Open mike 27/10/2023

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 27th, 2023 - 40 comments
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Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

40 comments on “Open mike 27/10/2023 ”

  1. Tricledrown 1

    Mark Mitchell makes it up, make up for gang members to cover tattòos claiming they do it in Australia. No such thing .Breaking news Mark Mitchell has appointed Suzanna Paul to implement new policy.

  2. Reality 2

    Well done Trickledown for your "scoop" of Suzanne Paul's new role as makeup consultant to the incoming government.

  3. Mac1 3

    Is this to be the MO of the new government- make it up or cover it up, aka lies and deceit?

    And they say we get the government we deserve!

    • SPC 3.1

      A middle class media prepared the way for a middle class government, the online diversity is also from the middle class.

      It may be a consequence of the diminishment of centres of resistance to neo-liberalism, the global market crushing of the nation-state economy, ending the capability of government to implement state planning, then the ECA (and worker migration) to diminish the place and role of unions (industry awards) and the funding criteria (per student) model to universities combined with debt to turn them into meal ticket factories (producing people to serve the global market capitalist machine).

      Once we were proud to be the best colony, a better English farm and town society. Now our home ownership levels are lower than the UK and still declining. We are now becoming a class society, where half no longer aspire to own their home, and in days past such could not vote and thus their opinion counted for naught.

      It's a society conforming to its tax regime, the most unequal in taxing wealth in the entire OECD (35/36 have a CGT and 24/36 have an estate tax).

    • AB 3.2

      It already feels like "The Great Postponement" where serious problems are parked to fester, while we try a re-run of the Key playbook.

  4. Dennis Frank 4

    Infrastructure crisis in Aotearoa: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/taxpayer-investment-in-salvaging-coastal-shipping-founders

    If ever New Zealand needed a wakeup call to the vulnerability of its road and rail networks, Cyclone Gabrielle provided it. With Gisborne and the East Coast cut off, government agencies turned to 'the blue highway' as a lifeline.

    The Government provided a $500,000 grant and $2.25 million underwrite to Eastland Port to charter the cargo ship Rangitata for three months, to bring in vital supplies – and ship out what little produce the region was still able to salvage from its devastated farms and forests.

    But with the withdrawal of Maersk shipping line, delays to Aotearoa Shipping Alliance's barge, and now Move Logistics’ cancellation of plans to build and launch a new ship for coastal routes, even that blue highway is under renewed threat.

    Earlier this month, Maritime Union national secretary Craig Harrison had hailed the investment in coastal shipping as one of the Labour Government’s key achievements. This morning, the union is expressing concern that the modest growth does not stall. "NZ desperately needs to develop coastal shipping capacity for our regional supply chain," it says. "The incoming Government needs to continue this support."

    But the red & blue teams are meant to fight each other, right? To maintain the democracy sham. Whereas the country needs to regenerate infrastructure, and to create effective systems everyone needs to use developmental strategic thinking. To get from polarisation to consensus, one must transcend the status quo. Transcendent mainstreamers are rare, but who else is likely to sort the situation out??

    • SPC 4.1

      Global warming resilience lite … raiding funds to afford tax cuts.

      We could not get produce to the NI from the SI because of problems getting cargo across the Cook Strait – thus higher prices than should have occurred with floods etc. On top of the gib board monopoly consequences …

    • alwyn 4.2

      Another of Michael Wood's schemes that has crashed.

      Was there anything he did that worked out well for the New Zealand populace? The only one that I can think of was that he has lost his seat in Parliament. Everything else was a total failure.

      • Barfly 4.2.1

        Jeez you are a sad little man

      • Alwyn.

        The failure is the incoming Governments' " short termism" Using the funds budgeted for other purposes will come back to bite them. Your nastiness is noted, and sadly it is not a surprise.

        • alwyn 4.2.2.1

          "The failure is the incoming Governments".

          You mean that a party who has, currently, absolutely no say in what is going on is somehow responsible for the the stupidity of the soon to be former Government's actions?

          Jeez [deleted]

          [lprent: Since I can’t see anyone of that name in the conversation, I have to assume that you are trying to out or dox the person behind a handle. It is against our policy and we take a very dim view about anyone who who can be perceived as trying to do that. This is your warning. ]

            • alwyn 4.2.2.1.1.1

              You are possibly a bit young to remember the TV series A Week of It that appeared on New Zealand TV from 1977 to 1979. It featured, among others, McPhail and Gadsby.

              To quote from WikiPedia about the show.

              "The show popularised the catchphrase "Jeez, Wayne", still heard in New Zealand used as a reaction to another person's comments or actions to indicate disbelief."

