There’s some weird shit weather going on down south too. I’m not complaining too much because rain grows food and provides longer term protection re AGW, but it’s still a strange summer thus far.
Yes even though an El Nino usually brings dry weather to the eastern side of the country – apart from December when we had just 11 mm of rain at Paeroa (closest met recording site for us on the Coromandel) and were looking at an extreme drought over the plains – this month has already exceeded the long term average for rainfall and we are looking at more!
It seems that with the increase in average temperatures and the shift south of the Halley Climate Zone that our climate – particularly in the north of the country is moving rapidly to a phase in our climate patterns. Humid as hell here today! 20 something feels like 30 something.
WE will need to wait a few years to see if this is going to be the new normal for el nino. Interesting times.
The Herald and Audrey Young pimps for Key.
Accepts this statement without challenging it.
“This is a free-trade deal that gives us access to 800 million middle-income consumers. Its economic benefits are about two-and-a-half times the size of the China FTA.”
“This is a free-trade deal that gives us access to 800 million middle-income consumers. Its economic benefits are about two-and-a-half times the size of the China FTA.”..
Yeah. I heard that and thought..Mmm Interesting..then realized it was from Mr Key’s mouth.and consumed a grain of NaCl
Listened to RNZ at 7.00 – 7.20am this morning, up until that time not a dicky bird on the meeting at the AK Town Hall last night over the TPPA . I watched Bomber’s live feed last night and it was excellent. So it wasn’t important enough for RNZ to even bring up the crowd and the very interesting speeches made and inform NZ listeners. NZ First, The Greens and the Maori Party were all completely against the TPPA, Labour’s speech was anti losing our sovereignity but didn’t actually come out and say there were anti the TPPA itself – quite vague I thought. Be interesting if any of the MSM bring it up during the day.
The ‘content’ of last nights meeting has been debated endlessly here and elsewhere including the MSM. I’m not interested in going through it all again. (As was pointed out last night, i agree it is likely the U.S. Congress will torpedo it anyway).
My point is that after all that debate, the small attendance in response to the call to ‘fill the Town Hall’ indicates only a very small % of citizens are buying into the ‘Corporate-National Party Conspiracy / loss of Sovereignty’ content that most of the speakers were pushing.
There is a lesson there for you Paul. Once you pass the point where you invoke a conspiracy as part of a discussion, you will also have lost your connection to the views of the great majority of citizens.
You seem to have missed the fact that the meeting was also live streamed through The Daily Blog, which in itself would have attracted a large number of viewers, for those of us who were unable to attend the meeting itself.
There was well over 800. I know, I was there. The ground floor was full, and that is is far more than half the seating capacity. The upper floors were about 1/3 full. That would make around 1200 at least if the seating capacity is as you say 1600.
I suppose if they were to have said that there were 1600 people then you would have said – “pppppft only that many! ”
The talk was also live streamed and there were over 10,000 on that site so way more interest than you make out.
No wonder you are a lost sheep! What sort of an idiot argument is that?
Had the Town Hall been full to overflowing – you would have argued – well that’s only 0.15% of Aucklands population etc etc….
The facts of just what this nonsense agreement is about are only just emerging – and they are proving to be as bad if not worse than was feared.
So we have a compliant media who only reiterate the lies and propaganda of the Government and make no real analysis of what they are told. What can you expect of the population who are treated by a govt as mushrooms – kept in the dark and fed bullshit? It is surprising that as many did turn up.
I drove up to the event from the Coromandel. It took almost 3/4 of an hour to “drive” from tip top corner to the Civic Car Park. The traffic going south at that time was even worse. No need to remind me why I no longer live in Auckland. I would strongly suspect that if one didn’t have to go out on an evening in Auckland these days one wouldn’t. The congestion on the motorway being a very strong disincentive.
“So we have a compliant media who only reiterate the lies and propaganda of the Government and make no real analysis of what they are told. What can you expect of the population who are treated by a govt as mushrooms – kept in the dark and fed bullshit? It is surprising that as many did turn up.”
That’s nonsense.
Anyone googling TPPA will immediately have access to all the various view out there on the TPPA.
In fact the first link that comes up is http://itsourfuture.org.nz/what-is-the-tppa/, and 5 of the first 10 results are anti-TPPA sites.
Are you seriously suggesting citizens are prevented from accessing information freely available on the internet?
ETC ETC ETC. I’ve been following the TPP story through the MS and FREE media here in NZ, and IT IS UTTER BOLLOCKS to allege there is lack of freely available/unbalanced information.
The ‘mushroom’ meme is complete bullshit. (For any issue, not just the TPP)
The people are well informed and have information freely available to them from any source that wants to put information out there.
The reason so few of them supported the meeting last night is that after absorbing all the information, there simply aren’t that many people who are deeply concerned about the TPPA.
All what you say is true, however the most consistent message, and the one all the articles leave the reader with, is the advice that the TPPA is the propaganda spread by the Govt that the really good for NZ, not to worry about all the expert analysis they don’t know what they are talking about.
The people are well informed and have information freely available to them from any source that wants to put information out there.
That is complete and utter bollocks as any independent survey of the electorate would show. The full text was only released by the govt yesterday!
You may have been following the discussion – but you are not everyone.
Just as an aside, what you get as a result of a google search and what your friend or neighbour gets as a result for the same google search, you might be surprised to know, are highly likely to be completely different, based on each individuals web browsing habits.
All what you say is true, however the most consistent message, and the one all the articles leave the reader with, is the advice that the TPPA is the propaganda spread by the Govt that the really good for NZ, not to worry about all the expert analysis they don’t know what they are talking about.”
I didn’t see that as being the most consistent message, and I’m not sure if I saw the media putting it that way anywhere?
There has a been a wide range of opinions expressed and if I anything I would say the bulk of the MSM coverage centered around the objections to the TPP.
But having been given the info., (such as the widely reported fact that the negotiations were secret), and hearing the various opinions, ‘the people’ are then perfectly free to go and follow their own sources and make their own minds up about what they think and how motivated they are to do something about it. Or not.
That is simply democracy, and most people see it as such.
But when the weight of democratic opinion goes against either the Far Right or Far Left they always tend to see it as the result of bias or the idiocy of ‘the people’.
Much easier to swallow than the idea that the majority of people are reasonable and simply don’t agree with you.
Actually the weight of opinion in NZ is against the TPPA – or haven’t you read that fact.
So I wouldn’t hold a great deal of candle to your opinion that they are all for it or don’t care.
You seem very unwilling to debate the actual content of what Lori Wallach and Jane Kelsey said to a disputed number of people at the town hall.
It did seems to highlight the misinformation your master Key has been telling us.
The centrepiece of Auckland Town Hall is the Great Hall, seating up to 1,529 people on three levels.
So that is your first lie – I guess you like emulating the idiot liar John Key?
Second is that I think that the bottom floor was full from the video – that is more like 1200. The upper floors had people (overflow) up there. I suspect the ‘800’ was just wrong. It was a midweek evening event. I was still working at 7pm, I watched on video.
Thirdly, compared to what? Just think of the right and its events where you are lucky to get 50 fools out unless the government or the National party cough up free grog. Even then it is less than this.
The centrepiece of Auckland Town Hall is the Great Hall, seating up to 1,529 people on three levels.
So that is your first lie – I guess you like emulating the idiot liar John Key?
Second is that I think that the bottom floor was full from the video – that is more like 1200. The upper floors had people (overflow) up there. I suspect the ‘800’ was just wrong. It was a midweek evening event. I was still working at 7pm, I watched on video.
Achully (JK impression), the 0.09 figure I quoted was based on the generous assumption that there were 50% more people there than the report stated.
1200 in fact.
If it was only 800 the figure would have been 0.06.
Bald Fact is, seeking a show of support in a city of 1.3m they could not fill a 1500 seat hall.
Thirdly, compared to what?
50,000 at the 1981 Springbok Tour or Kiwis Care protests. 8000 Farmers who protested Rogernomics, or the 1000 that came to the Town Hall for the GCSB Bill. Or the 35,000 that made the effort to attend the ‘Big Boys Toys’ event, or the 5000 that made the effort to get to Piha during the weekend.
Compared to what is 1200 people an indication of a high level of public support?
Basically you are a complete idiot.
And you owning the site doesn’t make that any less of a bullshit and pointless ad hominem cheap shot.
“But one audience member, Ian, said he was furious with the deal.
“I’ve got to the stage now where I think petitions and protests are part of a social contract where people who are outraged think ‘Oh I’ve done something, I’ve done something’ and the Government just goes ahead and ignores them anyway.
“I think what we need is not protests and petitions but riots. We need to change this Government’s opinion and we need to change everyone else’s opinion and make them wonder why are people behaving the way they are. I think we need mass civil disobedience.” ” http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/295019/critics-say-tpp-not-a-done-deal
I find it incredibly ironic that the route to protecting New Zealand’s best interests lies in a bunch of completely-out-of-their-mind Republicans motivated entirely by partisan malice towards Obama going even further out of their minds and taking a few more of their slightly-less-irrational colleagues with them.
Don’t mix up the decision making and attitudes of the oligarchic elite with the views and anxieties of ordinary Americans struggling to get ahead or stay ahead.
Yep! We may or may not be saved by the greedies who want more extortionate clauses in the Agreement not less!
Just a small handful have to change their mind one way or the other. It’s no done deal yet.
But the scary thing is this: If our idiotic govt ratify this deal – before the thing is signed off by congress – and they (congress) then only agree to new extortionate clauses that further lengthen the time frame for IP etc (as the republicans want) then we are further shafted!
That was what I thought too – until listening to Lori last night – it seemed that that was a possibility. Maybe I got her wrong – but she was stressing that many in the GOP were against TTPA because the time limits on generic drugs etc was not long enough for big pharmac to collect even more money. It seemed that the issue was that they would only agree if the got their way.
Theoretically they can’t tinker with it, but they could repeal the legislation if they really wanted to. It wouldn’t surprise me either way, to be honest.
Despite the rest of the household disconnecting from our stretched broadband so we could watch the live stream…we kept losing the feed. Very annoying…does anyone know if it was recorded? And available?
The Sound just had something about some Farmers (Fonterra or Farm Fed) were in support of it. Followed by intelectual heavy weight Leah Panapa saying she agrees with Winston Peters that the Maori Party are “brownmailing” John Key & the other presenters all agreed & one guy mentioned “& you & Winston are maori followed by a joke about Winston being half scottish half Maori so he tanned easily but was cheap.” No wonder Key likes to go on those stations.
“Fitch Ratings has affirmed its AA credit rating for New Zealand, but says the outlook for our agricultural exports means future growth won’t be quite as strong.”
“The report from Fitch said GDP growth for New Zealand was still expected to pick up to 2.4 per cent and 2.6 per cent in 2016 and 2017 respectively – a slower pace than it forecast in its review in July last year.”
‘Ratings agency Fitch has highlighted weaker prices for New Zealand’s agriculture exports – including dairy – for its revised outlook on growth.
It has left the country’s sovereign rating unchanged at AA, but had revised-down its assessment of New Zealand’s near-term growth prospects because it said the outlook for prices of the country’s agricultural exports had deteriorated.’
Why? Its his opinion nothing more nothing less, it doesn’t change the outlook that NZs GDP is growing and whats more important GDP growth or Rod Orams opinion?
I can’t actually argue against it specifically as my work won’t allow me (well everyone really) certain functions on the internet so I can’t listen to it
However my points do stand, which opinion is considered more relevant Rod Oram or Helen Clark
You’re spending your working day arguing with strangers on the internet? Is that your job? Or are you misusing the time your employer is paying you for?
