“Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard.”
Marion Elliot-Said, better known as Poly Styrene, has died of cancer. She was one of the first woman to adopt punk and with the band X Ray Specs played raucous anti-establishment and anti-consumerist songs in the years when music mattered.
In later life, she entered a Krishna temple and wanted to be remembered for her spirituality. However, I guess this song will remain her legacy:
Oh. How sad. She can’t be that old. I remmeber her songs. Loved them at the time. I also remember seeing her perform at an anti-Nazi League rally. We could do with a bit of that protest energy now.
Pity I had to hear the news to go searching youtube to remember who she was and the bands music, and those days of listening to the original BFM as this was the only outlet for any alt music (There was later on a rebel radio station many years later on Waiheke for a year or so from memory ). Also back then the influence of the sax by many british bands of that time
RIP M.E.S.
Gangs are on the rise. Intimidation is rife. Hell even the PnS in
Hamilton is too intimidated to actually arrest the shoplifters
(either there’s no law against taking from a open shop without
paying or why?). When three men accompany a man who shoots into
the dark are not charged with manslaughter, you have to worry
about the laws of NZ. When ACT a supposed liberty loving party
decides to let a loophole in car noise stand, that gangs use
to intimidate home owners and move into an area. Whatever happened
to the seizure of property, if gang members assist one another in
criminal acts why are the houses they do it from, that assist
each other by being next door to each other not also seized.
When Housing New Zealand does not know how to eject tenants
whose friends, visitors, intimidate the street, how can you not think
that the gangs have infiltrated many of the political parties,
government social departments, and are slow removing, deregulating.
Come on! John Key has now decided to shake all the departments up,
so they are even more ineffective.
Its a break down in law and order, letting criminal use gangs,
create an economy that pushes young people into gang culture,
removes or reshuffles existing law and government departments
and inevitable create new ways for gangs to innovate their tactics
in the new vacuum. As The right keep saying, the market is
much better at innovating, and the left says the markets aren’t
always good for the citizens, when are we as a society going to
connect the dots?
[lprent: Fixed the e-mail and got rid of the dup comment. ]
if gang members assist one another in criminal acts why are the houses they do it from, that assist each other by being next door to each other not also seized.
Most Gang members rent the houses they live in.
When Housing New Zealand does not know how to eject tenants whose friends, visitors, intimidate the street, how can you not think that the gangs have infiltrated many of the political parties, government social departments, and are slow removing, deregulating. Come on!
Housing New Zealand cannot evict people for being in gangs. The Government, as much as it might like to, cannot evict people for being Maori either. They should not intimidate or interfere in peoples lives for who they are or what they do within the law. Perhaps you might support the new fascist regime, but most people don’t. Gangs are a symptom of a failing society. You can make changes so that gangs do not have disaffected people to recruit. You cannot get rid of gangs by evicting their members from their housing.
Zeebop. The National Party is a gang but a “respectable” one. They wear a patch but its in badge form. Their gang has an air of arrogance and intimidate all those who get in their way. They look out for each other and even build roads to keep other gang members happy. The Key to survival is to just agree with them and keep quiet and avoid eye contact.
People think the government does not have enough funds to pay for new infrastructure and would rather see user pays and public-private partnership options to finance future projects, new research shows.
The New Zealand Council of Infrastructure and Development’s Funding Infrastructure study says that given the gloomy economic climate, Kiwis don’t want the Government to borrow or increase taxes to fund infrastructure, with only 8 and 10 percent supporting the respective options.
Instead, 40 per cent of respondents prefer user-pays models, such as tolls on motorways, and 35 per cent want the private sector to be more involved through PPP in funding new infrastructure such as roads, public transport, ports and utilities
Some 18 per cent favour the partial sale of publicly owned assets, such as power companies, ports or airports, as funding source.
About 24 per cent say the government should not proceed with projects it did not have the money for.
Not sure if off the cuff survey responses will do justice to complex questions like these.
National have quite a way to go to get support for partial asset sales.
National have quite a way to go to get support for partial asset sales.
Who would have thought that ripping off our children and grandchildren in order to concentrate ownership of the nation\’s assets in the hands of the few and the rich, many of them foreigners, would be such a hard sell.
By the way mate trying to conflate the results from a survey on “user pays” with asset sales where “we all pay” is a serious over-reach.
Interesting PeteG. Wonder if respondents were able to give more than one answer to each question? That and that but not that.
500 being surveyed is a bit thin. And for ordinary folk like me each suggestion would require a fairly careful explanation to be adequately informed in order to give a fair answer.
“National have quite a way to go to get support for partial asset sales.” That is why Key needs Brash/Act to be “forced unwillingly” to go ahead with such sales.
(No way of getting quotes bold italics etc today?)
The New Zealand Council of Infrastructure and Developmentâs Funding Infrastructure
There’s your problem right there. It’s a right-wing think tank that starts off with a conclusion and then goes off to get/twist/spin the numbers to prove it.
I always thought the biggest flaw with carbon emissions agreements was that there was little incentive for the consuming countries to reduce consumption seeing as the counting was in production that was increasingly in developing countries with no restrictions of carbon emissions. Now there is a report out dealing with this scenario:
Cuts in carbon emissions by developed countries since 1990 have been cancelled out many times over by increases in imported goods from developing countries such as China, according to the most comprehensive global figures ever compiled.
Previous studies have shown the significance of “outsourced” emissions for specific countries, but the latest research, published on Monday, provides the first global view of how international trade altered national carbon footprints during the period of the Kyoto protocol.
Doesnât mention the *awkward* question about how many folks get trained and then disappear.
Disappear with their US paid for firearm, munitions, training, supplies, intel, pay (which probably doesn’t get stopped until someone figures out they have gone)…
Brian Easton has written an excellent piece in the Listener for the week April 30-May 6 2011 titled ‘Will the Budget be fair?
‘We object so strongly to having our own incomes further reduced by taxation that we think the incomes of pensioners should be reduced instead… In times of depression it is necessary to curtail the community’s consumption of many goods and services. Already people with large or moderate incomes have diminished their expenditure on many of the pleasant but unnecessary things which formerly they enjoyed. Most of them are, however, still tolerably comfortable. A great deal of money is spent on motor cars and holidays, on racing and other amusements. But rather curtail further expenditure of this kind, we think it will become necessary to reduce expenditure… [that] would be most advantageous to the whole community.
So wrote University of Otago professor Alan Fisher in 1932, satirising the attitudes of many of the elite as New Zealand struggles with the impact of the Great Depression.’
If you can lay your hands on this Listener do so because the whole piece is so on the money for our times and these are words to live by.