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Week_of_It

              I suppose I am showing my advanced age in that I remember it and that you, a comparatively young fellow, don't. So, no. I wasn't intending to "Out somebody". It is only a fond memory of a very funny show.

              • lprent

                That explains it.

                Not that young. I would have been 16-20 depending on exactly what time of the year that it started and stopped. I remember it well.

                Mid next year I can get superannuation.

                The only noticeable effect of getting superannuation will be irritation. Most of it will be into the top tax bracket. Currently I am considering not taking it because the cost in my time to account and aggravation of actually filing returns to the IRD is probably more than any return.

                At present I have a simple tax structure – PAYE + PIR + no claims of deductions for anything. I just ignore tax benefits for home office, charities, etc as being a waste of time to try to reduce taxation.

                On the other hand, if I don't collect it, then the NAct government will only waste the savings on the undeserving affluent and excessively wealthy as unsustainable tax cuts or cross-subsidies thereby wasting all of my efforts since 1975 to pay into Muldoon's superannuation rort. Like the reduction in the bright-line or the low RUC rates for heavy trucks or the way that urban populations pay extra climate change taxes while our most polluting greenhouse gas industry (farming) doesn’t pay anything significiant – and expects us to pay for their tar sealed roads.

                I may as well collect it, figure out how not to have to account for it in useless paperwork and just give it away to deserving causes.

        • Ghostwhowalks 4.2.2.2

          Every government re-prioritises budgeted spending

          Some is under spend other times its over spend/more allocated

          Its all done via Supplementary Estimates bill and is passed by Parliament

          as Robertson said earlier this year

          The Appropriation (2022/23 Supplementary Estimates) Bill seeks appropriation by Parliament of changes to appropriations and new appropriations for the 2022/23 financial year that the Government agreed to between 22 April, when the 2022/23 Estimates were finalised, and 23 April, when the 2022/23 Supplementary Estimates were finalised. Spending against these appropriations has already been incurred under the authority of imprest supply, but unless this spending is appropriated by Parliament before the end of the 2022/23 financial year, it would become other unauthorised expenditure requiring validation by Parliament in the appropriation (confirmation and validation) bill.

          Browse the actual changes if you like – but you wont as its just a sock puppet claim made by the Nats and Actors

          https://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/search?f%5B0%5D=issue_status%3A%21%282475%7C5527%29&f%5B1%5D=resource_type%3A2624

          eg Social Welfare Supplementaries description

          Reasons for Change in Appropriation This appropriation increased by $65.403 million to $2,073.794 million for 2022/23 due to: • $41.244 million for the continued delivery of support to tāngata whaikaha Māori and disabled people and their families by addressing increases in volumes as well as inflationary pressures for disability support services • $11.894 million transfer within Vote Social Development for the new entity Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People • $10.613 million for the increase for the new (from 1 July 2022) support workers minimum wage rates included in the Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlements Amendment Act 2022 • $1.354 million drawdown of funding for improving relativities for funded sector health workers, and • $756,000 for the Whaikaha Public Sector Pay Adjustment. The increased was offset by $458,000 transfer to Vote Health to provide for the Disability Support System reform

  5. Molly 5

    Given the fallout from NZ celebrating the silencing of women continues – https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/posie-parker-assault-case-tomato-juice-protester-eli-rubashkyn-fails-in-bid-to-have-charges-dropped/5BT76CBC3RCM3CVTDYXGA6DLWI/

    – this is what adults are able to do while holding opposing views:

    One-hour discussion:

    On the Panel:

    Peter Tatchell – Human rights campaigner and activist.

    Freda Wallace – Political commentator, freelance writer and host of the Gender Nebulous podcast.

    Helen Joyce – Former finance editor at the Economist, author of Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality and director of advocacy at Sex Matters.

    Marc Glendening – Head of Cultural affairs at the IEA and author of the Transgender Ideology report published by the IEA in August.

    https://youtu.be/Va3i-_Fbfpo?si=jNXzxPbZ9sPrjx7p

    • weka 5.1

      watching now. Interesting start from Glendening, who is arguing liberal values from a libertarian view and placing them in opposition to liberal values from what he calls a 'new left' pov.

      It's worth pausing and understanding his liberal views are based in sovereignty of mind and body. Probably not the only irony we will hear.

      I don't like his placing science as primary way of knowing (humans knew what male and female were before the advent of modern or older sciences. But he does say the science is based on material, observable reality, and goes on to state his central premise about the laws of logic,

      … one type of physical object cannot simultaneously be another type of physical entity.

      which leaves TRAs with a definitional, strategic and political predicament. Are TW literally women, in other words female? Or are TW gender non-conforming males with a strong desire to self identify as women?

