Blair Ensor, Stuff’s Auckland editor, nails it in this tweet.
‘Sobering.’
“Every time you sit down to a plant-based meal instead of an animal-based meal, you save about 280 gallons of water and protect anywhere from 12 to 50 square feet of land from deforestation, overgrazing, and pesticide and fertilizer pollution.”
98% of that food is provided through industrial factory farming, a process that causes untold suffering and cruelty to animals.
Why don’t you do just a tiny bit of research?
Psychopaths care just as little about humans.
As long as that thing they buy is cheap, who cares if it’s made by a slave or a child in wretched conditions?
Just as long as the meat is yummy and the clothes are cool, eh?
Just think of how much you are reducing your risk of bowel cancer by not eating the steak (if you are too selfish to think about your impact on the planet)
The research on the link between bowel cancer and red meat shows you have to eat a lot of meat. A lot. A balanced diet, including some of those juicy steaks, is healthy.
Scientists have long studied the impact of food production on climate change. For example, one recent study found that substituting beans for beef could slash greenhouse gas emissions. Another recommended substituting meat with edible insects, such as crickets and mealworms. But those were focused only on humans.
Okin’s computations were based on the number of pets in the United States, and the ingredients in market-leading pet foods. He found that the nation’s dogs and cats eat about 25 percent of the total calories derived from animals in this country. If the nation’s 163 million pooches and kitties formed their own nation, it would rank fifth in global meat consumption, behind Russia, Brazil, the United States and China, Okin says.
Hmm, yes our hill country does grow grass, which the beef and sheep eat. But I presume you are not suggesting we eat grass, (aside from the fact the land is too steep for it to be harvested anyway).
Our hill country grows grass because its varied tree and shrub, vine and herb natural vegetation was cleared in order to grow … grass. Replacing that grass with a new variation of the trees and shrubs etc. that can support humans would be a very good idea, Imo.
My take on it is that for a farmer to grow crops on a scale needed to make some money they’d need mostly flat land needing little in the way of conversion whereas theres a helluva lot of high country, hilly country that just wouldn’t be economically viable to go from sheep,beef, diary etc to cropping
However I’m a suburbanite as well so I might be completely off the mark
I believe you are on the mark and that would be why hillsides that are cultivated in places in Asia are terraced. I am interested to see if the Greens want to terrace our hill country farms.
I’d like to hear a farmers take on this (bwaghorn maybe) but imagine trying to get some of those huge farm machines on the side of a hill, would not be cheap or fun I’d be betting
Dairy has pushed sheep and beef into the hills in the last twenty years . Used to be a lot of s/b on flatland down south.
Manuka of late and pines for the last 30 years is pushing s/b out of the steeper terrain.
Interestingly even though ewe numbers have halved in 50 years we still export about the same amount of lamb .
Now if only the greenies brought the fantastic renewable fire proof product that wool is we would be sweet.
Thanks for the reply and would you mind if i picked your brain a little bit more because I’d like your opinion on this:
I’m thinking it wouldn’t be economical to get the infrastructure set up for planting crops on NZs hillsides because it would take more roads to be built to get the machinery to the crops plus the machinery itself would be another massive undertaking due to the amounts of crops needed to make any money
But because I’m a townie I’m assuming there’d be more costs involved that I haven’t even considered (more fertiliser maybe or even less money for crops because of increased demand?) so is there anything else?
Some sheep cockiess do what dubbed spray and pray ie spray the pasture then aerial spread swedes and kale seed . Then pray for rain at the right time in the right amount . It would be a bugger to harvest .
Like you say it would be a huge undertaking to try for a harvestable crop . Other than pines and as we are seeing that’s not that great when harvested in a high rain fall environment.
Any way must away it’s Brazilian day for some of the girls
You wouldn’t want to eat the modern “wooden” swedes – the old Doon Majors are/were delicious. You’d also want to avoid the herbicide tolerant swedes that killed and maimed hundreds of dairy cattle when it was planted in the South in recent times.
If there were villages nearby, the planting and harvest would provide employment for the villagers. Why harvest with huge machines? Simpler machines could efficiently and with regard to soil conservation, be utilised by the villagers. It depends upon what “crops” you are talking about; perhaps defining that would help the discussion; tree crops? Planting can effectively be done by hand, as can many harvests. If the crops were diverse, many tasks would need to be done to manage them and people are the best “tools” for multitasking like that. Who wouldn’t love to live in a village in the hills, with your family and friends, planting and harvesting a range of annual, biennial and perennial crops seasonally that could be sold locally, regionally, nationally and internationally (in that order) to create healthy, satisfying lives for those who love life outside of the city
Well since the thread was talking about eating I was more referencing crops for eating, replacing sheep and beef and that
“Who wouldn’t love to live in a village in the hills, with your family and friends, planting and harvesting a range of annual, biennial and perennial crops seasonally that could be sold locally, regionally, nationally and internationally (in that order) to create healthy, satisfying lives for those who love life outside of the city”
It sounds like a great idea for those that’re into it but I’m guessing the price for said vegetables would massively increase and put the prices even more out of reach for poorer people
Crops for eating? Hazel nuts, walnuts, sweet chestnuts, almonds, apples, pears, plums, apricots, peaches, gooseberries, currants, blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, Yukon, artichokes, potatoes, ulluco, cardoon, rhubarb, beets, turnips, pumpkins…should I go on? Why would the price of veggies go up for those growing them? If city folk had to pay a fair price for their vegetables and fruits, why is that a concern? Grown without poisons sprays, their health would be far better, saving them a small fortune in medical bills and saving employers a great deal with regard down-time through sickness.
‘Why would the price of veggies go up for those growing them?’
– Supply and demand, unless you can match the current growing production there’ll less produce and if theres less supply the demand is greater (I’m sure you already know this )
‘If city folk had to pay a fair price for their vegetables and fruits, why is that a concern?’
– As I’ve been told numerous times on this site poor people can’t afford to eat fresh fruit and vegetables as it is so by paying a fair price you’re pricing poor people out of eating healthy (shame on you Robert)
‘Grown without poisons sprays, their health would be far better, saving them a small fortune in medical bills and saving employers a great deal with regard down-time through sickness.’
Wool is wonderful, most greenies would agree
It’s been underrated here and abroad since the introduction of synthetic (oil based) fibres (nylon carpets etc.) but the saving has been a false one – our throwaway habits are biting us back harder and harder as time goes by – disposing of a pure wool carpet, if ever you needed to (you shouldn’t, if you took care of it in the way it should be cared for – as a treasure) is simple – it’s organic and can be returned to the soil to the soil’s benefit; nylon carpets, not so much (to understate the problem)
I recommend terracing. You don’t need machines for a productive terraced landscape, you need people; know of any people who would like to live where they work, grow their food where they live, socialise and play among their carefully tended garden beds? Sounds awful doesn’t it (where’s the nearest cafe? Burger King?)
Much of their needs would be met locally, Pucky: food and drink for starters. Employment too. Social needs, familial needs. Spiritual needs. What else is there Jet-skiis would probably be out of the question, oh the anguish, but having your grandparents about to look after the grand kids would compensate the petrolhead father for his loss. There’s a whole world of possibility to be explored with this model, but I suspect you’re already dismissing it (as Gosman will) as “commie-talk”. Sadly, such brackish thinking is killing innovation and creativity, Imo.
Already started here, Pucky; local organic food cooperative, community forest garden, a string of community heritage apple orchards, annual fruit tree sales, harvest festival, organic gardener’s group, permaculture hui (coming) mid winter “earth craft” “round the mountain” delivery link (in gestation) and so on and so on…I’m happy to describe these things further, but there might not be the interest. But for now, I’m off to the climate change meeting.
Yes there are so, so many stories from the old timers about how farming in New Zealand was like “trying to farm on the surface of the moon” or “in the middle of the sinai desert!” That is of course why there was a rush to chop or burn down the native forests that had laid down millenia of some of the most infertile, toxic inorganic hummus onto the already 100% bedrock that makes up New Zealand soil if you can call it that. No wonder they had such a hard time. We were just lucky historically we found a way to farm round boulders otherwise we would have no agriculture at all here, the Moeraki boulders being the last surviving boulder farm.
2017 was the second worst year on record for tropical forests
Some 39 million acres of trees — or 40 football fields per minute — were lost around the world, according to new data.
All good, but technically the kernal oil is for your bio-fuels, for the 2050 thing.
Fonterra smelt like a lodge sell-out, but there is a vision of things slowly coming back to earth, with global debt default kicking. Penned refugees in Turkey showing Middle Eastern energy resource retaining value, at least in short-term. Suggesting an invitation to Turkey and Israel to join the EU
Getting my head around methane emitted from farms and the claims by the farming industry and it’s cheerleaders (Wayne that it’s not a problem because it only lasts a short while (10 years!) then converts back to CO2 and water, both of which are reabsorbed by the farm’s pasture – well, look at an analogy that focuses on the period when the harmful gas is “briefly” in the air – imagine if the methane was a avicide – killed birds instantly, thereafter 10 minutes, converted back to CO2 and was reabsorbed by the pasture. The farming industry would argue, it’s a cyclic process, all the gas reverts to pasture and therefore there is a balance; farming’s contributing no more than it takes, forgetting that for 10 devastating minutes; every moment of the day, as the gas is being released constantly, birds are dying; falling from the sky. The methane argument equates with this hypothetical scenario; methane is vastly more “warming” to our atmosphere than CO2 is and while it reverts back to CO2, it’s harm is done over the 10 years it is in the air.