Same as most of the people on here I guess. I care about this country, I believe National under John Key is the best current option for NZ (ok not this so much) and I like to see what other other peoples opinions are
I realise that you’re making the suggestion I get paid for doing this (I wish) but no its simply certain apps and web pages aren’t allowed to be accessed
‘From heatwave to violent storms: New Zealand’s mad weather’
Amazing that the Herald still can write an article about the weather without any reference to climate change or El Nino.
Interesting article. Obama met with Democratic leaders about the legislative agenda and the TPPA was not really discussed. Many Democrats oppose the TPPA, as do all three Democrats running for President.
“Business commentator Rod Oram on the recently available New Zealand research papers on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, and New Zealand’s role in the TPPA.”
Thanks Chooky
“Business commentator Rod Oram on the recently available New Zealand research papers on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, and New Zealand’s role in the TPPA.”
Oram gives a pragmatic analysis far more balanced and reasonable than the usual TPPApologists.
Now I know I shouldn’t laugh ~snort~ but this from the beige badgers site –
Cameron Slater said on Facebook today that the police won’t be appealing the High Court ruling in the Hager case. He doesn’t sound like a happy chap.
Then the Police ring me and tell me that they aren’t going to appeal the High Court ruling in the Hager case. So the lefty cunts who stole my data, and tried to steal an election all get away with their criminality.
They say they are pursuing other avenues, but yet again Nicky Hager has laundered stolen goods, made plenty of money and tried to influence an election…with zero consequences.
It is days like this that you really question whether or not karma exists…or why you even bother doing what you do. Still there is much to be thankful for.
Despite everything I still think I am very blessed and lucky to live in this country…though I’m not sure how long can bothered living here anymore. I might just go back to my place of birth (Fiji) or live somewhere totally different…like Israel….because New Zealand really doesn’t feel like home sometimes.
He’s always such a cry baby, wanting attention and sympathy because he didn’t get his way. Fine if he wants to move to another country, he doesn’t contribute anything to this one. He should do us all a favour and just get on with it, leave, and quit bleating.
Israel would suit him. He can go join the IDF. He was there a while ago, as their guest, sociopathic sicko that he is.
If he leaves NZ for good to go back and live in Fiji I bet we could have a whip round and pay for his plane ticket, on the agreement that it’s one way with no return. Ever.
Cams comment
I might just go back to my place of birth (Fiji) or live somewhere totally different…like Israel….because New Zealand really doesn’t feel like home sometimes.
I came on this quote while browsing. The woman, Fran Peavey, makes a good point that is very relevant in these difficult times.
(Make a comparison with Whaleoil musing as in Joe90 comment – Fran is trying to do good things for life to thrive on earth, Whaleoil isn’t even useful to spray on pest insects.)
“Now, of course, the biggest criticism of heart politics is that it’s ‘so naive’. And it’s true, there is a lot of evil and despair in the world which makes it difficult to know if we will he able to make the changes necessary for life to thrive on earth.
“We don’t know, but we have to do our bit because I know, one day, I’ll be lying on my bed and the Grim Reaper will come and I’ll want to be able to tell myself I did the best I could.
At last something useful.
It probably shouldn’t be in Treasury though. It would be better as an independent agency of Parliament. That would keep any disgruntled party from attacking Treasury if they don’t like the figures that are produced.
The thing that would have to be settled is what they look at of course. It would be an overwhelming job if they had to cost every little bit of waffle from a back bench MP.
Someone who says, say, that the schools in his/her electorate should be repainted more frequently because they are close to the sea and look scruffy earlier.
On the other hand their press release only says it would “be available” to political parties. It should be required. It should also require that any proposed policy of a party, at least in election years, must be supplied to the unit with sufficient time for it to be costed before it is announced.
Getting policies out of Winston’s lot might be a problem. They seldom contain enough detail to be evaluated.
also – as an independant body it would create a system where the actual policy (not the PR sound byte) has to be submitted to be costed – then it all becomes OIA-able (one would hope)
so lack of detail/rushed/poorly thought out policy would become exposed as well as the costings, allowing us to see behind the media and PR rhetoric
(yes im thinking of a certain bullet point policy platform 🙂 )
There would be some inbuilt confidentiality clauses. Not sure what that means (maybe that Treasury can’t discuss it with other parties until the party releases it?).
if its public upon release, that in itself creates its own checks and balances.
So i think that wouldnt be too big an issue
a party that releases policy to late risks the media missing it and the public thinking theres something being hidden in the details
The mere fact that both costings and policy details are in the hands of people outside the party, and can be released to the public together, would create a certain amount of pressure to be a bit more upfront (we can only dream of course 🙂 )
One place for potential abuse (looking at you National Party office) is where the costings are done and not released (including in other than election years). It’d be useful to see more of the Green Party’s thinking on how the whole thing would work.
thats why i think a fully independant body would be better – just some sort of way that MPs cant get their hands on the released data before anyone else
I can’t see why MPs shouldn’t see the numbers first. Indeed it is better they do because they might come to their senses and scrap a crazy proposal. The numbers should be released immediately after a policy is publicly announced.
For the same reason I’m not that keen on the system being subject to the OIA act if it means that people can request costings done for a party where the policy was not then put to the public.
After all a party might consider a policy proposal. It gets costed and then they realise it really isn’t sensible and drop it. I don’t think it would be fair that the fact that they looked at something should be sufficient to have details released via an OIA request at a later date.
Something like a party considering reinstating the railway line from Napier to Gisborne. The cost might turn out to be, picking a number from the air, $500,000 per train. Very sensibly they scrap the idea. Someone then OIAs the calculation and attacks them for economic illiteracy.
Someone then OIAs the calculation and attacks them for economic illiteracy.
But they do have a very legitimate and simple defence in saying that they didn’t go through with it/removed it from their platform. Of course, if they then went through with it they’d be rightly decried by all and sundry.
BTW, that’s a really bad way to determine if a railway line is worthwhile or not.
There might need to be back and forth communication between the unit and the party while the costings are done. After the costings are done the party might need time and other processes to happen before the info is released. Maybe a time delay until it is made public?
nothing wrong with being able to step back and change tack if a plan isnt working, and nothing with an outside pair of eyes being the one to show you your errors
im more talking from the point a party decides to go public with a given policy
I realise you are unlikely to be a great fan of the Tax-Payers Union but they put quite a lot of time and skilled effort into a costing exercise before the last election.
They came up with a final result set as follows http://www.taxpayers.org.nz/final_results_published
“The Bribe-O-Meter now reflects the costs of all policies announced. It shows that of the main parties:
•the Greens have promised to spend the most, $6.54 billion, or $3,857.77 per household during the next Parliamentary term;
•the Labour Party have committed to a policy programme worth $5.81 billion, or $3,423.16 per household; while
•National have committed to $1.4 billion, or $823.62 per household of new spending.”
They were unable to get any information out of New Zealand First.
They had independent experts look at, and re-calculate the cost of the main policy planks of each party. You are entitled to your views on the National Party compared to other parties but I consider I am entitled to take the view that you don’t know what you are talking about and your statements are “all simply make believe”.
Well, that would be the thing wouldn’t it? ALL policies would have to made available for costing before being put into place so that we can judge them on them.
In other words you can’t think of anything that National has done in the last 15 months that wasn’t announced prior to the election.
You claim that ” the policies that they implemented quick smart (i.e, had them ready to go”
Then you can’t think of ANYTHING they did that they implemented without having told us about it.
Pretty desperate aren’t you?
You really are desperate aren’t you?
National Social Housing Policy.
The very first policy highlight they listed was
“Reformed social housing sector to ensure it is fit-for-purpose including passing legislation to facilitate a shift from state housing to a range of new social housing providers.”
As for changes to the beer laws. How much did you think that cost, and why did you really think it merited a policy statement?
Personally I think it would, given the duty on alcohol, probably have meant more rather than less money for the state.
Give up. You are just talking more and more drivel the longer you go on.
And Key has already nay sayed the idea, quelle surprise. FFS he rejected it within hours of the proposal being made public. Joyce is open to the idea though, lol. As is common with Green Party ideas and policy, the business community response is positive.
Prime Minister John Key said it was “not a terribly good idea”. He said it would require a funding boost for the Treasury and would not achieve the Green Party’s goal of greater transparency because the results would be manipulated for political gain.
“They would just ignore it if they didn’t like the numbers,” he said.
What’s the political term for this, when you accuse other people of bad behaviour that is in fact a classic example of one’s own bad behaviour?
I took your advice and tried to contact my local MP. He did his best imitation of Sergeant Schultz in Hogan’s Heroes and came out with
“I see nothing, I was not here. I did not even get up this morning”
It sounded roughly like that anyway although with the Wellington Central MP one can never be sure.
“What’s the political term for this, when you accuse other people of bad behaviour that is in fact a classic example of one’s own bad behaviour”
The phrase Green Party Press Statement comes to mind.
You link to a Green Party Press statement where we can see what Meteria says.
However you put in quotes from John Key
“Prime Minister John Key said it was “not a terribly good idea”. He said it would require a funding boost for the Treasury and would not achieve the Green Party’s goal of greater transparency because the results would be manipulated for political gain.”
Where does this come from? I would like to see his full statement. before I join PR on the barricades.
weka’s posted Key quote “Prime Minister John Key said it was “not a terribly good idea”. He said it would require a funding boost for the Treasury and would not achieve the Green Party’s goal of greater transparency because the results would be manipulated for political gain.”
Isn’t John Key admitting there tht Treasury work is manipulated for political purposes?
quelle surprise again….
corruption within Key’s regime, admitted to by regime leader himself
Hmmm . . . interesting. Hamish Rutherford, Wellington business bureau chief for Fairfax has tweeted that New Zealand has dropped to fourth place on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). I can’t confirm this because the information is embargoed until later today (5am Berlin time) but its not something I would be entirely surprised by. New Zealand led the rankings until John Key and his National Ltd™ neoliberal thugs turned up. We dropped one place in, I think, 2011 and now it would appear we’re gaining downward momentum.
That’s 5pm today isn’t it?
Are you going to post then if it is out?
Shame really. We were 1 in 95 and 96 and then dropped to 4 while Winston was Treasurer. Probably not coincidental.
We then wandered around in the 2= to 3= range until 2005.
Straight 1 or 1= from 2006 to 2013.
Even 4th is hardly a disaster though is it? 4th of about 200 countries. Probably back to the early years of the decade in fact.
“Based on expert opinion, the Corruption Perceptions Index measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption worldwide.”
It appears they use surveys of national TI chapters:
“The NIS assessments offer a comprehensive evaluation of the integrity system in a given country. They are conducted by local in-country organisations, generally TI national chapters”
However, it does usually cost to be a member, and you have a very interesting membership (price on request) for above $1,000,000 business turnover.
“Platinum, Gold, Silver, or Copper
For more information and to apply for Platinum, Gold, Silver, or Copper membership, please contact us by email at admin@transparencynz.org.nz. “
I would say that it would be simplicity itself to game this system.
After all “perceived corruption” is not the same as actual corruption – it all depends on the perspective and knowledge of the perceiver.
Let’s all sign up for that free membership and wait for next year’s survey…
. . . To arrive at New Zealand’s reduced score of 88 out of 100, Transparency International has aggregated seven separate annual assessments by independent agencies such as the World Bank and the World Justice Project. All seven assessments provide a score out of 100 on governance issues (which are 92, 93, 81, 83, 98, 88, 83). In comparison to New Zealand’s score of 88, three Nordic countries have registered higher scores (Denmark 91, Finland 90, and Sweden 89). This is why New Zealand is now behind them all, in fourth place . . . Of course the Transparency International index is one of perception. It is impossible to actually measure real corruption – by its very nature corruption is somewhat hidden and intangible – and therefore other metrics are necessary as proxies
. . . which seems to indicate a certain robustness about the indexing but an unfortunate lack of clarity about exactly how the scores were calculated. Not too sure what to make of it all except that it serves to confirm corruption, or at least the perception of corruption, is a feature of the National Ltd™ government.
