This is like the wolf asking sheep to come to him with complaints about the grass.
I don't believe Andrew King has a clue about what life is like on the ground for tenants in this sad, sad country.
If he thinks tenants are going to risk being kicked out in this environment for asking owners to comply with the law he is ignoring the truth. The truth is wrongful evictions are almost never prosecuted, and owners hide behind the obscurity of loose law which benefits them and which it is King's very purpose in life to protect.
And some have been left uninsulated at the request of the tenant, King says.
"We have heard of people, tenants who didn't want the property insulated because they didn't want the rent to go up, so they wanted it delayed as much as possible. And I think… some have left it a little bit too late.”
God this guy annoys me. This ^^ implies that investors breaking the law are just trying to please their tenants. Bring on the crash
subject: Why are we functionally extinct!? content: We're in exponential climate change right now. weather disruption events are worsening weekly. Earth is in a transition phase towards a new hotter thermal balance replacing our current biosphere
We are already functionally extinct, it just hasn't sunk in, yet! Our life support is dying right in front of our very eyes. All because we couldn't even conceive of living in balance and harmony with Gaia.
Exponential climate change plus the 6th mass extinction now in full swing = doom in my book!.I know we're supposed to be above all those natural processes but actually we depend 100% on the dying natural world.
MacPherson offers nothing but doom, gloom, anxiety and depression. He does nothing to improve the situation by offering pathways to improvement, he is actively a part of making things worse by spreading the implicit message that any effort to make things better is pointless.
We would all be better off if he just STFU and retreated to his little remote sanctuary. Failing that, others can refrain from spreading his harmful message.
When faced with serious and complex challenges such as climate change, we jump to “can’t be done” more readily than “let’s work through this problem and see the solutions”. While bleak, “nothing can be done” is a more rewarding conclusion because it’s quicker and easier to think.
Im not sure who it was but somebody said that 30 years of not scaring the horses obviously hasnt worked so maybe its time for some honesty….McPherson may overstate things and be fatalist but Im not convinced his predictions are any more innaccurate than say the IPCC with all their faults and vested interest influence…as I have noted elsewhere the curious thing is that McPhersons timeframe is becoming daily more mainstream
All McPherson is saying is that there's no point in doing anything so you might as well vote for right-wing parties and devote the years you have left to hedonism, or more to the point, nihilism. Fuck him and the horse he rode in on.
he says a little more than that however the question was is his analysis of the possible impact wrong….it wasnt how we should address the problem, that is a different question
Leaving aside for the moment the inadvisability of accepting declarations of impending doom from people unqualified to make such declarations, my concern is with the political implications.
Even if we assume that the doom-mongering is accurate, a fuckwit who persuades everyone that there's no point in doing anything about climate change, so they might as well embrace nihilism, would make the impending extinctions far more extensive than they otherwise would be. What the fuck is that for a personal ambition?
From the RationalWiki link, it appears getting doomer groupies to fuck him (and maybe even the horse he rode in on) may indeed be part of McPherson's motivation for being a cult leader.
I suspect hes a little more qualified than yourself and if hes a cultist hes not a nihilist, more a fatalist…however as stated his proscribed response is not the issue rather its his analysis of the impacts.
While he's still got nearly 7 and a half years to run on his Nov 2016 prediction of humans completely gone in 10 years, that's looking extremely implausible
Fair enough…not a good record but curiously the mainstream (climatologists) predictions are increasingly closing in on his timeframes….he may well be an alarmist who cherry picks his sources but it is looking increasingly that his stated timeframes are more accurate than those of the "official line " until very recently…McPherson hasnt changed but most others have
From your first link: " …Published by the Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration in Melbourne (an independent think tank focused on climate policy) and authored by a climate researcher and a former fossil fuel executive," – mainstream, huh? Or more doomers cherry-picking and distorting?
Your second link – millions of people becoming even further water-stressed in what was already an extremely water-stressed area with very high population growth is not an example of McPherson being more accurate than mainstream researchers. Nor is it the harbinger of a coming unforeseen apocalypse wiping out all of humanity. It's something that's been predicted for a long time by mainstream researchers. Hell, one of my first year geography assignments nearly 40 years was very nearly on this exact topic.
Your third link – accelerated collapse of part of the Antarctic ice sheet is an example of McPherson being more accurate than mainstream researchers? You think this is going to bring about McPherson's claims of all humanity getting wiped out within the next decade? Are you fucking serious?
every example is indicating acceleration of impact (ahead of prediction) and consequently reduced scope to adjust…..this is the regular theme from almost every study released in recent time….the models are increasingly lagging real time effects…you may choose to dismiss that data however those analysing it and writing the papers are moving closer to McPhersons position by the day
McPherson's position is total extinction of all humans within 10 years.
Nobody with any credibility whatsoever is moving to anything remotely near a position like that. Claiming they are moving towards McPherson's position is like me claiming my financial position is moving closer to Warren Buffet's financial position – it may be technically correct, but we’re so far apart it’s a ludicrously idiotic claim to make.
we have gone from nothing to worry about this side of 2100 to we're not confident that organised society will survive a generation….you must be making shitloads if your comparrison is in any way relevant
…and an aside , Indias population has doubled since your study
Doomer fantasists might not be confident about organised society surviving a generation. However, doomers have been around since forever, yet here we still are.
again. the point is you may dismiss McPherson as a doomer fantasist…my point is that increasingly more and more mainstream scientists are publicly (pertinent) echoing him…. at what point do you you consider those opinions something more than doomer fantasy?
Which mainstream scientists are echoing McPherson? Which ones? Some things happening at the faster end of predicted ranges is not a case of mainstream scientists echoing McPherson, unless you're a doomer fantasist.
Again, McPherson's position is total extinction of all humans within 10 years. Which mainstream scientists are saying anything even vaguely resembling that?