I’d appreciate any critique of my explanation, should anyone be interested. I’m off to James Shaw’s Zero Carbon Bill community consultation tonight and there will be farmers there, pushing their “methane should be exempted” line.
lasts a short while (10 years!) then converts back to CO2 and water, both of which are reabsorbed
BUT during that 10 years more methane is added by increasing cow nos.
The postulated ‘steady’ state would only work if cow nos were stable or decreasing, and there would still be the warming from the methane in the atmosphere
A critique?…..not so much, rather an observation or two, for what its worth.
Atmospheric methane levels have over doubled since pre industrial times …if we accept that methane levels (flows) were in balance then the world needs to reduce methane output by approx half.
Livestock changes have been dramatic in NZ since the 1990s. The reduction of sheep numbers (from 70 million to 30 million) has largely offset ( in methane terms) the increase in dairy numbers in the same period (from 7 to 10 million)…beef cattle /deer numbers have been static.
Given sheep produce around 30 litres a day methane, and cattle 200 we have increased methane output in the ag sector by approx 13% over that timeframe….from 3 b l/pd to 3.4 b l/pd.
Livestock emissions account for around 20% of methane emissions worldwide.
My suspicion is the increase in atmospheric methane is driven largely by the numerical increase in livestock numbers worldwide ( to feed an increasing population) and gas production, another significant contributor.
In terms of farming in NZ there are many environmental problems caused by our current farming practices but would suggest methane emissions is not top of the list….although its not to be ignored.
I know I’m just repeating myself here, but if government committed to reducing CO2 emissions in line with what current scientific knowledge demands (zero from energy by the 2040s), then methane and whatever else can be exempted or anythinged, because their levels will drop substantially as a natural or inevitable consequence of serious action on CO2.
The bit that appears to be being missed in the whole red herring argument about methane, is that whether exempted or not, the government obviously intends to continue burning fossil apace.
That’s against every international accord signed by NZ, where CO2 emission reductions were going to be set according to our scientific knowledge.
patricia – I will, tomorrow, once the shouting’s died down I expect the southern branch of Federated Farmers will be there, singing Wayne’s tune. I’ll be doing a “Bill” (our Bill, not theirs
Winston Peters claims industrial action is looming because Unions know this Government will listen.
However, it seems to me industrial action is looming because this Government isn’t listening thus isn’t succumbing to Union demands.
Additionally, isn’t it interesting how Peters never pointed to fiscal constraints and the need to maintain a surplus when the billion dollars for foreign aid was announced. But when NZ employees seek a pay rise he becomes Scrooge.
If I had the power to choose (at the next election) between National getting back into power or Winston removed from political power for good I’d choose removing Winston, even if that meant a Labour/Green coalition
Yeah it’s now known that a vote for Winston is a vote for Labour so his left leaning voters will be weighing up between voting Labour, Greens or Winston and his right leaning have either National or Act
Yep, gone quiet on immigration too. Saying that I have a soft spot for Whinny which although have never voted for him, I like his style, aka he at least can stylishly stand up Duncan Garner and say F you to MSM.
In spite of being a lawyer he understands the pitfalls of having everything about litigation and a country full of banks and lawyers is not exactly gonna be productive or innovative… or a nice place to live.
that is the problem with our current Ponzi scheme, we have not really concentrated of future production and some sort of future strategy, dirty agriculture and tourism driving up carbon is never going to last forever, instead of being ahead of the curve, NZ has gone for the quick and dirty profits for a few individuals while helping destroy the industry which could easily be future proofed with some positive action, for the rest.
Selling off our country and assets for peanuts, creating poverty with low wage economy and deregulation and ripping people off while worstening the level of quality from food to construction with cheap hires, cash and trafficked staff and bad degrees, eventually comes to a sickly end when we run out of disposable money and people are too scared to eat out or hire a contractor or buy an apartment as they have been ripped off too many times and normal businesses are competing with fake businesses for immigration scams.
People either hate him or love him. Personally, I have a bit of time for him. He’s supposedly meant to stand against the negatives you highlighted. But like others, I’m disappointed in some of his decisions of late.
He has many years of political experience and that will be a loss.
Nice view chairman;
‘He has many years of political experience’
And you are right;
Winston has many ways to swing a cat now.
So dont count him or NZF out here, as he does make ‘Large surprises that even the once over-confident National party found out’ – thouight they had him boxed too.
They learned and we are not counting Winston out or NZF.
Indeed. The Unions have been biting the bullet. Which has resulted in this boiling over with the Unions now deciding (in numbers) enough is enough, it’s time to stand their ground.
My understanding is it’s due to deteriorating conditions that have been building up over the years, thus worsening morale. Hence, a larger number are now willing to take a stronger stance. So it’s more to do with pressure building up over time and not solely due to the change of Government.
Of course, they will be hoping strike action will force the Government to cave.
However, the Government will be twice the fools to let it go that far if they were willing to cave from the outset. And it’s the fact the Government isn’t listening and succumbing to their demands that is forcing them to strike in the first place.
This happening six months into a new government but i’m assuming the pressure or difficulties isn’t that much different from a year or even two years ago
Just seems a tad coincidental thats its happening, now, under a Labour-led government thats more positive towards unions than a National government that is less positive
This happening six months into a new government but i’m assuming the pressure or difficulties isn’t that much different from a year or even two years ago
Then the Unions are politically foolish. It would serve them much better long term to make life difficult for a National led government than a Labour one. Most people are not going to see the nuance you write about and will just make a link that Labour equals more strikes.
Regardless if it were a National Government, I think we’d be seeing the same thing. As I’ve explained above, this boiling over now is more to do with the timing, resulting from years of insufficient progress. People have just had enough and are now starting to stand their ground.
Another PPP going down the toilet in litigation after under delivering so the lawyers get to lose more ratepayer money on the spoils of another failed venture.
Nobody goes to Westgate because when you are deliberately developing a low wage economy and people spend all their money on mortgages, rents, insurances, power, rates, transport and water , combined with the worst urban design possible from the 1980’s aka a large mall filled with franchise stores and surrounded by highways, it’s not really a pull to go to…
BTW, is the Westgate the McDonalds that sold those Sundae’s with the pills and the police are now involved…. other issues might be people not going there are when you get ripped off or have your health endangered by a franchise store that seems to have gone haywire with bad staff doing weird shit, you don’t go back!
Also the rents are now so high for commercial real estate, that most businesses can’t survive.
And pretty stark when you compare the state+private masterplanned development at Hobsonville just a few kilometers down the road.
Hobsonville Land Company has now grown into HLC which is the largest and most progressive home-and-community building in Auckland. And it is about to acquire powers to acquire and control land under statute as an Urban Development Agency.
Westgate is by a long way Waitakere Council’s worst set of decisions, making a town centre even more devoid of life and opportunity than Albany. And it will take even longer to fix than the several billion needed over the past two decades to turn Manukau town centre into something livable.
HLC???? These are the private developers that promised affordable housing at Tamaki – 400 by this year but sadly there link says
SORRY – WE COULD NOT FIND THAT!
Please try using the navigation or the search above.
But there is ones for $863,000, so affordable, so much hope for the state house tenants living in hotels and now condemned homes is the new way to house them!
For a self proclaimed Labour man, Ad, I’m not sure you are doing a good job at convincing people with your blindness for the free market profiting from the state as being a good thing.
For a self-proclaimed Labour man, my advice to you or anyone is:
Expect neither the state nor the private sector to deliver everything for you. If you can’t scrape together your Kiwisaver, your collective savings, your relatives, and your banks to get a deposit to own something in Auckland, then you will not be owning in Auckland.
The best this government will do in three years is cool the market down, subsidise incomes, make houses, stop further foreign ownership of existing houses, and make real estate less attractive to landlords.
Sounds like an affordable disaster – not something to be crowed about.
Prior to all the council and government intervention driving up the prices, you could buy a 3 bedroom house for $350,000 around there and a studio apartment in the city for $160k.
It’s the best masterplanned community in Auckland. No, not everyone will afford it. But $800,000+ is an average place in Auckland. You can find cheaper, but then, you get what you pay for.
So people want to live there.
If you are expecting state houses in Hobsonville, check back in your records and you will see that the local MP at the time John Key objected so strongly that all state housing was stripped out of the job.
Yep only takes 1 hour and 4 minutes by public transport including your walk of 80 minutes return which is more than 2 hours commute and $75 for transport.
Hobsonville Point Road, Hobsonville to Queen Street, Auckland Central
Thursday 28 June
Departs at 7:38 am
1hr 4min
HOBS HOP $7.50
If you are so foolish as to work in the middle of Auckland’s CBD while living on the periphery of Auckland at Hobsonville, then you’re on a reasonable income and may as well take the ferry at $10 a shot; timetable and fares from Hobsonville wharf below:
Yep that lovely 44 minute walk return to get to the ferry (no public transport options according to AT planner) and then that 35 minute journey by ferry, so I guess that is 44 minute walk and total transit time of around 2 hours but costs you $100 per week in ferry costs…
Also why does AT planner not plan for Ferries in their travel planner, more Moranic IT… no doubt costing a fortune to get a D- grade IT service missing vital info.
Sounds like the capitalists took the risk that they say they’re so good at and are now demanding that local government guarantee their expected returns.
