I wrote a longform essay on the politics of the arts and education. Here’s the link if you’re interested. It is published in this month’s North and South magazine as one of the winner’s of the D’Arcy Writer’s Grant.
“I love Aristotle’s belief that to know oneself is the beginning of all wisdom . . . and that educating the mind without the heart is no education at all. I like to think he viewed ‘heart’ as the philosophical, spiritual and moral values that should drive us — compassion, generosity, kindness, fairness — and the need to gain command over our animal instincts: jealousy, hatred, anger, and the most corrosive of all: unrestrained greed. I see the arts[7] as integral to Aristotle’s world view. They provide the crucial expression of our personal and cultural values and our identity. Robert Hughes, the late Australian art critic, said the art he most liked dealt with the questions why am I here and what am I doing? I believe this is the question all artists, all people, must consider to find personal fulfilment.”
Wonderful work, Mandy and on the button. I liked this passage especially. I’m not sure though, that jealousy, hatred, anger and unrestrained greed are animal instincts. They seem all too human to me. But yes, gaining control over those is the call.
I disagreed with lots of it. But it was substantive stuff to disagree with.
– Comparing criticism of Mike Joy to the silencing of Abelard and the burning of his books – via Lenin, Pol Pot and Hitler – was pretty out there.
– Reminding us that Socratic dialogue is superior, and then telling us it’s under threat due to a decline in teacher training, sounded pretty OLD. After all, the internet and the blogosphere has provided an explosion of democratised Socratic contest in ideas all over the joint. Maybe it’s teaching – an incredibly conservative profession – that needs to change, rather than expecting the dialogical world to revolve around them.
– Fair enough to have a crack at John Key about folding in order to get The Hobbit. On the other hand, we sucked it up and have a tourism industry that competes quite well against the entire dairy industry, in no small part because of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit deals.
– Clutch your pearls at commercialisation as you might, most of the great works of art in the world over the past 2 millennia were commissioned directly by patrons, who were either oligarchs, royals, or Popes. It’s the nonvelists who have the real superiority crown over their heads. My advice to any artist or writer if you want to save enough to buy a house: figure out who your client is and work from there.
– Why you think academics should not have their ideas contested hard is beyond me. Jane Kelsey plays a long game and was 100% vindicated at every point on the TPPA. I think she can live comfortably within that contest.
– And the below is not a ringing endorsement for the art of Simon Denny:
“I’d like to end with a plea to re-evaluate our core values; to use the riches of creative thinking, in all its varied and radical manifestations, to extract ourselves from this overarching economic mindset in search of something more equitable, sustainable and universally fulfilling. This is a plea to think with the heart, to shed the strictures of ideology and, instead, seek out our compassionate side for the betterment of all; to vote for the ‘politics of love’[75] and generosity, not divisiveness and hate. There is no need for winners and losers in the expression of our ‘humanness’; what we desperately need right now is a return to more creative, critical thinking that can transcend the mess and horrors manufactured by our animal greed.”
Denny’s art is about as compassionate and lovely and generous as a fly’s eye. If you can figure out which side of politics Simon Denny is on, then you’ve probably figured out where all the hackers sit in liberating the world from whatever.
– Finally, It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on how the skills-based pedagogy that we have had since the mid 1980s stacks with a Socratic contesting of ideas. One could make the case that we generate cohorts that prefer towards adaptability. Generalists are what this country need because our local economy is too narrow for too much specialistation. Just maybe Socrates – that 2,500 year old Greek –
isn’t what we need. Just maybe we could teach the Greeks something – who knows?
Clutch your pearls at commercialisation as you might, most of the great works of art in the world over the past 2 millennia were commissioned directly by patrons, who were either oligarchs, royals, or Popes.
Who got the wealth to do so from the people.
If we removed the people at the top we could probably support more artists and get more fantastic art.
That’s quite some alternative human history you want to run there.
What alternative history?
You simply cannot have rich people without them getting the wealth from everyone else. So those art patrons supported those artists with wealth from the poor.
The one really big example of the rich being removed from society was the Soviet Union. Art and artists didn’t do so well there. In fact they were persecuted, tortured, and jailed.
Nor China. Or Cuba. Or any state in which the rich were removed.
I’m struggling to find an example where your point is true.
The one really big example of the rich being removed from society was the Soviet Union.
The problem with that example is that an oppressive hierarchy was left in its place rather than an actual community. In other words, the rich stayed in place.
Whether they yearn to be sculptors, or dancers, or visual or performing artists, young people are rigorously trained for 11 years at the art or music schools in Cuba … all at government expense. Dance troupes, musicians, and painters are some of the best in the world.
Moreover, the government funds culture centers in each of its 19 provinces. These centers promote free concerts, nurture local talent, and insure cultural activities are available to everyone. Cuba has over 265 museums “spread across the country, focusing on history, the Revolution, music, natural science, colonial and ornamental art, weapons, cars, religion, tobacco, rum and sugar.”
Occasionally a Cuban artist was discovered and a New York galley exhibited their work but often without the artist, because they could not get a visa to attend. Or, as it were under an exception to the rules, researchers or authorized tour groups would be permitted to visit the country and discovered an artist whose work was then purchased by some third country, a circuitous route to the U.S.
That certainly hasn’t popped up since the death of Castro.
Hi James,
I got a ‘performance review’ as stipulated in in initial contract, after many reminders. I was first on the list due to my squeaky wheel approach.
I am waiting for the boss to get back to me in respect to wage increase/new contract.
Been 3weeks now.
Have asked for the living wage which seems to be a high bar as far as the paymaster is concerned.
I recently had the luck to meet Ruth Gotlieb, a former Wellington City Councillor, and thank her for fighting so hard to defend the city libraries from the philistines like Parkin and Blumsky who saw everything as either profitable or useless. ‘They’re the cornerstone of civilisation,’ she said. Indeed!