Read the studies…the common theme is the modelled predictions are proving to be grossly conservative and impacts that were predicted to occur late century are occurring now or expected near term
Which mainstream scientists are echoing McPherson by suggesting total extinction of all humans within 10 years? Which ones? Links, please.
The tropics becoming uninhabitable by humans is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively anything like total extinction of all humans. Sea level rise of 50m from loss of all Greenland, Himalayan, and West Antarctic ice is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively anything like total extinction of all humans. The massive societal disruptions caused by massive migration of billions of climate refugees is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively anything like total extinction of all humans.
So, Pat, which mainstream scientists are echoing McPherson in suggesting total extinction of all humans within 10 years. Or even a similar order of magnitude timescale? Names and links, please. Or are you just full of shit?
Matthew 13:57
And they took offence at Him. But Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown and in his own household is a prophet without honour."
Hang in there, Johnm. On the balance of probability, Guy MacPherson is right – but too many people are afraid to admit it. Why try to fix the planet now if we can put it off until next Tuesday?
Guy Mcpherson's 5 minute representation to NYC committee on climate change:
(The ignored exist'l severe risk)
[Deleted long string of text. The complete comment is a copy & paste job. When you quote, please use quotation marks. Never quote the whole text, especially when it is long, but select the most telling part(s) to pique people’s interest. Use font style for emphasis if necessary. Always provide a link to the original source, e.g. http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2019/06/its-time-to-pursue-hospice-by-guy-mcpherson.html – Incognito]
News flash weather has been reported around the world today with startling results. Based on past results some weather is close to average, some well below average some well above average One person did note as weather probability is a continuous variable the possibility of average is zero Mean while in NZ a new band is being formed by Johnm Paul and Ed with Ringo expected to join soon, however there are strong rumours that John Paul Ed and soon to be Ringo may simply be one artist
I hope that you Auckland residents, currently being told about the wonderful advantages you get from trams and trains, will note this item on the RNZ news this morning.
Because of the dreadful weather we are having in Wellington today train services through the Hutt Valley to Wellington are being disrupted and delays are occurring. They aren't really major but people with early meetings aren't going to make their appointments.
Still, Ms Genter will tell us it is all for the best. Trains are much more reliable and faster than taking your car into the city. And it really isn't the fault of the train services when such a dreadful spell of weather disrupts the service is it?
Just don't expect your wonderful tram service, organised at such enormous expense by that great man Twyford, to get you to somewhere near the airport if you are planning to fly out of Auckland in 20 years time when it is completed.
Mind you, I’m not actually sure which is worse. Is it today’s hold up because of the cold or was it what happened earlier in the year because of the terrible heat wave?
Auckland residents know all too well their motorway system is regularly paralysed several times a month due to single incidents. Sometimes even a simple breakdown is enough delay many tens of thousands of vehicles for hours in the morning when people are trying to make 'meetings and appointments', or in the afternoons when people are trying to get home to their families.
This includes the South Western motorway which connects to Auckland International Airport. Many a flight has been missed because of short-sighted, road-centric thinking.
umm…………..Alywin, its a beautiful day in Wellington today?????
And its not as if people don't make early meetings in Wellington and Ak cause they are sitting in their cars, traffic building up because of a nasty accident…………
The notional road network in Alwn's head is perfect, like a market. It tends to equilibrium, one route involves too great a cost in time? Then demand drops and substitution with other routes occurs – as demand drops on the original route, the time cost diminishes and the whole things settles into balance with gorgeously happy motorists scurrying along to their incredibly fulfilling well-paid jobs where they "align the vision" and "drive efficiencies in best practice service delivery" while "collaborating with an intense win-win focus". It's all fabulous – why would you complain?
I used to read most of The Guardian (when it was left-wing) each morning when commuting by train in London and I remember reading several George Orwell novels when commuting by train in Sydney.
If you enjoy driving in rush-hour Alwyn; go for it. But decent public transport is the way to go. Nine years of Jacinda and James will make it happen.
I personally think that large vehicle public transport, such as trains, trams and buses will become a thing of the past within about 10 years.
Autonomous Electric Vehicles will be here and will take over the majority of travel in cities at least. Most people will not need to own a private car if they live in a city. It will be a bit slower in the rural areas but it will take over there not too much later. I am looking forward to it. I think it will occur at about the time they take my license away.
This will arrive at just about the time they finish the ridiculous tram system being planned for Auckland. It will open and close on roughly the same date and will join such things as Stonehenge as relics of a bygone age.
The vehicles will be built by a consortium of Google and the big car manufacturers I would think. And just think. You will be able to read your book while being carried from door to door in comfort.
All those private journeys at rush hour with a single person in each vehicle. Where will increased number of vehicles be stored during the day when they are not used?
Oh gotcha. I on the other hand think of it more as "public transport increasingly takes the form of driverless electric cars".
They way I think of that near future is: nobody owns or drives cars any more. Just not worth the hassle or risk or expense. Big Data Machine Learning Car Co learns what sort of transport I need and when I need it and makes sure that I have it. When I'm not in it, the car will go to where the Big Data Machine Learning Car Co algorithm says it will be used next.
That is exactly what I think. The AVs will be the public transport of the future.
I'm not "horrified" of public transport as Muttonbird seems to think. I just want to have a 21st century version rather than the 20th, and even 19th century versions that the current CoL seem to like.
I notice that our dear leaders don't use it themselves. Limo's all round for them.
Transporting 50 or 100 people along a set route will always be a cheaper fare than transporting 1 person slightly closer to their destination. Unless it's run in Dunedin.
How many people do you think there are on a bus in Wellington.
Would you think, counting all the bus trips and the entire length of the runs that they average as many as 5 people? There are not that many bus trips that actually are at peak times and have full loads.
The main cost of a taxi is paying the driver. AVs won't have that cost. In addition people won't need to drive to the bus or train route and then leave a car parked for the day. In Wellington there are an amazing number of cars that are driven down to the bus route and then left parked there while people take a bus to work for the day.
