have tried to send emails but nothing seems to occur when send is pressed.
“I have an Android issue. I have a Samsung Galxy Ace.
When viewing The Standard, the page runs fine.
The problem is i cannot post comments.
I enter my name, press next, my email, press next and it goes to the website entry box.
I have no site info to enter but pressing next does not progress to comment/text entry box, hence i cannot go any further.
Is there a way to bypass the website box that I am unaware of?
thankyou in advance for any assistance you can offer
kind regards
freedom
Peter Blake’s son James I think is undertaking a big row to raise money for an artificial reef near Indonesia. This is such a great idea as climate change adversely affects coral reefs which are important maybe vital part of nurturing and protecting sea life. Some people are already acting by planting coral each day, like in coral gardens, and this will spread the reef area and renew. Really important. If you can afford some pennies please think of a donation as this week’s positive action for the planet. http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon
Tue27/9 09:35
James Blake
Sir Peter Blake’s son James Blake explains why he’s planning to row across the Tasman to try raise funds to build the world’s biggest artificial reef. (9′51″)
Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3 | Embed
Interesting tale on Facebooks devious policies on Radionz this morning – see link above. Be-ware, they say that everything you do is being passed on and privacy settings you’ve put in place are realigned to default each time they put in a new policy, or I think that’s what they said. I’m no expert. I do know that I tried to cancel my Facebook arrangement and was asked so many intrusive questions that I didn’t fill out the whole form so apparently invalidated my withdrawal and am still welcomed into the sweet and friendly Facebook family. And this morning’s interviewer said it doesn’t matter anyway they keep the settings and keep checking on what you do. Talk about BIG Brother!
Also in this morning’s radionz news –
NZ bid for Commonwealth Games now likely
The New Zealand Olympic Committee says mounting a bid for a future Commonwealth Games is now more likely to happen. The next possible year is 2022.
We can’t afford to make forward-looking responsible social and environmental moves but there’before the Rugby World Cup is over there is talk about circuses and junkets for the elite and Discretionaries (those with spare money) while the bread part isn’t ensured to go with the circuses.
And in Oz those hopeful young NZs who went to Australia and worked for a better life are now beginning to feel the cold and callous side of OZ that wiped all social welfare benefits to us whether we had worked there, no matter how long, and only if we were granted residency which would be refused as we do, if there were health problems etc., when Helen Clark was in, with hardly a peep from her. They didn’t tighten access to benefits – they wiped them altogether.
One family talked this morning – they’re son was born in Oz and because of medical misadventure is brain damaged and required ongoing care for which they receive nothing from the authorities there although they have worked there for some years I think. Presumably they can sue the hospital. Young Kiwi women are turning to prostitution to survive, and degradation of living conditions causes 40 phone calls daily to a Queensland help line. They can be stranded in Oz by pride, as in the biblical Prodigal Son, or because of lack of money in their extended family to bring them home. There was a song from way back by Gene Pitney with the final line – “And I can never, never, go home again.” This is sad – we should start a compassionate fund for NZ refugees in Australia, that lucky country.
@ Joe Bloggs – Is that Sir Peter Leitch the mad butcher who used his interview on radionz to make an open play of affirmation for John Key, that lovely guy, the man everybody would invite to dinner, especially if he brought the wine to go with the rib-eye steak. For those who can afford it!
Actually many of us are concerned to get a Prime Minister who shows continuing concern and responsibility for advancing the welfare of all NZs socially and through business and employment opportunities and makes achievable promises, not feelgood kissing of cheeks, and showing off his dental work.
What’s the problem here? If Rodney Hide said “I won’t shop at X because Y supports Labour” no one would blink an eye. Personally, I’m with Darien – Mad Butcher isn’t getting my money now. Neither is Car-fe. Free choice. Isn’t that what Slater and his lot get chubbies over?
Oh JB you’re such a funny troll….class traitor tactics, that’s f’n hilarious but then if slater’s your dictionary reference fair play doing a limbo dance under that bar.
Leitch is the typical working class made good who now wants to pull the ladder up by supporting the policies and folk who do this best.
Low wages/rights/employer friendly rules and most of his shops are the meat equivalient of low rent liquor outlets by the poor quality of product and who they target…..seen any in upmarket suburbs ?
Shop at your local butcher, they need it and you’ll get what you pay for….quality and service.
as for that tosser Ridge…wash your own car.
I’m referring to Sir Peter Leitch – you might know of him – he’s a working class man with no pretensions who has given away vast sums of money and more of his time to help those who are worse off .You might have heard of his serial fundraising and the work that he’s done for Christchurch folk
Perhaps you may have heard of the Mad Butcher Suburban Newspapers Community Trust which has raised almost $1.5 million for charity. Or the Butch who supported Helen Clark when she was PM…
…here’s a suggestion – instead of calling for a boycott of Mad Butcher shops simply because Butch dares to dabble with the Dark Side, try earning his support back. Now there’s a novelty.
Meanwhile I’m off to the local Mad Butcher for a dozen sausages, and a bit of brisket for the pooch.
Those of us who are not reliant on mainstream media for our information would have felt saddened by recent events in Savannah, Georgia. In fact some of us have felt quietly outraged at the execution of Troy Davis on September 21, 2011…
Have a read of the post Chris, and then tell me the MSM reported half of that information? I found out that he was going to be executed and there were protesters, but there was hardly any reporting in NZ by the MSM about the extent of injustice… But what else is new?
K Fair enough Chris, I’ve edited the post to more accurately define what I was meaning. You might like to also read the Wikipedia article on Troy Davis as well.
Interesting blog from the Torygraph’s US correspondent Toby Harnden. As Harnden points out, Davis was an unusual case for anti-death penalty campaigners to support, because he was almost certainly guilty of the murder plus two other violent assaults in the minutes before he shot the off duty cop. He certainly wasn’t an innocent man, in any sense of the phrase.
I have to say here, that I am opposed to the death penalty even if the person being executed (murdered) is guilty! Otherwise, if campaigners only oppose the killing of the innocent, whilst they should of course do so, it takes away from the point of opposing capital punishment – which is that human beings, being so flawed, have no right at all to decide who gets killed…
Clare Curran has been getting a fair bit of grief from David Farrar and Cameron Slater lately. What these right wing sycophants seem to ignore is that she’s a very switched on political commentator, and indispensable within the New Zealand blogosphere…
Phil Goff has an interesting question No 2, set down for today: Hon PHIL GOFF to the Attorney-General: Does he agree with the Prime Minister’s statement that “there are at least 40 trials and 50 investigations where those investigations currently – the video surveillance equipment’s been turned off and yeah I don’t think – that will harm those trials in my view”, and in how many of those cases does the prosecution rely on evidence from warrantless filming from private property without the owner’s consent?
FFS. The man has no idea at all.
He’s just treading water getting kicks out of standing beside ABs and txting heads of state – I wonder if he’s on the block list of Obama’s blackberry?