And as my favourite writer said:
Civilization is in a race between education and catastrophe. Let us learn the truth and spread it as far and wide as our circumstances allow. For the truth is the greatest weapon we have. ― H.G. Wells
Hmm, I remember reading in R. D. Laing’s The Politics of Experience something similar to this that you quote from Ursula LeGuin:
words are events, they do things, change things
Thoughts are real as they have consequences, to paraphrase him. Therefore to control the thoughts that are possible by what language and facts are available to us, to alter the value of thoughts that are had…
OK, I’m continuing a close reading and picking out points of note, I hope people don’t mind.
On the discussion of Eleanor Catton, one of her harshest and most misogynistic (calling her a ‘whore’, trying to excuse it with ‘Oops, I mean Hua’) is that oaf Sean Plunkett, now The Opportunities Party’s ‘Director Media and Communications.’ If Gareth Morgan’s hatred of cats wasn’t enough…
Brian Edwards proved that he’s not entirely overcome by the influence of Michelle Boag on The Panel:
On this, Brian Edwards said in his piece on this subject:
‘More insidious . . . is the implication in all of this that if the state has assisted you in your endeavours and contributed to your success, you forfeit the right to publicly criticise the country, its people, policies or leadership. Loss of freedom of speech is apparently the interest you have to pay on your debt to New Zealand.’
I’m quite a fan of Robert Hughes and his Culture of Complaint should be required reading to anyone thinking that campaigns for censorship of the arts should be practised if it’s for a ‘good cause’ because it plays right into the hands of the authoritarian right. The chapter ‘Art and the Therapeutic Fallacy’ is apposite – art must challenge, not comfort.
Sadly, rhinocrates, Hughes’s book instantly became a cultural weapon for the extreme right wing. Hughes pours scorn and heaps ridicule on black culture, and on black academics. Hughes was really just another Clive James—a privileged, pampered, smart-sounding Sydneysider who deliberately set himself up as something exotic, and different. The late Christopher Hitchens built a career doing something similar.
It beggars belief, then, why the government thought it wise to dis-incentivise post-graduate education by removing any funding or student loan options to those who wish to further pursue their area of expertise or who are over 50 years of age. It simply makes no sense. You cannot claim on the one-hand that you want skilled practitioners, while on the other you steal away the opportunities to upskill.
Absolutely. Joyce is a prime example of the ‘penny wise, pound foolish’ mentality of utilitarian education. Innovation comes from imagination, not mundane ‘skill.’ The skilled are always followers, the imaginative are leaders.
I don’t see much hope for Labour’s education policy with a moron like Shitkins as spokesthing for that portfolio, alas.
Even worse, perhaps, is how this winner/loser narrative is used to blame the victim (i.e. the unemployed are all on drugs; the shortness of a woman’s dress invites abuse; the homeless choose to live on the streets) and the resultant change in a society manifests as a distinct lessening of empathy and compassion.
Cheers to Meteria Turei. A damned smart and principled move by her. Billshit and Bennett have fiddled the system and blamed the victims for years, and now the debate’s been opened to actually include the real Kiwi attitude of compassion once more.
Hosking’s got his Ferrari (or is it a Lamborghini – I forget) and his tiny little mind is so small, it thinks that a bloody lump of metal is some sort of fulfilment. I used to have nightmares thinking that I’d get something like that and ask myself, ‘is that all there is to life, this thing?
You want to talk about patriotism, you want to talk about real Kiwi values? Then talk about giving the poorest a fair go!
Several other academics I have spoken with confirm that they are now required to sign gagging clauses that prevent them from criticising current government policy, as do many public servants. When we hear of this happening in Trump’s America (i.e. the gagging of their EPA), we are horrified at this insult to truth, freedom and free speech, yet where is the outrage when it happens here? Many argue it comes on top of a long history in NZ of pouring scorn on public intellectuals. Acclaimed journalist and author Bruce Jesson once wrote:
Anti-intellectualism runs deep in NZ society and we are losing the few forums of discussion that we used to have. Current affairs television has been reduced to entertainment. The Listener, which was once a journal of intellectual quality, has been reduced to a TV viewer’s magazine. Talkback radio caters for bigots. The universities don’t fulfil a critical function in NZ society.
And this is the key to it, for me. As H.G. Wells said, we are in a race between eduction and catastrophe. Idiots like Nick Smith who think that we can clean up our waterways by redefining filthy as clean (and his cretinous cheerleaders like Wayne Mapp) are a genuine danger, because the bar the way to solutions.
Trump is targeting the press and academia, pushing scientists out of government bodies. Key thought that he could shop around for different versions of reality that suited him (I wonder if he ever read any Philip K Dick… nah, he doesn’t read).
We need more scientists politically engaged along with artists.
Our government makes it plain that it is only interested in ‘vocational’ courses, not those that might breed a new generation of free thinkers. And while it’s possible that some humanities departments are suffering drops in student numbers, this is hardly surprising given young people must now weigh up pursuit of knowledge for passion’s sake against outrageously high student loans.
Exactly. Penny wise and pound foolish. The skilled make good followers, those taught to be imaginative lead. Otherwise, you’re condemning New Zealand’s industry to an ever-descending spiral of imitation. It’ll never get ahead without teaching imagination.
Louise Nicholas exposed police internal discipline inadequacies which continue to be a problem.
Oh yeah, Labour, thanks for putting up that rapist-supporting scumbag as your Ohariu candidate. If I lived a mile to the west, I’d actually vote for Dunne! (as is, Robertson? No way)
I mean, seriously, what the fuck were you thinking? O’Connor and Jackson? Not enough rapists voting Labour? Quick, we need someone who’ll advocate for them!