Driverless cars also eventually means driverless busses.
So the math simply comes down to whether your pessimistic assessment of passenger numbers on public transport is low enough for single-serve private fuckmobiles (they're totally going to get used for that) to be more competitive when they moonlight as a communter service.
"over-estimated the capability and timeline of AEV's taking over."
You may very well be right. I tend to follow Bill Gates' opinion on the matter though. He said –
"We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction."
The time sounds about right to me. Ford seems to be aiming for a 2021 commercial implementation. When the big Car companies get into it I would say the exercise has become much more than a pipe dream.
“I personally think that large vehicle public transport, such as trains, trams and buses will become a thing of the past within about 10 years.”
Interesting
Beijing underground system registered nearly 10 million commuters each Day last year. Then we have Tokyo New York and I cannot see the London Underground going within 10 years. especailly now they have nearly finished the new crossrail link
If they do go I hate to see the traffic chaos caused by this new technology.
I'll take your word for those numbers. I don't think you are really allowing for the speed with which technology can change though.
Consider mail. Did you know that the number of items delivered by NZ Post dropped from 835 million in FY 2012 to 454 million in FY 2018. The number roughly halved in those 6 years.
Or look at the use of cheques. We used 206 million in 2002. That dropped to 110 million in 2011 and was a mere 18 million last year.
Did you see that coming?
I think that 10 years is actually plenty of time for enormous changes.
I'm sure that places like Peking will keep their underground services busy. It will probably be the same way that we kept the railways going in the 1970s. Just ban any alternative. We didn't allow trucks to go more than about 50 km. China will quite likely ban AVs.
I really don't want us to spend $10 billion or so on a tram set and to then ban AVs because people would use them instead of a white elephant that we wasted so much money on.
Don't build the tram service now. Put the money into roads. In the short term they can be used by buses. In a decade, when the buses will be worn out anyway they will be there for the AVs.
You have driven off the lovely man Bleep from this site! Harrassing his every comment until he could comment no more… You are a disgrace! You should be sent IMO (to fight CC).
As it so happens, I delved into Bewildered’s history here and although it is more colourful than I expected, I don’t think James and Bewildered are one and the same commenter.
People need to learn not to take life or this site to seriously, just saying Maui and possible laugh at themselves every once and a while My digs at bleep where mild to what is accepted on this site, likewise in response to his digs at me that did not offend me in the slightest
He also did a quick run down on how our economy has become financialised, and our housing needs commodified.
One thing explored was the Preston effect, whereby a city in Lancashire pulled itself out of the ruins of neoliberal inspired poverty and began to thrive again …an ongoing project
The opposite of neoliberalism. No shareholders no paying money to say the privatised half of Genesis energy. Keep it all in your economy. But the city council no longer plays that game. Instead it has adopted a guerrilla localism. It keeps its money as close to home as possible so that, amid historically drastic cuts, the amount spent locally has gone up. Where other authorities privatise, Preston grows its own businesses. It even creates worker-owned co-operatives.
Credit Unions not loan sharks.
local government controlling the market not a dog wagged by its market tail.
The Tppa would stop all this replacing local sustainability with globalism. Don’t offshore your jobs for shareholder profit keep them local for wages and local taxes to improve community.
Consultancy fees get rid of them grow your own expertise. The goverment should be reading this article.
We should be raising a rabble to go and find our money. Look under fay, richwhite, gibb, chandler, hart etc’s beds for a start off. Our tax system gave them our money. Hart just bought a $51 million dollar flat in NYC. Fay is just a scant few million away from being a billionaire. Westpac bank just took $555 million dollars in profit from us over a six month period, no doubt aided and abetted by our tax system to do so.
If NZ is a Preston we've been committing financial and social suicide since 1984.
Something nice happening in the morning can put a smile on your face for the day.
I heard Judith Collins being all nice-nice about Phil Twyford. You know, stateswoman like, adult, conciliatory understanding, with the bigger picture in view of what's good for the country. You know trying to sound party leadership material and, well, Prime Ministerial.
Then we went into Clinton-Lewinsky mode. "I did not have dinner relations with that man." RNZ tapes, "I did have dinner relations with that woman."
Of course there's a battle to be fought and being fought and the skirmishes confuse some minds. With Judith it's a bit complicated because sometimes an incidental drop-in cup of tea while going past the door is actually a many months organised formal dinner in the completely opposite direction.
With Simon? Who knows with such confusion. But you have to laugh but in doing so not overlook the significance.
Yes Judith is reborning herself from that feisty aggressive take to prisoners but take the tyre burning cars sort of image, and is now copying Jacinda's conciliatory balanced friendly persona. And in doing so providing a great contrast to Simon's shouty hysterical blunderbuss approach.
Perhaps you could have given a bit more of that quote. Then it could have been applied to that great comic actor who plays the buffoon in each performance of Parliament.
"All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,"
………..
"Last scene of all,
That ends his strange eventful history,
In second childishness and mere oblivion
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."
Twyford, with his activities, jumped immediately to the seventh stage. Why is he still there? Why has he not been shuffled off stage into obscurity?
The seventh stages is for me but far away for Phil. Thank you alwyn for the fuller quote but for whom should the various crowns fit? Where would Nick Smith fit?
I really think that Nick Smith, and Trevor Mallard should happily shuffle off into retirement together. They both fit the Cromwell judgement below, although I think they are both still into the sixth age of Shakespeare. Only just still there but they aren't into the final age yet.
“You have been sat to long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!.”
In Trevor's case of course there is another applicable comment from the Lord Protector.
I din't actually say, and nor do I think, that Cromwell was an admirable figure. It was just that the quotes seem to be so appropriate.
