“This is a classic scenario you’ve seen in non-scifi epics from Dances With Wolves to The Last Samurai, where a white guy manages to get himself accepted into a closed society of people of color and eventually becomes its most awesome member.”
I haven’t seen it yet but I’m pretty sure brownlee wouldn’t be a blue one.
But before trying to answer these questions, let me expand on just what I mean by leadership.
Leadership can mean many things, but REAL leadership the kind we need — is primarily this: the ability to align the human sphere with biophysical reality.
Anything less than this is merely opportunism, and will be exposed as such in short order probably very short order at this point. Historically, the Earth has had little reservation in punishing civilizations for violations of biophysical reality; for their foolish opportunism. I see no reason why we should be spared the same fate.
And contrary to popular sentiment among our civilization’s intellectuals, biophysical reality is not defined by humans; it is defined by the Earth and the Laws of Nature. Humans can only hope to incompletely illuminate some essential parts of it. And then we must obey it as best we can. It is not optional. And there are consequences.
Somebody actually gets it. We have no choice, we must constrain ourselves to living within the ecological limits of the Earth. We can’t end poverty by continuing to grow our economy. If we want to end poverty then we need to ensure that the resources that are available (just because they exists doesn’t mean that they’re available either) are properly distributed and that we don’t over populate the world.
Of course, we are now far past that point. I’d say that we passed it before the beginning of the 20th century.
Just watched Blind Spot. Full length low res preview and transcript through the link
An interesting and frightening point is made near the beginning in relation to how much energy we get from oil ; to what it extent it has replaced and superseded human and animal muscle power ; and just how bloody complacent…how nonchalant we are.
Imagine pushing your car 20 or 30 miles, that’s what we get from a single gallon of gasoline that we pay maybe $2.50 for, that amount of work is roughly equivalent to 6 to 8 weeks of hard human labour. Imagine getting 6 to 8 weeks of hard human labour for $2.50. That’s what we have gotten used to.
Try ‘ Capitalism Hits the Fan’ preview by Rick Wolff ( Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts.) since you aint doing TV. Very good stuff.
Thaks for the links
I have always struggled with NZTV ,having been brought up with the BBC watching great docos and political progs Question time for example
In the last year NZTV has become completely unwatchable , I despair
I hear the BBC has nosedived over recent years too. Panorama is gone, I think. I wouldn’t be surprised if Horizon is a dumbed down monkey of what it used to be….if it’s still going, that is.
But then, since TV is a delivery system for corporate agendas, I guess if you are advertising dumb stuff in an intelligently critical environment then the effectiveness of your advertising will diminish. So corporates dumb down the environment their message is delivered through and up those sales figures. Do that long enough and even a moderately critical programme on a non-commercial station looks ‘out of place’ and insofar as it could become a point of reference or a bar for programme makers, it becomes a target to be shut down by those self same corporates…even if it exists on a public broadcaster network.
Yeah, there’s a sad lack of decent documentaries on TVNZ during prime time, and when there is one in a prime-time slot, all we get are the real-life-doco’s, which like reality TV, are typically bloody shallow infotainment.
Remember all those people who excused the coup in Honduras arguing all types of shit about legality of constitutional referenda and claiming that the exiled President had been trying to set himself up for life?
And remember how a lot of the people making those arguments claimed to belong to ‘the left’? Wonder what those fuckers will be saying now the assassination of activists in Honduras is under way?
Thanks Bill, I had that sick feeling earlier this year that this would follow the longer term trends of their regional history. One gets used to being regarded as a Jeremiah in these matters, especially when the “our side is innocent and would never do such a thing” response is coming from the ideologues from both ends of the spectrum. As I always say, read the real history (as written by the losing side especially) and you get a fairly good ability to forecast this type of inhumanity.
Yeah….sort of, I guess. But then again….nah. Here’s why.
I went to the transition stuff for my city and all my worst fears were realised. The bureaucratic hell zone of committees and secretaries ( ie crystallised and hierarchical structures)…same old dirty orthodox projects and undertakings dressing themselves in the garb of transition thinking and oodles of sincere insincerity dripping off my computer screen.
Having said that, there’s nothing wrong with what Rob Hopkins was saying as such. Just that it’s all very surface level stuff and not at all new. ( Gardeners have always shared their expertise and produce for example and people have always helped out or shared skills and knowledge around non-monetised social networks.)
I had the impression that it would appeal to the pot luck dinner liberal middle class brigade. It doesn’t really confront underlying issues and offers a feel good conscience salving programmes of spare time action that are mostly, ultimately pointless.
Substantive points and matters are not, it seems, being confronted. Questions of ownership and control. Questions of financial input and how any necessary transitional finances should be generated. Organisational structures…questions of equity and reward and sanction. Questions of production….how, why and what. The (soft airbrush) focus seems to be on distribution and consumption…..easy ‘feel good’ matters that allow you to continue your 9 to 5 and your accumulation of (ethical) goods and profit while defending notions of sense as viewed through a lens of material well being.