      I think we are thankfully moving past the assertion that TW are female, although I still see it a fair bit.

      My sense is that most trans allies want to subsume biological sex under gender to the extent that it is mostly invisible (except for medicine blah blah), rather than thinking someone can literally change sex. Thus Trans Women Are Women (where woman is an identity rather than a material reality).

      But that leaves the next predicament: why should trans women's rights trump women's rights?

      Anyway, I digress. I agree Molly, that NZ could learn a lot from watching these debates on how to address the issue. TRAs don't want to do that because they know their project is one of social engineering and that their arguments won't hold up under scrutiny. Tbf, most of the new left ones do have good intentions, but tolerance for that is fast running out.

      • Molly 5.1.1

        Ending cut off abruptly. If I find a better link I'll post.

      • weka 5.1.2

        Glendening's next point: if reality is socially constructed, and one believes that language either supports the status quo or can overturn, and one believes that language has that power, then you cannot adopt a live and let live approach, language becomes a zero sum game.

        I haven't heard that explanation before, and it makes sense of a lot of what is happening politically at this time, including around gender/sex, but beyond that. It's a huge shift from rationality to society operating from the position that reality is fluid. We're seeing that from Winston Peters as we speak.

        • weka 5.1.2.1

          then, the importance of knowing what words mean. If a politician talks about women only hospital wards (or female only), we have to know what they mean by that.

          My view is that currently we don't. Again, this is the milieu that Peters has re-arisen in.

        • Nic the NZer 5.1.2.2

          I'm very surprised you would be unaware of this as you appear well read on these topics generally. This idea that reality (or at least its power structures and hierarchies) is socially constructed (largely meaning its a product of language) is a common thread in the relation of these topics to post-modernism. Of course in fact this idea is just horse shit, its completely incoherent in practice.

          For the most part I don't think society is shifting in its thinking of course. Just that most supporters are ignorant of the philosophical basis for the cause they are supporting, find (and have it constructed to be) easier otherwise just to go along with the nonsense than to be disagreeable and unkind.

          • Dennis Frank 5.1.2.2.1

            Seems like a grey area to me. We got socially conditioned into the reality thing when young, and as a physics grad I saw the other side of that monoculture default (a flawed presumption generally held to be true).

            Relativism is more to the point than postmodernism nowadays – the latter seeming somewhat dated, like a cultural wind that blew awhile then blew out.

            True-believers abound, but less so nowadays due to escalating biodiversity within human groups. The commons will always be there, and even leftists will eventually notice that. Survival for many will hinge on finding common ground to group together on, yet complacency remains inertial in Aotearoa. Perhaps that is a commons we share with the USA (exemplified by Alfred E Neuman's "What, me worry?"). However that social archetype may no longer be influential down the generations. Younger yanks may be worried.

            I agree re going along with nonsense, but that is usually a simulation rather than real, huh? Folks play that card if the game seems to call for it at the time…

          • weka 5.1.2.2.2

            I don't in fact have a great education background and there are some big gaps in my knowledge (eg economics). But I do understand the reality as a social construct bit. What was new was the understanding that if one does believe that reality is a social construct, and that language has immense power, then it becomes an imperative to control language by whatever means possible. Hadn't made that connection before but it's a good description of the ideological aspects of trans rights.

            I'm not so sure we aren't shifting societally. While I think most people are still grounded in material reality, both the rise of conspiracy theory culture and politics, and trans rights activism, both speak to not insignificant movements who no longer work within a material reality frame.

            In addition, we have the pressures of social media, cyberspace generally, and now AI. Those are fucking with human relationships with body and mind at the worst possible time, when we are freaking out about climate etc. The motivation to escape our bodies matching the avenues for doing so.

            I do agree that many people are going along with the be kind side of TA without necessarily understanding the philosophical and ideological underpinnings.

            • Nic the NZer 5.1.2.2.2.1

              Absolutely the language policing is a strong theme through the TRA movement and plenty of other ideologically similar movements. This probably also occurs because at inception the concept was more or less coming out of literary departments at universities. The idea was that you could validly interpret a text not with the authors intent in mind but with the readers interpretation at the center. I think this had a larger impact on volume of text analysis more so than the quality of course.

              The concerning aspects are more how these supposedly academic movements are behaving. I don't really consider a subject whose basis is to enact political action over knowledge to be legitimate, but that is a central part of many such subjects that they operate around political action rather than knowledge. This is a big part of why they resemble cult like behaviours in many cases.