Oh Trollwyn stop it ! I note that to make it all seem just peachy you’re reduced to looking down. Not up where the Higher Standards are meant to be. Higher Standards was always just a cyncical bullshit mantra. Which even you now acknowledge. Eyes downcast.
The US Senate has just voted 50-49 in what is a stunning denial of reality . . .
The Senate rejected the scientific consensus that humans are causing climate change, days after NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared 2014 the hottest year ever recorded on Earth . . . The chairman of the environment committee, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., is an enthusiastic denier of climate change, saying it is the “biggest hoax” perpetrated against mankind.
“The hoax is there are some people so arrogant to think they are so powerful they can change the climate,” Inhofe said Wednesday on the Senate floor. “Man can’t change the climate” . . .
. . . and this is the nation which holds the trump cards in any ISDS suits against the government resulting from legislation New Zealand might like to pass in order to meet its commitment to helping ameliorate climate change.
“Two-thousand-and-sixteen is going to be a most fascinating and explosive year in New Zealand politics,” he said. “We don’t believe that the government can hold up to the next election. The reason for that is the seeds of their own destruction are there now.”
In further news the Wellington City Council sets out to blow $8 million dollars on a scheme to have a flight from Wellington to Canberra 4 times a week. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/76161963/new-singapore-airlines-flights-to-cost-wellington-ratepayers-millions
I guess that they have to find some way to try and fulfil the Mayor’s dreams of a connection to Asia.
There is no further news on the Councils responsibility to provide an emergency source of water to Wellington Hospital in the event of an earthquake.
Not as sexy as councillors jetting of to exotic climes on their “sister city” jaunts I guess.
I must admit, old chap, I don’t feel quite so bad that we were 4th with a pretty good score of 88.
I am glad I don’t live in the leftist paradises like Cuba, score 47, Greece at 46, or the favourite of the hard left idiots, Venezuela with the wonderful result of 17.
Tell me dopey. Would you prefer to live here, number 4, or the hero of the left Venezuela at position 158 out of 167?
Actually I wouldn’t be too surprised if our drop was due to the very dodgy dealings of Wellington’s left led council that I commented on just above your drivel.
Do you approve of their activities?
Funny thing is that corruption is merely another set of bureaucracy and rules that get factored into business. No problem. Once the bureaucracy and rules are known then all is good and everyone carries on. Just check business in Australia. Remember also Bjeikle-Petersen and Hinz who was Minister of Police and Minister of Racing at the same time in Queensland…. ha ha ha… what a larf
Corruption ..;.. pffftt …. innocent naïve kiwis living in la-la land….
though makes for good media and presentation as something else to beat certain countries over the head with eh….
… we could start on Dick Cheney and co and business interests in war too
ha ha
corruption
why was lord Ashcroft here having secret talk with our PM? ha ha.
corruption
“Left led council” flogging that dead horse again? Always blame someone else isn’t it God forbid the leader of the country has anything to do with the leading of the country, oh no, its the lefties the lefties!
Do you approve of what the Wellington Council is up to?
Dishing out ratepayers money an dodgy schemes while refusing to provide for the continued operation of an essential service like the Wellington Hospital if we had an earthquake.
Seriously, do you see that as a proper activity?
And yes, the Mayor is definitely on the left and she is on the small group of councillors who are involved in these secretive activities.
Again Trollwyn…..looking down. You’re excellent as a troll…..until you get busted in it. As you always do.
Piece of advice to VTO above – your comment just shits on Trollwyn, but given that he/she/it is concerned only to fellate The Gauche Man…… nothing you can say, however rational……
It’s about the corrupt, murderous right wing gangster country Indonesia…. where murderers and paramilitarys with the aid of the u.s.a and the west took over …. and still run the country.
“alwyn supports”
Really? And just how did you come to this conclusion?
Psychic are you? Or are you just delusional?
I suppose I could recommend that you watch the film “The Killing Fields” and remember the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge.
They were your favourite Government weren’t they? They were the people you most admired and Pol Pot was histories greatest humanitarian to you I suppose.
I have at least as much reason to attribute those beliefs to you as you have to accuse me as you have done.
Don’t make up lies about things, like my views on past world Governments, when you are completely and utterly ignorant on the subject.
I recommend learning about the murderous Khmer Rouge ……..And how the u.s.a govt helped bring them to power….. and once there voting for them and recognizing them in the UN. http://johnpilger.com/videos/cambodia-year-ten
It was of course the Vietnamese army who rescued Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge … The u.s.a govt killed well over 1 million Vietnamese but that’s another story
In ” The war on Democracy”: ” the film shows how serial US intervention, overt and covert, has toppled a series of legitimate governments in the Latin American region since the 1950s.” http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-on-democracy
In interviews with Chavez and other footage we learn of the C.I.A involvement in military overthrow of his Govt…… which the people repelled.
Venezuela has been under sustained economic attack from the u.s.a govt ever since which also labels it’s legitimate government criminal , terrorist etc etc…….. descriptions more fitting of Indonesia. http://www.actofkilling.com/
To sum up I’m sure Alwyn supports the u.s.a govt ………….. which has helped create Pol Pot , Isis and supported more countries run by regimes with death squads ( wiki death squads ) than I have fingers on my hands ……………..
” I’m sure Alwyn supports the u.s.a govt”
Well that is a change of your opinion I suppose.
You still have no reason at all for the statement however.
I guess I will just have to comment
I am sure that Reason’s beliefs have little to do with the real world and some, including the one above, are based on things about which he knows nothing.
Poor workmanship also bugs Milton Sands, a director at big Auckland pipe merchant Aquatherm.
But he also estimated half of all plumbing products being used here had not been certified to the New Zealand standard, though many would still be good products.
What it showed up, though, was the lack of controls.
“Until we have some certifying body in New Zealand checking products, the end user is always at risk. It’s got to be [central] government; local government hasn’t got the resources.”
It’s manifestly unclear just how many of the thousands of taps, cisterns and pipes for sale are a failure waiting to happen.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has the power to warn about or ban building products – but it hasn’t ever done so.
It said the “presence of this regulatory tool provides a threat that modifies behaviour and incentivises voluntary product withdrawal or change”.
Sounds like some lines out of the neo lib textbook where the next page says that people will always prefer the cheaper price and the faster time for installation. (Which would lead to shonky jobs.) Is the textbook right?
So the business might say, ‘What you going to do about it huh? Eh? Just what?’
by Phil Duncan For Marxists, a key concern about social trends is their context – not just their causes, but why they happen when they do. Events and phenomena have causes, but they also are time or period-specific. While much of the left have capitulated recently to postmodernism, most notably ...
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Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for ForestryForestry Minister Shane Jones has announced two One Billion Trees programme grants of more than $1.18 million to help hapu and iwi in Northland restore whenua and moana.“Many communities around Aotearoa have benefited from One Billion Trees funding since the programme was launched ...
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Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Minister for Foreign AffairsForeign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand is partnering with countries in the Pacific to ensure they are prepared for, and able to respond to the global threat of Coronavirus (COVID-19).“There are currently no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the ...
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Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
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“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
Minister of Transport Phil Twyford has today announced details of the Government’s support package to keep key air freight moving and ensure New Zealanders retain access to essential goods during the four-week level 4 lockdown. “The Government is working with airlines and air freight operators to ensure New Zealand’s key ...
New Zealand moved up to COVID-19 Alert Level 3 – Restrict New Zealand to move up to COVID-19 Alert Level 4 – Eliminate, in 48 hours Two-staged approach to give people and businesses time to prepare Level 3, from tomorrow Non-essential businesses must close All events and gatherings must be ...
Good afternoon The Cabinet met this morning to discuss our next actions in the fight against COVID-19. Like the rest of the world, we are facing the potential for devastating impacts from this virus. But, through decisive action, and through working together, do we have a small window to get ...
The Government is announcing significant further support for the economy, workers and businesses as the country unites to prepare for Alert Level 4 in the fight against COVID-19. Cabinet today agreed to remove the cap on the Government’s wage subsidy scheme, which will inject a further $4 billion into the ...
The Government is backing the Reserve Bank’s latest action to support the economy by reducing longer-term interest rates, meaning lower costs for businesses and mortgage holders, and a lower currency to help our exporters. The Minister of Finance has signed a memorandum of understanding and a letter of indemnity with ...
The Government has asked the Commerce Commission to take account of the exceptional circumstances created by COVID-19 when monitoring business behaviour in coming weeks. “The purpose of my request to the Commerce Commission is to make sure businesses can work together in ways that will allow them to provide ...
The New Zealand Government has temporarily closed its High Commission in Bridgetown, Barbados and its Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Due to the increasing scarcity of air links in and out of Bridgetown and Yangon, and the pressure COVID-19 is placing ...
Associate Health and Whānau Ora Minister Peeni Henare has today announced the Government’s plan to support Māori communities and businesses in the face of COVID-19. “Our Government’s $12.1 billion economic package will help many Māori whānau, workers and businesses, whether it’s through wage subsidies, income support and worker redeployment, or ...
The Government and the hospitality industry have worked together to produce guidelines to assist with managing and reducing transmission of COVID-19, Health Minister David Clark announced today. The guidelines developed between the Government, Hospitality New Zealand and SkyCity Entertainment Group, set out how the new restrictions on physical distancing and ...
Four stage Alert System for COVID-19 announced New Zealand moved up to COVID-19 Alert Level 2 – Reduce Contact New Zealanders over 70 and those with certain medical conditions told to stay at home as much as they can to reduce risk of contact with the virus Workplaces to implement ...
Kia ora koutou katoa I’m speaking directly to all New Zealanders today to give you as much certainty and clarity as we can as we fight Covid-19. Over the past few weeks, the world has changed. And it has changed very quickly. In February it would have seemed unimaginable to ...
New Zealand and Singapore have jointly committed to keep supply chains open and to remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker welcomed the commitment. “This is an important collective response, and ...
JOINT MINISTERIAL STATEMENT BY SINGAPORE AND NEW ZEALAND AFFIRMING COMMITMENT TO ENSURING SUPPLY CHAIN CONNECTIVITY AMIDST THE COVID-19 SITUATION The COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis. As part of our collective response to combat COVID-19, Singapore and New Zealand are committed to maintaining open and connected supply chains. We ...
Travel restrictions, closing our border to almost all travelers came into force from 23:59 on Thursday 19 March 2020 (NZDT). All airlines were informed of these restrictions before they came into force. Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says “The transit of passengers between Australia and New Zealand has been agreed upon and ...
The Government has allocated $100 million to help redeploy workers affected by the economic impact of COVID-19, with the hard-hit region of Gisborne-Tairāwhiti to be the first helped, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford, Forestry and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. Phil Twyford ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is ramping up support for Tairāwhiti’s wood processing sector to bolster the region’s economy at a time of heightened uncertainty, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Following earlier announcements today of a regional support package for Tairāwhiti, Minister Jones has also announced a ...
The Coalition Government has stepped in to protect Air New Zealand with a significant financial deal that protects essential routes and allows the company to keep operating. The Government and Air New Zealand have agreed a debt funding agreement through commercial 24-month loan facilities of up to $900 million*. The ...
The Government has taken further measures to protect New Zealanders from the COVID-19 virus, effectively stopping all people from boarding a plane to New Zealand from 11:59pm today, except for returning New Zealanders, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. New Zealanders’ partners, legal guardians or any dependent children travelling with ...
The Government has reinforced its commitment to protecting the health of New Zealanders from COVID-19 through the cancellation of indoor events with more than 100 people. “Protecting the health of New Zealanders is our number one priority, and that means we need to reduce the risks associated with large gatherings,” ...