I remember reading something about the cultural revolution in China, Mao told everybody to kill the birds because they ate the crops, so they killed all the birds and then the bugs didn’t have the birds left to eat them and ate the crops and they started to starve…
It would be easy to just ban plastic. Would help NZ as we produce wood and they could go back to paper bags!
Doesn’t even seem to be on their radar. Too late to tax plastic bags as the oceans are already full, it’s a full ban they need!
The earth aint gonna end if they ban plastic bags (I think Germany did years ago), but the earth might end if they don’t ban them!
Also making products out of flax could be a goer! Doesn’t have the ‘stigma’ of the hemp and is incredibly strong. Grows like a weed too.
That is where the northland money should be going, innovation using NZ products like flax to make alternate packaging options.
We need to aim a lot bigger, look at companies like Huhtamaki, a global multinational Finnish company that does packaging.
The next thing is clearly biodegradable packaging!
Fonterra could be leading the world by having flax based milk cartons/packaging etc, but nope instead troughing at executive level and polluting the environment to boot while waiting to go out of business with their lazy pathetic management approach.
Filling your hot water bottles with hate to tide you through the long, long winter of no-power-no mates-no nothing opposition is a good idea righties – winter is here.
Where is the training and up skilling the domestic workforce, where is the pay back from the sector to cater for tradesman for the future ??
And this https://www.labour.org.nz/immigration
Residential construction firms could hire a skilled tradesperson on a three-year work visa without having to meet the Labour Market Test if they pay a living wage and take on an apprentice for each overseas worker they hire. The number of places will be limited to 1,000 to 1,500 at a given time, which we expect will be additional to the construction work visas issued under the existing rules.
Some in the industry could see this coming, but no one was wanting to keep labour honest. Enough to almost make you vote ACT :-(, at least you know what you will be getting !!!
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeats fourth-ranking House Democrat Joe Crowley in massive upset…ha ha..maybe all is not lost! And she did it not on corporate money…but a genuine grass roots movement.
To me, this is the interesting and important story, not Trumps latest tweet.
Even if some business folk are talking down the economy and therefore their returns, poorer folk are feeling more hopeful.
I rejoice in that.
The expert in the article does argue that the later start date in 2018 means that people entitled to the Winter warmth payment can’t get the extra money to heat their houses in the post winter solstice freeze before July 1.
I’m not sure that is the case as electricity can be consumed ahead of payment. In other words, unless the power is provided on a prepaid system, keep warm now using some power guaranteed to be paid by the winter warmth payment from July 1.
I am a little concerned that recipients of the payment might not have been made aware of the possibility of a little forward consumption before payment and thereby keeping warm in the freeze before July 1.
There is more money for nurses !
Media Release 24.06.2018
From: Chris Leitch, Leader
Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s claim that any new pay offer to nurses “would have to be made using funds already allocated, as there’s no more” is nonsense, according to new Social Credit Party Leader, Chris Leitch.
Mr Robertson’s understanding of how the money system works is patently paper thin, and he’s relying on what advisers in Treasury, who have been sourced from the private banking industry, are telling him.
Just like his predecessor Bill English, he puts paying $4,500,000,000 dollars every year unnecessarily to the private banks the government has borrowed from, ahead of decent pay for doctors and nurses and decent health care for Kiwis.
He could solve the nurses strike overnight if he understood anything about Labour Party history, and took a leaf out of Michael Joseph Savage’s book.
Labour’s first Prime Minister used the Reserve Bank to create the credit necessary to rebuild the nation.
5,000 houses were built by 1939, and 30,000 by 1949, financed by Reserve Bank credit.
The European Central Bank is creating credit at the rate of $35 billion Euros per month, through its quantitative easing programme, without any sign of inflation, so there’s no reason the Reserve Bank here couldn’t fund our government in a similar way.
That would give him $4.5 billion dollars every year to spend on New Zealanders instead.
Putting bankers ahead of doctors and nurses shows that Labour’s economic policies are no different from National’s.
Draco, meet those who are driving the cashless society you crave…
Check out their backgrounds…some of the names should ring alarm bells immediately…all are deeply involved/conflicted with the private tech companies which nobody has voted for to control every aspect of their lives…
I doubt that their pushing the cashless system that I advocate. I doubt if they’re looking to stop the private banks from creating money which is at the base of my system.
Every so often the End of The World is declared by some religious groups. They rise very early to watch the sun rise on The End perhaps from the top of a hill.
We cynics wondered what they thought/felt on the way back down again when another day began.
Maybe it is a means of bonding the group with increased faith in the Leader?
“This is not an end, this is the beginning. This is the beginning because the message that we sent the world tonight is that it’s not OK to put donors before your community,” Ocasio-Cortez told her supporters Tuesday night.
Good morning The AM Show Was Black Ice part of the reasons for that big Accident in Taranaki.
I believe that fluoride in our drinking water is good when my children we young the eldest teeth was looking a bad so I gave them fluid tablets after a bit of research the 3 younger ones have good teeth so I have seen it with my own eyes the benefits of fluoride in children diet. Ka kite ano
Here we go I sure ECO MAORI has stated that sir shonky was all about his 00.1 wealth m8s and here’s more evidence of national looking after there rich m8s
Link below.
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Daddy, are you out there?Daddy, won't you come and play?Daddy, do you not care?Is there nothing that you want to say?Songwriters: Mark Batson / Beyonce Giselle Knowles.This morning, a look at the much-maligned NZ Herald. Despised by many on the left as little more than a mouthpiece for the National ...
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Long stories shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy:Christopher Luxon surprises by announcing trade deal talks with India will start next month, and include beef and dairy. Napier is set to join Whakatane, Dunedin and Westport in staging a protest march against health spending restraints hitting their hospital services. Winston Peters ...
At a time of rising geopolitical tensions and deepening global fragmentation, the Ukraine war has proved particularly divisive. From the start, the battle lines were clearly drawn: Russia on one side, Ukraine and the West ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, Newsroom-$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 9, 2025 thru Sat, March 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. We are still interested ...
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...
The Government dominated the political agenda this week with its two-day conference pitching all manner of public infrastructure projects for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest in our political economy this week: The Government ploughed ahead with offers of PPPs to pension fund managers ...
You know that it's a snake eat snake worldWe slither and serpentine throughWe all took a bite, and six thousand years laterThese apples getting harder to chewSongwriters: Shawn Mavrides.“Please be Jack Tame”, I thought when I saw it was Seymour appearing on Q&A. I’d had a guts full of the ...
So here we are at the wedding of Alexandra Vincent Martelli and David Seymour.Look at all the happy prosperous guests! How proud Nick Mowbray looks of the gift he has made of a mountain of crap plastic toys stuffed into a Cybertruck.How they drink, how they laugh, how they mug ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is waste heat from industrial activity the reason the planet is warming? Waste heat’s contribution to global warming is a small fraction of ...
Some continue to defend David Seymour on school lunches, sidestepping his errors to say:“Well the parents should pack their lunch” and/or “Kids should be grateful for free food.”One of these people is the sitting Prime Minister.So I put together a quick list of why complaint is not only appropriate - ...
“Bugger the pollsters!”WHEN EVERYBODY LIVED in villages, and every village had a graveyard, the expression “whistling past the graveyard” made more sense. Even so, it’s hard to describe the Coalition Government’s response to the latest Taxpayers’ Union/Curia Research poll any better. Regardless of whether they wanted to go there, or ...
Prof Jane Kelsey examines what the ACT party and the NZ Initiative are up to as they seek to impose on the country their hardline, right wing, neoliberal ideology. A progressive government elected in 2026 would have a huge job putting Humpty Dumpty together again and rebuilding a state that ...
See I try to make a differenceBut the heads of the high keep turning awayThere ain't no useWhen the world that you love has goneOoh, gotta make a changeSongwriters: Arapekanga Adams-Tamatea / Brad Kora / Hiriini Kora / Joel Shadbolt.Aotearoa for Sale.This week saw the much-heralded and somewhat alarming sight ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, The Economist-$ ...
By international standards the New Zealand healthcare system appears satisfactory – certainly no worse generally than average. Yet it is undergoing another redisorganisation.While doing some unrelated work, I came across some international data on the healthcare sector which seemed to contradict my – and the conventional wisdom’s – view of ...
When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he knew that he was upending Europe’s security order. But this was more of a tactical gambit than a calculated strategy ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Over the last year, I’ve been warning about Luxon’s pitch to privatise our public assets.He had told reporters in October that nothing was off the cards:Schools, hospitals, prisons, and ...
When ASPI’s Cyclone Tracy: 50 Years On was published last year, it wasn’t just a historical reflection; it was a warning. Just months later, we are already watching history repeat itself. We need to bake ...
1. Why was school lunch provider The Libelle Group in the news this week?a. Grand Winner in Pie of The Yearb. Scored a record 108% on YELP c. Bought by Oravida d. Went into liquidation2. What did our Prime Minister offer prospective investors at his infrastructure investment jamboree?a. The Libelle ...
South Korea has suspended new downloads of DeepSeek, and it was were right to do so. Chinese tech firms operate under the shadow of state influence, misusing data for surveillance and geopolitical advantage. Any country ...
Previous big infrastructure PPPs such as Transmission Gully were fiendishly complicated to negotiate, generated massive litigation and were eventually rewritten anyway. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesLong stories shortest: The Government’s international investment conference ignores the facts that PPPs cost twice as much as vanilla debt-funded public infrastructure, often take ...
