Your reference is to yet another Martyn Bradbury rant. Basically saying all National voters are racist, fascist, misogynists. Not really a way to persuade people to change their votes.
Well, there is that. But what I intended was to point at the empty space. I've been watching the woke thing alienate sensible white centrist males for many years now – from the perspective of someone who long ago supported the very same causes that produced the woke lunatic fringe.
You'd think that people would realise that alienating such a huge political constituency is extremely stupid. But they don't. Case in point: the Green Party, which I remain an ambivalent member of.
Mobilising white males as a political force seems the obvious thing to do, whichever party one supports. Default ignoring has been going on too long. I suspect they'll be the dark horse in the election race this year.
Why jump to that conclusion?? I'd rather have a tolerant, inclusive society thanks. I've been part of the progressive political movement working for that since I was a teenager in the 1960s. The rainbow coalition was conceptualised as a political frame in the 1970s on that basis. The various minorities of political significance were viewed as analogous to the colours in the rainbow.
I get that minority resentment of perceived white male pakeha hegemony was understandable back then, but I doubt that embedding it as a grievance to be carried for anyone's entire life is good for their mental health.
You can't have it both ways. Standing up for minority rights makes the bigots angry. When you say I've been watching the woke thing alienate sensible white centrist males for many years now you sound like one of them.
That's just your interpretation. Are you trying to suggest bigots are sensible white centrist males ? I wouldn't do that if I were you – nobody is likely to agree. Sensible folk don't do bigotry. And they do support minority rights!
Bullshit. You know you can't reproduce anything I wrote to prove that! I agree sensible people aren't bothered by minority rights – in fact I even wrote that they support them in my previous comment!!
What you are up against here is the rule that only white males can be racist, sexist bigots.
There was an interesting incident recently (can't be arsed linking to it) where a visiting black cricket player was racially abused by a fan, and the game authorities rightly followed it up. Turned out the fan was an Indian and his defense was that 'only white people can be racist'.
When a person of colour is poor it's called 'oppression' and this is treated with righteous outrage. When a white male is poor it gets sneered at as 'economic anxiety'.
I don't believe they are. I believe they have been alienated by the toxic culture generated by the woke. Male non-rapists are offended by claims that `all men are rapists', for instance.
you are either a sensible white centrists and then 'woke' thing (humans i guess? maybe women? maybe not white centrists? maybe not white straight white centrists?) don't alienate you because as a 'sensible' white centrists you would know that the 'woke' thing is literally just people demanding and insisting in the same rights, place, space and pay sensible white centrists get.
the biggest threat to democracy is white male voting against the rights of all others cause they believe that they are owed more then any other group of people.
Also, please define ' sensible centrists white male' is that like you and Simon Bridges? Or is that like Bill English who thinks double dipping is fine when you are a minister of parliament but is criminal when a single women with children were to do that? Or is John Key a sensible white male? Or the shooter of the Christchurch Moschee? Or maybe Donald Trump is a sensible white male? Are you a sensible white male with economic anxiety?
I've never met any white male pakeha who believe "they are owed more then any other group of people." Anyone who thinks Trump is sensible is probably American. No I don't have "economic anxiety".
All those wacky notions of yours seem to come from over-generalisations and misperceptions. Politics works better if you deal with real people, not hallucinations.
Inherited privilege derived from social context? Yeah, that's a thing. I agree it is likely to operate in the sub-concious, and perhaps sometimes become evident as tacit sub-text.
A flimsy basis upon which the popular sport of calling someone racist who isn't seems to be based. You wouldn't get far citing hypotheticals from the subconscious in a court of law – but that doesn't stop some leftists from trying it on, eh? 🙄
I'm not sure I've ever met anyone who said that "all men are rapists", either.
Even the ones who argued that true consent is impossible in a patriarchal capitalist society had a more nuanced approach than you portray.
remove the hallucinations from your own eye and all that.
But basically, if you "mobilise" the anti-woke, what political movement do you really think you'll get? A revolutionary mobilisation built around the people who already have the socioeconomic dominance in society?
I recall one woman talking about how things had improved a little bit from the days when marxists would meet up, talk revolution and equality, and it was always the women who were expected to make the post-meeting cuppa. You seem to be wanting to put those guys back in charge, the ones who left in a sulk because they were asked to do the dishes after one meeting, or to not call someone a "fag" during the discussion.
Nor me. I cite the phrase due to media reports of its usage. Evidence that it has achieved currency, and is thus indicative of a mind-set. So no hallucination on my part with that!
Re mobilising, I wasn't advocating such activism. Just acknowledgement and inclusion is all the situation requires. People need to feel they are part of things, so democracy ought to accept their group identity as such.
Re your last paragraph, do you recall back in the day of women's lib & the Black Panthers, one of the latter was asked by the media "What is the position of women in the revolution?" and he answered "prone". Got the headline!
Eldridge Cleaver, I think, but long time ago & I increasingly distrust my memory on details. Anyway, no crazy oscillation from one extreme to another, just parity…
lol "media reports of its usage". Hosking and Trotter…
The woke already acknowledge tha anti-woke. Including the anti-woke is more difficult, because by doing so would be an act of exclusion of the folks the anti-woke like to exclude. Because calling out ~ist or ~phobic language sadly excludes ~ist or ~phobic people.
I don't get what you're trying to say. Why bring binary framing into it when I already specified the holistic frame?? Pakeha guys aren't big on presenting as a tribe, are they? Yet Trump won by treating them as one.
Learn the lesson. It's been around for three whole years already. Identity politics motivates people. The Nats could win that group by default unless the three parties in govt engage them. Not rocket science.
It's pretty obvious, surely – if you're trying to be inclusive to people who routinely treat people different to them like shit (whether intentionally or obliviously) or who can't deal with shit-treaters being called out on that behaviour, then you're excluding people different to them who don't want to be treated like shit.
In other words, "sensible white centrist males" who are alienated by the "woke thing" can only be included by not being "woke". Which sooner or later excludes everyone other than sensible white centrist males who are alienated by the woke thing.
But the group I'm talking about don't go around treating people like shit. They tend to be typical kiwi males: relaxed, friendly, considerate etc. Most of them are apolitical. Either vote govts out if they get the feeling that it's time for a change, or vote for a leader who they can identify with. So subtle factors can shift them easily. That's the danger of the Nats capturing them by default that concerns me.
but I’m also an adult and I ignore the things that supposedly will alienate me.
On the plus side I can read what ever I like without being triggered or suspecting a vast right wing (nzh) or left wing (guardian) mind control experiment
You seem sensible. Given that, I'd be interested to read your take on election year, both here & in the USA, in regard to how identity politics will play out for white males in general, and centrists in particular.
Like, for instance, is any particular white male politician here providing a suitable role model, and how are they doing that?
i wrote a response earlier but seems to have been lost
Grant robertson, Chris Bishop, James Shaw. if they have to be white and male.
Grant robertson, Chris Bishop, James Shaw, Jacinda Adern, Paula Bennet and Kris Faafoi if the requirement is centrist without letting their "characteristics" define them. which is the best form of being involved in politics.
Jacinda has brought us understanding, Robertson financial acumen, James shaw has combined robertson with an understanding of how economics needs to relate to the physical environment, Bishop for getting past "im hutt and labour" and "I'm whiten and national", bennett for removing the stigma of being from the west and showing us what work ethic means. these people, taking the best from each, typify what New Zealand is and can achieve. Centrism is great, once you stop pigeon holing what party mp's represent and accolading the work they do
edit: Faafoi, for proving that the 4th estate is capable of work and rational thought as well as pragmatism.
his voters might not personally believe they are a racist, a mysogynist, or even a facist as did many white males with economic anxiety in the US. . But with their vote they elevated a racist (well several of them actually), a whole bunch of mysogysnists (religious fundamentals and their idea of aborting satanic babies with prayer) and facists (authoritarian is my preferred term ) Mitch Mc Connell – staking the court with very young, very right wing religious fundamentalists, while holding up the seating of a Justive cause 'election year' .
And it will be the same here. If the only way the No Mates Party can win is by promising men – white men – that they will enact laws that will benefit them at the cost of all 'others' women, not white people, not heteronormal people, children, sick and disabled people, then frankly the shoe fits, and you should wear them proudly.
After all you will be the last to feel the consequences, you being a white male. 🙂
Yes, Bradbury is a bit of a rant artist, but in among the chaff there is often a piece of wheat. This excerpt for example:
What Jacinda SHOULD have said is, ‘We appreciate in a democracy people have diverse thoughts and differences of opinion, so this election let us be mindful that we may disagree with each other but we do so in a bond of tolerance and kindness, let us not fall down the dark corridors of spite and rancour and come together to build a better NZ on universal values that benefit all of us and not just some of us.”
Bradbury rhetoric for sure and needs to be more succinct, but they are the sentiments Ardern should emphasize. Half of the population won't even know what she means when she talks about "relentless positivity".
Imo, Ardern and her ministers are duty bound to counter irresponsible scare-mongering of which your party Wayne is indulging in at rapidly increasing levels. We've seen a case of it in recent days where National's health spokesman, Woodhouse bleated about the government not taking the steps needed to control the coronavirus outbreak, when all the steps had already been set in motion.