Just that meaningful transition would involve addressing the points I raised. It doesn’t mean that everyone would then change their life utterly overnight, but points of compromise would be identified and acknowledged…desired end points identified and possible paths mapped out (subject to ongoing modifications and revisions)
But this transition thing appears to be wilfully blind to the fact that post oil is post capitalist; that we have to transition out of capitalism. Fast.
Ak47’s turning suburbias into death zones or an end to electricity, pumped water and individual transport options turning suburbias into death zones?
I reckon the latter…with of course, a little cannibalism on the side.
The tv situation is a reflection of the world view and priorities of youngish men and women whose interest is materialistic as in making or getting money and status, and things. They have little interest in the welfare of other people or the environment if there is no advantage to themselves in so doing.
It is a working example showing what the politicians will do to our broader society if able to proceed further with their personal visions which colour their chosen policies.
It makes your heart drop when you hear Clive Geddis of Queenstown get exercised about having a macron over the first a in Hawea. And stupidly say that its been that way for one hundred years. If it was a Maori name, it will date back further than that. The macron could be introduced over time, thus limiting the inconvenience and cost to organisations. It’s Whanganui all over and is an example of the too many petty, inadequate people who yet can strut their stuff enough to impress and get elected to take the role of a supposed thoughtful and clever leader, pragmatic planner and communicator.
How can we handle important things when every little improving idea has to be considered by a tight-minded elite. While the decision makers are worrying about this and other problems there are huge concerns – leaky buildings, New Zealand’s unofficial colour changing from green to khaki, an inability to take definite steps on climate change by introducing car emission measures…….
There are still a few good programmes ,but one has to search .
Have a look at channel 7. A couple of good programmes .”Back Benches” is one. Then if you can get Central have a look at Euromaxx.
Channel 6 has a couple of nature programmes well worth the time;
However if you are a clasical music devotee then the only place (believe it or not) ) is to keep an eye open at the Warehouse where now and then some top class DVDs turn up. Opera, chamber music ect,
Im afraid the idea of a “public TV channel has been lost for ever the money bags have won the day. A lose to us all and certainly a lose to the many talented stars we have in Aotearoa .
I just wish they’d stop autotuning the music already. I’m kind of sick of changing the radio whenever I hear it’s awfulness intrude, and those that do like it are no doubt sick of changing it back again. We need to end this pointless war. But I’m not having it, I don’t care how allegedly good the beats are, if it’s got an autotuned vocal we need to kill it. Kill it with fire.
Autotune the news is definitely for you. Bag the slick politicians and music all in one. They combine
well into a singing and dancing less-than-spectacular. Roll up and enjoy the ridiculously clever or the clever ridiculed.
(Warning – there may be some small traces of clever and good politicians being ridiculed which could be irksome to the highly sensitive who think they should be treasured and increased and taken from their nests and bred in controlled surroundings before being released to the wild parliament.)
I have not yet seen Al Gore’s Nobel prize winning film “An Inconvenient Truth”. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I was a AGW skeptic when it came out and now that I accept AGW I don’t feel the need to go rent it. Regardless, I think the title is brilliant. It perfectly sums up why I think people have trouble accepting AGW. AGW truly is an inconvenience. If it were true, not only would we have to consume less, but more importantly it can shake our very core beliefs. The sorts of beliefs that AGW would trouble include political/economic and religious beliefs.
Looking at a secondhand book giving helpful advice on self defence for teeagers I noticed from the library card that it had never been checked out, the card was totally clear. The book and its helpful info and photos had hardly been looked at. The same thing will happen about our future problems and only determined action will cause change.
The idea of being precautionary, acting now for future gain is all pretty boring for our marshmallow generation. Im talking here about the well known experiment with these sweeties testing the tendency of toddlers to apply control for delayed gratification instead of the more satisfactory immediate buzz.
I think the present style of government mitigates against making decisions of future importance, the politicians are limited by their fixed term and the inability to communicate with the incurious and unwilling thinkers of most of the citizens. We don’t want inconvenient truths and will punish a government that tries to persuade us, or worse raises taxes to provide revenue and economic signals guiding our actions to a better course.
I have been thinking of the advantages of another representative body apart from and less than government, perhaps chosen at random, but being drawn from people of a certain criteria to ensure a mix of capable thinkers with diverse backgrounds. This group could be petitioned for changes to legislation to achieve better effectiveness. Government continually passes legislation that is found to be flawed when tested in reality. The group would be working with law, though it may also be deemed regulations I think they are called, where a body can impose certain rules under the aegis of government.
As well there needs to be a Planning Body that we hear about, separate from government and its appointees, which looks at our future problems providing an overview.