In a speech given on law and order held in Auckland last weekend, Don Brash came out in support of decriminalizing marijuana. It seems strange that he’s promoting decriminalization… and it appears to me that his controversial statements are designed to gain media attention…
Do I understand that under the now non existance Surveillance Bill taxi drivers are not allowed to use their new systems because the law as it stands forbids same without a specific judges agreement ?
Doesn’t sound right to me – the cameras are a safety/security issue and are there with the consent of the drivers (if the passengers don’t see the warning signs), so fall under one of the exemptions to the surreptitious filming legislation.
If the police broke into the vehicle one night and placed their own sneaky cameras, the’d not be able to use the footage as evidence in trivial caes. But they could use the taxi company footage quite easily.
As an aside, I was pretty pissed when I noticed the “privacy policy” for the camera footage in my last taxi trip – along the lines of “camera images are only permitted to be viewed by authorised persons”. No information as to who are authorised, character tests, restrictions on being able to copy files (lest a Queenstown bouncer has access to the archive), or expiry protocols. I’m just glad I don’t habitually wear short skirts and sit in the middle seat.
Absolutely not. In fact you can have covert surveillance pretty well anywhere unless you have to trespass on the person’s property to set the camera up. You can even have it on a tree in a park outside as long as it is not too obtrusive.
We’re twenty years in to this world wide web thing. Today, I myself celebrate twelve years of writing this blog. And yet those of us who love this medium, who’ve had our lives changed by the possibility of publishing our words to the world without having to ask permission, are constantly charged with defending this wonderful, expressive medium in a way that creators in every other discipline seldom find themselves obligated to do.
Some of this is because the medium is new, of course. But in large part, it’s because so many of the most visible, prominent, and popular places on the web are full of unkindness and hateful behavior.
The examples are already part of pop culture mythology: We can post a harmless video of a child’s birthday party and be treated to profoundly racist non-sequiturs in the comments. We can read about a minor local traffic accident on a newspaper’s website and see vicious personal attacks on the parties involved. A popular blog can write about harmless topics like real estate, restaurants or sports and see dozens of vitriolic, hate-filled spewings within just a few hours.
But that’s just the web, right? Shouldn’t we just keep shrugging our shoulders and shaking our heads and being disappointed in how terrible our fellow humans are?
Granny just can’t help herself can she ‘ readers leap to PM’s defense over coalmine joke’ should read ‘we think the sun shines out of JK’s arse and here’s some one sided ‘opinions’ to back it up’…..RIP journalism.
Sideshow showing how unfit for the role he is again isn’t news granny.
They didn’t detect DNA damage, what they found were changes in gene expression, which has a whole range of mechanisms other than DNA damage…
And it’s spelled out in the bloody abstract, which if DNA damage was involved, you’d think it’d be mentioned, being a summary of the findings and all that:
The biological consequences of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are
unknown, especially for resident organisms. Here, we report
results from a field study tracking the effects of contaminating
oil across space and time in resident killifish during the first 4
mo of the spill event. Remote sensing and analytical chemistry
identified exposures, which were linked to effects in fish characterized
by genome expression and associated gill immunohistochemistry,
despite very low concentrations of hydrocarbons
remaining in water and tissues. Divergence in genome expression
coincides with contaminating oil and is consistent with genome
responses that are predictive of exposure to hydrocarbon-like
chemicals and indicative of physiological and reproductive impairment.
Oil-contaminated waters are also associated with aberrant
protein expression in gill tissues of larval and adult fish. These data
suggest that heavily weathered crude oil from the spill imparts
significant biological impacts in sensitive Louisiana marshes, some
of which remain for over 2 mo following initial exposures.
So learn 2 science pleez, and check wikipedia/google if you don’t understand something, instead of doing what teh deniers do and post truth claims without reading/understanding teh research.
On Radio NZ tonight they were on about Elizabeth Warren, a US law professor who is standing for senate; the person discussing this suggested the words of her speech as a way of shutting up dicks like farrar.
I am going to try an experiment soon; I am going to attempt a strategy on someone, a parasite on this forum. I did this once before on another site and it really caused the vermine to be frightened away.
Workers Now is a new slate of candidates contesting this year’s general election. James Robb and Don Franks are the people behind this initiative and they are hoping to put the spotlight on working people’s interests. Both are seasoned activists who have campaigned for workers’ rights over many decades. Here is ...
Buzz from the Beehive Politicians keen to curry favour with Māori tribal leaders have headed north for Waitangi weekend. More than a few million dollars of public funding are headed north, too. Not all of this money is being trumpeted on the Beehive website, the Government’s official website. ...
Insurers face claims of over $500 million for cars, homes and property damaged in the floods. They are already putting up premiums and pulling insurance from properties deemed at high risk of flooding. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: This week in the podcast of our weekly hoon webinar for paying subscribers, ...
Our Cranky Uncle Game can already be played in eight languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. About 15 more languages are in the works at various stages of completion or have been offered to be done. To kick off the new year, we checked with how ...
The (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding.Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It refers to ‘government’ on ...
It’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump on this link for our chat about the week’s news with special guests Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick and Auckland City Councillor Julie Fairey, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which ...
In March last year, in a panic over rising petrol prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government made a poor decision, "temporarily" cutting fuel excise tax by 25 cents a litre. Of course, it turned out not to be temporary at all, having been extended in May, July, ...
This month’s open thread for climate related topics. Please be constructive, polite, and succinct. The post Unforced variations: Feb 2023 first appeared on RealClimate. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two fresh press releases had been posted when we checked the Beehive website at noon, both of them posted yesterday. In one statement, in the runup to Waitangi Day, Maori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis drew attention to happenings on a Northland battle site in 1845. ...
It’s that time of the week again when I’m on the site for an hour for a chat in an Ask Me Anything with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump in for a chat on anything, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which are set to cost insurers and the Government well over ...
Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers (left) has published a 6,000 word manifesto called ‘Capitalism after the Crises’ arguing for ‘values-based capitalism’. Yet here in NZ we hear the same stale old rhetoric unchanged from the 1990s and early 2000s. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The rest of the world is talking about inflation ...
A couple of weeks ago, after NCEA results came out, my son’s enrolment at Auckland Uni for this year was confirmed - he is doing a BSc majoring in Statistics. Well that is the plan now, who knows what will take his interest once he starts.I spent a bit of ...
Kia ora. What a week! We hope you’ve all come through last weekend’s extreme weather event relatively dry and safe. Header image: stormwater ponds at Hobsonville Point. Image via Twitter. The week in Greater Auckland There’s been a storm of information and debate since the worst of the flooding ...
Hi,At 4.43pm yesterday it arrived — a cease and desist letter from the guy I mentioned in my last newsletter. I’d written an article about “WEWE”, a global multi-level marketing scam making in-roads into New Zealand. MLMs are terrible for many of the same reasons megachurches are terrible, and I ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic ...