Woolworths has proposed a major restructure of its New Zealand store operating model, leaving workers worried their hours and pay could be cut. Public servants are being asked how productive their office is, how much they use AI, and whether they’re overloaded with meetings as part of a “census”. An ...
Robert Kaplan’s book Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis paints a portrait of civilisation in flux. Drawing insights from history, literature and art, he examines the effect of modern technology, globalisation and urbanisation on ...
Sexuality - Strong and warm and wild and freeSexuality - Your laws do not apply to meSexuality - Don't threaten me with miserySexuality - I demand equalitySong: Billy Bragg.First, thank you to everyone who took part in yesterday’s survey. Some questions worked better than others, but I found them interesting, ...
Hi,I just got back from a week in Japan thanks to the power of cheap flights and years of accumulated credit card points.The last time I was in Japan the government held a press conference saying they might take legal action against me and Netflix, so there was a little ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including Donald Trump’s wrecking of the post-WW II political landscape; andHealth Coalition Aotearoa co-chair Lisa ...
Hi,I just got back from a short trip to Japan, mostly spending time in Tokyo.I haven’t been there since we shot Dark Tourist back in 2017 — and that landed us in a bit of hot water with the Japanese government.I am glad to report I was not thrown into ...
I’ve been on Substack for almost 8 months now.It’s been good in terms of the many great individuals that populate its space. So much variety and intelligence and humour and depth.I joined because someone suggested I should ‘start a Substack,’ whatever that meant.So I did.Turning on payments seemed like the ...
Open access notables Would Adding the Anthropocene to the Geologic Time Scale Matter?, McCarthy et al., AGU Advances:The extraordinary fossil fuel-driven outburst of consumption and production since the mid-twentieth century has fundamentally altered the way the Earth System works. Although humans have impacted their environment for millennia, justification for ...
Australia should buy equipment to cheaply and temporarily convert military transport aircraft into waterbombers. On current planning, the Australian Defence Force will have a total of 34 Chinook helicopters and Hercules airlifters. They should be ...
Indonesia’s government has slashed its counterterrorism (CT) budgets, despite the persistent and evolving threat of violent extremism. Australia can support regional CT efforts by filling this funding void. Reducing funding to the National Counterterrorism Agency ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Resource Management (Prohibition on Extraction of Freshwater for On-selling) Amendment Bill (Debbie Ngarewa-Packer) The bill does exactly what it says on the label, and would effectively end the rapacious water-bottling industry ...
Twilight Time Lighthouse Cuba, Wigan Street, Wellington, Sunday 6 April, 5:30pm for 6pm start. Twilight Time looks at the life and work of Desmond Ball, (1947-2016), a barefooted academic from ‘down under’ who was hailed by Jimmy Carter as “the man who saved the world”, as he proved the fallacy ...
Foreign aid is being slashed across the Global North, nowhere more so than in the United States. Within his first month back in the White House, President Donald Trump dismantled the US Agency for International ...
Nicola Willis has proposed new procurement rules that unions say will lead to pay cuts for already low-paid workers in cleaning, catering and security services that are contracted by government. The Crimes (Theft by Employer) Amendment Bill passed its third reading with support from all the opposition parties and NZ ...
Most KP readers will not know that I was a jazz DJ in Chicago and Washington DC while in grad school in the early and mid 1980s. In DC I joined WPFW as a grave shift host, then a morning drive show host (a show called Sui Generis, both for ...
Long stories shortest: The IMF says a capital gains tax or land tax would improve real economic growth and fix the budget. GDP is set to be smaller by 2026 than it was in 2023. Compass is flying in school lunches from Australia. 53% of National voters say the new ...
Last year in October I wrote “Where’s The Opposition?”. I was exasperated at the relative quiet of the Green Party, Labour and Te Pati Māori (TPM), as the National led Coalition ticked off a full bingo card of the Atlas Network playbook.1To be fair, TPM helped to energise one of ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkGood data visualizations can help make climate change more visceral and understandable. Back in 2016 Ed Hawkins published a “climate spiral” graph that ended up being pretty iconic – it was shown at the opening ceremony of the Olympics that year – and ...
An agreement to end the war in Ukraine could transform Russia’s relations with North Korea. Moscow is unlikely to reduce its cooperation with Pyongyang to pre-2022 levels, but it may become more selective about areas ...
This week, the Government is hosting a grand event aimed at trying to interest big foreign capital players in financing capital works in New Zealand, particularly its big rural motorway programme. Financing vs funding: a quick explainer The key word in the sentence above is financing. It is important ...
In a month’s time, the Right Honourable Winston Peters will be celebrating his 80th birthday. Good for him. On the evidence though, his current war on “wokeness” looks like an old man’s cranky complaint that the ancient virtues of grit and know-how are sadly lacking in the youth of today. ...
As noted, early March has been about moving house, and I have had little chance to partake in all things internet. But now that everything is more or less sorted, I can finally give a belated report on my visit to the annual Regent Booksale (28th February and 1st March). ...
Information operations Australia has banned cybersecurity software Kaspersky from government use because of risks of espionage, foreign interference and sabotage. The Department of Home Affairs said use of Kaspersky products posed an unacceptable security ...
The StrategistBy Linus Cohen, Astrid Young and Alice Wai
One of the best understood tropes of screen drama is the scene where the beloved family dog is barking incessantly and cannot be calmed. Finally, somebody asks: What is it, girl? Has someone fallen down a well? Is there trouble at the old John Key place?One is reminded of this ...
The ’ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, plays a significant role in the global cocaine trade and is deeply entrenched in Australia, influencing the cocaine trade and engaging in a variety of illicit activities. A range of ...
In the US, the Trump regime is busy imposing tariffs on its neighbours and allies, then revoking them, then reimposing them, permanently poisoning relations with Canada and Mexico. Trump has also threatened to impose tariffs on agricultural goods, which will affect Aotearoa's exports. National's response? To grovel for an exemption, ...
Troy Bowker’s Caniwi Capital’s Desmond Gittings, former TradeMe and Warehouse executive Simon West, former anonymous right wing blogger / Labour attacker & now NZ On Air Board member / Waitangi Tribunal member Philip Crump, Canadian billionaire Jim Grenon who used to run vaccine critical, Treaty of Waitangi critical, and trans-rights ...
The free school lunch program was one of Labour's few actual achievements in government. Decent food, made locally, providing local employment. So naturally, National had to get rid of it. Their replacement - run by Compass, a multinational which had already been thrown out of our hospitals for producing inedible ...
New draft government procurement guidelines will remove living wage protections for thousands of low-paid workers in Aotearoa New Zealand, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff. “The Minister of Finance Nicola Willis has proposed a new rule saying that the Living Wage no longer needs to be paid in ...
The Trump administration’s effort to divide Russia from China is doomed to fail. This means that the United States is destroying security relationships based on a delusion. To succeed, Russia would need to overcome more ...
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...
Shane Jones’ display on Q&A showed how out of touch he and this Government are with our communities and how in sync they are with companies with little concern for people and planet. ...
Labour does not support the private ownership of core infrastructure like schools, hospitals and prisons, which will only see worse outcomes for Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is disappointed the Government voted down Hūhana Lyndon’s member’s Bill, which would have prevented further alienation of Māori land through the Public Works Act. ...
The Labour Party will support Chloe Swarbrick’s member’s bill which would allow sanctions against Israel for its illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. ...
The Government’s new procurement rules are a blatant attack on workers and the environment, showing once again that National’s priorities are completely out of touch with everyday Kiwis. ...
With Labour and Te Pāti Māori’s official support, Opposition parties are officially aligned to progress Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in Palestine. ...
Te Pāti Māori extends our deepest aroha to the 500 plus Whānau Ora workers who have been advised today that the govt will be dismantling their contracts. For twenty years , Whānau Ora has been helping families, delivering life-changing support through a kaupapa Māori approach. It has built trust where ...
Labour welcomes Simeon Brown’s move to reinstate a board at Health New Zealand, bringing the destructive and secretive tenure of commissioner Lester Levy to an end. ...
This morning’s announcement by the Health Minister regarding a major overhaul of the public health sector levels yet another blow to the country’s essential services. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will ensure employment decisions in the public service are based on merit and not on forced woke ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ targets. “This Bill would put an end to the woke left-wing social engineering and diversity targets in the public sector. ...
Police have referred 20 offenders to Destiny Church-affiliated programmes Man Up and Legacy as ‘wellness providers’ in the last year, raising concerns that those seeking help are being recruited into a harmful organisation. ...
Te Pāti Māori welcomes the resignation of Richard Prebble from the Waitangi Tribunal. His appointment in October 2024 was a disgrace- another example of this government undermining Te Tiriti o Waitangi by appointing a former ACT leader who has spent his career attacking Māori rights. “Regardless of the reason for ...
Police Minister Mark Mitchell is avoiding accountability by refusing to answer key questions in the House as his Government faces criticism over their dangerous citizen’s arrest policy, firearm reform, and broken promises to recruit more police. ...
The number of building consents issued under this Government continues to spiral, taking a toll on the infrastructure sector, tradies, and future generations of Kiwi homeowners. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Prime Minister to rule out joining the AUKUS military pact in any capacity following the scenes in the White House over the weekend. ...
The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s plan to disestablish Resource Teachers of Māori (RTM) roles, a move that takes another swing at kaupapa Māori education. ...
