may have linked to it on TS) about magic mushrooms. Limited research is showing that it’s far better than Prozac. It does the same job, doesn’t have anywhere near the side effects that Prozac does and only requires one treatment rather than daily doses.
Of course, that’s magic mushies but it has the same problem, commercially, as marijuana – anybody can grow it and we don’t actually need any derived drugs.
As for the TPPA: A large chunk of it seems to be about IP and that means we probably won’t be able to change our IP laws to boost innovation. One such change that needs to happen, IMO, is that patents should not be allowed to apply to things that are based upon the natural laws of the universe (same as maths formula aren’t allowed to be patented/copyrighted). That would kill the drug and life patenting that we presently see.
We don’t ‘need’ the derived drugs but considering some people don’t like being stoned and magic mushroom can have unpleasant physical side effects (as well as being hard to control dosage given difference mushrooms have varying levels of the active ingredient) there is still a big market for derived versions to be created.
Your comment about big pharma blocking cannabis legalisation doesn’t make sense.
Choice: Grow your own and get stoned or pay out huge amounts of cash you don’t have to big pharma?
Missing the point again.
Some people don’t like to get stoned therefore there is an commercial industry in creating a drug which delivers the benefits without the high. I can’t make it more simple than that.
No doubt when they have us sign the TPPA…
I fail to see what the TPPA has to do with whether or not a pharmaceutical companies could patent a drug made from THC
TatLoo..
.”Just consider how drugs like morphine and fentanyl are legal in NZ for pain management, but marijuana is not. It simply reflects a very outdated historical situation.”
Very well stated…in a nutshell.Should be quoted a lot.
No it reflects what is registered by medsafe.
For a science dude you are a bit short on the logic there doc. It reflects what is registered by medsafe, but that’s not the only thing it reflects. People can use all sorts of things for pain relief that have never been ciminilised. Why was cannabis?
No it shows what can be controlled, regulated and taxed. Do you propose that Marijuana is more dangerous than Morphine?
“Marijuana is more dangerous than Morphine?”
If you remove the addictive nature of morphine and look primarly on it’s effect on the body it is less dangerous than marijuana. Purely from a physiological standpoint.
Call me naive, but isn’t the addictive nature what makes it so dangerous? I mean, if you go one step further and add the derivative heroine it hardly gets any more suicidal. This is by my reckoning by far – pretty much as far as it gets – dangerous than marijuana.
Some recognizable people who died from a Morphine overdose:
Hank Williams, Janet Achurch, Lenny Bruce, Tim Buckley, Chris Farley, Sigmund Freud, Paul Gray, Brent Mydland, Gram Parsons, Brad Renfro, Count Gottfried from Biesmark, Edward E. Hannegan
That is the stupidest, and most dangerous incorrect statement that I’ve come across all day. I daresay it’s probably a deliberate lie.
It’s virtually impossible for someone overusing marijuana to die from it. Maybe if they choke on an accidentally swallowed joint?
In comparison it’s dead simple to die from overusing morphine (or sometimes even appropriately using it). A combination of respiratory suppression, coma and shock/cardiac arrest will typically do it.
Yes overdose is easy but in a controlled circumstance (like a hospital) morphine is extremely clean and does little to no damage to the body. That’s why it continues to be the gold standard in pain relief.
“Just consider how drugs like morphine and fentanyl are legal in NZ for pain management, but marijuana is not. It simply reflects a very outdated historical situation.”
yeah, but I wouldn’t like to see cannabis as a plant only legal by prescription. If big pharma wants to develop medicines from cannabis once its legal, more power to them. But let people use the plant itself as they see fit too.
“If big pharma wants to develop medicines from cannabis ”
Weka, they already do manufacture pain relief meds from cannabis. In Sth Africa it is available in liquid form. Can’t remember the Pharma at the moment, but will post link if I find it.
Agreed. However for the treatment of cancer associated pain (not for the treatment of cancer itself), it should be one of the options on the table.
I think there is a derivative (forgot the name) that is available to chronic pain sufferers, but it is a whopping $500 a month.
You may be thinking of sativex which is registered for MS.
http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/RIss/Sativex.asp
No it should not there are plenty of proven options on the table at present.
“No it should not there are plenty of proven options on the table at present.”
I don’t know about cancer – but for inflammatory arthritis flares another pain reduction option that works without knocking you out would be gratefully received.
Yes there are plenty of proven options. And there should be more. Because for plenty of patients today’s options may start off being effective but eventually end up being unsuitable, with the development of many unwanted adverse effects and reduced efficacy, over a period of months or years.
@ tat loo +1..
..it is also good for the treatment of nausea from the side-effects of chemo..
and @ northshoredoc..
..do you have any logical/rational reasons for being opposed to cannabis being an alternative-option for many drugs..?
..drugs that often have serious side-effects..?
..and as a personal testimony of sorts..i was recently cured of the hepatitis i had been lugging around since junkie-days..
..and i have found..in hindsight..is that an effect of hep..is feeling shit..
..you wake up in the morning feeling pretty shit..
..so for decades i self-medicated with cannabis..
..and once again..in hindsight..i am glad i did..
..and tho’ i still use cannabis..i use far less..
..it is now more recreational..
..and there is no longer that need/drive to use it as medicine..
..to stop feeling crap..
..so..once again..in hindsight..
..i would urge all those with hep be offered the option of medical-cannabis..
..to help them stop feeling like shit all the time..
..’cos i know..it works..
..phillip ure..
Did your former junkie days also have an effect on your ability to construct sentences?
inhalations and exhalations
integrations and excavations
TC You have the choice to read and ‘hear’ the personal message and experience shared or move on by. Why choose to criticise the structure? Try a little kindness.
@ contrarian..
..quite possibly..but not really..
..i blame ee cummings..(for showing me the option of stripping away of the false-honorifics that are capital letters..)
..and writing words that are designed to be spoken out aloud..(blame bfm 4 that..)
..a bit of a shocker for traditionalists..eh..?
..that throwing all the rules out the window..
..but if you like..
..you can run with the junkie-reason..
..and really..that moniker you have chosen is a contradiction..eh..?
..’cos you really are one of those traditionalists..eh..?
..wot with yr clinging to the wreckage of capital letters..
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
Sorry, what?
“Did your former junkie days also have an effect on your ability to construct sentences?”
How about first you explain to the rest of us why you have such prejudicial and dickhead views on drug addicts?
I have no prejudicial views towards drug addicts. I’m making fun of his syntax, not his former drug abuse. What do I care what he did with himself in the past or the future.
Asshole.
I don’t believe you. Either you think there is something wrong with being and addict and/or that being an addict = x,y,z, or you are moron. How can inferring that being a former junkie makes one stupid when it comes to English grammar not be a comment on that person’s past?
Ok don’t believe me.