This is the true nature of a social democracy — the system most New Zealanders support when push comes to shove. Freedom of speech, and the rooting out of corruption, are fundamental principles we should not have to constantly fight for; they should be our bottom line.
The informed critique of government and society. This is the ethos of the old socialist push of speakers going back to John Ruskin, William Morris and before was to reach out to the people as a whole and to teach them that the arts and that imagination could make change for the better.
Actoid Rodney Hyde (how appropriate – a Hyde without a Dr Jekyll) once said that the purpose of an ‘economy’ – not a civilisation, a word he had forgotten, was to allow people ‘to buy stuff.’ We are more than consumers!
Community education of all kinds should be immediately revived, funded and encouraged… Concerted work also needs to be undertaken to entrench ethics, civics and values education across all sectors of society, and to encourage our young people to take an active role in improving the world in which they live.
Compare this with the Orangegropenfuhrer’s now-infamous speech to the Boy Scouts. It was utterly contrary to Scout ethics of service and was all about self-interest and resentment. Vulgarity is not merely aesthetically offensive, it is detrimental to society.
Aristotle taught that business or toil is merely utilitarian; it may be necessary but does not enrich or ennoble a human life. The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance, and this, not the external manner and detail, is true reality. How about we end the cycle that sees the injustices wrought in Heloise’s world repeated in our own? We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.
This is not just a platitude. If you go back to the merely utilitarian, then remember ‘penny wise and pound foolish.’ The utilitarian argument fails on its own terms. It does not bring a greater good in the long run. It condemns us to being followers, always lagging behind the innovation of others, condemning us, like the workers of Weta, to being ‘Mexicans with cellphones.’ as one studio executive put it.
On the terms of civilisation and humanity, it is completely and always abhorrent.
Thank you Mandy Hager, that is a fine essay and it must be read.
My apologies for a long series of comments, but this is an important essay and if people can’t take the time to read all of it, they need to see the parts that are relevant to Standard readers.
Looks like our government is failing to abide by Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – which it signed up to.
‘Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.’
Good journalism from Newsroom this morning re Ministry of Health funding.
“The DHB funding blunder will not go away, with fresh details raising questions about a rogue Ministry and when exactly the Government knew something was wrong. Shane Cowlishaw reports.”
It looks like this one has a long way to run. The upside is that operational funding for some DHBs funding is unexpectedly albeit temporarily increased… if the CEO can manage to ‘fix’ it for the DHBs left short, and without reducing funding next year for the DHBs with the windfall. Still to be seen how the DHBs will manage this mess.
It will be very interesting to get more background on how this error was made.
As an aside I’ve noticed a couple of instances with service sectors being reframed as ‘industries’ e.g. illustration in this article calling the health sector the health industry, and after the grenfell disaster in UK, the fire services sector (emergency services, inspectors etc) being referred to by minster as ‘the fire industry’. I’m not sure where they’re going with this, but i think it’s a deliberate reframing from a vocational/service concept to a business imagery.
“Penny you are so into personality politics it’s sick.
What matters is policy nothing else.
You need to get focussed on that if you want to be anything more than idiot wind in this thread.
Try starting by telling us just one policy that you want and why – just one.
Then at least we can see you have some content and what it is.”
Gareth Morgan was responding to this post I made on his TOP Facebook page:
“In my view – you’re being conned.
The real reason, IMO, for Gareth Morgan’s TOP is to keep this National-led Government in power, and to do that, help undermine Winston Peters and NZ First.
Not the first time that’s been attempted.
Remember 2014 and another millionaire, Colin Craig and his Conservative Party?
IMO – very similar in terms of what their political purpose was – to help reduce votes for NZ First.”
MY RESPONSE TO GARETH MORGAN 28 July 2017:
[deleted]
_____________________________
Which political parties in NZ
have such an ACTION PLAN?
What I would like to see is AS MANY political parties/ groups / organisations and individuals ‘pick up the ball’ here and ‘help themselves’ to as many of these ‘demands’ as possible – so we get AS MANY people as possible calling for genuine transparency and accountability in New Zealand.
“Where the people lead – the politicians will follow …”
Politically – we need to CLEAN our country up!
On the NZ anti- corruption front – this ACTION PLAN gives a clear path forward.
Please folks – all I ask you to do is read carefully and consider these ACTION PLAN points, and if you agree – please SHARE?
THANKS!
Penny 🙂
[have deleted some of the too long cut and paste. How about putting a link in so people can see for themselves? – weka]
When Spicy bailed, didn’t you just wonder what anyone could do to top him? Wonder no more, The Mooch brings a whole new level of WTF to WhiteHouse communications.
Lessons in how to ‘manage upward’, from the Pentagon to the current U.S. President:
“The Department of Defense is awaiting formal guidance from the White House as a follow-up to the Commander-In-Chief’s announcement on military service by transgender personnel. We will provide detailed guidance to the Department in the near future for how this policy change will be implemented. The Department will continue to focus on our mission of defending our nation and on-going operations against our foes, while ensuring all servicemembers are treated with respect.”
This was part of the stupid cycle project pushed by our last (Green) Mayor and the current (Labour) Mayor and his deputy.
They managed to make one of the widest, safest roads in Wellington into a disaster zone. Millions and millions of ratepayers dollars put into a crazy scheme to appeal to a couple of dozen cyclists a day. That is on a fine calm day. Today there would be none. Now they want to throw more millions at it, rather than just remove the mess they made and go back to the situation we had before they went quite insane.
I went a couple of times to have a look at whether it was used. There were a few cyclists on the road in an hour or so’s observation, most of whom ignored the cycle lanes and rode on the (now much narrower) traffic lanes. Buses have to stop as the roadway that was left after this fiasco are not wide enough for them to pass.