Open access notables Via PNAS, Ceylan, Anderson & Wood present a paper squarely in the center of the Skeptical Science wheelhouse: Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased. The signficance statement is obvious catnip: Misinformation is a worldwide concern carrying socioeconomic and political consequences. What drives ...
Mark White from the Left free speech organisation Plebity looks at the disturbing trend of ‘book burning’ on US campuses In the abstract, people mostly agree that book banning is a bad thing. The Nazis did us the favor of being very clear about it and literally burning books, but ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has undergone a stern baptisim of fire in his first week in his new job, but it doesn’t get any easier. Next week, he has a vital meeting in Canberra with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, where he has to establish ...
As PM Chris Hipkins says, it’s a “no brainer” to extend the fuel tax cut, half price public subsidy and the cut to the road user levy until mid-year. A no braoner if the prime purpose is to ease the burden on people struggling to cope with the cost of ...
Buzz from the Beehive Cost-of-living pressures loomed large in Beehive announcements over the past 24 hours. The PM was obviously keen to announce further measures to keep those costs in check and demonstrate he means business when he talks of focusing his government on bread-and-butter issues. His statement was headed ...
Poor Mike Hosking. He has revealed himself in his most recent diatribe to be one of those public figures who is defined, not by who he is, but by who he isn’t, or at least not by what he is for, but by what he is against. Jacinda’s departure has ...
New Zealand is the second least corrupt country on earth according to the latest Corruption Perception Index published yesterday by Transparency International. But how much does this reflect reality? The problem with being continually feted for world-leading political integrity – which the Beehive and government departments love to boast about ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
Transport Minister and now also Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood has confirmed that the light rail project is part of the government’s policy refocus. Wood said the light rail project was under review as part of a ministerial refocus on key Government projects. “We are undertaking a stocktake about how ...
Sometime before the new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that this year would be about “bread and butter issues”, National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis decided to move from Wellington Central and stand for Ohariu, which spreads across north Wellington from the central city to Johnsonville and Tawa. It’s an ...
They say a week is a long time in politics. For Mayor Wayne Brown, turns out 24 hours was long enough for many of us to see, quite obviously, “something isn’t right here…”. That in fact, a lot was going wrong. Very wrong indeed.Mainly because it turns ...
One of the most effective, and successful, graphics developed by Skeptical Science is the escalator. The escalator shows how global surface temperature anomalies vary with time, and illustrates how "contrarians" tend to cherry-pick short time intervals so as to argue that there has been no recent warming, while "realists" recognise ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Tomorrow we have a funeral, and thank you all of you for your very kind words and thoughts — flowers, even.Our friend Michèle messaged: we never get to feel one thing at a time, us grownups, and oh boy is that ever the truth. Tomorrow we have the funeral, and ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
A new Prime Minister, a revitalised Cabinet, and possibly revised priorities – but is the political and, importantly, economic landscape much different? Certainly some within the news media were excited by the changes which Chris Hipkins announced yesterday or – before the announcement – by the prospect of changes in ...
Currently the government's strategy for reducing transport emissions hinges on boosting vehicle fuel-efficiency, via the clean car standard and clean car discount, and some improvements to public transport. The former has been hugely successful, and has clearly set us on the right path, but its also not enough, and will ...
Buzz from the Beehive Before he announced his Cabinet yesterday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced he would be flying to Australia next week to meet that country’s Prime Minister. And before Kieran McAnulty had time to say “Three Waters” after his promotion to the Local Government portfolio, he was dishing ...
The quarterly labour market statistics were released this morning, showing that unemployment has risen slightly to 3.4%. There are now 99,000 people unemployed - 24,000 fewer than when Labour took office. So, I guess the Reserve Bank's plan to throw people out of work to stop wage rises "inflation", and ...
Another night of heavy rain, flooding, damage to homes, and people worried about where the hell all this water is going to go as we enter day twenty two of rain this year.Honestly if the government can’t sell Three Waters on the back of what has happened with storm water ...
* Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular reforms in water and DHB centralisation ...
Hi,It’s weird to me that in 2023 we still have people falling for multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs for short). There are Netflix documentaries about them, countless articles, and last year we did an Armchaired and Dangerous episode on them.Then you check a ticketing website like EventBrite and see this shit ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Shortly, the absolute state of Wayne Brown. But before that, something I wrote four years ago for the council’s own media machine. It was a day-in-the-life profile of their many and varied and quite possibly unnoticed vital services. We went all over Auckland in 48 hours for the story, the ...
Completed reads for January Lilith, by George MacDonald The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Christabel (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, by Anonymous The Lay of Kraka (poem), by Anonymous 1066 and All That, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. ...
Pity the poor Brits. They just can’t catch a break. After years of reporting of lying Boris Johnson, a change to a less colourful PM in Rishi Sunak has resulted in a smooth media pivot to an end-of-empire narrative. The New York Times, no less, amplifies suggestions that Blighty ...
On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth.Genesis 6:11-12THE TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS that dumped a record-breaking amount of rain on Auckland this anniversary weekend will reoccur with ever-increasing frequency. The planet’s atmosphere is ...
Buzz from the Beehive There has been plenty to keep the relevant Ministers busy in flood-stricken Auckland over the past day or two. But New Zealand, last time we looked, extends north of Auckland into Northland and south of the Bombay Hills all the way to the bottom of the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters When early settlers came to the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers before the California Gold Rush, Indigenous people warned them that the Sacramento Valley could become an inland sea when great winter rains came. The storytellers described water filling the ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins ...
Hipkins’ aim this year will be to present a ‘low target’ for those seeking to attack Labour’s policies and spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Anyone dealing with Government departments and councils who wants some sort of big or long-term decision out of officials or politicians this year should brace for ...
Hipkins’ aim this year will be to present a ‘low target’ for those seeking to attack Labour’s policies and spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Anyone dealing with Government departments and councils who wants some sort of big or long-term decision out of officials or politicians this year should brace for ...
Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins has changed everything, and Labour is back ...
Over the last few years, it’s seemed like city after city around the world has become subject to extreme flooding events that have been made worse by impacts from climate change. We’ve highlighted many of them in our Weekly Roundup series. Sadly, over the last few days it’s been Auckland’s ...
And so the first month of the year draws to a close. It rained in Auckland on 21 out of the 31 days in January. Feels like summer never really happened this year. It’s actually hard to believe there were 10 days that it didn’t rain. Was it any better where ...
A ‘small target’ strategy is not going to cut it anymore if National want to win the upcoming election. The game has changed and the game plan needs to change as well. Jacinda Ardern’s abrupt departure from the 9th floor has the potential to derail what looked to be an ...
When Grant Robertson talks about how the economy might change post-covid, one of the things he talks about is what he calls an unsung but interesting white paper on science. “It’s really important,” he says. The Minister in charge of the White Paper — Te Ara Paerangi, Future Pathways ...