The New Zealand Government is advising New Zealanders not to travel overseas due to COVID-19, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “We are raising our travel advice to the highest level: do not travel,” Mr Peters said. “This is the first time the New Zealand Government has advised New Zealanders ...
Retailer Smiths City has reached an agreement with ASB Bank to delay a $1.5 million dollar repayment of a loan due tomorrow. It also said it is starting talks with potential investors to support the business. The company said Covid-19 has caused an unforeseen and unprecedented shock to the business, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Quentin Grafton, Director of the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University In 1997, a bestselling book by Jared Diamond purported to explain how the West “won” world dominance based on the good luck ...
Figures from around the world show that Covid-19, while vicious and contagious, does behave like other infections, rampaging quickly through a community, hospitalising a small percentage and causing death in an even smaller percentage. The World Health ...
Video of PM Ardern’s Post Cabinet Press Conference is available here: New Zealand Labour Party - #LIVE: Post-Cabinet Press Conference 2 March 2020 Today Cabinet was focused on the response to protect NZers from COVID-19. Ardern outlined ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin To get a correct picture, we need regional data – indeed sub-regional statistics – because the virus does not respect political boundaries. Unfortunately, it is very hard to get regional data from European countries. The Johns Hopkins data – most widely used by the media (and ...
An extract from Jacinda Ardern: A New Kind of Leader, the brand new biography of the prime minister by Madeleine Chapman, formerly of this parish.Out today, Madeleine’s biography of the prime minister is magnificent. We cracked up. We had a wee cry. We’ve never read a political biography like it. Tomorrow ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Misha Ketchell, Editor & Executive Director, The Conversation You might have seen recent mediareports in various outlets of a paper, commissioned by the federal government, reporting the coronavirus advice of a group of experts from Group Of Eight universities. Dated March ...
Analysis: On the face of it, New Zealand's epidemic curve is going exponential. But are case numbers really rising for the same reasons as overseas? If you've been following any news about Covid-19 over the past three months, you've heard of The Curve. It looks, variously, like a sky-high pillar ...
MediaRoom column: A decision to block publication of community newspapers under the State of Emergency could be changed tomorrow. Tim Murphy reports. A decision to stop community newspapers from circulating in the country's suburbs, towns and settlements appears to have been an example of officials scratching their regulatory itch. On Friday, ...
A Waikato berry grower has been ordered to pay over $76,000 for employment law breaches. Olde Berry Farm has been fined $50,000 and forced to pay over $16,000 in unpaid wages and holiday pay. Its managing director, Andrew Molly, has been made personally responsible fo an additional $10,000 in penalties. ...
The Government has set up a dedicated service for reporting fears of price gouging, as Jacinda Ardern flags the expansion of "essential services" Kiwis concerned about potential price gouging at supermarkets during the coronavirus lockdown can now report the issue directly to government officials, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced. Ardern ...
A new report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment into the ban on new petroleum exploration permits outside onshore Taranaki has been welcomed by the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand (PEPANZ). "This ...
The takeover offer for Abano Healthcare is off the table - a casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic. The company said the $150-million takeover scheme agreement with Adams NZ Bidco Ltd. was terminated, with no fees payable by either party, as a result as the material adverse change to the company's ...
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contribution to the successful mission to train members of the Iraqi Security Forces to combat ISIS is at an end and the first troops from the final contingent have arrived home. Since December the NZDF has had 45 personnel ...
On Sunday it was reported there is a high demand for New Zealand Police's online form to report lockdown breaches. This news should act as a red flag, signalling the potentially corrosive effects on public trust within Aotearoa that may occur in these troubled times. Concerns have already been expressed ...
The Prime Minister is giving the latest updates on the government's fight against the impact of Covid-19 at her weekly post-Cabinet media conference. Watch live here. ...
Watch the replay of our fourth live Q&A session with Dr Ayesha Verrall, a senior lecturer at Otago University who specialises in infectious diseases. Ayesha Verrall is an infectious diseases physician and senior lecturer at Otago University's Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine (Wellington). Dr Verrall has been monitoring the spread and impact ...
Recognising how much of the burden women are carrying in this crisis - and how much they always carry - may take us closer to a society in which caring work is seen and valued for the essential work it is, writes Jess Berentson-Shaw COVID-19 has thrown a window wide ...
You’ve lost your job and your income has reduced due to the Covid-19 crisis, so how do you hold onto your home? Mortgage adviser Cameron Marcroft talks to Bonnie Sumner.Tell us about the changes you’ve seen since the lockdown began. We’ve had many enquiries coming through from both existing ...
When officials – including police themselves – don’t seem clear on the rules around movement, it makes it harder for everyone to do the right thing, writes Andrew Geddis.Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to trying to eradicate the virus that causes Covid-19 from its shores. To do that, as a ...
The EMA is urging the Government to postpone the planned significant increase to the minimum wage on Wednesday, as employers grapple with keeping their doors open amid COVID-19. Chief Executive Brett O’Riley says that while it may be politically ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Wark, Conjoint Professor, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle As the number of COVID-19 cases around the world continues to climb, hospitals are under increased pressure to provide emergency care for the most severely ill patients. What does ...
Philanthropy New Zealand will release a weekly update to share philanthropic and grantmaking activity and insight as the sector seeks to support communities in the wake of COVID-19. This update is a general public document, provided to Ministers, ...
By Elias Nanau in Port Moresby Indonesia has issued a stern warning over illegal border crossers from Papua New Guinea. This follows Indonesia stepping up its security measures at the border in response to the global Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. The First Secretary to the governor for West Sepik, Adam ...
As two staff members test positive for Covid-19, police are grappling with ways to keep their workforce safe while still enforcing the rules of the lockdown, Marc Daalder reports Two police staff have tested positive for Covid-19, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said Monday, while nearly 400 others are now in self-isolation ...
The Covid-19 crisis in media has claimed New Zealand’s last surviving radio station solely dedicated to sport. Amid a wider crisis in media funding right now, the first outlet has been forced to close the doors – and it isn’t likely to return.Staff at Radio Sport have been told that the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Coates, Program Director, Household Finances, Grattan Institute New Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates paint a grim picture of the direct economic costs of public health measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, and the need for more government support ...
Tips on how television can help educate your kids, for parents who have to keep working.It feels as if a great many parents are simply flourishing during this lockdown with fairy gardens, bird song and mason jars, daily bongo drum dancing and essays written by three-year-old prodigies about how satisfying ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. There were 76 new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, up from the previous day's 63 new cases. Details of how many tests have been completed are now being ...
Supermarkets and some publishers are favoured by the government’s imposition of severe restrictions on what we can do and from whom we can buy during the Covid-19 lock-down. But one consumer watchdog is challenging the legality of an edict by Commerce Minister Kris Faafoi which favours supermarkets while Act leader ...
Robyn Hunt writes on the challenges facing disabled people and what needs to be done to support them as we go into lockdown, and beyond.Disabled people at higher risk need more help. Many of the almost one quarter of New Zealanders who are disabled are doing it hard as the ...
An online focus is coming back to bite newspaper companies, the Otago Daily Times’ editor says. David Williams reports. Despite advertising falling off a cliff, and its community papers dormant, the group editor of the country’s third-biggest publisher says there haven’t been layoffs and it’s unlikely any of its newspapers ...
Cabinet ministers will patch into a video conference this afternoon to discuss the Covid-19 lockdown, including complaints about high prices at supermarkets. ...
Talks will be ongoing between local leaders and Government in an effort to have them deploy both personnel and other resources to Tairāwhiti to support regional measures to contain COVID-19. Mayor Rehette Stoltz, Gisborne District Council ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union is joining calls for the Government to extend submission deadlines for Select Committees during the immediate fallout of the COVID-19 crisis. New Zealand Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, "Old political ...
FIRST Union welcomes the announcements made by supermarket chains Foodstuffs and Progressive Enterprises that workers will receive lockdown pay increases but is cautioning that the details of these promises matter and all essential workers should be earning ...
By Imelda V. Abano in Manila The novel coronavirus now sweeping the globe has left many countries struggling to cope with rising numbers of infections and journalists grappling with how to best cover this evolving public health crisis. In addition to questions about how governments, health care systems and ...
The government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight in and out of the country - with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight. ...
Join Leonie Hayden as she works through the first four weeks of Scotty Morrison’s Māori Made Easy.Kia ora e te whānau, welcome to MME with me! I know a lot of us have this little green book on our shelves. Maybe you bought it and never got round to opening ...
The Free Speech Coalition is preparing to launch an urgent judicial review of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s decision to deem non-daily newspapers and publications not an essential service for the purposes of the COVID-19 Level-4 nationwide shutdown. ...
Increasingly concerned home support workers are worried that without adequate personal protective equipment and mandatory protocols for risk assessments, they may end up spreading COVID-19 around the homes and communities they work in. The news that 21 ...
The kiwifruit industry is fighting for survival as it tries to pick and pack the season's crop while enforcing Covid-19 restrictions. The apple industry is also predicting problems with at least 10 percent of the crop not likely to be picked. The nationwide lockdown has come right in the middle ...
The Reserve Bank is ramping up support for businesses and banks by accepting corporate debt and other assets as security for loans to banks. The latest measure is designed to pump more money into the economy through the banking system. Assistant governor Christian Hawkesby said the aim is to encourage ...
The first days of national lockdown have truly brought out the best in our social media stars. Alex Casey counts down the classics. Yesterday I got served with the Instagram notification that normally only pops up around Christmas-time. “You’re all caught up!” it chirps, “you’ve seen every post from the last ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, writer and doctor Glenn Colquhoun goes full epistolary, with a letter to Hone Tūwhare – and his Travelling Band of Constant Companions.Kia ...
By John Gerritsen of RNZ News The $5 billion foreign student industry is facing a massive downturn with as many as half of this year’s enrolments now in doubt. Immigration New Zealand figures show that of 76,203 valid study visas at 15 March, 60,348 were in New Zealand, and ...
As New Zealand looks toward an uncertain future in all areas of life, Auckland school principal Claire Amos sees an opportunity to change high school education for the better. The last week has been an interesting one for school leaders. Monday arrived, it was all on – schools were closing the ...
The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Morning Report, she’s expecting the country to be restricted to visitors for some time after the lockdown period ends. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University 2019 was the year Australians confronted the fact that a healthy environment is more than just a pretty waterfall in a national park; a nice ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yale Z Wong, Research Associate, Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, University of Sydney ZMinimising health risks has rightly been the focus of discussion during the coronavirus outbreak. This includes efforts to protect both frontline public transport employees and the travelling public. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tyler Riordan, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Along with home delivery of groceries, pharmaceuticals and alcohol, demand for food delivery is booming. Services such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo have become essential to cafes and restaurants that can now only sell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nishanathe Dahanayake, PhD Candidate, Ethics/Philosophy, University of New England The coronavirus pandemic is challenging our health, work, family, food and fun. It’s also disturbing our peace of mind and forcing us to question our own existence. We are each asking our own ...
ASB sees 6 percent GDP fall in 2020; Chorus, King Salmon and Stride reassure their profits are still on track; Augusta withdraws fund on rent relief fears; US stocks slide again; US jobs data looms ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Conditions for leaving lockdown explored, nation’s first death from Covid-19 reported, and Australian govt continues to discriminate against NZers.When will the Covid-19 lockdown across New Zealand end? Short answer – when it’s actually safe to do so. Officially, the current state ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
People over 70 and those with underlying health conditions faced the lockdown four days before the rest of the country - but some of the elderly still aren't taking any notice. ...
Steve Braunias presents a photo essay of the one thing that New Zealanders are holding close to their hearts during the Lockdown: their bookshelves. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's bookcase at Premier House in Wellington. The photograph which she posted this weekend on her Instagram page reveals two novels by Elizabeth ...