Eagle, the deputy Mayor, is running for the Labour Party in the Rongotai electorate.in Wellington. I rather hope he wins. He will do a great deal less harm in a back bench seat in the Opposition than he does on the Wellington Council.
lol I love how the stuff link multiplies the cost by a factor of 11.
It’ll cost <$7mil, not 77.
All that aside, I suspect that wgtn, like dunedin, is looking at cycleways and improvements because people were seriously injured or died. I have a lot of issues with cyclists (especially mixing with pedestrians), but I don't have a problem with going overboard on wide cycle lanes. Too many people got squished.
I hadn’t noticed the “77” error in the link.
I went back and read the article and at first I couldn’t see what you were talking about. Quite funny really. I can’t really believe it was deliberate though. The Dompost people don’t have that much imagination.
In terms of accidents this part of Island Bay road had had NO reported cycling accidents in the 10 years or so before they put in the new arrangement. They have had a number of accidents since. The problem is that the cycle lane winds along close to, and in some places ON the footpath. It also weaves around the bus shelters and close to the parking, as you can see in the photos. I believe it is the danger of riding on the lane that leads the cyclists to go back to the safer road.
Imagine trying to put a child in your car. You have to do it from the cycle lane. Then you either get hit by a cyclist or hit one when you open the door.
By the way did you read the comments attached to the article on the Dompost site? There is the odd enthusiast among the scores of those opposed.
Most people think it is dreadful and want to know why the bloody council can’t just admit it and scrap the silly thing.
Frankly, it’s an excellent idea to have a cycle lane through to Island Bay – they just signed off on a poor design. People in Wellington shouldn’t be hating on the councillors, they should be hating on whoever designed the stupid design of it.
A Sydney-based Islamic leader is claiming Australian women need Muslim men to “fertilise them” because of recent reports that sperm counts in western males are dropping drastically.
Halal Certification Authority boss Mohamed El-Mouelhy said Australian women would “need us to fertilise them and keep them surrounded by Muslim babies”.
Mr El-Mouelhy suggests the white race could become extinct within 40 years if Australia is left to the “bigots” he believes should “commit suicide”.
“Your men are a dying breed, Australian women need us to fertilise them and keep them surrounded by Muslim babies while beer swilling, cigarette smoking, drug injecting can only dream of what Muslim men are capable of.”
“Muslims have a duty to make your women happy.”
“Because you are declining, better go choose a plot for yourself at your local cemetery.”
“If you can’t afford it, commit suicide. It is a cheaper alternative for bigots.”
The controversial comments were posted to Mr El-Mouelhy’s Facebook page.
The Coalition holds a one-seat majority in the House of Representatives which bans anyone who is a “citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power”.
Now all I’m waiting for is for someone to point out that because all Australian’s are automatically entitled to NZ citizenship, therefore maybe none of them are really eligible to stand for the Senate. 🙂
‘Lazy Kiwis who don’t want to work in agriculture’
Once upon a time you could build a career or a livelihood. Work one or two jobs and build up enough equity to get onto your own farm.
Now? Agri-business is starting to kill the dream.
Same with the in-town jobs. Doesn’t matter how hard you work, or how many hours. How loyal – it doesn’t seem to show up in the pay packet, training opportunities or career advancement.
But hey! I forgot. It’s only the top echelons who need financial encouragement to perform. Threats and warning stories work best on the shrinking mass of workers.
Just do enough. There’s not much point in trying to do better.
“Pākehā, learn from Māori and Pacifica peoples about how to share land and housing, we don’t have to completely reinvent the wheel.”
The term Pakeha is a racist term and is derogatory to New Zealanders. If everyone on this website could stop using it the world would be a better place.
The statement is also incorrect. New Zealanders already have more than adequate ability to structure shared land ownership. For instance trust law has been shaped over centuries and existed well before Maori made it to New Zealand shores. A Trust would be a good mechanism to govern shared ownership. Alternatively a Partnership could be arranged.
No need to “learn” from any other ethnicity. We simply need to utilise the mechanisms we already have.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Sorry, I haven’t been following daily utterances, which I think is a strength. Stephen Mills as the representative of the Left on RNZ’s Left and Right back and forth on Monday morning is as vile as the Hilary Clinton he supported against Sanders. Listen to his last input. He is almost as involved in the rich and strong as her. The Left is always about revolution, he responds to that as an entirely unexpected, and ear-waxical, surprise. Mike Williams at least has individual integrity for his right-wingism.
The Left is about revolution, is about heart. When Catherine Ryan can find someone less like herself to involve my heart again she will have found a representative of the Left.
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The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
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I wrote a longform essay on the politics of the arts and education. Here’s the link if you’re interested. It is published in this month’s North and South magazine as one of the winner’s of the D’Arcy Writer’s Grant.
https://mandyhager.com/2017/07/18/for-arts-sake-the-politics-of-arts-and-arts-education/
Enjoy!
Thanks very much! Brilliant!
+ 100%
“I love Aristotle’s belief that to know oneself is the beginning of all wisdom . . . and that educating the mind without the heart is no education at all. I like to think he viewed ‘heart’ as the philosophical, spiritual and moral values that should drive us — compassion, generosity, kindness, fairness — and the need to gain command over our animal instincts: jealousy, hatred, anger, and the most corrosive of all: unrestrained greed. I see the arts[7] as integral to Aristotle’s world view. They provide the crucial expression of our personal and cultural values and our identity. Robert Hughes, the late Australian art critic, said the art he most liked dealt with the questions why am I here and what am I doing? I believe this is the question all artists, all people, must consider to find personal fulfilment.”
Wonderful work, Mandy and on the button. I liked this passage especially. I’m not sure though, that jealousy, hatred, anger and unrestrained greed are animal instincts. They seem all too human to me. But yes, gaining control over those is the call.