And if your figures are right I can certainly see why the hatred of him would remain. No doubt they would have been very happy when, 3 years after he died, his body was exhumed and, according to Wikipedia "His body was hanged in chains at Tyburn, London and then thrown into a pit. His head was cut off and displayed on a pole outside Westminster Hall until 1685"
There was a story about a UK Foreign Office meeting room where they negotiated with foreign diplomats under a huge painting of a battlefield (probably Waterloo). Deciding that this wasn't very diplomatic, they replaced it with a picture of Cromwell. An Irish delegation walked into the room, saw the picture, turned around and walked out again, expressing frank disapproval.
I wouldn't rush to assume that there is only one 'real' Judith. It may be falling into an essentialist trap. Probably there are multitudes of real Judiths, depending on what is required at the time.
Why Iran, China, Russia? The more powerful, the less accountable to the rule of law, the poorer trading partners. Whichever side of politics we are, it just doesn't make sense to expose our economies to nations who disregard the rule of law. Whether Iran, by religious edict, China by party corruption, or Russia with a breakdown in its money judiciary. Who cares how it effects Iranians, Chinese, Russians, it's just cheating, it means we compete with cheaters, those who get ahead by buying their way out of self harm. We just don't need their crap, Europe really needs to pull its head in and decide to raise tariffs. Now sure America is cursed by fiscal cheaters, but that's why Trumps president, exposing why stupid as commander in chief, or head of banks, are anti American. Not only to Americans but to the world.
Just commenting on another anomaly with the First Year fees free scheme.
As home educators we often use a combination of self-study and institutional study. Enrolled in a tertiary preparation study, which is online delivered and fairly static, we have found out – retrospectively – that this has utilised up 40 credits of any fees free tertiary study that may follow. Given that this is a tertiary preparation course – but grade Level 4 – which used to be free from some institutions – it was not stated through the enrolment process that this is utilising a third of any entitlement to fees free tertiary study. Depending on the follow up course, this loss of entitlement transfers to up to $1,000 – $2,000 in fees.
Something to keep in mind for others on alternate academic pathways, and perhaps something else for this coalition government to keep in mind when reviewing current implementation.
An interesting article from Stuff, about the inconsistencies of ANZ when dealing with staff “mistakes” from a former staff member.
However, only 2 comments allowed, before closing off comments completely. What is it with anything to do with John Key in media, that public opinion is cut short? Is he so "sacred" that he cannot be critiqued because he has become totally untouchable? I'd like to know what/who is supplying protection to him and why! Or should that be Him, as when addressing a holy deity?
I was chemically poisoned on my job while working in Canada and was treated for several years to be able to return to my home in NZ and 20yrs later at 75 yrs old as a baby boomer I face uncertainty as NZ does not treat anyone with the latent effects of chemical poisoning,
so now technically I could be ruled as "uncurable in NZ's inadequate medical system so I may fall through the cracks if this bill is passed to receive "assisted death as technically I cannot be treated to live any more.
The people who dreamed up this "assisted dying bill" are not thinking it through as I have had to do, because they have merely said the bill is suited for all but I would not be considered uncurable if I returned to Canada because they have clinics to treat patients that have been chemically poisoned and NZ does not.
So the 'assisted death bill' will give doctors the licence to kill because they have not been given neither the skills and regimen to save those of us that have been chemically poisoned.
Sad people that vote for this "End of life choice bill”.
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Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
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This is like the wolf asking sheep to come to him with complaints about the grass.
I don't believe Andrew King has a clue about what life is like on the ground for tenants in this sad, sad country.
If he thinks tenants are going to risk being kicked out in this environment for asking owners to comply with the law he is ignoring the truth. The truth is wrongful evictions are almost never prosecuted, and owners hide behind the obscurity of loose law which benefits them and which it is King's very purpose in life to protect.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2019/06/tenants-shouldn-t-be-afraid-to-dob-in-uninsulated-homes-property-investors-federation.html
And some have been left uninsulated at the request of the tenant, King says.
"We have heard of people, tenants who didn't want the property insulated because they didn't want the rent to go up, so they wanted it delayed as much as possible. And I think… some have left it a little bit too late.”
God this guy annoys me. This ^^ implies that investors breaking the law are just trying to please their tenants. Bring on the crash
"We have heard of people, tenants who didn't want the property insulated because they didn't want the rent to go up"
Informed consumers making a rational decision to be cold and sick rather than homeless. Awesome – the market is working perfectly!
A + AB. That quote from King sounds exactly like something The Chairman would say and use to justify his fake concern for the poor.
subject: Why are we functionally extinct!? content: We're in exponential climate change right now. weather disruption events are worsening weekly. Earth is in a transition phase towards a new hotter thermal balance replacing our current biosphere
Sea Wanderer 1 month ago (edited)
We are already functionally extinct, it just hasn't sunk in, yet! Our life support is dying right in front of our very eyes. All because we couldn't even conceive of living in balance and harmony with Gaia.
Guy McPherson – Facing Functional Extinction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDG5rfFBKSQ&t=17s
We're dooooomed!!!
Exponential climate change plus the 6th mass extinction now in full swing = doom in my book!.I know we're supposed to be above all those natural processes but actually we depend 100% on the dying natural world.
MacPherson offers nothing but doom, gloom, anxiety and depression. He does nothing to improve the situation by offering pathways to improvement, he is actively a part of making things worse by spreading the implicit message that any effort to make things better is pointless.
We would all be better off if he just STFU and retreated to his little remote sanctuary. Failing that, others can refrain from spreading his harmful message.
but is he wrong?
It doesn't matter whether he's wrong, if you give a shit about humanity.
It’s time to change the climate disaster script. People need hope that things can change:
Im not sure who it was but somebody said that 30 years of not scaring the horses obviously hasnt worked so maybe its time for some honesty….McPherson may overstate things and be fatalist but Im not convinced his predictions are any more innaccurate than say the IPCC with all their faults and vested interest influence…as I have noted elsewhere the curious thing is that McPhersons timeframe is becoming daily more mainstream
All McPherson is saying is that there's no point in doing anything so you might as well vote for right-wing parties and devote the years you have left to hedonism, or more to the point, nihilism. Fuck him and the horse he rode in on.
he says a little more than that however the question was is his analysis of the possible impact wrong….it wasnt how we should address the problem, that is a different question
Leaving aside for the moment the inadvisability of accepting declarations of impending doom from people unqualified to make such declarations, my concern is with the political implications.