That was blatant scare-mongering for political purposes.
You can't wave a wand and hey presto… in a shower of twinkly stars and bell-like noises the family reappears in NZ. What's the bet Foreign Affairs have been working non stop on the project for the past 48 hours and our leading political con-artist, Simon Bridges knows it.
Creating disharmony and fear out of something so serious when they should be supporting the government wherever they can is disgraceful.
If the government wafts on being relentlessly positive and does not counter this type of behaviour then they are on a hiding to nothing at the end of the year.
Same from me. Bradbury has a smart mind and his heart is in the right place, but boy could he do with a hard working editor sometimes.
But yes, that paragraph you quote is a gem. It captures what I hope more and more people across the spectrum are realising … that progressives and conservatives need each other in order to be successful. The analogy with a rugby team is reasonably apt, the progressive backs all over the paddock, flashy and fast, the conservative forwards grinding away doing the hard slow yards in set pieces. Each getting it’s phase of play, each contributing to the outcome.
#metoo. Plus he's due for a mid-life crisis if he's not already indulging in one. But I note, he promises to be a little kinder in one of his posts. Let's hope he doesn't go too namby pamby
Go back to the research I was quoting yesterday and indeed it’s plain the functional role of right wing people is to be cautious and defensive. In a dangerous world these are legitimate responses, but they're also easily exploited to invoke fear and hatred.
What counters this? Messages that reassure and sooth them, keep the narrative familiar and safe. When a new idea is introduced, link it strongly to something that's already known to work. Convey the sense that their social conservatism is a good, reliable platform for our society, drop all intellectual arrogance and above all don't moralise to them.
Maybe Wayne is exactly correct and we should listen.
Social media has a minor impact on most peoples lives. The idea that the right can mobilise a novel angry army of white men simply by rarking them up on social media over culture war issues is nonsense in the NZ context.
First of all, we've always had high voting turnouts, whiich goes a long way to moderating the impact of highly mobilised voting groups. And the USA and UK both have significantly skewed electoral systems that amplified their rightward shunt outcomes. Remember, MMP is based on a system expressly designed to limit the impact of extremist politics.
Secondly, NZ has a relatively high minimum wage , reasonably high employment rates, no legacy rust belts and was not badly hit by the GFC. Our wage growth over the last twenty years has not stagnated or gone backward as in the the USA and UK. The "angry white guy" constituency overseas has been swelled by economic decline and here it simply doesn't have those numbers.
Third, NZ does not have a fascist billionaire media. Our MSM are often little more than a bunch of ignorant right wing clowns, but they do not push an ideologically fascist agenda like the Murdoch papers or Fox News do.
Fourth, Maori operate as a significant centre of non-state power and as a handbrake on racism. The NZ identity is built significantly on the national myth of racial inclusiveness – to a large extent racism is not seen as patriotic nativism but rather as disloyal chauvinism.
That's a very good comprehensive critique, and I tend to agree with each point you've made. I suspect the groundswell here will indeed be significantly less than in the USA for the reasons you have given.
Nonetheless, white kiwi males are only being specifically catered to by National, and that's a reflection on the political competence of the other parties. As one of those pakeha guys, I'm unlikely to be impressed by National's efforts (usually banal) but I'm equally unimpressed by the covert discrimination evident in the way they are being given the majority by default.
So that they don't default to National, is the short answer. But actually, I was not intending to imply any such spelling exercise. Subtle framing ought to suffice. Enough to make the guys feel they are not being deliberately excluded.
You know, when you think about it, there's no reason in principle that they ought to be ignored as a group. A genuinely inclusive political frame would recognise that fact. It's been obvious to me for many years that the Greens' voter base has been artificially suppressed by identity politics – equity framing would redress that short-sightedness.
This sounds awfully like some men loudly demanding an official men's day every time the women's one rolls around. The retort is usually that every other day is one already.
Old white men are far from victims. Pull the other one.
I wasn't talking about old white men, so you ought to avoid allowing your prejudices to put words in my mouth. Re-read what I wrote to establish that! Nor was I intending to imply males are victims. That would be a fatuous over-generalisation, right?
Just making the point that politics is a numbers game, and not catering for one of the biggest political groups is dumb politics…
Fair enough. I was just trying to sound a warning re Nats getting leverage. Not just the resentful ones – you know the contagion effect? If pakeha guys were to soak up the idea that the Nats are their default tribe, they would tend to share that view with others. Seems to have already happened stateside & Trump capitalised. I'm averse to the effect happening here.
19 November, apparently. Has a wikipedia page and everything.
The reality that International Mens Day exists does not seem to shut them up, though.
Sums it all up, in my opinion – inadequate little boys screaming at how worse off they are than the people whose mistreatment they profit from, even though it's painfully obvious that they have at least the same privileges as everyone else.
"National's campaign manager Paula Bennett denied her party's online "memes" are misleading (despite two rulings from the Advertising Standards Authority that say different) by using the phrase, "an interpretation about how figures are used." One woman's falsehoods being another woman's "interpretation", I guess."
Well, yeah, that's the case much of the time. It's not as if people cite proof when asserting facts. Nobody believes credibility is that important!!
Paula Bennetts lies being a sensible white centrists man "interpretation", You guess right.
see there i fixed you typo.
Cause that sorry excuse for a human being is not trying to appeal to us, she is trying to appeal to the nice sensible males that are being alienated by the 'woke thing'.
Yeah I know she's doing that. Like I pointed out, politics isn't about truth. If it were, politicians would alway provide proof that their claims are true. That almost never happens. So leftists moaning about her spin are wasting their time.
Then you should have said it correctly. Frankly leave us 'women' out of this bullshit.
She ain't appealing to us, she is lying to you. Centrists white male who are afraid of the woke thing. That is the new 'economically anxious white working class' of NZ rigth?
I did say it correctly: I did not refer to women in my original comment. I'm not sure why you are so confused. I have no problem with you believing she is a liar – that's your choice. I'm just pointing out why others see her as advocating an interpretation. In politics, competing interpretations carry more weight than facts.
I'm pretty convinced Denis has never assumed you would support Benett's politics because she is a woman. However you clearly assume he supports Bridges politics because he is a man (assume Pakeha).
This is a huge aspect of the woke alienation narrative. Its also a logically incoherent understanding of politics.
As a women i pointed out to Dennis ( who may or may not be a male, be white, be progressive or not who cares) that as a women i don't see her advocating an interpretation but an outright lie. And that frankly most women in NZ see her doing just that. Lying, on behalf of the National Party to the detriment of women and children everywhere in this country. Most women have not forgotten 'there is no housing crisis' 'zip it sweety' 'dole bludgers' etc Paula Bennet. I and a few women i know see her for what she is. A person utterly devoid of ethics and morals who will at any cost enrich herself and keep her tax payer funded wages for her thousand dollar shoes. And the same counts for the National Party.
This interpretation of 'my freedom fighter' is your terrorists thing was a nice try but did not work – and frankly was offensive considering that women do not vote in majority for Paula Bennet and the No Mates Party.
And if i am to alienate a white economically anxious centrists male, then the guy ain't centrist and I am not his issue. I am by far not a radical. I have never advocated for rights to be removed from men, i have never advocated to have the reproductive freedoms of men to be regulated by law, i have never advocated to make a medical procedure that only is needed by men into a criminal act requiring the certification of three doctors to obtain one, i have never earned 1 dollar to the 70+ cents of a men, i have never overlooked a male for promotion, i have never called a bloke a nice piece of ass publicly on radio, i have never pulled the hair of a waiter to bring him to the point of crying, I have never outed the name of some beneficiaries, i have never proposed to force birth control on men recieving a benefit, i have never cut a benefit because a man don't want to declare the name of the mother of his child and so on and so on and to boot and i know how to make some really nice sandwiches. And these are all things that are advocated for and fought for by men who would consider themselves 'centrists'.
So no i am not the reason for your 'centrists white male' to be alienated by the left – and consider as well that i don't see my self as someone on 'the left'. I see myself as someone who is left behind by all the established parties and that i generally don't vote myself but for the lesser evil.
But your concern is noted, and i will try really hard to not be the reason for a centrist white male to vote for the National Party and Paula Bennet. lol. .
I think your making a really obvious mistake in assuming that the nations pale stale males reflexively support the national party politics and form their primary voter base.
The resulting generalisations make a mockery of any discussions put about both politics and actual existing discrimination. A lot of people just find it very off putting being told what they supposedly believe politically due to (or being due to) their skin color, age or gender.
"The CFR's Top Conflicts to Watch in 2020 report was issued even as China provocatively sent its navy-controlled coast guard and militia-operated fishing fleets deep into Indonesia's exclusive economic zone. Jakarta responded with combat aircraft and warships. Beijing eventually backed down, withdrawing its fleet to the edge of Indonesian waters."
"The CFR's Preventive Priorities Survey found foreign policy experts believe more flashpoints are "likely to require a US military response for 2020 than in …. the last eleven years." And while it is increasingly engaging in great power competition with China, its continuing ability to reassure its Asian allies is being questioned."
