Open Mike 26/12/2016

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, December 26th, 2016 - 63 comments
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63 comments on “Open Mike 26/12/2016 ”

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  1. Paul 1
    26 December 2016 at 8:37 am

    The big news.

    Arctic to be 20C hotter than average in-record breaking North Pole heatwave.

    The North Pole will be hit by an unprecedented heatwave this Christmas because of man-made climate change, scientists say.
    The centre of the Arctic will be 20 degrees hotter than average, at around 0C freezing, on Christmas Eve.
    Dr Friederike Otto, a senior researcher at Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute, said scientists are “very confident” that the weather patterns were linked to anthropogenic climate change.
    “In all our methods, we find the same thing,” said Dr Otto.
    “We cannot model a heatwave like this without the anthropogenic signal.”
    It follows sea-ice levels reaching record lows this year and the sea-water levels rising by almost 7.8 inches since 1870.
    Temperatures in the Arctic throughout November and December have been 5C higher than average.
    Warm air from the North Atlantic is forecast to fly over the North Pole, via the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, on 24 December.
    “If the globe is warming, then the sea ice and ice on land [shrinks], then the darker water and land is exposed,” said Dr Otto, speaking to BBC News, who added that this heatwave could occur every other year.
    “Then the sunlight is absorbed rather than reflected as it would be by the ice.”
    North Pole 50 degrees hotter than usual in pre-Christmas heatwave
    Dr Thorsten Markus, chief of Nasa’s Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory, said the heatwave was “very, very unusual” and added that: “The eerie thing is that we saw something quite similar almost exactly a year ago.”

    • Draco T Bastard 1.1
      26 December 2016 at 12:37 pm

      Prince of tides: New Zealand’s shrinking coastline

      As Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright has noted in the report Preparing New Zealand for Rising Seas, with a 30cm sea level rise the damaging high tide that bashed Wellington during the “100-year-storm” in 2013 (photographed here) could be expected once a year. With a 70cm rise, these watery land-grabs would occur at every tide.

      Subsidence in South Dunedin, combined with sea-level rise, will result in so-called 100-year coastal flooding events happening several times a year by mid-century. And changes in sediment deposition and ongoing subsidence associated with the Christchurch earthquakes have massively increased the risk of coastal flooding for large parts of that city.

      Just in case people think that we won’t be affected by ongoing global warming.

  2. Paul 2
    26 December 2016 at 8:42 am

    Reported by the western media

    Christians in Mosul-area town liberated from Isis celebrate Christmas

    Not reported by the western media

    • Psycho Milt 2.1
      26 December 2016 at 8:49 am

      Two regime supporters blathering on about “the terrorists” weren’t reported by the western media? I’m shocked.

      • Paul 2.1.1
        26 December 2016 at 9:08 am

        Mosul?
        Fallujah?
        Yemen?

        US atrocities on an epic scale yet barely a word from the US, UK and NZ corporate media. Can’t you see the different way the same stories are reported totally differently reported?

        As to Aleppo. we now we have some interesting figures. Before the recent eastern Aleppo “moderate” headchoppers’ defeat around 150,000 people lived there, but ten times more, some 1,500,000 lived in Syrian government held parts of the city. Following the rebel defeat just over 30,000 decided to go and join the other jihadists in Idlib, but four times as many opted to stay in government territory – and yet to listen to the MSM you would still think that those 30,000 jihadists and their families were all of Aleppo!

        • Gabby 2.1.1.1
          26 December 2016 at 10:19 am

          Where are the casualties hidden? In the 30,000 or the 120,000?

          • garibaldi 2.1.1.1.1
            26 December 2016 at 10:30 am

            Dear Paul and PM,
            It would be really good if you two could accept that you are always going to disagree on the truth in Syria and both back off and leave well alone. You both have your points but, and I’m sure many will agree, your diatribes are not working.

            • Paul 2.1.1.1.1.1
              26 December 2016 at 10:48 am

              Happy to agree to that
              🙂

            • Jilly Bee 2.1.1.1.1.2
              26 December 2016 at 2:22 pm

              Thank you garibaldi – I’m finding it extremely irritating. I want the truth to come out but my immediate concern is for the innocents trying to survive, i e the children and their parents and other civilians and also the hospitals and doctors and staff trying against all odds to do their vital work. Whoever is bombing them into oblivion needs their collective heads read. I’m sorry I can’t come up with a better idea because suggesting an eye for an eye simply won’t be a solution.