I got fed up with the Listener after it turned into a right wing rag that ran constant middle class angst stories about healthcare, crime, educational failure, material aspirations etc. In the end I sent them a letter telling them they were no longer on the purchase list.
Agreed completely. With Pamela Stirling and Joanne Black calling the shots what else would you expect. I remember when they dumped Gordon Campbell – according to Stirling it had nothing to do with politics, it was the business case. Some business case that involves dropping the best journalist the magazine had and consistent ‘award winner’.
If I read one more Listener cover story about how to improve my brain power I’ll be powerful enough to generate all of Christchurch’s electricity needs just by having a quick think (we’ve just had powercuts again here in the South of Christchurch).
Stirling and Black are self-satisfied twats but I like Easton’s articles. Gordon Campbell now has a weekly gig with the Kapiti Observer but it’s behind a paywall – he’s written some good articles holding the government’s feet to the fire.
Have a look for Brian Easton’s own website (I think it is in the blogroll in the reference sites – yep http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/ ). He often puts his columns and speeches up there.
The Fukushima Dai-Ichi station had 6,415 people on site that day. More than 5,500, like Matsumoto and Imamura, were subcontractors who reported to their clusters of offices in the plant for a head count.
From 1997 to 2000, Paul Fusco made repeated trips to the areas surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear plant. What was meant to be a quick visit turned into a long-term project as he found himself overwhelmed by the fate of the children born within the radiation zone of Chernobyl and the love that their caregivers provided. In this multimedia piece, featuring images from his trips, Fusco reflects on the horrific legacy of the Chernobyl disaster.
And wiki leaking all the relevant emails over the Act would probably be more effective than a low orbital ion cannon attack, given how stupid certain National and ACT MP’s are…
[EDIT] And what’s to bet someone brainless will take that teh wrong way.
ZeeBop – your post sounds like National Party electioneering to me
‘Law and order’ is one of their stated platforms and just like them you don’t provide any evidence to back up you claim that lawlessness is on the rise.
Gangs would have little traction in a New Zealand that valued its citizens, a New Zealand with decent pay and opportunities for all, a New Zealand where everyone has a voice in Parliament and a New Zealand that embraced pastimes other than money worship, witch hunts and scapegoating.
You claim that its a break down in law and order – I say its a break down of Democracy.
You would presumably put more people in prison where thanks to a new law they no longer have a voice when the problem is that people already feel so disenfranchised that they form alternative societies and hidden economies.
There is no escalating gang problem – there is however an escalating comprehension problem around what we need to do as a country to prevent more and more people falling by the wayside as the mainstream slavishly lusts after fools gold and in petty spite blames the poor and the weak for their discontent.
[was supposed to be posted as reply to 3 but refresh issues thwarted intent]
The OECD advice to us is get capital gains tax and that the present taxation system favours the wealthy. House prices have doubled in years 2002-2007 and for working people now in rented houses – the majority would find it impossible to buy at present. Think that\’s right. E&OE That is something that Don Brash wanted – less people putting their money into buying houses. Labour couldn\’t bring themselves to introduce the tax though new ideas of sweat equity etc got talked about (implemented?). Will National have the balls to introduce it even just one specially tailored to please their paymasters, and not hurt the average citizen too much?
Just noticed that the date on today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s Open Mike is wrong. Either that or I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ve been in an chocolate overdose based coma since Easter.
(and still haveing to duplicate post as the ani-spam is still freaking out, maaan.)
((maybe something to do with the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’installing components swflash.cab\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ message running along the bottom?))
((maybe something to do with the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\âinstalling components swflash.cab\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\â message running along the bottom?))
Probably. I’ve just run a set of tests on several browsers (including with IE) on both servers, and I can’t get any errors with the anti-spam. Has anyone else had problems since I removed the javascript editor?
I had problems earlier today posting to the Horizon poll thread. Is it something to do with a timeout? It seems to work fine after a refresh and immediate paste and send, whereas if you spend some time writing the comment it won’t send.
Edit: And this short and quick comment worked fine.
Had a problem with this comment (previously). It came up with the same antispam word as a comment I just did previously. This antispam word is different so, fingers crossed …
They explained away the bone fractures, didnât ask what caused the lacerations, and called the hallucinations routine. Rather than blowing the whistle, medical professionals entrusted with the care of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay turned a blind eye when there were clear indications of abuse.
The profits from the RWC are probably overstated in order to dupe us into welcoming the income of great wealth. Overstated predictions
Just trying the shortened link.
I\’m wondering where the benny bashers are on this one. Looks like the poor old duck was in a Housing NZ unit & must have been claiming a benefit for many years. I feel sad for the life this woman had, and wondered if she received any help along the way with her addictions, but also a bit cynical about all these tributes. Drunk, abusive beneficiary? Nobody cares about you, unless you\’ve been sitting around long enough to become part of the view.
And Rodney was proudly proclaiming to Campbell that Act had democratic processes that would be followed….. after his ramming through of the supercity without consultation, he can claim to value democracy?
And as for Tweedle Dee…. a proven liar, and critical of Key, who, it seems will be happy to work with this resurrected ex National leader…. recreational fiction is more believable.
Brash got his talking points in, kindly letting labour know what he will be saying for the next 7 months.
300 Million a week, 300 Million a week, 300 Million a week, 300 Million a week, that’s 1.2Billion a month, all families know you don’t keep borrowing to fund regular spending.
Pretty predictable, but Labour need to get their own lines to kill this stuff.
Most people that have been governor of a reserve bank know that a country’s economy is not the same thing as a family’s checking account, so why does Brash want NZ to think it is?
Greece had brash style austerity forced on them, and it’s making their deficit worse not better. It hasn’t worked there, it hasn’t worked in Spain, it hasn’t worked in Ireland, it’s not working in Britain. It doesn’t solve the problem it’s aimed at solving.
When brash was the bought and paid for leader of national all he wanted to do was cut taxes on the rich and slash services for the rest of us. He claimed a surplus was theft. Now he’s the bought and paid for leader of ACT all he wants to do is cut taxes for the rich and slash services for the rest of us. He claims a deficit is like krypton. The only things that change are his excuses and the colour of the car his backers put him in.
300 Million a week, 300 Million a week, 300 Million a week, 300 Million a week
Yep, onto it Pb, now we see the polling that produced the coup – \”$300/wk debt for every family\” and of course the old favourite \”One law for all\” relaunched by the original artist in the dulcet contemporary tones of \”We are all New Zealanders\” (even Australians if you listen again!)
One consolation: the polls must also show a narrowing gap to force this unpredictable old nag out of the stable so early. Not sure it\’ll run again, not with this dissipated old hack as jockey.
John has been having quite a lot of productive dinners recently.