"The United States cannot reverse China's militarisation of the South China Sea. Beijing has succeeded in shifting the balance of power in this waterway in its favour," Dr Rapp-Hooper writes. "Washington can, however, return to a coalition-based strategy that aims to keep the South China Sea open and to reduce the likelihood that the long-simmering disputes spiral into full-blown conflict."
"This would require high-level support and engagement in regional forums, such as ASEAN, as well as strengthening ties to those aggrieved by Beijing ambitions."
Right, so Trump's withdrawal into US traditional isolationism will be tested in his election year. His Secretary of State will be even more tested – competence in multipolar diplomacy will be required!
That will make be interesting – if non-American news staff aren't protected under the first amendment then American newspapers won't be able to publish their work as the newspapers insurance rates for legal proceedings will go through the roof. It will be interesting to see if publishers and media outlets join the case to protect their interests.
They haven't so far, so I'm not expecting a change from them. Your right though, they should. But I'm guessing they all too far gone to make a stand now.
I'm puzzled that Trump is able to prevent the Senate from getting at the facts. Impeachment is clearly a joke if their system allows the decision to be made on the basis of suppressed evidence. The principle of transparent governance ought to apply.
"According to reports, Bolton opposed the withholding of security aid to Ukraine, and tried unsuccessfully to convince the president to release the military aid during an Oval Office meeting. "This is in America's interest," the former national security adviser told the president, according to the New York Times, as he argued the aid should be provided to Ukraine. The aid was eventually released – a day after Bolton acrimoniously left the White House." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51230984
"The pressure has grown following the report of a potentially explosive claim Bolton is said to make in a new book. The New York Times cited a leaked Bolton manuscript as saying that Trump told him he wanted to freeze aid to Ukraine until Kyiv helped with investigations against the Democrats, including former Vice-President Joe Biden."
"Bolton, a Republican, is an unlikely hero for Democrats. Still, they believe he will act as a star witness, one who will provide irrefutable evidence of wrongdoing by Trump and help bolster the case for his removal from office."
"Yale-educated Bolton, 71, was national security adviser from 2018-19. He was "personally involved" in the president's dealings with the Ukrainian officials, according to Bolton's lawyer. The former national security adviser was "at the nerve centre for all important decisions", says Matthew Spence, a former deputy assistant secretary of defence."
"Democrats believe the former national security adviser could provide the smoking gun. "Bolton was present during the crime," says Evelyn Farkas, who served as top Russia official during the Obama administration and is now running as a Democrat for a congressional seat in New York. "And he knew that it was a crime at the time.""
"Bolton has said publicly he would testify if he gets a legal summons… Senators will vote on the matter of witnesses in the coming days."
This account worked hard to magnify the harassment of a sexual assault survivor and now he’s boasting about having gotten her suspended. I want to be clear that only one person is behaving badly here and it’s not Felicia. https://t.co/2YMsz0qnEv
this award-winning journalist is magnifying a hate storm against a sexual assault survivor whose reaction to the death of Kobe Bryant did not meet his standards
All of us have been around the Internet long enough to know what happens when women get targeted like this. There’s no excuse for it.
I saw it yesterday but didn’t want to tweet until I had sat on it for a day or so.
Can someone please explain how putting so much money into roading stimulates the economy? (we don't actually know what the roading spend will be on yet though). As opposed to say poverty relief via direct transfers to people who will spend it immediately?
Ask these guys: "Treasury believes the benefits of this will be seen in increased GDP growth, which is expected to lift by 1.4 per cent (or $3.9 billion) over the next four years thanks to the package."
I gather that dept employs economists to calculate the sums & devise a rationale plausible enough to satisfy ministers & bedazzle Labour/National voters. Grant obviously is very satisfied, and I suspect Shane & Winston are too. The Greens will be mulling it over. Marama: "Can I call it another dead rat?? Please?"
Okay, I'd ask Michael Reddell (https://croakingcassandra.com/) which I've done once or twice in the past. Either email your question or suggest he write a column on it. Scan down today's column on his site until you come to the cartoon – you'll see he's that most unusual of creatures, an economist with a sense of humour!
The only reasons they might be keen on roading are political:
1) Neutralises Nat promises to stupidly spend more on last century's priorities. Like the self-imposed fiscal handcuffs this term.
2) Roading agencies have built up a handy pipeline of low-value road projects under the last govt which will not take years more to plan and consent before they can start being built and people notice the dirt piling up. Public transit projects have no such pipeline. Both take too long to provide any short term stimulus, but financiers love them so there's that.
It would be a crying waste of an opportunity to spend up large on the wrong priorities for such spurious reasons. Our future economy and society needs other sorts of infrastructure before roads. Climate change demands other infrastructure.
I feel like I must be missing something. Because on the face of it it seems horribly wrong to spend half the amount on roading instead of climate and people.
Hopefully the journos have just been interviewing their own typewriters or passing on hopeful whispers from the Nats..
Water is another obvious long-term infrastructure spend, though it probably depends too much on Winston letting the Greens get a win.
Wouldn’t you love to see the looks on some of the regressive farming cheerleaders at a govt calling their bluff on cleaning up urban waterways rather than rural irrigation like the last lot funded instead.
Nope. Just some big overall numbers and journalists who are either privy to stuff they shouldn't be or taking their lead from the opposition. History suggests the latter.
Bullshit – you should check the facts before spouting forth.
An overview of the likely Infrastructure package etc was released by the government on 30 Nov and 12 Dec 2019 and was widely covered by the media and other blogs at the time.
Here are links to the announcements and some media reports last Nov/Dec. Plenty more reports at the time on Stuff, ODT, Newsroom, Newshub etc and posts on Pundit amongst other blogs if you google 'Grant Robertson Infrastructure' for example.
Spending priorities are just an indication of govt preferences. There is nothing more tangible to it.
There is a theory that by paying less in benefits you are incentivising work. This follows from another theory (assumed true) that unemployment is ultimately due to the unemployeds preference for leisure and could find jobs if they wanted/tried harder. This was the main intellectual basis for the early 90s benefit cuts. This is ultimately the argument Treasury might put against welfare spending but its at least an unpopular idea so they would probably have it behind closed doors.
In reality its probably the case that there is sufficient slack in the economy to absorb both. E.g there is a point when all the unemployed could find work if they wanted it, but i dont believe the economy is near it at present. The main stream economic theory assumes that the economy automatically adjusts to reach that state, which is a problematic assumption.
It probably doesn't have much difference to GDP between the two.
There's a large proportion of the cash going to make real things in the economy, rather than just boost the speculative pile. What the roading would have is a boost in productivity from people who use the road which would be additional to the money directly injected into the economy. Assuming a positive return on investment for the road.
Not sure what the parallel of that productivity boost would be for direct transfers to beneficiaries.
yeah, everyone, but particularly transport drivers incl passengers. If it knocks 5 minutes off their commute, that's five more minutes they have in the day. If an airport shuttle driver does 8 trips a day, a five minute trip saving might stretch that to 9 trips. Five minutes less of a commute for an office worker means five more minutes to buy from stores or spebd at work.
Jeeze, that's really depressing. I'm guessing they're not counting the five minutes freed up so someone can breathe, or read their kid a bed time story.
When you consider that then its pretty clear to understand that tax withdraws income from somebody and when the govt pays somebody their income increases. Note, nobody is actually in the govt sector here even if they work in the public sector its still their income.
So when the govt spends more GDP goes up, and when they tax/collect more it goes down.
Bear in mind however that we are somewhat interested in inflation adjusted GDP which doesn't work in so simple a way.
If you want to be more objective then you need to look at the capacity to absorb more spending by sector. Looking at greening the economy the govt may need to reduce spending in some sectors allowing it to increase its own (on more sustainable basis).
I would be surprised it this was really considered by the treasury analysis in detail. Their headline model of the economy only has one sector for starters.
For example fuel taxes probably have some impact on fuel consumption. But most impactful would be allowing less of a particular activity by regulation. Maybe then replacing it. Here they could for example restrict long hall transport by weight on the road network while increasing rail freight capacity.
The headline treasury model is a DSGE model of the economy. Its called Matai. Basically such models use equilibrium analysis which assumes you can model the economy as if only one good is produced and consumed.
Taking freight off our roads on to rail is the way of the future lowering our carbon footprint in the process.
That's awesome Fonterra changing one of its milk dryers from coal to wood pallets made from sawdust that would normally be dumped = to taking 33000 cars off our roads.
We need to legislate to minimise the waste we produce That's the logical way to sort that mess out.
Investments in our public hospitals is great as most Tangata Whenua can not afford to go to private hospitals when the healths system is going to take to long to treat them our whanau are passing quite young.
I agree broadcasting is very important and the merger of Radio NZ and TVNZ should have Maori including in the changes to make sure our broadcasting organisations are not put at a disadvantage by the changes.
Alcohol is bad for our health in many ways.
Its great that plastics is being banned in fresh produce.
Praiseing our children is a good way to lift their wairua in schools.
There would not have been enough putea for the governments to spend this much on infrastructure if they gave tax cuts.