The Government’s levies announcement is a step in the right direction, but they must be upfront about who will pay its new infrastructure levies and ensure that first-home buyers are protected from hidden costs. ...
The Government’s levies announcement is a step in the right direction, but they must be upfront about who will pay its new infrastructure levies and ensure that first-home buyers are protected from hidden costs. ...
After months of mana whenua protecting their wāhi tapu, the Green Party welcomes the pause of works at Lake Rotokākahi and calls for the Rotorua Lakes Council to work constructively with Tūhourangi and Ngāti Tumatawera on the pathway forward. ...
New Zealand First continues to bring balance, experience, and commonsense to Government. This week we've made progress on many of our promises to New Zealand.Winston representing New ZealandWinston Peters is overseas this week, with stops across the Middle East and North Asia. Winston's stops include Saudi Arabia, the ...
Green Party Co-Leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have announced the party’s plans to deliver a Green Budget this year to offer an alternative vision to the Government’s trickle-down economics and austerity politics. ...
At this year's State of the Planet address, Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick announced the party’s plans to deliver a Green Budget this year to offer an alternative vision to the Government’s trickle-down economics and austerity politics. ...
There may be a lot of acronyms, but caring for an electric vehicle, and getting the most out of it, can be very simple.You’ve brought home a shiny new treat. It’s got two darling little ears, four rubbery feet, multiple glowing eyes and oh! – no tail at the ...
A new report suggests a focus on export industries will provide the best opportunity for growth in an expanding Māori economy.The Māori economy is at a turning point, with rapid growth, a diversifying asset base and untapped export potential creating new opportunities. But despite nearly doubling in five years ...
“If Brooke van Velden is genuine when she calls for an evidence-based approach to this issue, then she must support a full ban on engineered stone products,” said NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff. ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a ‘broke’ volunteer and former policy adviser explains how he gets by. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Man. Age: 31. Ethnicity: Mixed ethnicity. Role: Unemployed (ex-policy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Randall Wayth, SKA-Low Senior Commissioning Scientist and Adjunct Associate Professor, Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy, Curtin University The first image from an early working version of the SKA-Low telescope, showing around 85 galaxies.SKAO Part of the world’s biggest mega-science facility – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Galyna Piskorska, Associate Professor, Faculty of Journalism, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University (Ukraine) and Honorary Principal Fellow at the Advanced Centre for Journalism, The University of Melbourne Three years into Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, Ukrainian journalists are facing enormously difficult challenges to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeannie Marie Paterson, Professor of Law (consumer protections and credit law), The University of Melbourne Late last week, corporate watchdog the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued a warning to lenders that provide high-fee small-amount loans – known as payday lenders ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marc C-Scott, Associate Professor of Screen Media | Deputy Associate Dean of Learning & Teaching, Victoria University Shutterstock This month marks a decade since Netflix – the world’s most influential and widely subscribed streaming service – launched in Australia. Since ...
Around 70% of New Zealanders find their homes too hot at least some of the time in summer. Those in townhouses are suffering much more than most, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A summer of broiling ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa M. Katerina Asher, Retail Academic Researcher, PhD Candidate & Sessional Academic, University of Sydney non c/Shutterstock New Zealand’s concentrated supermarket sector is back in the spotlight after Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she was open to offering “VIP treatment” to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Stebbing, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University Lightspring/Shutterstock Imagine a world where bacteria, typically feared for causing disease, are turned into powerful weapons against cancer. That’s exactly what some scientists are working on. And they are beginning to unravel ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary K. Waite, Professor Emeritus, Early Modern European History, University of New Brunswick In this etching from Dutch theologian Lambertus Hortensius’ 1614 book ‘Van den oproer der weder-dooperen,’ Anabaptists warn the residents of Amsterdam of the coming vengeance of Christ in 1535. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Allyn Dale, Director of the MA in Climate and Society program at the Columbia Climate School, Columbia University After the devastating 1994 genocide, Rwandans returning from the violence established homes and began farming where they could find land. Since then, ...
It started with a hug.On the steps of Hyderabad House in Delhi, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon leaned in first. Once Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embraced his new friend, the pair walked the flag-adorned lawn, and Luxon patted Modi on the back one, two, three, four times. .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles article .entry-title ...
Whangārei District Council reaffirmed its defiance of the government’s fluoridation order on Monday, despite mounting costs, legal threats and a bitterly divided chamber.Whangārei District Council (WDC) spent Monday afternoon in what may be one of the most chaotic and heated council meetings in recent memory. After months of defiance ...
Media strategist, advisor and author Kevin Chesters joins Duncan Greive for a deep dive into advertising, creativity and the demise of the monoculture ahead of his appearance at AXIS Speaks in Tāmaki Makaurau. Kevin Chesters has 30 years of experience leading strategy on both agency and client sides, serving ...
Two months into US President Donald Trump’s presidency, leaders around the world are picking their battle strategies: butter him up, or speak truth to power?To date, New Zealand has largely steered clear entirely, treading a careful line. Earlier this month, Winston Peters fired Phil Goff from his position as High ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 18 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Mark Forman’s exemplary new biography, Tony Fomison: Life Of The Artist, has been published after 12 years of research and writing – and over those long years I’ve diligently answered Mark’s emails on his subject. Between 1985–1989, I was Tony Fomison’s friend/gofer/lackey/ Sancho Panza/Sundance Kid/Boswell/Baldrick.I look back on my time ...
Seven people have died on the Wellington waterfront since 2006. What should be done about it? In 2021, 30-year-old Sandy Calkin died in Wellington Harbour after a night drinking with friends in the city centre. A coroner’s report into Calkin’s death, released last week, confirmed the cause of death was ...
Professor David McGiffin knows his trade. A top Australian heart-lung researcher and a retired head of cardiothoracic and transplant surgery at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, McGiffin has seen huge advances in his field over a long and distinguished career.Listen to the podcast But one thing that remains unsolved ...
Comment: Russia’s four-yearly training exercises have become genuinely dangerous events The post Putin’s dangerous war games appeared first on Newsroom. ...
MediaRoom column: A wider play for the Herald owner is possible; Plus, machines take over the Herald site. And a new media trust survey. The post Will a white knight ride to the Herald’s rescue? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Themiya Nanayakkara, Lead Astronomer at the James Webb Australian Data Centre, Swinburne University of Technology The Big Wheel alongside some of its neighbours. Weichen Wang et al. (2025) Deep observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed an exceptionally ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has won facetime and favour with global heavyweight Narendra Modi on a frenetic full day in India, where both pledged greater military cooperation. ...
Blair Ensor, Stuff’s Auckland editor, nails it in this tweet.
‘Sobering.’
“Every time you sit down to a plant-based meal instead of an animal-based meal, you save about 280 gallons of water and protect anywhere from 12 to 50 square feet of land from deforestation, overgrazing, and pesticide and fertilizer pollution.”
https://www.thoughtco.com/important-things-to-do-for-the-environment-1203550
Yeah but just think of the thick juicy steak you’re missing out on.
I think you’re incorrect there, Ed feasts on baby Yagyu steaks most mornings.
That would explain a lot!
“Yeah but just think of the thick juicy steak you’re missing out on.”
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
did you think of that original wit yourself numbnuts?
It would be a shame if that were their attempt to contribute original content to the site.
Shameful – already a sausage fest here.
Just think of the ethics consciousness and critical thinking that you are missing out on. Oh wait, you can’t.
‘Ethics consciousness’? Spare me your lecture. Animals provide humans with food. Yummy food.
98% of that food is provided through industrial factory farming, a process that causes untold suffering and cruelty to animals.
Why don’t you do just a tiny bit of research?
Psychopaths care just as little about humans.
As long as that thing they buy is cheap, who cares if it’s made by a slave or a child in wretched conditions?
Just as long as the meat is yummy and the clothes are cool, eh?
“98% of that food is provided through industrial factory farming, a process that causes untold suffering and cruelty to animals.”
Cite? And nothing from the sandal wearing brigade. Sound, scientific research only.
Just think of how much you are reducing your risk of bowel cancer by not eating the steak (if you are too selfish to think about your impact on the planet)
I was going to dub Baba Yaga “meathead” but given your reference to his bowels…
The research on the link between bowel cancer and red meat shows you have to eat a lot of meat. A lot. A balanced diet, including some of those juicy steaks, is healthy.
You are either lying or are ignorant.
Google the China Study.
The ‘China study’? Nah, I’ll do better than that:
“Lean red meat can be an important source of iron, zinc, vitamin B12 and protein. In terms of cancer risk there is no reason to cut meat completely from your diet…”
Read more at https://www.cancercouncil.com.au/21639/cancer-prevention/diet-exercise/nutrition-diet/fruit-vegetables/meat-and-cancer/#Q86v5DtEPry8jSfK.99
Most research I’ve seen says you can eat up to 70g of red meat a day safely.
Yeah but imagine fitting into a single seat again babby gagga.
Sounding suspiciously like fat shaming there Gabby
I’ve nothing against fat greasy bastards puckers.
Ha ha Gabby good answer.
and
https://www.popsci.com/cat-dog-pet-food-environmental-impact
Most cattle and sheep country in NZ is not suitable for crops, so you have saved nothing at all by eating a plant based meal.
Please excuse my suburban ignorance of farming and plants in general, but surely it grows grass?
Hmm, yes our hill country does grow grass, which the beef and sheep eat. But I presume you are not suggesting we eat grass, (aside from the fact the land is too steep for it to be harvested anyway).