Even if we assume that the doom-mongering is accurate, a fuckwit who persuades everyone that there's no point in doing anything about climate change, so they might as well embrace nihilism, would make the impending extinctions far more extensive than they otherwise would be. What the fuck is that for a personal ambition?
From the RationalWiki link, it appears getting doomer groupies to fuck him (and maybe even the horse he rode in on) may indeed be part of McPherson's motivation for being a cult leader.
Oh, right, business as usual in the cult industry. I guess it's obvious when you think about it.
I suspect hes a little more qualified than yourself and if hes a cultist hes not a nihilist, more a fatalist…however as stated his proscribed response is not the issue rather its his analysis of the impacts.
He has a long history of making predictions of doom and turning out wrong.
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Guy_McPherson#Predictions
While he's still got nearly 7 and a half years to run on his Nov 2016 prediction of humans completely gone in 10 years, that's looking extremely implausible
Fair enough…not a good record but curiously the mainstream (climatologists) predictions are increasingly closing in on his timeframes….he may well be an alarmist who cherry picks his sources but it is looking increasingly that his stated timeframes are more accurate than those of the "official line " until very recently…McPherson hasnt changed but most others have
" … not a good record … " is a remarkably charitable description of 100% failure.
" … curiously the mainstream (climatologists) predictions are increasingly closing in on his timeframes …"
You want to back that up? Coz from here it looks like a completely evidence free assertion at odds with the real situation.
https://www.livescience.com/65633-climate-change-dooms-humans-by-2050.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/27/india/india-water-crisis-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.livescience.com/65524-antarctica-ice-unstable.html
a brief selection….the potential triggers are multiple
From your first link: " …Published by the Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration in Melbourne (an independent think tank focused on climate policy) and authored by a climate researcher and a former fossil fuel executive," – mainstream, huh? Or more doomers cherry-picking and distorting?
Your second link – millions of people becoming even further water-stressed in what was already an extremely water-stressed area with very high population growth is not an example of McPherson being more accurate than mainstream researchers. Nor is it the harbinger of a coming unforeseen apocalypse wiping out all of humanity. It's something that's been predicted for a long time by mainstream researchers. Hell, one of my first year geography assignments nearly 40 years was very nearly on this exact topic.
Your third link – accelerated collapse of part of the Antarctic ice sheet is an example of McPherson being more accurate than mainstream researchers? You think this is going to bring about McPherson's claims of all humanity getting wiped out within the next decade? Are you fucking serious?
every example is indicating acceleration of impact (ahead of prediction) and consequently reduced scope to adjust…..this is the regular theme from almost every study released in recent time….the models are increasingly lagging real time effects…you may choose to dismiss that data however those analysing it and writing the papers are moving closer to McPhersons position by the day
McPherson's position is total extinction of all humans within 10 years.
Nobody with any credibility whatsoever is moving to anything remotely near a position like that. Claiming they are moving towards McPherson's position is like me claiming my financial position is moving closer to Warren Buffet's financial position – it may be technically correct, but we’re so far apart it’s a ludicrously idiotic claim to make.
we have gone from nothing to worry about this side of 2100 to we're not confident that organised society will survive a generation….you must be making shitloads if your comparrison is in any way relevant
…and an aside , Indias population has doubled since your study
Doomer fantasists might not be confident about organised society surviving a generation. However, doomers have been around since forever, yet here we still are.
again. the point is you may dismiss McPherson as a doomer fantasist…my point is that increasingly more and more mainstream scientists are publicly (pertinent) echoing him…. at what point do you you consider those opinions something more than doomer fantasy?
Which mainstream scientists are echoing McPherson? Which ones? Some things happening at the faster end of predicted ranges is not a case of mainstream scientists echoing McPherson, unless you're a doomer fantasist.
Again, McPherson's position is total extinction of all humans within 10 years. Which mainstream scientists are saying anything even vaguely resembling that?
Read the studies…the common theme is the modelled predictions are proving to be grossly conservative and impacts that were predicted to occur late century are occurring now or expected near term
Which mainstream scientists are echoing McPherson by suggesting total extinction of all humans within 10 years? Which ones? Links, please.
The tropics becoming uninhabitable by humans is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively anything like total extinction of all humans. Sea level rise of 50m from loss of all Greenland, Himalayan, and West Antarctic ice is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively anything like total extinction of all humans. The massive societal disruptions caused by massive migration of billions of climate refugees is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively anything like total extinction of all humans.
So, Pat, which mainstream scientists are echoing McPherson in suggesting total extinction of all humans within 10 years. Or even a similar order of magnitude timescale? Names and links, please. Or are you just full of shit?
Matthew 13:57
And they took offence at Him. But Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown and in his own household is a prophet without honour."
Hang in there, Johnm. On the balance of probability, Guy MacPherson is right – but too many people are afraid to admit it. Why try to fix the planet now if we can put it off until next Tuesday?
Guy Mcpherson's 5 minute representation to NYC committee on climate change:
(The ignored exist'l severe risk)
[Deleted long string of text. The complete comment is a copy & paste job. When you quote, please use quotation marks. Never quote the whole text, especially when it is long, but select the most telling part(s) to pique people’s interest. Use font style for emphasis if necessary. Always provide a link to the original source, e.g. http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2019/06/its-time-to-pursue-hospice-by-guy-mcpherson.html – Incognito]
lol mac fearsum is flawesome – what a dude lol
Doomer cult hero says doom is coming – yawn.