People have to realise that our good fortunes are directly linked to our weather and environment we must do all we can to minimise our impact on the weather Ben.
Ka pai to Coke for reducing the sugar in their drinks but it would be nice if they could pay a bounty for their plastic waste to be recycled.
Tova they had sewage leaking in the walls of A hospital.
I still say that company's should be paying to dispose of their own plastic waste clean up their own mess.
Everyone should minimise there Wai use all year not just in a dry year. Leave some off our Wai taonga for our Wai wildlife.
Whare tuhua looks like a good way to keep some Rangatahi who made mistakes away from the harder people that can teach them bad habits.
Great mahi BBM helping Pacific and Maori tangata lose weight and live a longer life in the process to guide there whanau for decades longer through this system.
Drones herding sheep the Ion age is here and now I seen some muppets from Tauranga use drones to take a fishing line out 350 metres from shore and drop it.
That's a mean feat rowing from Chile to Antarctic.
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. IT’S SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
From white-collar crims to famous rappers, President Trump is to issue about 100 pardons on his final full day in office, buying protection from incriminating revelations. ...
Applaud the social media silencing of Donald Trump if you must, but be careful what you wish for, writes Matt Bartlett of the University of Auckland. The sighs of relief from all around the world were almost palpable when Donald Trump’s Twitter account was permanently banned this month. Twitter, Facebook, ...
Matteo Di Maio investigates what MPs have been filling their heads with over the summer holidays What have our lords and masters been reading on the beach during the summer holidays? What books have filled their heads, given them ideas, expanded their horizons? Eight prominent politicians have revealed their choice ...
Are the continent’s coronavirus statistics as good as they appear? Felix Geiringer looks at the numbers, and why whether they reflect the reality matters. Living in Africa during Covid times, one of the questions I am asked most often is this: how has Africa done so well?At the start of September, ...
With new strains of Covid-19 bearing down on our shores, Pattrick Smellie of BusinessDesk looks at the challenges 2021 has in store, and what can be done to prepare.In the three weeks that New Zealanders have been at the beach and ignoring Covid tracer app sign-ins, the threat of Covid-19 ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticised the Indonesian government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo for its weak health response to covid-19 which has brought Indonesia to its knees since March 2020, reports CNN Indonesia. The assessment is based on Indonesia’s poor rates of testing and tracing ...
By The National in Port Moresby An expatriate who tested positive for the covid-19 coronavirus last week has been admitted to a private hospital in the Papua New Guinea capital of Port Moresby, an official has confirmed. Pacific International Hospital (PIH) chief executive officer Colonel Sandeep Shaligram toldThe National the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathan Bartlett, Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle Reports of about 30 deaths among elderly nursing home residents who received the Pfizer vaccine have made international headlines. With Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) expected to approve the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Culum Brown, Professor, Macquarie University How do gills work? Tully, aged 7 Great question, Tully! Animals on land breathe air, which is made up of different gasses. Oxygen is one of these gases, and is made by plants (hug ...
Dairy prices increased by 3.9% across the board at the latest Fonterra global auction. The lift followed rises of 1.3% and 4.3% in the December auctions which took dairy prices to their highest level in 11 months, defying those analysts who believed Covid-19 had disrupted dairy markets. In the latest ...
America's Cup team American Magic has spoken publicly after their boat Patriot capsized when on its way to their first win of the Challenger Selection Series yesterday. Patriot dramatically capsized yesterday, becoming temporarily airborne before crashing back into the water and tipping. The boat, helmed by New Zealander Dean Barker, could not be ...
It’s a seemingly age old question: why do Auckland’s beaches become unswimmable after every single downpour? Stewart Sowman-Lund investigates.Ah, the beach. A staple of the New Zealand summer. Unless, of course, you’re based in Auckland and it’s raining. The start of 2021 has been a lot like every other New ...
We have opened a book, among members of the Point of Order team, on how long it will be before the PM offers to sort out the land dispute at Wellington’s Shelly Bay and (to win the double) how much the settlement will cost taxpayers. Just a few weeks ago ...
Breakfast TV news is back for 2021, and Tara Ward got up early to watch. “Thank god it’s almost Christmas,” John Campbell said during the opening minutes of Breakfast’s premiere episode of the year. “2021’s been rough so far. I’m buggered”. We’re all buggered, to be fair, but I’m worried that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Pearson, Professor of Journalism and Social Media, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Griffith University The blame for the recent assault on the US Capitol and President Donald Trump’s broader dismantling of democratic institutions and norms can be ...
Despite a popular and unifying leader of the governing party, divisions both in policy and culture will test the progressive movement, writes Peter McKenzie.‘I think we’re confused.” Marlon Drake is an organiser for the Living Wage Movement. His job takes him all over Wellington, trying to convince businesses to increase ...
Covid-19 Recovery Minister Chris Hipkins says vaccinations should be available to the public by the middle of the year, but other countries are prioritised. ...
It’s as true now as it ever has been: nowhere else offers an education experience like that of Dunedin. But rather than resting on their laurels, the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic have plans to make the city an even more inspiring place for students.From high in the summit ...
Haggis, neeps and tatties and whisky may not be a traditional spread for a summer gathering in NZ, but trust Auckland city councillor and Kiwi-Scot Cathy Casey on this one. Gie it laldy! Rule one: Hold it on (or near) January 25Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759. Since the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University It could be argued artificial intelligence (AI) is already the indispensable tool of the 21st century. From helping doctors diagnose and treat patients to rapidly advancing new drug discoveries, it’s our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Kenny, Professor, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University Through recent natural disasters, global upheavals and a pandemic, Australia’s political centre has largely held. Australians may have disagreed at times, but they have also kept faith with governmental norms, eschewing the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Seale, Associate professor, UNSW Health workers are at higher risk of COVID infection and illness. They can also act as extremely efficient transmitters of viruses to others in medical and aged care facilities. That’s why health workers have been prioritised to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jim Orchard, Adjunct Lecturer, Monash University Last week, somewhat overshadowed by the events in Washington, the Democrats took control of the US Senate. The Democrats now hold a small majority in both the House and the Senate until 2022, giving President-elect Joe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mittul Vahanvati, Lecturer, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University Heatwaves, floods, bushfires: disaster season is upon us again. We can’t prevent hazards or climate change-related extreme weather events but we can prepare for them — not just as individuals ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mandie Shean, Lecturer, School of Education, Edith Cowan University Starting school is an important event for children and a positive experience can set the tone for the rest of their school experience. Some children are excited to attend school for the first ...
Some families in emergency housing are reporting their children are becoming emotionally distressed because of their living conditions. Demand for emergency accommodation has escalated this past year with the number of emergency housing grants increasing by half. Data showed nearly 10,000 people were given an Emergency Housing Special Needs Grant between ...
Summer reissue: Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden are back for a second season of On the Rag, and where better to start than with the mysterious, exhausting world of wellness?First published June 23, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
With few Covid-19 infections and negiligible natural immunity, New Zealand faces being a victim of its own success when it is left till last to get the vaccines, argues Dr Parmjeet Parmar. ...
Steve Braunias reports on a literary cancelling. The Corrections department has refused to allow Jared Savage's best-selling book Gangland inside prison on the grounds that it "promotes violence and drug use". An inmate at Otago Corrections Facility in Dunedin was sent a copy of the book – but it was ...
New data from the CTU’s annual work life survey shows a snapshot of working people’s experiences and outlook heading out of 2020 and into the new year. Concerningly 42% of respondents cite workplace bullying as an issue in their workplace - a number ...
The dramatic capsize of American Magic brought out the best in the America's Cup sailing fraternity. But, Suzanne McFadden asks, what does it mean to the crippled New York Yacht Club campaign and to the Prada Cup? It was a scene as unreal as it was calamitous. Right at the moment the ...
An international player, selector and self-confessed cricket stats nerd, Penny Kinsella has now played a hand in recording the rich history of the women's game in New Zealand. Penny Kinsella’s cricketing career was perched on the cusp of change for the White Ferns. “My first tour to Australia, we ...
The current number of members of parliament is starting to get too low for the job we expect them to do, argues Alex Braae. As a general rule, with the possible exception of their families, nobody likes backbench MPs. But it’s nevertheless time we accepted that parliament should have more of ...
The experience in the Brazilian city of Manaus reveals how mistaken, and dangerous, the herd-immunity-by-infection theory really is. As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop ...
As New Zealand gears up to fight climate change, experts warn that we need to actually reduce emissions, not just plant trees to offset our greenhouse gases. ...
A nationwide poll has found majority support for the government to continue to closely monitor abortions in New Zealand and the reasons for it, despite the Ministry of Health recently suggesting that there is not a use for collecting much of this information. ...
The out-of-control growth in gangs, gun crime, and violent gang activity is exposing our communities to dangerous levels of violence that will inevitably end in tragedy, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The recent incidents of people being shot and ...
Successive governments have paid lip service to our productivity challenge but have failed to deliver. It's time to establish a Productivity Council charged with prioritising efforts. ...
