Classic Herald headline. “Exports drive trade surplus to $1.2b”
A headline for the illiterate right to crow over.
But then read the full article and the future is nothing like so rosy……
The comments by the Deutsche Bank chief economist are particularly informative.
Funny the Herald didn’t write this headline.”Declining milk prices foreshadow future blowout in deficit.” But then that wouldn’t get Key re-elected, would it?
Here are selected sections that show the deficit is likely to increase again.
“But economists expect the improving trend in the annual trade balance to reverse when the sustained decline in dairy prices in Fonterra’s fortnightly auctions over the past three months is reflected in the value of shipments crossing the wharves.”
“April is usually a surplus month and the latest surplus, equal to 12 per cent of exports, was in line with the average 13 per cent of exports over the previous five April months.”
“On a seasonally adjusted basis dairy exports fell more by volume than by value last month compared with March, implying around a 3 per cent rise in export dairy prices.”
Deutsche Bank chief economist Darren Gibbs expects the 12-month running trade surplus to continue to rise over the next three months and to narrow the current account deficit to about 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product from the 3.4 per cent recorded in December 2013.
“[But] from later this year,” he said, “we would expect to see the deficit expand gradually as the trade data begins to reflect the lower dairy prices that have been seen in February and as import volumes continue to expand.”
“On a seasonally adjusted basis dairy exports fell more by volume than by value last month compared with March, implying around a 3 per cent rise in export dairy prices.”
They always talk about a great trade surplus but when you factor in the $15B p.a. that foreign owners take out of NZ per year, we end up in a nice fat long term current account deficit.
RNZ Morning Report now captured by the right. Just compare and contrast Espiner’s tone when interviewing Cunliffe today with his demeanour on Monday when chatting with Key.
We pay taxes to support such bias.
I noticed also that “David Cunliffe is planning to restrict immigration…his party is trailing 20 points behind National” featured on Morning Report as a news item. As if catching up to National was the only reason one might look at immigration levels. As if it was an FPP election.
The Nation had Colin Craig on this weekend debating Labour’s Sue Moroney.
Why does the media treat him as if he’s a member of parliament? He’s never won a seat. I don’t see members of Teh Libertarianz invited to debates on tv.
His money and the fact he’ll support Key’s corporatocracy.
Multinationals love people like that. As long as they can continue to pillage a country, they’ll probably allow some wacky policies.
I don’t think the media are flattering Craig and giving him air time because they like him. I think they’re giving him air time so he says something stupid on their television show and everyone goes to watch it.
Colin got 2.65% of the party vote at the last election, Libertarianz got 0.07%.
If you don’t see why that would make Colin someone the media might want to talk to, and whoever it is from the Libertarianz remains in obscurity, then I don’t know what to tell you.
Also according to Wikipedia, Libertarianz was dissolved in February, so another reason why they wouldn’t be interviewed.
Colin got 2.65% of the party vote at the last election, Libertarianz got 0.07%.
If you don’t see why that would make Colin someone the media might want to talk to
Yours is of course a logical assessment but partial IMO as we should not discount as relevant that the PM and his staff had been strategically lifting Colin’s profile in the media by mentioning him and the Conservatives in every conversation about coalition partners.
Hi Lanth, yeah I get why they might want to talk to him about why he’d like to be in parliament.
But what I’m seeing over and over again is Colin Craig being placed opposite actual MPs and presented as if he is already an elected representative speaking on behalf of one side of the house.
They even had him debating marriage equality opposite Louisa Wall who sponsored the bill!! They couldn’t find someone who was voting on the bill to oppose it?
Sure, talk to him about his policies, his party list, whatever. But they shouldn’t present him as a representative because as of yet, according to our democratic system, he isn’t representing dick.
Only “seems”? Henry and Hoskings have got the two networks covered. The only difference between the two is that Hoskings gives his pathetic holier than thou right-wing diatribe in a cult leader-like fashion at the end of the programme while Henry shoots off the same stuff throughout.
Putting one of the blue sock puppets like bridges up against moroney is not what ct want this year. The slimy one struggles on is own, imagine JLR v SM….ouch.
Loony distraction politics from the obediant msm, colon could be the new act as the nats like to blame the more extreme policies like charter schools on someone else.
National needs him to form a government after the election. John Key’s media friends are looking out for him by promoting his potential coalition partners every chance they get.
Felix, Why pick on Ms Moroney? She weems to be an able and likeable list MP
In looking at the records of the 48th, 49th and 50th elections, It would appear that Sue Moroney has won exactly as many electorate seats as has Colin Craig – namely none at all.
By virtue of the MMP system, she serves Labour in Parliament.
Seems to be so Phillip, there will be an announcement from the Mana/internet parties from the Parliament at 11am this morning,
IF this alliance does go ahead i can see at least 3–4% of the party vote going to Mana/Internet, as shown from the initial negotiations, and the publicity surrounding them, both Mana and Internet climbed in support on the following Roy Morgan poll, Mana to 1% and Internet to 1.5%,
This was extremely good news at the time for the Labour/Green parties both of which also went up in that particular poll, showing that Mana/Interent are not necessarily going to ”poach” votes from Labour/Green,
i am ”seeing” this election as being as tight or even tighter than 2011, a Mana/Internet alliance in the Parliament with 3–4% of the Party vote might just provide the perfect foil to Winston’s NZFirst where on the numbers National might not have an outright majority even with NZFirst counted on their side of the House,
Dotcom is said to have cashed up the Internet Party with a 240,000 dollar donation,
The ”ball” i would suggest is now in Labour’s court, do they do whip the rug out from under National by advising its voters in Te Tai Tokerau to split their votes electorate in favor of Hone and Party in favor of Kelvin Davis,
Is 3 more years of Slippery the PM’s National Government really an acceptable price to pay for electoral purity and holding ‘the moral high ground’…
Fortress Labour won’t have much say this time TM. The moderating committee which finalises the order of candidates is elected from the activist membership. I believe the Leader/Co-Leader and the President/General Secretary are automatically included. There’s a fresh leadership at the top and the old leadership will have little more input than the activist membership.
Having said that, the problem lies with the individual lobby groups (or one-horse-pony groups as I call them) whose primary aim is to get their candidates well placed. In some cases this is laudable, but it does carry the risk that some good people end up languishing too far down the list. That seems to be what happened to Kelvin Davis last time.
Yes Epsom, the ”other” crucial electorate in this years equation, it will be a tragedy of the highest order if both Labour and the Greens approach Epsom this election with any other intent than to have the National Party candidate ”win” there,
Last time round David Parker for Labour and David Hay for the Green’s between them picked up around 8000 electorate votes, Banks won that seat with less than a 2000 vote majority
David Parker and Julie Ann Genter this election will contest the Epsom electorate and if they approach this with the sole intent of installing the National Candidate as the winner the pair of them may well have ”won” the election outright for the ”left”,
Strategy for this election has gone way way past ”the message”, Labour in the Te Tai Tokerau and Waiariki Maori electorate seats hold the keys to the Treasury Benches in their hands,
In Epsom, the Labour/Green candidates hold a second set of keys to those Treasury Benches,
It sounds a little bizarre doesn’t it, BUT, the truth is for Labour, losing Te Tai Tokerau and losing Waiariki along with ensuring National win Epsom will ultimately ensconce Labour firmly on the Treasury Benches,
If David Cunliffe and Matt McCarten cannot see this and convince the Party of this then i for one will be a very unhappy camper for the next trimester…
If political expediency is to be practice of the opposition, then surely it would make more sense to gift an electorate to NZ1st, rather than mess about with a 1% party, who would at best, bring 1 or 2 extra members to the house.
Happy birthday, mate! I wish you many more happy returns of the day. Have a good one!
Hopefully your own ‘new year’ will make you happier and wiser, fairer and better. Cheers and God bless!
Sure, that goes without saying, but from a practical point of view, ensuring Winston got a seat takes the possibility of 2008 happening again right out of the result equation.
I wouldn’t ever vote NZ1st, but then I would do as Sue Bradford has and not have anything to do with dotcon either.
Just saying, if gifting seats is to be the done thing, then you have to give wisely. If I were Labour and the Greens I’d have nothing to do with Hone’s dirty money, but then if you really look, it’s only the mana one percenters that see it as a good thing… Them and TV3’s news room that is.
Yes that is one hell of a Laugh Out Loud comment Alien, there is a big difference between NZFirst and InternetMana,
It is this,”In the heads of agreement that the two parties have signed that form the rules of the alliance both parties agree NOT to support the National Party”,
Well said bad. It would be tragic if the opportunity to promote tactical voting in edgy seats was lost, especially if it were through some pretence at adherence to “loyalty and morals”. It would be immoral not to! (see comment on Kohlberg’s theory of moral development on yesterday’s open mike – it’s about the post conventional level of morals: social contract and universal ethics).
Besides, the Nat candidate for Ohariu, limpid ex sales rep, Brett Hudson has been honest, clear and upfront about only seeking the party vote, so game on I reckon.
Yep Rosie, i specifically didn’t mention Ohariu in my comment above, i seriously think the ‘blocks’ of votes from across the 3 Parties Labour/National and Dunne are two big to seriously expect a big enough tactical vote to oust Dunne via a vote for the National candidate,
Labour are still if what David Cunliffe said on RadioNZ National news at 3 is the final word, still mired firmly in last centuries First past the Post system,
Words to the effect that Kelvin Davis will be fully contesting the Te Tai Tokerau electorate and He,(Cunliffe), fully expects Davis to win, along with, ”Labour expects to take back all the Maori electorates,
Go the Dinosaur Party, last centuries electorate tactics have little place in an MMP enviroment…
Bad – have you been picking my brain while I’m sleeping. My thoughts exactly.
Strategy, strategy, strategy! No point in ‘winning the battle’, only to have to concede the war.
Think bold, outside the narrow vision.
Bad 12. I don’t think Parker is standing for Epsom this time. As I understand it, it is Michael Wood who is an up and coming young Labour star. Very intelligent and articulate.
Tah for that Anne, my bad for not keeping abreast with the ‘facts’, i assume after listening to Cunliffe on the radio this afternoon that the Labour candidate will also be ”fully contesting” Epsom for the electorate vote,
Is this Labour strategy: ”wait for things to get so ugly for the masses under National that they have no choice but to vote for Labour”,
Slippery the PM must be laughing fit to bust, The choir boy with high morals versus the Bankster with the mega-bucks campaign fund happily gerrymandering elections,
So everything seems to be pointing at Shane Jones for the new leader of IP – Now that may be better for National than Labour, and certainly not good for the Greens..
“The ”ball” i would suggest is now in Labour’s court, do they do whip the rug out from under National by advising its voters in Te Tai Tokerau to split their votes electorate in favor of Hone and Party in favor of Kelvin Davis,”
Labour is too stupid to do anything as strategic as that. But hey! -that’s just the way Labour rolls!!!
No Labour voters will be voting for Davis and if Hone/Mana hook up with The Internet Party he may well be rolled. Labour may throw Mana a life line by candidate voting Annette Sykes in an attempt to remove Favell.
Minto lost all cred’s by favouring an alliance between the 2 party’s, given TIP founder Kim DotBlob is so pro deregulation. I wonder if their party’s foundation policy will be removing copy right laws?
phillip, it’s good to hear the view of a Mana member on this alliance and that the vote of the membership for the alliance was largely in favour – a good sign, I think.
I’m over my initial sense of weirdness and apprehension at the prospect of of such an alliance and now see it as something fresh and hopeful. Modern stylez eh? To reflect a modern voter base. Onya’s.