Ok, ignore my argument and I’ll just assume you are both bigoted and stupid.
Whatever suits you.
If you really are inclined to help you first have to stop judging.
My former junkie days had no discernible effect on my ability to construct sentences, nor on my ability to solve differential equations. Your constant harping, on the other hand, has quite an effect on my ability to see good in all people.
If a person is in pain for whatever reason and finds that smoking a joint every now and then, or drinking cannabis tea, helps them, why should the medical profession or law enforcement even be involved?
I take morphine every day quite legally and don’t like the effects of cannabis on my thinking, so I don’t smoke it. There are people who have the opposite experience. Bloody hell, let them light up.
@ nthshore doc..
..of course this story is just one thread in a yarn of investigations into the health benefit possibilities of/from cannabis..
..and a manifestation of the madness that is prohibition..
..is that illegality has stopped all such research for decades..
..that has now changed..
..and so yes..it is early days..
..but many researchers are excited about what they are finding..
..with the above story just the latest in a litany..
..phillip ure..
Oh there’s a bit going on Phil – early days yet and certainly no cause to think that it will useful beyond the analgesic and and anticachexic effects.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/cannabis/healthprofessional/page5
I tend to get a bit annoyed with posts like your first one regarding leukaemia as it is misleading in the extreme a bit like the pharma company who sold few million in mussel extract a few years back after misleading items suggesting it was useful for cancer and then got slapped with a wetbusticket 40k fine.
@ northshoredoc….’annoyed’..?..really..?
..are you suggesting all that research currently going on is a fools’ errand..?
..and if a doc..are you a cancer-treatment specialist..?
..or a g.p..?
..(just trying to get yr informed-opinion into some kinda context..eh..?..)
..and why not legalise it for those reasons/benefits you cite as being ‘useful’..
..’the analgesic and and anticachexic effects.’..?
..aren’t they enough to be getting on with ..?
..and i will counter yr link..(in which..b.t.w..many/most of the cited references are at least 20 yrs old..with an alarming number dating back to the 70’s..)..
..with what i have compiled over more recent times..
http://whoar.co.nz/?s=cannabis+cancer
..fill yer boots..!..eh..?
..phillip ure..
Thats cool I’ll just keep taking my ‘medicine’ the same way thanks.
Not even collateral damage – Assassinated.
Drones deliberately kill rescuers in “double tap” tactic
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24557333
Isn’t attacking the rescuers the thing that makes terrorist attacks doubly despicable?
… Oh riiight, it’s different when it’s the unknown ‘other’ who are the targets.
If you can finish the article without yelling at the monitor you’ll have done better than me.
http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201311/drone-uav-pilot-assassination?printable=true
I nearly cried. I’m trying to get my head around in how many ways this is truly awful.The people who order this stuff are criminals (but even that label is too simple for them).
They’ve started to use this technology against their own citizens too. Not going to end well, I suspect.
Wewege, off to Florida? Rat on the run.
rat in the sun..
(btw..like the icon..
..the similarities are spooky/uncanny..
..and that’s on a good day..!..)
phillip ure..
Can he take the other rat that’s holed up under the desk in the mayor’s office with him ?
Edit yes I like the icons too – hope it makes for a happier blog !
It was a temporary expedient from the 3.7 update. Looks like there was a bug to do with the identicons at gravator with it. It was giving the empty person display
Fixed now.
But I’ll leave these icons on over the weekend for their amusement value..
just wanting to see what icon I get.
Mine’s better n’yours.
A pussy cat? Not sure which end though.
can i petition to retain my icon..?
..phillip ure..
While I agree the icon suits you, the wherewithal is at your disposal.
Maybe it’s the smoke getting in your eyes 😉
Right click on the image, save image as, and then go to gravitar and log it. http://thestandard.org.nz/faq/gravatar/#GravatarSignup
@ allen..there is so much to be icony about…
..and you just stop talking that dirty microsoft talk to me..
..’right click’..indeed..!..
..phillip ure..
Still, you know how to do it now, so no need to mobilise the petition force over your green with envy, miserable mush. 😆
Suicide nets under the windows at apple factories, I trust you’re on linux, comrade. 😉
If google can have infrequent creative outbursts so can The Standard! I thought that Halloween might have been the theme – pumpkins etc.
I loves it when we get surprise icons!
Wanna see what I get.
Edit: erm. no. same old.
“Rat on the run.”
Or sent packing.
First class material for the American political scene – – – Tea Party probably.
The real rat will also be on the run before we see too many more sunsets.
Soon to be joined by Shonky? Then it will be Rats on the run. And I also wonder how many Nats will be buying new suitcases to leave, after the next election, before the vitriol of the country descends upon their heads.
Hope he doesn’t leave an oil slick.
So it’s pretty obvious Wewege is the agreed upon scapegoat for the Nat factions.
Sunday Exclusive, will have to wait to see what the rat says.
Liked the trailer to 7 Days with David Shearer. (bugger, not again!) Perfect self-deprecation. Very funny. He’s like a different person now.
Yes, I thought it was a great reintroduction. Excellent use of humour. Well done David Shearer.
Russel Brand’s editorial in the New Statesman (it is very long) –
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/10/russell-brand-on-revolution
… and a counter argument, of sorts –
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/25/i_dont_stand_with_russell_brand_and_neither_should_you/
The Herald hits the panic button as their finest Jonolists, O’Sullivan and Armstrong, tag team to tell us why Shonkey’s in charge and got options for a win in 2014.
I can smell the fear.
hahahaha and Keys fist is oh so scarey bahahahhahahahaha
They have to lay the ground now to make Colin Craig sound palatable to the National voters of the North Shore. “This cup-of-tea candidate won’t make you look like total pawns the way Banks did to your mates in Epsom! Honest!”
lol 😈
National’s LVR policy was always going to have this affect.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11146480
According to this NZ Herald article, rent in Auckland is going through the roof. So who is this policy (LVR) favouring? Existing house owners but mostly LANDLORDS. This National government is just atrocious, they are really fucking up so much.
Another major FAIL.
The answer is clearly a CGT (comprehensive, not half arsed like Australia’s) also taking away the tax deductibility of interest cost on investment houses. And a massive social housing programme focussed on Auckland, this shit that National talk about increasing supply of land will lead to a reduction in the cost of housing is absolute bull shit…greedy land owners will simply not sell as soon as there is a slight reduction in their value of the land.
Trying to fit more than 30% of NZ’s population on less than 0.3% of the country’s land area isn’t a great move.
IMO it’s time for extensive regional development. Let’s get businesses and industry moving to centres like… Whangarei, Rotorua, Napier/Hastings, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Blenheim, Timaru, Oamaru, Dunedin, Invercargill.
“Trying to fit more than 30% of NZ’s population on less than 0.3% of the country’s land area isn’t a great move.”
