I wonder if it would be possible to get a petition going to have the ‘Left Leaning’ column, which ostensibly provides one of the few spaces for the voices of the left in our largely right-leaning media, to be written by someone who is, I dunno, a bit left? Even centre would be a step in the left direction.
One way of dealing with problems is to get into government, but that’s not all I’m doing, I work off the net as well.
Today I’m also working on doing something about problems, like NARK, Child Matters, and here’s a really neat thing that I’m helping promote at the moment: chatbus.org.nz
I’d prefer if UF got 6 seats at the expense of National and Act too.
No doubt you want this outcome as well so you can swan off to Wellington and suck up the nice salary and pension scheme.
Unfortunately for you, they’re not likely to get more than 2 seats, and only then if Dunne can take his seat which isn’t exactly the safest in the country.
Gawd on Q&A they have three right wingers, Tamihere, Phil O’Reilly, and some woman who thinks the Spirit Level has been discredited, discussing the book. O’Reilly thinks that not growing “is just madness”. And Holmes admitted he diid not understand an interview with one of the authors of the book.
although we don’t really need the MSM’s facile version of ‘balance’…we need critical discussion and a media able to use facts and figures to force people to move on from their little PR platitudes.
MS – surely in a global sense with more and more countries and modern type consumers coming onstream there must be net global growth to cater for the increased number who demand consumerables. More connected countries means more efficiencies in resource utilisation surely.
Do we as a global connected society simple say too the rest i.e africa, etc too late, you missed the boat but we’ll take your resources though.
Now good points from Q+A
– discource on envirnomental impact and increased awareness and contribution from agri sector.
– need for a socital discusion around social inequality and at what slope do we ‘float the boats’.
-good imput on crime and how to lessen impact on society and police resources.
MS – surely in a global sense with more and more countries and modern type consumers coming onstream there must be net global growth to cater for the increased number who demand consumerables.
Orlov put it very well: Mother Nature does not change its behaviour due to price signals.
There will be no more global net growth because the physical world system cannot support exponential growth any longer. And our financial system cannot support exponential growth (of debt) any longer.
And the main constraint: cheap oil. There is virtually none left.
yes CV i agree totally peak oil, lack of eco stability etc etc…There must and will be a shift from oil for energy to oil for consumerables only at some point but limiting factors are availability of govt cash reserves and willpower (both in very short supply ). I wonder if the extreme right ,who can read the same signals as the left, havent a plan for after as well. Use cheap energy and resources and then via science / techno use their system liquidity and cash in / control the next phase of development.
I see two paths – social democratic slow adaption to the next growth/ developement phase via govt control and constructs or a sole bought out /leveraged mega-private sector society without any public controls or direction at all.
The societial arrangement surely isn’t all that relevant, its the one we choose.
Centralizers want to control resources, but its turning out that the solutions
to our world crisises, food, population, climate, resources, energy, is more
ant like. The ‘central’ of an ant colony is a egg producer, nothing more
nothing less. Government in the new networked local centric world will\
not be the centre. So you could be right, depending on who you ask
the world could look owned by mega-private ‘queens’ yet still be slowly
adapt to the next growth phase. The right could be right, government is
the problem, and the left could be right that businesses are not the engine
of society. That when we all conform our behavior – think local act
globally – then we will survive. Think of it like this, why do you
drive within the white lines. Well the council makes the best road
in between the lines. The lines aren’t there to contain you, its your
choice to stay within the lines, its in your interest since others
stay on the other side of the line and so you gain safety by
staying within the line. This is when government should be,
drawing lines, measuring if they work, and keeping us from harming
ourselves and prospering. But government does not do this anymore,
the right believe its their right to get very very rich and exploit,
the left believe its there right to decide what society should look like,
what we need is neither the right or the left, we need to trust people
and provide the people networks to faciliate their personal growth,
and everything will come right again. We just have too many sociopathic
control narcissists in power and in the media, and we will all pay
dearly for their needy attention disorders. clip of Key dressed in drag
at a gay festival.
yes but each region or country is on its own economic pathway with its own pace of economic evolution. stability, security and consumerism would appear to be necessary factor that allow for a sucessful adoption into the western paradym…oh and the McDonalds too.
We all know the rational for USA etc to support or invade non connected or misaligned strategic countries such as iraq…and dictate to other countries adherance to internation regs that allow free trade or movment of capital.
We IMO need every country connected and functioning so we can face the challenges ahead over the next 50-100 years.
The only viable long term solution is a ‘next way’ economic system that will manage the transition from a Neolib / Socialist matrix flipflop to a more balanced, globally connected social democratic govt where we still have room for capital investment in a limited private sector.
My thoughts would see the rise of workplace co-ops ( as the new work unions ) expanded SOE / Public sector sphere that provide control / influence on wages and worker condition ( the expanded public sector would provide a balance to the private sector ). Erodicate the concept of traditional model of ownership of housing and control the price of land as this cause market created bubbles and artifical instabilities.
Why not a complex ‘rent to own’ scheme where need is meet by the state…The real nominal cost of a new average house build is far far lower than present values.
At present our economic system is chaotic, full of contridiction, lack of coordination and simply inefficient in a holistc sense. resources are being misused and wasted.