              If you have looked into cults (like the scientology movement) you will see many similarities. As far as I can observe this is just about separating friends and acquaintances of the members into in and out groups. It doesn't seem to matter for scientology that the doctrine is obviously nonsense and the members do understand they are being expected to condition their behaviours to not challenge that obvious knowledge, or the cult tends to cut them off or punish them back into line.

              Ultimately these kinds of movements and groups will never match the severe in/out group separation of a cult, but I do thing that having to repair damage caused by expecting members to comply with this nonsense (or face consequences) will be quite difficult when institutions are eventually needing to reform.

            • lprent 5.1.2.2.2.2

              In addition, we have the pressures of social media, cyberspace generally, and now AI. Those are fucking with human relationships with body and mind at the worst possible time, when we are freaking out about climate etc. The motivation to escape our bodies matching the avenues for doing so.

              I suspect that you are confusing effect with cause.

              This is a process that has been in progress since the printing press was invented, thereby reducing the cost of transmission of ideas. The christian reformation and the doctrinaire religious wars in Europe being the classic exemplar. But the same schisms happened in most religious regions as printing became widespread.

              It also started the secular intrusions of things like scientific thinking, basic economic theory, and theories about the process of government that roiled following centuries. Plus of course the development and spread of conspiracy theories, porn, and much wider revolutionary groups.

              You can also see in history exactly the same calls for exactly the same reasons for restricting, licensing, taxing and controlling the process of printing. The words and phasing eerily echo the same calls to control the internet these days.

              This too will pass. We just have the usual problem that our generations are kind of long. Most people learn most of what they can learn as a process before they hit 25-30. They spend the rest of their long lives worrying about what their kids and grand-kids are learning.

              BTW: What you call "AI" is simple data mining and pulling inferences and correlations out of the data that get expressed as algorithms. It is just another technology like TV, radio, newspapers, printing, double ledger book-keeping, writing, agriculture, fire…. each of which caused massive disruptions in the old ways of doing things.

              People have been doing analysis of data patterns since they started to get serious about accounting or started to collect data about people or systems.

              Generally the generative AI is worse at figuring out those algorithms than the best of the intuitive humans to who can the same thing with less electricity. Ever watch a forensic accountant read transaction patterns? I can do it after I worked on accounting computer systems for a few years. It is just a learned skill.

              The advertising industry thrived on those individuals with learned or intuitive skills, as did the publishing industry, as did the propaganda industry, the electronics industry, managers, the computer industry….. What generative AI is doing is providing similar but probably always inferior service at a cheaper cost.

              It isn't any different from being able to get on the net to find out information about how to do things that I have been doing since the mid-1980s. I've taught university classes in how to search online data, how to distinguish significance from dross, and how to extract reproducible patterns as algorithms.

              The world shifts and the over-30s spend their time saying that it is all going too fast while the under 30s parents have already partially adapted to the technologies that they grew up with, and are starting to worry about what their kids now know.

    • Anker 5.2

      Thanks Molly. Will take a look.

    • gsays 5.3

      Thanks Molly that was worth while.

      Way more light than heat,

    • weka 5.4

      – this is what adults are able to do while holding opposing views:

      Freda Wallace was appalling. I disagree with Peter Tatchell most of the time and some of his arguments are just pig ignorant and demonstrate he doesn't listen to women. But at least he can formulate an argument based on his beliefs and values. Wallace was there to throw shit at Sex Matters, LGBA and Joyce and seemed incapable of responding to points raised. This is classic TRA. Don't address the issues, instead make declarative statements about the way things are and that in this format aren't so easily rebutted.

      Although as Joyce points out, the reason Wallace is there is because Stonewall, Mermaids and the Trans orgs won't front up. In large part because they can't make an argument beyond the ideology.

      Joyce was a delight to watch, she's very good at what she does now, and has a first class mind, albeit tempered as the limits of her patience were tested in this panel.

      • Molly 5.4.1

        I admit I'd only watched the fist 20 min or so when I posted. It was holding together pretty well, despite dissenting views. It did get messier.

        Would have like to see the Q&A. IEA have said they'll post it, so keeping n eye out.

    • Anker 5.5

      What a real charmer Freda is! Mini skirt up around his upper thighs, admitted he is a fetishist, agressive, incoherant arguements and getting drunker as the debate goes on (so much so his debating partner told him to lay off the drink).

      No Freda, I don't want you in my change room. Case closed.

      • weka 5.5.1

        My respect for Tatchell went up a bit at that point, but I would also guess it's the same paternalistic stuff that makes him ignore what women are saying about the issues.