The clean up has begun but more rain is on the way. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Auckland’s floods over the last three days are turning into a macroeconomic event, with losses from Aotearoa’s biggest-ever climate event estimated at around $500 million and Auckland’s schools all closed for a week until ...
The clean up has begun but more rain is on the way. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Auckland’s floods over the last three days are turning into a macroeconomic event, with losses from Aotearoa’s biggest-ever climate event estimated at around $500 million and Auckland’s schools all closed for a week until ...
The news media were at one ceremony by the looks of things. The Governor-General, the Prime Minister and his deputy were at another. The news media were at a swearing-in ceremony. The country’s leaders were at an appointment ceremony. The New Zealand Gazette record of what transpired says: Appointment of ...
I n some alternative universe, Auckland mayor Efeso Collins readily grasped the scale of Friday’s deluge, and quickly made the emergency declaration that enabled central government to immediately throw its resources behind the rescue and remediation effort. As Friday evening became night, Mayor Collins seemed to be everywhere: talking with ...
They called it an “atmospheric river”, the weather bombardment which hit NZ’s northern region at the weekend. It exacted a terrible toll on metropolitan Auckland and the rest of the region. Few living there may have noted a statement from electricity generator Mercury Energy labelled “WET, WET, WET!” This was ...
I know, that is a pretty corny title but given the circumstances here in the Auckland region, I just had to say it. The more oblique reference embedded in the title is to the leadership failures exhibited by Mayor Wayne Brown and his so-called leadership team when confronted by the ...
How much confidence should the public have in authorities managing natural disasters? Not much, judging by the farcical way in which the civil defence emergence in Auckland has played out. The way authorities dealt with Auckland’s extreme weather on Friday illustrated how hit-and-miss our civil defence emergency system is. In ...
TLDR: Here’s the key news links and useful longer reads I’ve spotted since 4 am this morning, including:calls for a more ‘spongey’ urban infrastructure after Auckland’s floods;demands for an inquiry into Auckland Council’s communications failure;the latest on Chris Hipkins’ plans for Three Waters; inside the PR trainwreck that is Wayne ...
TLDR: Here’s the key news links and useful longer reads I’ve spotted since 4 am this morning, including:calls for a more ‘spongey’ urban infrastructure after Auckland’s floods;demands for an inquiry into Auckland Council’s communications failure;the latest on Chris Hipkins’ plans for Three Waters; inside the PR trainwreck that is Wayne ...
Mayor Wayne Brown, under fire for his communication failures, quietly visited the scene of the fatal Remuera slip on Sunday, with his staff taking photos for social media updates. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: The cleanup and the post-mortem have begun, even though the rain just keeps falling in Auckland after ...
We’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...
The Green Party is joining more than 20 community organisations to call for an immediate rent freeze in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, after reports of landlords intending to hike rents after flooding. ...
When Chris Hipkins took on the job of Prime Minister, he said bread and butter issues like the cost of living would be the Government’s top priority – and this week, we’ve set out extra support for families and businesses. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
Over $10 million infrastructure funding to unlock housing in Whangārei The purchase of a 3.279 hectare site in Kerikeri to enable 56 new homes Northland becomes eligible for $100 million scheme for affordable rentals Multiple Northland communities will benefit from multiple Government housing investments, delivering thousands of new homes for ...
A memorial event at a key battle site in the New Zealand land wars is an important event to mark the progress in relations between Māori and the Crown as we head towards Waitangi Day, Minister for Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said. The Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845 saw ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 54 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. The graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 362 at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua was the first official event for Stuart Nash since his reappointment as Police ...
The Government is unlocking an additional $700,000 in support for regions that have been badly hit by the recent flooding and storm damage in the upper North Island. “We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has welcomed the announcement that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit New Zealand this month. “Princess Anne is travelling to Aotearoa at the request of the NZ Army’s Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief, to ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
The Government is maintaining its strong trade focus in 2023 with Trade and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visiting Europe this week to discuss the role of agricultural trade in climate change and food security, WTO reform and New Zealand agricultural innovation. Damien O’Connor will travel tomorrow to Switzerland to attend the ...
The Government has extended its medium-scale classification of Cyclone Hale to the Wairarapa after assessing storm damage to the eastern coastline of the region. “We’re making up to $80,000 available to the East Coast Rural Support Trust to help farmers and growers recover from the significant damage in the region,” ...
By Jamie Tahana, RNZ News Te Ao Māori journalist at Waitangi, and Russell Palmer, digital political journalist Iwi leaders in Aotearoa New Zealand have accused opposition parties National and ACT of “fanning the flames of racism”, urging the prime minister to be brave and not walk away from partnership on Three ...
By Phoebe Gwangilo in Port Moresby Higher Education Minister Don Polye has condemned a decision by the administration of the University of Papua New Guinea to treat a PNG-born and bred grade 12 school leaver as an “international” student. Roselyn Alog, 19, whose parents are Filipinos, was born and raised ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s former Elections Supervisor Mohammed Saneem is under investigation by the country’s anti-corruption agency for alleged abuse of office and has been stopped from fleeing the country. The Fijian Elections Office (FEO) said Saneem was alleged to have “on numerous occasions . . . unlawfully authorised payments of ...
Labour's position has alternated over the past few days: first Prime Minister Chris Hipkins would speak, then he wouldn't, and then he would again. ...
Te Pāti Māori Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer are announcing a transformative defence and foreign affairs policy which asserts the Mana Māori Motuhake and Tino Rangatiratanga of tangata whenua in Aotearoa at their Party’s ...
The Prime Minister will no longer speak at Waitangi commemorations after the organising trust moved the political leaders to a panel away from the main event The Waitangi National Trust wrote to political parties last month saying they didn’t want political leaders to speak at the pōwhiri held on the eve ...
The Prime Minister once again has a speaking slot at the pōwhiri in Waitangi after earlier on Saturday saying he would respect the wishes of the trust organisers by not doing so The Waitangi National Trust has given the green light for Chris Hipkins and other political leaders to speak ...
It’s been exactly a decade since Seven Sharp first appeared on our screens. Remember the first episode? We’ve unearthed the tapes. On this day in 2013, a bombshell was thrown into the New Zealand television landscape. “Time for us to make way, because you’re here to see what everyone’s talking ...
MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris has fronted endless media requests and live crosses this week. Is he getting it right? Lewis Ferris is trying to find his weather map. “This week’s been so insane” he mutters as he closes multiple tabs on the three screens across his Wellington desk. He’s ...
After four years, executive director Max Tweedie has stepped down from Auckland Pride. He tells Sam Brooks about shepherding the festival through a tumultuous few years, and where he’s going from here.This year’s Auckland Pride Festival is set to be the biggest one yet. Over the course of more ...