Understanding the connection between chronic fatigue syndrome and ‘long Covid’ might be helpful in treating symptoms that doctors will find all too easy to dismiss.When people began to report signs of “long Covid”, characterised by a lack of full recovery from the virus and debilitating fatigue, I recognised their stories. ...
Nadine Anne Hura, who never considered herself an artist, reflects on what art and making has taught her.I couldn’t clean or cook or wash the clothes, but I could sew. That’s a lie, I’m a terrible sewer, but I left work early to fossick around in the $1 bin of ...
Summer reissue: In the final episode of this season of Bad News, Alice is joined by Billy T award winner Kura Forrester to look at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2020.First published September 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
Lucy Revill’s The Residents is a blog about daily life in Wellington that has morphed into a stylish, low-key coffee-table book featuring interviews and photographic portraits of 38 Wellingtonians. In this extract, Revill profiles Eboni Waitere, owner and executive director of Huia Publishers. The Residents features names like Monique Fiso ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
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"Facebook and Cambridge Analytica suddenly had hundreds of data points to know how to precisely push those angry white non voters into rage fuelled voting machines. This manipulation of white male anger become the driving force that saw Trump win, Brexit win and Scott Morrison win. This is the playbook National are drawing from." https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/01/27/has-labour-misinterpreted-their-own-polling-why-national-will-never-sign-up-to-facebook-transparency/
White guys. Nats' secret weapon. Alienated by the woke, championed by the bomber, definitely a space to watch this year! 😎
Your reference is to yet another Martyn Bradbury rant. Basically saying all National voters are racist, fascist, misogynists. Not really a way to persuade people to change their votes.
Well, there is that. But what I intended was to point at the empty space. I've been watching the woke thing alienate sensible white centrist males for many years now – from the perspective of someone who long ago supported the very same causes that produced the woke lunatic fringe.
You'd think that people would realise that alienating such a huge political constituency is extremely stupid. But they don't. Case in point: the Green Party, which I remain an ambivalent member of.
Mobilising white males as a political force seems the obvious thing to do, whichever party one supports. Default ignoring has been going on too long. I suspect they'll be the dark horse in the election race this year.
Right, so people who belong to minorities should go get fucked because male pale stale . That not progressive.
Why jump to that conclusion?? I'd rather have a tolerant, inclusive society thanks. I've been part of the progressive political movement working for that since I was a teenager in the 1960s. The rainbow coalition was conceptualised as a political frame in the 1970s on that basis. The various minorities of political significance were viewed as analogous to the colours in the rainbow.
I get that minority resentment of perceived white male pakeha hegemony was understandable back then, but I doubt that embedding it as a grievance to be carried for anyone's entire life is good for their mental health.
You can't have it both ways. Standing up for minority rights makes the bigots angry. When you say I've been watching the woke thing alienate sensible white centrist males for many years now you sound like one of them.
That's just your interpretation. Are you trying to suggest bigots are sensible white centrist males ? I wouldn't do that if I were you – nobody is likely to agree. Sensible folk don't do bigotry. And they do support minority rights!
No, you are the one who suggested that bigots are sensible. Truly Sensible people would not be bothered by minority rights
Bullshit. You know you can't reproduce anything I wrote to prove that! I agree sensible people aren't bothered by minority rights – in fact I even wrote that they support them in my previous comment!!
What you are up against here is the rule that only white males can be racist, sexist bigots.
There was an interesting incident recently (can't be arsed linking to it) where a visiting black cricket player was racially abused by a fan, and the game authorities rightly followed it up. Turned out the fan was an Indian and his defense was that 'only white people can be racist'.
When a person of colour is poor it's called 'oppression' and this is treated with righteous outrage. When a white male is poor it gets sneered at as 'economic anxiety'.
It's all a frank bigotry really.
You said I've been watching the woke thing alienate sensible white centrist males. Why would such people be alienated by minority rights?
I don't believe they are. I believe they have been alienated by the toxic culture generated by the woke. Male non-rapists are offended by claims that `all men are rapists', for instance.
@RedLogix
You are making shit up. I have never said that only white males can be racist, sexist bigots or anything that would suggest that.
you are either a sensible white centrists and then 'woke' thing (humans i guess? maybe women? maybe not white centrists? maybe not white straight white centrists?) don't alienate you because as a 'sensible' white centrists you would know that the 'woke' thing is literally just people demanding and insisting in the same rights, place, space and pay sensible white centrists get.
the biggest threat to democracy is white male voting against the rights of all others cause they believe that they are owed more then any other group of people.
Also, please define ' sensible centrists white male' is that like you and Simon Bridges? Or is that like Bill English who thinks double dipping is fine when you are a minister of parliament but is criminal when a single women with children were to do that? Or is John Key a sensible white male? Or the shooter of the Christchurch Moschee? Or maybe Donald Trump is a sensible white male? Are you a sensible white male with economic anxiety?
.
I've never met any white male pakeha who believe "they are owed more then any other group of people." Anyone who thinks Trump is sensible is probably American. No I don't have "economic anxiety".
All those wacky notions of yours seem to come from over-generalisations and misperceptions. Politics works better if you deal with real people, not hallucinations.
That's because male Pākehā know that they're entitled to more then any other group of people.
Inherited privilege derived from social context? Yeah, that's a thing. I agree it is likely to operate in the sub-concious, and perhaps sometimes become evident as tacit sub-text.
A flimsy basis upon which the popular sport of calling someone racist who isn't seems to be based. You wouldn't get far citing hypotheticals from the subconscious in a court of law – but that doesn't stop some leftists from trying it on, eh? 🙄
I'm not sure I've ever met anyone who said that "all men are rapists", either.
Even the ones who argued that true consent is impossible in a patriarchal capitalist society had a more nuanced approach than you portray.
remove the hallucinations from your own eye and all that.
But basically, if you "mobilise" the anti-woke, what political movement do you really think you'll get? A revolutionary mobilisation built around the people who already have the socioeconomic dominance in society?
I recall one woman talking about how things had improved a little bit from the days when marxists would meet up, talk revolution and equality, and it was always the women who were expected to make the post-meeting cuppa. You seem to be wanting to put those guys back in charge, the ones who left in a sulk because they were asked to do the dishes after one meeting, or to not call someone a "fag" during the discussion.
Nor me. I cite the phrase due to media reports of its usage. Evidence that it has achieved currency, and is thus indicative of a mind-set. So no hallucination on my part with that!
Re mobilising, I wasn't advocating such activism. Just acknowledgement and inclusion is all the situation requires. People need to feel they are part of things, so democracy ought to accept their group identity as such.
Re your last paragraph, do you recall back in the day of women's lib & the Black Panthers, one of the latter was asked by the media "What is the position of women in the revolution?" and he answered "prone". Got the headline!
Eldridge Cleaver, I think, but long time ago & I increasingly distrust my memory on details. Anyway, no crazy oscillation from one extreme to another, just parity…
lol "media reports of its usage". Hosking and Trotter…
The woke already acknowledge tha anti-woke. Including the anti-woke is more difficult, because by doing so would be an act of exclusion of the folks the anti-woke like to exclude. Because calling out ~ist or ~phobic language sadly excludes ~ist or ~phobic people.
I don't get what you're trying to say. Why bring binary framing into it when I already specified the holistic frame?? Pakeha guys aren't big on presenting as a tribe, are they? Yet Trump won by treating them as one.
Learn the lesson. It's been around for three whole years already. Identity politics motivates people. The Nats could win that group by default unless the three parties in govt engage them. Not rocket science.
It's pretty obvious, surely – if you're trying to be inclusive to people who routinely treat people different to them like shit (whether intentionally or obliviously) or who can't deal with shit-treaters being called out on that behaviour, then you're excluding people different to them who don't want to be treated like shit.
In other words, "sensible white centrist males" who are alienated by the "woke thing" can only be included by not being "woke". Which sooner or later excludes everyone other than sensible white centrist males who are alienated by the woke thing.
But the group I'm talking about don't go around treating people like shit. They tend to be typical kiwi males: relaxed, friendly, considerate etc. Most of them are apolitical. Either vote govts out if they get the feeling that it's time for a change, or vote for a leader who they can identify with. So subtle factors can shift them easily. That's the danger of the Nats capturing them by default that concerns me.
Even if they don't treat people like shit, they are "alienated" by woke people pointing out shit treatment.
The only way to not alienate them is to therefore say and do nothing about shit treatment.
I don't think your typical kiwi male is considerate. Most flatly refuse to even try to pronounce Maori words correctly, to give an obvious example.
Im a centrist, I don’t feel alienated.
but I’m also an adult and I ignore the things that supposedly will alienate me.
On the plus side I can read what ever I like without being triggered or suspecting a vast right wing (nzh) or left wing (guardian) mind control experiment
You seem sensible. Given that, I'd be interested to read your take on election year, both here & in the USA, in regard to how identity politics will play out for white males in general, and centrists in particular.
Like, for instance, is any particular white male politician here providing a suitable role model, and how are they doing that?
Grant Robertson ain't too bad.
i wrote a response earlier but seems to have been lost
Grant robertson, Chris Bishop, James Shaw. if they have to be white and male.