What right does 1500 billionaire individuals have to live a utopian dream when the billions upon billions of the global population starve or eck out a miserable existance?
There is no such thing as a private sector or, for that matter, a government sector – there is only society.
At present our economic system is chaotic, full of contridiction, lack of coordination and simply inefficient in a holistc sense. resources are being misused and wasted.
Yep, there is a massive misallocation of the worlds resources caused by the capitalist paradigm.
I can’t remember the name of the woman either but ….OMG!
Our binge drinking culture is a product of children coming home and watching Home and Away where people meet at the local bar for drinks?
That’s it! Pissed teens are gathering on the North Shore for riotous parties because they saw it on Home and Away! Well, that’s easily solved.
Let’s axe Home and Away and replace with something safer….like Cheers.
Going by the discussion of The Spirit Level, I don’t think any of them had read the book.
Their problems with the theory had been covered and refuted in the book.
They were not even listening, the prof said inequality measure was a flag indicating
poor economic outcomes for rich and poor. Rich parent are just as likely too be
uneducated enough to stop their kids getting immunized, for example.
But the ost conceited media was laid law on entrepreneurs, that was a shocker
for myopia.
inerestingly the balance is alreay presnt at grassroot levels…’the spirit level’ and its insight are being discussed at various levels or sectors such as in ECE.
Q&A is another soapbox to ensure Ellis pockets a circa million p.a. Package from his nat mates and masters.
due to a lack of a public broadcaster providing balance and objectivity we get this one sided approach…..look across the Tasman where ABC and SBS set a bar the others follow or just don’t get watched when it matters.
They enjoy jumps in ratings when major events occur as people know they can be trusted….whereas here it’s reality tv and jokers like Holmes, Espiner, garner and associated sycophants.
I dont know about the rest of the country but round here the Labour Party candidate and his team have been working away for over a year and I think they have avery good chance of toppling the incumbent National party and dispatching them with a very healthy majority for Labour. Locally Labour is seen as the can do party and the chances are looking better every day.
“Yes you’re right. There is this famous exchange at the G* a year or so back between Gordon Brown and Angela Merkel where Brown asks why Germany weathered the GFC so well and Britain had just plummeted into debt. Merkel answered “Because Germany still makes things Mr Brown!””
Anyone noticed that Labour’s blog site ‘Red Alert’ is being rapidly taken over by trained trollers whose brief is to undermine the site’s owners and supporters? These individuals seem to work in loose groups, and bully their victims with repetitive criticisms and insults. I put much of the blame on the timidity of the MP owners who talk about the problem, but seem unwilling to take positive action to get rid of them. Genuine critics are welcome and make for healthy debate, but these narcisstic nasties are anything but genuine.
All I can say is: it will be to the site’s detriment, because soon there will be nobody of worth bothering to comment there – which I guess is the ultimate aim of the NAct campaign.
Haven’t properly visited for awhile, but always thought that ‘Red Alert’ would be a prime target for attack by trolls, whether coordinated by spin merchants or just a bunch of losers with an axe to grind. I think it was always going to happen sooner or later unless they switched comments off or engaged in very strict moderation.
always thought that ‘Red Alert’ would be a prime target for attack by trolls, whether coordinated by spin merchants or just a bunch of losers with an axe to grind
There’s both. It’s easy to tell which is which. The ‘losers’ are one man bands and, as you say, they have a bee in their bonnet. The professional spin merchants repeatedly attack the authors and commenters until – particularly in the case of commenters – they fall silent presumably cowered. Their lines are just too pat to be random.
I’m sorry but did you mention spud and witty one liners in the same breath?
Seriously though any swing voter that goes onto red alert and reads his comments are likely to think hes a bit…(not sure how to say this without insulting anyone) simple
I was responding to your comment in friendly jest. Spud his who he is. He’s of Pacific Island extraction and it’s part of his personality. He may like to use seemingly simple minded one liners much of the time but he isn’t simple, and contributes pertinent observations when he want to. Cmon chris73, live and let live.
NRT has removed the comments feature without much trouble. Personally I think having a forum for people to directly communicate with their representatives is a good idea. The trolls be damned!
They got rid of one and have threatened (too timidly in my view) to moderate or ban a few others but that’s all. They need a lesson or two from lPrent.
The problem is that a troll is a subjective term and if you’re going to start banning right-wing trolls will you then ban the left-wing trolls as well?
We have done it a number of times, booting people from all sides when required. There is a definite bias against rwnj’s. But I suspect that most of that is because the nj’s of other persuasions tend to value having the site available more – they amend their behavior when warned.
But we look much more at behavior rather than peoples philosophy. The underlying criteria is the good of the site as expressed in the about. You don’t do that by supression of alternate ideas. You do it by removing people who are incapable of arguing and have the flexibility of a badly programmed robot.
The fastest way to find out if someone is capable of learning is to stress them at a personal level. Personally I have decades of experience at how to do it, and query level access to a rather large database of whatever is said here makes it a hell of a lot easier. That is why I will sometimes start to torment people – I want to find out is they are merely automata.
All that being said, I have one major advantage at moderating on a site like this. I simply do not care about what others think about me. I am not a politician nor anything more than a member of a political party. The things that I consider as being crucially important questions are not those discussed here.