  6. SPC 6

    Google has for awhile been informing those on You Tube, they do not allow people to view videos on You Tube if they have ad blocker, now it's 3 more videos and then blocked.

    The social media conspiracy of ravens flock together, (first gathering information they can on-sell for either money, or government monopoly protection). Obey or it’s the murder of old crows.

    X.com man started the charging on top of that game and now it is all on.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2023/10/18/youtubes-new-ad-blocker-crackdown-what-you-need-to-know/?sh=27c58c974bfb

    • weka 6.1

      I'm completely blocked on mac Firefox now until I whitelist youtube. I'm watching YT on Safari or Brave now with no issues (thus far). Possibly because the ad blocks are built in rather than add ons like FF.

  7. SPC 7

    Bella is not the only celebrity to speak out on the devastating war — Israeli actress Gal Gadot, who served in her country’s defence forces as a combat trainer several years ago, called for onlookers not to “sit on the fence” as hundreds are killed.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/supermodel-bella-hadid-breaks-silence-on-israel-palestine-conflict-calling-for-urgent-humanitarian-aid-in-gaza/6TXWNEKOPVAS3DYJLEVQHKJDBQ/

    Gal Gadot put up a social media post, since removed (she was told to be quiet), saying innocent civilian life – Israeli or Palestinian life is equal.

    And darkness was upon the face of the deep. Upon the face of the abyss of the massacre in the south, darkness is taking hold of Israel. Now it is still a gathering of clouds, but it may turn to darkness: Israel is going mad. The left is “wising up,” the right is growing more extreme,and McCarthyism and fascism reign.

    Wartime is always a time of silencing, uniformity of opinion, racism, incitement and hatred; absolute enlistment in service of propaganda, the end of tolerance and the persecution of anyone who dares step out of line. The atrocities perpetrated by Hamas in the south brought all of these manifestations to extreme levels, as if the atrocities justify the loss of all restraint.

    https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2023-10-26/ty-article-opinion/.premium/and-darkness-was-upon-the-face-of-israel/0000018b-6813-d78a-a5eb-7c93d6fe0000

  8. Descendant Of Smith 8

    Must be time for a new three year run of A Week Of It – seems ripe for the plucking.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT4MZ27Iwmk

    • weka 8.1

      they look so young!

      • Descendant Of Smith 8.1.1

        Yeah. There must be twenty bald headed male comedians wearing blue suits to make up the national party.

        The first week episode:

        1. Compulsory make up on gangs
        2. Winnie finally realises the terrorist didn't send him the manifesto cause he wasn't important enough
        3. Luxon intends to move parliament to Auckland – starts with coalition negotiations
        4. Ramraids stop since election – well at least from media headlines – as did all the logs on Gisborne beaches – signs from god …..
        5. Shane Reti styopd rebuild of public hospital as it competes with his share-holding one
        6. National announces it is rolling back all the nothings that Labour did in first 100 days

    • gsays 8.2

      @ 20 secs there looks like someone in blackface. Ironically they seem to have a gang member vibe from the '80's- WW11 german helmet, insignia on sleeveless army surplus shirt.

      You are right about the material for satire, TBF, from both sides of the house.