Interesting like the Chinese curse. I think this is the beginning of the end for Mana as a worthwhile movement. There may be some temporary electoral success, but the contradiction between Maori workers and libertarian net nerds, half of whom think Hone is racist, will tear things apart.
and in weather/poverty news..like many others in my position..
..in new zealand..after 30 yrs of neo-lib/randite ‘evil’ dismantling of the welfare state…from both national and labour..
(..and despite never having had my power disconnected for non-payment..being forced onto by supplier .. that rip-off-of-the-poor pre-paid electricity..(they make so much more profit from that..eh..?..
..and when the money runs out..?..pop..!..instant disconnection/darkness..)
..there is no way i can afford to run a heater..
..so i have to layer-up..
..and on this chilly morn..it’s thermal long-johns/thick tracks/thick socks on below..
..and the many poor in nz don’t only live in these (usually) benevolent climes..
..so it’s no ‘poor-me!’..
..’it’s more ‘poor them!’
..and then those sleeping-rough..who..funny story..!.. both the current mayors of wellington and ak promised to ‘help’/house ..at one time..when campaigning..
..and who since being elected..have both done sweet fuck all for..
..as i say..’in this oh so rich country’..
..thank you labour…thank you national..
.for what 30 yrs of yr mis-rule has wrought..
..and good luck there labour..!
..with yr reaching out to the disposessed non-voters..
..with yr middle-class fretting about ‘affordable-homes’..
..eh..?
..and about ending that institutional/grinding-poverty..?
..that is the reality/day-to-day life of ‘the poor’..?
I hear you brother Phil, all be it sitting here feeling sorry for myself having taken a sickie suffering from man flu. However lucky for me I’m in the warm comfort of my lounge with my Kent fire blazing away. In the corner of my eye I see one of my lizards under his heat lamp adding to the coffers of the rich pricks who robbed us of our power assets.
Even the charity stores put close to market rates on quality woolen clothing. Just goes to show the tentacles of the market have no boundaries in our capitalistic land of milk & honey!
I know all about prices rising in op shop.. It is the trend in the op shop I have been involved in. The workers are nearly all superannuitants and of course get a nice fortnightly cheque, not enough in some cases but definitely there without argy bargy. Their heads are all filled with memories of growing up in a different NZ. The news that people have had no wage rises or ones under the measured cpi inflation does not register, if they know someone who is hard up it can seem an individual difficulty. And the prices go up as if it was the old days with inflation bouncing along. If the garment has a clothing industry ‘label’ on it then they charge an extra $1 or $2 for it, and the condition may not even be good. But the talk goes, I think we can get more for this, when it is ordinary clothes needed for everyday. Just like a second hand charity shop. Which is not what I call true charity.
Interestingly mrs banks testimony mirrored her husbands, exactly. No one calling it a fit up? Interesting comments she made about the “type” of people the dotcoms were and how they wouldnt give banks money. Of course they did, more than anyone else apparently, so she is not a great judge of people it seems.
More interestingly was the former mp who gave evidence about how honest banks is. Seems ok til you recall
He resigned as deputy speaker after illegally parking by aschool pedestrian crossing and trying to get the police commissioner to revoke the fine. So, his yardstick for integrity aint very high. Ian revell.
i am still not clear if by not reading it before he signed it he LEGALLY cant have signed KNOWING it was false.
The thing is, as i understand it, signing the form as being true and correct without reading it isnt the offence. It should be, cos otherwise the declaration is meaningless. I hope i am wrong, i truly do.
Yes it all hangs on that Tracey – I think. But if I sign any legal document (and now an email?) I am held to that. It cannot be that I cannot renege on a deal simply because I didn’t read the small print. Loan Sharks get great returns from such signage.
yea but loan sharks have a contract. I am definitely agreeing signing a declaration that something is true and correct should matter. banks is heaping alot onto the guy who filled out the form but he could never know what banks received anonymously outside his presence if banks didnt tell him. I think that guy is being unfairly tainted by banks behaviour.
not to bust to solicit money from all and sundry like a desperate whore but too busy to comply with responsibilities… thats mr banks.
online stuff and herald act as tho a senior politician is not on trial for electoral fraud… cf with brown coverage.
Yes Tracey, not having researched the question might have me commenting from a position of ”i thunk it therefore”, but, i have to assume that an electoral return of finances is an actual Statuary Declaration and as such those who sign such are legally responsible for what it contains no matter who filled it out or if those who sign such actually read its contents,
Perhaps in the fine print of the Law, those who wrote it, politicians, gave themselves a little ”out” for just such ocassions…
Banks might have been able to confuse a jury to the the extent they’d swallow his “I obeyed the letter of the law” defence but I hope the judge won’t be so lenient. It’s clear what Parliament’s intent is, unless you take the view that Parliament is a deeply cynical establishment. You or I might very well think that. The court will not.
The difference is that the issue Banks is facing is a criminal one so even if he signed it off as true and correct the offence still may not have been committed. This is as opposed to, for example, if the matter were a contractual one where signing something is generally binding, subject of course to specific exceptions/protections.
the wording of the charge is crucial he has to have known it was not true and correct. his defence is by signing it without reading he never knew. couldnt know.
hes called all his character witnesses. all swear on his abhorrence of deceit. yet he was ed of hujlich… took fees and didnt ask any questions… had a deal with key but didnt think the electorate should know what they said…. watched key mislead parliament… took dotcoms hong kong gift and upgrade…
and with ian revell as a character referee… dame jenny gibbs… restauranteur wife of ” tony”… you wonder what passes for integrity in some circles…
and lets not forget that honest john signed someghing as true and correct, he says, without reading it… = honest? integrity?
“the wording of the charge is crucial he has to have known it was not true and correct. his defence is by signing it without reading he never knew. couldnt know.”
Yes, precisely, but I can’t see a judge taking too kindly to statements from “character witnesses” as evidence in a criminal trial too well. If the defence feels it has to stoop to doing that my guess is that it knows it’s stuffed. Having said that, this is New Zealand where everyone knows everyone including the judiciary which means anything can happen.
xox
Hilarious,on The panel, Jim Mora and Boag calls him out for talking ‘rubbish’! Three times in quick succession. Jim was forced to back down and had no chance against the National juggernaut. And Brian Edwards, deferred to the dragons flaming. Really funny. The power of the woman. Mora and Edwards had no chance. The program needs some balance if it’s not to become a joke.
Brian Edwards Gosman, in my opinion is not a leader, He is a follower, and, as such, has followed Labour as it departed its left wing roots into neo-liberalism and from there into the confining electoral space of chasing a small flake (5%), of the middle class vote which has been the election battleground for far too long now,
As Labour have increasingly pandered to this over-coat changing slice of the middle class it has provided less and less for those further down the income scale,
My belief is that Labour is still very much stuck in that space fighting for that small flake of the middle class vote and until it can snap out of this will continue to bleed the support of the low waged/low income demographic that was its traditional support base…
Nanaia Mahuta quoted on RadioNZ National this morning, ”Maori home ownership is down to 22%”,
Right Nanaia, that is the problem, where is the proposed solution from Labour???,
i would suggest that in the other Labour heartland, the Pacifica-belt of South Auckland the figures for Pacifica peoples home ownership is even more dire than 22%,
And herein lies Labour’s big ”Problem”, cannot Labour see that among its South Auckland vote the building of 10,000 ”affordable homes” goes down like a lead brick,
Its Pacifica vote, mostly low waged, the first to be fired and the last to be hired will never be able to ”afford” one of these 10,000 homes,(unless Labour adopts the Green party variable mortgage payment policy),
This is the same for Labour’s Maori heartland, an ”affordable home” in the provinces is obviously going to be less costly than one in Auckland but a bank mortgage will never address the issues of Maori employment where as like the Pacifica people Maori are the first to be fired and the last to be hired when the financial poo becomes entangled in the ventilation system,
The 10,000 affordable homes policy, no matter what it actually is, is perceived in the wider electorate as homes for the middle class, Labour need to come up with additional policy that directly addresses that perception,
“Labour need to come up with additional policy that directly addresses that perception,”
I agree with that. Kiwis in general are still a pretty egalitarian bunch but the middle class voter won’t give up their own lifestyle for the poor. Labour look to have decided they can’t win votes if they lower property values so their solution to the housing problem is raising incomes. On paper it sounds ok but we’ve been there, done that. It hasn’t worked yet & people are getting a bit jaded with the same old. What we really need is some creative thinking; do something different that people can get excited about.
There’s plenty of options, it’s not as if the problem is insurmountable. They could capitalise accommodation supplements into a large deposit for a home, presently that annual $1.2 billion plus supplement is just pissed against the wall for no economic return. At existing Govt borrowing rates $100 per week pays the interest on a $130,000 loan. The Govt could retain title to the section or strata title until the loan is paid back.
Another option is for the Govt to create a new housing market for low income earners. The state buys the land, leases it at peppercorn rates to the home buyer who builds their own dwelling. The lease itself should act as the security for the loan to build the dwelling.
It’s only the price of land that makes houses unaffordable, and only the inability to come up with a deposit that stops those who can afford a mortgage. So remove land from the equation and use it as the deposit. It’s not rocket science.
joe90 put this comment up yesterday, with a link to the NY Times, in which the term “hedge cities” is suggested for cities in which the international rich park their money.
The author of the linked article suggests charging these people “parking fees,” but this doesn’t offer a solution as to where the locals are to live, or how they might attain housing security. The whole business looks like a basis for huge tension between people who need houses as dwellings and people who see them as poker chips in an international casino. And huge problems for governments who do not want to bring down their economies, but who do need to ensure that people are housed. Not only that, it has such potential to suck the life out of an economy that those with property really do become dependent on its putative “value”, and not just bewitched by the numbers.
Yes, it could also be a way of getting some of the funds needed to rebuild the local economy. But I do have an aversion to the term “social housing” – it suggests that a house is a poker chip first and a dwelling second.
Creative but a waste of time. Just have the government build enough state houses that come with a lifetime lease. People get affordable living and get to be part of the community.
I suggest if you want policy results from Nanaia Mahuta take a pad and pen on any given Friday to a certain Hamilton yum cha restaurant. I kid you not every time my side kick and me treated ourselves low and behold who is in the house lol.
Lolz Skinny, if i still had my house-truck i might just take you up on that, but alas, i am earth bound in Wellington at the moment,
Do i detect a small modicum of criticism of Nanaia in your comment Lol, can’t be right, you being there as many times as She,
Yeah the point of my comment about what Nanaia was saying on radio this morning was in the vein of ”She had the airtime to point out the low rate of Maori home ownership,(abysmal at 22%), but She didn’t have the policy to announce about what Labour intend to do about this”,
As i point out above, Maori like everybody else need ’employment prospects’ that will ladst 40 odd years to be able to sign up to ‘Kiwibuild’, increasingly rotational employment would suggest that that aint going to happen…
Looks pretty suss to me (and NZ Herald). Cunliffe “helps out” a major overseas based donor while ranting about overseas buyers pushing up housing prices. Imagine if John Key had done that!
serious question grumpy – in what capacity did cunliffe help his friend and what did he do?
if youve got a claim that cunliffe used his position as an MP to help with the purchase, and/or the rules were broken re: real estate sales, then lets hear it – because thats the only complaint that could be made
hope it’s not too far over your head grumpy … try really hard on this cold and frosty morning … maybe a wee nip of stone’s ginger wine would warm you up?