My involvement in the political sphere because of a sense of duty in constraining the ability of political people from screwing up too badly. Having open and public forums is a effective way to do it.
Getting back to Annes point about team trolling – I just don’t tolerate it. To me it is just evidence of a berserk reproducing virus type program, and programmers hate CPU gobblers like that. People will operate as individuals here if theydo not want to attract my attention.
Well thats what I mean, this site doesn’t allow it and red alert doesn’t allow it yet it seems to me that red alert is far more “trigger-happy” when it comes to banning people for being trolls
Getting the right balance is far more of an art than a science and it depends on how far the local comment culture is from what is wanted.
I was a *lot* more trigger happy when I was changing pattern of the comment culture here. But we’re also far more sadistic than a politician can be seen to be. That gives us far more options about how to modify behavior. We can do other things rather than banning, and those are frequently a damn sight worse.
Like the climate change deniers who spend vast sums to discredit the convincing science that supports it, there is an equivalent reaction to Wilkinson and Pickett’s research on income inequality. The panel on Q&A were very dismissive of The Spirit Level based on the interview with Richard Wilkinson but I wonder how many of them actually read the book and the data that supported it. http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.com/2011/08/spirit-level-deserves-attention.html
Last Wednesday it was revealed that the New Zealand superannuation fund holds 44,595 shares worth $2,082,736 in a Mumbai-based multinational company called Larsen and Toubro, which in partnership with the Indian Navy, is involved in designing and manufacture a fleet of nuclear-armed submarines for India. But that’s not all Larsen & Toubro (L&T) India’s largest engineering group gets up to…
Last Wednesday it was revealed that the New Zealand superannuation fund holds 44,595 shares worth $2,082,736 in a Mumbai-based multinational company called Larsen and Toubro, which in partnership with the Indian Navy, is involved in designing and manufacture a fleet of nuclear-armed submarines for India. But that’s not all Larsen & Toubro (L&T) India’s largest engineering group gets up to…
“THE HOLLOW MEN” the film, is on Maori channel tonight at 8.30 pm. Very pertinent especially now, the main players are still getting away with their shady, self-serving scams.
NZ loves to grow weeds! Evn when it finds a king crop, milk, it puts its whole weight
behind it and leaves a bit pile of cow shit floating down the water ways. Its always
so black and white. NZ needs to diversify, so that means we should ignore the
problem with all the weedy companies we have now, throw money at new start ups
with a now discreited consumer paradigm. Oh, what insipidness. Any farmer
does better with what he has, and that’s why we spend so much time with
jingoistic business mantras about new innovation. We need to seize the new
world economic reality, local, networked, low energy (or high energy where
its cheap – i.e. Here IN nz), but no with new roads, and less education we
are going to drive ourselves into a new growth phase.
Bit surprised to see Meth-Whore Barbie missed out. When I saw her on telly screaming about how she hates animals I thought she’d be fighting off the party list offers with a shitty stick.
John Key is one of our most popular prime ministers ever. It seems nothing Labour throws at him can stick. But even he can’t beat Peter Jackson when it comes to the popularity contest that is Google.
…
Figures show that in the last three years Key was well above Goff in terms of Google searches by name.
Hah, he was searched because people didn’t know who this Prime Mincer of newsland, robber baron, cheap wannabe comedian, agent of the NWO, buddy of Obama, John ‘Keys’ really is….
It was most probably people looking for overweight camp male catwalk models, with a greedy streak and an overinflated sense of self worth coupled with a deep and insatiable need for recognition and public affirmation – I’ve heard that that particular combo is harder to find and more popular than you would think.
For all you people with fingers poised above the search keys – you don’t need google to find out what this prick is like – just come to New Zealand, swim in our rivers of effluent and see the faces of the people whose lives he has touched (hint: you won’t see them at the RWC – begging is to be made an offense just in time for the big game)
…and thanks Jum for highlighting the fact it was on. I am glad not to have missed it, I don’t usually watch TV so thanks for the heads-up (and I know I should have seen it back then, but they were on their way out back then). Very timely to see the young Key so enthusiastically lying, and to observe the groups formed during the Brash/English takeover.
concur, thanks Maori TV. I really hope others watched, especially blind Key-followers.
Congratulations to Hillary Calvert for being, er, dropped from the ACT party list. Don Brash richly rewarded Clavert for her support during his putsch by cutting her out of the top 10 on the ACT list. Doesn’t say much for Brash and his commitment to reward loyalty. His purchase of the ACT Party was bad enough however, sorry Hillary, his project for take over of the party and stacking it with his mates is total. If that means you are a casualty then that is expedient for Brash.
And the ACT Party, man, you have to be white male and old to be at the top. Anyone not old, male and white need not apply. “Young” Don Nicholson is the youthful face of ACT. The only other party with such a similar homogeneous list of candidates is the Maroi Party and they are clear about who their support base is and even they have women at the top.
Handling the profusion of names and TLDs is a relatively simple problem for a computer, even though it will require extra work to redirect hundreds of new names (when someone types them in) back to the same old Web site. It will also create lots of work for lawyers, marketers of search-engine optimization, registries, and registrars.