        • Psycho Milt 2.1.1.2
          26 December 2016 at 10:53 am

          US atrocities on an epic scale yet barely a word from the US, UK and NZ corporate media. Can’t you see the different way the same stories are reported totally differently reported?

          US atrocities in Mosul, Fallujah and Yemen? As far as I can see, the media isn’t reporting them because they aren’t happening. And they have reported on what the Saudi regime’s doing in Yemen.

    • Jenny 2.2
      26 December 2016 at 6:00 pm

      Don’t support fascism

      (It really shouldn’t have to be said).

      Which means don’t support genocidal regimes and their foreign allies committing mass murder from the safety of the sky. A crime against humanity not matched in scale and ferocity since the bombing of Guernica and Warsaw by fascist airforces in WWII, nor indeed since the Allied Forces aerial genocide carried out against German and Japanese civilian cities with firestorm and nuclear weapons.

      • Paul 2.2.1
        26 December 2016 at 6:37 pm

        I do not support fascism.

        • Jenny 2.2.1.1
          26 December 2016 at 6:53 pm

          “I do not support fascism.”

          Paul

          I didn’t mention your name Paul, but you obviously feel that my criticism above applies to you.

          Are you are feeling the pin prick of conscience for being a supporter of the Assad regime?

          • Paul 2.2.1.1.1
            26 December 2016 at 7:03 pm

            Your comment was a reply to my post at 2. Therefore I assumed it was directed at me.

            Garibaldi requested that folk leave off making their points about Syria. Out of respect to her, I have desisted from making further comments.

            I choose to disagree with your view and do not like your assertion that I support the Assad regime, but shall leave it alone.

            However if you continue to post the links you do, I may put forward the views of independent journalists who disagree with the points you make.

            • Jenny 2.2.1.1.1.1
              26 December 2016 at 8:21 pm

              “….if you continue to post the links you do, I may put forward the views of independent journalists who disagree with the points you make.”

              Paul

              Very well, since you decry anything that comes from the MSM media as being biased against the regime, let us start with this:

              http://litci.org/en/rami-makhlouf-a-corruption-poster-boy/

              “The Panama Papers have revealed what all Syrians fighting for freedom and the coherent sector of the Left already knew: the Assad regime is not only dictatorial, bloody and extremely repressive, it is also deeply corrupt and a great defender of neoliberalism.
              That is the first and most established face of imperialist policies in the country, not the people in arms! Unfortunately, there is still a sector of the “Left” that persists in ignoring reality.”

              • Jenny …
                26 December 2016 at 8:45 pm

                Paul the childishly simplistic and erronous narrative, (that you now seem to be backing away from); maintains that Syria has been invaded as part of a planned “regime change” by the Western powers, and not primarily a mass democratic revolt by the Syrian people against the oppressive dictatorship of the Assad regime.

                What do your stable of ‘independent journalists who disagree with the points I make’, have to say about the following, which shows that Bashar Assad is very far from being an enemy of imperialism and instead as my previous post points out, is more a partner with imperialism in ripping off his own people, than its opponent.

                http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023538868

                That the dictator now seems to fallen out of favour with the West is more to do with a recognition of the power of the popular revolutionary movement against him, than any genuine support for the struggle of the Syrian people to rid themselves of tyranny.

                • Paul …
                  26 December 2016 at 9:41 pm

                  I am not backing away from my view that we have been lied to about the events in Syria by the western media. I agree with the views of the independent journalists I have referenced over the past week. I respect the work of experienced reporters like Patrick Cockburn, Robert Fisk, John Pilger and Peter Oborne.

                  I am merely trying to avoid a flame war.

                  • Jenny …
                    27 December 2016 at 1:43 am

                    So according to you Paul your sources are so ilustrious that you (and they) don’t have to address the facts.

                    But as the saying goes, ‘Facts are stubbourn things’.

                    Just because you or your arrayed stable of illustrious experts refuse to address them, doesn’t mean that they will go away.

                    So what do your stable of experts have to say, about the 19,000 Syrian troops that Bashar Assad supplied to George Bush Senior’s “Coalition Of The Willing”?