Police start “initial” investigation into abuse at a notorious psychiatric hospital. David Williams reports The Government has missed a 90-day deadline for responding to a United Nations committee over torture at Lake Alice’s child and adolescent unit in the 1970s. However, in a move that might represent a glimmer of ...
Emma Espiner makes a slow and deliberate trip to the supermarket yesterday, where she finds we are approaching social distancing in a very New Zealand way It took me three attempts to go to the supermarket. Two days ago I saw the cheerless conga line snaking around the car park ...
Dr Neal Curtis looks at all the points of implicit trust within society, and how Covid-19 is revealing how important this trust is As I stood in the queue to get into our local supermarket it was encouraging to see how carefully people were engaging in social distancing to minimise ...
From growing up on the remote East Cape to becoming a Black Fern and a lawyer, Ruahei Demant wants to show young Māori that anything is possible. In the long run, Ruahei Demant wants to be a sports lawyer. But in the short term, the Black Ferns first-five is juggling her ...
Having toughed it out alone with Covid-19 and survived, one Kiwi man learned the hard way how self-isolation really can save lives, writes Jill Herron Choosing to self-isolate early with only Sophie the spaniel as company led to a lonesome, rough ride through Covid-19 for a Christchurch asthmatic – but ...
As we begin what could become a long period of self-isolation, we encounter a dilemma. On the one hand, epidemiological research and recent global events show us the dangers of not responding swiftly to Covid-19. With community spread now within our shores, it is critical that we follow government orders ...
Community health and care workers talk of their fear of infection - for themselves, their vulnerable clients and New Zealand Over the last few days, Newsroom has written several articles about the fact that thousands of home and community health care workers, who care for elderly, disabled and sick people, have ...
Calls are growing for extra payment for those who continue to head out to work every day, including many on very low wages.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here.Two petitions have been circulating over the weekend ...
Covid-19 will transform society, just as the plague and smallpox transformed nations centuries ago. This time, however, we have something they didn’t, writes historian Ayelet Zoran-Rosen.Throughout history, epidemics and pandemics have been a threat to people and states. They strike societies with little or no notice, upend their social and ...
The Covid-19 epidemic is only the second time New Zealand has entered a state of national emergency. Newsroom’s Sam Sachdeva had first-hand experience of the first - the devastating Christchurch earthquakes - and tries to make sense of how the two compare. There is so much that is new about New ...
In another of his interviews with key industry CEOs on their response to the Covid-19 crisis, Rod Oram talks with Simon Mackenzie of lines company Vector, who expects permanent changes in where and why people consume electricity even once the lockdown ends At mid-afternoon on Wednesday, nine hours before New ...
In the lead-up to the general election, Facebook has launched a fact-checking service for New Zealand and the Pacific, Marc Daalder reports Facebook has contracted the Australian Associated Press' fact-checking division to serve as a certified agency to review content pertaining to New Zealand and the Pacific and rate its ...
The Consumers' Union of Aotearoa has issued a challenge against Kris Faafoi's ministerial press statement which instructed the Commerce Commission to relax its standards for supermarkets and telecommunications companies[*]. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra No more than two people are to gather together in public spaces, and playgrounds will be closed in the latest restrictions in the coronavirus crisis. Meanwhile the government will now scrutinise all foreign investment proposals ...
Open mike 27/01/2016 
Open mike is your post.
by Phil Duncan For Marxists, a key concern about social trends is their context – not just their causes, but why they happen when they do. Events and phenomena have causes, but they also are time or period-specific. While much of the left have capitulated recently to postmodernism, most notably ...44 mins ago
Since the lockdown began, we've all suddenly been reminded who the actually essential workers in our society are: not the people at the top who pay themselves the big bucks and rort the perks, but the people at the bottom they screw over and squeeze: cleaners, warehouse staff, truck drivers ...2 hours ago
Kia ora! As I've watched nearly all my remaining work vanish over the past couple of days, it has occured to me that one good way to keep me away from arguing with fools on Twitter all the time (in the knowledge that all we're really doing is processing our ...3 hours ago
Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to trying to extirpate the virus that causes COVID-19 from its shores. To do that, as a society we’ve moved to “Level 4”. That means adapting to unprecedented restrictions on our personal freedoms, particularly to our rights to move freely and associate with friends and ...4 hours ago
. . Lock Down: Day 4 – A photo essay with observations . March 29: Usual wake up routine as RNZ snaps on my radio-clock. Jim Mora’s voice slowly enters my conciousness; there’s talk of a second wave of covid19 taking hold in South Korea; the week in Parliament – ...6 hours ago
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...6 hours ago
The kids did surprisingly well today – meltdown count was about 3, and mostly fairly short ones. (And a fourth while I was writing.) Game-wise I had a go at Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark. It’s a fairly standard RPG with turn-based combat and what they call a “mature storyline” (it ...20 hours ago
by Don Franks Hi David, Nice hearing from you, I’m glad to hear you’re getting by okay in these grim times. You asked how’s it going for us back here in New Zealand. You would have heard that the whole country is locked down and with breaks for exercise and ...21 hours ago
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 22, 2020 through Sat, Mar 28, 2020 Articles Linked to on Facebook Sun, Mar 22, 2020 In Just 10 Years, Warming Has Increased the Odds of Disasters by Chelsea Harvey, ...2 days ago
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...2 days ago
Fortune's Children: Under extraordinary pressure, the leader of the Government and the leader of the Opposition will each show us what they are made of. Have they been blessed with intelligence, grace, wit, poise, toughness, empathy and humour – and in what measure? More importantly, to what extent have they ...2 days ago
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...3 days ago
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights: In this legal blog we outline some ...3 days ago
Just before midnight on Wednesday March 25, Aotearoa New Zealand entered a countrywide alert level four lockdown. For at least the next four weeks, everyone who isn’t an essential worker is confined to their bubble. We are doing this to stop the explosive growth in people contracting and dying from ...3 days ago
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or being ...5 days ago
According to Newshub, Simon Bridges is open to joining a “grand coalition” with Labour as we hunker down to go into a month long lockdown. The idea is sound. Before now, the role of the opposition was to scrutinise and oppose. In the context of what almost amounts to a ...7 days ago
Kia ora my name is Chloe Ann-King* and I am the founder of Raise the Bar, a campaign and non-profit that gives free legal aid, advocacy and tautoko to hospitality workers in Aotearoa. Right now all over our country hospo workers are being fired at will, having shifts cut or ...1 week ago
A few days ago I was starting to write something about the pandemic, which now seems unconscionable. It took the form of a letter to an agony aunt:“Dear Deidre, I have an ugly confession. I am quite excited by Covid-19.”This is how the piece went:“I’m not a psychopath, honest. Although the ...1 week ago
I am a pundit, somebody who opines and comments on the news. There are no real qualifications to punditry though having a rudimentary way with words and good general knowledge helps. That is one reason there is a constant oversupply of would-be pundits and why it is quite hard to ...1 week ago
The coronavirus pandemic has of course had a major impact on individual lives and on societies as a whole. But, long after the crisis has passed (assuming it does), we will begin to realise that its real and lasting significance lies in the lessons it has taught us, if only ...1 week ago
COVID-19 has plunged Aotearoa New Zealand (indeed, the world) into territory that, while maybe not totally unprecedented, certainly hasn’t been seen during the lifetimes of most of us here today. Our borders are closed to non-citizens, we’re being told not to gather in groups of more than 500 outside/100 inside, ...1 week ago
Looking across the various arguments for/against the leading candidates to take the Democratic Nomination, you might honestly be very hard pressed to tell. There are a number of things that have now started happening since Amy Klobuchar and “Mayor Pete” Buttigieg both threw the towel in and immediately (and ...2 weeks ago
Some fave speeches: ...2 weeks ago
Many who advocated for, and voted for, the current Coalition – particularly those who voted Labour and the Green Party – expected to see a sea change in the reality of social services. A real, deep change of attitude, approach of process through which the system negotiates the difficult and ...2 weeks ago
All 45 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel are either on their way back to New Zealand, or already in the country, according to Defence Minister Ron Mark. "Twenty-eight personnel arrived back in New Zealand last week and are in isolation at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base in ...48 mins ago
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...2 days ago
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The scale of what we face right now is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Overcoming it is our common purpose. ...5 days ago
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...8 hours ago
Retailer Smiths City has reached an agreement with ASB Bank to delay a $1.5 million dollar repayment of a loan due tomorrow. It also said it is starting talks with potential investors to support the business. The company said Covid-19 has caused an unforeseen and unprecedented shock to the business, ...16 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Quentin Grafton, Director of the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University In 1997, a bestselling book by Jared Diamond purported to explain how the West “won” world dominance based on the good luck ...19 mins ago
Figures from around the world show that Covid-19, while vicious and contagious, does behave like other infections, rampaging quickly through a community, hospitalising a small percentage and causing death in an even smaller percentage. The World Health ...24 mins ago
An extract from Jacinda Ardern: A New Kind of Leader, the brand new biography of the prime minister by Madeleine Chapman, formerly of this parish.Out today, Madeleine’s biography of the prime minister is magnificent. We cracked up. We had a wee cry. We’ve never read a political biography like it. Tomorrow ...33 mins ago
Analysis: On the face of it, New Zealand's epidemic curve is going exponential. But are case numbers really rising for the same reasons as overseas? If you've been following any news about Covid-19 over the past three months, you've heard of The Curve. It looks, variously, like a sky-high pillar ...37 mins ago
MediaRoom column: A decision to block publication of community newspapers under the State of Emergency could be changed tomorrow. Tim Murphy reports. A decision to stop community newspapers from circulating in the country's suburbs, towns and settlements appears to have been an example of officials scratching their regulatory itch. On Friday, ...48 mins ago
A Waikato berry grower has been ordered to pay over $76,000 for employment law breaches. Olde Berry Farm has been fined $50,000 and forced to pay over $16,000 in unpaid wages and holiday pay. Its managing director, Andrew Molly, has been made personally responsible fo an additional $10,000 in penalties. ...51 mins ago
The Government has set up a dedicated service for reporting fears of price gouging, as Jacinda Ardern flags the expansion of "essential services" Kiwis concerned about potential price gouging at supermarkets during the coronavirus lockdown can now report the issue directly to government officials, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced. Ardern ...57 mins ago
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Even though every January in Auckland is now subtropiCal, good gravy this is the worst.
You’re living at the wrong end of the country.
There’s some weird shit weather going on down south too. I’m not complaining too much because rain grows food and provides longer term protection re AGW, but it’s still a strange summer thus far.
El Nino + Climate Change = a strange summer thus far
Indeed.
For now.
Yes even though an El Nino usually brings dry weather to the eastern side of the country – apart from December when we had just 11 mm of rain at Paeroa (closest met recording site for us on the Coromandel) and were looking at an extreme drought over the plains – this month has already exceeded the long term average for rainfall and we are looking at more!
It seems that with the increase in average temperatures and the shift south of the Halley Climate Zone that our climate – particularly in the north of the country is moving rapidly to a phase in our climate patterns. Humid as hell here today! 20 something feels like 30 something.
WE will need to wait a few years to see if this is going to be the new normal for el nino. Interesting times.
Gills needed.
The Herald and Audrey Young pimps for Key.
Accepts this statement without challenging it.
“This is a free-trade deal that gives us access to 800 million middle-income consumers. Its economic benefits are about two-and-a-half times the size of the China FTA.”
Corporate rag.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11580027
News on TV1 was similar.
Their piece on the government assessment of the TPPA, related the annual costs of the TPPA, and displayed the cumulative benefits.
Don’t usually watch the news, and don’t think I’ll be doing it again very soon.
They don’t tell the national news any more.
They tell the National Party’s news.
“This is a free-trade deal that gives us access to 800 million middle-income consumers. Its economic benefits are about two-and-a-half times the size of the China FTA.”..