All of this will create jobs, but little extra value. To me, useless jobs are, well, useless. And, while redundant domain names are not evil, I do think that they are a waste of resources.
Don’t you just love the competitive free-market? It keeps costing more and more and more.
Tiwai Point's electricity contract is up for renewal. And as usual, they're sticking their hand out, demanding a government subsidy, and threatening to close if they don't get one:The owners of the aluminium smelter said on Wednesday that there were seeking talks with the Government amid a strategic review which ...
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So, it turns out that the ACT Party - which previously called itself "the liberal party" - is financed by Nazis:ACT Party leader David Seymour says his party will not return a donation from Mike Allen, a Christchurch businessman who sells mock "Make America Great Again" hats to fund advertising ...
Just in case you don’t have a seven-year-old boy in your house (in which case this will be obvious) a well-known brand of breakfast cereal here in NZ is currently coming with All-Blacks stats cards. Perfect for finding out your favourite rugby player’s height, number of caps, and how much ...
Over the past month we've heard some horrificstories about bullying in the police. The police's response? Try to bully people into silence:The police have told a whistleblower to retract his statements to RNZ about being bullied or face legal action. The demand came just hours after Police Commissioner Mike ...
Today is a Member's Day, which should see the final part of the committee stage of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. The big question today is the referendum clause: will it be necessary, or can the bill pass without it? While the majorities for his amendments during the ...
One of the key arguments used by trans ideologists is that some male-bodied people (ie men) are women because they ‘feel’ they are women. To make this hocus-pocus sound a bit more credible, some will argue that such men have a ‘female brain’. But this is thoroughly anti-scientific too. . ...
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A few days ago, a friend sent me a link to a health-related FB page that had published a post from a homeopathist, offering homeopathic “vaccination”¹ against measles (using something called a “Morbillinum nosode” at a “potency” of 200C, which I’ll explain shortly). I followed the link, left a comment ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This year marks the 20th anniversary of the La Gabarra massacre. The community organised an event to remember the most well-known of the horrendous heart-breaking events that befell the communities of this area of the municipality of Tibú: the massacre carried out on August 21st 1999. ...
There was another police chase in Christchurch this morning, resulting in a crash which killed one person and injured five more. Because someone died, the chase is being investigated by the Independent Police Conduct Authority. And based on previous reports by the IPCA, we know how it will go: the ...
Just a month ago we saw the biggest protest in a generation as people marched to demand stronger action on climate change. A core demand of the protesters was to strengthen the Zero Carbon Bill's target to net-zero by 2040. So what is the government's response? Judging by the ...
Back in 2010, I wrote about the strange tale of the zombie ants, which do the bidding of their fungal overlords. (They’re not an isolated example; a range of parasites change their hosts’ behaviour. See here and here for example – though as you’ll find, the toxoplasmosis story may be ...
Shouldn't That Be: "Wrong White Crowd"? Rather than apportion guilt, would it not have been wiser for the makers of Land Of The Long White Cloud to accept that the Pakeha of 2019 are not – and never will be – “Europeans”? Just as contemporary Maori are not – and ...
One, Two, Many Truths: With the collapse of “actually existing socialism” in 1991, the universities of the West found themselves saddled with a new mission. With their ideological competitors now soundly defeated they were no longer required to demonstrate the superiority of capitalist values. Their job now was to cement ...
by the Council of Disobedient Women We call on the Council of Trade Unions to show some fortitude and take a stand with your sisters. Unionists know that there is a material world, otherwise workers could simply identify out of poverty. They could declare themselves Well Paid. Why stop ...
I spent some time reading the Regulatory Impact Statement and Bill of Rights Act advice for the government's odious control order scheme today. I am not impressed with either of them. Starting with the RIS, it is built on some pretty questionable assumptions. For example:Unless individuals have been convicted of ...
#NoFly: Walking the talk on climate change, by Shaun Hendy. BWB Texts, 2019. Reviewed by Robert McLachlan In June 2018, Swede Maja Rosén founded We stay on the ground with a pledge not to fly in 2019, and a goal of persuading 100,000 other Swedes to join her. In August, ...
We all know that NZ First is a party of and for old people who hate the young. But they've topped their previous pedophobia with a proposal that all young people be forced to do 100 hours community work:NZ First wants all young people to do 100 hours of community ...
A couple days ago the NZ Herald published a story with the headline, “Science says Bella Hadid is world’s most beautiful woman“, and followed up with the ridiculous statement that Supermodel Bella Hadid has been declared as the world’s most beautiful woman following a scientific study into what constitutes as ...
A Sustainable Proposition: With as much as 18 percent of the electorate declaring itself “undecided” about who to vote for, there is obviously plenty of space for a party like former Green Party member, Vernon Tava's, about-to-be-launched "Sustainable NZ Party" to move into. The most hospitable political territory for such ...
Keir Starmer has hinted that Labour might vote in favour of the Johnson government's shoddy deal, with the proviso that a second referendum is attached:Speaking to BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “We will see what that looks like but it makes sense to say that by whatever ...
In 1994, I was the editor for an issue of Planet magazine focused on cannabis, its culture and the prospects for the end of its prohibition. Part of that issue was an interview with 'Ringo', an experienced cannabis dealer.I recently posted my essay from that issue, and I figured it ...