When its framed like that Tat, it does seem ridiculous. But yes, there is some real need for policy that will rebalance some aspects in our economy and currently house prices in Auckland are way out of whack, in my view New Zealand’s biggest issue because expensive house rentals (which are a function of house prices) are one of the main causes of poverty.
Indeed. Expensive rentals feed the capitalist/banker class by creating a huge updraft from workers’ wages going straight into their pockets.
IMO, one of the biggest drivers of regional development in previous decades was the awards rates as moving out of the big cities wouldn’t result in a massive decrease in income.
True. So much went when workers lost the power to organise…
yes, even re-reading this point Draco, it suggests a lot.
1. Bring in comprehensive capital gains tax.
2. Get rid of interest deductibility cost on mortgages for residential rentals (actually probably a very tricky policy to write without causing preserve consequences and incentives)
3. End government “accommodation supplement”.
These policies if acted in tandem would probably drop house prices by 20-30% overnight.
“preserve” – one of the better alphabet soup mixups I’ve seen
perversly so
No they’re not as they’re doing precisely what the rentier class want – upping the incomes of the rentiers without the rentiers having to do any more or even to produce any wealth.
Ennui is very much a socialist on social issues….during the work week Ennui manages companies which employ lots of people. This week E was hatching plans for one company to increase jobs from 25 to 35 over the next year despite the hard trading conditions. Thats called creating employment and expanding the tax base. E deals with lots of companies, most are struggling, they don’t pay tax because they don’t make a profit…the tax is raised via PAYE and GST. The owners of these companies get short return for risking their money to create more, in the process of which people get jobs. That risk goes without recognition by most of the workers, most of the contributors to this column.
The point of the above is this: every other person on this column rants about who the government should be funding, paying, subsidising etc etc etc. Nobody stops to consider where the cash comes from. The assumption is that even if the pot is unlimited that they have a divine right to some part of it.
This might sound like some RWNJ post: it is not. It merely states how real places of work function, how the real economy is underpinned. before you next demand subsidies for your own interests please take a pause and ask: where will the cash come from? Who pays? What does that mean to other employers and workers?
Excellent point Ennui. Where does the money come from? I am an employer myself, although on a smaller scale than you.
Consider this in terms of the macroeconomy:
– If the Government is making a surplus, it is taking more money from households and the private sector than it is putting back in, to the dollar.
– If the Government is making a deficit, it is providing more money to households and the private sector than it is taking out, to the dollar.
Also:
There are a huge amount of non-circulating hoarded dollars at the moment. If you think about it as tens of millions of hundred dollar notes sitting in a deep freezer the size of a small warehouse, not getting anything useful done in the community (but helping the banks and wall St out a great deal) you get the idea.
Last point: only one entity in the world can manufacture valid NZD and issue them – the NZ Government.
Ennui: You’ll have probably noticed over time that I’m kind of obsessed with exports – especially ones that have little to do with animals and trees. There is a reason for that.
@ ennui..’where does the money come from..?’
..a capital gains tax..yes..(and increases in tax paid only for the top earners..not those struggling/juggling in the middle..)
..but perhaps the simplest/most straightforward/least painful revenue-gatherer..
..is a financial transaction tax..where each inter-bank transaction accrues a miniscule bite on it..with the volume of transactions adding up to a serious amount of money..
..and don’t forget that treasury research showed that a financial transaction tax on the banks/ters..
..would raise enough revenue to enable us to do away with g.s.t..
..whoar..!..eh..?
..so the question has to be:..why not..?
..hope that helps answer yr ‘where will the money come from?’-question..
..phillip ure..
Yep. I have been looking to purchase a small business over the last year, all of the businesses that I have seen for sale NONE seem to be making decent taxable profits, if any. But GST is a real prick of a tax for small businesses, as small businesses often sell at “price points” that customers are really resistant to pay above, so English’s GST increase in Oct 2010 basically meant that many small businesses have had to absorb the 2.5% GST increase therefore reducing margin and taxable income. So I think your comment shows why Income Tax should be raised before GST…the Top Marginal tax rate needs to be increased and CGT needs to be implemented, it seems that the only houses and farms that are being purchased these days are by people who already own several and dont actually need them.
Small businesses are really struggling in New Zealand, no doubt about that. Brian Gaynor on RNZ the other day mentioned that people above 55 have a lot of money and people below 30 have plenty of money to spend but most people between these age groups are struggling, I guess this group are trying to raise a family and buy a house.
This is where DC”s Labour will encourage policy that stimulates the economy (I think he mentioned “new keynesian” in TS once?) I hope (perhaps a decrease in GST would help stimulate at the same time as helping the poor). And also as Iprent points out…we need more exports, but Im happy if it comes from farms as long as it doesn’t stuff up our rivers/environment.
Saarbo
That’s a good point. I can’t see why anyone thoughtful would consider it good to have a two figure rate, and more to be continually raising the flat tax of GST. Isn’t it collected on all the things that lower income people would put their money towards? Though does that include rent? I don’t pay rent and I’ve forgotten.
But it’s a great way to get a large proportion back by the government of every $ going into the hand of beneficiaries. Sort of like a flag fall for purchases.
Why should I have to pay 15% to the government for every step in living and transacting I make with others trying to make a living. Now I do regard that as theft!
And I first came across it in Switzerland. In the 70’s it was a country so wealthy that they hardly seemed to have any sale for second hand utility goods. They tended to update and store the older still useful ones in the basement. Which most of them had as a design feature.
They were wealthy enough to pay 15% VAT or gst. We are not. It would be a useful and reasonable tax if it was 5%. More becomes a burden on the lower income who are actually more in outcome mode.
Residential rents are excluded from GST, commercial rents are not.
Residential electricity and residential phone/internet should also be made GST exclusive.
GST on rates for properties valued over $1M should be doubled. Also known as a quick and dirty land tax.
GST is payable on commercial rent, but not on domestic rent. I don’t really know why this is so. It could be argued that rent is an investment return, like interest, but that argument would apply just as much to commercial rent as to domestic.
GST needs to be removed as it’s regressive and hurts the poor the most.
DTB
+1 (and 15%).
GST needs to be reduced to 5.0%, but kept as a mechanism with which the government can control consumption and money supply if necessary, in the future.
GST is actually a quite unjust tax as it is applied as a one size fits all approach to gather revenue. A person earning $ 15.00 per hour is by far harder hit with GST on every living expense that anyone at $ 30.00. Hence it is inherently unjust. The role of any government, regardless what colors they fly, is the fair and just treatment of its citizen/residents. My feeling is that income tax should be teared in incremental steps – the more you earn, the more tax you pay – and GST reduced (8% ?). I don’t belief that a universal transaction tax will help either as this is just another way to grab money from those who can ill afford this. Most transactions these days are electronic and hence will have the tax deducted straight away. Giving cash deals that can be manipulated in tax terms even more reason to exist.