Yeah. I heard that and thought..Mmm Interesting..then realized it was from Mr Key’s mouth.and consumed a grain of NaCl
Listened to RNZ at 7.00 – 7.20am this morning, up until that time not a dicky bird on the meeting at the AK Town Hall last night over the TPPA . I watched Bomber’s live feed last night and it was excellent. So it wasn’t important enough for RNZ to even bring up the crowd and the very interesting speeches made and inform NZ listeners. NZ First, The Greens and the Maori Party were all completely against the TPPA, Labour’s speech was anti losing our sovereignity but didn’t actually come out and say there were anti the TPPA itself – quite vague I thought. Be interesting if any of the MSM bring it up during the day.
RNZ’s report on the TPP.
Thoughts?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201786931/tpp-critics-meet-the-deal-is-not-done-yet
A crowd of only 800?
Gee, I would have thought the Unions alone could have provided a stronger show of support than that.
Any comment on the actual content of the meeting?
Yup.
The small public attendance indicates that not many citizens were motivated to go along and listen to it.
The content of the speeches…not the people attending.
The ‘content’ of last nights meeting has been debated endlessly here and elsewhere including the MSM. I’m not interested in going through it all again. (As was pointed out last night, i agree it is likely the U.S. Congress will torpedo it anyway).
My point is that after all that debate, the small attendance in response to the call to ‘fill the Town Hall’ indicates only a very small % of citizens are buying into the ‘Corporate-National Party Conspiracy / loss of Sovereignty’ content that most of the speakers were pushing.
There is a lesson there for you Paul. Once you pass the point where you invoke a conspiracy as part of a discussion, you will also have lost your connection to the views of the great majority of citizens.
@ The lost sheep (3.1.1.1.1)
You seem to have missed the fact that the meeting was also live streamed through The Daily Blog, which in itself would have attracted a large number of viewers, for those of us who were unable to attend the meeting itself.
Have a think about that.
3.1.1.2.1. below mary.
The Town Hall was packed full…in the report I heard
Ground floor full and a few upstairs. That’s half full in a venue that holds over 1600….anyway you look at it, it’s a very low response……
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/295019/critics-say-tpp-not-a-done-deal
Like many others I watched on the live feed and sent a donation to
https://givealittle.co.nz/org/itsourfuture.
It was an excellent and informative meeting.
There was well over 800. I know, I was there. The ground floor was full, and that is is far more than half the seating capacity. The upper floors were about 1/3 full. That would make around 1200 at least if the seating capacity is as you say 1600.
I suppose if they were to have said that there were 1600 people then you would have said – “pppppft only that many! ”
The talk was also live streamed and there were over 10,000 on that site so way more interest than you make out.
0.09% of Aucklands population turns up to the meeting, and (a claimed) 0.2% of the total population stream the broadcast…
Now if i was claiming those kind of figures as evidence of public support for the TPPA, you would be saying what?
Well those are interesting %- about the % increase in GDP from the tppa!!!!
No wonder you are a lost sheep! What sort of an idiot argument is that?
Had the Town Hall been full to overflowing – you would have argued – well that’s only 0.15% of Aucklands population etc etc….
The facts of just what this nonsense agreement is about are only just emerging – and they are proving to be as bad if not worse than was feared.
So we have a compliant media who only reiterate the lies and propaganda of the Government and make no real analysis of what they are told. What can you expect of the population who are treated by a govt as mushrooms – kept in the dark and fed bullshit? It is surprising that as many did turn up.
I drove up to the event from the Coromandel. It took almost 3/4 of an hour to “drive” from tip top corner to the Civic Car Park. The traffic going south at that time was even worse. No need to remind me why I no longer live in Auckland. I would strongly suspect that if one didn’t have to go out on an evening in Auckland these days one wouldn’t. The congestion on the motorway being a very strong disincentive.
“So we have a compliant media who only reiterate the lies and propaganda of the Government and make no real analysis of what they are told. What can you expect of the population who are treated by a govt as mushrooms – kept in the dark and fed bullshit? It is surprising that as many did turn up.”
That’s nonsense.
Anyone googling TPPA will immediately have access to all the various view out there on the TPPA.
In fact the first link that comes up is http://itsourfuture.org.nz/what-is-the-tppa/, and 5 of the first 10 results are anti-TPPA sites.
Are you seriously suggesting citizens are prevented from accessing information freely available on the internet?
And The MSM has comprehensively covered all the views on the TPP.
In that first page of results the first MSM page that comes up is this..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/76141808/the-transpacific-partnership-tppa-explained-in-five-minutes
Please note the article carefully covers the objections to TPPA, including direct comment from Kelsey.
The second article from MSM that comes up is this
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/76250812/tppa-nonsigning-risks-marginalisation-and-decline-for-nz-economy
Once again please note the main point of the article is to express the views of critics of the TPPA.
If we go to the Herald, the first thing we find is this report of last nights meetings.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11580056
Surprise surprise, it comprehensively reports the critical views of the TPPA.
Second on The Herald list is this, published in The Northen Advocate..
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11578273
ETC ETC ETC. I’ve been following the TPP story through the MS and FREE media here in NZ, and IT IS UTTER BOLLOCKS to allege there is lack of freely available/unbalanced information.
The ‘mushroom’ meme is complete bullshit. (For any issue, not just the TPP)
The people are well informed and have information freely available to them from any source that wants to put information out there.
The reason so few of them supported the meeting last night is that after absorbing all the information, there simply aren’t that many people who are deeply concerned about the TPPA.
All what you say is true, however the most consistent message, and the one all the articles leave the reader with, is the advice that the TPPA is the propaganda spread by the Govt that the really good for NZ, not to worry about all the expert analysis they don’t know what they are talking about.
That is complete and utter bollocks as any independent survey of the electorate would show. The full text was only released by the govt yesterday!
You may have been following the discussion – but you are not everyone.
Just as an aside, what you get as a result of a google search and what your friend or neighbour gets as a result for the same google search, you might be surprised to know, are highly likely to be completely different, based on each individuals web browsing habits.
All what you say is true, however the most consistent message, and the one all the articles leave the reader with, is the advice that the TPPA is the propaganda spread by the Govt that the really good for NZ, not to worry about all the expert analysis they don’t know what they are talking about.”
I didn’t see that as being the most consistent message, and I’m not sure if I saw the media putting it that way anywhere?
There has a been a wide range of opinions expressed and if I anything I would say the bulk of the MSM coverage centered around the objections to the TPP.
But having been given the info., (such as the widely reported fact that the negotiations were secret), and hearing the various opinions, ‘the people’ are then perfectly free to go and follow their own sources and make their own minds up about what they think and how motivated they are to do something about it. Or not.
That is simply democracy, and most people see it as such.
But when the weight of democratic opinion goes against either the Far Right or Far Left they always tend to see it as the result of bias or the idiocy of ‘the people’.
Much easier to swallow than the idea that the majority of people are reasonable and simply don’t agree with you.
Actually the weight of opinion in NZ is against the TPPA – or haven’t you read that fact.
So I wouldn’t hold a great deal of candle to your opinion that they are all for it or don’t care.
You seem very unwilling to debate the actual content of what Lori Wallach and Jane Kelsey said to a disputed number of people at the town hall.
It did seems to highlight the misinformation your master Key has been telling us.
*sigh* another idiot sheepie who is too lazy to look it up and probably can’t read anyway.
http://www.aucklandlive.co.nz/Our-Venues/Auckland-Town-Hall/Great-Hall.aspx
So that is your first lie – I guess you like emulating the idiot liar John Key?
Second is that I think that the bottom floor was full from the video – that is more like 1200. The upper floors had people (overflow) up there. I suspect the ‘800’ was just wrong. It was a midweek evening event. I was still working at 7pm, I watched on video.
Thirdly, compared to what? Just think of the right and its events where you are lucky to get 50 fools out unless the government or the National party cough up free grog. Even then it is less than this.
Basically you are a complete idiot.
The centrepiece of Auckland Town Hall is the Great Hall, seating up to 1,529 people on three levels.
So that is your first lie – I guess you like emulating the idiot liar John Key?
Second is that I think that the bottom floor was full from the video – that is more like 1200. The upper floors had people (overflow) up there. I suspect the ‘800’ was just wrong. It was a midweek evening event. I was still working at 7pm, I watched on video.
Achully (JK impression), the 0.09 figure I quoted was based on the generous assumption that there were 50% more people there than the report stated.
1200 in fact.
If it was only 800 the figure would have been 0.06.
Bald Fact is, seeking a show of support in a city of 1.3m they could not fill a 1500 seat hall.
Thirdly, compared to what?
50,000 at the 1981 Springbok Tour or Kiwis Care protests. 8000 Farmers who protested Rogernomics, or the 1000 that came to the Town Hall for the GCSB Bill. Or the 35,000 that made the effort to attend the ‘Big Boys Toys’ event, or the 5000 that made the effort to get to Piha during the weekend.
Compared to what is 1200 people an indication of a high level of public support?
Basically you are a complete idiot.
And you owning the site doesn’t make that any less of a bullshit and pointless ad hominem cheap shot.
+100 Iprent…have to agree with you
I liked this bit:
“But one audience member, Ian, said he was furious with the deal.
“I’ve got to the stage now where I think petitions and protests are part of a social contract where people who are outraged think ‘Oh I’ve done something, I’ve done something’ and the Government just goes ahead and ignores them anyway.
“I think what we need is not protests and petitions but riots. We need to change this Government’s opinion and we need to change everyone else’s opinion and make them wonder why are people behaving the way they are. I think we need mass civil disobedience.” ”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/295019/critics-say-tpp-not-a-done-deal
I find it incredibly ironic that the route to protecting New Zealand’s best interests lies in a bunch of completely-out-of-their-mind Republicans motivated entirely by partisan malice towards Obama going even further out of their minds and taking a few more of their slightly-less-irrational colleagues with them.
Don’t mix up the decision making and attitudes of the oligarchic elite with the views and anxieties of ordinary Americans struggling to get ahead or stay ahead.
I was referring to members of congress, both House and Senate.
Yep! We may or may not be saved by the greedies who want more extortionate clauses in the Agreement not less!
Just a small handful have to change their mind one way or the other. It’s no done deal yet.
But the scary thing is this:
If our idiotic govt ratify this deal – before the thing is signed off by congress – and they (congress) then only agree to new extortionate clauses that further lengthen the time frame for IP etc (as the republicans want) then we are further shafted!
I thought the TPA legislation that has already been passed means Congress has to put it to a straight yes/no vote, they can’t try to tinker with it.
That was what I thought too – until listening to Lori last night – it seemed that that was a possibility. Maybe I got her wrong – but she was stressing that many in the GOP were against TTPA because the time limits on generic drugs etc was not long enough for big pharmac to collect even more money. It seemed that the issue was that they would only agree if the got their way.
Theoretically they can’t tinker with it, but they could repeal the legislation if they really wanted to. It wouldn’t surprise me either way, to be honest.
Who is it that rush in where angels fear to tread? The Gnats. Of course.
Despite the rest of the household disconnecting from our stretched broadband so we could watch the live stream…we kept losing the feed. Very annoying…does anyone know if it was recorded? And available?
“The video of last nights discussion will be posted here shortly.” – See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/01/27/last-nights-tppa-meeting/#sthash.7hMozLX3.dpuf
The Sound just had something about some Farmers (Fonterra or Farm Fed) were in support of it. Followed by intelectual heavy weight Leah Panapa saying she agrees with Winston Peters that the Maori Party are “brownmailing” John Key & the other presenters all agreed & one guy mentioned “& you & Winston are maori followed by a joke about Winston being half scottish half Maori so he tanned easily but was cheap.” No wonder Key likes to go on those stations.
I wrote this post two days ago this post two days ago suggesting that New Zealand is highly vulnerable to the oncoming economic tsunami.