Weather chaos and climate disaster round the globe – 26 June, 2019
yeah surprise surprise
News flash weather has been reported around the world today with startling results. Based on past results some weather is close to average, some well below average some well above average One person did note as weather probability is a continuous variable the possibility of average is zero Mean while in NZ a new band is being formed by Johnm Paul and Ed with Ringo expected to join soon, however there are strong rumours that John Paul Ed and soon to be Ringo may simply be one artist
Yawn, Stretch, lovely day in Auckland Ed/Paul
I hope that you Auckland residents, currently being told about the wonderful advantages you get from trams and trains, will note this item on the RNZ news this morning.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/393138/ice-causes-delays-on-hutt-valley-and-wairarapa-trains
Because of the dreadful weather we are having in Wellington today train services through the Hutt Valley to Wellington are being disrupted and delays are occurring. They aren't really major but people with early meetings aren't going to make their appointments.
Still, Ms Genter will tell us it is all for the best. Trains are much more reliable and faster than taking your car into the city. And it really isn't the fault of the train services when such a dreadful spell of weather disrupts the service is it?
Just don't expect your wonderful tram service, organised at such enormous expense by that great man Twyford, to get you to somewhere near the airport if you are planning to fly out of Auckland in 20 years time when it is completed.
Mind you, I’m not actually sure which is worse. Is it today’s hold up because of the cold or was it what happened earlier in the year because of the terrible heat wave?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018680306/wellington-trains-halted-in-heat-thousands-stranded
Auckland residents know all too well their motorway system is regularly paralysed several times a month due to single incidents. Sometimes even a simple breakdown is enough delay many tens of thousands of vehicles for hours in the morning when people are trying to make 'meetings and appointments', or in the afternoons when people are trying to get home to their families.
This includes the South Western motorway which connects to Auckland International Airport. Many a flight has been missed because of short-sighted, road-centric thinking.
umm…………..Alywin, its a beautiful day in Wellington today?????
And its not as if people don't make early meetings in Wellington and Ak cause they are sitting in their cars, traffic building up because of a nasty accident…………
umm…………..Ankerwank,I know.because I live here"
Isn't it amazing how easily disrupted train travel is though? At least on roads there is a possibility of taking another route.
This is wilful ignorance, but then that is your specialty. Other routes don't suddenly free up when there's a motorway incident.
The notional road network in Alwn's head is perfect, like a market. It tends to equilibrium, one route involves too great a cost in time? Then demand drops and substitution with other routes occurs – as demand drops on the original route, the time cost diminishes and the whole things settles into balance with gorgeously happy motorists scurrying along to their incredibly fulfilling well-paid jobs where they "align the vision" and "drive efficiencies in best practice service delivery" while "collaborating with an intense win-win focus". It's all fabulous – why would you complain?
I am tempted to reprise your own comment made at 8.53 am in the material about the Cabinet Reshuffle.
"I don't remember addressing you."
I am far to polite though so I will simply ignore your wilful ignorance.
Well, you missed the point again, but that is not unusual.
I used to read most of The Guardian (when it was left-wing) each morning when commuting by train in London and I remember reading several George Orwell novels when commuting by train in Sydney.
If you enjoy driving in rush-hour Alwyn; go for it. But decent public transport is the way to go. Nine years of Jacinda and James will make it happen.
I personally think that large vehicle public transport, such as trains, trams and buses will become a thing of the past within about 10 years.
Autonomous Electric Vehicles will be here and will take over the majority of travel in cities at least. Most people will not need to own a private car if they live in a city. It will be a bit slower in the rural areas but it will take over there not too much later. I am looking forward to it. I think it will occur at about the time they take my license away.
This will arrive at just about the time they finish the ridiculous tram system being planned for Auckland. It will open and close on roughly the same date and will join such things as Stonehenge as relics of a bygone age.
The vehicles will be built by a consortium of Google and the big car manufacturers I would think. And just think. You will be able to read your book while being carried from door to door in comfort.
All those private journeys at rush hour with a single person in each vehicle. Where will increased number of vehicles be stored during the day when they are not used?
a) why do you think there will be more of them,
b) why do you think there'll be one person in each of them,
c) why do you think they will not be used
a) under alwyn's model public transport ceases to exist,
b) more than one in a driverless EV mimics public transport, something which horrifies alwyn
c) once the workforce is at work there'll be a lot of cars unused.
Oh gotcha. I on the other hand think of it more as "public transport increasingly takes the form of driverless electric cars".
They way I think of that near future is: nobody owns or drives cars any more. Just not worth the hassle or risk or expense. Big Data Machine Learning Car Co learns what sort of transport I need and when I need it and makes sure that I have it. When I'm not in it, the car will go to where the Big Data Machine Learning Car Co algorithm says it will be used next.
@SHG at 1.13 pm
That is exactly what I think. The AVs will be the public transport of the future.
I'm not "horrified" of public transport as Muttonbird seems to think. I just want to have a 21st century version rather than the 20th, and even 19th century versions that the current CoL seem to like.
I notice that our dear leaders don't use it themselves. Limo's all round for them.
Transporting 50 or 100 people along a set route will always be a cheaper fare than transporting 1 person slightly closer to their destination. Unless it's run in Dunedin.
How many people do you think there are on a bus in Wellington.
Would you think, counting all the bus trips and the entire length of the runs that they average as many as 5 people? There are not that many bus trips that actually are at peak times and have full loads.
The main cost of a taxi is paying the driver. AVs won't have that cost. In addition people won't need to drive to the bus or train route and then leave a car parked for the day. In Wellington there are an amazing number of cars that are driven down to the bus route and then left parked there while people take a bus to work for the day.
Driverless cars also eventually means driverless busses.
So the math simply comes down to whether your pessimistic assessment of passenger numbers on public transport is low enough for single-serve private fuckmobiles (they're totally going to get used for that) to be more competitive when they moonlight as a communter service.