A flailing mayor was only the public face of a multifaceted flooding communications failure. Duncan Greive examines the mess, and asks what can be done to improve it.It’s a chilling timeline. Stuff’s Kelly Dennett catalogued, beat-by-beat, the 12 hours in which Auckland was pummelled by a catastrophic deluge, interspersing ...
The Dunedin branch of the Green Party has selected Francisco Hernandez as its candidate for the Dunedin electorate in this year’s general election. Francisco Hernandez was the Otago University Students Association President in 2013. He has held a number ...
Waitangi organisers are trying to push political leaders to the side at Sunday's pōwhiri, but Labour's deputy leader says it's not for them to decide who speaks. Te Tai Tokerau MP and Labour’s deputy leader, Kelvin Davis, says the Prime Minister will speak at Sunday’s pōwhiri at Waitangi, in defiance of local ...
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, we spoke to an aid worker who had made the trip to the war zone in Ukraine, looked at why Carmel Sepuloni was picked to be the new deputy prime minister, visited the flood-torn streets of Titirangi in West ...
Schools play an integral but often unrecognised and unacknowledged role in helping communities respond to and recover from disastersOpinion: Schools in Auckland and other flood-affected areas are about to re-open after a delayed start to the new school year. Students will return to school having experienced wide-ranging impacts. While some ...
A very short story for Waitangi weekend The pā is a lonely place nowadays. Gorse has marched on it like the British troops of old, consuming the hills and leaving the marae looking a bald patch on the head of the earth mother herself. Even the roads have worn thin, ...
This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend. This week, it's The School Away From School written by Bill Morris and published in NZ Geographic's January/February 2023 issue. You can find the entire article, with photos from Lottie Hedley, on the NZ Geographic website. One hundred years since its ...
COMMENTARY:By Kayt Davies in Perth I wasn’t good at French in my final year of high school. My classmates had five years of language studies behind them. I had three. As a result of my woeful grip on the language, I wrote a terribly bad essay in my final ...
RNZ Pacific Journalist Victor Mambor, who is the chief editor of the West Papuan newspaper and websiteJubi, has received the Oktovianus Pogau Award from the Indonesian-based Pantau Foundation for courage in journalism. The foundation’s Andreas Harsono said Mambor’s decision to return to his father’s homeland and defend the rights ...
RNZ News Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick is brushing off concerns a temporary rent freeze in flood-hit Auckland would just see landlords hike rents even more when the controls were lifted — arguing they should stay permanently. More than 20 organisations have signed a letter urging Minister for Auckland Michael ...
Iwi leaders have accused National and ACT of "fanning the flames of racism", urging the prime minister to be brave and not walk away from partnership on three waters. ...
About this time last week it had become apparent that Auckland was in for a bit more than just a wet Friday. While the state of emergency remains in place for another seven days, it appears the worst should now be behind us. Last night, Niwa shared a fascinating thread ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra ShutterstockIndigenous Australians are respectfully advised that the following includes the names and images of some people who are now deceased. The Reserve Bank of Australia ...
The government has confirmed the money will be spent in Northland, including unlocking greenfields land and transport upgrades like a new bridge in Kamo. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Appleby, Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW Sydney Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that sometime between August and November this year, the Australian people will go to a referendum for the first time since 1999. We’ll be asked whether we support ...
Viewers across the United States were today shown a slice of New Zealand, with a reporter for Good Morning America broadcasting live from Rotorua. Robin Roberts, a co-anchor for the popular morning TV show, has been touring the country this week. During her visit to Rotorua’s Te Puia centre, she ...
They can be environmentally unsound and are a symbol used to shame millennials, but everyone still loves an avo. I love avocados, always have, always will. The buttery golden-green flesh from a perfectly ripe avocado is a culinary blessing. Today I’d love to simply wax poetic about twisting open a ...
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.AUCKLAND1The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (Penguin Press, $50) The beautiful ...
A new poem by Robin Peace. To the kahikatea I see from my bed Thinking inside the square, the ellipse, the round of what life is, I only see the trees. Not only as if that were the only thing I see, but only as if the tree matters more. ...
A week ago, Elton John’s first Auckland show was called off at the last minute. What was it like getting there, being there, and trying to return home afterwards?Elton John has long been a blessing for our ears, but in recent years his Auckland shows have been cursed. His ...
For Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, sorry seems to be the hardest word to say The mayoral chains must have been heavy this week for Auckland’s Wayne Brown, as his response to last week’s flood garnered its own veritable torrent of scandals and media scrutiny. Almost exactly one week on from ...
For Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, sorry seems to be the hardest word to say The mayoral chains must have been heavy this week for Auckland’s Wayne Brown, as his response to last week’s flood garnered its own veritable torrent of scandals and media scrutiny. Almost exactly one week on from ...
Ours Not Mines is cautiously excited about reporting that the Government is drafting legislation to ban new mines on conservation land. The anti-mining group's spokesperson, Morgan Donoghue says: "The Government has been promising us some action for ...
People who enjoy the outdoors for recreation, fishing and hunting will lose rights under the Natural and Built Environments Bill. Fish & Game New Zealand chief executive Corina Jordan says the proposed replacement for the Resource Management ...
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has conceded he “dropped the ball” during last Friday’s major flooding event. The state of emergency in the super city has today been extended for a further seven days, though Brown said he expects it will be lifted early. After a week of defensiveness over his ...
As the reality TV juggernaut returns for a new season, Tara Ward steps into the minds of the show’s relationship experts to assess the compatibility of this year’s brides and grooms. Married at First Sight: Australia returns on Monday night, and by season ten, you’d think the show’s relationship experts ...
Auckland’s state of emergency is expected to be extended for another seven days, according to the Herald. It was due to expire overnight after being declared a week ago, the day of the worst flooding in the super city. While weather conditions have improved, the city is continuing to experience ...
Proposed pay equity claim settlements for school librarians and science technicians have been reached between the Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa, Secretary for Education, Iona Holsted and NZEI Te Riu Roa president, Mark Potter, announced ...
Members of NZEI Te Riu Roa negotiating on behalf of school librarians, library assistants and science technicians are excited to announce that proposed pay equity settlements are ready to be voted on by their colleagues. They include pay increases of up to ...
The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) is calling for Michael Wood, the Minister of Transport, and now Auckland, to cancel the light rail project immediately. Auckland Light Rail was never going to happen, as our group has repeatedly said dozens of ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has been asked to intervene following confirmation today that the Government plans to implement a ban on all extractive sector activities on the conservation estate. Wayne Scott, CEO of the Aggregate and Quarry Association, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Getty Images The heated (and often confused) debate about “co-governance” in Aotearoa New Zealand inevitably leads back to its source, Te Tiriti o Waitangi. But, as its long-contested meanings demonstrate, very little ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Hunter, Lecturer in Art and Performance, Deakin University Jodie Hutchinson/Red StitchReview: Wittenoom, directed by Susie Dee, Red Stitch Deep in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia, the town of Wittenoom lies empty, desolate … and contaminated. Wittenoom ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Oliver Bown, Postdoctoral fellow, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock The past few years have seen an explosion in applications of artificial intelligence to creative fields. A new generation of image and text generators is delivering impressiveresults. Now AI has also found ...