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    It looks like the new ministerial press secretaries have quickly learned the art of camouflaging exactly what their ministers are saying – or, at least, of keeping the hard news  out of the headlines and/or the opening sentences of the statements they post on the home page of the governments ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • Xmas  good  cheer  for the dairy industry  as Fonterra lifts its forecast
    The big dairy co-op Fonterra  had  some Christmas  cheer to offer  its farmers this week, increasing its forecast farmgate milk price and earnings guidance for  the year after what it calls a strong start to the year. The forecast  midpoint for the 2023/24 season is up 25cs to $7.50 per ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • MICHAEL BASSETT: Modern Maori myths
    Michael Bassett writes – Many of the comments about the Coalition’s determination to wind back the dramatic Maorification of New Zealand of the last three years would have you believe the new government is engaged in a full-scale attack on Maori. In reality, all that is happening ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • Dreams of eternal sunshine at a spotless COP28
    Mary Robinson asked Al Jaber a series of very simple, direct and highly pertinent questions and he responded with a high-octane public meltdown. Photos: Getty Images / montage: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR The hygiene effects of direct sunshine are making some inroads, perhaps for the very first time, on the normalised ‘deficit ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • LINDSAY MITCHELL: Oh, the irony
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – Appointed by new Labour PM Jacinda Ardern in 2018, Cindy Kiro headed the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) tasked with reviewing and recommending reforms to the welfare system. Kiro had been Children’s Commissioner during Helen Clark’s Labour government but returned to academia subsequently. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Transport Agencies don’t want Harbour Tunnels
    It seems even our transport agencies don’t want Labour’s harbour crossing plans. In August the previous government and Waka Kotahi announced their absurd preferred option the new harbour crossing that at the time was estimated to cost $35-45 billion. It included both road tunnels and a wiggly light rail tunnel ...
    3 days ago
  • Webworm Presents: Jurassic Park on 35mm
    Hi,Paying Webworm members such as yourself keep this thing running, so as 2023 draws to close, I wanted to do two things to say a giant, loud “THANKS”. Firstly — I’m giving away 10 Mister Organ blu-rays in New Zealand, and another 10 in America. More details down below.Secondly — ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    3 days ago
  • The Prime Minister's Dream.
    Yesterday saw the State Opening of Parliament, the Speech from the Throne, and then Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s dream for Aotearoa in his first address. But first the pomp and ceremony, the arrival of the Governor General.Dame Cindy Kiro arrived on the forecourt outside of parliament to a Māori welcome. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • National’s new MP; the proud part-Maori boy raised in a state house
    Probably not since 1975 have we seen a government take office up against such a wall of protest and complaint. That was highlighted yesterday, the day that the new Parliament was sworn in, with news that King Tuheitia has called a national hui for late January to develop a ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • Climate Adam: Battlefield Earth – How War Fuels Climate Catastrophe
    This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). War, conflict and climate change are tearing apart lives across the world. But these aren't separate harms - they're intricately connected. ...
    3 days ago
  • They do not speak for us, and they do not speak for the future
    These dire woeful and intolerant people have been so determinedly going about their small and petulant business, it’s hard to keep up. At the end of the new government’s first woeful week, Audrey Young took the time to count off its various acts of denigration of Te Ao Māori:Review the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Another attack on te reo
    The new white supremacist government made attacking te reo a key part of its platform, promising to rename government agencies and force them to "communicate primarily in English" (which they already do). But today they've gone further, by trying to cut the pay of public servants who speak te reo: ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • For the record, the Beehive buzz can now be regarded as “official”
    Buzz from the Beehive The biggest buzz we bring you from the Beehive today is that the government’s official website is up and going after being out of action for more than a week. The latest press statement came  from  Education Minister  Eric Stanford, who seized on the 2022 PISA ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Climate Change: Failed again
    There was another ETS auction this morning. and like all the other ones this year, it failed to clear - meaning that 23 million tons of carbon (15 million ordinary units plus 8 million in the cost containment reserve) went up in smoke. Or rather, they didn't. Being unsold at ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Assault On Maori
    This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Even so, Christopher Luxon has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. In the NZ Herald, Audrey Young has compiled a useful list of the many, many ways that ...
    3 days ago
  • Rising costs hit farmers hard, but  there’s more  positive news  for  them this  week 
    New Zealand’s dairy industry, the mainstay of the country’s export trade, has  been under  pressure  from rising  costs. Down on the  farm, this  has  been  hitting  hard. But there  was more positive news this week,  first   from the latest Fonterra GDT auction where  prices  rose,  and  then from  a  report ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    3 days ago
  • ROB MacCULLOCH:  Newshub and NZ Herald report misleading garbage about ACT’s van Veldon not follo...
    Rob MacCulloch writes –  In their rush to discredit the new government (which our MainStream Media regard as illegitimate and having no right to enact the democratic will of voters) the NZ Herald and Newshub are arguing ACT’s Deputy Leader Brooke van Veldon is not following Treasury advice ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Top 10 for Wednesday, December 6
    Even many young people who smoke support smokefree policies, fitting in with previous research showing the large majority of people who smoke regret starting and most want to quit. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Wednesday, December ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Eleven years of work.
    Well it didn’t take six months, but the leaks have begun. Yes the good ship Coalition has inadvertently released a confidential cabinet paper into the public domain, discussing their axing of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs).Oops.Just when you were admiring how smoothly things were going for the new government, they’ve had ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Why we're missing out on sharply lower inflation
    A wave of new and higher fees, rates and charges will ripple out over the economy in the next 18 months as mayors, councillors, heads of department and price-setters for utilities such as gas, electricity, water and parking ramp up charges. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Just when most ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did We Get Here?