Foreign Waka I like your joke about tax being teared, not tiered. 😀
sorry, it must have brought tears to my eyes when I wrote this. Of cause it should read tiered. Thanks 🙂
Yes Greywarbler, There have been a number of suggestion that we need to put the GST rate up to 17.5% to deal with our aging population http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1102/S00020/threat-of-175-gst-sickening.htm . One of the reason I understand that Treasury like GSt is that they believe that it is difficult to avoid paying, which is incredibly naive…there are plenty of people dealing in cash deals to avoid gst. I reckon it should be 10% at the most. I understand that GST makes up $15 billion of tax revenue, so if it was reduced to 10% then the Govt would have to find around $5 billion from other sources….its a really horrible tax in my view, it amazes me that treasury and other economic commentators often talk about raising it more.
The only reason Treasury (and the RWNJs) like it is because it means that taxes don’t have to be put up on the rich.
Saarbo
Thanks interesting. This business about Treasury wanting things simpler. Its such an oxymoron when you think that computers are supposed to be great because it makes calculation and number crunching simpler, so why Treasury bothers about simpler as if we have rows of clerks perched at desks with quill pens.
It’s just bloody laziness and poverty of mind. It’s the same thinking that wants to introduce flat tax rather than have progressive as needed. It’s the same sort of thinking that won’t be bothered with tax tables where wage tax is calculated from different columns, used to be general and then for people with dependent children, F1, F2, F3 which I think was where the tax breaks stopped.
More help for larger families might then have involved applying for a state house to help with their care. A change in this method of up-front tax breaks had been replaced by special help for working families which gets a hostile reaction from members of society who view themselves as self-generated special treasures to the world now they have landed. Other babies and little ones can go jump. If it was Treasury that acrtivated the tax changes – they lack common sense. Call in a child of five (G.Marx) or Peter Dunne (interchangeable).
(Referring to families, I am listening to Radionz 11.12 Paul Ehrlich – Predicting Collapse on Radionz saying that modern people who love children choose to have small families, not large ones. They care about the type of future their children will have by joining with others in limiting the overpopulation we already have.)
Yes, this Saarbo
Actually, I’ve considered that for quite some time and have said on numerous occasions (another time down thread) that we need to stop the cash coming from the private banks bearing interest and that it should come from government without interest.
They do. It is, after all, the peoples economy and their resources being used.
It represents how the present system works. There’s one thing wrong with that – the present system doesn’t work and thus it needs to be changed.
‘
[sigh] . . . another John Key lie. He told Failfax that the tip off regarding Len Brown’s affair was just Mark Mitchell gossiping at a cocktail party. Turns out, that’s not true. According to the now sorrowful Penny Webster . . .
. . . when lies designed to distance National Ltd™ from the attempted blackmail of Len Brown come straight from the top and, now, involve public apologies for even involving a National Ltd™ MP, my spidey senses start tingling. The New Zealand Fox News Herald Sunday paper apparently has an interview with Luigi Weewedgie; it will be interesting to see if the distancing efforts are carried through there as well.
Good on Penny for apologising…..
So we’ll completely ignores the lefts (well mainly Lens highly paid spin doctors) attempts to paint this as a right-wing conspiracy then? Good to know
Mark Mitchell, MP for North Shore, is a former NZ Policeman who..
“launched an international business career which included the start-up of my own company specialising in hostage rescue, supply chain security and risk management. Working closely with the World Economic Forum, I helped to establish Logistic Emergency Response Teams…. ”
see http://www.markmitchell.co.nz/mark-mitchell-profile.html
Mitchell’s father-in-law Frank Gill was a National Party North Shore MP as well as being a minister and ambasador to Washington.
Mitchell is a well integrated into the National Party real power structures. Mitchell is also well integrated into the Special Services network, the Police and the Intelligence Services.
Mark Mitchell knew about the Len Brown affair because there was a professional project to displace Len that went beyond the Palino/Slater/Wewege amateurs.
Nope I guess the conspiracy is still strong
‘
Did John Key lie about how the information got to Len Brown . . . Yes or No?
Sook sook. Nobody gives a shit about your comments. Focus on the message and don’t get hung up how it was delivered. Your post is childish.
Sometimes how and why the message was delivered is more important than the message. This is one of those times.
‘
Precisely, Draco.
The Nats/Rodney Hide wanted control over Auckland.
Wellington did not want an independent Auckland.
Had a Nat stooge like Palino or Williamson won Auckland the new Rail projects would be cancelled or hobbled. Urban sprawl would be encouraged. The Auckland Council would become a tame lapdog for National and Wellington.
The Council CEO and many of the CCO Boards and C level execs were appointed by National, Rodney Hide and Wellington. They are all for replacement under a Leftish Len and Council.
There are many powerful people who were disappointed that Len could not be challenged by a credible candidate. The prospect of a damaging scandal was a god-send.
John Key, for whom Mark Mitchell seconds for the busy neighbouring Helensville MP from time to time, knows more about the plan to displace Len than he is saying.
Yes because the plan was to make Len have numerous affairs, get free or cheap rates from hotels, be a reference for his mistress, send threatening texts, go on record as saying theres nothing else and then go into hiding after the story breaks
or
Len can’t keep it in his pants, tells far too many lies and brought it all on himself
FIFY – no charge.
Sorry but I’m sticking with the more obvious explanation that a very ordinary mayor who should know better displayed some stunning lack of judgement over a prolonged period the rest is all just a rise show.
‘
Ah, c’mon, live up to your moniker.
It does look like that, with first prize being Len’s resignation, and second prize being a Len who is weakened by public scandal, and hence compliant. I personally hope it goes the other way, and that Len seeks to redeem himself by doing battle against them for his city.
I don’t think Len has been weakened by the affair as most people just don’t care. What has happened is that most people are sickened by the RWNJs poking their nose into other peoples bedrooms.
“I don’t think Len has been weakened by the affair as most people just don’t care.”
I wouldn’t be to sure about that. Sure I don’t care, you don’t care and it seems most people here don’t care but I wonder about the left-wing yet socially conservative, religious faction who may have voted because of Brown’s self professed religious values. Something to take into account.
You mean the few percent who vote NZ1st?
No.
I think the question isn’t really whether Len has been weakened, as we’re just not in a situation where weakening him crowns another person. The vast majority of left voters aren’t going to defect to Minto or Bright, and the right doesn’t have a solid candidate.
If there were the option of a by-election with someone right enough for the right and socially liberal enough for a chunk of the left (coughMauriceWilliamsoncough) then it could be a completely different matter.
Ah ! I think you’ve got it, Olwyn. I’ve been wondering what’s behind it all.