Our hill country grows grass because its varied tree and shrub, vine and herb natural vegetation was cleared in order to grow … grass. Replacing that grass with a new variation of the trees and shrubs etc. that can support humans would be a very good idea, Imo.
My take on it is that for a farmer to grow crops on a scale needed to make some money they’d need mostly flat land needing little in the way of conversion whereas theres a helluva lot of high country, hilly country that just wouldn’t be economically viable to go from sheep,beef, diary etc to cropping
However I’m a suburbanite as well so I might be completely off the mark
I believe you are on the mark and that would be why hillsides that are cultivated in places in Asia are terraced. I am interested to see if the Greens want to terrace our hill country farms.
I’d like to hear a farmers take on this (bwaghorn maybe) but imagine trying to get some of those huge farm machines on the side of a hill, would not be cheap or fun I’d be betting
Dairy has pushed sheep and beef into the hills in the last twenty years . Used to be a lot of s/b on flatland down south.
Manuka of late and pines for the last 30 years is pushing s/b out of the steeper terrain.
Interestingly even though ewe numbers have halved in 50 years we still export about the same amount of lamb .
Now if only the greenies brought the fantastic renewable fire proof product that wool is we would be sweet.
Thanks for the reply and would you mind if i picked your brain a little bit more because I’d like your opinion on this:
I’m thinking it wouldn’t be economical to get the infrastructure set up for planting crops on NZs hillsides because it would take more roads to be built to get the machinery to the crops plus the machinery itself would be another massive undertaking due to the amounts of crops needed to make any money
But because I’m a townie I’m assuming there’d be more costs involved that I haven’t even considered (more fertiliser maybe or even less money for crops because of increased demand?) so is there anything else?
Some sheep cockiess do what dubbed spray and pray ie spray the pasture then aerial spread swedes and kale seed . Then pray for rain at the right time in the right amount . It would be a bugger to harvest .
Like you say it would be a huge undertaking to try for a harvestable crop . Other than pines and as we are seeing that’s not that great when harvested in a high rain fall environment.
Any way must away it’s Brazilian day for some of the girls
Cheers for that
“It would be a bugger to harvest” – best send hoofed animals up there then, to carefully extract those swedes without damaging the soil…hang on!
More likely would eat the swedes
You wouldn’t want to eat the modern “wooden” swedes – the old Doon Majors are/were delicious. You’d also want to avoid the herbicide tolerant swedes that killed and maimed hundreds of dairy cattle when it was planted in the South in recent times.
Coming from Southland I bow to your greater knowledge of swedes
If there were villages nearby, the planting and harvest would provide employment for the villagers. Why harvest with huge machines? Simpler machines could efficiently and with regard to soil conservation, be utilised by the villagers. It depends upon what “crops” you are talking about; perhaps defining that would help the discussion; tree crops? Planting can effectively be done by hand, as can many harvests. If the crops were diverse, many tasks would need to be done to manage them and people are the best “tools” for multitasking like that. Who wouldn’t love to live in a village in the hills, with your family and friends, planting and harvesting a range of annual, biennial and perennial crops seasonally that could be sold locally, regionally, nationally and internationally (in that order) to create healthy, satisfying lives for those who love life outside of the city
Well since the thread was talking about eating I was more referencing crops for eating, replacing sheep and beef and that
“Who wouldn’t love to live in a village in the hills, with your family and friends, planting and harvesting a range of annual, biennial and perennial crops seasonally that could be sold locally, regionally, nationally and internationally (in that order) to create healthy, satisfying lives for those who love life outside of the city”
It sounds like a great idea for those that’re into it but I’m guessing the price for said vegetables would massively increase and put the prices even more out of reach for poorer people
Crops for eating? Hazel nuts, walnuts, sweet chestnuts, almonds, apples, pears, plums, apricots, peaches, gooseberries, currants, blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, Yukon, artichokes, potatoes, ulluco, cardoon, rhubarb, beets, turnips, pumpkins…should I go on? Why would the price of veggies go up for those growing them? If city folk had to pay a fair price for their vegetables and fruits, why is that a concern? Grown without poisons sprays, their health would be far better, saving them a small fortune in medical bills and saving employers a great deal with regard down-time through sickness.
‘Why would the price of veggies go up for those growing them?’
)
– Supply and demand, unless you can match the current growing production there’ll less produce and if theres less supply the demand is greater (I’m sure you already know this
‘If city folk had to pay a fair price for their vegetables and fruits, why is that a concern?’
– As I’ve been told numerous times on this site poor people can’t afford to eat fresh fruit and vegetables as it is so by paying a fair price you’re pricing poor people out of eating healthy (shame on you Robert)
‘Grown without poisons sprays, their health would be far better, saving them a small fortune in medical bills and saving employers a great deal with regard down-time through sickness.’
– Debatable
Wool is wonderful, most greenies would agree
It’s been underrated here and abroad since the introduction of synthetic (oil based) fibres (nylon carpets etc.) but the saving has been a false one – our throwaway habits are biting us back harder and harder as time goes by – disposing of a pure wool carpet, if ever you needed to (you shouldn’t, if you took care of it in the way it should be cared for – as a treasure) is simple – it’s organic and can be returned to the soil to the soil’s benefit; nylon carpets, not so much (to understate the problem)
I recommend terracing. You don’t need machines for a productive terraced landscape, you need people; know of any people who would like to live where they work, grow their food where they live, socialise and play among their carefully tended garden beds? Sounds awful doesn’t it (where’s the nearest cafe? Burger King?)
All on the living wage I’m guessing?
Much of their needs would be met locally, Pucky: food and drink for starters. Employment too. Social needs, familial needs. Spiritual needs. What else is there
Jet-skiis would probably be out of the question, oh the anguish, but having your grandparents about to look after the grand kids would compensate the petrolhead father for his loss. There’s a whole world of possibility to be explored with this model, but I suspect you’re already dismissing it (as Gosman will) as “commie-talk”. Sadly, such brackish thinking is killing innovation and creativity, Imo.
I won’t dismiss it as all in fact i can’t wait to see you start up a local model and you can let us know how it goes
Already started here, Pucky; local organic food cooperative, community forest garden, a string of community heritage apple orchards, annual fruit tree sales, harvest festival, organic gardener’s group, permaculture hui (coming) mid winter “earth craft” “round the mountain” delivery link (in gestation) and so on and so on…I’m happy to describe these things further, but there might not be the interest. But for now, I’m off to the climate change meeting.
Very interesting reading your comments in this section of the thread RG. Thanks, quite the vision!
Terracing already largely achieved by Shrek and his comrades,
https://photoseek.photoshelter.com/image/I00001bt__8ZqPDA
Yes there are so, so many stories from the old timers about how farming in New Zealand was like “trying to farm on the surface of the moon” or “in the middle of the sinai desert!” That is of course why there was a rush to chop or burn down the native forests that had laid down millenia of some of the most infertile, toxic inorganic hummus onto the already 100% bedrock that makes up New Zealand soil if you can call it that. No wonder they had such a hard time. We were just lucky historically we found a way to farm round boulders otherwise we would have no agriculture at all here, the Moeraki boulders being the last surviving boulder farm.
We can grow trees, Manuka….Pines…
That is where it could have helped farmers if there were proper Carbon trading credits.
We can grow trees, Manuka….Pines… and tree crops.
http://www.treecrops.org.nz/
https://apw.org.nz/programme-2018/tree-crops/
Pretty ignorant comment Wayne – like duh
Except the soil and shitloads of water maybe wayney.
Wayne;
Our ‘changing climate’ will render all our country as ‘not suitable for crops’ in the future sunshine.
It appears Wayne knows as much about climate change as he does about Afghanistan….
You don’t appear to be very informed on the subject….
Heard of trees?
Erosion?
Polluted waterways?
We should be abandoning farming animals and planting trees.
Some interesting tweets here on the state of the CBD in Christchurch.
Is it dying?
https://twitter.com/NikkyD77/status/1009618929965125632
Weird. Maybe the charms of Brownlee’s rebuild of the centre acting as a repellant?
‘
“Visit Borneo before it’s too late”
KIM BLACK – June 26, 2018, Stuff.co.nz
Get there before Fonterra does
Fonterra linked to massive rain forest destruction
Nick Young – 25 June 2018, Greenpeace
‘
Who cares?
2017 was the second worst year on record for tropical forests
Some 39 million acres of trees — or 40 football fields per minute — were lost around the world, according to new data.
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/6/27/17503466/trees-deforestation-tropical-forests-climate-change
Quite apparently and shockingly
‘
Nobody.
‘
‘
Related comments and posts:
Can New Zealand really be Carbon Neutral by 2050 when Climate Crime goes unchecked in the present?
New Zealand dairy giant’s key supplier of palm kernel extract has links to a huge expanse of deforestation in Indonesia.
All silent in the Mainstream Media.
All silent in the alternative media
Server timeout waiting for the HTTP request from the client.
All good, but technically the kernal oil is for your bio-fuels, for the 2050 thing.
Fonterra smelt like a lodge sell-out, but there is a vision of things slowly coming back to earth, with global debt default kicking. Penned refugees in Turkey showing Middle Eastern energy resource retaining value, at least in short-term. Suggesting an invitation to Turkey and Israel to join the EU
A bigger EU, minus Catalonia, Bayern and Scottland, who can rough it alone or together.