Reports that his soirĂŠe with Cameron was full on and he has managed to discuss a lot of NZ issues. He is heading off to Paris to have dinner with Sarkozy where he expects to discuss New Zealand trade issues. All over dinner mind you as reported on RNZ this evening.
Strange when he has dinner in New Zealand with the likes of Impey he makes just passing comments and that he hadnât met with MediaWorkâs Brent Impey to discuss a $43 million Government loan at all.
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by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...
by Don Franks In 1957, E M Forster wrote, of his greatest work: “The India described in ‘A Passage to India’ no longer exists either politically or socially. Change had begun even at the time the book was published ( 1924) and during the following quarter of a century it ...
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A passing comment in a post the other day about the labour force participation rates of older people prompted me to pull down the fuller data and see what we could see about various participation rates over the decades since the HLFS began in 1986. As it happens, the ...
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by Phil Duncan Here’s just a few of the kind of threats issued day in and day out against gender-critical women – feminists, marxists, etc – overwhelmingly by MEN (albeit men identifying as women). “Kill all Terfs”. “Shoot a Terf today”. “All terfs deserve to be shot in the head”. ...
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Tom MooreTraditionally a food source and cutting tool, freshwater mussels/kākahi are now widely valued as water filters that help clean our waterbodies and maintain ecosystem health throughout Aotearoa. The improvement they provide in water quality can make it easier for other animals to live in streams and rivers, as ...
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The Zero Carbon Bill is back in the House today for its second reading. While this isn't the final stage, its still effectively D-Day for the bill. Because today, at around 5pm, is when we're going to find out if it has a majority, whether National will support it or ...
Winston Peters is in court today, suing a bunch of former Minister and civil servants over their pre-election leak of his superannuation repayment. He's characterised the leak as malicious, and said that it is repugnant that his information was passed on to Ministers to use for political advantage. And he's ...
Murray CoxDo I have to finish my favourite genome? That’s an often-asked question. Geneticists generally strive to produce high-quality genomes that sequence every last gene, making full use of the state-of-the-art technologies coming on stream. Sequencing DNA means determining the order of the four chemical building blocks – called ...
Transformative Politics: The idea is to turn each recipient into an unwitting accomplice in their own transformation. From interested observer to hyped-up activist, sharing our messages promiscuously with ‘friends’. You’ll be part of an ever-expanding circulatory system, Jennifer, for the ideas that will win us the election.”JENNIFER SKITTERED her chair ...
The boycott is a fundamental tool of protest. By choosing who we buy from, we can send a message, and hopefully change corporate behaviour. Historically, boycotts have been effective, for example over apartheid in South Africa and Israel, in forcing divestment from Myanmar, and in ending bus segregation in the ...
Jan Rivers spoke at the Abortion Legislation Select Committee in favour of the bill, but in opposition to calls from other submitters to exchange the word ‘woman’ for ‘person’ throughout the bill. Jan is a supporter of the feminist group Speak Up For Women and has recently written an excellent ...
I checked my traffic stats:I was intrigued by 'monica29' - who was this very dedicated individual? I clicked on the link, to be greeted with ...Ho, hum.Spreadin' the word, spreadin' the word. Doesn't matter who hears it, as long as it gets out there. ...
There have been three polls since the election was announced, and I will shamelessly steal YouGov / UK Polling Report's Anthony Wells' summary of them:Survation – CON 34%, LAB 26%, LDEM 19%, BREX 12%, GRN 1% Ipsos MORI – CON 41%, LAB 24%, LDEM 20%, BREX 7%, GRN 3% YouGov ...
The following article is translated from Lutte Ouvrière, the weekly newspaper of the organisation usually known by the same name in France. When, for the second time this year, Chilean President Piñera announced an increase in the price of Metro tickets from 800 to 830 pesos, students in the high ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters met with Korea Racing Authority Chairperson Nak Soon Kim in Seoul today to discuss closer cooperation between the New Zealand and Korean horse racing industries. As part of the visit to the Seoul Racecourse, Mr Peters witnessed ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $10 million to establish Otago as the centre of New Zealand’s creative digital industry over the next ten years, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “The initiative will bring us closer to the vision of ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)’s skills and employment programme will help young Otago people into long-term forestry careers, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Te Ara Mahi will invest $63,000 in the 2020 school year to support eight 17 and 18 ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will support local plans to revitalise and stimulate economic development opportunities in Otago, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The four Regional Economic Development Ministers have approved an in-principle investment of $19.9 million towards the region’s ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is pleased to have received the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) report on the Coalition Government’s Mycoplasma bovis eradication efforts, which shows significant progress in the fight against the disease. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, says the report’s findings ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon David Parker, Minister for Trade and Export Growth The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing to support economic growth opportunities for Otago’s engineering and manufacturing sectors, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Trade and Export Minister David Parker announced today. Almost $20 million ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, discussed in Seoul today opportunities to work more closely in the Pacific and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Mr Peters and Minister Kang confirmed New Zealand and the ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Minister for Māori Development The three marae in the historic Parihaka Pa complex in Taranaki have been upgraded to high speed broadband with the support of the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Connecting the ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence Minister of Defence Ron Mark will today launch the Advancing Pacific Partnerships 2019 Defence Assessment during a speech at Te Papa. The Assessment outlines how Defence will partner with our Pacific Island neighbours and invest in Pacific regional security architecture. The Plan aligns with the Coalition ...
A new Provincial Growth Fund investment could create about 80 new jobs in Gisborne over the next two years, turning a local small business into a “beacon of employment” in the process. Regional Economic Development Parliamentary Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau said the PGF’s Te Ara Mahi funding stream would provide $1.6m ...
ew, modern emergency department and outpatient facilities at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital mean better emergency care for the growing tourist mecca’s visitors and locals, says Health Minister David Clark. Today Dr Clark officially opened the hospital’s redeveloped Emergency Department and Outpatient facilities. The new facilities include: • An extended Emergency Department ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
Nelson’s Salisbury School is to be rebuilt, creating a modern and suitable learning environment for students at the residential special school, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The school for girls aged 8-15, in Richmond, was earmarked for closure by National until the process ...
The panel undertaking a comprehensive review of the Resource Management Act has identified the main issues to be addressed and options for reform and is calling for feedback to inform its final report. In July the Government announced the comprehensive review of the resource management system, including the RMA - ...
An important safety valve has been added to New Zealand’s criminal justice system with the third reading of the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill today. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) will investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “We’ve seen how our justice system can very occasionally get things spectacularly wrong, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters welcomes the tabling of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) 2019 Annual Report in Parliament today. He says the 2019 Annual Report marks the point when New Zealand’s racing industry’s decline was arrested and a turnaround started. RITA’s 2019 Annual Report recorded an industry net profit ...