Dr Helen Waite, sports sociologist and former elite athlete, on the invasion of women’s sport by men and the anti-scientific and misogynist ideology used to rationalise it. ...
As Brexit comes to a grisly conclusion (perhaps) people on all sides are saying intemperate and uwise things. Some, like the Daly Mail, have been doing it for years.People as normally level headed as Jon Lansman are calling for automatic deselection of MPs who vote against a (likely) Labour three ...
I've got one source saying more Labour MPs than expected are mulling whether to vote for the deal - including names who were not on the letter to Juncker and Tusk— Emilio Casalicchio (@e_casalicchio) 17 October 2019 I've compiled a list of possible reasons why Labour ...
On Wednesday, the government was loudly telling us that it needed to legislate to allow it to impose "control orders" - effectively a parole regime, but imposed without charge, prosecution, conviction or real evidence - on suspected terrorists because they couldn't be prosecuted for their supposed crimes. Today, it turns ...
On Monday, the Hit and Run inquiry heard from NZDF's former director of special operations, who claimed that the defence Minister knew everything about the Operation Burnham raid. Today, the inquiry heard from that (former) Minister - and it turns out that he didn't know nearly as much as NZDF ...
Yoga gurus and cult leaders – I’ve seen a few. Two weeks ago, I unknowingly joined an alleged new-age cult at the Kāpiti coast, together with a giant kraken and some neatly dressed pensioners who would make any book club proud.They were among the two hundred people of all ages ...
The last decade has seen a trend of increasing weapons availability to police. Assault rifles. Tasers on every hip. Guns in cars. And following the march 15 massacre, pistols on every hip, all over the country. At the same time, its also seen an increase in the abuse of force: ...
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been busy preparing for our summer paper on Science Communication. Looking for something amusing about ‘risk’ in science, I came across this neat xkcd.com cartoon about why so many people come knocking on my door (or phoning me, or emailing me) desperately wanting ...
by John Edmundson The International Socialist Organisation (ISO) have recently reposted a February article, by Romany Tasker-Poland, explaining ISO’s position in the “trans rights” debate. It is available on their website and on their Facebook Page. The article sets out to explain why “socialists support trans rights”. It reads more ...
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Nick Wilson, Leah Grout, Mereana Wilson, Anja Mizdrak, Phil Shoemack, Michael BakerProtecting waterways has the benefits of: (1) protecting water from hazardous microbes; (2) minimising cancer risk and other problems from nitrates in water; (3) avoiding algal blooms that are hazardous to health; (4) protecting mahinga kai uses (cultural ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In a press release today Massey University announced it has decided to rebrand and reorientate after struggling to be a University for grown-ups. For some time the University has wanted to be a safe play space for wee-woke-misogynists who have been really badly triggered ...
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The government has decided that someone has done Something Bad. But despite their belief, there seems to be no evidence that they have actually broken the law. So the government's solution is to pass a retrospective law allowing them to be punished anyway, on a lower standard of proof. If ...
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An essay by Judith Collins MP reported on Carbon News yesterday seems to show an alarming shift in attitude within the National Party. Collins argues against the Zero Carbon Bill, the Paris Agreement, and downplays the magnitude of climate impacts. The Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 and ratified ...
When they were running for election, Labour promised to overhaul the Employment Relations Act and introduce fair pay agreements to set basic pay and conditions on an industry level, preventing bad employers from undercutting good ones. They followed this up by establishing a working group, which reported back in January ...
A list of indicators of bad science – many of these are found in articles promoted by anti-fluoride activists. Anti-fluoride activists have been pouring money into a scaremongering campaign warning pregnant women not to drink fluoridated water. They claim fluoride will lower the IQ of their future child. Fluoride ...
Nothing Left To Say: Labour's pollster, Stephen Mills, remains swaddled-up in the comforting myths of the 1980s. As if the experience of Roger Douglas’s genuinely radical post-Muldoon policy agenda was literally a once-in-a-lifetime thing – as much as the party could possibly absorb for at least the next 50 years.MEMO ...
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...
With an unfair voting system, uneven electorates and an un-elected upper house, the UK's "democracy" is barely worthy of the name. But now the government wants to make it worse:The government has been accused of suppressing voters’ rights with the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people after plans ...
Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the building industry was building leaky homes which should never have been granted consent. Now it turns out they've been building dodgy office blocks as well:New imaging technology has revealed hundreds of major buildings nationwide have defective or missing concrete or reinforcing steel. ...
Local body election results were released over the weekend, to joy or despair depending on where you live. In Auckland, Phil Goff trounced John Tamihere, who is muttering darkly about running for Parliament again (but which party would want him?) Wellington is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Weta Workshop, except ...
How could government evolve over the next decades? Reports of democracy’s imminent demise are greatly exaggerated. However, satisfaction with political systems in many countries is low, so there is much to do for governments of all political stripes to improve relevance and trust. Digital technologies are seen as one ...
Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...
Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...
A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
The Ugandan government wants to murder gay people:Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals. The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks. The ...
Hassan Vally, La Trobe UniversityWho doesn’t want to know if drinking that second or third cup of coffee a day will improve your memory, or if sleeping too much increases your risk of a heart attack? We’re invested in staying healthy and many of us are interested in reading ...