New Zealand’s egg shortage is hitting cruise ships too – forcing the crew of one vessel to hatch a poaching plan. This story was first published on Stuff. On the hunt for eggs, a crew from a luxury cruise ship got cracking and hatched a cunning plan. Earlier this week, Stuff ...
Now demolished, the First Church of Christ Scientist was a masterclass of architectural imagination. Kate Linzey visits the site on which it once stood, to learn more. The object is delicate and small. Small enough to sit in the palm of my hand and weighing less than 300 grams. It ...
When your food parcel arrives before the emergency alert, you know something’s not working properly.This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. I’ve spent the last week desperately and at times fruitlessly attempting to drain and then sweep my whānau home of knee-deep water, pull up ...
Drongo-gate continues for another day with the Herald reporting that Auckland’s mayor has been caught out using the slang term for a second time. It comes this time from a former minor mayoral candidate, Mike Kampkes, who said he received a message from Brown in response to a media release ...
How does Aotearoa stop relying so heavily on agriculture to prop up our economy? Online tax and accounting service Hnry just raised $35m to grow its software on-demand service across the globe. Bernard Hickey talks with AirTree partner Jackie Vullinghs about how venture capitalists are funding Aotearoa’s fastest growing, least-polluting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Guastella, Professor and Clinical Psychologist, Michael Crouch Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health, University of Sydney Shutterstock With childcare and schools starting the new year, parents might be anxiously wondering how their child will adapt in a new ...
I am delighted to announce the appointment of John Price ONZM as the new Director Civil Defence Emergency Management and Deputy Chief Executive Emergency Management for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). John has been a member of the ...
Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki are calling on the new Prime Minister and new Minister of Conservation Willow Jean Prime to immediately implement the 2017 promise to ban new mining activity on conservation lands. “ The mining industry group Straterra ...
How does Aotearoa stop relying so heavily on agriculture to prop up our economy? Online tax and accounting service Hnry just raised $35m to grow its software on-demand service across the globe. In the latest episode of When the Facts Change, Bernard Hickey talks with AirTree partner Jackie Vullinghs about how ...
There’s a fear that highlighting menopause will undermine women, especially at work. But what have centuries of secrecy achieved for us? Are you sick of hearing about menopause? Kim Hill is. The living legend of Aotearoa broadcasting told actor Robyn Malcolm (also a legend) on her Saturday Morning show on RNZ ...
Dunedin city council has reached an agreement to save Foulden Maar from commercial mining. The maar is the site of a crater lake from 23 million years ago with the diatomite of the lake preserving fossils and a climate record covering 100,000 years from that period. It is fantastic news for Otago University ...
Some are speculating whether the Auckland Mayor's leadership is circling the drain. James Elliott hopes they're right. There’s never been a week quite like it. It was the week when the rains came. All of them. Even the rain from Spain that was supposed to fall mainly on the plain, came. ...
The Bus and Coach Association supports the Government’s decision to continue half-price fares on public transport services. The fare reduction was set to expire on 31 March 2023, but will now continue to 30 June 2023. “Half-price fares have cost ten-times ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: Hipkins’ bread and butter reshufflePolitical scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: Chris Hipkins hires a lobbyist to run the BeehiveNew Zealand Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, speaking when Minister of Education, at NZEI Te Riu Roa strike rally on the steps of the New Zealand Parliament, 15th August 2018. Image; Wiki Commons. New Zealand is ...
New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project. Items of interest and importance todayCO-GOVERNANCE, WAITANGI, THREE WATERS Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Blowing Off The Froth: Why Chris Hipkins Must Ditch ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brian Tweed, Senior lecturer, Massey University Shutterstock/Renata Apanaviciene As we approach another Waitangi Day, we should be thinking again about what Te Tiriti o Waitangi means. As the late Moana Jackson commented, the meaning of Te Tiriti will be ...
Even prime ministers get caught in bad weather. It’s a week on from the devastating flooding that hit Auckland and Northland and Chris Hipkins has been forced to drive north for the start of Waitangi weekend commemorations after his plan was turned away from Kerikeri airport (twice). Today will see ...
Less than a year ago, co-governance had a future, at least as potentially accepted terminology. Now some iwi leaders want the label removed and replaced, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
“The decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia to not replace the late Queen with Charles on the Aussie $5 note should indicate to our Reserve Bank that it’s time to change the NZ $20 note” said Lewis Holden, campaign chair of New ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Wolf, Associate Professor, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Australian National University Somchat Parkaythong/Shutterstock Black holes are bizarre things, even by the standards of astronomers. Their mass is so great, it bends space around them so tightly that nothing can escape, even ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Revell, Associate Professor in Environmental Physics, University of Canterbury Getty Images The ozone layer is on track to heal within four decades, according to a recent UN report, but this progress could be undone by an upsurge in rocket ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Clune, Honorary Associate, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney At the New South Wales election on March 25 a 12-year-old Coalition government will be seeking re-election. Hoping to return as premier is Liberal leader Dominic Perrottet – a political conservative ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Trauer, Associate Professor, Monash University Anastelfy/Shutterstock The XBB.1.5 subvariant, known informally as “Kraken”, is the latest in a menagerie of Omicron subvariants to dominate the headlines, following increasing detection in the United States and United Kingdom. But there ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Madeline Combe, Doctoral student, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock As the economist Herman Daly pithily said, the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment – not the reverse. Nature makes our lives possible through what scientists call ecosystem ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Jefferson, Lecturer in Education, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock Grit. Don’t quit. That’s the mantra many parents may have in mind when they, like me, spend what feels like years ferrying children to a seemingly endless variety of sports and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW Sydney Sam Shere/Wikimedia Commons A few weeks ago, Gautam Adani was indisputably India’s richest man. Now his fortune is slipping away as the stocks of his many companies crash, thanks to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Divna Haslam, Senior Research Fellow, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock Have you ever found yourself scrolling through social media and noticed you felt a bit down? Maybe a little envious? Why aren’t you on a yacht? Running a startup? Looking ...
testing testing
Times?
More “Am I awake?”
I heart this time of year…
Testing what? System upgrades last night, so I am looking for breakages.
One thing broken is some forms of video embedding – see draft post that has been at the top of the queue for a while…
have tried to send emails but nothing seems to occur when send is pressed.
“I have an Android issue. I have a Samsung Galxy Ace.
When viewing The Standard, the page runs fine.
The problem is i cannot post comments.
I enter my name, press next, my email, press next and it goes to the website entry box.
I have no site info to enter but pressing next does not progress to comment/text entry box, hence i cannot go any further.