The New Zealand Government is today sending 21 firefighters to help fight the ongoing catastrophic Australian bushfires. “The fires in Australia are in some of the toughest, most challenging conditions ever,” says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “As of yesterday morning, there were 100 active bushfire-related incidents across Queensland and ...
More frontline support for schools through a new education agency, as part of a redesigned Ministry of Education More support for principals and school boards including through a new centre of leadership and local leadership advisor roles New independent disputes panels for parents and students Management of school property ...
The Government’s reform of the Tomorrow’s Schools system is a watershed moment in education and an opportunity to create meaningful change for ākonga Māori and their whānau, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis said today. “Last year through Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation, Māori teachers, parents, ākonga, whānau, hapū and iwi ...
Infrastructure Minister is welcoming the first of many updated project pipelines from the newly established New Zealand Infrastructure Commission today. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, has released an expanded pipeline of major capital projects – another crucial step towards delivering better infrastructure outcomes. “The first iteration of the ...
Tougher gun laws designed to improve public safety through firearms prohibition orders are proposed in a new document released for public input. Police Minister Stuart Nash says firearms prohibition orders (FPOs) would give new powers to Police to ensure high-risk individuals come nowhere near firearms. “We have already prohibited the ...
Andy Coupe has been confirmed as TVNZ’s new Board Chair. “Mr Coupe has strong commercial and capital markets experience and TVNZ has benefited from his technical knowledge of business and finance, as well as his extensive governance experience,” the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Kris Faafoi said. Andy ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today officially opened a separated pathway, following the completion of the Kaiwharawhara Stream bridge, which will improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians along Hutt Road. The $6.8m Hutt Road project provides a separated path for cycling and pedestrians, the replacement of informal parking ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced the appointment of career diplomat Si’alei van Toor as New Zealand’s next Ambassador to Russia. “I’m pleased to appoint Ms van Toor to this position. She brings a wealth of experience to the role having previously served as Senior Trade Adviser to the ...
The Treasury’s 2019 Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) will be released on Wednesday December 11, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Coalition Government will publish the 2020 Budget Policy Statement at the same time, outlining the priorities for Budget 2020. Further details on arrangements for the release will ...
A new initiative to better support small businesses through hands-on mentoring and advice has been launched by the Minister for Small Business. The first event in the Kiwi Business Boost series of regional workshops and online tools has been launched in Wairoa by Stuart Nash. “The Business Boost initiative combines ...
The latest Quarterly Connectivity Report shows that more and more New Zealanders are moving to Ultra-fast Broadband (UFB), with Rolleston having the highest uptake at 74 per cent, as at the end of September. “This means that nearly three quarters of Rolleston’s households and businesses have moved to ultra-fast services. ...
The passing of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill will help ensure a safe planet for our kids and grandkids, the Minister for Climate Change James Shaw said today. The landmark legislation which provides a framework to support New Zealanders to prepare for, and adapt to, the effects ...
The review of Oranga Tamariki practice around the planned uplift of a Hastings baby in May shows significant failings by the Ministry and that the planned and funded changes to shift from a child crisis service to a proper care and protection service need to be accelerated, Children’s Minister Tracey ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins has wished students the best of luck for this year’s NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams which start tomorrow. Around 140,000 students will have participated in 119 NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship exams by the end of the exam period on 3 December. “I want to ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced the appointment of Bede Corry as New Zealand’s next High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. “The appointment of a senior diplomat to this important role underlines the significance New Zealand places on our relationship with the United Kingdom,” said Mr Peters. “The United ...
An innovative approach to boosting the number of frontline Police has seen 20 new officers graduate from one of the uncommon training wings in Auckland. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the graduation of 20 constables today means that 1,765 new Police officers have been deployed since the coalition government took ...
Based on their study of trans wellbeing Aotearoa, the research team at Counting Ourselves find six data points that highlight the strength of our trans and non-binary community.Last month the first comprehensive national survey on transgender health and wellbeing in Aotearoa was published by the academics and researchers at Counting ...
The SpinoffBy Dr Jaimie Veale, Jack Byrne and Ahi Wi-Hongi
Ten thousand years ago, roasted hares and figs were flat-layed on Levantine flax leaves. Now, we drape prosciutto over strawberries on computer desks. Josie Adams mourns the death of the platter.Three days ago I stumbled on an accidental recreation of a 1950s platter: a giant ham, a cake that was ...
India’s decision not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership promoted by China is politically significant. But its impact on trade and prosperity is more nuanced, as Bloomberg explains.It avoids some market opening on both sides (India to agriculture; others to services) that would have been economically beneficial. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Geoff Crisp discusses the the week in politics the government’s response to the bush fires as well as the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action. They also talk about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The proposed acquisition of infant formula producer Bellamy’s Australia Ltd by China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited has been given approval by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Strict, legally enforceable conditions, have been set by the treasurer, which ...
The Council of Trade Unions (CTU) is condemning the All Saints Day evening raid on 31 October. With the arrest of over 60 union organisers, human rights defenders and activists in the Philippines province of Negros. The 16th of November is an international ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Assistant professor, University of Canberra What’s happening? Suddenly, at the level of central banks, Australia is regarded as an investment risk. On Wednesday Martin Flodén, the deputy governor of Sweden’s central bank, announced that because Australia and Canada were “not ...
SPECIAL REPORT: By Philip Cass in Brisbane Opening session – Day OneThe problems of operating in the Pacific and the impact of online news and the emergence of ‘citizen journalists’ were common concerns for all delegates to this week’s Melanesian Media Freedom Forum.The forum, held at Griffith ...
Standoff between protesters and the police at Yeung Uk Road, Hong Kong. Image by Studio Incendo – 20190825 Tsuen Wan March. CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81751531.The recent surge in social protests world-wide is quantitatively and qualitatively different than in previous ages. The advent of individualised mass communications technologies and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is going to start asking internet service providers to block certain offshore gambling websites. The decision follows former New South Wales premier ...
The Zero Carbon Act (ZCA) is over a week old, but it’s still being heavily debated and analysed. After all, depending on who you listen to, it’s the most significant new law of the year, of this Government, or even of some people’s lifetime. And it deals with a giant ...