David Cunliffe asking questions in the House again that don’t demand an answer and Carter again giving Key free rein to say what he wants. Meanwhile, Metiria Turei asking proper questions Key is forced to answer properly, whether correctly or not but putting him on record in relation to real issues. When will Cunliffe learn how to use the questions for oral answer properly? So dumb.
it wont happen but for the left to get true representation in nz greens need more vote than labour. labour acts like a party of entitlement. they behave like its fpp… cosying up to nzf and not conceding some seats.
seemingly to labour if they cant be dominant they are happy to inflict another 3 years of national on the nation.
Lolz, thanks MS, i win the dumby of the day award, my stubby fat little fingers weren’t made for typing and i managed to hit the s at the same time i hit the d..
Who we are owned by
Watercare is a council organisation, wholly owned by the Auckland Council. The council appoints the company’s board of directors who in turn appoint the chief executive.
Now, if you’d said that’s what happens when the service needs to make a profit you’d probably have been more correct.
Much like Tuvalu, the manmade climate change Cult love to tell people the Maldives is almost totally underwater. In fact the dishonest Maldives Govt d on the same bandwagon, believing they would receive billions of dollars aid from other Countries ...
According to every manmade climate change cultist on Earth, the pacific islands of Tuvalu are being flooded by rising sea levels. In fact, incredibly even a google search will bring up an immediate claim the islands are almost underwater! The ...
Firstly, it’s important you know that I am not paid by fossil fuel companies, nor do I have any association with them at all, and in fact I’m not a fan of any industry that doesn’t do it’s best to ...
As the entry on Wikipedia shows (and no, one doesn’t necessarily have to regard Wikipedia as the be-all and end-all of truth, because it isn’t on a great many things, to agree with the following): “…a fallacious argument that concludes ...
by Daphna Whitmore The story of how the world awoke to a big injustice is starting to be told. The Pacific Games held this month in Samoa is another chapter. On the podium was Laurel Hubbard, the giant transgender weightlifter, ...
Our conversations and push against specific supremacist and ultra-Nationalist groups, and the pseudo-intellectual underpinnings of them, need to mature at all levels. But in doing so, it’s going to have to include a more thorough and brutally honest self-examination ...
Why do so many people mistrust the police? Because they pull shit like this:The police are flouting the rules on breath testing, carrying out tests in people's homes to catch them out sometimes up to two hours after they were ...
I have been reading and listening to the aftermath of Trump’s comments about the four female first term Democratic representatives, all of whom are “people of color.” I found the US coverage interesting both as evidence of partisanship and the ...
The Herald reports that the housing shortage / bubble has hit a new level:New Zealand is short of 130,000 homes, the tally having risen lately by 30,000, two economists say. Jarrod Kerr and Jeremy Couchman, Kiwibank economists said: "This time ...
Milk producer Fonterra is one of New Zealand's biggest coal-users, using it to power all its South Island (and a few of its North Island) dairy factories. They'd previously "committed" to not building any new coal boilers after 2030. Now, ...
The proposed Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill treats biogenic methane emissions differently from all other carbon emissions. The latter are to be measured net so that emissions from fossil fuels can be offset by carbon stored in trees. ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...
Yesterday the government released its discussion document on action on agricultural emissions. As sadly usual, it proposed enormous subsidies for farm emissions, including for nitrogen-based fertiliser. This is a huge mistake. In addition to being one of the chief drivers ...
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act (this replaced their previous plans to hold a secret consultation with handpicked people). 285 people submitted on ...
Always Playing Catch-Up: Throughout the 1970s, the purchasing power of the ordinary worker’s pay packet – the only meaningful measure of his or her wealth – was being eaten away every passing year by seemingly inexorable rises in the cost-of-living. ...
The Interim Climate Change Committee's report on Action on agricultural emissions: Evidence, analysis and recommendations was finally released today, and as you might guess from the title, it is recommending that we actually act, rather than let farmers keep ...
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...
Agriculture is our biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for 48% of the total. It follows that meeting any credible emissions reduction target requires cutting agricultural emissions, most likely by having fewer cows. But National thinks people shouldn't be ...
How scummy is the UK Home Office? This scummy:The Home Office lied to EU member states to remove victims of human trafficking and modern slavery in breach of European law, according to whistleblowers. Legal experts have said the practice is ...
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...
“We wuz robbed!” is the classic cry of the disappointed losers of a closely contested sporting contest – it is very much to the credit of the Black Caps that we heard no such sentiment from them following the stunning ...
The Youth Parliament is being held this week, and some of the youth MPs are campaigning for a lower voting age:Molly Doyle, 17, is one Youth MP who wants this to change. She is part of a non-partisan campaign run ...
Up till now, Australia has made its living by digging up coal and exporting it to other countries, destroying the global climate in the process. But now they have a new option: exporting solar power:The desert outside Tennant Creek, deep ...
Later this month, thousands of people are expected to march to parliament as part of the #HandsOffOurTamaraki movement. At its heart, the movement is about preserving whānau and demanding that the state stop removing children from their whānau, hapū and iwi. ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh The recent statements made by the former FARC commander, Carlos Lozada (legal name Julian Gallo), where, from his seat in Congress, he praised the Colombian Army demonstrate how low the farianos have sunk. Lozada began by ...
A Woman’s Place is on the Podium was a public meeting in London on 10 July to discuss women’s sports and the impact of transwomen competing against women. The venue was sold out with a packed hall of 750 people. ...
Last month I talked about the no-fly movement: people who refuse to fly or limit it to absolute necessity to avoid destroying the climate. Now, that movement has a somewhat surprising new member: Dutch airline KLM:Dutch airline KLM has launched ...
In the 1960's, humanity faced a terrible threat: global thermonuclear war. Nuclear weapons were uniquely destructive and dangerous, and if more countries got them, the logic of MAD and the pre-emptive strike would put us on a hair-trigger to destruction. ...
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...
Matariki has been and gone, but this year we saw a couple of op-eds arguing that it should be a public holiday, replacing the foreign monarch's fake birthday. And now, New Zealand Republic - a group which campaigns for an ...
The discussion on the quality of economic advice, which we reported last week, has spilled over into a discussion about whether so many senior appointments should be of non-New Zealanders. Recall I discussed the failure to develop career paths within ...
When Nicky Hager revealed US footage of the Operation Burnham raid, obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, one of the obvious questions was whether Ministers had seen it - and in particular, whether they'd been told that it ...
Northern Ireland is the Alabama of the UK: a backwards region where women and gay people are denied fundamental rights. But Westminster has just decided to fix that:MPs have voted resoundingly to extend same-sex marriage and access to abortion to ...
There's a problem with "synthetic cannabis", and not just the one you think. It's the name.We're in the midst of a wave of news stories that link synthetic drugs to serious harm, through deadly road accidents and accidental overdoses (which ...
Ranjit Kauri, The Dancing Maharani and Other Stories, Swansea, Head and Heart, 2019, £6.99; reviewed by Don Franks Working people are not the same country to country. Our struggles for a better life take place in surroundings of very different ...
Let's Do Them! All Jacinda Ardern has to do to clinch the 2020 General Election is frighten the bejesus out of the electorate by describing in the most graphic terms imaginable what will happen to all the positive beginnings her ...
It may be that we have all misinterpreted the somewhat surprising “bromance” between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. It has been all too easy to assume that it is Kim who is cosying up to Trump rather than the ...
by Michael Roberts So the full circle is completed. The corrupt pro-business conservative New Democracy party in Greece that was ousted by the anti-capitalist Syriza party in 2015 has been returned to office in yesterday’s general election, with an outright ...
When the Australian government passed a series of new spy laws over the last few years, they pinky-promised that they wouldn't use them to spy on journalists and subvert freedom of the press. They lied:The anti-encryption laws passed by the ...
From 1975 to 1989, the spy agencies of South America's right-wing military dictatorships cooperated in Operation Condor, a joint campaign of extermination against the continent's left. Roughly 400,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 disappeared, and 60,000 murdered - kidnapped, tortured, executed, ...
When she was standing for office, Jacinda Ardern promised she would take abortion out of the Crimes Act. And to be fair, there was some early action on that, with an immediate referral of the issue to the Law Commission ...
When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
Back in May the government released its Zero Carbon Bill. While much of the bill was welcome, there was one big exception: it contained a secrecy clause, requiring the Climate Change Commission to maintain secrecy over practically everything it does. ...
by Phil Duncan This past week has marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Stonewall Inn riots in Christopher Street, New York, the event generally regarded as kicking off the gay liberation movement. Quite a few articles have ...
Southland - land of coal-burning dairy farmers - has become the first region in the country to explicitly vote against declaring a climate emergency. Their reason? They didn't want to "devalue" the word "emergency". Its an argument addressed powerfully in ...
New Zealand has a problem with police chases: officers going after fleeing drivers like rabid dogs, without any consideration for proportionality or public safety, often with fatal results. And according to an in-depth article in the Guardian today, the UK ...
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...
Holly Lawford-Smith is a senior lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Melbourne. She’s currently writing a book about radical feminism. This article appeared on Feminist Current Academics should be standing together in defence of universities’ fundamental values: the ...
The Otago Daily Times has an in-depth article about the future of wind energy in New Zealand, and it is looking bright:The news that wind will play the leading role in New Zealand’s energy future was put up in lights ...
If the sight of schoolkids striking for a future has been filling you with hope, good news: they want you to join them on September 27:Students will take to the streets again demanding action on climate change, and this time ...
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...
I have been working my way through a 47,000 document tranche of declassified US government communications related to Argentina and the “Dirty War” of 1976-83. I grew up in Argentina in the period leading up to the March 24, 1976 ...
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...
Million-dollar start to gun collection eventsPolice Minister Stuart Nash says a solid start has been made to the gun buyback and amnesty after the first weekend of community collection events. “Gun owners will walk away with more than ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash has praised Police and gun owners after the first firearms collection event saw a busy turnout at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch. “Police officers and staff have put a tremendous effort into planning and logistics for the ...
Seventy-eight new Police constables are heading out to the regions following today’s graduation of a new recruit wing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the record high number of new Police officers being recruited, ...
A new website has launched in response to recent RNZ reporting about Police in Dunedin unlawfully entering people’s homes and breath-testing them. “I was disgusted when I saw what they cops were doing in Dunedin. Their behaviour undermines all of ...
Hundreds of whanau and Maori leaders gathered at a hui in Mangere last weekend where they voted unanimously for an inquiry into Oranga Tamariki. The historic meeting called for a child welfare framework to be developed by Maori, for Maori. ...
The Head of the New Zealand Maori Council has called for the Government to hold an immediate investigation into the global cosmetics company Sephora after they were caught dumping waste hundreds and thousands of waste paper products embedded with ...
Simon Shepherd: The government says its agreement with farmers, that they should pay for agricultural emissions, is historic. But there's no agreement on how. One proposal says farmers should pay a 5 per cent emissions tax. Another suggests farmers ...
The O’Brien Institute for Public Health at Calgary University has just released their report on fluoridation. This institute has, up to now, been staunchly in favour of fluoridation. However, yesterday, with regards to fluoride’s effect on the brain, ...
July 19 (BusinessDesk) - The government is looking to tighten control and impose harsher penalties after the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak revealed cracks in the country's stock management system. ...
Kia Anga Mua Ngā Hapū o Ngāpuhi (KAM) has reached a pivotal milestone following a hui yesterday at Waitangi with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the Government spent $133,530 on producing its ‘Wellbeing Budget’ document, a cost blowout largely driven by spending on graphic design and photography. The $133,530 price tag compares to $86,268 ...