This is all rather long and rambling but its so easy to throw mudpies and run away when disputing something. Thinking about how to improve, do better, takes time, like that cheese on tv ads.
Not just Auckland passengrs but those in Wellingtaon also mised out on free travel on Christmas day. The drivers down here (of whom I am one) didn’t get a hamper either despite our being the only business group of NZ Bus to actually increase profit in the quarter. And the pens? adding insult to injury as far as I and many other drivers here in Wgtn are concerned. Go NZ Scrooge
WASHINGTON – A new report finds that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did a poor job of screening medical experts for financial conflicts when it hired them to advise the agency on vaccine safety, officials said.
Most of the experts who served on advisory panels in 2007 to evaluate vaccines for flu and cervical cancer had potential conflicts that were never resolved.
Some were legally barred from considering the issues but did so anyway.
In the report, Daniel R. Levinson, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, found that the centers failed nearly every time to ensure that the experts adequately filled out forms confirming they were not being paid by companies with an interest in their decisions.
As numerous medicines have been pulled from the market in recent years, worries have grown that experts may be recommending medical products – even ones they know to be unsafe – in part because manufacturers are paying them
Surely better to have a properly controlled vendor system than ad hoc speculators in pristine spots. Why not? People want it or they wouldn’t buy the stuff. Wrappers and waste need to be sternly controlled of course. Let’s not be so doctrinaire you environmental zealots.
You don’t get it. The concession itself is not the issue, it is a manifestation of the mindset which reframes the environment as some sort of vast strip mall waiting for retailers and their neon signs. If DoC were to run the icecream stand, I would still have significant concerns but not the sense of dread I have now about what’s in store for the future.
Keeping animals in cages all their lives – as some think we ought to do with cows – surely has its pros and cons. On the plus side it’s more compact, more profitable, probably less hassle in lots of ways.
The Americans do it so maybe we should be doing it too.
Animals in cages – this concept can and has been widened to include humans. Reminds me of the affordable sleeping accommodation that gets provided in some Asian cities. You have a small ‘cave’ which has a door in a wall of such ‘nests’, sleeping bag size with a lockable grill.
You can sleep in comfort and safety from thieves etc. I seem to remember Billy Connolly or someone saying they had similar in Scottish tenements, where the bed space was divided up in two rooms, one having the lower space, on the other side of the wall, the mattress would be on the top and people would climb up to their space.
Then there are criminal cells where we can’t even allow enough personal space for one person alone, the cells must be shared with an unchosen cell partner and their habits.
Gorbals tower blocks was referred to on that accommodation clip. Think that was what Billy C was talking about. The tenement room in the clip was pretty cramped but it had a window, a fire, electricity, and furniture. All that is needed, plus the funds to pay for the fuel. Could be worse. When the Roxburgh dam was being built workers were brought out from Brit but didn’t like the corrugated iron whares that were provided. Possibly they weren’t up to the same standard as the room in the clip.
Its shades of the Pythons piece on who had the worst conditions as children, but I think Orwell talked about Welsh miners whose cottages were over mineshafts on land that was moving. A miner might have to free his family or get into his cottage, by taking an axe to the door panels at the end of his working day, because doors and windows had jammed tight as the house moved slowly and continually.
I’d suggest the stench of rats (hence the cat?) and dampness would have been the first things to hit you in the miners tenement. That and the fact that there is no running water in a permanent place of residence…in the 1950s…in a ‘first world’ country.
Contrasted with Dam construction workers who were in temporary accommodation….converted trams etc which had water and light….and were situated in a climate generally a goodly few degrees warmer than that enjoyed by the miner….
Yes. It all has shades of Python…which was based on the premise that things got better as we moved forward. The only point of contention was over who should have the badge of honour for having emerged from the ‘worst’ of the ‘good old days.’
Meanwhile, I notice that the weekend or holiday baches and cribs of yesteryear are now somebodys permanent accommodation….
edit. The only reference I recall Connelly making to the high rise was the fact that you couldn’t throw jam sandwiches to the kids from 20 storeys up like you used to from the tenement window…
REminds me of a funny little poem I read once about a jam butty and its adventures as it travelled from the top of one of those extreme high rises to the little chap waiting for it on the ground. Probably the one mentioned.
I am trying to draw together the strands of “Re-run: Benefits, wages and anger”, the discussion of NZ broadcasting and the holiday season.
I’m struck by the deep denial of it all.
Not just on TV, but Radio NZ has shut down for five weeks. Why? The whole meme from all our mainstream media organisations is that New Zealand is “on holiday”. And not just on holiday, but specifically at the bach or beach. This is a total fiction propagated to Orwellian levels by our media. The vast majority of New Zealanders don’t own a bach and won’t be at the beach for endless weeks of lazy summer fun this holiday season. The whole coverage of Xmas/New Year is the starkest possible demonstration of a middle class media utterly out of touch with the reality of life in New Zealand. It’s a farrago of Pakeha middle class wishful thinking and longing for a non-existant golden age of the 1950’s-70’s.