Green MP and refugee Golriz Ghahraman was there last night when the former Manus Island detainee and acclaimed writer arrived in New Zealand.Last night, quietly and without fanfare a small group made up of human rights activists, literary folk, and just two journalists, came together at Auckland Airport to welcome ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sandra D’urso, Researcher, The Australian Centre, University of Melbourne To perform an exit is not as simple as it sounds. In fact, exiting a situation can be almost impossible for some. Exit Strategies is a new production by indie performer and theatre ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Niro Kandasamy, Tutor, University of Melbourne Sri Lanka’s presidential election on Saturday comes at a critical time for the country. The government has been in turmoil since President Maithripala Sirisena sacked the prime minister last year and replaced him with former strongman ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Hansen, Chief of Staff, The Conversation If you have kids, chances are you’ve worried about their presence on social media. Who are they talking to? What are they posting? Are they being bullied? Do they spend too much time on it? ...
New Zealand Police has won a prestigious World Class Policing Award for its ‘more street than station approach’ Mobility programme, which has saved millions of hours of officers’ time. ...
SEA-Unite SkyCity workers are expected to strike this weekend after 50 called in sick with symptoms linked to smoke inhalation from the convention centre fire. ...
In a powerful rebuff to critics who question whether the prime minister is willing to use her political capital, this morning she powerfully demonstrated her commitment to New Zealand culture.For two years, my professional life has been devoted to winning respect for the lowbrow, beaten-up, off-brand artefacts that truly define ...
MPs and staffers will likely begin moving out of their Bowen House offices over the next six months, so the building can undergo earthquake strengthening work. ...
The party that sold off the BNZ, NZ Rail, Petrocorp, Postbank, the Shipping Corporation, Air New Zealand, the State Insurance Office, the Tourist Hotel Corporation and a host of other New Zealand assets is at it again – with the assistance of its coalition ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trent Penman, Associate professor, University of Melbourne As sure as night follows day, this week’s bushfires prompted inevitable debate about whether fire authorities should have carried out more hazard reduction burning, and whether opposition from conservationists prevented this. There are two key ...
A new poem by writer and performer Freya Daly Sadgrove.TURDUCKEN I blow my body around like the huge clump of brown hairthat I once saw blowing up Cuba StreetI follow its movements with interestI put a video of it on the internet my favourite bragis that a groundskeeper ...
PHARMAC has backed down on a controversial drug brand switch affecting patients with epilepsy and mental health conditions after three people died following the change. ...
Tara Ward reviews Goodnight Kiwi, a new series that features well-known New Zealanders reading bedtime stories to kids. It’s strange to think that New Zealand television wasn’t always the 24-hour, infomercial-tastic extravangza that it is today. Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, our televisions used to go dark every night at ...
FIRST Union members at Countdown have ratified a new agreement that will set their supermarket team on a path towards a living wage, and significantly raise the pay of 15,000 workers across the country. ...
13 moments that prove the music awards are so much > than all other award showsBENEE cleaned up, every performance was somewhere between an eight and a ten, there was an unfeasible quantity of award presenter awkwardness and many nights ended very late. The music awards are over 50 and ...
While the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Commission are examining whether New Zealand laws properly balance the issues of freedom of speech and hate speech (whatever that might be), taxpayers are helping to finance Chinese propaganda. Hateful propaganda, we suggest. The Screen Production Grant has handed a $243,000 subsidy to a ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Media Peter Thompson (Stuff): A new model for public media – but have the old ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout (Viking Penguin $35)“Olive struggles to figure herself out, and has an urgent ...
After more than seven months of trying to end a tenancy to protect neighbours, a Rotorua property manager has finally received approval from the High Court to end the tenancy. ...
We agree with the Ombudsman Peter Boshier in his new report on councils QUOTE ; “leaders, officials lack of action to "ensure an approach is adopted that is consistent with openness and transparency" Un-quote. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1911/S00186/chief-ombudsman-new-report-wakeup-call-for-council-leaders.htm ...
Māori food systems are rich with potential, and whānau-based food producers across the country are looking to traditional ways to ensure their communities thrive in the future. Alice Neville reports from the Eat New Zealand Food Hui.In recent years there has been much talk – in food business, hospitality, tourism ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) commends the Government’s proposal to take school zoning responsibilities out of the hands of school boards and principals and instead have these taken up by a new Education Service Agency. ...
SINGAPORE, Nov 15, 2019 - (ACN Newswire) - Global BioLife Inc, the U.S. subsidiary of Singapore eDevelopment Ltd (SeD), will present its 3F Antimicrobial Fragrance as a new method to prevent and treat Tuberculosis at the ASM Biothreats Conference, ...
The National Party is calling for the Auditor General to investigate a bid for tax payer money made by a forestry company set up by a senior New Zealand First figure; and an award-winning author detained on Manus Island by Australia for six years has touched down in Auckland ...
Responding to news that the Screen Production Grant handed a $243,000 subsidy to a propaganda film produced by Chinese state-owned enterprises, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Louis Houlbrooke says: “Taxpayers have all been made complicit ...
The campaign to take more colour coded bins into the regions has been developed by The Packaging Forum which promotes recycling under the Government’s Love NZ brand and The Auckland Litter Prevention Steering Group which manages the Be a Tidy Kiwi ...
Shane Jones calls protesting farmers 'rednecks' following rowdy march on Parliament; and top council staff 'manipulated' reports to hide bad news from councillors and public. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodie Bradby, Professor of Physics, Australian National University There’s a lot of uncertainty in a research career. Most funding – and most jobs – are doled out by the project, or in chunks of a few years at a time. Recently, however, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wanning Sun, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Technology Sydney The Australian government has indicated that “diaspora communities” are crucial to Australia’s public diplomacy mission to promote the country abroad. It has also identified online and social media as essential ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Bright, Senior Lecturer of Addiction, Edith Cowan University For many parents whose teenage children are completing Year 12, this time of year means mixed emotions. Parents might feel proud, exhausted and excited. And as young people start heading to schoolies and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Heiko Timmers, Associate Professor of Physics, School of Science, UNSW Canberra, UNSW Much is made of the “next generation” of nuclear reactors in the debate over nuclear power in Australia. They are touted as safer than older reactors, and suitable for helping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fran Gale, Senior Lecturer, Social Work and Community Welfare, School of Social Science and Psychology, Western Sydney University Children are too rarely asked their perspectives on public spaces. Traditionally, adults make choices for children, particularly about how they live and play. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW What do a billionaire, a former vice president, and a US democratic socialist have to do with Australia’s nearly three-decade run of economic growth? More than you might think. The race for the Democratic Party’s 2020 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lydia Edwards, Fashion historian, Edith Cowan University Eyebrows can turn a smile into a leer, a grumpy pout into a come hither beckoning, and sad, downturned lips into a comedic grimace. So, it’s little wonder these communicative markers of facial punctuation have ...
The rules around use of parliamentary TV are set to be liberalised and MPs will no longer have to give permissions for clips of them to be used in political advertising. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When five former fire chiefs held a news conference on Thursday to urge the federal government to take more action on climate change, it was a challenging moment for Scott Morrison. Those who fronted the ...