Kahungunu Māori Language Awards. Nominations closed on 5 July 2019, and were judged by the Senior Management Team of Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated. The judges wish to acknowledge the very high calibre of all nominations received making it a very ...
High Court of Australia Judge, Justice Stephen Gageler, will address recent criticism of court judgment delays in Australia, at the University of Canterbury (UC) on 23 July at 6.15pm. ...
This summary is provided to assist in the understanding of the Inquiry’s proceedings but does not constitute the official record. The full Minute is available at the link below. ...
The Tertiary Education Commission is laying charges under section 292A of the Education Act 1989 against three individuals for making a false representation for the purpose of receiving, or continuing to receive, free tertiary education from a tertiary education ...
New Zealand food businesses today welcomed a trio of new food safety tools, designed to make it faster, easier and more affordable to follow the rules and keep consumers safe. ...
AUT research shows that Māori children are almost four times more likely than those of European descent to be placed out of home by child protection services ...
The Government announced today that grants of up to $2,500 for energy efficient heaters are now available as part of the Government’s Warmer Kiwi Homes programme. ...
Fonterra’s use of coal has been the target of numerous grassroots campaigns in recent years. Last year 350 Aotearoa affiliated groups, Fossil Free Aoraki and 350 Nelson launched a petition dismissing the dairy giant’s initial target of no new ...
Information sessions on proposals for The Medicinal Cannabis Scheme take place in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch over the next fortnight. The sessions are open to anyone with an interest in learning more about the proposed scheme. ...
“Our children are our most vulnerable, most innocent victims and we do not want to see any more children harmed by these ‘known sex offenders’. The safety of our community must be the paramount consideration.” ...
“The announcement that Fonterra will immediately stop installing any new coal boilers or increasing capacity to burn coal is the signal that the biomass fuel supply industry welcomes” said Brian Cox, Executive Officer of the Bioenergy Association. ...
18 July 2019-- Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA) today welcomed Fonterra’s commitment to build no new coal plants, a “no brainer” for the climate crisis the world faces. The group has been urging this transition for six years now and ...
The increase in demand for cage-free eggs is set to continue according to animal rights organisation SAFE, who says the egg industry should expect this and prepare. ...
Wellington, New Zealand – 350 Pacific made a formal submission to the New Zealand Government’s Environment Parliamentary Select Committee on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, led by the Pacific Climate Warriors (PCWs) based in ...
There used to be a school of thought on the centre right side of politics that the best way to neuter the Greens as a political force would be to let them have a spell in government. Then, according to ...
Today (18 July) is Nelson Mandela International Day when the United Nations highlights the importance of humane conditions of imprisonment. In New Zealand our prisons are overcrowded and understaffed. At 214 prisoners per 100,000 people, we have the fifth ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa will take legal action over the lengthy delay in implementing pay increases for teachers. Novopay announced yesterday that teachers would have to wait until 11 September to see pay increases that they won when they settled ...
EDS has filed its submission on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill. The Bill sets targets for greenhouse gas reductions, provides for the government to set a series of carbon budgets, and sets up a new, independent, Climate ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has identified an absurd case of mission creep at Wellington City Council: the decision to spend $21,750 on two Consumer NZ investigations into different brands of bike lights. ...
The Motor Trade Association is welcoming the release of the Government’s new draft road safety strategy. MTA Chief Executive Craig Pomare says the association is pleased to see vehicle safety has been made a priority in the Road to Zero ...
The Department of Conservation continue to repeat the same old story about attacks on staff and how it is affecting their role in protecting our precious wildlife. NZ herald https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12249704 ...
The government's silence on the fact that the country's second-largest milk processor is on the brink of becoming 25% Chinese Government owned has been deafening. ...
School Strike 4 Climate NZ welcomes the coalition Government’s endeavour to take action on reducing agricultural emissions but is disappointed at the weak stance that the Government has taken on the issue. ...
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has issued a formal warning under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML/CFT Act) to seven reporting entities within the Regus Management Limited (RNZML) designated business ...
The Northland Regional Council (NRC) has voted to exclude all GM/GE precautionary provisions in its regional plan, despite years of community engagement showing support for such protection. There is a sense of betrayal following the way the NRC Chairman ...
New Zealand’s ‘mission-driven’ charities working in international aid are showing early signs of changing the way they work, in particular prioritising building the capacity and resilience of local communities to do their own development. ...
Teachers will have to wait until 11 September for pay increases won as part of their collective agreement negotiations settled in June, according to an update sent to schools today from Novopay. ...
July 16 (BusinessDesk) - Energy Minister Megan Woods says the government “won’t die in a ditch” if its goal of 100 percent renewable electricity generation isn't reached by 2035. ...
The Electricity Networks Association (ENA) is welcoming the Government’s response to the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) Report released today. Graeme Peters, chief executive of the ENA, said one of the key recommendations, endorsed by the ...
An article* published this month in the Journal of Health Organization and Management raises questions over the way health board members are elected and whether the boards are even needed. ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa's kindergarten teacher members will vote on a proposed settlement to their collective agreement after four days of negotiations with the Ministry of Education and kindergarten employers. ...
Vector has today welcomed the ICCC’s report on Accelerated Electrification . Vector agrees that accelerating the electrification of transport and process heat will play a major role in reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Initiatives to ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Porirua City Council to cancel its underwriting of a proposed Canadian-led privately owned adventure park slated for public land after a similar project created a huge liability for Christchurch ...
Youth climate change campaigners Generation Zero welcome the Interim Climate Change Committee’s (ICCC’s) reports: Accelerated Electrification and Action on agricultural emissions ; which were finally released by the Government today, almost three months ...
Fish & Game New Zealand notes the announcement today that the Government and the intensive agriculture leadership have reached a ‘historic consensus’ and are exploring using a formal sector-government agreement instead of bringing agriculture ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report on Accelerated Electrification was released today by the Minister for Energy and Resources, Hon Dr Megan Woods. ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report Action on agricultural emissions was released today by the Minister for Climate Change, Hon James Shaw and the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Damien O’Connor. ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk New Zealand’s unprecedented “internet-native mass shooting” attack on two mosques, the New Caledonia independence referendum, Fiji’s general election and news media responses are featured in the latest Pacific Journalism Review being published next week. Analysis ...
Aldous Harding is coming back to New Zealand. In the lead-up to her shows, she spoke to The Spinoff about live TV, maturity, and the weirder interpretations of her songs.Aldous Harding is calling from her home in Wales. Only a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Flannery, Planetary Scientist, Queensland University of Technology This weekend marks 50 years exactly since humans first walked on the Moon. It also marks Australia’s small but significant role in enabling NASA ...
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Aaron Jones, founder of Christchurch-based reusable bag company Zerobag.First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Zerobag.Zerobag is a New Zealand-owned ...
Aaron Kreisler looks beyond the gags in this survey of an artist and his dogsat the Christchurch Art Gallery.“The dog really must love him, it’s so incredibly patient…”, a woman says to her daughter, punctuating a screening of Coin ...
‘He wants to sleep with you,’ a close friend had said. ‘Then you’ll be able to tell if it is going to lead anywhere’: a short story by New Plymouth author Elizabeth Smither. Photography by Peter Black. ...
Opinion - The leadership visits are more interesting in that they serve as a spotlight on the two countries - politically, and on policy issues, writes Brigette Morten. ...
Created by future ACT Party leader Richard Prebble after an epic reform bender in the 80s, NZ on Air has just marked its third decade. Duncan Greive relates its history and asks: is the funder still fit for purpose?It’s a ...
It helps that he played in the New Zealand cricket team when they lost the 1992 semi-final and went on to coach India, writes Georgie Wright, daughter of JohnMy dad has taught me a fair few things over my 25 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Deep Saini discusses the week in politics with Michelle Grattan – one with a reduced pace, despite the 24 ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand, with the interview available as both audio and ...
Jacinda Ardern’s Melbourne trip wrapped up with nothing to show on longstanding trans-Tasman concerns, but was a potent reminder of her international appeal. ...
Pricing agricultural emissions first at the processor level - such as Fonterra - rather than right down at farm level stacks up as a gap measure says Catherine Leining. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne Orlando, Researcher: Children and Technology, Western Sydney University Instagram is running a social media experiment in Australia and elsewhere to see what happens when it hides the number of likes on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Cross, Research Fellow, Curtin University Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter here, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au. Billabongs in the northern Kimberley are welcome ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling You’ve probably heard that this week marks 50 years since humans first set foot on the Moon – a feat that still boggles the mind given ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Gentilin, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University As strange as it might sound, whistleblowers in Australia have reason to rejoice – so long as they are in the private sector. Thanks to new ...
The fourth season of Queer Eye drops today on Netflix. Sam Brooks reflects on his difficult relationship with the show, and where it sits in mainstream culture.For depressingly many people, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was an introduction not just to ...
The collapse of a multi-billion dollar deal to sell AMP's life insurance division to a British company for $3.6 billion is the fault of the companies, according to the Reserve Bank. ...
A poem by Miramar poet Geoff Cochrane.Channel HoppingStupa or Stuka?Weet-Bix or Welsh rabbit?Galactic aerodrome or Matchbox truck?*I’m young in my dreams, still young.*Beautiful Keanu’s wearing shades—antique shades with iodine-coloured lenses.*I’m young in my dreams, still young,and I still have some ...
For the month of July, Josie Adams is taking on the challenge of being low-waste. That means minimising plastics, emissions, and even recyclables. Each week we release her diary. This is week two.Read week one here.I’ll be honest, week two ...
By Royson Willie in Port Vila Two Vanuatu Daily Post journalists were literally given a pat-down by the police criminal investigation unit yesterday over a story they had written about the vehicle of the Chairman of the Public Service ...
By Gorothy Kenneth in Port Moresby Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape will visit Australia this weekend for a week-long state visit and the Bougainville independence referendum in less than three months is expected to be high on ...
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...
Wtf did we just watch?That sound you heard was a million furries screaming in ecstasy as their fantasy and everyone else’s nightmare came to life in the form of the first trailer for the live action version of Cats.Is it ...
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 Three Women by Lisa Taddeo (Bloomsbury, $35)Fucking ...
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...
As we mark the fiftieth anniversary the July 20th Moon landing Dr Nick Long reflects on what that's meant for New Zealand and considers the space 'gold rush' ahead. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Griebsch, Specialist and Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Medicine, University Veterinary Teaching Hospital Sydney, Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney Recently reported cases of the often fatal bacterial infection ...
My selection of the eight best morning news links from here and overseas, along with eight lunchtime lean-back long reads. Also, the full list of links, including Jacinda Ardern's trip to Australia, the big emissions report, Fonterra's coal move and a new ...
Heaven is a place on earth, and June is saving the world one ’80s pop hit at a time. Tara Ward recaps season 4, episode 9 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Praise be, for there was a tiny bit of good news ...
Finance companies say they shouldn’t have to be ‘fit and proper’ even though in some cases they charge more than the planned clampdown on high cost lending. A group of finance companies that charges well over the government’s proposed cap on ...
An ANZ shareholder is demanding the bank disclose more information about the sale of an Auckland residential property to its former chief executive and his family. ...
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 contentForeign Affairs and trade Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): The new, ...