Which brings me to Phoenix. For this poor women the penny has clearly not dropped. Phoenix imagines herself one day owning a pink McMansion at Omaha, BBQ’ing with that all round nice guy John Key just over the back fence. She lives in a media fuelled fantasy where she identifies herself as a member of the master’s class rather than as someone who will be much more likely to spend her Christmas Holiday working at cleaning John Key’s bach as a servant than eating with him as an equal. Brainwashed by a media that has convinced her she is something she is not, in her denial she struggles against her class interest. To get ahead Phoenix best chance lies in collective action. Hard work is not a virtue that is an end unto itself.
The “New Zealand on holiday” fantasy of the media and the depth of desire of Phoenix to be part of that fantasy perfectly illustrates how the mythology of the “Kiwi way of life” obstructs any real and objective assessment of the reality of life for most New Zealanders over Xmas/New year 2009/10.
Anyway, here is to 2010 and another twelve months to lay these Tory bastards low and ensure the Labour-left coalition that replaces isn’t just another pale pink “third way” administration.
I’ve wondered and felt uneasy about this ‘shut down’ malarky too.
Doesn’t happen anywhere else as far as I’m aware. You think it might have something to do with a left over colonial attitude? I mean it’s not as if the world stops, but ‘back in the day’ most important matters would have been fielded back in the ‘mother country’ anyway and trade was kind of rote and guaranteed….so, maybe government of small colonies allowed themselves the luxury of knocking off for the summer as they saw themselves as nothing much more than sub-committees.
An infectious lazy fair of sun,sand and bull shit that belongs to a bye gone era when any inadequacy in the democratic practices of NZ would have merely amounted to a noted bye line of empire?
This lapse in accountability…this hooray holiday for (it seems) everybody but the workers is beneficial to the unfettered operation of something though, innit?
Or is it merely an expression of how tied up with, how shallow and empty the media are without parliament?
This forensic hacking analysis of a victoria secret photo is intriguing. Once all the layers are taken off, including whitening her skin – what is left? Can we trust any visual image?
nothing is going to happen till the mass consciousness is raised.
while the population is excited about the world cup and having a reason to go mental then anything else is a waste of time.
look how brash excited everybody about catching up with australia in 20205 even though that meeans surpassing france and germany.
as long as wea re susceptible to being blinded by the rights rhetoric with no examination then we wil swallow anything.
all this point scoring on a blog in cyber space will not get anyone anywhere unless the facts are outed and hammered home.
this government is a con but a con that we all fall for .
why is that?
Have a browse through the fifty one fans and see if anyone can spot which sewer blogger and well known fearless defender of public morals is an early fan…
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Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
A look at the state of the previous government’s affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: What’s KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertson’s valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
After more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didn’t know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race he’d dreamed ...
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The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is seen some as its ‘silicon shield’ against invasion – but how will overseas expansion affect that protection? The post The state of Taiwan’s silicon shield appeared first on Newsroom. ...
There’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules – and costs – that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...
COMMENTARY:By Murray Horton New Zealand needs to get tough with Israel. It’s not as if we haven’t done so before. When NZ authorities busted a Mossad operation in Auckland 20 years ago, the government didn’t say: “Oh well, Israel has the right to defend itself.” No, it arrested, prosecuted, ...
NEWSMAKERS:By Vijay Narayan, news director of FijiVillage Blessed to be part of the University of Fiji (UniFiji) faculty to continue to teach and mentor those who want to join our noble profession, and to stand for truth and justice for the people of the country. I was privileged to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Lowry, Ice Sheet & Climate Modeller, GNS Science Hugh Chittock/Antarctica New Zealand, CC BY-SA As the climate warms and Antarctica’s glaciers and ice sheets melt, the resulting rise in sea level has the potential to displace hundreds of millions of ...
The government's plan to reintroduce a three strikes regime is being strongly opposed by lawyers, who argue there is no evidence it reduces crime or helps people rehabilitate. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Jerker B. Svantesson, Professor specialising in Internet law, Bond University Do Australian courts have the right to decide what foreign citizens, located overseas, view online on a foreign-owned platform? Anyone inclined to answer “yes” to this question should perhaps also ask ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni E Ferreira, NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney Last week in a post on X, owner of the platform Elon Musk recommended people look into disc replacement if they’re experiencing severe neck or back pain. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University anek.soowannaphoom/Shutterstock NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey caught the headlines yesterday, courtesy of a blistering speech condemning the latest GST carve-up. New South Wales, he claimed, would be A$11.9 billion worse off over the ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived at Kokoda Station, Northern province, at the start of his state visit to Papua New Guinea. Both Albanese and Prime Minister James Marape will meet with the locals and the Northern Provincial government before they begin their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wallace, Professor, School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law, University of Canberra Shutterstock An important principle was invoked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week in defence of the government’s Future Made in Australia industry ...
for an interesting take on avatar try this article and comment thread http://gawker.com/5422666/when-will-white-people-stop-making-movies-like-avatar – quote
“This is a classic scenario you’ve seen in non-scifi epics from Dances With Wolves to The Last Samurai, where a white guy manages to get himself accepted into a closed society of people of color and eventually becomes its most awesome member.”