Mark Mitchell – with his background of security and SIS – would not have deliberately tipped off Penny Webster without some sort of ulterior motive. This way the “real powers” in National give a drubbing to Collins’ mates – Slater, Palino – while at the same time putting Len more firmly in their power. I hope like you, Olwyn, that Len – silly stupid idiot that he’s been – can see he’s also been used by the top Nats, and redeems himself by battling more intensely for his city’s good, than for his own future.
Yes
The sad part about all this is that real people are involved, Mr Brown’s wife and children. I do not belief hat NZlanders are as vulgar as Americans when it comes to revealing and “marketing” affairs hoping for a “Bill Clinton”. The reality is that there should be more focus on the move to divide a country into city states. When I look at your comment, this is already taking place. Back to the times of the Medici then….
Seems like it. Wewege has got “operative” written all over him. There’s a heap load of cash tied up in Auckland’s assets which, thus far, Len Brown has managed to keep largely intact. Must have been incredibly frustrating for the business elite to have had the carefully laid down plans, as put in place by Rodney Hide for John Banks to deliver, stymied by pesky democracy and some upstart from Manukau. Plenty of incentive to set up a honey-trap.
I’ve seen some delusional clap trap in my time mostly from those on the right side of the political spectrum but this takes the cake.
Len is of exactly the same ilk as Hide and Banks – in it for himself and his mates.
Love your one-eyed icon.
Wing Commander Frank Gill.
FYI: One of the hardliners in Muldoon’s cabinet I believe..
Air Commodore Frank Gill millsy. I am told he insisted on being called Air Commodore at all times. A leery old goat. How do I know? He tried it on me and no… he got short shrift!
Paid him back. He rang for a weather forecast one Xmas holiday many years ago. He and Muldoon were off for a summer boat cruise around North Cape. I told them not to go because there was a trop. cyclone moving into the area. They didn’t go. The cyclone trundled into the West Tasman and swiftly petered out which we already knew was going to happen. Gave me a few giggles.
Frank Gill ….. I remember how we used to ridicule the guy – including amongst the little Natty Khandallah Woodmancote Road ilk I once had the misfortune of dwelling amongst.
He was around during suspender-belt Skeith’s reign.
I have a vague recollection of his being referred to as “Taxi Frank”.
I could delve further into the annals of the brain, but I think I’d rather go and piss on his grave – so if you could give me directions as to where that is, I’ll remember next time I’m in his vicinity. As I relieve myself, I’ll be confident I’m expressing (figuratively) the feelings of most that ever had anything to do with the prick.
(I’ve a weak bladder dontcha know – I put it down to being the offspring of the tall story teller of WWII tales).
It’s a bugger though sometimes. I often wonder about the legacy some of these Nattyists think they’re leaving their offspring (when all/most of their bullshit emerges – as it surely will).
Simon Bridges …. Paula Bennett … Nucki Kaye?? … Hek Yea! Parata.
Christ! they’re full of it!.
Must be a bugger to know that – before you die – your offspring will come to know that you were an utter cunt
Very, very interesting. Thank you Not a PS Staffer. You appear to be an insider (sort of) on the politician in question. Could it be Mark Mitchell was instructed by someone to drop hints to a councillor associated with Len Brown about the impending scandal? If so, we can but speculate as to the reason why…
Krugman reviews The Climate Casino:
I enjoyed The Climate Casino, and felt that I learned a lot from it. Yet as I read it, I couldn’t help wondering whom, exactly, the book was written for. It is, after all, a calm, reasoned tract, marshaling the best available scientific and economic evidence on behalf of a pragmatic policy approach. And here’s the thing: just about everyone responsive to that kind of argument already favors strong climate action. It’s the other guys who constitute the problem.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/nov/07/climate-change-gambling-civilization/
edit: i do like my new avatar – muchly WTF…ish
An idea. For getting the meaning and value of young people, and their parents, thinking and involved in politics. Could work very well in South Auckland.
This morning 9..30ish on Radionz a biologist, dealing with amphibians, was talking about getting people in Haiti to take more interest in their environment and learn about it and how to preserve it. He referred to one mountain that has more frog types on it than most other places on the planet, and endangered.
He said they have lots of problems in Haiti and therefore they have not much time to think about such things. And there was not much factual knowledge about frogs. The idea was that frogs could pee or spit on you and you would go blind. So people tended to kill them on sight.
So the team got an idea for the youngsters to find out information as a project. They would go and observe and were given cameras to get a record of the habits and lifestyle and locations of these frogs and then of course they were all shown to the youngsters and their parents. In the few months before they finished that project the understanding of frogs was wide, the attitude had changed.
What if there were groups given subjects to cover, with teams who wanted to work together and choose a subject from a set list of aspects of society and be in charge of an inexpensive and appropriate camera? Making films is in. It would be awesome, and great record for family interest, cultural and neighbourhood interest and history, as background for interested local people to work for better conditions along with the children who wanted to participate. So Pacifica would get their children involved early in political forays into policy. Half of that non-voting group there would vanish and would continue to decrease to perhaps an 80/20 swing away from non-voting. Could be done I think.
Very nice
Big societal change for very little money, producing a lot of creativity and community involvement. Win win win.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11146498
– Well this seems fair, banned from seeing your own kid without supervision but set to become a teacher…
Image, a woman with a troubled past endeavours to put it all behind her with hopes of a better future – the nerve.
/
I’m thinking that if shes not allowed unsupervised contact with her own kid then maybe its not a good idea to allow her unsupervised contact with many kids but thats only my opinion of course. I’m sure the parents of kids would be delighted if they were to find out (which of course they won’t)
I take it that you didn’t fully read the article and missed this bit:
Seems that she’s not automatically going to become a teacher and, to be honest, all the things that she’s accused of doing are the result of a crashed relationship. It’s more than likely that she’s over them.
scraping by chris73
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9329346/Daughters-words-motivate-mum-to-get-off-benefits
– About time we had a more of these stories
Don’t worry Chris. As we get closer to the election and Fairfax and the Herald get more panicky, there will be lots more of these stories.
Good because we need a balanced media rather then the media supporting one side only
The media is on your side haven’t you noticed?
People coming of benefits happens all the time, they’re just usually aren’t accompanied by news articles with judgemental subtexts from paid reporters pushing an agenda.
Anyway, when the present government gets fu*ked over next year, you’ll see a lot more ‘good news’, as everyone knows there are many less unemployed under a Labour led government.
That will make you happy too, no? 😉
Cor Blimey!
It’s a fair cop, guvnor. Given how unemployment reached historic highs under national from the historic lows under the last Labour government, you’d think righties, who love to moan about job seekers, would be sworn socialists by now and eager to change leadership at a moments notice.