Getting my head around methane emitted from farms and the claims by the farming industry and it’s cheerleaders (Wayne
that it’s not a problem because it only lasts a short while (10 years!) then converts back to CO2 and water, both of which are reabsorbed by the farm’s pasture – well, look at an analogy that focuses on the period when the harmful gas is “briefly” in the air – imagine if the methane was a avicide – killed birds instantly, thereafter 10 minutes, converted back to CO2 and was reabsorbed by the pasture. The farming industry would argue, it’s a cyclic process, all the gas reverts to pasture and therefore there is a balance; farming’s contributing no more than it takes, forgetting that for 10 devastating minutes; every moment of the day, as the gas is being released constantly, birds are dying; falling from the sky. The methane argument equates with this hypothetical scenario; methane is vastly more “warming” to our atmosphere than CO2 is and while it reverts back to CO2, it’s harm is done over the 10 years it is in the air.
I’d appreciate any critique of my explanation, should anyone be interested. I’m off to James Shaw’s Zero Carbon Bill community consultation tonight and there will be farmers there, pushing their “methane should be exempted” line.
A critique?…..not so much, rather an observation or two, for what its worth.
Atmospheric methane levels have over doubled since pre industrial times …if we accept that methane levels (flows) were in balance then the world needs to reduce methane output by approx half.
Livestock changes have been dramatic in NZ since the 1990s. The reduction of sheep numbers (from 70 million to 30 million) has largely offset ( in methane terms) the increase in dairy numbers in the same period (from 7 to 10 million)…beef cattle /deer numbers have been static.
Given sheep produce around 30 litres a day methane, and cattle 200 we have increased methane output in the ag sector by approx 13% over that timeframe….from 3 b l/pd to 3.4 b l/pd.
Livestock emissions account for around 20% of methane emissions worldwide.
My suspicion is the increase in atmospheric methane is driven largely by the numerical increase in livestock numbers worldwide ( to feed an increasing population) and gas production, another significant contributor.
In terms of farming in NZ there are many environmental problems caused by our current farming practices but would suggest methane emissions is not top of the list….although its not to be ignored.
I know I’m just repeating myself here, but if government committed to reducing CO2 emissions in line with what current scientific knowledge demands (zero from energy by the 2040s), then methane and whatever else can be exempted or anythinged, because their levels will drop substantially as a natural or inevitable consequence of serious action on CO2.
The bit that appears to be being missed in the whole red herring argument about methane, is that whether exempted or not, the government obviously intends to continue burning fossil apace.
That’s against every international accord signed by NZ, where CO2 emission reductions were going to be set according to our scientific knowledge.
Robert, Thanks from someone who would like to have attended. Rug up xx
Perhaps you can report back?
patricia – I will, tomorrow, once the shouting’s died down
I expect the southern branch of Federated Farmers will be there, singing Wayne’s tune. I’ll be doing a “Bill” (our Bill, not theirs 
Won’t they be singing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-XusWn6r8I
To be smart, we should give them right to produce methane, but off-set with low nitrate farming requirement to serve greater ecosystem health.
Winston Peters claims industrial action is looming because Unions know this Government will listen.
However, it seems to me industrial action is looming because this Government isn’t listening thus isn’t succumbing to Union demands.
Additionally, isn’t it interesting how Peters never pointed to fiscal constraints and the need to maintain a surplus when the billion dollars for foreign aid was announced. But when NZ employees seek a pay rise he becomes Scrooge.
If I had the power to choose (at the next election) between National getting back into power or Winston removed from political power for good I’d choose removing Winston, even if that meant a Labour/Green coalition
I’m picking Winston is over. With his support of the TPP and putting foreign aid first, he’s gone against NZF’s reason for being.
Yeah it’s now known that a vote for Winston is a vote for Labour so his left leaning voters will be weighing up between voting Labour, Greens or Winston and his right leaning have either National or Act
Yep, gone quiet on immigration too. Saying that I have a soft spot for Whinny which although have never voted for him, I like his style, aka he at least can stylishly stand up Duncan Garner and say F you to MSM.
In spite of being a lawyer he understands the pitfalls of having everything about litigation and a country full of banks and lawyers is not exactly gonna be productive or innovative… or a nice place to live.
that is the problem with our current Ponzi scheme, we have not really concentrated of future production and some sort of future strategy, dirty agriculture and tourism driving up carbon is never going to last forever, instead of being ahead of the curve, NZ has gone for the quick and dirty profits for a few individuals while helping destroy the industry which could easily be future proofed with some positive action, for the rest.
Selling off our country and assets for peanuts, creating poverty with low wage economy and deregulation and ripping people off while worstening the level of quality from food to construction with cheap hires, cash and trafficked staff and bad degrees, eventually comes to a sickly end when we run out of disposable money and people are too scared to eat out or hire a contractor or buy an apartment as they have been ripped off too many times and normal businesses are competing with fake businesses for immigration scams.
People either hate him or love him. Personally, I have a bit of time for him. He’s supposedly meant to stand against the negatives you highlighted. But like others, I’m disappointed in some of his decisions of late.
He has many years of political experience and that will be a loss.
Nice view chairman;
‘He has many years of political experience’
And you are right;
Winston has many ways to swing a cat now.
So dont count him or NZF out here, as he does make ‘Large surprises that even the once over-confident National party found out’ – thouight they had him boxed too.
They learned and we are not counting Winston out or NZF.
Winnie will shine in a global financial melt-down. He will make the boldest calls, and set the scene for the next election.
But the unions presumably do think the govt will weaken, otherwise why go on strike.
Going on strike is a last resort. Thus, they’d only be doing it because the Government isn’t weakening.
Well there didn’t seem to be as many strikes under National and National certainly wasn’t weak when it came to unions
Indeed. The Unions have been biting the bullet. Which has resulted in this boiling over with the Unions now deciding (in numbers) enough is enough, it’s time to stand their ground.
Presumably because, as Wayne states, they think present government will cave in whereas the previous government wouldn’t
My understanding is it’s due to deteriorating conditions that have been building up over the years, thus worsening morale. Hence, a larger number are now willing to take a stronger stance. So it’s more to do with pressure building up over time and not solely due to the change of Government.
Of course, they will be hoping strike action will force the Government to cave.
However, the Government will be twice the fools to let it go that far if they were willing to cave from the outset. And it’s the fact the Government isn’t listening and succumbing to their demands that is forcing them to strike in the first place.
This happening six months into a new government but i’m assuming the pressure or difficulties isn’t that much different from a year or even two years ago
Just seems a tad coincidental thats its happening, now, under a Labour-led government thats more positive towards unions than a National government that is less positive
If this Labour-led Government was more positive towards Unions, Unions wouldn’t be resorting to industrial action.
This happening six months into a new Government is just the timing contracts are up for renegotiation.
Then you’d be assuming wrong.
Yes Draco;
‘A day in politics is a long time’ – and Winston know’s this better than anyone else arouind parliament.
Then the Unions are politically foolish. It would serve them much better long term to make life difficult for a National led government than a Labour one. Most people are not going to see the nuance you write about and will just make a link that Labour equals more strikes.
Regardless if it were a National Government, I think we’d be seeing the same thing. As I’ve explained above, this boiling over now is more to do with the timing, resulting from years of insufficient progress. People have just had enough and are now starting to stand their ground.
Wayne due you think nurses should be paid what they are asking for?
If not why not?
How do their salaries c/p with say a politicians, who doesn’t have to train or qualify for the job?
When the troughers bite the hand that trough’s them
Westgate developer sues Auckland Council for $33 million
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/105031410/westgate-developer-sues-auckland-council-for-33-million
Another PPP going down the toilet in litigation after under delivering so the lawyers get to lose more ratepayer money on the spoils of another failed venture.
Nobody goes to Westgate because when you are deliberately developing a low wage economy and people spend all their money on mortgages, rents, insurances, power, rates, transport and water , combined with the worst urban design possible from the 1980’s aka a large mall filled with franchise stores and surrounded by highways, it’s not really a pull to go to…
BTW, is the Westgate the McDonalds that sold those Sundae’s with the pills and the police are now involved…. other issues might be people not going there are when you get ripped off or have your health endangered by a franchise store that seems to have gone haywire with bad staff doing weird shit, you don’t go back!
Also the rents are now so high for commercial real estate, that most businesses can’t survive.
And pretty stark when you compare the state+private masterplanned development at Hobsonville just a few kilometers down the road.
Hobsonville Land Company has now grown into HLC which is the largest and most progressive home-and-community building in Auckland. And it is about to acquire powers to acquire and control land under statute as an Urban Development Agency.
Westgate is by a long way Waitakere Council’s worst set of decisions, making a town centre even more devoid of life and opportunity than Albany. And it will take even longer to fix than the several billion needed over the past two decades to turn Manukau town centre into something livable.
HLC???? These are the private developers that promised affordable housing at Tamaki – 400 by this year but sadly there link says
SORRY – WE COULD NOT FIND THAT!
Please try using the navigation or the search above.
But there is ones for $863,000, so affordable, so much hope for the state house tenants living in hotels and now condemned homes is the new way to house them!
https://www.creatingcommunities.co.nz/homes
For a self proclaimed Labour man, Ad, I’m not sure you are doing a good job at convincing people with your blindness for the free market profiting from the state as being a good thing.