    Hi,Kiwis — keep the evening of December 22nd free. I have a meetup planned, and will send out an invite over the next day or so. This sounds sort of crazy to write, but today will be Tony Stamp’s final Totally Normal column of 2023. Somehow we’ve made it to ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago
  • At a glance – Has the greenhouse effect been falsified?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    4 days ago
  • New Zealaders  have  high expectations of  new  government:  now let’s see if it can deliver?
    The electorate has high expectations of the  new  government.  The question is: can  it  deliver?    Some  might  say  the  signs are not  promising. Protestors   are  already marching in the streets. The  new  Prime Minister has had  little experience of managing  very diverse politicians  in coalition. The economy he  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    4 days ago
  • You won't believe some of the numbers you have to pull when you're a Finance Minister
    Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • Pushback
    When this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Defence ministerial meeting meant Collins missed the Maori Party’s mischief-making capers in Parli...
    Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • Threats of war have been followed by an invitation to join the revolution – now let’s see how th...
     A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to ….  Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand!  Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations.  • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Top 10 for Tuesday, December 4
    The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Nicola Willis' 'show me the money' moment
    Willis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • CRL costs money but also provides huge benefits
    The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...
    5 days ago
  • And I don't want the world to see us.
    Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Cooking the books
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Most people don’t realize how much progress we’ve made on climate change
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year was 2015. ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars was at the top of the music charts. Jurassic World was the most popular new movie in theaters. And decades of futility in international climate negotiations was about to come to an end in ...
    5 days ago
  • Of Parliamentary Oaths and Clive Boonham
    As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...
    5 days ago
  • Bearing True Allegiance?
    Strong Words: “We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon. Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o ...
    5 days ago
  • You cannot be serious
    Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • A promise kept: govt pulls the plug on Lake Onslow scheme – but this saving of $16bn is denounced...
    Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme –  that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • CHRIS TROTTER: The Maori Party and Oath of Allegiance
    If those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them?   Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON:  Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies. Brian Easton writes The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Climate Change: Fossils
    When the new government promised to allow new offshore oil and gas exploration, they were warned that there would be international criticism and reputational damage. Naturally, they arrogantly denied any possibility that that would happen. And then they finally turned up at COP, to criticism from Palau, and a "fossil ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • GEOFFREY MILLER:  NZ’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    Geoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the government’s smokefree laws debacle
    The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...
    6 days ago
  • Top 10 links at 10 am for Monday, December 4
    As Deb Te Kawa writes in an op-ed, the new Government seems to have immediately bought itself fights with just about everyone. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Monday December 4, including:Palau’s President ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Be Honest.
    Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    6 days ago
  • Auckland rail tunnel the world’s most expensive
    Auckland’s city rail link is the most expensive rail project in the world per km, and the CRL boss has described the cost of infrastructure construction in Aotearoa as a crisis. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The 3.5 km City Rail Link (CRL) tunnel under Auckland’s CBD has cost ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • First big test coming
    The first big test of the new Government’s approach to Treaty matters is likely to be seen in the return of the Resource Management Act. RMA Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed that he intends to introduce legislation to repeal Labour’s recently passed Natural and Built Environments Act and its ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago
  • The Song of Saqua: Volume III
    Time to revisit something I haven’t covered in a while: the D&D campaign, with Saqua the aquatic half-vampire. Last seen in July: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/07/27/the-song-of-saqua-volume-ii/ The delay is understandable, once one realises that the interim saw our DM come down with a life-threatening medical situation. They have since survived to make ...
    6 days ago
  • Chris Bishop: Smokin’
    Yes. Correct. It was an election result. And now we are the elected government. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    6 days ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate change Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
    6 days ago
  • Affirmative Action.
    Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago
  • 100 days of something
    It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 days ago
  • Look who’s stepped up to champion Winston
    There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today  – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago
  • What's The Story?
    Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • The longest of weeks
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • Suggested sessions of EGU24 to submit abstracts to
    Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
    1 week ago
  • Under New Management
    1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • While we wait patiently, our new Minister of Education is up and going with a 100-day action plan
    Sorry to say, the government’s official website is still out of action. When Point of Order paid its daily visit, the message was the same as it has been for the past week: Site under maintenance Beehive.govt.nz is currently under maintenance. We will be back shortly. Thank you for your ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • Ministers visit Hawke’s Bay to grasp recovery needs
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Cyclone Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell and Transport and Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, to meet leaders of cyclone and flood-affected regions in the Hawke’s Bay. The visit reinforced the coalition Government’s commitment to support the region and better understand its ongoing requirements, Mr Mitchell says.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • New Zealand condemns malicious cyber activity