I'd say from your comment that you have over-estimated the capability and timeline of AEV's taking over.
Often happens when the technology and required underlying supportive structures and frameworks are not well understood.
You may just ‘lose your license’ and need to rely on the manual public transport as it is today…read your book on that.
Imagine that. You may not be alright after all, jack.
"over-estimated the capability and timeline of AEV's taking over."
You may very well be right. I tend to follow Bill Gates' opinion on the matter though. He said –
"We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction."
The time sounds about right to me. Ford seems to be aiming for a 2021 commercial implementation. When the big Car companies get into it I would say the exercise has become much more than a pipe dream.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/13/ford-is-expanding-its-self-driving-vehicle-program-to-austin/
That is a great deal better than the pessimism of a couple of years ago.
https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2017/05/25/the-long-winding-road-for-driverless-cars
You can read this free if you register, (or of course have a subscription). I think the limit if you register is 5/month.
“I personally think that large vehicle public transport, such as trains, trams and buses will become a thing of the past within about 10 years.”
Interesting
Beijing underground system registered nearly 10 million commuters each Day last year. Then we have Tokyo New York and I cannot see the London Underground going within 10 years. especailly now they have nearly finished the new crossrail link
If they do go I hate to see the traffic chaos caused by this new technology.
I'll take your word for those numbers. I don't think you are really allowing for the speed with which technology can change though.
Consider mail. Did you know that the number of items delivered by NZ Post dropped from 835 million in FY 2012 to 454 million in FY 2018. The number roughly halved in those 6 years.
Or look at the use of cheques. We used 206 million in 2002. That dropped to 110 million in 2011 and was a mere 18 million last year.
Did you see that coming?
I think that 10 years is actually plenty of time for enormous changes.
I'm sure that places like Peking will keep their underground services busy. It will probably be the same way that we kept the railways going in the 1970s. Just ban any alternative. We didn't allow trucks to go more than about 50 km. China will quite likely ban AVs.
I really don't want us to spend $10 billion or so on a tram set and to then ban AVs because people would use them instead of a white elephant that we wasted so much money on.
Don't build the tram service now. Put the money into roads. In the short term they can be used by buses. In a decade, when the buses will be worn out anyway they will be there for the AVs.
Just don't let us become Luddites.
You have driven off the lovely man Bleep from this site! Harrassing his every comment until he could comment no more… You are a disgrace! You should be sent IMO (to fight CC).
Pretty sure bewildered is James using another handle.
Two handles are probably useful when barbecuing stuff?
It's the bewildered James show.
You spelt the last word incorrectly.
Surely you were meaning to say "It's the bewildered James Shaw"?
As it so happens, I delved into Bewildered’s history here and although it is more colourful than I expected, I don’t think James and Bewildered are one and the same commenter.
People need to learn not to take life or this site to seriously, just saying Maui and possible laugh at themselves every once and a while My digs at bleep where mild to what is accepted on this site, likewise in response to his digs at me that did not offend me in the slightest
I like collecting snippets of wisdom and quotes. This one is a favourite of mine
“ Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves.
As they shall always be amused…………………………………..Annom.”
See my Moderation note @ 8:01 AM.
Went to hear Thomas Nash speak yesterday, on social and co-housing possibilities in NZ
https://www.doubledenim.nz/fanny-pack/thomas-nash
He also did a quick run down on how our economy has become financialised, and our housing needs commodified.
One thing explored was the Preston effect, whereby a city in Lancashire pulled itself out of the ruins of neoliberal inspired poverty and began to thrive again …an ongoing project
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/31/preston-hit-rock-bottom-took-back-control#comment-111568613
What struck me was
Would we be able to take this route, given our signing up to the CTPPPA or whatever the hell its called now?
I think we can no longer favour local contractors in procurements?
And how thoroughly our publicly owned social infrastructure has been stripped in comparison to the UK
100% francesca 🙂
The opposite of neoliberalism. No shareholders no paying money to say the privatised half of Genesis energy. Keep it all in your economy. But the city council no longer plays that game. Instead it has adopted a guerrilla localism. It keeps its money as close to home as possible so that, amid historically drastic cuts, the amount spent locally has gone up. Where other authorities privatise, Preston grows its own businesses. It even creates worker-owned co-operatives.
Credit Unions not loan sharks.
local government controlling the market not a dog wagged by its market tail.
The Tppa would stop all this replacing local sustainability with globalism. Don’t offshore your jobs for shareholder profit keep them local for wages and local taxes to improve community.
Consultancy fees get rid of them grow your own expertise. The goverment should be reading this article.
We should be raising a rabble to go and find our money. Look under fay, richwhite, gibb, chandler, hart etc’s beds for a start off. Our tax system gave them our money. Hart just bought a $51 million dollar flat in NYC. Fay is just a scant few million away from being a billionaire. Westpac bank just took $555 million dollars in profit from us over a six month period, no doubt aided and abetted by our tax system to do so.
If NZ is a Preston we've been committing financial and social suicide since 1984.
Something nice happening in the morning can put a smile on your face for the day.
I heard Judith Collins being all nice-nice about Phil Twyford. You know, stateswoman like, adult, conciliatory understanding, with the bigger picture in view of what's good for the country. You know trying to sound party leadership material and, well, Prime Ministerial.
Then we went into Clinton-Lewinsky mode. "I did not have dinner relations with that man." RNZ tapes, "I did have dinner relations with that woman."
Of course there's a battle to be fought and being fought and the skirmishes confuse some minds. With Judith it's a bit complicated because sometimes an incidental drop-in cup of tea while going past the door is actually a many months organised formal dinner in the completely opposite direction.
With Simon? Who knows with such confusion. But you have to laugh but in doing so not overlook the significance.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018701723/collins-has-a-bit-of-sympathy-for-twyford-after-reshuffle
Yes Judith is reborning herself from that feisty aggressive take to prisoners but take the tyre burning cars sort of image, and is now copying Jacinda's conciliatory balanced friendly persona. And in doing so providing a great contrast to Simon's shouty hysterical blunderbuss approach.