Freedom Of Speech? The Säuberung (cleansing by fire) was the work of the German Student Union which, on 10 May 1933, under the watchful eye of the Nazi Reichminister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, consigned 25,000 books to the flames in a ritual exorcism of “un-German thought”. According to the logic of the ...
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...
New Zealand has prided itself for decades with regard to its lack of pollution, and all will be aware that the ‘100% Pure New Zealand‘ meme is under threat through land, water and air pollution of various causes. There is another type of contamination that the country also faces: light ...
New Zealand’s media is doing its part in Japan, reassuring those in the path of the storm that they won’t miss any rugby while away from their flooded homes. New Zealand sports reporters stationed in Japan for the Rugby World Cup have had the rare and heartwarming opportunity to inform ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is the only Cabinet member in favour of putting it all on green. As Finance Minister Grant Robertson finds himself with an enormous $7.5 billion surplus, the Government has begun intense, at times contentious conversations about whether to put the money on red or black at ...
by Susanne Kemp At the start of September close to 100,000 school teachers went on strike in Jordan. They demanded a 50% pay rise. A pay rise actually agreed to by the regime back in 2014. In early October, however, in the face of government repression and threats, the teachers’ ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhy do people still think climate change isn’t real?David ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones has hit back at those who are upset over a change in approach to partnership visas. There has been a specific government directive to stop waiving requirements such as couples needing to have lived together for 12 months - a test Indian couples who have ...
The North Auckland Line rejuvenation kicks off with teams surveying the rail corridor and Northland construction contractors are showing interest in the project.KiwiRail provided an industry briefing for Northland contracting and construction companies about future work opportunities on rejuvenating Northland’s rail lines. The briefing session in Whangarei was held to ...
Journalist Andrew Dickens, reporting from the 2019 New Zealand First Conference, states that the Party once again proved “they are more than a sideshow”. In his op-ed article for NewstalkZB, Mr Dickens said he has always been an admirer of the Party, saying they are “a true centrist party”. “[NZ ...
New Zealand First's potential policy of compulsory community service for ages 15-19 years old has been getting support from those in the industry. A policy remit was passed during their recent Conference in Christchurch, gaining the support of a majority of its membership. Party leader Winston Peters has been talking ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the Party hopes to decide it’s stance pill testing at music festivals "before the season of concern", with festivals generally held during the summer months. Mr Peters' comments come in an interview with TVNZ's Q+A and follow a remit from the party's youth ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says he has been told to be "alert" to potential cost blowouts for the light rail project in Auckland. Mr Peters said no such concerns were raised with him from ministerial colleagues, including Transport Minister Phil Twyford of the Labour Party. He suggested that ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters Leader of New Zealand First The Benefits of having New Zealand First in the Centre: Security, Experience & Balance 2.00pm, 20th October 2019 Ladies and Gentlemen Thank you all for your warm welcome to this, the party’s 26thConvention. Speaking on behalf of caucus colleagues, it’s great to ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Fletcher Tabuteau is travelling to the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu this week to continue toadvance important bilateral relationships in our region consistent with thePacific Reset. Mr Tabuteau will engage in a range of bilateral meetings and visit New Zealand development ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...
Speaking at the Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) biennial conference, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told unionists that any future attacks on the Government won't work. "Now, we are being attacked by the union movement in this country. You can have your views but I'm here to say standing ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson departs tomorrow for events and meetings in Japan and Vietnam. While in Japan, he will discuss economic and fiscal issues including meeting with the Minister of Finance, Taro Aso, and Minister of Economic and Fiscal Policy, Yasutoshi Nishimura. He will meet with the Minister of Education, ...
The Government’s Housing Dashboard released today confirms record numbers of state houses are under construction and shows the Government build programme is gaining momentum. “After nine years of inaction, and a hands-off attitude from the previous government we’re starting to see things move in the right direction for housing,” says ...
Mr Speaker, I wish to make a ministerial statement relating to the Auckland fire. The Government is closely monitoring the situation with the fire at the NZ International Convention Centre and is thankful that everyone is now safe. Firefighters are doing an incredible job managing the fire and bringing it ...
The Government is investing in ambitious research that will digitise Te Reo, grow the low-carbon protein efficient aquaculture industry, help interpret environmental trends, and large data sets says Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods. The four projects range from teaching Siri to speak Te Reo to crunching large environmental ...
A new education-to-employment brokerage service to strengthen connections between local employers and schools. Funding for more trades focused ‘speed-dating’ events to connect schools with employers. Promotional campaign to raise profile of vocational education. The Government is taking action to increase the number of young people taking up vocational education and ...
A Bill to improve prison security and ensure the fair, safe, and humane treatment of people in prison while upholding public safety has passed its third reading. Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says the Corrections Amendment Bill makes a number of changes to ensure the Corrections Act 2004 is fit for ...
Minister for Māori Development, Nanaia Mahuta, has selected Arihia Bennett MNZM, Chief Executive Officer of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, as the Te Puni Kōkiri appointed representative on the New Zealand-China Council. The New Zealand-China Council (the Council) was established in 2012 as a New Zealand led and funded organisation ...