Seems like one of the word’s major rating agency agrees with me.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201786930/fitch-revises-down-nz's-economic-outlook
You mean this:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11580203
“Fitch Ratings has affirmed its AA credit rating for New Zealand, but says the outlook for our agricultural exports means future growth won’t be quite as strong.”
“The report from Fitch said GDP growth for New Zealand was still expected to pick up to 2.4 per cent and 2.6 per cent in 2016 and 2017 respectively – a slower pace than it forecast in its review in July last year.”
Yes, this bit..
‘Ratings agency Fitch has highlighted weaker prices for New Zealand’s agriculture exports – including dairy – for its revised outlook on growth.
It has left the country’s sovereign rating unchanged at AA, but had revised-down its assessment of New Zealand’s near-term growth prospects because it said the outlook for prices of the country’s agricultural exports had deteriorated.’
Care to comment on Rod Oram’s outlook, pr?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201786811/business-commentator-rod-oram
As the link you referenced states we have growth, lower then expected growth yes but growth that’s better than most
Care to comment on Rod Oram’s outlook about the TPP , pr?
Why? Its his opinion nothing more nothing less, it doesn’t change the outlook that NZs GDP is growing and whats more important GDP growth or Rod Orams opinion?
It has as much relevance as this opinion
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/72604363/Former-PM-Clark-backs-controversial-TPPA-trade-deal
Well actually you’d say it has more relevance all things considered
So you don’t care to comment.
I was interested to see how you argued against his clear concerns about the TPP.
I can’t actually argue against it specifically as my work won’t allow me (well everyone really) certain functions on the internet so I can’t listen to it
However my points do stand, which opinion is considered more relevant Rod Oram or Helen Clark
You’re spending your working day arguing with strangers on the internet? Is that your job? Or are you misusing the time your employer is paying you for?
You can judge how busy am I and what times I’m busy by how many comments I post and when I post them
But if you’re not paid what possible motivation do you have for coming on this site day after day looking for an argument?
Same as most of the people on here I guess. I care about this country, I believe National under John Key is the best current option for NZ (ok not this so much) and I like to see what other other peoples opinions are
I was simply interested in your opinion about Oram’s critique of the TPP.
‘I can’t actually argue against it specifically as my work won’t allow me’
2 questions.
Are you only allowed to troll in certain areas?
Haven’t your masters given your lines to make this argument?
I realise that you’re making the suggestion I get paid for doing this (I wish) but no its simply certain apps and web pages aren’t allowed to be accessed
Theres some security measures at play I guess
All growth is not good growth. See cancer.
‘From heatwave to violent storms: New Zealand’s mad weather’
Amazing that the Herald still can write an article about the weather without any reference to climate change or El Nino.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11580068
The dumbing down of NZ continues apace.
Won’t be long till we’ve reached this level of ignorance…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/267065-trade-notably-absent-from-white-house-recap-of-pelosi-reid-meeting
Interesting article. Obama met with Democratic leaders about the legislative agenda and the TPPA was not really discussed. Many Democrats oppose the TPPA, as do all three Democrats running for President.
Big risks for New Zealand with the signing of the TPPA…Rod Oram spells it out
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201786811/business-commentator-rod-oram
“Business commentator Rod Oram on the recently available New Zealand research papers on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, and New Zealand’s role in the TPPA.”
Thanks Chooky
“Business commentator Rod Oram on the recently available New Zealand research papers on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, and New Zealand’s role in the TPPA.”
Oram gives a pragmatic analysis far more balanced and reasonable than the usual TPPApologists.
Now I know I shouldn’t laugh ~snort~ but this from the beige badgers site –
Cameron Slater said on Facebook today that the police won’t be appealing the High Court ruling in the Hager case. He doesn’t sound like a happy chap.
Talk about projection!
That’s what I thought. Tried to influence an election, lol.
Although I think we are all on the same page with Cam in wondering why he even bothers.
He’s always such a cry baby, wanting attention and sympathy because he didn’t get his way. Fine if he wants to move to another country, he doesn’t contribute anything to this one. He should do us all a favour and just get on with it, leave, and quit bleating.
Israel would suit him. He can go join the IDF. He was there a while ago, as their guest, sociopathic sicko that he is.
Well worth a little indulgent snort joe90
+1
I’d donate a bit towards transporting the rancid whale to Israel!
Should we start a givalittle
If he leaves NZ for good to go back and live in Fiji I bet we could have a whip round and pay for his plane ticket, on the agreement that it’s one way with no return. Ever.
Joe 90
Cams comment
I might just go back to my place of birth (Fiji) or live somewhere totally different…like Israel….because New Zealand really doesn’t feel like home sometimes.
Good riddents to ya, the sooner the better!!
Bugger off to Israel then Slater, you mad bastard ! There you can bash over some Palestinian kids and get applauded for it !
Doubt that NatziYahoo’ll have you in his phone list though. That’ll be tough won’t it slug ?
I came on this quote while browsing. The woman, Fran Peavey, makes a good point that is very relevant in these difficult times.
(Make a comparison with Whaleoil musing as in Joe90 comment – Fran is trying to do good things for life to thrive on earth, Whaleoil isn’t even useful to spray on pest insects.)
http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/hpx/fran98.htm
edited
https://www.greens.org.nz/news/press-release/greens-cut-through-spin-independent-policy-costing-unit
Now heres something I can fully support and get behind, if the left want to protest to force change then this would be a very good start
Its only a couple of million a year so I think its a very good idea by the Greens
At last something useful.
It probably shouldn’t be in Treasury though. It would be better as an independent agency of Parliament. That would keep any disgruntled party from attacking Treasury if they don’t like the figures that are produced.
The thing that would have to be settled is what they look at of course. It would be an overwhelming job if they had to cost every little bit of waffle from a back bench MP.
Someone who says, say, that the schools in his/her electorate should be repainted more frequently because they are close to the sea and look scruffy earlier.
On the other hand their press release only says it would “be available” to political parties. It should be required. It should also require that any proposed policy of a party, at least in election years, must be supplied to the unit with sufficient time for it to be costed before it is announced.
Getting policies out of Winston’s lot might be a problem. They seldom contain enough detail to be evaluated.
I think it would be a useful tool for the public to see what lunacy each party is suggesting
Might make politicians pull their heads in a little
also – as an independant body it would create a system where the actual policy (not the PR sound byte) has to be submitted to be costed – then it all becomes OIA-able (one would hope)
so lack of detail/rushed/poorly thought out policy would become exposed as well as the costings, allowing us to see behind the media and PR rhetoric
(yes im thinking of a certain bullet point policy platform 🙂 )
See, the left and right can agree on things 🙂
well, i like to think that, when it comes down to it, most people have more in common than not
even you and me PR 🙂
Careful, Puckish might show you a really disturbing video clip.
im very “low brow” so it would have to be quite disturbing
http://www.quotesfrenzy.com/113096/life-love-quotes-okay-everyone-group-hug/life-love-quotes-okay-everyone-group-hug-2
There would be some inbuilt confidentiality clauses. Not sure what that means (maybe that Treasury can’t discuss it with other parties until the party releases it?).
if its public upon release, that in itself creates its own checks and balances.
So i think that wouldnt be too big an issue
a party that releases policy to late risks the media missing it and the public thinking theres something being hidden in the details
The mere fact that both costings and policy details are in the hands of people outside the party, and can be released to the public together, would create a certain amount of pressure to be a bit more upfront (we can only dream of course 🙂 )
One place for potential abuse (looking at you National Party office) is where the costings are done and not released (including in other than election years). It’d be useful to see more of the Green Party’s thinking on how the whole thing would work.
thats why i think a fully independant body would be better – just some sort of way that MPs cant get their hands on the released data before anyone else
I can’t see why MPs shouldn’t see the numbers first. Indeed it is better they do because they might come to their senses and scrap a crazy proposal. The numbers should be released immediately after a policy is publicly announced.
For the same reason I’m not that keen on the system being subject to the OIA act if it means that people can request costings done for a party where the policy was not then put to the public.
After all a party might consider a policy proposal. It gets costed and then they realise it really isn’t sensible and drop it. I don’t think it would be fair that the fact that they looked at something should be sufficient to have details released via an OIA request at a later date.
Something like a party considering reinstating the railway line from Napier to Gisborne. The cost might turn out to be, picking a number from the air, $500,000 per train. Very sensibly they scrap the idea. Someone then OIAs the calculation and attacks them for economic illiteracy.
These are good points
Well yes that is the way the MSM performs these days. They make attacks that are unjustified because the idea is as you put it IS “sensibly scrapped”
But they do have a very legitimate and simple defence in saying that they didn’t go through with it/removed it from their platform. Of course, if they then went through with it they’d be rightly decried by all and sundry.
BTW, that’s a really bad way to determine if a railway line is worthwhile or not.
There might need to be back and forth communication between the unit and the party while the costings are done. After the costings are done the party might need time and other processes to happen before the info is released. Maybe a time delay until it is made public?
yep – good points weka and alwyn
nothing wrong with being able to step back and change tack if a plan isnt working, and nothing with an outside pair of eyes being the one to show you your errors
im more talking from the point a party decides to go public with a given policy
and just like that a policy is improved that has both cross party appeal and will appeal to the voter in the street
a good days work I feel
I thought your points pertinent too framu. We don’t know enough about the proposal yet.
I was thinking that it would be National that would have difficulty having their policies costed as they’re all simply make believe.
I realise you are unlikely to be a great fan of the Tax-Payers Union but they put quite a lot of time and skilled effort into a costing exercise before the last election.
They came up with a final result set as follows
http://www.taxpayers.org.nz/final_results_published
“The Bribe-O-Meter now reflects the costs of all policies announced. It shows that of the main parties:
•the Greens have promised to spend the most, $6.54 billion, or $3,857.77 per household during the next Parliamentary term;
•the Labour Party have committed to a policy programme worth $5.81 billion, or $3,423.16 per household; while
•National have committed to $1.4 billion, or $823.62 per household of new spending.”
They were unable to get any information out of New Zealand First.
They had independent experts look at, and re-calculate the cost of the main policy planks of each party. You are entitled to your views on the National Party compared to other parties but I consider I am entitled to take the view that you don’t know what you are talking about and your statements are “all simply make believe”.
And what was the cost of the policies that they implemented quick smart (i.e, had them ready to go) but hadn’t told us about?
Pray tell.
What were they? No doubt you can tell us the details.
Well, that would be the thing wouldn’t it? ALL policies would have to made available for costing before being put into place so that we can judge them on them.
In other words you can’t think of anything that National has done in the last 15 months that wasn’t announced prior to the election.
You claim that ” the policies that they implemented quick smart (i.e, had them ready to go”
Then you can’t think of ANYTHING they did that they implemented without having told us about it.
Pretty desperate aren’t you?
Nope.
State housing sell off comes to mind. After promising not to sell state assets.
Changes to beer laws.
There’s probably more but I can’t recall them ATM.
All policies should be costed first before they’re even put to first reading.
You really are desperate aren’t you?
National Social Housing Policy.
The very first policy highlight they listed was
“Reformed social housing sector to ensure it is fit-for-purpose including passing legislation to facilitate a shift from state housing to a range of new social housing providers.”
Look at it
https://www.national.org.nz/docs/default-source/PDF/2014/policy/social-housing.pdf
Now what word there don’t you understand?
As for changes to the beer laws. How much did you think that cost, and why did you really think it merited a policy statement?
Personally I think it would, given the duty on alcohol, probably have meant more rather than less money for the state.
Give up. You are just talking more and more drivel the longer you go on.