Is there a way to bypass the website box that I am unaware of?
thankyou in advance for any assistance you can offer
kind regards
freedom
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/10346643/rwc-probably-wont-break-even-key/
So we have recovered some of the additional costs from SCF? = So all is good.
Dear National. We know you’re in the pockets of the road builders and the housing industry but do you really have to make it so obvious? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10754610
P.S. to Auckland. How do you like being run from Wellington?
Mind you Tigger, if someone like John Banks was Mayor the cooperation would be much more cosy with Central Government’s wishes. (Sarcasm warning.)
Fuck these idiots in NAct. Don’t they understand that we can’t afford massive, sprawling cities?
Yes, that’s a rhetorical question, of course they don’t understand as that would require them to take into account reality.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/5689052/Family-zombies-after-home-invasion
Don’t need to be home invaded to become a zombie if you live in a noisy neighborhood
overnight and during the day (so can’t catch up on sleep).
Peter Blake’s son James I think is undertaking a big row to raise money for an artificial reef near Indonesia. This is such a great idea as climate change adversely affects coral reefs which are important maybe vital part of nurturing and protecting sea life. Some people are already acting by planting coral each day, like in coral gardens, and this will spread the reef area and renew. Really important. If you can afford some pennies please think of a donation as this week’s positive action for the planet.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon
Tue27/9 09:35
James Blake
Sir Peter Blake’s son James Blake explains why he’s planning to row across the Tasman to try raise funds to build the world’s biggest artificial reef. (9′51″)
Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3 | Embed
Interesting tale on Facebooks devious policies on Radionz this morning – see link above. Be-ware, they say that everything you do is being passed on and privacy settings you’ve put in place are realigned to default each time they put in a new policy, or I think that’s what they said. I’m no expert. I do know that I tried to cancel my Facebook arrangement and was asked so many intrusive questions that I didn’t fill out the whole form so apparently invalidated my withdrawal and am still welcomed into the sweet and friendly Facebook family. And this morning’s interviewer said it doesn’t matter anyway they keep the settings and keep checking on what you do. Talk about BIG Brother!
Also in this morning’s radionz news –
NZ bid for Commonwealth Games now likely
The New Zealand Olympic Committee says mounting a bid for a future Commonwealth Games is now more likely to happen. The next possible year is 2022.
We can’t afford to make forward-looking responsible social and environmental moves but there’before the Rugby World Cup is over there is talk about circuses and junkets for the elite and Discretionaries (those with spare money) while the bread part isn’t ensured to go with the circuses.
And in Oz those hopeful young NZs who went to Australia and worked for a better life are now beginning to feel the cold and callous side of OZ that wiped all social welfare benefits to us whether we had worked there, no matter how long, and only if we were granted residency which would be refused as we do, if there were health problems etc., when Helen Clark was in, with hardly a peep from her. They didn’t tighten access to benefits – they wiped them altogether.
One family talked this morning – they’re son was born in Oz and because of medical misadventure is brain damaged and required ongoing care for which they receive nothing from the authorities there although they have worked there for some years I think. Presumably they can sue the hospital. Young Kiwi women are turning to prostitution to survive, and degradation of living conditions causes 40 phone calls daily to a Queensland help line. They can be stranded in Oz by pride, as in the biblical Prodigal Son, or because of lack of money in their extended family to bring them home. There was a song from way back by Gene Pitney with the final line – “And I can never, never, go home again.” This is sad – we should start a compassionate fund for NZ refugees in Australia, that lucky country.
Many ideas in here for FB control choices.
Ideas, as mentioned in the article and the comments, are not necessarily answers.
http://nikcub-cache.appspot.com/logging-out-of-facebook-is-not-enough
Simple lesson DONT USE FARCEBOOK. if you do it’s your own fault!
.
more biting the hands that once fed it…
It was less than a week ago that Jenny had a go at biting Owen Glenn’s hand
Now Darien Fenton’s trying similar class traitor tactics on Sir Peter Leitch.
Was it only yesterday that r0b called for less arrogance and reflexive negativity?
@ Joe Bloggs – Is that Sir Peter Leitch the mad butcher who used his interview on radionz to make an open play of affirmation for John Key, that lovely guy, the man everybody would invite to dinner, especially if he brought the wine to go with the rib-eye steak. For those who can afford it!
Actually many of us are concerned to get a Prime Minister who shows continuing concern and responsibility for advancing the welfare of all NZs socially and through business and employment opportunities and makes achievable promises, not feelgood kissing of cheeks, and showing off his dental work.
What’s the problem here? If Rodney Hide said “I won’t shop at X because Y supports Labour” no one would blink an eye. Personally, I’m with Darien – Mad Butcher isn’t getting my money now. Neither is Car-fe. Free choice. Isn’t that what Slater and his lot get chubbies over?
I’ve been told that The Mad Butcher was the moniker Leitch appropriated for himself following a trip to the US.
Oh JB you’re such a funny troll….class traitor tactics, that’s f’n hilarious but then if slater’s your dictionary reference fair play doing a limbo dance under that bar.
Leitch is the typical working class made good who now wants to pull the ladder up by supporting the policies and folk who do this best.
Low wages/rights/employer friendly rules and most of his shops are the meat equivalient of low rent liquor outlets by the poor quality of product and who they target…..seen any in upmarket suburbs ?
Shop at your local butcher, they need it and you’ll get what you pay for….quality and service.
as for that tosser Ridge…wash your own car.
Sorry – you have the wrong man.
I’m referring to Sir Peter Leitch – you might know of him – he’s a working class man with no pretensions who has given away vast sums of money and more of his time to help those who are worse off .You might have heard of his serial fundraising and the work that he’s done for Christchurch folk
Perhaps you may have heard of the Mad Butcher Suburban Newspapers Community Trust which has raised almost $1.5 million for charity. Or the Butch who supported Helen Clark when she was PM…
…here’s a suggestion – instead of calling for a boycott of Mad Butcher shops simply because Butch dares to dabble with the Dark Side, try earning his support back. Now there’s a novelty.
Meanwhile I’m off to the local Mad Butcher for a dozen sausages, and a bit of brisket for the pooch.
They aren’t the “hand that feeds” but the hand that takes away – capitalism = legalised theft.
Graeme Edgeler has posted a valuable Referendum on Public Address. Intriguing and worth doing even if to just confirm a position.
http://publicaddress.net/system/topic/3229/?p=229846#post229846
RIP Troy Davis
Those of us who are not reliant on mainstream media for our information would have felt saddened by recent events in Savannah, Georgia. In fact some of us have felt quietly outraged at the execution of Troy Davis on September 21, 2011…
What has the mainstream media got to do with this?
I learned about it and how he was more than likely not guilty through the mainstream media?
Have a read of the post Chris, and then tell me the MSM reported half of that information? I found out that he was going to be executed and there were protesters, but there was hardly any reporting in NZ by the MSM about the extent of injustice… But what else is new?