Grant robertson, Chris Bishop, James Shaw, Jacinda Adern, Paula Bennet and Kris Faafoi if the requirement is centrist without letting their "characteristics" define them. which is the best form of being involved in politics.
Jacinda has brought us understanding, Robertson financial acumen, James shaw has combined robertson with an understanding of how economics needs to relate to the physical environment, Bishop for getting past "im hutt and labour" and "I'm whiten and national", bennett for removing the stigma of being from the west and showing us what work ethic means. these people, taking the best from each, typify what New Zealand is and can achieve. Centrism is great, once you stop pigeon holing what party mp's represent and accolading the work they do
edit: Faafoi, for proving that the 4th estate is capable of work and rational thought as well as pragmatism.
Its a bit like voting for Trump,
his voters might not personally believe they are a racist, a mysogynist, or even a facist as did many white males with economic anxiety in the US. . But with their vote they elevated a racist (well several of them actually), a whole bunch of mysogysnists (religious fundamentals and their idea of aborting satanic babies with prayer) and facists (authoritarian is my preferred term ) Mitch Mc Connell – staking the court with very young, very right wing religious fundamentalists, while holding up the seating of a Justive cause 'election year' .
And it will be the same here. If the only way the No Mates Party can win is by promising men – white men – that they will enact laws that will benefit them at the cost of all 'others' women, not white people, not heteronormal people, children, sick and disabled people, then frankly the shoe fits, and you should wear them proudly.
After all you will be the last to feel the consequences, you being a white male. 🙂
Yes, Bradbury is a bit of a rant artist, but in among the chaff there is often a piece of wheat. This excerpt for example:
Bradbury rhetoric for sure and needs to be more succinct, but they are the sentiments Ardern should emphasize. Half of the population won't even know what she means when she talks about "relentless positivity".
Imo, Ardern and her ministers are duty bound to counter irresponsible scare-mongering of which your party Wayne is indulging in at rapidly increasing levels. We've seen a case of it in recent days where National's health spokesman, Woodhouse bleated about the government not taking the steps needed to control the coronavirus outbreak, when all the steps had already been set in motion.
That was blatant scare-mongering for political purposes.
Well said Anne.
thanks for that.
Oh look: the con-artists are at it again:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/national-calls-evacuation-kiwis-in-wuhan-amid-coronavirus-outbrea
You can't wave a wand and hey presto… in a shower of twinkly stars and bell-like noises the family reappears in NZ. What's the bet Foreign Affairs have been working non stop on the project for the past 48 hours and our leading political con-artist, Simon Bridges knows it.
Creating disharmony and fear out of something so serious when they should be supporting the government wherever they can is disgraceful.
If the government wafts on being relentlessly positive and does not counter this type of behaviour then they are on a hiding to nothing at the end of the year.
Attacks politics as we know it. Here’s some push-back: http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2020/01/national-cries-wolf-over-coronavirus.html
Thank-you Incognito. Excellent summing up by The Jackal.
Where's the government accusation that Simy wants 1919 influenza back?
Same from me. Bradbury has a smart mind and his heart is in the right place, but boy could he do with a hard working editor sometimes.
But yes, that paragraph you quote is a gem. It captures what I hope more and more people across the spectrum are realising … that progressives and conservatives need each other in order to be successful. The analogy with a rugby team is reasonably apt, the progressive backs all over the paddock, flashy and fast, the conservative forwards grinding away doing the hard slow yards in set pieces. Each getting it’s phase of play, each contributing to the outcome.
I have a confession to make. I do secretly enjoy Bradbury's diatribes. 😎
lol … yeah never said they weren't fun.
🙂
#metoo. Plus he's due for a mid-life crisis if he's not already indulging in one. But I note, he promises to be a little kinder in one of his posts. Let's hope he doesn't go too namby pamby
If only the left could figure how to engage fear and hate like the right has.
Oh they are too afraid to even just name the beast by its name.
But they are seriously good at appeasing and serving everything up luke warm for fear of 'offending'.
Go back to the research I was quoting yesterday and indeed it’s plain the functional role of right wing people is to be cautious and defensive. In a dangerous world these are legitimate responses, but they're also easily exploited to invoke fear and hatred.
What counters this? Messages that reassure and sooth them, keep the narrative familiar and safe. When a new idea is introduced, link it strongly to something that's already known to work. Convey the sense that their social conservatism is a good, reliable platform for our society, drop all intellectual arrogance and above all don't moralise to them.
Maybe Wayne is exactly correct and we should listen.
Bradbury projects like crazy in those pieces.
Social media has a minor impact on most peoples lives. The idea that the right can mobilise a novel angry army of white men simply by rarking them up on social media over culture war issues is nonsense in the NZ context.
First of all, we've always had high voting turnouts, whiich goes a long way to moderating the impact of highly mobilised voting groups. And the USA and UK both have significantly skewed electoral systems that amplified their rightward shunt outcomes. Remember, MMP is based on a system expressly designed to limit the impact of extremist politics.
Secondly, NZ has a relatively high minimum wage , reasonably high employment rates, no legacy rust belts and was not badly hit by the GFC. Our wage growth over the last twenty years has not stagnated or gone backward as in the the USA and UK. The "angry white guy" constituency overseas has been swelled by economic decline and here it simply doesn't have those numbers.
Third, NZ does not have a fascist billionaire media. Our MSM are often little more than a bunch of ignorant right wing clowns, but they do not push an ideologically fascist agenda like the Murdoch papers or Fox News do.
Fourth, Maori operate as a significant centre of non-state power and as a handbrake on racism. The NZ identity is built significantly on the national myth of racial inclusiveness – to a large extent racism is not seen as patriotic nativism but rather as disloyal chauvinism.
That's a very good comprehensive critique, and I tend to agree with each point you've made. I suspect the groundswell here will indeed be significantly less than in the USA for the reasons you have given.
Nonetheless, white kiwi males are only being specifically catered to by National, and that's a reflection on the political competence of the other parties. As one of those pakeha guys, I'm unlikely to be impressed by National's efforts (usually banal) but I'm equally unimpressed by the covert discrimination evident in the way they are being given the majority by default.
Why should parties spell out all their policies that apply to white men? Sounds a lot like 'identity politics'..
So that they don't default to National, is the short answer. But actually, I was not intending to imply any such spelling exercise. Subtle framing ought to suffice. Enough to make the guys feel they are not being deliberately excluded.
You know, when you think about it, there's no reason in principle that they ought to be ignored as a group. A genuinely inclusive political frame would recognise that fact. It's been obvious to me for many years that the Greens' voter base has been artificially suppressed by identity politics – equity framing would redress that short-sightedness.
This sounds awfully like some men loudly demanding an official men's day every time the women's one rolls around. The retort is usually that every other day is one already.
Old white men are far from victims. Pull the other one.
I wasn't talking about old white men, so you ought to avoid allowing your prejudices to put words in my mouth. Re-read what I wrote to establish that! Nor was I intending to imply males are victims. That would be a fatuous over-generalisation, right?
Just making the point that politics is a numbers game, and not catering for one of the biggest political groups is dumb politics…
not catering for one of the biggest political groups
Not convinced that resentful white men are a big group. And what would a party have to offer to be 'catering' for them?
Fair enough. I was just trying to sound a warning re Nats getting leverage. Not just the resentful ones – you know the contagion effect? If pakeha guys were to soak up the idea that the Nats are their default tribe, they would tend to share that view with others. Seems to have already happened stateside & Trump capitalised. I'm averse to the effect happening here.
19 November, apparently. Has a wikipedia page and everything.
The reality that International Mens Day exists does not seem to shut them up, though.
Sums it all up, in my opinion – inadequate little boys screaming at how worse off they are than the people whose mistreatment they profit from, even though it's painfully obvious that they have at least the same privileges as everyone else.
In the post-truth era "a Center For Public Affairs Research poll released in November showed 47 percent of Americans believe it's hard to know whether the information they are getting is true." https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/119012943/alison-mau-an-election-year-to-make-george-orwell-spin-in-his-grave
"National's campaign manager Paula Bennett denied her party's online "memes" are misleading (despite two rulings from the Advertising Standards Authority that say different) by using the phrase, "an interpretation about how figures are used." One woman's falsehoods being another woman's "interpretation", I guess."
Well, yeah, that's the case much of the time. It's not as if people cite proof when asserting facts. Nobody believes credibility is that important!!
Stop worrying about online campaigns.
Ardern has 700,000 Facebook followers and about 400,000 Twitter followers.
It's more than Bridges by several multiples.
It's going to be fine.
Hilarious hearing Hoots try that one on RNZ.
Paula Bennetts lies being a sensible white centrists man "interpretation", You guess right.
see there i fixed you typo.
Cause that sorry excuse for a human being is not trying to appeal to us, she is trying to appeal to the nice sensible males that are being alienated by the 'woke thing'.
Yeah I know she's doing that. Like I pointed out, politics isn't about truth. If it were, politicians would alway provide proof that their claims are true. That almost never happens. So leftists moaning about her spin are wasting their time.
Then you should have said it correctly. Frankly leave us 'women' out of this bullshit.