I haven’t seen it yet but I’m pretty sure brownlee wouldn’t be a blue one.
Or it could be that, under all the delusional egotism, the “white” race realises that we have to live as one people…
…but I doubt it.
Liked this from the above link
http://www.energybulletin.net/51070
Somebody actually gets it. We have no choice, we must constrain ourselves to living within the ecological limits of the Earth. We can’t end poverty by continuing to grow our economy. If we want to end poverty then we need to ensure that the resources that are available (just because they exists doesn’t mean that they’re available either) are properly distributed and that we don’t over populate the world.
Of course, we are now far past that point. I’d say that we passed it before the beginning of the 20th century.
“Somebody actually gets it”
Tthere are a few of us that “get it”, about 6% in NZ
According to Mike Moore we are from the planet Zog
Just watched Blind Spot. Full length low res preview and transcript through the link
An interesting and frightening point is made near the beginning in relation to how much energy we get from oil ; to what it extent it has replaced and superseded human and animal muscle power ; and just how bloody complacent…how nonchalant we are.
(Richard Heinberg)
watched it a couple of days ago
a good doco but it was interpersed with walmat adverts which was kinda ironic
i have just about given up watching TV so much shit
and so many good docos on the net
Don’t know where you watched it oob, but the link is completely advert free.
I’m going to guess there are about 100 docos that can be pre-viewed through the Media Education Foundation. Here’s the link to their list. No adverts.
http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&keywords=all&template=PDGCommTemplates/HTN/SearchResult_TitlesAZ.html
brilliant! thanks.
most welcome. enjoy.
Try ‘ Capitalism Hits the Fan’ preview by Rick Wolff ( Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts.) since you aint doing TV. Very good stuff.
http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=139&template=PDGCommTemplates/HTN/Item_Preview.html
Yeah thats good too
“Instead of paying higher wages we lend them the money”
Thaks for the links
I have always struggled with NZTV ,having been brought up with the BBC watching great docos and political progs Question time for example
In the last year NZTV has become completely unwatchable , I despair
I hear the BBC has nosedived over recent years too. Panorama is gone, I think. I wouldn’t be surprised if Horizon is a dumbed down monkey of what it used to be….if it’s still going, that is.
But then, since TV is a delivery system for corporate agendas, I guess if you are advertising dumb stuff in an intelligently critical environment then the effectiveness of your advertising will diminish. So corporates dumb down the environment their message is delivered through and up those sales figures. Do that long enough and even a moderately critical programme on a non-commercial station looks ‘out of place’ and insofar as it could become a point of reference or a bar for programme makers, it becomes a target to be shut down by those self same corporates…even if it exists on a public broadcaster network.
So I guess we are just dumbed down consumer units then.
Strange, I thought NZTV became unwatchable at least a decade back.
Yes but completely unwatchable now
Can’t even watch the news
Anyone want my telly?
Free to a bad home
Yeah, there’s a sad lack of decent documentaries on TVNZ during prime time, and when there is one in a prime-time slot, all we get are the real-life-doco’s, which like reality TV, are typically bloody shallow infotainment.
And in more ‘jolly, jolly’ news.
Remember all those people who excused the coup in Honduras arguing all types of shit about legality of constitutional referenda and claiming that the exiled President had been trying to set himself up for life?
And remember how a lot of the people making those arguments claimed to belong to ‘the left’? Wonder what those fuckers will be saying now the assassination of activists in Honduras is under way?
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/2278/1/
Thanks Bill, I had that sick feeling earlier this year that this would follow the longer term trends of their regional history. One gets used to being regarded as a Jeremiah in these matters, especially when the “our side is innocent and would never do such a thing” response is coming from the ideologues from both ends of the spectrum. As I always say, read the real history (as written by the losing side especially) and you get a fairly good ability to forecast this type of inhumanity.
http://www.ted.com/talks/rob_hopkins_transition_to_a_world_without_oil.html
worth watching
Yeah….sort of, I guess. But then again….nah. Here’s why.