I did and I learnt nothing new:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/5665974/Troy-Davis-executed-after-appeal-fails
I read this on the day that he was being put to death.
There was also this editorial:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10754137
Plus a number of other articles about the case on both these sites.
K Fair enough Chris, I’ve edited the post to more accurately define what I was meaning. You might like to also read the Wikipedia article on Troy Davis as well.
Haha yep now that makes more sense to me now.
This was huge news it was all over the media.
Interesting blog from the Torygraph’s US correspondent Toby Harnden. As Harnden points out, Davis was an unusual case for anti-death penalty campaigners to support, because he was almost certainly guilty of the murder plus two other violent assaults in the minutes before he shot the off duty cop. He certainly wasn’t an innocent man, in any sense of the phrase.
Thanks for the link TVOR
I have to say here, that I am opposed to the death penalty even if the person being executed (murdered) is guilty! Otherwise, if campaigners only oppose the killing of the innocent, whilst they should of course do so, it takes away from the point of opposing capital punishment – which is that human beings, being so flawed, have no right at all to decide who gets killed…
The BBC did have a lot about it, but they are recently too scared of offending the Evil Empire to let rip the way they would have 5 years back.. 🙁
Hero of the Week Award – Clare Curran
Clare Curran has been getting a fair bit of grief from David Farrar and Cameron Slater lately. What these right wing sycophants seem to ignore is that she’s a very switched on political commentator, and indispensable within the New Zealand blogosphere…
Phil Goff has an interesting question No 2, set down for today:
Hon PHIL GOFF to the Attorney-General: Does he agree with the Prime Minister’s statement that “there are at least 40 trials and 50 investigations where those investigations currently – the video surveillance equipment’s been turned off and yeah I don’t think – that will harm those trials in my view”, and in how many of those cases does the prosecution rely on evidence from warrantless filming from private property without the owner’s consent?
Jeez, if it’s not too late for the Jackal’s arsehole of the week, John Key is a serious contender:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10754703
What a fucken muppet.
FFS. The man has no idea at all.
He’s just treading water getting kicks out of standing beside ABs and txting heads of state – I wonder if he’s on the block list of Obama’s blackberry?
See what happens when he slips the minders leash or isn’t given a script with the words in bold at the top ‘VERBATIM OR ELSE’
It’s all ok though – Herald readers have jumped to his defense. (And the Herald has made a story out of its facebook page!)
The man can do no wrong – apparently.
John Key has already won an Asshole Award. I’ll count your vote TVOR as a nomination for John Key to win the Asshole of the Year Award 🙂
Don Brash on Pot
In a speech given on law and order held in Auckland last weekend, Don Brash came out in support of decriminalizing marijuana. It seems strange that he’s promoting decriminalization… and it appears to me that his controversial statements are designed to gain media attention…
Do I understand that under the now non existance Surveillance Bill taxi drivers are not allowed to use their new systems because the law as it stands forbids same without a specific judges agreement ?
Doesn’t sound right to me – the cameras are a safety/security issue and are there with the consent of the drivers (if the passengers don’t see the warning signs), so fall under one of the exemptions to the surreptitious filming legislation.
If the police broke into the vehicle one night and placed their own sneaky cameras, the’d not be able to use the footage as evidence in trivial caes. But they could use the taxi company footage quite easily.
As an aside, I was pretty pissed when I noticed the “privacy policy” for the camera footage in my last taxi trip – along the lines of “camera images are only permitted to be viewed by authorised persons”. No information as to who are authorised, character tests, restrictions on being able to copy files (lest a Queenstown bouncer has access to the archive), or expiry protocols. I’m just glad I don’t habitually wear short skirts and sit in the middle seat.
Absolutely not. In fact you can have covert surveillance pretty well anywhere unless you have to trespass on the person’s property to set the camera up. You can even have it on a tree in a park outside as long as it is not too obtrusive.
This BBC news video is a rather sobering view of the coming economic collapse
“BBC Speechless As Trader Tells Truth The Collapse Is Coming ”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp-MQhssCqI&feature=player_embedded
If your website’s full of arsholes, It’s your fault.
We’re twenty years in to this world wide web thing. Today, I myself celebrate twelve years of writing this blog. And yet those of us who love this medium, who’ve had our lives changed by the possibility of publishing our words to the world without having to ask permission, are constantly charged with defending this wonderful, expressive medium in a way that creators in every other discipline seldom find themselves obligated to do.
Some of this is because the medium is new, of course. But in large part, it’s because so many of the most visible, prominent, and popular places on the web are full of unkindness and hateful behavior.
The examples are already part of pop culture mythology: We can post a harmless video of a child’s birthday party and be treated to profoundly racist non-sequiturs in the comments. We can read about a minor local traffic accident on a newspaper’s website and see vicious personal attacks on the parties involved. A popular blog can write about harmless topics like real estate, restaurants or sports and see dozens of vitriolic, hate-filled spewings within just a few hours.
But that’s just the web, right? Shouldn’t we just keep shrugging our shoulders and shaking our heads and being disappointed in how terrible our fellow humans are?
Not many human beings are like that, the problem is they are the ones that get noticed.
Granny just can’t help herself can she ‘ readers leap to PM’s defense over coalmine joke’ should read ‘we think the sun shines out of JK’s arse and here’s some one sided ‘opinions’ to back it up’…..RIP journalism.
Sideshow showing how unfit for the role he is again isn’t news granny.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.php?c_id=1&objectid=10754740
Odd story. Where was the original outcry about it? As far as I can see that was the Herald http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.php?c_id=1&objectid=10754703. No one is reported as finding the joke troublesome.
So Herald created a ‘stir’ so Key could be defended from it…
Oil Damages DNA
A recently released peer reviewed study entitled Genomic and physiological footprint of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on resident marsh fishes (PDF) and released in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has found that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has damaged the genetic structure of marsh fish in the effected area…
They didn’t detect DNA damage, what they found were changes in gene expression, which has a whole range of mechanisms other than DNA damage…
And it’s spelled out in the bloody abstract, which if DNA damage was involved, you’d think it’d be mentioned, being a summary of the findings and all that:
So learn 2 science pleez, and check wikipedia/google if you don’t understand something, instead of doing what teh deniers do and post truth claims without reading/understanding teh research.
On Radio NZ tonight they were on about Elizabeth Warren, a US law professor who is standing for senate; the person discussing this suggested the words of her speech as a way of shutting up dicks like farrar.
Enjoy
http://youtu.be/hOyDR2b71ag
I am going to try an experiment soon; I am going to attempt a strategy on someone, a parasite on this forum. I did this once before on another site and it really caused the vermine to be frightened away.
There are hundreds of reasons why young voters should turn up in force and send a strong message to this government on November 26.
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.com/2011/09/national-is-stealing-my-childrens.html