Thanks Mandy, and well done you, will be sure to have a read, looks like a fascinating essay.
It is a great essay Mandy. I particularly liked the linking to the intellectual suppressions in the middle ages of Europe.
It’s a good read.
I disagreed with lots of it. But it was substantive stuff to disagree with.
– Comparing criticism of Mike Joy to the silencing of Abelard and the burning of his books – via Lenin, Pol Pot and Hitler – was pretty out there.
– Reminding us that Socratic dialogue is superior, and then telling us it’s under threat due to a decline in teacher training, sounded pretty OLD. After all, the internet and the blogosphere has provided an explosion of democratised Socratic contest in ideas all over the joint. Maybe it’s teaching – an incredibly conservative profession – that needs to change, rather than expecting the dialogical world to revolve around them.
– Fair enough to have a crack at John Key about folding in order to get The Hobbit. On the other hand, we sucked it up and have a tourism industry that competes quite well against the entire dairy industry, in no small part because of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit deals.
– Clutch your pearls at commercialisation as you might, most of the great works of art in the world over the past 2 millennia were commissioned directly by patrons, who were either oligarchs, royals, or Popes. It’s the nonvelists who have the real superiority crown over their heads. My advice to any artist or writer if you want to save enough to buy a house: figure out who your client is and work from there.
– Why you think academics should not have their ideas contested hard is beyond me. Jane Kelsey plays a long game and was 100% vindicated at every point on the TPPA. I think she can live comfortably within that contest.
– And the below is not a ringing endorsement for the art of Simon Denny:
“I’d like to end with a plea to re-evaluate our core values; to use the riches of creative thinking, in all its varied and radical manifestations, to extract ourselves from this overarching economic mindset in search of something more equitable, sustainable and universally fulfilling. This is a plea to think with the heart, to shed the strictures of ideology and, instead, seek out our compassionate side for the betterment of all; to vote for the ‘politics of love’[75] and generosity, not divisiveness and hate. There is no need for winners and losers in the expression of our ‘humanness’; what we desperately need right now is a return to more creative, critical thinking that can transcend the mess and horrors manufactured by our animal greed.”
Denny’s art is about as compassionate and lovely and generous as a fly’s eye. If you can figure out which side of politics Simon Denny is on, then you’ve probably figured out where all the hackers sit in liberating the world from whatever.
– Finally, It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on how the skills-based pedagogy that we have had since the mid 1980s stacks with a Socratic contesting of ideas. One could make the case that we generate cohorts that prefer towards adaptability. Generalists are what this country need because our local economy is too narrow for too much specialistation. Just maybe Socrates – that 2,500 year old Greek –
isn’t what we need. Just maybe we could teach the Greeks something – who knows?
Clutch your pearls at commercialisation as you might, most of the great works of art in the world over the past 2 millennia were commissioned directly by patrons, who were either oligarchs, royals, or Popes.
Who got the wealth to do so from the people.
If we removed the people at the top we could probably support more artists and get more fantastic art.
That’s quite some alternative human history you want to run there.
Have a go at Arnold Hauser’s Marxist art history theories if you are in to that kind of thing.
What alternative history?
You simply cannot have rich people without them getting the wealth from everyone else. So those art patrons supported those artists with wealth from the poor.
“If you removed people at the top” from art patronage you would have mid-brow craft.
Your point about artists essentially being parasitical on the poor through the rich is good solid Marxist art history.
Are you purposefully misreading what I said?
It was fairly obvious that I meant removing the patrons who are a wealth drain. The artists aren’t parasites – the rich are.
No you were just unclear.
I understand you now. You are saying if the rich were removed from society that would enable more art.
Yes.
The one really big example of the rich being removed from society was the Soviet Union. Art and artists didn’t do so well there. In fact they were persecuted, tortured, and jailed.
Nor China. Or Cuba. Or any state in which the rich were removed.
I’m struggling to find an example where your point is true.
The problem with that example is that an oppressive hierarchy was left in its place rather than an actual community. In other words, the rich stayed in place.
And it seems that art thrived in Cuba:
That certainly hasn’t popped up since the death of Castro.
I just have had a quick skip over will read in depth later. Just brilliant.
Thanks Mandy, a great read.
Keep up the good work.
How did you go with your employment matter gsays? Was it you that was discussing a new contract after your 90 days?
Hi James,
I got a ‘performance review’ as stipulated in in initial contract, after many reminders. I was first on the list due to my squeaky wheel approach.
I am waiting for the boss to get back to me in respect to wage increase/new contract.
Been 3weeks now.
Have asked for the living wage which seems to be a high bar as far as the paymaster is concerned.
Fingers crossed.
Thank you very much for that.
I recently had the luck to meet Ruth Gotlieb, a former Wellington City Councillor, and thank her for fighting so hard to defend the city libraries from the philistines like Parkin and Blumsky who saw everything as either profitable or useless. ‘They’re the cornerstone of civilisation,’ she said. Indeed!
And as my favourite writer said:
Civilization is in a race between education and catastrophe. Let us learn the truth and spread it as far and wide as our circumstances allow. For the truth is the greatest weapon we have. ― H.G. Wells
Hmm, I remember reading in R. D. Laing’s The Politics of Experience something similar to this that you quote from Ursula LeGuin:
words are events, they do things, change things
Thoughts are real as they have consequences, to paraphrase him. Therefore to control the thoughts that are possible by what language and facts are available to us, to alter the value of thoughts that are had…
OK, I’m continuing a close reading and picking out points of note, I hope people don’t mind.