                    What do your experts have to say about the Arab Spring, the single greatest uprising, by sheer weight of numbers, in human history. Dwarfing the numbers involved in the French and Russian revolutions combined. At one time 20 million Egyptians were in the streets protesting against the regime of Hosni Mubarak.

                    Are you and them of the opinion that this was all a CIA conspiracy?

                    What about the dictatorship itself, how come all the heads of government in Syria seem to be directly related to the ruling family directly or by marriage. And what do you have to say about the ruling elite around Assad letting the world bank into privatise all the state assets while coruptly taking a cut for themselves?

                    You refuse to address any of these questions with the lame excuse that you don’t want to start a flame war.

                    The truth is your support for mass murder and destruction wrought by the regime and its allies against the Syrian people which the whole world is witness to, has no moral or ethical basis, which you can openly defend. And you know it.

      • Paul 2.2.2
        27 December 2016 at 11:02 am

        Don’t support fascism.
        The head chopping Jihadis of Aleppo have left evidence behind of how they treat their opponents.
        Cheerleaders for the ‘rebels’ need to be aware of the vicious authoritarian criminals they are aligning themselves with.
        Assad is a dictator -(Once the war ends, I sense the Russians will retire him) yet his opponents are so awful, most Syrians prefer his regime to a gang who would impose a barbarism is becoming more evident by the day.

        ” Russian troops have found mass graves in Aleppo with bodies showing signs of torture and mutilation, the Russian defence ministry has claimed.

        Major General Igor Konashenkov said the Russians “found mass graves of several dozens of Syrians who suffered atrocious torture and massacre”.

        In a statement, he said some of the bodies had been mutilated and some had gunshot wounds.”

        http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/aleppo-syria-mass-graves-russia-claims-rebels-torture-mutilation-massacre-a7496066.html

    • GregJ 2.3
      26 December 2016 at 10:21 pm

      It was reported in a number of Western media sources:

      http://www.reuters.com/video/2016/12/22/celebrating-victory-in-aleppo?videoId=370787914

      France 24 showed footage a few days ago.

  3. AsleepWhileWalking 3
    26 December 2016 at 8:51 am

    Snopes…yet another site with political bias that isn’t obvious at first.

    http://www.naturalnews.com/2016-12-25-snopes-fact-checkers-actual-whores-david-mikkelson-elyssa-young-presstitutes-fraud.html

    (Article above implies that sex acts make you somehow inappropriate to have opinions or a life in general. Apologies for that. You should know that Mike Adams battles with his own beliefs. Think he is either a Scientologist or JW, either way both are cults imo)

    • AsleepWhileWalking 4.1
      26 December 2016 at 10:23 am

      http://financialsurvivalnetwork.com/2016/12/chris-martenson-fake-news-and-the-demise-of-the-legacy-media/

      Did you know that audio and video disengage your critical thinking? Apparently so.
      Key message: Read your news, avoid radio and TV. Ugh.

    • Andre 4.2
      26 December 2016 at 10:37 am

      That looked interesting, so I went looking for more information. While it seems to be all over the kook and crank websites that live by gathering clicks from the gullible, there’s a definite lack of sober fact-checking analysis raising concerns about the legislation.

      So for now, it looks to me like it probably belongs in the “fake news” basket. Fortunately it’s less likely to result in people harming each other than that “pizzagate’ bullshit you sprayed all over the place.

    • Fisiani 5.1
      26 December 2016 at 12:15 pm

      I too am concerned about the plight of the 1% of the population who still struggle despite living in the best country in the world. That would be 47,000 people out of 4,700,000. There is no simple solution given the multiplicity of situations but as Hamilton has shown the answers are local and I reckon we could aim to abolish homelessness in NZ within three years. This is not politics. This is community concern. The other 99% can make it happen.

      • Paul 5.1.1
        26 December 2016 at 12:30 pm

        Bryan Bruce’s Facebook post on the December 24th is the best riposte to your hateful lies.
        I have put in bold the statistics that would shame you if you had a conscience or some empathy.
        You come over as the Ebenezer Scrooge of 2016.

        The Ghost of Poverty This Christmas.