Tara Ward sets out on a valiant quest to find the best apple in Aotearoa. The idea that every apple is a good apple is fake news. We’ve all got stories about shit experiences with apples, when it looked good on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Sarkissian, Operations Scientist, CSIRO The role Australia played in relaying the first television images of astronaut Neil Armstrong’s historic walk on the Moon 50 years ago this July features in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lyndal Sleep, Research Fellow, Griffith University In Australia’s social security laws, the “couple rule” is used to determine if a person is in a relationship, tying access to Centrelink payments to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Walker, Lecturer (Management), Victoria University of Wellington We live in a society obsessed with performance. For both young and old, competitions, awards and rankings are an inescapable feature of life. How ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan O’Connell, Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne One-third of all preschools may lack a qualified teacher in the next four years if nothing changes, my new modelling shows. Currently, half of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirsty Volz, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Of all the mantras for modernism, the one I think most befitting for Australian mid-century modern houses is L’esprit Nouveau – The New Spirit. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Skifield snowmaking a sign of the future, vaccination rates fall alarmingly, and construction industry encouraged to lower emissions.Snowmaking has saved the ski industry from disaster this year, after the weather ...
Open mike 27/05/2014 
Open mike is your post.
Much like Tuvalu, the manmade climate change Cult love to tell people the Maldives is almost totally underwater. In fact the dishonest Maldives Govt d on the same bandwagon, believing they would receive billions of dollars aid from other Countries ...2 hours ago
As the entry on Wikipedia shows (and no, one doesn’t necessarily have to regard Wikipedia as the be-all and end-all of truth, because it isn’t on a great many things, to agree with the following): “…a fallacious argument that concludes ...5 hours ago
by Daphna Whitmore The story of how the world awoke to a big injustice is starting to be told. The Pacific Games held this month in Samoa is another chapter. On the podium was Laurel Hubbard, the giant transgender weightlifter, ...12 hours ago
Our conversations and push against specific supremacist and ultra-Nationalist groups, and the pseudo-intellectual underpinnings of them, need to mature at all levels. But in doing so, it’s going to have to include a more thorough and brutally honest self-examination ...1 day ago
This week, in the wake of National's opposition to even talking about reducing agricultural emissions and Simon Bridges' refusal to recognise that there is a climate emergency, I've been saying that National is unfit to govern. And it looks like ...1 day ago
Something I missed: not only did Youth MPs declare a climate emergency; they also launched a campaign to lower the voting age to 16:Youth Parliament week in Parliament has seen the establishment of Make it 16, a campaign to ...1 day ago
I have been reading and listening to the aftermath of Trump’s comments about the four female first term Democratic representatives, all of whom are “people of color.” I found the US coverage interesting both as evidence of partisanship and the ...2 days ago
The proposed Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill treats biogenic methane emissions differently from all other carbon emissions. The latter are to be measured net so that emissions from fossil fuels can be offset by carbon stored in trees. ...3 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This article aims to answer a simple question, whether the conflict is only a rural one or whether it is also urban. The verb ‘to be’ is conjugated in the present tense as ,despite what some ...3 days ago
4 days ago
On Sunday July 7, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announced their intention to review the Ministry of Health’s Funded Family Care policy and repeal Part 4Aof the 2000 NZ Public Health and Disability Act. These are festering injustices ...4 days ago
Belle is a lovely fifteen year-old border collie who belongs to our friends and neighbours at Bryan’s Beach, Michael and Judy Corboy. Belle, in her old age, can hardly see or hear, but – as a constant participant at social ...5 days ago
An occasional series where I will ponder allegations of anti-Semitism directed at the British Labour Party and its members.In this case, we are thinking about an allegedly anti-Semitic image shared by a Labour Party member. Its origins appear to be ...1 week ago
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...3 weeks ago
The People's "Friend": In this masterpiece of revolutionary propaganda, the homicidal political psychopath, Jean-Paul Marat, has been transformed by Jacques-Louis David, the French Revolution's most accomplished artist, into a martyred hero of the ordinary people of Paris. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, ...3 weeks ago
The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than 1% ...3 weeks ago
Image Credit: Blog Writing Tips. I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the ... 3 weeks ago
A new digital platform aims to make it easier for small businesses to access services from multiple government agencies, leaving them more time to focus on their own priorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash ...5 days ago
A new website has launched in response to recent RNZ reporting about Police in Dunedin unlawfully entering people’s homes and breath-testing them. “I was disgusted when I saw what they cops were doing in Dunedin. Their behaviour undermines all of ...11 hours ago
The Government is ramping up policy and research work in the countdown to next year’s referendum on cannabis legalisation. ...3 hours ago
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk New Zealand’s unprecedented “internet-native mass shooting” attack on two mosques, the New Caledonia independence referendum, Fiji’s general election and news media responses are featured in the latest Pacific Journalism Review being published next week. Analysis ...9 hours ago
Aldous Harding is coming back to New Zealand. In the lead-up to her shows, she spoke to The Spinoff about live TV, maturity, and the weirder interpretations of her songs.Aldous Harding is calling from her home in Wales. Only a ...9 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Flannery, Planetary Scientist, Queensland University of Technology This weekend marks 50 years exactly since humans first walked on the Moon. It also marks Australia’s small but significant role in enabling NASA ...13 hours ago
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Aaron Jones, founder of Christchurch-based reusable bag company Zerobag.First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Zerobag.Zerobag is a New Zealand-owned ...14 hours ago
Aaron Kreisler looks beyond the gags in this survey of an artist and his dogs at the Christchurch Art Gallery.“The dog really must love him, it’s so incredibly patient…”, a woman says to her daughter, punctuating a screening of Coin ...17 hours ago
‘He wants to sleep with you,’ a close friend had said. ‘Then you’ll be able to tell if it is going to lead anywhere’: a short story by New Plymouth author Elizabeth Smither. Photography by Peter Black. ...17 hours ago
Opinion - The leadership visits are more interesting in that they serve as a spotlight on the two countries - politically, and on policy issues, writes Brigette Morten. ...18 hours ago
Created by future ACT Party leader Richard Prebble after an epic reform bender in the 80s, NZ on Air has just marked its third decade. Duncan Greive relates its history and asks: is the funder still fit for purpose?It’s a ...19 hours ago
It helps that he played in the New Zealand cricket team when they lost the 1992 semi-final and went on to coach India, writes Georgie Wright, daughter of JohnMy dad has taught me a fair few things over my 25 ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Deep Saini discusses the week in politics with Michelle Grattan – one with a reduced pace, despite the 24 ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cherie Hugo, Teaching Fellow, Nutrition & Dietetics, Bond University The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety this week turned its attention to food and nutrition. The testimony of maggots in ...1 day ago
Jacinda Ardern’s Melbourne trip wrapped up with nothing to show on longstanding trans-Tasman concerns, but was a potent reminder of her international appeal. ...1 day ago
Pricing agricultural emissions first at the processor level - such as Fonterra - rather than right down at farm level stacks up as a gap measure says Catherine Leining. ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Cross, Research Fellow, Curtin University Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter here, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au. Billabongs in the northern Kimberley are welcome ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Gentilin, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University As strange as it might sound, whistleblowers in Australia have reason to rejoice – so long as they are in the private sector. Thanks to new ...1 day ago
The fourth season of Queer Eye drops today on Netflix. Sam Brooks reflects on his difficult relationship with the show, and where it sits in mainstream culture.For depressingly many people, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was an introduction not just to ...1 day ago
The collapse of a multi-billion dollar deal to sell AMP's life insurance division to a British company for $3.6 billion is the fault of the companies, according to the Reserve Bank. ...1 day ago
For the month of July, Josie Adams is taking on the challenge of being low-waste. That means minimising plastics, emissions, and even recyclables. Each week we release her diary. This is week two.Read week one here.I’ll be honest, week two ...1 day ago
By Royson Willie in Port Vila Two Vanuatu Daily Post journalists were literally given a pat-down by the police criminal investigation unit yesterday over a story they had written about the vehicle of the Chairman of the Public Service ...1 day ago
By Gorothy Kenneth in Port Moresby Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape will visit Australia this weekend for a week-long state visit and the Bougainville independence referendum in less than three months is expected to be high on ...1 day ago
Tougher laws governing the movement of animals and harsher penalties for non-compliance are on the table under an overhaul of two key pieces of legislation. ...1 day ago
Wtf did we just watch?That sound you heard was a million furries screaming in ecstasy as their fantasy and everyone else’s nightmare came to life in the form of the first trailer for the live action version of Cats.Is it ...1 day ago
As we mark the fiftieth anniversary the July 20th Moon landing Dr Nick Long reflects on what that's meant for New Zealand and considers the space 'gold rush' ahead. ...2 days ago
My selection of the eight best morning news links from here and overseas, along with eight lunchtime lean-back long reads. Also, the full list of links, including Jacinda Ardern's trip to Australia, the big emissions report, Fonterra's coal move and a new ...2 days ago
John Banks' former lives, vegetable-based insults in Auckland's mayoral race and metaphorical cabbage - James Elliott has it all. ...2 days ago
Heaven is a place on earth, and June is saving the world one ’80s pop hit at a time. Tara Ward recaps season 4, episode 9 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Praise be, for there was a tiny bit of good news ...2 days ago
An ANZ shareholder is demanding the bank disclose more information about the sale of an Auckland residential property to its former chief executive and his family. ...2 days ago
Tara Ward sets out on a valiant quest to find the best apple in Aotearoa. The idea that every apple is a good apple is fake news. We’ve all got stories about shit experiences with apples, when it looked good on ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan O’Connell, Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne One-third of all preschools may lack a qualified teacher in the next four years if nothing changes, my new modelling shows. Currently, half of ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirsty Volz, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Of all the mantras for modernism, the one I think most befitting for Australian mid-century modern houses is L’esprit Nouveau – The New Spirit. ...2 days ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Skifield snowmaking a sign of the future, vaccination rates fall alarmingly, and construction industry encouraged to lower emissions.Snowmaking has saved the ski industry from disaster this year, after the weather ...2 days ago
A former MP and shock jock says Queenstown council’s making excuses in seeking a 35-year approval for sewer overflows. ...2 days ago
Classic Herald headline. “Exports drive trade surplus to $1.2b”
A headline for the illiterate right to crow over.
But then read the full article and the future is nothing like so rosy……
The comments by the Deutsche Bank chief economist are particularly informative.
Funny the Herald didn’t write this headline.”Declining milk prices foreshadow future blowout in deficit.” But then that wouldn’t get Key re-elected, would it?
Here are selected sections that show the deficit is likely to increase again.
“But economists expect the improving trend in the annual trade balance to reverse when the sustained decline in dairy prices in Fonterra’s fortnightly auctions over the past three months is reflected in the value of shipments crossing the wharves.”
“April is usually a surplus month and the latest surplus, equal to 12 per cent of exports, was in line with the average 13 per cent of exports over the previous five April months.”
“On a seasonally adjusted basis dairy exports fell more by volume than by value last month compared with March, implying around a 3 per cent rise in export dairy prices.”
Deutsche Bank chief economist Darren Gibbs expects the 12-month running trade surplus to continue to rise over the next three months and to narrow the current account deficit to about 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product from the 3.4 per cent recorded in December 2013.
“[But] from later this year,” he said, “we would expect to see the deficit expand gradually as the trade data begins to reflect the lower dairy prices that have been seen in February and as import volumes continue to expand.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11262240
I didn’t look at the article, but I did wonder about the headline – what else would most likely drive a trade surplus, other than exports?
Lower import costs. Do you have evidence that volumes or prices have declined in this area?