A powerful New Zealand First figure helped establish a forestry company that then pushed for money from two key funding streams controlled by a New Zealand First Minister. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Farmers square off with Shane Jones at parliament, tax rebates for Chinese propaganda film criticised, and ructions over future shape of public media.Now first of all, I just want to make it clear rednecks isn’t the term I’d use. But it was ...
'Policing' is increasingly falling to private security and citizen-led initiatives. Yet the wages and the training don't match the responsibility. So what can we do? ...
The biggest shakeup in the country’s broadcasting history looks to be looming as the Government gets serious about its options for strengthening public service broadcasting. ...
Support for the Zero Carbon Bill shows our action on climate will have to disrupt the status quo, writes Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton. That will mean new opportunities - and costs. ...
Football Ferns captain Ali Riley is making the most of her opportunity to play for German giants Bayern Munich, harbouring a dream to represent NZ at her fifth World Cup ...
Yesterday, Stuff reported that the 2017 Chinese-made propaganda blockbuster Wolf Warrior 2 was partially made in New Zealand. Sam Brooks watched it and – spoiler alert – found it weird as hell.About halfway through Wolf Warrior 2 on Netflix, the unnamed leader of a revolution in an unnamed African country marches up ...
Rather than get distracted by the stadium debate, we need to urgently acknowledge that unlocking this land now for future integration into the CBD is critical for Auckland’s future, aruges Paul Winstanley.Don’t be fooled. This is not just another story about the waterfront stadium. Well, not really. Like the mayor ...
The Period Poverty Solution Petition: The Health and Wellbeing Implications was presented by the Positive Periods campaign team, of which The Period Place is a part of, at a cross-party breakfast, thanks to Louisa Wall MP and Joanne Hayes MP in Parliament ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.This week on the Great Kiwi Bake Off, it’s all about weird biscuits. Savoury biscuits. Mushroomy biscuits. Biscuits about cross fit. Who had the best biscuit art of them all? Why is Trev ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University Australia continues to experience unprecedented destruction from bushfires. Now is the time to harness our technological tools, and find innovative ways to help alleviate the problem, and also prevent future disaster. ...
The KickStart Breakfast programme will tomorrow celebrate 10-years as the only national breakfast programme of its kind in Aotearoa, serving more than 30 million breakfasts since 2009. ...
This is a rare public edition of The Bulletin World Weekly, an exclusive newsletter for The Spinoff Members that gets delivered every Thursday afternoon. Today’s edition focuses on the aftermath of Bolivian president Evo Morales being forced from office. Earlier in the week, the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, was forced out ...
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Open mike 27/04/2011 
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And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…
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“Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard.”
Marion Elliot-Said, better known as Poly Styrene, has died of cancer. She was one of the first woman to adopt punk and with the band X Ray Specs played raucous anti-establishment and anti-consumerist songs in the years when music mattered.
In later life, she entered a Krishna temple and wanted to be remembered for her spirituality. However, I guess this song will remain her legacy:
Oh. How sad. She can’t be that old. I remmeber her songs. Loved them at the time. I also remember seeing her perform at an anti-Nazi League rally. We could do with a bit of that protest energy now.
Only 53. Like Strummer, way to early to go. There\’s a couple of nice articles on the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/apr/26/poly-styrene-dies-aged-53
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/apr/26/poly-styrene-x-ray-spex
Pity I had to hear the news to go searching youtube to remember who she was and the bands music, and those days of listening to the original BFM as this was the only outlet for any alt music (There was later on a rebel radio station many years later on Waiheke for a year or so from memory ). Also back then the influence of the sax by many british bands of that time
RIP M.E.S.
I followed the Guardian link and noticed, also, that Phoebe Snow has just died! Does anyone remember her?
What interesting women they both were!
Vicky
Can’t find the election results anywhere … đ
Gangs are on the rise. Intimidation is rife. Hell even the PnS in
Hamilton is too intimidated to actually arrest the shoplifters
(either there’s no law against taking from a open shop without
paying or why?). When three men accompany a man who shoots into
the dark are not charged with manslaughter, you have to worry
about the laws of NZ. When ACT a supposed liberty loving party
decides to let a loophole in car noise stand, that gangs use
to intimidate home owners and move into an area. Whatever happened
to the seizure of property, if gang members assist one another in
criminal acts why are the houses they do it from, that assist
each other by being next door to each other not also seized.
When Housing New Zealand does not know how to eject tenants
whose friends, visitors, intimidate the street, how can you not think
that the gangs have infiltrated many of the political parties,
government social departments, and are slow removing, deregulating.
Come on! John Key has now decided to shake all the departments up,
so they are even more ineffective.
Its a break down in law and order, letting criminal use gangs,
create an economy that pushes young people into gang culture,
removes or reshuffles existing law and government departments
and inevitable create new ways for gangs to innovate their tactics
in the new vacuum. As The right keep saying, the market is
much better at innovating, and the left says the markets aren’t
always good for the citizens, when are we as a society going to
connect the dots?
[lprent: Fixed the e-mail and got rid of the dup comment. ]
Zeebop
Most Gang members rent the houses they live in.
Housing New Zealand cannot evict people for being in gangs. The Government, as much as it might like to, cannot evict people for being Maori either. They should not intimidate or interfere in peoples lives for who they are or what they do within the law. Perhaps you might support the new fascist regime, but most people don’t. Gangs are a symptom of a failing society. You can make changes so that gangs do not have disaffected people to recruit. You cannot get rid of gangs by evicting their members from their housing.
Zeebop. The National Party is a gang but a “respectable” one. They wear a patch but its in badge form. Their gang has an air of arrogance and intimidate all those who get in their way. They look out for each other and even build roads to keep other gang members happy. The Key to survival is to just agree with them and keep quiet and avoid eye contact.
How to pay our way? User pays option the best: survey
Not sure if off the cuff survey responses will do justice to complex questions like these.
National have quite a way to go to get support for partial asset sales.
Who would have thought that ripping off our children and grandchildren in order to concentrate ownership of the nation\’s assets in the hands of the few and the rich, many of them foreigners, would be such a hard sell.
By the way mate trying to conflate the results from a survey on “user pays” with asset sales where “we all pay” is a serious over-reach.
A couple of ways to look at it:
– partial asset sales are even less popular than a partial Labour government so should be opposed
– partial asset sales are more popular than the Greens, Act, Maori Party and NZF combined, should none or all have an airing in parliament?
Both of those ways are utterly stupid.
It is PeteG after all.
SnoopDog is more popular than all those above options so according to PeteG\’s formula Snoop\’s the next to get representation in the House.