        In 1843 ( three years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi) Charles Dickens released his classic tale A Christmas Carol.
        Creatives are like sponges. They soak up what’s happening in society before unleashing their commentary through their work.
        Dickens was a master of it.
        A year earlier he’d read a British parliamentary report on the condition of children working in mines for 10 hours a day – naked,starving and sick.
        The cause of this misery, he recognised , was greed – a few people getting very rich at the expense of the many.
        (Sound familiar?)
        So, in that magical way it takes a genius to do , Dickens poured all of Victorian Britain’s mean -spiritedness into his fictional character Ebenezer Scrooge – the miserly old man who hates Christmas.
        Until, that is, he is visited on Christmas Eve by three Ghosts (Of Christmas Past and Present and Yet To Come) who reveal to him how giving can be much more rewarding than taking.
        173 years on a lot of Kiwis have got that message. They help their friends and neighbours whenever they can, they run food banks, free used clothing and furniture outlets , and open their maraes to the homeless.
        But none of these things would be necessary if the meanness of Scrooge had not become institutionalised into the neoliberal economic policies successive New Zealand governments have promoted over the last 30 years.
        Yes it’s true that children no longer work in factories or down mines – but that’s simply proof ( if proof be needed) that things can change if we vote to alter them.
        What I suspect, however, is that if Dickens could return like one of his ghosts to visit us today, he’d look in dismay at the long lines of poor outside the City Missions this Christmas and tell us that we are going backwards towards to the selfish society he railed against – where the poor were dependent on the goodwill of strangers for food and the essentials of life.
        That we have lost sight of what is really important is clear….
        . 85,000 of our children are living in severe hardship
        (Think the entire population of Palmerston North)
        •14 % of our kids (155,000) are experiencing material hardship which means they are living without seven or more necessary items for their wellbeing.
        (Think – almost the entire population of Hamilton)
        • 28% per cent of our children (295,000) are living in low income homes and experiencing material hardship as a result.
        (Think – the entire combined populations of Hamilton,Dunedin, Wanganui and Timaru )
        So thank you to all of the good people throughout our country who know this widening gap between the have and have-not isn’t right and do so much to help those less fortunate than themselves.
        But let’s also make a new year’s resolution – to encourage our friends and families and everyone we know to vote for a better deal for all our children next year.
        10% of New Zealanders now own 60% of the wealth of our country while the bottom 20% own nothing of worth at all.
        Let’s make the scrooges of New Zealand pay their fair.
        My very best wishes to all of you this Christmas Eve.
        Take care.

        share.me.https://www.facebook.com/www.redsky.tv/posts/1208889542526729:0

        • fisiani 5.1.1.1
          26 December 2016 at 2:51 pm

          Do you really believe than more than 1 in 4 children in NZ are experiencing material hardship? There is an issue of course but that sort of hyperbole is unbelievable.

          • Paul 5.1.1.1.1
            26 December 2016 at 2:54 pm

            You will find everything you want to know here.
            http://www.childpoverty.co.nz/

            • fisiani 5.1.1.1.1.1
              26 December 2016 at 5:13 pm

              Do you believe that report is truthful? False news.

              • Paul …
                26 December 2016 at 6:33 pm

                There is no point discussing issues with you.

                • James …
                  26 December 2016 at 8:37 pm

                  He’s asking a pretty basic question – what’s the harm in answering it – or does answering it truthfully it back up your links ?

                  • Paul …
                    26 December 2016 at 9:43 pm

                    The harm is that fisiani spends a lot of time trolling on this site.
                    I am not interested in discussing the views of people who deny climate change or poverty/inequality. I have better things to do.

              • Pat …
                27 December 2016 at 8:43 pm

                false news??…a study and report from Otago Uni, NZs highest regarded University ….supported by a further report by the gov funded office of the children”s commissioner…..trip, trap.

                man, I hope they pay you well.

  6. Paul 6
    26 December 2016 at 11:45 am

    Interesting reading.

    Climate disruption Nature needs our help

    An excerpt….