Well, there is this from Paul’s comment above:
“On a seasonally adjusted basis dairy exports fell more by volume than by value last month compared with March, implying around a 3 per cent rise in export dairy prices.”
Sorry, you meant in imports. My mistake.
are you pleased with the picture painted for the next year or two relating to exports and in particular the large decline in price for milk solids?
They always talk about a great trade surplus but when you factor in the $15B p.a. that foreign owners take out of NZ per year, we end up in a nice fat long term current account deficit.
Of course they won’t put that in a headline.
RNZ Morning Report now captured by the right. Just compare and contrast Espiner’s tone when interviewing Cunliffe today with his demeanour on Monday when chatting with Key.
We pay taxes to support such bias.
This interview was appalling, Espiner was shrieking by the end …
But didn’t David do well!
And yes Guyon’s rule of thumb is “Cuddle John” but “Scratch David’s Eyes out.”
I noticed also that “David Cunliffe is planning to restrict immigration…his party is trailing 20 points behind National” featured on Morning Report as a news item. As if catching up to National was the only reason one might look at immigration levels. As if it was an FPP election.
I like it when it Espiner’s questions are so off the mark his bias shows. Morning Report really has shown Espiner as the crap journalist he is.
The Nation had Colin Craig on this weekend debating Labour’s Sue Moroney.
Why does the media treat him as if he’s a member of parliament? He’s never won a seat. I don’t see members of Teh Libertarianz invited to debates on tv.
What makes Colin special?
His money and the fact he’ll support Key’s corporatocracy.
Multinationals love people like that. As long as they can continue to pillage a country, they’ll probably allow some wacky policies.
I don’t think the media are flattering Craig and giving him air time because they like him. I think they’re giving him air time so he says something stupid on their television show and everyone goes to watch it.
The Herald’s obsession with ACT is the odd one.
There are plenty of idiots who want votes and will say stupid things. I gave Teh Libertarianz as one example.
What makes Colin special?
Colin got 2.65% of the party vote at the last election, Libertarianz got 0.07%.
If you don’t see why that would make Colin someone the media might want to talk to, and whoever it is from the Libertarianz remains in obscurity, then I don’t know what to tell you.
Also according to Wikipedia, Libertarianz was dissolved in February, so another reason why they wouldn’t be interviewed.
Yours is of course a logical assessment but partial IMO as we should not discount as relevant that the PM and his staff had been strategically lifting Colin’s profile in the media by mentioning him and the Conservatives in every conversation about coalition partners.
they seek him out more than those currently in parliament or with higher %.
How do you know?
It seems quite likely to me that other MPs they might approach to talk about a particular subject:
1. Don’t want to, or
2. Don’t have the time
Colin Craig on the other hand will make time to get as much media coverage as possible.
The question is whether the media are going to him first as an interviewee, or if he’s farther down the list (as rightfully befits him).
Oh come on Lanth, how many Nat MPs are there? They’re not all busy at once.
The ACT MP is probably busy but his leader is always happy to provide villiage idiot content.
Then there’s Peter Dunne, then there are three maori Party MPs.
And then we get to unelected non-representatives.
Hi Lanth, yeah I get why they might want to talk to him about why he’d like to be in parliament.
But what I’m seeing over and over again is Colin Craig being placed opposite actual MPs and presented as if he is already an elected representative speaking on behalf of one side of the house.
They even had him debating marriage equality opposite Louisa Wall who sponsored the bill!! They couldn’t find someone who was voting on the bill to oppose it?
Sure, talk to him about his policies, his party list, whatever. But they shouldn’t present him as a representative because as of yet, according to our democratic system, he isn’t representing dick.
And the tv3 poll keeps putting in the Conservatives with seats in their graphic.
They must be assuming a gifted seat. Kind of legitimising or ‘socialising’ the idea.
They really, really should not be doing that.
They give the other minor parties seats on the basis that they retain their seat. Conservatives have no seat to retain.
Paul Henry too seems an ACT and NAT fan. One can discern his overt and covert support to those parties and personalities.
Only “seems”? Henry and Hoskings have got the two networks covered. The only difference between the two is that Hoskings gives his pathetic holier than thou right-wing diatribe in a cult leader-like fashion at the end of the programme while Henry shoots off the same stuff throughout.
Putting one of the blue sock puppets like bridges up against moroney is not what ct want this year. The slimy one struggles on is own, imagine JLR v SM….ouch.
Loony distraction politics from the obediant msm, colon could be the new act as the nats like to blame the more extreme policies like charter schools on someone else.
Who/what is ct and JLR?
Crobsy/Textor and Jamie Lee Ross
National needs him to form a government after the election. John Key’s media friends are looking out for him by promoting his potential coalition partners every chance they get.
Felix, Why pick on Ms Moroney? She weems to be an able and likeable list MP
In looking at the records of the 48th, 49th and 50th elections, It would appear that Sue Moroney has won exactly as many electorate seats as has Colin Craig – namely none at all.
By virtue of the MMP system, she serves Labour in Parliament.
In other words, she’s been voted in whereas Craig hasn’t been at all.
I’m sorry you don’t understand how our democracy works, The Lone Haranguer.
Sue Moroney most certainly won her seat as part of the Labour Party list.
ps is this another reason righties hate MMP so much: that it requires cooperation and collective effort as part of a greater whole?
the mana party/internet party deal is happening..
..woo-hoo..!
..now things will start to get interesting..
Seems to be so Phillip, there will be an announcement from the Mana/internet parties from the Parliament at 11am this morning,
IF this alliance does go ahead i can see at least 3–4% of the party vote going to Mana/Internet, as shown from the initial negotiations, and the publicity surrounding them, both Mana and Internet climbed in support on the following Roy Morgan poll, Mana to 1% and Internet to 1.5%,
This was extremely good news at the time for the Labour/Green parties both of which also went up in that particular poll, showing that Mana/Interent are not necessarily going to ”poach” votes from Labour/Green,
i am ”seeing” this election as being as tight or even tighter than 2011, a Mana/Internet alliance in the Parliament with 3–4% of the Party vote might just provide the perfect foil to Winston’s NZFirst where on the numbers National might not have an outright majority even with NZFirst counted on their side of the House,
Dotcom is said to have cashed up the Internet Party with a 240,000 dollar donation,
The ”ball” i would suggest is now in Labour’s court, do they do whip the rug out from under National by advising its voters in Te Tai Tokerau to split their votes electorate in favor of Hone and Party in favor of Kelvin Davis,
Is 3 more years of Slippery the PM’s National Government really an acceptable price to pay for electoral purity and holding ‘the moral high ground’…
if Matt McCarten is earning his money Labour will give Davis a high list ranking, but my instinct says fortress Labour will rule as in Epsom last time
Fortress Labour won’t have much say this time TM. The moderating committee which finalises the order of candidates is elected from the activist membership. I believe the Leader/Co-Leader and the President/General Secretary are automatically included. There’s a fresh leadership at the top and the old leadership will have little more input than the activist membership.
Having said that, the problem lies with the individual lobby groups (or one-horse-pony groups as I call them) whose primary aim is to get their candidates well placed. In some cases this is laudable, but it does carry the risk that some good people end up languishing too far down the list. That seems to be what happened to Kelvin Davis last time.
Yes Epsom, the ”other” crucial electorate in this years equation, it will be a tragedy of the highest order if both Labour and the Greens approach Epsom this election with any other intent than to have the National Party candidate ”win” there,
Last time round David Parker for Labour and David Hay for the Green’s between them picked up around 8000 electorate votes, Banks won that seat with less than a 2000 vote majority
David Parker and Julie Ann Genter this election will contest the Epsom electorate and if they approach this with the sole intent of installing the National Candidate as the winner the pair of them may well have ”won” the election outright for the ”left”,
Strategy for this election has gone way way past ”the message”, Labour in the Te Tai Tokerau and Waiariki Maori electorate seats hold the keys to the Treasury Benches in their hands,
In Epsom, the Labour/Green candidates hold a second set of keys to those Treasury Benches,
It sounds a little bizarre doesn’t it, BUT, the truth is for Labour, losing Te Tai Tokerau and losing Waiariki along with ensuring National win Epsom will ultimately ensconce Labour firmly on the Treasury Benches,
If David Cunliffe and Matt McCarten cannot see this and convince the Party of this then i for one will be a very unhappy camper for the next trimester…
If political expediency is to be practice of the opposition, then surely it would make more sense to gift an electorate to NZ1st, rather than mess about with a 1% party, who would at best, bring 1 or 2 extra members to the house.
Ha, ha, ha you are funny and a cunning misleading dicky to boot!
Maybe a birthday endorphin rush, but nothing cunning or misleading about it.
Happy Birthday AlIen! 😀
Bless your heart 🙂
Celebrating?
On the peasant’s lifeline? Only on the inside 🙂
Happy birthday, mate! I wish you many more happy returns of the day. Have a good one!
Hopefully your own ‘new year’ will make you happier and wiser, fairer and better. Cheers and God bless!
“Hopefully” 😆
you cant gift to nzf as long as the rule out declaring pre election allegiances. imo.
labour needs to put parker in a different seat. how do ordinary labour voters not vote for their partys deputy leader.i
Sure, that goes without saying, but from a practical point of view, ensuring Winston got a seat takes the possibility of 2008 happening again right out of the result equation.
I wouldn’t ever vote NZ1st, but then I would do as Sue Bradford has and not have anything to do with dotcon either.
Just saying, if gifting seats is to be the done thing, then you have to give wisely. If I were Labour and the Greens I’d have nothing to do with Hone’s dirty money, but then if you really look, it’s only the mana one percenters that see it as a good thing… Them and TV3’s news room that is.
That Kim.Com’s is ‘dirty money’ is debatable.
In any case, what is to say for sure that the money coming from the donors of National and ACT is not ‘dirty money’ too?
Yes that is one hell of a Laugh Out Loud comment Alien, there is a big difference between NZFirst and InternetMana,
It is this,”In the heads of agreement that the two parties have signed that form the rules of the alliance both parties agree NOT to support the National Party”,
Now whats Winston’s position on this again???…
+100 Bad
Well said. MMP calls for such pre-election pragmatic strategies. We are no longer in FPP.
Well said bad. It would be tragic if the opportunity to promote tactical voting in edgy seats was lost, especially if it were through some pretence at adherence to “loyalty and morals”. It would be immoral not to! (see comment on Kohlberg’s theory of moral development on yesterday’s open mike – it’s about the post conventional level of morals: social contract and universal ethics).
Besides, the Nat candidate for Ohariu, limpid ex sales rep, Brett Hudson has been honest, clear and upfront about only seeking the party vote, so game on I reckon.
Yep Rosie, i specifically didn’t mention Ohariu in my comment above, i seriously think the ‘blocks’ of votes from across the 3 Parties Labour/National and Dunne are two big to seriously expect a big enough tactical vote to oust Dunne via a vote for the National candidate,
Labour are still if what David Cunliffe said on RadioNZ National news at 3 is the final word, still mired firmly in last centuries First past the Post system,
Words to the effect that Kelvin Davis will be fully contesting the Te Tai Tokerau electorate and He,(Cunliffe), fully expects Davis to win, along with, ”Labour expects to take back all the Maori electorates,
Go the Dinosaur Party, last centuries electorate tactics have little place in an MMP enviroment…
Agreed, re your scenario.
Disappointing about Cunliffe’s stance though…………….
Sigh.
Bad – have you been picking my brain while I’m sleeping. My thoughts exactly.