Responsibility for processing the small number of Southern Response claims still to be settled will be transferred to EQC by the end of the year. “As claim numbers reduce, it no longer makes sense for the Crown to have two organisations processing the remaining Canterbury claims,” Grant Robertson says. “Since ...
Health Minister David Clark is encouraging Whanganui residents to take up the opportunity for free bowel screening, which can detect cancer early when it’s easier to treat. Over the next two years 12,000 Whanganui locals, aged 60 to 74 will be invited to participate in the National Bowel Screening ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio, heads to Oslo today to represent New Zealand at the sixth Our Ocean Conference, which is being hosted by the Norwegian Government from the 23-24 October. “The Our Ocean Conference mobilises real action on issues like marine plastic pollution and the impacts of ...
Two secondary-school initiatives are being expanded as part of the Government’s plan to see more young New Zealanders take up a trade to help close the skills gap. This includes the largest single increase in Trades Academy places in recent years. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris ...
Session 4: Pacific Connectivity – Youth, Media and New Opportunities Kia ora tatou katoa and Warm Pacific greetings to one and all. Representatives of Tainui, the local people of the land, or manawhenua – the indigenous peoples of this area – have welcomed you this morning in accordance with ...
The Government today announced its support for a project that could substantially reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions from cattle. The announcement was made as part of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor’s visit to Nelson’s Cawthron Aquaculture Park. The Cawthron Institute will receive $100,000 from the Government’s ...
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has welcomed the first reading of the New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Legislation Amendment Bill. “Every New Zealander has a stake in New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension,” says Carmel Sepuloni. “They are our most common form of social assistance – nearly 800,000 New ...
Babies in Auckland aged six months and over can receive a free vaccination and children will all have access to vaccines, Associate Minister of Health Julie Anne Genter announced today at Papatoetoe High School. The move comes as part of Government efforts to step up the fight against measles. ...
***Check against delivery*** Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here, and to have the honour of opening this important conference on behalf of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. Let us take the opportunity to acknowledge all the people who have helped make today possible, including our special ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash says the safety of frontline officers and members of the public will be the focus of a new trial of specialist Police response teams in three of our largest urban centres. Police have this morning released details of an initiative to be trialled in Counties Manukau, ...
The Minister of Fisheries is calling for entries for a new public award to celebrate innovation in our seafood sector. “I have established the Seafood Sustainability Awards to recognise and celebrate those throughout industry, tangata whenua and communities who demonstrate outstanding dedication and innovation towards the sustainability of New Zealand’s ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter welcomes leaders in the private sector taking action on closing their gender pay gaps to ensure a fairer workplace for all New Zealanders. Ms Genter today launched a new report, Addressing the gender pay gap and driving women’s representation in senior leadership, from the Champions for ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Feedback sought– Lyttelton commercial zone parking The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to remove on-site car parking requirements for new developments in the Lyttelton commercial zone. The proposal, by Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section 71 of the Greater ...
Hon Minister Poto Williams Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration MEDIA STATEMENT Tuesday 15 October 2019 Feedback sought – Hagley Oval The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal about Hagley Oval. The proposal was developed by Regenerate Christchurch ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has finally seen off John Setka from the ALP, with the militant construction union leader capitulating and quitting the party. Setka, who lost a court case he brought in his fight ...
New Zealanders will almost certainly face a referendum next year on whether to legalise voluntary euthanasia after a make-or-break vote in Parliament cleared the way. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Nationals leader Michael McCormack has admitted his party should have handled better agriculture minister Bridget McKenzie’s bring-forward of the planned dairy code. Some Nationals were furious when McKenzie suddenly sped up the code’s preparation in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra While the drought continues to hit the Nationals’ constituents hard, the party faces a testing terrain on a political level. In this episode of Politics with Michelle Grattan, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack acknowledges the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy – in the job for for just weeks after moving across from the department of infrastructure last month – has dismissed talk of spending big on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Downie, Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow, Australian National University It’s time we started talking about the principal opponents to action on climate change – fossil fuel industries. If history has taught us anything, it is when oil, gas and coal industries ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodie Grigg, Research Associate at the National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University My friends are taking ecstasy at raves and music festivals. Is it safe? — Anonymous Key points no drug use, including ecstasy, is 100% safe festivals can present ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Transport Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Light Rail: Goff says it’s the Government’s call Richard Harman ...
It isn't the first time Tiwai Point's owners have warned they may close the aluminium smelter, but this Government is unlikely to be handing out financial assistance. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says APEC will definitely still be held in Auckland in 2021, despite the destruction caused by the fire at the NZ International Convention Centre. ...
The headline said it all. Stats NZ has released 2018 census data on New Zealanders’ commuting habits and, guess what, we love a motorised polluter. “Car streets ahead for travel to work and education” was the heading. It should have been “cars rule, all other options drool”.New cycleways are under construction ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Liu, Chancellors Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Fashion and Textiles Designer, University of Technology Sydney The tech giants Amazon, Google and Facebook have all begun to use machine learning to give you tips on what to wear. Is fashion styling the next field ...