    New Zealand’s ecosystems were once resilient. But this resilience has been undermined by the dramatic changes people have made to the landscape. Forests have been burnt and felled, wetlands drained and coasts built on. Many of New Zealand’s once widespread native plants and animals are restricted by development and pests. Once extensive and interconnected, lowland forest now exists in isolated pockets. Pests roam the land, and weeds choke regenerating forests. All of this makes nature vulnerable to climate disruption.
    New Zealand has 985 species that are threatened with extinction and a further 2,772 at risk. New threats from climate disruption could push up to 70 of them over the edge to extinction by the end of the century

    • Tinfoilhat 7.1
      26 December 2016 at 12:04 pm

      Pointing the finger at the Ukraine with no evidence if only as a hypothesis is not thought provoking, it is however, both daft and mischievous which is what one would expect from that website.

  8. Paul 8
    26 December 2016 at 12:06 pm

    A clip from Good Will Hunting that will make you think.

  9. ropata 9
    26 December 2016 at 12:11 pm

    Steve Braunias : 2016 – The way we were
    An apocalyptic vision, deep, loved it
    http://nzh.tw/11771632

  10. Paul 10
    26 December 2016 at 12:14 pm

    An elegy for America…and New Zealand.

  11. Paul 11
    26 December 2016 at 12:24 pm

    Another musician has left us.
    George Michael
    53.
    R.I.P.

  12. ropata 12
    26 December 2016 at 12:46 pm

    This Christmas, Don’t Forget That Jesus Was A Socialist

    http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/13854296

  13. Glenn 13
    26 December 2016 at 4:24 pm

    Heaven must be getting rather crowded with singers, musicians and actors not to mention the Red Army Choir. 2016 has been a rough year on them all.
    Hopefully Carrie Fisher will beat the odds and stay on this side of the turf.

    • mpledger 13.1
      27 December 2016 at 8:44 am

      I’m in the generation after the Baby Boomers and I’m beginning to think that my generation is going to be the “grief generation”. With such a large cohort of people entering old age than the generation behind them is going to know many more people dying than would be usual (outside of war).

  15. GregJ 15
    26 December 2016 at 10:05 pm

    Just a general inquiry – why are comments taking so long to appear? Is there some form of moderation in place or a change in the system software or…?

    I used to post a comment and it would appear within 30 seconds. Now it takes a lot longer (at least 10 minutes sometimes even longer than that).

    [lprent: There are a lot of security systems in place on this site to prevent spamming, impersonations, trolling and other annoying and moderator time consuming behaviours. They usually work pretty well and save the volunteer moderators an awful lot of time.

    One is that if you enter your handle or email differently, then you get treated as being a new user to the system. That means you have to have at least one comment released by a moderator before you can automatically have comments appear. This is pretty common, especially when people don’t watch their caps or punctuation or spelling.

    At present a more sophisticated security system is having a conniptions about certain people and/or machines. Probably on the basis of IP numbers and/or the the reported locations and/or people using VPNs and/or ’email’ addresses it perceives people as coming from. You and a few others are getting hit by it.

    I haven’t managed to pinpoint what security system is doing it as the dratted things don’t log and I don’t have the energy (or time) to watch in real time. So comments caught in auto-spam like yours tend to sit there until one of the moderators releases them.

    Another separate issue (that doesn’t affect you) is due to people with logins not using them. The system views that as being a probable impersonation.

    A simple solution to the first and second problems may be to have people just get logins. However I haven’t had time to reactivate and test the security on that system. Last time it was running it caused a lot of work for me dealing with non-human bots and the silly trolls. I don’t have that time to expend. ]

  16. GregJ 16
    26 December 2016 at 11:36 pm

    To follow up on my earlier post it’s nearly 1.5 hours later and it still hasn’t appeared.

    [lprent: Holiday time. Personally I didn’t get out of bed until midday after binge watching the last episodes of The Good Wife with Lyn until 0400 last night. What do you expect for the cost of the service? ]

    • GregJ 16.1
      27 December 2016 at 5:39 pm

      Thanks Lprent – no criticism implied – more a test for me to see when it appeared.

      Enjoy your break.

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    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • The Possum: Demon or Friend?

    Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago
  • Not a story

    Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry published its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • A tougher line on “proactive release”?

    The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • 'Let's build a motorway costing $100 million per km, before emissions costs'

    TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Lester's Prescription – Positive Bleeding.

    I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Casey Costello gaslights Labour in the House

    Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone icon on the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    3 days ago
  • Why is the Texas grid in such bad shape?