I’m guessing many aren’t really interested in reducing unemployment at all, and enjoy the easy meat, beat up scapegoating instead.
Bet we don’t see a story of a reformed tax dodger though…
Crazy-ass predictions that make no sense
No.1: TE REO PUTAKE
My team has trawled the internet in search of the millennium’s maddest, most moronic statements. We’re kicking off with a real doozy. Enjoy….
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The NRL will be expanding to WA and they will make it work.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
—–Hapless Standardista Te Reo Putake tapped that out on one miserable Wednesday morning in August 2012. It has not yet been ascertained what hallucinogenic substance, if any, was responsible for that minor classic.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-01082012/#comment-500824
Crazy-ass predictions that make no sense is a series devoted to the deluded, the dull, and the dimwitted. Comments, suggestions and submissions for the series will be gratefully received.
Did you make a note of this post to reference at a later date or just go back through the archives until you found something?
Did you make a note of this post to reference at a later date or just go back through the archives until you found something?
I have a long memory. The other day, my old friend swam into my consciousness for some reason, and due to some untraceable series of synaptic connections, I recalled he had made a bizarre statement about the NRL. A quick boolean exercise soon found the offending statement. That’s the thing with the internet: as poor John Palino is finding out, whatever foolish or knavish message you post, tweet, reddit or email, it will come back to haunt you.
He’s a stalker, Chris. Fixated on me for what feels like years now. I suppose its a step up from his earlier efforts on other forums where he used to stalk himself under a variety of pseudonyms. Perhaps the meds are finally kicking in?
The funny thing about this post is that my prediction remains as true today as it was last year. The Pirates (for that is the name of the team) have already been formed. The NRL will look at confirming expansion post season next year and the two teams likely to be added in season 2017 are the Pirates and the provisionally named Brisbane Bombers. Though the latter is under pressure from a bid from the Central Coast that is extremely popular with fans across Oz.
Anyhoo, just another bit of Breen bullshit. Nothing to worry about, really.
Weapon of Choice Slim.
He’s a stalker, Chris. Fixated on me for what feels like years now.
Oy vey! What rich irony coming from someone whose entire raison d’être seems to be the stalking of this writer, i.e., moi.
I suppose its a step up from his earlier efforts on other forums [sic] where he used to stalk himself under a variety of pseudonyms.
Oh? Could you provide some evidence to back up that remarkable allegation? I would note that you have already been burned on this forum, earning a stern warning from the headmaster Mr. Prent, after you had foolishly insinuated I was another poster.
Perhaps the meds are finally kicking in?
Oy vey! Can we work on the jokes, old buddy? You’re not achieving ANY cut-through at the moment.
The funny thing about this post is that my prediction remains as true today as it was last year. The Pirates (for that is the name of the team) have already been formed. The NRL will look at confirming expansion post season next year and the two teams likely to be added in season 2017 are the Pirates and the provisionally named Brisbane Bombers. Though the latter is under pressure from a bid from the Central Coast that is extremely popular with fans across Oz.
We look forward to the Perth Pirates taking Perth by storm. One thing is for sure if they DO get off the ground (something that NRL players rarely have to do, by the way) is that tickets will be easy to come by.
Anyhoo, just another bit of Breen bullshit. Nothing to worry about, really.
Hmmmmm. Judging by how exercised you are over this, I’d say you were more than a little worried.
🙄
Lanthanide, your inability to formulate a coherent reply comes out again, I see. Are you really that hopeless? No wonder you sprang to the defence of poor Hekia Parata when I outed her all that time ago; you were identifying with her inarticulateness as much as her crazy message.
Hey, Lanthanide, instead of hanging around our minor squabbles, shouldn’t you be hard at work trying to convince us why this morning’s tsunami in Fukushima poses no dangers? No dangers at all?
Like you did last time.
🙄
Knock yourself out, saddo:
http://nz.general.narkive.com/gJVa8B9c/public-notice-morrissey-breen-is-still-banned
“One thing is for sure if they DO get off the ground (something that NRL players rarely have to do, by the way):…”
Jumping occurs with monotonous regularity in league. About the fifth tackle of every second set, by my count. The other sets end in grubbers.
Then there’s this collection which includes plenty more of the jumping you’ve apparently never spotted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ1yu61Okq0
Anyhoo, hope the first link is a suitable aid to your arvo’s onanistic delights.. I’m off to finish the lawns. Daisies don’t cut themselves, y’know.
It just gets better! Look what our friend has written….
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Jumping occurs with monotonous regularity in league.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I don’t know if that howler is a reflection on your honesty or your perception or your state of mind, or all three.
What on earth are you going to say next? “Try-scoring occurs with monotonous regularity in cricket”? “Wimbledon AFC looking good to win this year’s European Champions League”? “Jumping occurs with monotonous regularity in ice hockey”?
Any or all of those would make more sense than your classic.
Jumping occurs with monotonous regularity in league. :rolleyes: About the fifth tackle of every second set, by my count. The other sets end in grubbers.
In that entire highlights reel, there were three, maybe four, modest attempts at jumping, not one of them contested.
Then there’s this collection which includes plenty more of the jumping you’ve apparently never spotted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ1yu61Okq0
Citing that ground-hugging action as evidence of “plenty of jumping” is kind of like citing THIS as evidence of “plenty of finesse”….
Not so sure about your assertion that the NRL won’t be expanding to WA …
http://www.nrl.com/bulldogs-to-bring-nrl-game-to-perth/tabid/10874/newsid/75154/default.aspx
Oh sure, they play the odd game there, but the NRL has no hope of establishing itself in Perth. There’s too much competition from Australian football (two professional teams, one of which played in the AFL grand final last month), rugby (Go the Force!) and soccer.
There’s only one Perth team in the AFL, Moz. In this year’s AFL Grand Final, Hawthorn defeated the team from the city of Fremantle.
You really must try harder, try hard.
There’s only one Perth team in the AFL, Moz. In this year’s AFL Grand Final, Hawthorn defeated the team from the city of Fremantle.
Okay, in the same way Counties-Manukau (South Auckland) is not really in Auckland, Port Adelaide is not really in Adelaide, Brooklyn is not really in New York, Salford is not really in Manchester and Everton is not really in Liverpool. You’ve got it on a technicality, my friend. Props to you!
You really must try harder, try hard.
Good one! I see what you’ve done there….
Was very disturbed at the level of debate over the Meridian sale.
for all the dummies out there the price wan’t really the issue.
That was then and now the lucky buyers can sit back and enjoy the revenue stream for the rest of their lives.
nice for some.
Hmmmmm only if their remaining lives are just 3-6 years long…
David Cunliffe has already said that he won’t be changing the banking system and so there’s no chance that he will be making life better as it really is the change that needs to be done before all other changes that will bring about prosperity for all.