Strategy, strategy, strategy! No point in ‘winning the battle’, only to have to concede the war.
Think bold, outside the narrow vision.
Bad 12. I don’t think Parker is standing for Epsom this time. As I understand it, it is Michael Wood who is an up and coming young Labour star. Very intelligent and articulate.
god I hope you are right.
Tah for that Anne, my bad for not keeping abreast with the ‘facts’, i assume after listening to Cunliffe on the radio this afternoon that the Labour candidate will also be ”fully contesting” Epsom for the electorate vote,
Is this Labour strategy: ”wait for things to get so ugly for the masses under National that they have no choice but to vote for Labour”,
Slippery the PM must be laughing fit to bust, The choir boy with high morals versus the Bankster with the mega-bucks campaign fund happily gerrymandering elections,
Not a pretty sight…
So everything seems to be pointing at Shane Jones for the new leader of IP – Now that may be better for National than Labour, and certainly not good for the Greens..
um… even if true how would it impact greens???
“The ”ball” i would suggest is now in Labour’s court, do they do whip the rug out from under National by advising its voters in Te Tai Tokerau to split their votes electorate in favor of Hone and Party in favor of Kelvin Davis,”
Labour is too stupid to do anything as strategic as that. But hey! -that’s just the way Labour rolls!!!
No Labour voters will be voting for Davis and if Hone/Mana hook up with The Internet Party he may well be rolled. Labour may throw Mana a life line by candidate voting Annette Sykes in an attempt to remove Favell.
Minto lost all cred’s by favouring an alliance between the 2 party’s, given TIP founder Kim DotBlob is so pro deregulation. I wonder if their party’s foundation policy will be removing copy right laws?
skinny..if davis gets a good list-placing..harawira can credibly argue that northland can get two mp’s for the price of one..
..and from the position of a mana party member..(who voted for this deal to go thru..)
..i can tell you that you cannot overestimate the degree of respect with which minto is afforded by mana party members..so you are wrong there..
..and..having taken part in one of those meetings that decided for this to go ahead..
..i can report that many who i saw initially opposed to this deal..
..are now able to see how this could well get us more mp’s into parliament..
..and that we should roll with it..
..which is why the voting was overwhelmingly in support of this alliance-lite deal going thru..
..this grouping of poverty/surveillance-smashing parties is the politics of the future..
..and the mood for change is here/upon us..
..both national and labour are what came before..
..and the greens seem stuck in a limbo between the two..
..and as for what support will this new grouping get on election day..?
..well..because a recent poll had the mix on 2.5%..(before any official announcement..)
..i don’t see it as unrealistic-expectation for a well-run/funded/innovative election-campaign/advertising..
..to add 4-5% to that total..
..in fact..i think i am being comservative..
..there is one historical fact not to forget..
..bob jones with his party..captured/rode the public appetite for change..
..and got 22% of the popular-vote..
..if this new grouping is clever enough in marketing their new brand/model of politics..
..and can catch that current mood for change..
..both labour and the greens should be very very nervous..
phillip, it’s good to hear the view of a Mana member on this alliance and that the vote of the membership for the alliance was largely in favour – a good sign, I think.
I’m over my initial sense of weirdness and apprehension at the prospect of of such an alliance and now see it as something fresh and hopeful. Modern stylez eh? To reflect a modern voter base. Onya’s.
cunliffe ruled out effectively having kelvin just contest party vote.
Labour still live in an FPP world.
Interesting like the Chinese curse. I think this is the beginning of the end for Mana as a worthwhile movement. There may be some temporary electoral success, but the contradiction between Maori workers and libertarian net nerds, half of whom think Hone is racist, will tear things apart.
and in weather/poverty news..like many others in my position..
..in new zealand..after 30 yrs of neo-lib/randite ‘evil’ dismantling of the welfare state…from both national and labour..
(..and despite never having had my power disconnected for non-payment..being forced onto by supplier .. that rip-off-of-the-poor pre-paid electricity..(they make so much more profit from that..eh..?..
..and when the money runs out..?..pop..!..instant disconnection/darkness..)
..there is no way i can afford to run a heater..
..so i have to layer-up..
..and on this chilly morn..it’s thermal long-johns/thick tracks/thick socks on below..
..and t-shirt/thermal long-sleeved top/ thermal hoodie/thermal waistcoat/over-jacket..
..(i look like the fucken michelin-man..)
..and mittens with fingers cut out..(so i can type..)
..and a duvet wrapped around my legs..
..and i am one of the lucky ones..
..after several years of this..
..i am prepared..i have those layers to put on..
..and i get pretty angry when i think about all those others in my position unable to warm themselves..
..and those sleeping rough..(in this oh so rich country..)
..and those residents in christchurch..
..in their still..after all this time..broken/unrepaired homes..
..freezing their arses off..
..and i get even fucken angrier..
welcome to the brighter future phil.
Whereabouts in nz are you living?
that’s what i mean..!..i am in sub-tropical ak..!
..and the many poor in nz don’t only live in these (usually) benevolent climes..
..so it’s no ‘poor-me!’..
..’it’s more ‘poor them!’
..and then those sleeping-rough..who..funny story..!.. both the current mayors of wellington and ak promised to ‘help’/house ..at one time..when campaigning..
..and who since being elected..have both done sweet fuck all for..
..as i say..’in this oh so rich country’..
..thank you labour…thank you national..
.for what 30 yrs of yr mis-rule has wrought..
..and good luck there labour..!
..with yr reaching out to the disposessed non-voters..
..with yr middle-class fretting about ‘affordable-homes’..
..eh..?
..and about ending that institutional/grinding-poverty..?
..that is the reality/day-to-day life of ‘the poor’..?
..like before…you are offering sweet-fuck-all..
..eh..?
Well said Phil.
I hear you brother Phil, all be it sitting here feeling sorry for myself having taken a sickie suffering from man flu. However lucky for me I’m in the warm comfort of my lounge with my Kent fire blazing away. In the corner of my eye I see one of my lizards under his heat lamp adding to the coffers of the rich pricks who robbed us of our power assets.
Even the charity stores put close to market rates on quality woolen clothing. Just goes to show the tentacles of the market have no boundaries in our capitalistic land of milk & honey!
don’t get me started on charity shops that start getting ideas above their station/role in life…
..and start to charge accordingly..
when did second hand become “vintage”…..
when it meant the price goes up
about the same time the “personnel dept” (actual people !) became the “human resources” (to be exploited) dept ?
I know all about prices rising in op shop.. It is the trend in the op shop I have been involved in. The workers are nearly all superannuitants and of course get a nice fortnightly cheque, not enough in some cases but definitely there without argy bargy. Their heads are all filled with memories of growing up in a different NZ. The news that people have had no wage rises or ones under the measured cpi inflation does not register, if they know someone who is hard up it can seem an individual difficulty. And the prices go up as if it was the old days with inflation bouncing along. If the garment has a clothing industry ‘label’ on it then they charge an extra $1 or $2 for it, and the condition may not even be good. But the talk goes, I think we can get more for this, when it is ordinary clothes needed for everyday. Just like a second hand charity shop. Which is not what I call true charity.
Interestingly mrs banks testimony mirrored her husbands, exactly. No one calling it a fit up? Interesting comments she made about the “type” of people the dotcoms were and how they wouldnt give banks money. Of course they did, more than anyone else apparently, so she is not a great judge of people it seems.
More interestingly was the former mp who gave evidence about how honest banks is. Seems ok til you recall
He resigned as deputy speaker after illegally parking by aschool pedestrian crossing and trying to get the police commissioner to revoke the fine. So, his yardstick for integrity aint very high. Ian revell.
Banks problem remains sky city.
“..Banks problem remains sky city..”
aye..!..the sky city evidence is far more precise/clinical/damming than the dotcom stuff..
..and just removes any uncertainties around the dotcom stuff..(not that there is much to be ‘uncertain’ about..)
i am still not clear if by not reading it before he signed it he LEGALLY cant have signed KNOWING it was false.
The thing is, as i understand it, signing the form as being true and correct without reading it isnt the offence. It should be, cos otherwise the declaration is meaningless. I hope i am wrong, i truly do.
Yes it all hangs on that Tracey – I think. But if I sign any legal document (and now an email?) I am held to that. It cannot be that I cannot renege on a deal simply because I didn’t read the small print. Loan Sharks get great returns from such signage.
May be they should play this in the court to clear things up all round.
yea but loan sharks have a contract. I am definitely agreeing signing a declaration that something is true and correct should matter. banks is heaping alot onto the guy who filled out the form but he could never know what banks received anonymously outside his presence if banks didnt tell him. I think that guy is being unfairly tainted by banks behaviour.
not to bust to solicit money from all and sundry like a desperate whore but too busy to comply with responsibilities… thats mr banks.
online stuff and herald act as tho a senior politician is not on trial for electoral fraud… cf with brown coverage.
Yes Tracey, not having researched the question might have me commenting from a position of ”i thunk it therefore”, but, i have to assume that an electoral return of finances is an actual Statuary Declaration and as such those who sign such are legally responsible for what it contains no matter who filled it out or if those who sign such actually read its contents,
Perhaps in the fine print of the Law, those who wrote it, politicians, gave themselves a little ”out” for just such ocassions…
Banks might have been able to confuse a jury to the the extent they’d swallow his “I obeyed the letter of the law” defence but I hope the judge won’t be so lenient. It’s clear what Parliament’s intent is, unless you take the view that Parliament is a deeply cynical establishment. You or I might very well think that. The court will not.
The difference is that the issue Banks is facing is a criminal one so even if he signed it off as true and correct the offence still may not have been committed. This is as opposed to, for example, if the matter were a contractual one where signing something is generally binding, subject of course to specific exceptions/protections.
the wording of the charge is crucial he has to have known it was not true and correct. his defence is by signing it without reading he never knew. couldnt know.
hes called all his character witnesses. all swear on his abhorrence of deceit. yet he was ed of hujlich… took fees and didnt ask any questions… had a deal with key but didnt think the electorate should know what they said…. watched key mislead parliament… took dotcoms hong kong gift and upgrade…
and with ian revell as a character referee… dame jenny gibbs… restauranteur wife of ” tony”… you wonder what passes for integrity in some circles…
and lets not forget that honest john signed someghing as true and correct, he says, without reading it… = honest? integrity?
hell in a handbasket peolle
“the wording of the charge is crucial he has to have known it was not true and correct. his defence is by signing it without reading he never knew. couldnt know.”
Yes, precisely, but I can’t see a judge taking too kindly to statements from “character witnesses” as evidence in a criminal trial too well. If the defence feels it has to stoop to doing that my guess is that it knows it’s stuffed. Having said that, this is New Zealand where everyone knows everyone including the judiciary which means anything can happen.
xox
Hilarious,on The panel, Jim Mora and Boag calls him out for talking ‘rubbish’! Three times in quick succession. Jim was forced to back down and had no chance against the National juggernaut. And Brian Edwards, deferred to the dragons flaming. Really funny. The power of the woman. Mora and Edwards had no chance. The program needs some balance if it’s not to become a joke.
Brian Edwards is not left wing enough for you then?
Brian Edwards Gosman, in my opinion is not a leader, He is a follower, and, as such, has followed Labour as it departed its left wing roots into neo-liberalism and from there into the confining electoral space of chasing a small flake (5%), of the middle class vote which has been the election battleground for far too long now,
As Labour have increasingly pandered to this over-coat changing slice of the middle class it has provided less and less for those further down the income scale,
My belief is that Labour is still very much stuck in that space fighting for that small flake of the middle class vote and until it can snap out of this will continue to bleed the support of the low waged/low income demographic that was its traditional support base…
Brian Edwards is left wing? When did that happen?
how many left wing panelists on the panel or kathryn ryan have shouted down the host or the other commentator…
@ felix..