    New Zealand has joined the UK and other partners in condemning malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government, Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau Judith Collins says. The statement follows the UK’s attribution today of malicious cyber activity impacting its domestic democratic institutions and processes, as well ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Disestablishment of Te Pūkenga begins
    The Government has begun the process of disestablishing Te Pūkenga as part of its 100-day plan, Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Penny Simmonds says.  “I have started putting that plan into action and have met with the chair and chief Executive of Te Pūkenga to advise them of my ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Climate Change Minister to attend COP28 in Dubai
    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will be leaving for Dubai today to attend COP28, the 28th annual UN climate summit, this week. Simon Watts says he will push for accelerated action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, deliver New Zealand’s national statement and connect with partner countries, private sector leaders ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • New Zealand to host 2024 Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins yesterday announced New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM). “Having just returned from this year’s meeting in Nouméa, I witnessed first-hand the value of meeting with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security and defence matters. I welcome the opportunity to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Study shows need to remove distractions in class
    The Government is committed to lifting school achievement in the basics and that starts with removing distractions so young people can focus on their learning, Education Minister Erica Stanford says.   The 2022 PISA results released this week found that Kiwi kids ranked 5th in the world for being distracted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Minister sets expectations of Commissioner
    Today I met with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to set out my expectations, which he has agreed to, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. Under section 16(1) of the Policing Act 2008, the Minister can expect the Police Commissioner to deliver on the Government’s direction and priorities, as now outlined in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • New Zealand needs a strong and stable ETS
    New Zealand needs a strong and stable Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that is well placed for the future, after emission units failed to sell for the fourth and final auction of the year, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says.  At today’s auction, 15 million New Zealand units (NZUs) – each ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • PISA results show urgent need to teach the basics
    With 2022 PISA results showing a decline in achievement, Education Minister Erica Stanford is confident that the Coalition Government’s 100-day plan for education will improve outcomes for Kiwi kids.  The 2022 PISA results show a significant decline in the performance of 15-year-old students in maths compared to 2018 and confirms ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Collins leaves for Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins today departed for New Caledonia to attend the 8th annual South Pacific Defence Ministers’ meeting (SPDMM). “This meeting is an excellent opportunity to meet face-to-face with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security matters and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Pacific,” Judith Collins says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Working for Families gets cost of living boost
    Putting more money in the pockets of hard-working families is a priority of this Coalition Government, starting with an increase to Working for Families, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “We are starting our 100-day plan with a laser focus on bringing down the cost of living, because that is what ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Post-Cabinet press conference
    Most weeks, following Cabinet, the Prime Minister holds a press conference for members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. This page contains the transcripts from those press conferences, which are supplied by Hansard to the Office of the Prime Minister. It is important to note that the transcripts have not been edited ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme scrapped
    The Government has axed the $16 billion Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme championed by the previous government, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says. “This hugely wasteful project was pouring money down the drain at a time when we need to be reining in spending and focussing on rebuilding the economy and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • NZ welcomes further pause in fighting in Gaza
    New Zealand welcomes the further one-day extension of the pause in fighting, which will allow the delivery of more urgently-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of more hostages, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. “The human cost of the conflict is horrific, and New Zealand wants to see the violence ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Condolences on passing of Henry Kissinger
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters today expressed on behalf of the New Zealand Government his condolences to the family of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has passed away at the age of 100 at his home in Connecticut. “While opinions on his legacy are varied, Secretary Kissinger was ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Backing our kids to learn the basics
    Every child deserves a world-leading education, and the Coalition Government is making that a priority as part of its 100-day plan. Education Minister Erica Stanford says that will start with banning cellphone use at school and ensuring all primary students spend one hour on reading, writing, and maths each day. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • US Business Summit Speech – Regional stability through trade
    I would like to begin by echoing the Prime Minister’s thanks to the organisers of this Summit, Fran O’Sullivan and the Auckland Business Chamber.  I want to also acknowledge the many leading exporters, sector representatives, diplomats, and other leaders we have joining us in the room. In particular, I would like ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Keynote Address to the United States Business Summit, Auckland
    Good morning. Thank you, Rosemary, for your warm introduction, and to Fran and Simon for this opportunity to make some brief comments about New Zealand’s relationship with the United States.  This is also a chance to acknowledge my colleague, Minister for Trade Todd McClay, Ambassador Tom Udall, Secretary of Foreign ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • India New Zealand Business Council Speech, India as a Strategic Priority
    Good morning, tēnā koutou and namaskar. Many thanks, Michael, for your warm welcome. I would like to acknowledge the work of the India New Zealand Business Council in facilitating today’s event and for the Council’s broader work in supporting a coordinated approach for lifting New Zealand-India relations. I want to also ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Coalition Government unveils 100-day plan
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has laid out the Coalition Government’s plan for its first 100 days from today. “The last few years have been incredibly tough for so many New Zealanders. People have put their trust in National, ACT and NZ First to steer them towards a better, more prosperous ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

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