DTB
What happened to the value of Colonial Scrip, and to the Colonial economy as a whole, when the foreign bankers demanded that remittances to them were made only in gold or silver?
I’m guessing that Cunliffe is well aware of that piece of history too.
– CV.
Damn, fucked up the link: Here:
As to what happened: Colonial scrip was made illegal crashing the economy and creating poverty all so the banksters could have more.
Yes. And they could do it again. So it’s a pretty good idea to tread very carefully re: the international banking system.
Only if we let them which is why I’d change the system via referenda. If they tried to change it back afterwards then we’d know that they were working against democracy.
That knowledge is fine, but it won’t provide the foreign currency needed to pay our bills for fuel, drugs and critical chemicals/parts/machinery/technology.
Don’t need foreign currency for that. We buy them with our currency and then they can buy what they want of the resources/products we have available. They could even sell it on the Forex to get whatever currency the want at whatever the exchange rate is or they can negotiate.
See, no banks needed.
Day after Day (the show must go in) 😎
DTB
Unfortunately the ability to learn, understand and accept lessons from the past are not part of our highly evolved development. In a generation the right wing have been able to change NZs culture and carry out practices that go against the country’s and the people’s interests long term.
In one generation the knowledge prevailing in the past one has largely gone. Though that knowledge was only partly considered, what was understood has not been passed on through formal education, parental discussion etc.
So Cunliffe has to get in with the promise of finding better ways of running the country and providing the economy with a proper system that suits the people. It’s a big ask without offering something even bigger and more different. Something done long ago that is bound to raise the highest hostility and howling derision from NACTs that would destabilise his procession to PM and scare off the middle classes.
They think they know a lot and that their putea saved up was a sign of their acumen, mental and physical, but many of them are mere children being handed foil wrapped chocolate and told its gold. They believe in the stability of NACTs and their wisdom, even with the evidence of failure before them. While it can be blamed on some externality NACT followers and most of the middle class as well, will cling onto their allegiance to the present economic system.
Yep, quite aware of that which is why I push for better education of these things but sometimes think that only the complete collapse of society will bring about the needed lessons.
Complete societal and economic collapse usually brings about far worse forms of rule, and far worse kinds of rulers. Best not go there.
Yep, know that too. There’s a reason why they’re called hard lessons.
Yes, you are right and the ground work is being laid at the education level. Unfortunately, this is not a NZ issue. What makes it so difficult to counter any perceived notion by the generation that we will see govern NZ in 20 years time, is the complete lack of world historical knowledge. Not propaganda, knowledge. I look at people like Mr Bridges and I cringe. A men without a conscience, his only drive is the satisfaction of his vanity and zest for celebrity status. Somebody must have raised this child to become what he is today.
The neoliberals knew that in order for their project to succeed, they had to enforce a kind of nationwide (global?) political economic amnesia. You can even see it in the USA where the lessons of the New Deal have been thoroughly forgotten/ignored.
And to dull down curiosity about both the past and the present.
Not forgotten or ignored but overwritten by lies.
We are lied to, instead of dealing with high home prices causing home affordability crisis,
the government makes high home prices sound cool.
Pic
Sliced and Diced
Is this a worry? Seems like a very stupid solution
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/the-rebuild/9329188/Arsenic-used-in-home-building-materials
Kiwi homes are being wrapped with plywood containing an arsenic treatment banned in several overseas countries because of toxicity concerns
Dr Meriel Watts, who has a PhD in pesticide risk assessment and policy, said CCA-treated timber products posed an “unacceptable risk for public health”, particularly for young children.
“Basically wrapping homes in CCA-treated plywood is a very bad idea,” she told The Press.
One senior figure in the Canterbury construction industry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the sealant properties of some forms of the plywood created dangerously unhealthy homes, trapping toxins and moisture inside.
“[Timber] workers have to handle it with gloves and full body suits, and we are wrapping our houses with it,” he said.
“Why on earth are we using these products?”
Workmate Alistair Young said he knew the timber products were “all full of a lot of s…”.
“Cutting it all the time, that’s a problem. A lot of guys get headaches cutting it, so we’ve got masks and gloves but I don’t use them.”
Following minor surgery I had a shit of a time dealing with a staphylococcus infection so news like this is rather alarming.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/health-science-technology/hunting-the-nightmare-bacteria/dr-arjun-srinivasan-weve-reached-the-end-of-antibiotics-period/
No money in developing new antibiotics
That was inevitable. The short life bacteria would evolve faster than what either our own immune system could or the drugs that we produce.
CALLING LANTHANIDE! CALLING LANTHANIDE!
We need the comfort of your calm and considered words
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/10/25-4
Please calm our fears, Lanthanide. What comforting words does the Japanese Government have to say THIS time?
FYI
In my considered opinion, the 2013 Auckland Mayoral election, was phony as.
In my considered opinion, those who really run the Auckland region, the (unelected) Committee for Auckland are actually very happy with Mayor Len Brown and Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse.
But – to keep up appearances that this Auckland Mayoral election was ‘left’ vs ‘right’ – as opposed to the reality of the corporate minority vs the public majority, enter political ‘newby’ / ‘novice’ John Palino, who has never attended a single Council meeting in his life.
Having the former President of the National Party, John Slater, as his ‘campaign manager'(?), helped to give the Palino camp the ‘right’ stamp of approval (as it were).
But, in my considered opinion, John Palino was never expected or supposed to win the Auckland Mayoralty.
Unfortunately, for those who REALLY run Auckland, with the very public revelations of the Len Brown ‘affair’ – things have now got quite ‘out of hand’ (as it were).
So – how best to deal with this?
Simple.
Get an ‘inquiry’ / ‘investigation’ set up, which will slap Len Brown on the hand, censure him, do anything but require him to stand down?
Look who is organising this ‘inquiry’:
Doug McKay, CEO of Auckland Council ( a member of the Committee for Auckland), passes the inquiry to Ernst and Young (a member company of the Committee for Auckland).
Who else is a member of the Committee for Auckland?
Nigel Morrison, CEO of Sky City.
(If you don’t believe me – check for yourselves http://www.committeeforauckland.co.nz membership …)
Where I think Len Brown has ‘crossed the line’, is in the alleged use of a Sky City hotel room (rooms), for his illicit sexual liaison(s), which, in my considered opinion, make him effectively ‘beholden’ and arguably potentially subject to blackmail.
I note that on 27 June 2013, Len Brown argued in favour of the International Convention Centre (Sky City) Bill (deal), at the Auckland Council Governing Body Meeting.
I also note that it appears that Auckland Council has failed to do any ‘due diligence’ on the increased risk of money-laundering at Sky City arising from this International Convention Centre (Sky City) Bill (deal).
That is why, it is my intention on Tuesday 29 October 2013, to formally request the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to conduct an investigation into these matters.