And Key has already nay sayed the idea, quelle surprise. FFS he rejected it within hours of the proposal being made public. Joyce is open to the idea though, lol. As is common with Green Party ideas and policy, the business community response is positive.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1601/S00113/nationals-obstruction-of-ind-costings-unit-not-surprising.htm
Prime Minister John Key said it was “not a terribly good idea”. He said it would require a funding boost for the Treasury and would not achieve the Green Party’s goal of greater transparency because the results would be manipulated for political gain.
“They would just ignore it if they didn’t like the numbers,” he said.
What’s the political term for this, when you accuse other people of bad behaviour that is in fact a classic example of one’s own bad behaviour?
This is one time I’d fully support a protest
Feel free to phone your local MP or email Key and Joyce 🙂
They still haven’t replied to my latest invoice so I might just let rest for a bit
that’s actually quite funny PR.
I took your advice and tried to contact my local MP. He did his best imitation of Sergeant Schultz in Hogan’s Heroes and came out with
“I see nothing, I was not here. I did not even get up this morning”
It sounded roughly like that anyway although with the Wellington Central MP one can never be sure.
“What’s the political term for this, when you accuse other people of bad behaviour that is in fact a classic example of one’s own bad behaviour”
The phrase Green Party Press Statement comes to mind.
The actual term would be projection and you’re soaking in it.
You link to a Green Party Press statement where we can see what Meteria says.
However you put in quotes from John Key
“Prime Minister John Key said it was “not a terribly good idea”. He said it would require a funding boost for the Treasury and would not achieve the Green Party’s goal of greater transparency because the results would be manipulated for political gain.”
Where does this come from? I would like to see his full statement. before I join PR on the barricades.
If you did I’d imagine it’d be something like this:
http://blog.e-shot.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/father-ted-careful-now.jpg
Wrong link, here’s the right one http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11580030
Thank you.
I looked (well glanced) at The Herald and Stuff but didn’t see it.
weka’s posted Key quote “Prime Minister John Key said it was “not a terribly good idea”. He said it would require a funding boost for the Treasury and would not achieve the Green Party’s goal of greater transparency because the results would be manipulated for political gain.”
Isn’t John Key admitting there tht Treasury work is manipulated for political purposes?
quelle surprise again….
corruption within Key’s regime, admitted to by regime leader himself
‘
Hmmm . . . interesting. Hamish Rutherford, Wellington business bureau chief for Fairfax has tweeted that New Zealand has dropped to fourth place on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). I can’t confirm this because the information is embargoed until later today (5am Berlin time) but its not something I would be entirely surprised by. New Zealand led the rankings until John Key and his National Ltd™ neoliberal thugs turned up. We dropped one place in, I think, 2011 and now it would appear we’re gaining downward momentum.
That’s 5pm today isn’t it?
Are you going to post then if it is out?
Shame really. We were 1 in 95 and 96 and then dropped to 4 while Winston was Treasurer. Probably not coincidental.
We then wandered around in the 2= to 3= range until 2005.
Straight 1 or 1= from 2006 to 2013.
Even 4th is hardly a disaster though is it? 4th of about 200 countries. Probably back to the early years of the decade in fact.
‘
Confirmed – New Zealand has dropped to fourth place! .
Is this the corruption index that uses surveys of business people to come up with data?
I’ve had a look at their site, but can’t find the definitive breakdown of their research.
They do have:
It appears they use surveys of national TI chapters:
Special offer is free membership for one year for the NZ TI Chapter.
However, it does usually cost to be a member, and you have a very interesting membership (price on request) for above $1,000,000 business turnover.
I would say that it would be simplicity itself to game this system.
After all “perceived corruption” is not the same as actual corruption – it all depends on the perspective and knowledge of the perceiver.
Let’s all sign up for that free membership and wait for next year’s survey…
‘
Dunno, sorry. Bryce Edwards has a good piece on the situation. He writes . . .
. . . which seems to indicate a certain robustness about the indexing but an unfortunate lack of clarity about exactly how the scores were calculated. Not too sure what to make of it all except that it serves to confirm corruption, or at least the perception of corruption, is a feature of the National Ltd™ government.
Oh Trollwyn stop it ! I note that to make it all seem just peachy you’re reduced to looking down. Not up where the Higher Standards are meant to be. Higher Standards was always just a cyncical bullshit mantra. Which even you now acknowledge. Eyes downcast.
‘
The US Senate has just voted 50-49 in what is a stunning denial of reality . . .
. . . and this is the nation which holds the trump cards in any ISDS suits against the government resulting from legislation New Zealand might like to pass in order to meet its commitment to helping ameliorate climate change.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11580306
“Two-thousand-and-sixteen is going to be a most fascinating and explosive year in New Zealand politics,” he said. “We don’t believe that the government can hold up to the next election. The reason for that is the seeds of their own destruction are there now.”
What the deuce is Winston on (about?)
Outside a prominent NZer going to trial, I haven’t a clue.
Why not find a proper link with the speech in it so we can discuss something real?
In further news the Wellington City Council sets out to blow $8 million dollars on a scheme to have a flight from Wellington to Canberra 4 times a week.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/76161963/new-singapore-airlines-flights-to-cost-wellington-ratepayers-millions
I guess that they have to find some way to try and fulfil the Mayor’s dreams of a connection to Asia.
There is no further news on the Councils responsibility to provide an emergency source of water to Wellington Hospital in the event of an earthquake.
Not as sexy as councillors jetting of to exotic climes on their “sister city” jaunts I guess.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11580542
Advanced corruption ? What of the vaunted Higher Standards ? Snort !
The fish rots from the head and The Gauche Man is significantly along the path to amoral.
I must admit, old chap, I don’t feel quite so bad that we were 4th with a pretty good score of 88.
I am glad I don’t live in the leftist paradises like Cuba, score 47, Greece at 46, or the favourite of the hard left idiots, Venezuela with the wonderful result of 17.
Tell me dopey. Would you prefer to live here, number 4, or the hero of the left Venezuela at position 158 out of 167?
Actually I wouldn’t be too surprised if our drop was due to the very dodgy dealings of Wellington’s left led council that I commented on just above your drivel.
Do you approve of their activities?
Funny thing is that corruption is merely another set of bureaucracy and rules that get factored into business. No problem. Once the bureaucracy and rules are known then all is good and everyone carries on. Just check business in Australia. Remember also Bjeikle-Petersen and Hinz who was Minister of Police and Minister of Racing at the same time in Queensland…. ha ha ha… what a larf
Corruption ..;.. pffftt …. innocent naïve kiwis living in la-la land….
though makes for good media and presentation as something else to beat certain countries over the head with eh….
… we could start on Dick Cheney and co and business interests in war too
ha ha
corruption
why was lord Ashcroft here having secret talk with our PM? ha ha.
corruption
” why was lord Ashcroft here having secret talk with our PM?”
You are getting pretty desperate aren’t you. Key had lunch with Ashcroft in a public restaurant and you think it was “secret”?
Even Stuff didn’t fall for that line.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5856348/No-secret-over-Keys-lunch-with-lord
Next try. That one was a dismal fail.
Not that secret talk you egg as that was not secret, as you recognise (well done)
That line quite lost me.
What on earth does “Not that secret talk you egg as that was not secret, as you recognise (well done)” mean?
“Left led council” flogging that dead horse again? Always blame someone else isn’t it God forbid the leader of the country has anything to do with the leading of the country, oh no, its the lefties the lefties!
Do you approve of what the Wellington Council is up to?
Dishing out ratepayers money an dodgy schemes while refusing to provide for the continued operation of an essential service like the Wellington Hospital if we had an earthquake.
Seriously, do you see that as a proper activity?
And yes, the Mayor is definitely on the left and she is on the small group of councillors who are involved in these secretive activities.
Again Trollwyn…..looking down. You’re excellent as a troll…..until you get busted in it. As you always do.
Piece of advice to VTO above – your comment just shits on Trollwyn, but given that he/she/it is concerned only to fellate The Gauche Man…… nothing you can say, however rational……
You are really sick aren’t you North.
Get treatment for it.
At least in Cuba you would have decent healthcare.
I recommend watching ‘The act of killing’ ….. you can watch the trailer here http://www.actofkilling.com/
It’s about the corrupt, murderous right wing gangster country Indonesia…. where murderers and paramilitarys with the aid of the u.s.a and the west took over …. and still run the country.
Or you can watch the genocide and take-over of east-Timor http://johnpilger.com/videos/death-of-a-nation-the-timor-conspiracy ….. which was a direct result and flow on from what happened in Indonesia ……
And if you’d like to know a bit more about Venezuela I recommend ‘ The war on democracy’, http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-on-democracy …
Big trigger warnings on all three documentaries though ……….. There is Graphic violent content regarding murder, mutilation and rape…….
Committed by the sort of people and Governments alwyn supports …………….
“alwyn supports”
Really? And just how did you come to this conclusion?
Psychic are you? Or are you just delusional?
I suppose I could recommend that you watch the film “The Killing Fields” and remember the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge.
They were your favourite Government weren’t they? They were the people you most admired and Pol Pot was histories greatest humanitarian to you I suppose.
I have at least as much reason to attribute those beliefs to you as you have to accuse me as you have done.
Don’t make up lies about things, like my views on past world Governments, when you are completely and utterly ignorant on the subject.
I recommend learning about the murderous Khmer Rouge ……..And how the u.s.a govt helped bring them to power….. and once there voting for them and recognizing them in the UN. http://johnpilger.com/videos/cambodia-year-ten
http://johnpilger.com/videos/cambodia-return-to-year-zero
http://johnpilger.com/videos/cambodia-the-betrayal
It was of course the Vietnamese army who rescued Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge … The u.s.a govt killed well over 1 million Vietnamese but that’s another story
In ” The war on Democracy”: ” the film shows how serial US intervention, overt and covert, has toppled a series of legitimate governments in the Latin American region since the 1950s.”
http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-on-democracy
In interviews with Chavez and other footage we learn of the C.I.A involvement in military overthrow of his Govt…… which the people repelled.
Venezuela has been under sustained economic attack from the u.s.a govt ever since which also labels it’s legitimate government criminal , terrorist etc etc…….. descriptions more fitting of Indonesia. http://www.actofkilling.com/
To sum up I’m sure Alwyn supports the u.s.a govt ………….. which has helped create Pol Pot , Isis and supported more countries run by regimes with death squads ( wiki death squads ) than I have fingers on my hands ……………..
” I’m sure Alwyn supports the u.s.a govt”
Well that is a change of your opinion I suppose.
You still have no reason at all for the statement however.
I guess I will just have to comment
I am sure that Reason’s beliefs have little to do with the real world and some, including the one above, are based on things about which he knows nothing.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/295060/saudi-abattoir-deal-will-proceed-pm
With this sort of stuff going on ,its surprising we’re still at 4 tha.
Leaky buildings, leaky government, leaky plumbing.
Poor workmanship also bugs Milton Sands, a director at big Auckland pipe merchant Aquatherm.
But he also estimated half of all plumbing products being used here had not been certified to the New Zealand standard, though many would still be good products.
What it showed up, though, was the lack of controls.
“Until we have some certifying body in New Zealand checking products, the end user is always at risk. It’s got to be [central] government; local government hasn’t got the resources.”
It’s manifestly unclear just how many of the thousands of taps, cisterns and pipes for sale are a failure waiting to happen.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has the power to warn about or ban building products – but it hasn’t ever done so.
It said the “presence of this regulatory tool provides a threat that modifies behaviour and incentivises voluntary product withdrawal or change”.
Sounds like some lines out of the neo lib textbook where the next page says that people will always prefer the cheaper price and the faster time for installation. (Which would lead to shonky jobs.) Is the textbook right?
So the business might say, ‘What you going to do about it huh? Eh? Just what?’
Good on them. This is exactly what we need in our Aotearoa NZ – people who will stand up to Key and this govt.
“Trans-Pacific Partnership: Ngati Whatua won’t take part in powhiri”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11580689