She ain't appealing to us, she is lying to you. Centrists white male who are afraid of the woke thing. That is the new 'economically anxious white working class' of NZ rigth?
She is not lying to us. She is lying to you.
I did say it correctly: I did not refer to women in my original comment. I'm not sure why you are so confused. I have no problem with you believing she is a liar – that's your choice. I'm just pointing out why others see her as advocating an interpretation. In politics, competing interpretations carry more weight than facts.
I'm pretty convinced Denis has never assumed you would support Benett's politics because she is a woman. However you clearly assume he supports Bridges politics because he is a man (assume Pakeha).
This is a huge aspect of the woke alienation narrative. Its also a logically incoherent understanding of politics.
all this assumption.
As a women i pointed out to Dennis ( who may or may not be a male, be white, be progressive or not who cares) that as a women i don't see her advocating an interpretation but an outright lie. And that frankly most women in NZ see her doing just that. Lying, on behalf of the National Party to the detriment of women and children everywhere in this country. Most women have not forgotten 'there is no housing crisis' 'zip it sweety' 'dole bludgers' etc Paula Bennet. I and a few women i know see her for what she is. A person utterly devoid of ethics and morals who will at any cost enrich herself and keep her tax payer funded wages for her thousand dollar shoes. And the same counts for the National Party.
This interpretation of 'my freedom fighter' is your terrorists thing was a nice try but did not work – and frankly was offensive considering that women do not vote in majority for Paula Bennet and the No Mates Party.
And if i am to alienate a white economically anxious centrists male, then the guy ain't centrist and I am not his issue. I am by far not a radical. I have never advocated for rights to be removed from men, i have never advocated to have the reproductive freedoms of men to be regulated by law, i have never advocated to make a medical procedure that only is needed by men into a criminal act requiring the certification of three doctors to obtain one, i have never earned 1 dollar to the 70+ cents of a men, i have never overlooked a male for promotion, i have never called a bloke a nice piece of ass publicly on radio, i have never pulled the hair of a waiter to bring him to the point of crying, I have never outed the name of some beneficiaries, i have never proposed to force birth control on men recieving a benefit, i have never cut a benefit because a man don't want to declare the name of the mother of his child and so on and so on and to boot and i know how to make some really nice sandwiches. And these are all things that are advocated for and fought for by men who would consider themselves 'centrists'.
So no i am not the reason for your 'centrists white male' to be alienated by the left – and consider as well that i don't see my self as someone on 'the left'. I see myself as someone who is left behind by all the established parties and that i generally don't vote myself but for the lesser evil.
But your concern is noted, and i will try really hard to not be the reason for a centrist white male to vote for the National Party and Paula Bennet. lol. .
I think your making a really obvious mistake in assuming that the nations pale stale males reflexively support the national party politics and form their primary voter base.
The resulting generalisations make a mockery of any discussions put about both politics and actual existing discrimination. A lot of people just find it very off putting being told what they supposedly believe politically due to (or being due to) their skin color, age or gender.
The political phenom that is sleepy Biden. Such a kind, humble, relatable and inspiring man. Biden 2020!
"The CFR's Top Conflicts to Watch in 2020 report was issued even as China provocatively sent its navy-controlled coast guard and militia-operated fishing fleets deep into Indonesia's exclusive economic zone. Jakarta responded with combat aircraft and warships. Beijing eventually backed down, withdrawing its fleet to the edge of Indonesian waters."
Bear pokes possum to see what happens. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12303563
"The CFR's Preventive Priorities Survey found foreign policy experts believe more flashpoints are "likely to require a US military response for 2020 than in …. the last eleven years." And while it is increasingly engaging in great power competition with China, its continuing ability to reassure its Asian allies is being questioned."
"The United States cannot reverse China's militarisation of the South China Sea. Beijing has succeeded in shifting the balance of power in this waterway in its favour," Dr Rapp-Hooper writes. "Washington can, however, return to a coalition-based strategy that aims to keep the South China Sea open and to reduce the likelihood that the long-simmering disputes spiral into full-blown conflict."
"This would require high-level support and engagement in regional forums, such as ASEAN, as well as strengthening ties to those aggrieved by Beijing ambitions."
Right, so Trump's withdrawal into US traditional isolationism will be tested in his election year. His Secretary of State will be even more tested – competence in multipolar diplomacy will be required!
Our friends in the USA are saying anyone reporting on their corruption has no entitlement to freedom of speech, nor press freedom.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/julian-assange-may-not-be-able-to-use-first-amendment-press-protection-if-extradited
The whole Assange case is a totalitarians wet dream.
Not entitled to First Amendment rights, but can be charged under the Espionage Act…
Yeah, go figure.
That will make be interesting – if non-American news staff aren't protected under the first amendment then American newspapers won't be able to publish their work as the newspapers insurance rates for legal proceedings will go through the roof. It will be interesting to see if publishers and media outlets join the case to protect their interests.
They haven't so far, so I'm not expecting a change from them. Your right though, they should. But I'm guessing they all too far gone to make a stand now.
I'm puzzled that Trump is able to prevent the Senate from getting at the facts. Impeachment is clearly a joke if their system allows the decision to be made on the basis of suppressed evidence. The principle of transparent governance ought to apply.
"According to reports, Bolton opposed the withholding of security aid to Ukraine, and tried unsuccessfully to convince the president to release the military aid during an Oval Office meeting. "This is in America's interest," the former national security adviser told the president, according to the New York Times, as he argued the aid should be provided to Ukraine. The aid was eventually released – a day after Bolton acrimoniously left the White House." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51230984
"The pressure has grown following the report of a potentially explosive claim Bolton is said to make in a new book. The New York Times cited a leaked Bolton manuscript as saying that Trump told him he wanted to freeze aid to Ukraine until Kyiv helped with investigations against the Democrats, including former Vice-President Joe Biden."
"Bolton, a Republican, is an unlikely hero for Democrats. Still, they believe he will act as a star witness, one who will provide irrefutable evidence of wrongdoing by Trump and help bolster the case for his removal from office."
"Yale-educated Bolton, 71, was national security adviser from 2018-19. He was "personally involved" in the president's dealings with the Ukrainian officials, according to Bolton's lawyer. The former national security adviser was "at the nerve centre for all important decisions", says Matthew Spence, a former deputy assistant secretary of defence."
"Democrats believe the former national security adviser could provide the smoking gun. "Bolton was present during the crime," says Evelyn Farkas, who served as top Russia official during the Obama administration and is now running as a Democrat for a congressional seat in New York. "And he knew that it was a crime at the time.""
"Bolton has said publicly he would testify if he gets a legal summons… Senators will vote on the matter of witnesses in the coming days."
She dared to sully the name of the sainted.
/
this award-winning journalist is magnifying a hate storm against a sexual assault survivor whose reaction to the death of Kobe Bryant did not meet his standards
All of us have been around the Internet long enough to know what happens when women get targeted like this. There’s no excuse for it.
I saw it yesterday but didn’t want to tweet until I had sat on it for a day or so.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1221945029897392128.html
Can someone please explain how putting so much money into roading stimulates the economy? (we don't actually know what the roading spend will be on yet though). As opposed to say poverty relief via direct transfers to people who will spend it immediately?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/119064149/government-set-to-announce-12b-infrastructure-splurge-with-a-lot-of-it-going-to-roads
Ask these guys: "Treasury believes the benefits of this will be seen in increased GDP growth, which is expected to lift by 1.4 per cent (or $3.9 billion) over the next four years thanks to the package."
I gather that dept employs economists to calculate the sums & devise a rationale plausible enough to satisfy ministers & bedazzle Labour/National voters. Grant obviously is very satisfied, and I suspect Shane & Winston are too. The Greens will be mulling it over. Marama: "Can I call it another dead rat?? Please?"
I saw that. I was wondering about roading specifically.
Okay, I'd ask Michael Reddell (https://croakingcassandra.com/) which I've done once or twice in the past. Either email your question or suggest he write a column on it. Scan down today's column on his site until you come to the cartoon – you'll see he's that most unusual of creatures, an economist with a sense of humour!
The only reasons they might be keen on roading are political:
1) Neutralises Nat promises to stupidly spend more on last century's priorities. Like the self-imposed fiscal handcuffs this term.
2) Roading agencies have built up a handy pipeline of low-value road projects under the last govt which will not take years more to plan and consent before they can start being built and people notice the dirt piling up. Public transit projects have no such pipeline. Both take too long to provide any short term stimulus, but financiers love them so there's that.
It would be a crying waste of an opportunity to spend up large on the wrong priorities for such spurious reasons. Our future economy and society needs other sorts of infrastructure before roads. Climate change demands other infrastructure.
I feel like I must be missing something. Because on the face of it it seems horribly wrong to spend half the amount on roading instead of climate and people.
Maybe roading includes lots of cycleways? /fainthope
Hopefully the journos have just been interviewing their own typewriters or passing on hopeful whispers from the Nats..
Water is another obvious long-term infrastructure spend, though it probably depends too much on Winston letting the Greens get a win.