I went to the transition stuff for my city and all my worst fears were realised. The bureaucratic hell zone of committees and secretaries ( ie crystallised and hierarchical structures)…same old dirty orthodox projects and undertakings dressing themselves in the garb of transition thinking and oodles of sincere insincerity dripping off my computer screen.
Having said that, there’s nothing wrong with what Rob Hopkins was saying as such. Just that it’s all very surface level stuff and not at all new. ( Gardeners have always shared their expertise and produce for example and people have always helped out or shared skills and knowledge around non-monetised social networks.)
I had the impression that it would appeal to the pot luck dinner liberal middle class brigade. It doesn’t really confront underlying issues and offers a feel good conscience salving programmes of spare time action that are mostly, ultimately pointless.
Substantive points and matters are not, it seems, being confronted. Questions of ownership and control. Questions of financial input and how any necessary transitional finances should be generated. Organisational structures…questions of equity and reward and sanction. Questions of production….how, why and what. The (soft airbrush) focus seems to be on distribution and consumption…..easy ‘feel good’ matters that allow you to continue your 9 to 5 and your accumulation of (ethical) goods and profit while defending notions of sense as viewed through a lens of material well being.
Ak47’s it is then
Nah.
Just that meaningful transition would involve addressing the points I raised. It doesn’t mean that everyone would then change their life utterly overnight, but points of compromise would be identified and acknowledged…desired end points identified and possible paths mapped out (subject to ongoing modifications and revisions)
But this transition thing appears to be wilfully blind to the fact that post oil is post capitalist; that we have to transition out of capitalism. Fast.
Ak47’s turning suburbias into death zones or an end to electricity, pumped water and individual transport options turning suburbias into death zones?
I reckon the latter…with of course, a little cannibalism on the side.
The tv situation is a reflection of the world view and priorities of youngish men and women whose interest is materialistic as in making or getting money and status, and things. They have little interest in the welfare of other people or the environment if there is no advantage to themselves in so doing.
It is a working example showing what the politicians will do to our broader society if able to proceed further with their personal visions which colour their chosen policies.
It makes your heart drop when you hear Clive Geddis of Queenstown get exercised about having a macron over the first a in Hawea. And stupidly say that its been that way for one hundred years. If it was a Maori name, it will date back further than that. The macron could be introduced over time, thus limiting the inconvenience and cost to organisations. It’s Whanganui all over and is an example of the too many petty, inadequate people who yet can strut their stuff enough to impress and get elected to take the role of a supposed thoughtful and clever leader, pragmatic planner and communicator.
How can we handle important things when every little improving idea has to be considered by a tight-minded elite. While the decision makers are worrying about this and other problems there are huge concerns – leaky buildings, New Zealand’s unofficial colour changing from green to khaki, an inability to take definite steps on climate change by introducing car emission measures…….
Took me far too long to get it.
they all came at once ?
There are still a few good programmes ,but one has to search .
Have a look at channel 7. A couple of good programmes .”Back Benches” is one. Then if you can get Central have a look at Euromaxx.
Channel 6 has a couple of nature programmes well worth the time;
However if you are a clasical music devotee then the only place (believe it or not) ) is to keep an eye open at the Warehouse where now and then some top class DVDs turn up. Opera, chamber music ect,
Im afraid the idea of a “public TV channel has been lost for ever the money bags have won the day. A lose to us all and certainly a lose to the many talented stars we have in Aotearoa .
Has everyone else caught up with Autotune the News? Its on youtube. I’ve just found it – new, clever way of looking at politics when you need a laugh.
I just wish they’d stop autotuning the music already. I’m kind of sick of changing the radio whenever I hear it’s awfulness intrude, and those that do like it are no doubt sick of changing it back again. We need to end this pointless war. But I’m not having it, I don’t care how allegedly good the beats are, if it’s got an autotuned vocal we need to kill it. Kill it with fire.
Autotune the news is definitely for you. Bag the slick politicians and music all in one. They combine
well into a singing and dancing less-than-spectacular. Roll up and enjoy the ridiculously clever or the clever ridiculed.
(Warning – there may be some small traces of clever and good politicians being ridiculed which could be irksome to the highly sensitive who think they should be treasured and increased and taken from their nests and bred in controlled surroundings before being released to the wild parliament.)
Jonathan Abrams: Why I am no longer a skeptic on climate change
One mans journey from denial to reality.
Looking at a secondhand book giving helpful advice on self defence for teeagers I noticed from the library card that it had never been checked out, the card was totally clear. The book and its helpful info and photos had hardly been looked at. The same thing will happen about our future problems and only determined action will cause change.
The idea of being precautionary, acting now for future gain is all pretty boring for our marshmallow generation. Im talking here about the well known experiment with these sweeties testing the tendency of toddlers to apply control for delayed gratification instead of the more satisfactory immediate buzz.