On the discussion of Eleanor Catton, one of her harshest and most misogynistic (calling her a ‘whore’, trying to excuse it with ‘Oops, I mean Hua’) is that oaf Sean Plunkett, now The Opportunities Party’s ‘Director Media and Communications.’ If Gareth Morgan’s hatred of cats wasn’t enough…
Brian Edwards proved that he’s not entirely overcome by the influence of Michelle Boag on The Panel:
On this, Brian Edwards said in his piece on this subject:
‘More insidious . . . is the implication in all of this that if the state has assisted you in your endeavours and contributed to your success, you forfeit the right to publicly criticise the country, its people, policies or leadership. Loss of freedom of speech is apparently the interest you have to pay on your debt to New Zealand.’
I’m quite a fan of Robert Hughes and his Culture of Complaint should be required reading to anyone thinking that campaigns for censorship of the arts should be practised if it’s for a ‘good cause’ because it plays right into the hands of the authoritarian right. The chapter ‘Art and the Therapeutic Fallacy’ is apposite – art must challenge, not comfort.
Sadly, rhinocrates, Hughes’s book instantly became a cultural weapon for the extreme right wing. Hughes pours scorn and heaps ridicule on black culture, and on black academics. Hughes was really just another Clive James—a privileged, pampered, smart-sounding Sydneysider who deliberately set himself up as something exotic, and different. The late Christopher Hitchens built a career doing something similar.
Continuing my running commentary:
It beggars belief, then, why the government thought it wise to dis-incentivise post-graduate education by removing any funding or student loan options to those who wish to further pursue their area of expertise or who are over 50 years of age. It simply makes no sense. You cannot claim on the one-hand that you want skilled practitioners, while on the other you steal away the opportunities to upskill.
Absolutely. Joyce is a prime example of the ‘penny wise, pound foolish’ mentality of utilitarian education. Innovation comes from imagination, not mundane ‘skill.’ The skilled are always followers, the imaginative are leaders.
I don’t see much hope for Labour’s education policy with a moron like Shitkins as spokesthing for that portfolio, alas.
Even worse, perhaps, is how this winner/loser narrative is used to blame the victim (i.e. the unemployed are all on drugs; the shortness of a woman’s dress invites abuse; the homeless choose to live on the streets) and the resultant change in a society manifests as a distinct lessening of empathy and compassion.
Cheers to Meteria Turei. A damned smart and principled move by her. Billshit and Bennett have fiddled the system and blamed the victims for years, and now the debate’s been opened to actually include the real Kiwi attitude of compassion once more.
Hosking’s got his Ferrari (or is it a Lamborghini – I forget) and his tiny little mind is so small, it thinks that a bloody lump of metal is some sort of fulfilment. I used to have nightmares thinking that I’d get something like that and ask myself, ‘is that all there is to life, this thing?
You want to talk about patriotism, you want to talk about real Kiwi values? Then talk about giving the poorest a fair go!
I’ve heard ‘Prostetnic Vogon Joyce’ along with ‘Dildo Baggins.’ Ha!
Several other academics I have spoken with confirm that they are now required to sign gagging clauses that prevent them from criticising current government policy, as do many public servants. When we hear of this happening in Trump’s America (i.e. the gagging of their EPA), we are horrified at this insult to truth, freedom and free speech, yet where is the outrage when it happens here? Many argue it comes on top of a long history in NZ of pouring scorn on public intellectuals. Acclaimed journalist and author Bruce Jesson once wrote:
Anti-intellectualism runs deep in NZ society and we are losing the few forums of discussion that we used to have. Current affairs television has been reduced to entertainment. The Listener, which was once a journal of intellectual quality, has been reduced to a TV viewer’s magazine. Talkback radio caters for bigots. The universities don’t fulfil a critical function in NZ society.
And this is the key to it, for me. As H.G. Wells said, we are in a race between eduction and catastrophe. Idiots like Nick Smith who think that we can clean up our waterways by redefining filthy as clean (and his cretinous cheerleaders like Wayne Mapp) are a genuine danger, because the bar the way to solutions.
Trump is targeting the press and academia, pushing scientists out of government bodies. Key thought that he could shop around for different versions of reality that suited him (I wonder if he ever read any Philip K Dick… nah, he doesn’t read).
We need more scientists politically engaged along with artists.
Our government makes it plain that it is only interested in ‘vocational’ courses, not those that might breed a new generation of free thinkers. And while it’s possible that some humanities departments are suffering drops in student numbers, this is hardly surprising given young people must now weigh up pursuit of knowledge for passion’s sake against outrageously high student loans.
Exactly. Penny wise and pound foolish. The skilled make good followers, those taught to be imaginative lead. Otherwise, you’re condemning New Zealand’s industry to an ever-descending spiral of imitation. It’ll never get ahead without teaching imagination.
Louise Nicholas exposed police internal discipline inadequacies which continue to be a problem.
Oh yeah, Labour, thanks for putting up that rapist-supporting scumbag as your Ohariu candidate. If I lived a mile to the west, I’d actually vote for Dunne! (as is, Robertson? No way)
I mean, seriously, what the fuck were you thinking? O’Connor and Jackson? Not enough rapists voting Labour? Quick, we need someone who’ll advocate for them!
This is the true nature of a social democracy — the system most New Zealanders support when push comes to shove. Freedom of speech, and the rooting out of corruption, are fundamental principles we should not have to constantly fight for; they should be our bottom line.
The informed critique of government and society. This is the ethos of the old socialist push of speakers going back to John Ruskin, William Morris and before was to reach out to the people as a whole and to teach them that the arts and that imagination could make change for the better.
Actoid Rodney Hyde (how appropriate – a Hyde without a Dr Jekyll) once said that the purpose of an ‘economy’ – not a civilisation, a word he had forgotten, was to allow people ‘to buy stuff.’ We are more than consumers!
Community education of all kinds should be immediately revived, funded and encouraged… Concerted work also needs to be undertaken to entrench ethics, civics and values education across all sectors of society, and to encourage our young people to take an active role in improving the world in which they live.