    This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Headline from 2021 The Texas grid, run by ERCOT, has had a rough few years. In 2021, winter storm Uri blacked out much of the state for several days. About a week ago, Hurricane Beryl knocked out ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on a textbook case of spending waste by the Luxon government

    Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • LXR Takaanini

    As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    3 days ago
  • Four kilograms of pain

    Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Luxon gets caught out

    NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • A worrying sign

    Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Are we fine with 47.9% home-ownership by 2048?

    Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloitte report for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Let's Win This

    You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Waimahara: The Singing Spirit of Water

    There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
    Greater AucklandBy Connor Sharp
    4 days ago
  • A major milestone: Global climate pollution may have just peaked

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’s Oliver LewisScoop: Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announced the Board of Te Whatu Ora- Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • HealthNZ and Luxon at cross purposes over budget blowout

    Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • 2500-3000 more healthcare staff expected to be fired, as Shane Reti blames Labour for a budget defic...

    Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    4 days ago
  • Might Kamala Harris be about to get a 'stardust' moment like Jacinda Ardern?

    As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
    PunditBy Tim Watkin
    5 days ago
  • Solutions Interview: Steven Hail on MMT & ecological economics

    TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
    The KakaBy Steven Hail
    5 days ago
  • Reported back

    The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Vandrad the Viking, Christopher Coombes, and Literary Archaeology

    Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Biden Withdrawal

    History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    5 days ago
  • Joe Biden's withdrawal puts the spotlight back on Kamala and the USA's complicated relatio...

    This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    5 days ago
  • Why we have to challenge our national fiscal assumptions

    A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Existential Crisis and Damaged Brains

    What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • A speed limit is not a target, and yet…

    This is a guest post from longtime supporter Mr Plod, whose previous contributions include a proposal that Hamilton become New Zealand’s capital city, and that we should switch which side of the road we drive on. A recent Newsroom article, “Back to school for the Govt’s new speed limit policy“, ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #29

    A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago
  • I'd like to share what I did this weekend

    This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • For the children – Why mere sentiment can be a misleading force in our lives, and lead to unex...

    National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Order image, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • A friend in uncertain times

    Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • The Chaotic World of Male Diet Influencers

    Hi,We’ll get to the horrific world of male diet influencers (AKA Beefy Boys) shortly, but first you will be glad to know that since I sent out the Webworm explaining why the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was not a false flag operation, I’ve heard from a load of people ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • It's Starting To Look A Lot Like… Y2K

    Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 20

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Pharmac Director, Climate Change Commissioner, Health NZ Directors – The latest to quit this m...

    Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • Flooding Housing Policy

    The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • A Voyage Among the Vandals: Accepted (Again!)

    As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā's Chorus for Friday, July 19

    An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Roundup 19-July-2024

    Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Climate Wrap: A market-led plan for failure

    TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Tobacco First

    Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Trump’s Adopted Son.

    Waiting In The Wings: For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSA announced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Hoon around the week to July 19

    TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #29 2024

    Open access notables Improving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society: To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Joint statement from the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand

    Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue.  We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    17 hours ago
  • AG reminds institutions of legal obligations

    Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • More young people learning about digital safety

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views.  “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • Speech to the Conference for General Practice 2024

    Tēnā tātou katoa,  Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Employers and payroll providers ready for tax changes

    New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts.  “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Experimental vineyard futureproofs wine industry

    An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Funding confirmed for regions affected by North Island Weather Events

    The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit

    Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.   “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Strengthening partnership with Ngāti Maniapoto

    He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Transport Minister thanks outgoing CAA Chair

    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Test for Customary Marine Title being restored

    The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says.  “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Opposition united in bad faith over ECE sector review

    Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet.  “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Kiwis having their say on first regulatory review

    After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks.  “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government upgrading Lower North Island commuter rail

    The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government moves to ensure flood protection for Wairoa

    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • PM speech to Parliament – Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Report into Abuse in Care

    Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.  At the heart of this report are the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges torture at Lake Alice

    For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges courageous abuse survivors

    The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Half a million people use tax calculator

    With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis.  “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Paid Parental Leave improvements pass first reading

    Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Rebuilding the economy through better regulation

    Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • ‘Open banking’ and ‘open electricity’ on the way

    New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • Charity lotteries to be permitted to operate online

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