All of Parliament is a stage folks.
Perhaps you could have given a bit more of that quote. Then it could have been applied to that great comic actor who plays the buffoon in each performance of Parliament.
"All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,"
………..
"Last scene of all,
That ends his strange eventful history,
In second childishness and mere oblivion
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."
Twyford, with his activities, jumped immediately to the seventh stage. Why is he still there? Why has he not been shuffled off stage into obscurity?
So many questions, so few answers.
Why is Simon Bridges still the leader of the National Party when he is so unpopular, so incompetent and is under investigation by the SFO?
Why is he still there? Why has he not shuffled off stage into obscurity for the good of the National Party?
The seventh stages is for me but far away for Phil. Thank you alwyn for the fuller quote but for whom should the various crowns fit? Where would Nick Smith fit?
I really think that Nick Smith, and Trevor Mallard should happily shuffle off into retirement together. They both fit the Cromwell judgement below, although I think they are both still into the sixth age of Shakespeare. Only just still there but they aren't into the final age yet.
“You have been sat to long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!.”
In Trevor's case of course there is another applicable comment from the Lord Protector.
“Take away that fool’s bauble, the mace”
The Lord Protector is not known by that name in Ireland where the Cromwellian invasion saw 600,000 people die as a result- 40% of the population.
That kind of 'protection' had its modern equivalent in Hue in Vietnam that "had to be destroyed in order to save it."
I din't actually say, and nor do I think, that Cromwell was an admirable figure. It was just that the quotes seem to be so appropriate.
And if your figures are right I can certainly see why the hatred of him would remain. No doubt they would have been very happy when, 3 years after he died, his body was exhumed and, according to Wikipedia "His body was hanged in chains at Tyburn, London and then thrown into a pit. His head was cut off and displayed on a pole outside Westminster Hall until 1685"
There was a story about a UK Foreign Office meeting room where they negotiated with foreign diplomats under a huge painting of a battlefield (probably Waterloo). Deciding that this wasn't very diplomatic, they replaced it with a picture of Cromwell. An Irish delegation walked into the room, saw the picture, turned around and walked out again, expressing frank disapproval.
Just said this very thing about Judith to hubby this morning before reading your comment Peter.
Lets all do the Orivida chant to bring some reality about Ms Collins persona
The big question would be, "Would the real Judith Collins please stand up?"
I wouldn't rush to assume that there is only one 'real' Judith. It may be falling into an essentialist trap. Probably there are multitudes of real Judiths, depending on what is required at the time.
Yes, I think you could partly describe her as Slim Shady, very Eminem Esque.
With the issue Min Hopkins has with Principals I wonder what will be in the final report back to the minister ?
Perhaps we will also see an estimated financial cost to implement ?
https://conversation.education.govt.nz/conversations/tomorrows-schools-review/
Jong Kee has obviously decided he has enough distance from the Hisco fiasco to be able to beg the FMA to give him and his company the good once over.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2019/06/fma-to-investigate-suspicious-anz-house-sale-to-former-ceo-s-wife.html
How to deal with white nationalists and a bit of a history.
Why Iran, China, Russia? The more powerful, the less accountable to the rule of law, the poorer trading partners. Whichever side of politics we are, it just doesn't make sense to expose our economies to nations who disregard the rule of law. Whether Iran, by religious edict, China by party corruption, or Russia with a breakdown in its money judiciary. Who cares how it effects Iranians, Chinese, Russians, it's just cheating, it means we compete with cheaters, those who get ahead by buying their way out of self harm. We just don't need their crap, Europe really needs to pull its head in and decide to raise tariffs. Now sure America is cursed by fiscal cheaters, but that's why Trumps president, exposing why stupid as commander in chief, or head of banks, are anti American. Not only to Americans but to the world.
Just commenting on another anomaly with the First Year fees free scheme.
As home educators we often use a combination of self-study and institutional study. Enrolled in a tertiary preparation study, which is online delivered and fairly static, we have found out – retrospectively – that this has utilised up 40 credits of any fees free tertiary study that may follow. Given that this is a tertiary preparation course – but grade Level 4 – which used to be free from some institutions – it was not stated through the enrolment process that this is utilising a third of any entitlement to fees free tertiary study. Depending on the follow up course, this loss of entitlement transfers to up to $1,000 – $2,000 in fees.
Something to keep in mind for others on alternate academic pathways, and perhaps something else for this coalition government to keep in mind when reviewing current implementation.
An interesting article from Stuff, about the inconsistencies of ANZ when dealing with staff “mistakes” from a former staff member.
However, only 2 comments allowed, before closing off comments completely. What is it with anything to do with John Key in media, that public opinion is cut short? Is he so "sacred" that he cannot be critiqued because he has become totally untouchable? I'd like to know what/who is supplying protection to him and why! Or should that be Him, as when addressing a holy deity?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/113846220/anz-staffer-i-was-fired-for-making-money-appear#comments
"End of life choice bill"
I was chemically poisoned on my job while working in Canada and was treated for several years to be able to return to my home in NZ and 20yrs later at 75 yrs old as a baby boomer I face uncertainty as NZ does not treat anyone with the latent effects of chemical poisoning,
so now technically I could be ruled as "uncurable in NZ's inadequate medical system so I may fall through the cracks if this bill is passed to receive "assisted death as technically I cannot be treated to live any more.
The people who dreamed up this "assisted dying bill" are not thinking it through as I have had to do, because they have merely said the bill is suited for all but I would not be considered uncurable if I returned to Canada because they have clinics to treat patients that have been chemically poisoned and NZ does not.
So the 'assisted death bill' will give doctors the licence to kill because they have not been given neither the skills and regimen to save those of us that have been chemically poisoned.
Sad people that vote for this "End of life choice bill”.