Specking to people from the UK PPP’s have been a disaster over their. STOP ASSET SALES .
Only 18% favour partial sales HA! there’s your answer. STOP ASSET SALES .
Who are ‘The New Zealand Council of Infrastructure and Development’ just a bunch of people pushing there own barrows like peteG. STOP ASSET SALES .
Interesting PeteG. Wonder if respondents were able to give more than one answer to each question? That and that but not that.
500 being surveyed is a bit thin. And for ordinary folk like me each suggestion would require a fairly careful explanation to be adequately informed in order to give a fair answer.
“National have quite a way to go to get support for partial asset sales.” That is why Key needs Brash/Act to be “forced unwillingly” to go ahead with such sales.
(No way of getting quotes bold italics etc today?)
There’s your problem right there. It’s a right-wing think tank that starts off with a conclusion and then goes off to get/twist/spin the numbers to prove it.
I always thought the biggest flaw with carbon emissions agreements was that there was little incentive for the consuming countries to reduce consumption seeing as the counting was in production that was increasingly in developing countries with no restrictions of carbon emissions. Now there is a report out dealing with this scenario:
An audit of the Police (read security forces) in Afghanistan reckons that it’s all corrupt and that the numbers on the payroll don’t reflect reality.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703856704576285380546943792.html
Doesn’t mention the *awkward* question about how many folks get trained and then disappear.
Sucks to be training and financing both sides eh? Clap louder though, we’re WINNING!
Disappear with their US paid for firearm, munitions, training, supplies, intel, pay (which probably doesn’t get stopped until someone figures out they have gone)…
Brian Easton has written an excellent piece in the Listener for the week April 30-May 6 2011 titled ‘Will the Budget be fair?
‘We object so strongly to having our own incomes further reduced by taxation that we think the incomes of pensioners should be reduced instead… In times of depression it is necessary to curtail the community’s consumption of many goods and services. Already people with large or moderate incomes have diminished their expenditure on many of the pleasant but unnecessary things which formerly they enjoyed. Most of them are, however, still tolerably comfortable. A great deal of money is spent on motor cars and holidays, on racing and other amusements. But rather curtail further expenditure of this kind, we think it will become necessary to reduce expenditure… [that] would be most advantageous to the whole community.
So wrote University of Otago professor Alan Fisher in 1932, satirising the attitudes of many of the elite as New Zealand struggles with the impact of the Great Depression.’
If you can lay your hands on this Listener do so because the whole piece is so on the money for our times and these are words to live by.
M. Went looking online Listener but most recent Easton column is for 5 April. Have to wait I guess as I have long since given up on the Listener.
I got fed up with the Listener after it turned into a right wing rag that ran constant middle class angst stories about healthcare, crime, educational failure, material aspirations etc. In the end I sent them a letter telling them they were no longer on the purchase list.
Yes, I feel the same way about the Listener. I am terribly disappointed with what it has become..
V.
Agreed completely. With Pamela Stirling and Joanne Black calling the shots what else would you expect. I remember when they dumped Gordon Campbell – according to Stirling it had nothing to do with politics, it was the business case. Some business case that involves dropping the best journalist the magazine had and consistent ‘award winner’.
If I read one more Listener cover story about how to improve my brain power I’ll be powerful enough to generate all of Christchurch’s electricity needs just by having a quick think (we’ve just had powercuts again here in the South of Christchurch).
Stirling and Black are self-satisfied twats but I like Easton’s articles. Gordon Campbell now has a weekly gig with the Kapiti Observer but it’s behind a paywall – he’s written some good articles holding the government’s feet to the fire.
Have a look for Brian Easton’s own website (I think it is in the blogroll in the reference sites – yep http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/ ). He often puts his columns and speeches up there.
A terrifying account of the Fukushima disaster.
The Fukushima Dai-Ichi station had 6,415 people on site that day. More than 5,500, like Matsumoto and Imamura, were subcontractors who reported to their clusters of offices in the plant for a head count.
more
The legacy of Chernobyl.
From 1997 to 2000, Paul Fusco made repeated trips to the areas surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear plant. What was meant to be a quick visit turned into a long-term project as he found himself overwhelmed by the fate of the children born within the radiation zone of Chernobyl and the love that their caregivers provided. In this multimedia piece, featuring images from his trips, Fusco reflects on the horrific legacy of the Chernobyl disaster.
From 11-12 I will be on Vinny Eastwood’s show. I will be talking about Derivatives, Credit default swaps, Andrew Krieger and John Key.
See you there!
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/hackers-threaten-parliament-s-website-4143047
Oh yes please.
And wiki leaking all the relevant emails over the Act would probably be more effective than a low orbital ion cannon attack, given how stupid certain National and ACT MP’s are…
[EDIT] And what’s to bet someone brainless will take that teh wrong way.
ZeeBop – your post sounds like National Party electioneering to me
‘Law and order’ is one of their stated platforms and just like them you don’t provide any evidence to back up you claim that lawlessness is on the rise.
Gangs would have little traction in a New Zealand that valued its citizens, a New Zealand with decent pay and opportunities for all, a New Zealand where everyone has a voice in Parliament and a New Zealand that embraced pastimes other than money worship, witch hunts and scapegoating.
You claim that its a break down in law and order – I say its a break down of Democracy.
You would presumably put more people in prison where thanks to a new law they no longer have a voice when the problem is that people already feel so disenfranchised that they form alternative societies and hidden economies.
There is no escalating gang problem – there is however an escalating comprehension problem around what we need to do as a country to prevent more and more people falling by the wayside as the mainstream slavishly lusts after fools gold and in petty spite blames the poor and the weak for their discontent.
[was supposed to be posted as reply to 3 but refresh issues thwarted intent]
The OECD advice to us is get capital gains tax and that the present taxation system favours the wealthy. House prices have doubled in years 2002-2007 and for working people now in rented houses – the majority would find it impossible to buy at present. Think that\’s right. E&OE That is something that Don Brash wanted – less people putting their money into buying houses. Labour couldn\’t bring themselves to introduce the tax though new ideas of sweat equity etc got talked about (implemented?). Will National have the balls to introduce it even just one specially tailored to please their paymasters, and not hurt the average citizen too much?
Just noticed that the date on today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s Open Mike is wrong. Either that or I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ve been in an chocolate overdose based coma since Easter.
(and still haveing to duplicate post as the ani-spam is still freaking out, maaan.)
((maybe something to do with the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’installing components swflash.cab\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ message running along the bottom?))
Fifth attempt at posting this!!!
6th attempt
7th go
And it won’t let me email to sysop, either.
Thanks – fixed.