Compare this with the Orangegropenfuhrer’s now-infamous speech to the Boy Scouts. It was utterly contrary to Scout ethics of service and was all about self-interest and resentment. Vulgarity is not merely aesthetically offensive, it is detrimental to society.
Conclusion:
Aristotle taught that business or toil is merely utilitarian; it may be necessary but does not enrich or ennoble a human life. The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance, and this, not the external manner and detail, is true reality. How about we end the cycle that sees the injustices wrought in Heloise’s world repeated in our own? We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.
This is not just a platitude. If you go back to the merely utilitarian, then remember ‘penny wise and pound foolish.’ The utilitarian argument fails on its own terms. It does not bring a greater good in the long run. It condemns us to being followers, always lagging behind the innovation of others, condemning us, like the workers of Weta, to being ‘Mexicans with cellphones.’ as one studio executive put it.
On the terms of civilisation and humanity, it is completely and always abhorrent.
Thank you Mandy Hager, that is a fine essay and it must be read.
My apologies for a long series of comments, but this is an important essay and if people can’t take the time to read all of it, they need to see the parts that are relevant to Standard readers.
The power of popular protest
Even one of the harshest, most oppressive regimes on the planet has been proven helpless against concerted peaceful popular protest…..
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/27/israel-removes-further-security-measures-from-al-aqsa-compound
Looks like our government is failing to abide by Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – which it signed up to.
‘Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.’
The only way to maintain rich people is to steal from everyone else.
Nz do a pretty good job here Ed compared to most of the world so what’s your point
Good journalism from Newsroom this morning re Ministry of Health funding.
“The DHB funding blunder will not go away, with fresh details raising questions about a rogue Ministry and when exactly the Government knew something was wrong. Shane Cowlishaw reports.”
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/07/27/40171/funding-blunder-docs-reveal-rogue-ministry
The henchmen can’t even agree over the size of the cuts, deary me.
Nationals appointed beancounters, ex PWC’ers and associated club members. The fresh face of gutting our health system.
I see the CFO’s freshly on board after helping the kiwirail stripping along with an ex education ministry head kicker.
No wonder it’s described as abrasive with Coleman being called ‘lazy’ by one DHB member, understatement IMO.
It looks like this one has a long way to run. The upside is that operational funding for some DHBs funding is unexpectedly albeit temporarily increased… if the CEO can manage to ‘fix’ it for the DHBs left short, and without reducing funding next year for the DHBs with the windfall. Still to be seen how the DHBs will manage this mess.
It will be very interesting to get more background on how this error was made.
As an aside I’ve noticed a couple of instances with service sectors being reframed as ‘industries’ e.g. illustration in this article calling the health sector the health industry, and after the grenfell disaster in UK, the fire services sector (emergency services, inspectors etc) being referred to by minster as ‘the fire industry’. I’m not sure where they’re going with this, but i think it’s a deliberate reframing from a vocational/service concept to a business imagery.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=36534
Progressive economist speaking in Wellington today. There is a live stream.
It’s also available on demand (just press the play button in the link below).
https://vstream.victoria.ac.nz/ess/echo/presentation/6dc7bf0a-fa14-47b5-8bc9-3798fe6cd280
If Macron made an offer to be PM of New Zealand I’d take it.
I think the last time an NZ PM was this good with the media, it was Seddon himself:
http://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuel-macron-pr-press-7-magic-moments/
The pictures are really something.
GARETH MORGAN BITES LIKE A WHITE POINTER SHARK!
Friday 28 July 2017
“Penny you are so into personality politics it’s sick.
What matters is policy nothing else.
You need to get focussed on that if you want to be anything more than idiot wind in this thread.
Try starting by telling us just one policy that you want and why – just one.
Then at least we can see you have some content and what it is.”
Gareth Morgan was responding to this post I made on his TOP Facebook page:
“In my view – you’re being conned.
The real reason, IMO, for Gareth Morgan’s TOP is to keep this National-led Government in power, and to do that, help undermine Winston Peters and NZ First.
Not the first time that’s been attempted.
Remember 2014 and another millionaire, Colin Craig and his Conservative Party?
IMO – very similar in terms of what their political purpose was – to help reduce votes for NZ First.”
MY RESPONSE TO GARETH MORGAN 28 July 2017:
[deleted]
_____________________________
Which political parties in NZ
have such an ACTION PLAN?
What I would like to see is AS MANY political parties/ groups / organisations and individuals ‘pick up the ball’ here and ‘help themselves’ to as many of these ‘demands’ as possible – so we get AS MANY people as possible calling for genuine transparency and accountability in New Zealand.
“Where the people lead – the politicians will follow …”
Politically – we need to CLEAN our country up!
On the NZ anti- corruption front – this ACTION PLAN gives a clear path forward.
Please folks – all I ask you to do is read carefully and consider these ACTION PLAN points, and if you agree – please SHARE?
THANKS!
Penny 🙂
[have deleted some of the too long cut and paste. How about putting a link in so people can see for themselves? – weka]
When Spicy bailed, didn’t you just wonder what anyone could do to top him? Wonder no more, The Mooch brings a whole new level of WTF to WhiteHouse communications.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/344215-scaramucci-priebus-is-a-paranoid-schizophrenic-will-be-asked-to
Anyone remember back to the good old days of, oh, seven months ago, when this was still such way OTT satire that it was still funny?
Lessons in how to ‘manage upward’, from the Pentagon to the current U.S. President:
“The Department of Defense is awaiting formal guidance from the White House as a follow-up to the Commander-In-Chief’s announcement on military service by transgender personnel. We will provide detailed guidance to the Department in the near future for how this policy change will be implemented. The Department will continue to focus on our mission of defending our nation and on-going operations against our foes, while ensuring all servicemembers are treated with respect.”