Tamaki is a different entity:
https://www.tamakiregeneration.co.nz/
For a self-proclaimed Labour man, my advice to you or anyone is:
Expect neither the state nor the private sector to deliver everything for you. If you can’t scrape together your Kiwisaver, your collective savings, your relatives, and your banks to get a deposit to own something in Auckland, then you will not be owning in Auckland.
The best this government will do in three years is cool the market down, subsidise incomes, make houses, stop further foreign ownership of existing houses, and make real estate less attractive to landlords.
The rest is up to you.
Hobsenville HLC
Average price looks to be around $800,000+
https://hobsonvillepoint.co.nz/assets/Uploads/Precinct-Price-List-June-22-2018.pdf
Sounds like an affordable disaster – not something to be crowed about.
Prior to all the council and government intervention driving up the prices, you could buy a 3 bedroom house for $350,000 around there and a studio apartment in the city for $160k.
It’s the best masterplanned community in Auckland. No, not everyone will afford it. But $800,000+ is an average place in Auckland. You can find cheaper, but then, you get what you pay for.
So people want to live there.
If you are expecting state houses in Hobsonville, check back in your records and you will see that the local MP at the time John Key objected so strongly that all state housing was stripped out of the job.
Yep only takes 1 hour and 4 minutes by public transport including your walk of 80 minutes return which is more than 2 hours commute and $75 for transport.
Hobsonville Point Road, Hobsonville to Queen Street, Auckland Central
Thursday 28 June
Departs at 7:38 am
1hr 4min
HOBS HOP $7.50
If you are so foolish as to work in the middle of Auckland’s CBD while living on the periphery of Auckland at Hobsonville, then you’re on a reasonable income and may as well take the ferry at $10 a shot; timetable and fares from Hobsonville wharf below:
https://www.fullers.co.nz/timetables-and-fares/?from=AUCK&to=HOBS
Yep that lovely 44 minute walk return to get to the ferry (no public transport options according to AT planner) and then that 35 minute journey by ferry, so I guess that is 44 minute walk and total transit time of around 2 hours but costs you $100 per week in ferry costs…
Also why does AT planner not plan for Ferries in their travel planner, more Moranic IT… no doubt costing a fortune to get a D- grade IT service missing vital info.
Sounds like the capitalists took the risk that they say they’re so good at and are now demanding that local government guarantee their expected returns.
Sounds like they might have got the teensiest bit shafted by Aucky Transport savy.
Marine plastic: Hundreds of fragments in dead seabirds
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44579422
and in the fish you eat.
yummo.
Mussel rope. Made from plastic.
edit – should also mention the dye. It’s blue and as of 2003 – 2004 contained lead
I remember reading something about the cultural revolution in China, Mao told everybody to kill the birds because they ate the crops, so they killed all the birds and then the bugs didn’t have the birds left to eat them and ate the crops and they started to starve…
It would be easy to just ban plastic. Would help NZ as we produce wood and they could go back to paper bags!
Doesn’t even seem to be on their radar. Too late to tax plastic bags as the oceans are already full, it’s a full ban they need!
The earth aint gonna end if they ban plastic bags (I think Germany did years ago), but the earth might end if they don’t ban them!
What is the carbon footprint of a paper processing plant, let alone the environmental impact?
Probably a lot less than all the plastic made from oil that does not decay and currently polluting and killing the ocean.
At least the tree producing the paper used to produce oxygen and decays!
Do your own research.
There you go (its also on youtube)
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/10/four-pests-campaign/
Don’t worry Draco I’m sure it wasn’t really communism to blame though
It wasn’t – it was ignorance and stupidity.
Thing is, we see the same sort of stupidity from capitalism and their use of pesticides that seem to be eradicating the bees and if the bees die out everything dies out.
The manufacturers of the pesticide demand that they still be able to produce and sell it and many farmers demand that they be able to use it.
100% Draco; – top coment there.
Hemp and flax are proven products and industries and could replace a lot of plastic – just like they did in yesteryear.
Might be the sort of large scale cropping that could help cocked transition away from milking cows .
Exactly mate.
That is the dream that my hemp growing friends and I have – good for everyone.
Also making products out of flax could be a goer! Doesn’t have the ‘stigma’ of the hemp and is incredibly strong. Grows like a weed too.
That is where the northland money should be going, innovation using NZ products like flax to make alternate packaging options.
We need to aim a lot bigger, look at companies like Huhtamaki, a global multinational Finnish company that does packaging.
The next thing is clearly biodegradable packaging!
Fonterra could be leading the world by having flax based milk cartons/packaging etc, but nope instead troughing at executive level and polluting the environment to boot while waiting to go out of business with their lazy pathetic management approach.
Hemp could literally ‘save the world’…
The history of how chemical companies conspired to eradicate hemp production and use is interesting…
NZ should be leading the world with ‘green’…
Too backward in this country and we have to have the approval of the USA b4 we are allowed to do anything.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/105040475/kiwibuild-visa-replaced-with-wider-immigration-changes-to-fix-30000-construction-worker-gap
Not quite how Labour thought this would go
waiting for the vitriolic outrage against this corrupt, immigrant loving, kiwi hating government…….
Its ok because at least they’re “trying”
Filling your hot water bottles with hate to tide you through the long, long winter of no-power-no mates-no nothing opposition is a good idea righties – winter is here.
“long, long winter of no-power”
Don’t tell me Labours going to try and re nationalise the power as well…
Lol yep a long, long time before the hoofs touch the levers of power again – so good – two legs good, four legs bad…
@PR – have to agree they are clueless.
I’m actually less interested in the policies and more interested in how the msm will go about reporting this
Fucken morons. Going the cheap and easy route rather than the sustainable route of developing our economy and the people already here.
Much better to train those already here and do the R&D so that we don’t need another 30,000 people.
Where is the training and up skilling the domestic workforce, where is the pay back from the sector to cater for tradesman for the future ??
And this
https://www.labour.org.nz/immigration
Residential construction firms could hire a skilled tradesperson on a three-year work visa without having to meet the Labour Market Test if they pay a living wage and take on an apprentice for each overseas worker they hire. The number of places will be limited to 1,000 to 1,500 at a given time, which we expect will be additional to the construction work visas issued under the existing rules.
Some in the industry could see this coming, but no one was wanting to keep labour honest. Enough to almost make you vote ACT :-(, at least you know what you will be getting !!!
See, it’s not that hard to fix things is it?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/360495/benefit-suspensions-drop-after-new-policy
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeats fourth-ranking House Democrat Joe Crowley in massive upset…ha ha..maybe all is not lost! And she did it not on corporate money…but a genuine grass roots movement.
To me, this is the interesting and important story, not Trumps latest tweet.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/26/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-beats-high-ranking-house-democrat-joe-crowley.html
http://www.group30.org/members
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/06/low-income-families-feeling-more-hopeful-under-labour-government-expert.html
Even if some business folk are talking down the economy and therefore their returns, poorer folk are feeling more hopeful.
I rejoice in that.
The expert in the article does argue that the later start date in 2018 means that people entitled to the Winter warmth payment can’t get the extra money to heat their houses in the post winter solstice freeze before July 1.
I’m not sure that is the case as electricity can be consumed ahead of payment. In other words, unless the power is provided on a prepaid system, keep warm now using some power guaranteed to be paid by the winter warmth payment from July 1.
I am a little concerned that recipients of the payment might not have been made aware of the possibility of a little forward consumption before payment and thereby keeping warm in the freeze before July 1.
Star Trek science fiction now reality
Social Credit Press Release
http://www.group30.org/members
Draco, meet those who are driving the cashless society you crave…
Check out their backgrounds…some of the names should ring alarm bells immediately…all are deeply involved/conflicted with the private tech companies which nobody has voted for to control every aspect of their lives…
I doubt that their pushing the cashless system that I advocate. I doubt if they’re looking to stop the private banks from creating money which is at the base of my system.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2018/06/religious-leaders-fear-upcoming-blood-moon-could-signal-end-of-world.html
And people wonder why some voters go for National?
Personally, I’m putting my investment money into eggs because there’s going to be a lot of egg on a lot of faces in a short time.
If I’m wrong, then, good people, we’re all going together anyway, and all our eggs will be scrambled.
Every so often the End of The World is declared by some religious groups. They rise very early to watch the sun rise on The End perhaps from the top of a hill.
We cynics wondered what they thought/felt on the way back down again when another day began.
Maybe it is a means of bonding the group with increased faith in the Leader?
It can be done, occasionally.
A strong-left 28-year old latina Democrat candidate rolls a dead-set Dem rock, gets a waterslide into a Congress seat.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ocasio-wins-primary-democratic-nomination-congress-crowley_us_5b21a084e4b0bbb7a0e46ccd
“This is not an end, this is the beginning. This is the beginning because the message that we sent the world tonight is that it’s not OK to put donors before your community,” Ocasio-Cortez told her supporters Tuesday night.
Good morning The AM Show Was Black Ice part of the reasons for that big Accident in Taranaki.
I believe that fluoride in our drinking water is good when my children we young the eldest teeth was looking a bad so I gave them fluid tablets after a bit of research the 3 younger ones have good teeth so I have seen it with my own eyes the benefits of fluoride in children diet. Ka kite ano
Here we go I sure ECO MAORI has stated that sir shonky was all about his 00.1 wealth m8s and here’s more evidence of national looking after there rich m8s
Link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/105059172/sir-john-key-lobbied-government-for-overseas-buyers-ban-exemption Ka kite ano
There is no need to minupulate the above links story like national and there trolls