I think the present style of government mitigates against making decisions of future importance, the politicians are limited by their fixed term and the inability to communicate with the incurious and unwilling thinkers of most of the citizens. We don’t want inconvenient truths and will punish a government that tries to persuade us, or worse raises taxes to provide revenue and economic signals guiding our actions to a better course.
I have been thinking of the advantages of another representative body apart from and less than government, perhaps chosen at random, but being drawn from people of a certain criteria to ensure a mix of capable thinkers with diverse backgrounds. This group could be petitioned for changes to legislation to achieve better effectiveness. Government continually passes legislation that is found to be flawed when tested in reality. The group would be working with law, though it may also be deemed regulations I think they are called, where a body can impose certain rules under the aegis of government.
As well there needs to be a Planning Body that we hear about, separate from government and its appointees, which looks at our future problems providing an overview.
This is all rather long and rambling but its so easy to throw mudpies and run away when disputing something. Thinking about how to improve, do better, takes time, like that cheese on tv ads.
Merry Christmas from NZ Bus.
Not just Auckland passengrs but those in Wellingtaon also mised out on free travel on Christmas day. The drivers down here (of whom I am one) didn’t get a hamper either despite our being the only business group of NZ Bus to actually increase profit in the quarter. And the pens? adding insult to injury as far as I and many other drivers here in Wgtn are concerned. Go NZ Scrooge
WASHINGTON – A new report finds that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did a poor job of screening medical experts for financial conflicts when it hired them to advise the agency on vaccine safety, officials said.
Most of the experts who served on advisory panels in 2007 to evaluate vaccines for flu and cervical cancer had potential conflicts that were never resolved.
Some were legally barred from considering the issues but did so anyway.
In the report, Daniel R. Levinson, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, found that the centers failed nearly every time to ensure that the experts adequately filled out forms confirming they were not being paid by companies with an interest in their decisions.
As numerous medicines have been pulled from the market in recent years, worries have grown that experts may be recommending medical products – even ones they know to be unsafe – in part because manufacturers are paying them
More here: http://tinyurl.com/yej6xao
100% pure spin…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10617650
Well our ETS doesn’t reduce emissions and we’re going to mine the crap out of our pristine parks so we’d better change our brand…
And what’s more there are Asians on your beach. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10598655
Should Asians be banned from beaches in New Zealand? Have your say.
Never mind the Asians, what about the icecream vendors. What’s next, a McDonalds atop Aoraki?
Thank’s National Ltd® – I’m lovin’ it.
Surely better to have a properly controlled vendor system than ad hoc speculators in pristine spots. Why not? People want it or they wouldn’t buy the stuff. Wrappers and waste need to be sternly controlled of course. Let’s not be so doctrinaire you environmental zealots.
You don’t get it. The concession itself is not the issue, it is a manifestation of the mindset which reframes the environment as some sort of vast strip mall waiting for retailers and their neon signs. If DoC were to run the icecream stand, I would still have significant concerns but not the sense of dread I have now about what’s in store for the future.
Just in case you missed Sean’s Christmas awesome:
http://seanmakescrafts.tumblr.com/post/297531732/merry-christmas-and-goodbye-from-me-for-now
Keeping animals in cages all their lives – as some think we ought to do with cows – surely has its pros and cons. On the plus side it’s more compact, more profitable, probably less hassle in lots of ways.
The Americans do it so maybe we should be doing it too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIV5l4gd_Oo
And we’re doing such a wonderful job with the animals in paddocks.
Animals in cages – this concept can and has been widened to include humans. Reminds me of the affordable sleeping accommodation that gets provided in some Asian cities. You have a small ‘cave’ which has a door in a wall of such ‘nests’, sleeping bag size with a lockable grill.
You can sleep in comfort and safety from thieves etc. I seem to remember Billy Connolly or someone saying they had similar in Scottish tenements, where the bed space was divided up in two rooms, one having the lower space, on the other side of the wall, the mattress would be on the top and people would climb up to their space.
Then there are criminal cells where we can’t even allow enough personal space for one person alone, the cells must be shared with an unchosen cell partner and their habits.
Ah! The dream time of those 19 50s when we sure knew how to accomodate one another.
No 2 in the sequence is ‘pretty’ telling too.
Gorbals tower blocks was referred to on that accommodation clip. Think that was what Billy C was talking about. The tenement room in the clip was pretty cramped but it had a window, a fire, electricity, and furniture. All that is needed, plus the funds to pay for the fuel. Could be worse. When the Roxburgh dam was being built workers were brought out from Brit but didn’t like the corrugated iron whares that were provided. Possibly they weren’t up to the same standard as the room in the clip.
Its shades of the Pythons piece on who had the worst conditions as children, but I think Orwell talked about Welsh miners whose cottages were over mineshafts on land that was moving. A miner might have to free his family or get into his cottage, by taking an axe to the door panels at the end of his working day, because doors and windows had jammed tight as the house moved slowly and continually.