Wouldn’t you love to see the looks on some of the regressive farming cheerleaders at a govt calling their bluff on cleaning up urban waterways rather than rural irrigation like the last lot funded instead.
lol.
I took the article as being based on something from the government, give the specific amounts and timelines.
Nope. Just some big overall numbers and journalists who are either privy to stuff they shouldn't be or taking their lead from the opposition. History suggests the latter.
Bullshit – you should check the facts before spouting forth.
An overview of the likely Infrastructure package etc was released by the government on 30 Nov and 12 Dec 2019 and was widely covered by the media and other blogs at the time.
Here are links to the announcements and some media reports last Nov/Dec. Plenty more reports at the time on Stuff, ODT, Newsroom, Newshub etc and posts on Pundit amongst other blogs if you google 'Grant Robertson Infrastructure' for example.
http://www.beehive.govt.nz › release › 12-billion-extra-infrastructure-invest…
$12 billion in extra infrastructure investment | Beehive.govt.nz
http://www.beehive.govt.nz › release › infrastructure-investments-be-broug…
Infrastructure investments to be brought forward | Beehive.govt …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz › news › article
The Government will borrow an extra $19b; and announced …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz › business › news › article
Grant Robertson says 'now is the time' to spend big on …
http://www.rnz.co.nz › national › programmes › morningreport › audio › g…
Grant Robertson on upcoming infrastructure spend | RNZ
$12 billion in extra infrastructure investment | Beehive.govt.nz
So where did the detail come from when this is literally all they announced:
Spending priorities are just an indication of govt preferences. There is nothing more tangible to it.
There is a theory that by paying less in benefits you are incentivising work. This follows from another theory (assumed true) that unemployment is ultimately due to the unemployeds preference for leisure and could find jobs if they wanted/tried harder. This was the main intellectual basis for the early 90s benefit cuts. This is ultimately the argument Treasury might put against welfare spending but its at least an unpopular idea so they would probably have it behind closed doors.
I don't know, seems pretty in line with Labour's ideological position.
So they could stimulate the economy by spending on people and climate instead, but they're choosing roads because that's where their values lie?
Or that's where Winston's values lie.
yeah, always that. I want a L/G govt this year just so we can see the distinction between what was NZF and what was Lab in the first term.
Yes, its values.
In reality its probably the case that there is sufficient slack in the economy to absorb both. E.g there is a point when all the unemployed could find work if they wanted it, but i dont believe the economy is near it at present. The main stream economic theory assumes that the economy automatically adjusts to reach that state, which is a problematic assumption.
Started another thread on today's Open Mike
It probably doesn't have much difference to GDP between the two.
There's a large proportion of the cash going to make real things in the economy, rather than just boost the speculative pile. What the roading would have is a boost in productivity from people who use the road which would be additional to the money directly injected into the economy. Assuming a positive return on investment for the road.
Not sure what the parallel of that productivity boost would be for direct transfers to beneficiaries.
Productivity from people who use roads. Is that truck drivers? People getting to work?
yeah, everyone, but particularly transport drivers incl passengers. If it knocks 5 minutes off their commute, that's five more minutes they have in the day. If an airport shuttle driver does 8 trips a day, a five minute trip saving might stretch that to 9 trips. Five minutes less of a commute for an office worker means five more minutes to buy from stores or spebd at work.
That's how I understand the theory, anyway.
Jeeze, that's really depressing. I'm guessing they're not counting the five minutes freed up so someone can breathe, or read their kid a bed time story.
Unpaid work still does not count.
GDP is a soulless measure.
"Can someone please explain how putting so much money into roading stimulates the economy?"
I would suggest it's something to do with externalities, that disgusting business accounting habit that privatise profit and socialise cost.
E.g. the roads here in rural Manawatu can be fairly shoddy around milk shed gates as the 50 tonne tankers tear up the road accelerating and braking.
Like the water that is used, the roads belong to the commons but are an essential part of a last century's business model.
The stimulation part is very easy to understand. Net of tax collection each doller of govt spending adds a doller to nominal GDP.
This is because GDP is simply a measure of an economies income.
There is no difference between types of net spending here however.
If it's easy to understand can you please explain in lay person terms?
This is the basis for why its true. Its basically just to do with how GDP (eg an economies income) is measured.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectoral_balances
When you consider that then its pretty clear to understand that tax withdraws income from somebody and when the govt pays somebody their income increases. Note, nobody is actually in the govt sector here even if they work in the public sector its still their income.
So when the govt spends more GDP goes up, and when they tax/collect more it goes down.
ok, but that doesn't explain roads specifically right? It suggests that govt spending on anything will create growth.
Yes, and your conclusion is not incorrect.
Bear in mind however that we are somewhat interested in inflation adjusted GDP which doesn't work in so simple a way.
If you want to be more objective then you need to look at the capacity to absorb more spending by sector. Looking at greening the economy the govt may need to reduce spending in some sectors allowing it to increase its own (on more sustainable basis).
I would be surprised it this was really considered by the treasury analysis in detail. Their headline model of the economy only has one sector for starters.
"Looking at greening the economy the govt may need to reduce spending in some sectors allowing it to increase its own (on more sustainable basis)."
What would be some examples of that?
What's Treasury's headline model with only one sector?
For example fuel taxes probably have some impact on fuel consumption. But most impactful would be allowing less of a particular activity by regulation. Maybe then replacing it. Here they could for example restrict long hall transport by weight on the road network while increasing rail freight capacity.
The headline treasury model is a DSGE model of the economy. Its called Matai. Basically such models use equilibrium analysis which assumes you can model the economy as if only one good is produced and consumed.
September 19!
It's on.
You cryptic lad you. "Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced that the general election will be held on September 19. The announcement was made at the Beehive in Wellington, during at the first post-cabinet press conference of 2020, after Ardern advised the Governor-General." https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/118983011/jacinda-ardern-announces-2020-election-will-be-held-on-september-19
There's a post up now.
Well done our Aussie Brothers and Sisters!
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/26/pay-the-rent-invasion-day-rallies-around-australia-protest-against-26-january-celebrations
Kia Ora Newshub.
Taking freight off our roads on to rail is the way of the future lowering our carbon footprint in the process.
That's awesome Fonterra changing one of its milk dryers from coal to wood pallets made from sawdust that would normally be dumped = to taking 33000 cars off our roads.
We need to legislate to minimise the waste we produce That's the logical way to sort that mess out.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Investments in our public hospitals is great as most Tangata Whenua can not afford to go to private hospitals when the healths system is going to take to long to treat them our whanau are passing quite young.
I agree broadcasting is very important and the merger of Radio NZ and TVNZ should have Maori including in the changes to make sure our broadcasting organisations are not put at a disadvantage by the changes.
Alcohol is bad for our health in many ways.
Its great that plastics is being banned in fresh produce.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora The Am Show.
Praiseing our children is a good way to lift their wairua in schools.
There would not have been enough putea for the governments to spend this much on infrastructure if they gave tax cuts.
People have to realise that our good fortunes are directly linked to our weather and environment we must do all we can to minimise our impact on the weather Ben.
Ka pai to Coke for reducing the sugar in their drinks but it would be nice if they could pay a bounty for their plastic waste to be recycled.
Tova they had sewage leaking in the walls of A hospital.
Know your stuff does good work.
Ka kite Ano
You think you're neat muppet don’t push it
Kia Ora Newshub.
Shady politics.
Its good to see the system finally adapting and accepting the positive effects medical marijuana has on some people.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I still say that company's should be paying to dispose of their own plastic waste clean up their own mess.
Everyone should minimise there Wai use all year not just in a dry year. Leave some off our Wai taonga for our Wai wildlife.
Whare tuhua looks like a good way to keep some Rangatahi who made mistakes away from the harder people that can teach them bad habits.
Great mahi BBM helping Pacific and Maori tangata lose weight and live a longer life in the process to guide there whanau for decades longer through this system.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora The Breakfast Show.
Pork.
The Internet is the technology that changed the world the communication device of the 21st century.
I think it's better take time to plan the infrastructure boost spend than rush it in that process reap less positive effects for the spend.
The message I'm getting is drama sell news I have heard of stories just like these that never made it to the national NEWS.???????.
Jordan tipical privileged rednecks opinion.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
I think that house owners should be legally bound to rent empty houses out that would help the housing shortage I use to maintain some empty whare.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
China is doing all it can to control the virus.
The people who are using the virus as a attack weapon are fools
Ka pai to Ngāti Porou Iwi for stepping with a plan to care for our tamariki in state care.
Our government investing in hospitals and health care is awesome.
The more books on Tangata Whenua Culture the better.
Its good to see Maui studios making great stories and computer graphics.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Newshub.
Drones herding sheep the Ion age is here and now I seen some muppets from Tauranga use drones to take a fishing line out 350 metres from shore and drop it.
That's a mean feat rowing from Chile to Antarctic.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Good to see heaps of interest it Waka and having Wahine on Waka tau
Yes there was quite a lot of tension when shonky was at Waitangi Ka pai.
That's is cool the celebration in Tamiki Makaru. Cool to see tourists showing interest in Tangata whenua Culture.
Ka kite Ano