Ouch…. I will have another look this evening at the comment posting.
((maybe something to do with the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\âinstalling components swflash.cab\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\â message running along the bottom?))
Probably. I’ve just run a set of tests on several browsers (including with IE) on both servers, and I can’t get any errors with the anti-spam. Has anyone else had problems since I removed the javascript editor?
Yep, including today. It stil takes 2-3 tries to post eg that post I did on Gordon Campbell\’s article about Brash & Act.
And with this one – Firefox on Vista.
PS: It is easier since the reversion to the old form of commenting – the other one played havoc with link codes when the anti-spam didn’t work.
Ok. I’ll check the logs to see what failed with that one – the date/time + Ip should allow me to dig it out.
I had problems earlier today posting to the Horizon poll thread. Is it something to do with a timeout? It seems to work fine after a refresh and immediate paste and send, whereas if you spend some time writing the comment it won’t send.
Edit: And this short and quick comment worked fine.
Cheers, LP, no problems with this comment, so hopefully problem solved.
Had a problem with this comment (previously). It came up with the same antispam word as a comment I just did previously. This antispam word is different so, fingers crossed …
Is it just me or have all the options for Bold itallics quote and so on no longer visible/available?
Using Firefox on Mac.
LP turned it off yesterday.
Yep, so back to using basic html.
Pricks.
They explained away the bone fractures, didnât ask what caused the lacerations, and called the hallucinations routine. Rather than blowing the whistle, medical professionals entrusted with the care of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay turned a blind eye when there were clear indications of abuse.
What on earth is ‘routine hallucinations’ supposed to mean? I agree with you, Joe90… Che cazzo! Coglione… Bastardi!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4931107/UK-PM-signals-air-tax-reform-in-talks-with-Key
” “I’m eating for New Zealand,” he joked. ”
is it me or is that comment somewhat distasteful with today’s record use of foodbanks and rocketing supermarket prices
it’s just you
Middle of this decade is shaping up to be veeeeery interesting.
The profits from the RWC are probably overstated in order to dupe us into welcoming the income of great wealth.
Overstated predictions
Just trying the shortened link.
Damn Should have been Overstated Predictions
Damn again should have been http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10721722
a banker’s progress
http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/archive/2011/04/03
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/national/4927850/Well-known-street-woman-dies
I\’m wondering where the benny bashers are on this one. Looks like the poor old duck was in a Housing NZ unit & must have been claiming a benefit for many years. I feel sad for the life this woman had, and wondered if she received any help along the way with her addictions, but also a bit cynical about all these tributes. Drunk, abusive beneficiary? Nobody cares about you, unless you\’ve been sitting around long enough to become part of the view.
John Key says only MPs can be Ministers. Is this true? I thought the PM could appoint anyone as a Minister.
Even an Opposition MP?
Or Bronagh?
Anyone at all, I thought. It’s a convention that they’re MPs from the PM’s party but I don’t know if it’s anything more than a convention.
Does anyone know? Can the PM appoint anyone as a Minister?
Anyone in Parliament. He can’t appoint Judy Bailey.
In the States, the Pres can appoint whoever he or she likes.
Ah, thanks. Bummer about Judy though.
Yes. Everything would be OK if we just had Judy.
Campbell’s got tweedledum, then tweedledee. Competing realities in such close proximity. Hope they’ve update the folks @CERN.
And Rodney was proudly proclaiming to Campbell that Act had democratic processes that would be followed….. after his ramming through of the supercity without consultation, he can claim to value democracy?
And as for Tweedle Dee…. a proven liar, and critical of Key, who, it seems will be happy to work with this resurrected ex National leader…. recreational fiction is more believable.
Just when you think some people had shuffled off…..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19473099@N05
Brash got his talking points in, kindly letting labour know what he will be saying for the next 7 months.
300 Million a week, 300 Million a week, 300 Million a week, 300 Million a week, that’s 1.2Billion a month, all families know you don’t keep borrowing to fund regular spending.
Pretty predictable, but Labour need to get their own lines to kill this stuff.
Most people that have been governor of a reserve bank know that a country’s economy is not the same thing as a family’s checking account, so why does Brash want NZ to think it is?
Greece had brash style austerity forced on them, and it’s making their deficit worse not better. It hasn’t worked there, it hasn’t worked in Spain, it hasn’t worked in Ireland, it’s not working in Britain. It doesn’t solve the problem it’s aimed at solving.
When brash was the bought and paid for leader of national all he wanted to do was cut taxes on the rich and slash services for the rest of us. He claimed a surplus was theft. Now he’s the bought and paid for leader of ACT all he wants to do is cut taxes for the rich and slash services for the rest of us. He claims a deficit is like krypton. The only things that change are his excuses and the colour of the car his backers put him in.
300 Million a week, 300 Million a week, 300 Million a week, 300 Million a week
Yep, onto it Pb, now we see the polling that produced the coup – \”$300/wk debt for every family\” and of course the old favourite \”One law for all\” relaunched by the original artist in the dulcet contemporary tones of \”We are all New Zealanders\” (even Australians if you listen again!)
One consolation: the polls must also show a narrowing gap to force this unpredictable old nag out of the stable so early. Not sure it\’ll run again, not with this dissipated old hack as jockey.
I know! Apparently article three of the treaty says Australians are New Zealanders. What the fuck does that even mean?
And who is he supporting in the world cup?
Lying old goat is just aching to slash taxes for the few and assistance for the many.
Cops alleged to be planning armed raids against Te Whanau a Apanui in response to Petrobas protests.
http://mauistreet.blogspot.com/2011/04/terror-raids-in-te-whanau-apanui.html
http://mauistreet.blogspot.com/2011/04/terror-raids-in-te-whanau-apanui-2.html#comments
John has been having quite a lot of productive dinners recently.
Reports that his soirĂŠe with Cameron was full on and he has managed to discuss a lot of NZ issues. He is heading off to Paris to have dinner with Sarkozy where he expects to discuss New Zealand trade issues. All over dinner mind you as reported on RNZ this evening.
Strange when he has dinner in New Zealand with the likes of Impey he makes just passing comments and that he hadnât met with MediaWorkâs Brent Impey to discuss a $43 million Government loan at all.
‘…..Australian Police given standing ovation at airport…’ from John Keys ANZAC speech
PUKE – PUKE – DOUBLE PUKE
As long as any other option remains there is no place for foreign military or police on New Zealand\’s sovereign soil.
Our government has no authority to reassign its mandate or the execution thereof to an external party.
The people of New Zealand have the right to be shepherded by their own.
Trouble is the dog-eared politicians organising the shepherding are barking mad and not properly House trained.
No Welfare for Whalers This Year?
http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-110426-1.html