If anyone still is under the delusion that Labour or Green politicians can provide sensible, affordable Government try reading about this disaster.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/95158475/island-bay-cycleway-solutions-to-cost-ratepayers-up-to-77m-and-remove-57-car-parks
This was part of the stupid cycle project pushed by our last (Green) Mayor and the current (Labour) Mayor and his deputy.
They managed to make one of the widest, safest roads in Wellington into a disaster zone. Millions and millions of ratepayers dollars put into a crazy scheme to appeal to a couple of dozen cyclists a day. That is on a fine calm day. Today there would be none. Now they want to throw more millions at it, rather than just remove the mess they made and go back to the situation we had before they went quite insane.
I went a couple of times to have a look at whether it was used. There were a few cyclists on the road in an hour or so’s observation, most of whom ignored the cycle lanes and rode on the (now much narrower) traffic lanes. Buses have to stop as the roadway that was left after this fiasco are not wide enough for them to pass.
Eagle, the deputy Mayor, is running for the Labour Party in the Rongotai electorate.in Wellington. I rather hope he wins. He will do a great deal less harm in a back bench seat in the Opposition than he does on the Wellington Council.
lol I love how the stuff link multiplies the cost by a factor of 11.
It’ll cost <$7mil, not 77.
All that aside, I suspect that wgtn, like dunedin, is looking at cycleways and improvements because people were seriously injured or died. I have a lot of issues with cyclists (especially mixing with pedestrians), but I don't have a problem with going overboard on wide cycle lanes. Too many people got squished.
I hadn’t noticed the “77” error in the link.
I went back and read the article and at first I couldn’t see what you were talking about. Quite funny really. I can’t really believe it was deliberate though. The Dompost people don’t have that much imagination.
In terms of accidents this part of Island Bay road had had NO reported cycling accidents in the 10 years or so before they put in the new arrangement. They have had a number of accidents since. The problem is that the cycle lane winds along close to, and in some places ON the footpath. It also weaves around the bus shelters and close to the parking, as you can see in the photos. I believe it is the danger of riding on the lane that leads the cyclists to go back to the safer road.
Imagine trying to put a child in your car. You have to do it from the cycle lane. Then you either get hit by a cyclist or hit one when you open the door.
By the way did you read the comments attached to the article on the Dompost site? There is the odd enthusiast among the scores of those opposed.
Most people think it is dreadful and want to know why the bloody council can’t just admit it and scrap the silly thing.
Let me guess – the cyclists prefer to use the road anyway.
Frankly, it’s an excellent idea to have a cycle lane through to Island Bay – they just signed off on a poor design. People in Wellington shouldn’t be hating on the councillors, they should be hating on whoever designed the stupid design of it.
They should have left it as is
It didn’t need a cycleway
[crap, stuffed up reply]
Another poor mis-understood Muslim:
The controversial comments were posted to Mr El-Mouelhy’s Facebook page.
http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/australian-women-need-muslims-to-fertilise-them-islamic-leader/ar-AAoWRwl?li=AAavLaF&ocid=ientp
Just to be clear … I’m assuming this is some kind of windup. 🙂
Somebody who didn’t get Mr M’s sensa yuma might complain about the incitement to suicide. Of course that might be self-deprecation.
http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/citizenship-crisis-grows-to-engulf-over-20-mps/ar-AAoW4wv?ocid=ientp
Now all I’m waiting for is for someone to point out that because all Australian’s are automatically entitled to NZ citizenship, therefore maybe none of them are really eligible to stand for the Senate. 🙂
that last bit about automatic entitlement isn’t true, is it? A wind-up?
Well if you read some of the commentary on this it may well be defendable if no action has been taken to ‘activate’ the right to NZ citizenship.
But the funny thing is the way the Constitutional clause is written this is not at all clear.
Deeply ironic in light of the way the Senate has been denying kiwis access to citizenship in Aus.
It was the entitlement of aussies to be new zealanders that I was surprised at.
Methinks one country views our special relationship as more special than the otherdoes…
‘Lazy Kiwis who don’t want to work in agriculture’
Once upon a time you could build a career or a livelihood. Work one or two jobs and build up enough equity to get onto your own farm.
Now? Agri-business is starting to kill the dream.
Same with the in-town jobs. Doesn’t matter how hard you work, or how many hours. How loyal – it doesn’t seem to show up in the pay packet, training opportunities or career advancement.
But hey! I forgot. It’s only the top echelons who need financial encouragement to perform. Threats and warning stories work best on the shrinking mass of workers.
Just do enough. There’s not much point in trying to do better.
“Pākehā, learn from Māori and Pacifica peoples about how to share land and housing, we don’t have to completely reinvent the wheel.”
The term Pakeha is a racist term and is derogatory to New Zealanders. If everyone on this website could stop using it the world would be a better place.
The statement is also incorrect. New Zealanders already have more than adequate ability to structure shared land ownership. For instance trust law has been shaped over centuries and existed well before Maori made it to New Zealand shores. A Trust would be a good mechanism to govern shared ownership. Alternatively a Partnership could be arranged.
No need to “learn” from any other ethnicity. We simply need to utilise the mechanisms we already have.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Sorry, I haven’t been following daily utterances, which I think is a strength. Stephen Mills as the representative of the Left on RNZ’s Left and Right back and forth on Monday morning is as vile as the Hilary Clinton he supported against Sanders. Listen to his last input. He is almost as involved in the rich and strong as her. The Left is always about revolution, he responds to that as an entirely unexpected, and ear-waxical, surprise. Mike Williams at least has individual integrity for his right-wingism.
The Left is about revolution, is about heart. When Catherine Ryan can find someone less like herself to involve my heart again she will have found a representative of the Left.