..no no..it’s ‘left winging’…
..(i think it must have been a typo…the ‘ing’ being left off..)
..edwards winges about the concerns of herne bay residents..
..(oh how they suffer..!..the poor-darlings..!..)
..and the trials/travails of/from buying/selling multi-million dollar houses..
..these are the concerns/politics of ‘left wing'(ing) edwards..
It’s an illusion created only when he’s on The Panel with Michelle Boag.
Solution…turn it off and listen to some music.
Much better for the blood pressure….
“The power of the woman.”
No, just a rude and arrogant and in my view ill-informed mouthpiece the lazy media go to for a talking head.
what about you then gooseman?
Nanaia Mahuta quoted on RadioNZ National this morning, ”Maori home ownership is down to 22%”,
Right Nanaia, that is the problem, where is the proposed solution from Labour???,
i would suggest that in the other Labour heartland, the Pacifica-belt of South Auckland the figures for Pacifica peoples home ownership is even more dire than 22%,
And herein lies Labour’s big ”Problem”, cannot Labour see that among its South Auckland vote the building of 10,000 ”affordable homes” goes down like a lead brick,
Its Pacifica vote, mostly low waged, the first to be fired and the last to be hired will never be able to ”afford” one of these 10,000 homes,(unless Labour adopts the Green party variable mortgage payment policy),
This is the same for Labour’s Maori heartland, an ”affordable home” in the provinces is obviously going to be less costly than one in Auckland but a bank mortgage will never address the issues of Maori employment where as like the Pacifica people Maori are the first to be fired and the last to be hired when the financial poo becomes entangled in the ventilation system,
The 10,000 affordable homes policy, no matter what it actually is, is perceived in the wider electorate as homes for the middle class, Labour need to come up with additional policy that directly addresses that perception,
And fast…
reactive not proactive…
thats why
look elsewhere for ideas to address real problems by people who bother to get shoulder to shoulder with real life in nz for so many
“Labour need to come up with additional policy that directly addresses that perception,”
I agree with that. Kiwis in general are still a pretty egalitarian bunch but the middle class voter won’t give up their own lifestyle for the poor. Labour look to have decided they can’t win votes if they lower property values so their solution to the housing problem is raising incomes. On paper it sounds ok but we’ve been there, done that. It hasn’t worked yet & people are getting a bit jaded with the same old. What we really need is some creative thinking; do something different that people can get excited about.
There’s plenty of options, it’s not as if the problem is insurmountable. They could capitalise accommodation supplements into a large deposit for a home, presently that annual $1.2 billion plus supplement is just pissed against the wall for no economic return. At existing Govt borrowing rates $100 per week pays the interest on a $130,000 loan. The Govt could retain title to the section or strata title until the loan is paid back.
Another option is for the Govt to create a new housing market for low income earners. The state buys the land, leases it at peppercorn rates to the home buyer who builds their own dwelling. The lease itself should act as the security for the loan to build the dwelling.
It’s only the price of land that makes houses unaffordable, and only the inability to come up with a deposit that stops those who can afford a mortgage. So remove land from the equation and use it as the deposit. It’s not rocket science.
joe90 put this comment up yesterday, with a link to the NY Times, in which the term “hedge cities” is suggested for cities in which the international rich park their money.
The author of the linked article suggests charging these people “parking fees,” but this doesn’t offer a solution as to where the locals are to live, or how they might attain housing security. The whole business looks like a basis for huge tension between people who need houses as dwellings and people who see them as poker chips in an international casino. And huge problems for governments who do not want to bring down their economies, but who do need to ensure that people are housed. Not only that, it has such potential to suck the life out of an economy that those with property really do become dependent on its putative “value”, and not just bewitched by the numbers.
Charge overseas speculators an extra 50% of the property value, then invest this “parking fee” in building social housing!
Yes, it could also be a way of getting some of the funds needed to rebuild the local economy. But I do have an aversion to the term “social housing” – it suggests that a house is a poker chip first and a dwelling second.
Creative but a waste of time. Just have the government build enough state houses that come with a lifetime lease. People get affordable living and get to be part of the community.
Bad 12
I suggest if you want policy results from Nanaia Mahuta take a pad and pen on any given Friday to a certain Hamilton yum cha restaurant. I kid you not every time my side kick and me treated ourselves low and behold who is in the house lol.
Lolz Skinny, if i still had my house-truck i might just take you up on that, but alas, i am earth bound in Wellington at the moment,
Do i detect a small modicum of criticism of Nanaia in your comment Lol, can’t be right, you being there as many times as She,
Yeah the point of my comment about what Nanaia was saying on radio this morning was in the vein of ”She had the airtime to point out the low rate of Maori home ownership,(abysmal at 22%), but She didn’t have the policy to announce about what Labour intend to do about this”,
As i point out above, Maori like everybody else need ’employment prospects’ that will ladst 40 odd years to be able to sign up to ‘Kiwibuild’, increasingly rotational employment would suggest that that aint going to happen…
Will the opposition try to skewer key in the House today on his blatant lies about how Fletcher was appointed?
If they do the speaker will probably eject them…or allow Key not to answer the question.
the future queen of england goes commando..(pic..)
..whoar..!..who knew..?
http://www.bild.de/unterhaltung/leute/catherine-mountbatten-windsor/und-kim-kardashian-schoene-kehrseiten-36136770.bild.html
The description is in German : Luckily, I was able to read the translation using this:
https://translate.google.com/#auto/en/
Easily the best of the three!
Just reading today’s The Spectator LabourList which can be read here LabourList which says some things that are applicable to NZ Labour in my opinion
Some key points:
Understand what makes people vote UKIP This means, in part, understanding concerns about Europe and immigration
Be positive: The way to win over those who believe that all politicians are the same is not to run a negative campaign attacking politicians
Door knocking is important – but it doesn’t win seats on its own
Listening to the polls that matter
All these items have relevance to NZ situation so read article and comment.
Oh dear……
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11262561
Oh dear….
Did you read beyond the headline lumpy?
Mr Keenan is a NZ citizen, not an overseas speculator!
So are many of the Chinese house buyers Labour are complaining about. but he is also a Cunliffe donor…..
“So are many of the Chinese house buyers Labour are complaining about”
You need to pay attention. It’s overseas “investors” Labour are talking about, these people aren’t NZ citizens.
OK, fair enough – but he’s a “rich prick” working for the Boston Consulting Group – and a campaign donor for Cunliffe.
Yeah he donated money towards Cunliffes leadership campaign..
Maybe one day when you ditch the grumpy persona you may gain a friend or two, and then you may learn what friendship is about.
which is utterly irrelevant and is just you desperately hanging onto your attempted slur even though its fallen over
that is one sad/shallow beat-up…
(tho..i do think..that like with raising the pension-age..
..that labour are on the wrong foot with immigration..
..and them becoming winston-peters-lite on the subject..
..is actually quite unedifying to watch..
..(and the anti-asian thread running thru it..doesn’t help that ew!-perception..)
..and i know that most i vote with wouldn’t agree with me on this..
..but i can’t get past the fact that the japanese know of/call nz ‘the empty islands’..
..we are so far from being over-populated..(and with our seriously under-populated/stagnating provincial-centres…)
..it is ridiculous to make any claims that ‘we have no room’..(go and drive around this country..see how ’empty’ it really is..)
..i put that together with our miserable/shaming levels of refugee-acceptance..(750 a year..?..)
..(and we often don’t even make that quota..!..)
..and all of that leads me to a desire to seriously upgrade the numbers of refugees we offer new homes/lives to..
..and to relax our immigration-hurdles to a serious degree..
..(and this can be done in conjunction with stopping bus-loads of australian ‘investors’..
..cruising around auckland..and buying a brace of homes each..)
..and as for immigrants ‘changing’ our lives..i feel they change our lives for the better..
..auckland has only become an interesting city by the threading of asian/p.i/dutch/dalmatian/immigrant-cultures..
..with the white/working-class english/scots/irish/welsh immigration that prevailed ..
..up until the dutch started arriving..
..as the first wave of change..
..(and of course..at that time maori/maori-culture was mainly rural..
..so those working class celts/english pretty much had it to themselves..)
..who would want to go back to that..?..(shudder..!..)
..and further multi-cultural/nationalities/immigrant populations will only add to the richness/wealth of the new zealand culture/life..
thats bullshit grumpy.
why dont you speak for yourself?
stop peddling that crap from the flacks at the auckland rag.
Looks pretty suss to me (and NZ Herald). Cunliffe “helps out” a major overseas based donor while ranting about overseas buyers pushing up housing prices. Imagine if John Key had done that!
A NZer living overseas wants to buy a house in his own country and you think it looks “suss”.
You must be livid with the corrupt practices of Judith Collins then.
Can you quote the passage that shows the NZ Herald find it “suss”…..please….
serious question grumpy – in what capacity did cunliffe help his friend and what did he do?
if youve got a claim that cunliffe used his position as an MP to help with the purchase, and/or the rules were broken re: real estate sales, then lets hear it – because thats the only complaint that could be made
It’s just arrived and I haven’t read it yet, but here is Memorandum of Understanding twixt Mana and Internet Party .. here we go !
https://internet.org.nz/news/31
Memorandum of Understanding wow!
hope it’s not too far over your head grumpy … try really hard on this cold and frosty morning … maybe a wee nip of stone’s ginger wine would warm you up?
So we have the Heads of Agreement coming soon then……..
Don’t wait up for the Statement of Intent.
Missing Rogue Trooper these days.
So anyway, this is for others enjoying a delicious, sunny, indolent snow day.
Nick Cave “Fifteen Feet of pure white Snow” Enjoy.
+1 on both points (except for the snow bit).
David Cunliffe asking questions in the House again that don’t demand an answer and Carter again giving Key free rein to say what he wants. Meanwhile, Metiria Turei asking proper questions Key is forced to answer properly, whether correctly or not but putting him on record in relation to real issues. When will Cunliffe learn how to use the questions for oral answer properly? So dumb.
it wont happen but for the left to get true representation in nz greens need more vote than labour. labour acts like a party of entitlement. they behave like its fpp… cosying up to nzf and not conceding some seats.
seemingly to labour if they cant be dominant they are happy to inflict another 3 years of national on the nation.
Good afternoon Mods, every comment of mine made this arvo has gone into moderation, is there a specific reason???,
If a comment today has been in any way offensive can i have a hint which one???…
[It is your name. Correct it and all should be fine – MS]
Lolz, thanks MS, i win the dumby of the day award, my stubby fat little fingers weren’t made for typing and i managed to hit the s at the same time i hit the d..
Ah, that explains it! I was wondering why you were leaving out the ‘tar’ before the d!
Ah, your comment explains why i have never had to wonder why you lack any skin on your knuckles…
The 1% support the banks’ heist of the economy in 2008 and think they saved the world
Well, that was worth knowing, NZ Herald.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11262214
For those who haven’t already seen it, there’s a re-run of The Shock Doctrine coming up on Maori TV at 8.30pm tonight.
This is what happens when you privatise public resources…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11262808
http://www.watercare.co.nz/about-watercare/about-watercare/Pages/default.aspx
Now, if you’d said that’s what happens when the service needs to make a profit you’d probably have been more correct.