I’d suggest the stench of rats (hence the cat?) and dampness would have been the first things to hit you in the miners tenement. That and the fact that there is no running water in a permanent place of residence…in the 1950s…in a ‘first world’ country.
Contrasted with Dam construction workers who were in temporary accommodation….converted trams etc which had water and light….and were situated in a climate generally a goodly few degrees warmer than that enjoyed by the miner….
Yes. It all has shades of Python…which was based on the premise that things got better as we moved forward. The only point of contention was over who should have the badge of honour for having emerged from the ‘worst’ of the ‘good old days.’
Meanwhile, I notice that the weekend or holiday baches and cribs of yesteryear are now somebodys permanent accommodation….
edit. The only reference I recall Connelly making to the high rise was the fact that you couldn’t throw jam sandwiches to the kids from 20 storeys up like you used to from the tenement window…
REminds me of a funny little poem I read once about a jam butty and its adventures as it travelled from the top of one of those extreme high rises to the little chap waiting for it on the ground. Probably the one mentioned.
I am trying to draw together the strands of “Re-run: Benefits, wages and anger”, the discussion of NZ broadcasting and the holiday season.
I’m struck by the deep denial of it all.
Not just on TV, but Radio NZ has shut down for five weeks. Why? The whole meme from all our mainstream media organisations is that New Zealand is “on holiday”. And not just on holiday, but specifically at the bach or beach. This is a total fiction propagated to Orwellian levels by our media. The vast majority of New Zealanders don’t own a bach and won’t be at the beach for endless weeks of lazy summer fun this holiday season. The whole coverage of Xmas/New Year is the starkest possible demonstration of a middle class media utterly out of touch with the reality of life in New Zealand. It’s a farrago of Pakeha middle class wishful thinking and longing for a non-existant golden age of the 1950’s-70’s.
Which brings me to Phoenix. For this poor women the penny has clearly not dropped. Phoenix imagines herself one day owning a pink McMansion at Omaha, BBQ’ing with that all round nice guy John Key just over the back fence. She lives in a media fuelled fantasy where she identifies herself as a member of the master’s class rather than as someone who will be much more likely to spend her Christmas Holiday working at cleaning John Key’s bach as a servant than eating with him as an equal. Brainwashed by a media that has convinced her she is something she is not, in her denial she struggles against her class interest. To get ahead Phoenix best chance lies in collective action. Hard work is not a virtue that is an end unto itself.
The “New Zealand on holiday” fantasy of the media and the depth of desire of Phoenix to be part of that fantasy perfectly illustrates how the mythology of the “Kiwi way of life” obstructs any real and objective assessment of the reality of life for most New Zealanders over Xmas/New year 2009/10.
Anyway, here is to 2010 and another twelve months to lay these Tory bastards low and ensure the Labour-left coalition that replaces isn’t just another pale pink “third way” administration.
I’ve wondered and felt uneasy about this ‘shut down’ malarky too.
Doesn’t happen anywhere else as far as I’m aware. You think it might have something to do with a left over colonial attitude? I mean it’s not as if the world stops, but ‘back in the day’ most important matters would have been fielded back in the ‘mother country’ anyway and trade was kind of rote and guaranteed….so, maybe government of small colonies allowed themselves the luxury of knocking off for the summer as they saw themselves as nothing much more than sub-committees.
An infectious lazy fair of sun,sand and bull shit that belongs to a bye gone era when any inadequacy in the democratic practices of NZ would have merely amounted to a noted bye line of empire?
This lapse in accountability…this hooray holiday for (it seems) everybody but the workers is beneficial to the unfettered operation of something though, innit?
Or is it merely an expression of how tied up with, how shallow and empty the media are without parliament?
This forensic hacking analysis of a victoria secret photo is intriguing. Once all the layers are taken off, including whitening her skin – what is left? Can we trust any visual image?
http://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/322-Body-By-Victoria.html
nothing is going to happen till the mass consciousness is raised.
while the population is excited about the world cup and having a reason to go mental then anything else is a waste of time.
look how brash excited everybody about catching up with australia in 20205 even though that meeans surpassing france and germany.
as long as wea re susceptible to being blinded by the rights rhetoric with no examination then we wil swallow anything.
all this point scoring on a blog in cyber space will not get anyone anywhere unless the facts are outed and hammered home.
this government is a con but a con that we all fall for .
why is that?
Oh! Oh! Pop onto facebook peeps and checkout Steve Crow’s NZX magazines newly established facebook presence.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/NZX-Magazine/239306762528?ref=nf
Have a browse through the fifty one fans and see if anyone can spot which sewer blogger and well known fearless defender of public morals is an early fan…
Happy New Year to us all. Any resolutions?
Gave me a bit of a fright there, BLiP 😉