High time for a New Zealand Independent Commission Against Corruption, and enforceable ‘Codes of Conduct’ for both local and central government elected representatives?
I think so.
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption /anti-privatisation’ campaigner
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
This comes across as a conspiracy theory.
Yes but a pretty plausible one.
Thanks Penny I’d love to see you on the council they wouldn’t know what hit them………… or as they used to say on dads army……
‘ they don’t like it up ’em ‘
Why write a 10 word comment when you can publish a 1000 word essay?
PB : shrill, boring, and slightly mental. Avoid
Just want to see my weekend gravatar…
Me too. Anything but blue! 🙂
Only 800+k mansions being built, no sign of affordable housing anywhere.
So much for living it to the free market fairy.
*leaving it*
Would you like a Monsanto Round Up flavoured Milkshake?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/9310148/Tests-show-milk-clear-of-Roundup-used-for-silage
Well then, let him drink up then. Lets see whether he can put the money where the mouth is.
Why have I got a grumpy face icon, and how do i change it.
If you don’t like it, how about you just stay off this forum?
It’s a pain but you can use another email address as your login. A mod will need to approve your post the first time you use your new email.
However, I’m under the impression that the system is going back to the old gravatars in a couple of days so you could just wait it out.
Or he could actually put up his own gravatar.
That link goes to the ts front page.
Gravatar
Goddamn WordPress being (un)helpful.
Tat Loo
Cool, thanks for the info.
Typical, image is everything a Brett.
MrSmith:
No but a hoverboard or a clive bixby avater would be cool.
so post Modern family
Because wordpress 3.7 had a wee bug to do with the usual identicon – it wasn’t displaying them, but was displaying an empty head (which is what it still shows at the backend).
I flipped it to a different type of gravatar at the front end and that worked. After I solved how to set it correctly, I had a whim that said to leave it on the “new” ones for this weekend. sysop’s choice for people using default identicons 😈
The best way to “fix” it is to upload one or more images to gravatar ( http://en.gravatar.com ) against your email “address”. From memory, the email address doesn’t even have to be valid for the second and subsequent ones on an account.
The image you choose can be uploaded from anything. Most people just put a query into google, select image(s), save them to their hard disk and then upload them. Personally I use gimp ( http://www.gimp.org/ ) to make mine unique.
The image will then show on most wordpress (and blogger? and others?) websites whenever you use that email “address”
I shunt my image on all my social media including facebook etc
BTW: I thought that the “grumpy face icon” suited you..
An unemployed (or possibly about to be unemployed) used car salesman, auditioning for a role on the Shopping Channel. Selling a fish infectif, an upta debt infas chucked ya.
Sorry. No call back.
And I thought Shearer had poor delivery. Follow the punctuation, buddy. And don’t stop when the line on the cue card ends… read on to the next line without missing a beat.
Wow, that’s abysmal.
He clearly is reading the text for the first time. So lazy!
Check out the left-to-right shuffling of his eyes as he reads the words. *Groan*.
That is FANTASTIC!
This should get wider publicity.
(What a lovely avatar)
No, it’s not the first time Lanthanide. He’s been practising his elocution in front of a mirror. You can tell by the emphasis on some of the words. What a dick! I used to talk like that when I was a kid practising my poetry reading in front of a mirror. Fancied myself as being good at it… and I fancied myself.
Perhaps you and Mr Key have more in common than you think? 😈
Yeah… but I grew up.
Investing smart in infrastructure
The ultrafast broadband project is the proof that privatisation of infrastructure doesn’t work. If we hadn’t privatised Telecom we wouldn’t have to be forking billions of taxpayer dollars to get Telecom to what needs to be done because it would have been done already.
We have been over this before Draco – it isn’t proof of anything outside of proof positive of what you think might have happened if what Draco thinks would have happened happened.
Good comments Vanessa. Of course that is an apt description of most right-wingers. That is why they are right-wingers. They have little to no empathy for people outside their own self serving circles. They are spiritually barren – especially the conservative rump church goers like Colin Craig. Their thinking processes are simplistic and almost philistine in nature. Here’s an example:
was reading a profile of this Nat MP, Mark Mitchell – the one who leaked the Brown scandal to councillor, Penny Webster and who apparently has close ties to the police, defence force and our intelligence agencies. In his own words “I’m passionate about law and order. I just want to see the bad ones locked up”. That no doubt includes climatological scientists, so-called tree huggers and anyone who is associated with that subversive organisation called Greenpeace. And one of the most primeval of all of them is that monkey the Aussies have just elected as their prime minister. Despite the rapidly increasing size and frequency of the bush fires etc., he still scoffs at and denies the overwhelming evidence of Global Warming/Climate Change.
These are the real bad ones. The ones who should be locked up and throw away their keys.
[lprent: shunted to OpenMike as some rich moron thinks that they can read science and has therefore gone quite off topic… ]
Anne,
Do you still seriously believe in global warming ??
Fact , no temperature increase in the last 15 years , when is it going to start again, 5,15, 50 , 500, or 5million years ????????.
Wake up , it’s a con which has become political not factual .
Lucy is a real example of the delusional green brigade.
You have got to hand it to green peace , they have her fooled and are happy to take advantage of her falling profile, with a bit of luck they will con her into making a protest Russia.
Throw away the key.
Always nice to meet rich idiots like you who don’t understand statistics… They have the generic name of “suckers” or “marks”.
Question for rich the other: are the years 2005 and 2010 (the hottest years on record according to NASA) within “the last 15 years”?
Supplementary: do you even give a shit, if they are?
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-temps.html
Tat loo
So what you are saying is the 2000 IPCC page report on this con is wrong , the 15 years of NO warming is their figure , the actual truth is 18yrs but we won’t quibble over 3yrs.
This topic has become highly political because some governments around the world have been completely fooled and their reputations are at stake.
Lucy might like to make a movie on the topic , perhaps the title should be [ The Greatest Con on Earth ] and may I suggest she asks Joyce for a SUBSIDY which would be funded from tax from workers pay packets.
Have you looked at the summary figures for ocean warming?
Actually – strike that. We know that you are merely repeating some other moron and haven’t bothered to read the report.
Perhaps you could tell us what the IPCC found for heat storage in the oceans over the last 15 years? Possibly what the heat storage capacity of salt water is compared to seal level air? In fact demonstrate ANY ability to read and understand the IPCC report section one?
You really are a wanker too incapable of doing your own work. You just echo the strokes for some other fool.
silly puppet..
NASA does the business, my man. Remote sensing is what they do. One good thing about having an active superpower in the world. So let’s run the quote again- with just one exception, the 9 warmest years in the 132 year record have happened since 2000.
Seems pretty definitive to me.
Beautiful prose Anne
Thank you RT.
It helps when you feel angry. 🙂