Prime Minister is meeting with officials at the scene of a massive blaze in Auckland's CBD. Watch a live video of a media stand-up with FENZ and the PM. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanessa Bowden, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Newcastle It is becoming increasingly possible that sea-level rise of a metre or more will occur this century. You might expect this threat to preoccupy coastal homeowners. But many deny the need to act, for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chloe Watfern, Scientia PhD scholar, UNSW At Studio A, on the fourth floor of the Crows Nest community centre, a group of artists is working quietly. An occasional burst of laughter erupts from a corner of the studio. It makes its way ...
In response to Meghan Markle’s admission that she’s finding it a struggle to be a new mother in the media spotlight, columnists across the globe have banded together to launch a charity to support all those women who ‘have it worse’, Emily Writes can exclusively reveal.Meghan Markle – duchess, new ...
Will New Zealand’s largest construction firm have to write off yet more money over the troubled International Convention Centre project?Both Fletcher Building and SkyCity’s share prices have felt the impact of the devastating fire that has raged at Auckland’s half completed convention centre for over a day now. More than ...
The new and spectacular atlas We Are Here is page after page of haunting, hella beautiful visual data, each chapter introduced with an essay. This one, Lost in the Forest, opens the section on people. At some point in the 1990s, one of the creators of this book tried to impress ...
Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa) has been looking to Māori stories and storytellers to learn more about our gender identities before colonisation. There’s a lot to be read between the lines, she writes.Te ao Māori can be a very gendered place to be. In some settings, your gender can tell you ...
The Shouting Valley is a powerful group exhibition at the Gus Fisher Gallery in Auckland that interrogates and gives voice to the people caught between borders. But is the real paradox of this politically charged show the limit of what art can do? Lana Lopesi reviews. “What’s bad about borders?” asked ...
The future of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter is under question again as majority owner, mining giant Rio Tinto, is reviewing the plant's future. ...
There will be another crucial vote for the voluntary euthanasia bill later today - whether or not a referendum will be held at the 2020 general election. ...
It was never intended that state owned enterprises should use their monopoly commercial or regulatory power to stifle competition, yet it is at least arguable that is what has happened says Peter Dunne. ...
Go Bus drivers in South Auckland will continue refusing to collect fares tomorrow as their protest continues with the intent of avoiding disruption to passengers while highlighting the need for fair wage negotiations with their employer, FIRST Union ...
Smoke continues to billow in downtown Auckland 24 hours after fire broke out in the incomplete complex.Shortly after 1pm yesterday came the first reports of a fire on the site of the SkyCity New Zealand International Convention Centre in central Auckland. That brought a massive mobilisation of emergency services, evacuations ...
He Kākano Ahau is a podcast by writer and activist Kahu Kutia (Ngāi Tūhoe) that explores stories of Māori in the city, and weaves together strands of connection. In episode one: the legacy of urban marae Tapu te Ranga.I grew up where the tarseal on the road crumbles away into ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Australians are divided over whether the nation’s universities have too many foreign students, according to the Australian National University’s ANUpoll, released Wednesday. In the polling, 52.8% said the mix between foreign and domestic students was ...
National's leader Simon Bridges says a bill imposing restrictions on people returning after fighting for extremist groups would only keep New Zealanders "half safe". ...
Alex Casey talks to Leigh Hart about the return of Late Night Big Breakfast, the finest morning TV parody show New Zealand has ever made. Late Night Big Breakfast is set to return to TVNZ in 2020 after a five year hiatus, creator and comedian Leigh Hart has confirmed. Filmed in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Gordon, PhD candidate. Sydney University Physics Education Research (SUPER) group, University of Sydney If you want to get good marks in your exams, there’s no substitute for study. So do past exams, go over your notes, read what you need to ...
Otago University academic Chris Brickell wonders whether his new book on LGBT objects ought to be the sort of thing bookshops would want to have on their shelves. ...
South Aucklanders from Mangere to East Tamaki will be riding their Go Bus services to work for free tomorrow morning, as FIRST Union bus drivers opt out of collecting fares for their employer in an industrial action designed to show the wider public ...
What do we make of the Air New Zealand decision to quit the Auckland-Los Angeles-London route? Nothing much as it simply reflects the changing dynamics of the airline industry. Gone are the days when Air NZ took the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 into the fleet and began flying Los Angeles, then ...
Was the SkyCity Convention Centre construction site at higher risk of fire than any other construction site or building? Alex Braae asks the experts.A fire at the SkyCity Convention Centre construction site has continued to burn this morning, after a night of lighting up the Auckland CBD sky.The fire, which ...
Sky City and Fletcher Building see another "material delay" to opening of International Convention Centre as fire still rages. Plan B needed for APEC in November 2021, says Goff ...
First it was KiwiBuild, now it’s Auckland’s light rail that’s looking increasingly shambolic. Jenée Tibshraeny from Interest asks what’s going on, and how thin is that ice that transport minister Phil Twyford is skating on.The Opposition’s latest attack phrase aimed at the government is set to be one of its ...
At last, a break in the clouds for NZ’s dairy farmers : Fonterra suppliers could be looking at a sharp lift in income, as the co-op revises its forecast range for the milk price to $6.55-$7.55 kg/MS.And the signals are strong enough to underpin projections the milk price will rise ...
Members of the Indian community are angry at an immigration policy change making it harder for to bring spouses to NZ - but Shane Jones says anyone not happy should "catch the next flight home." ...
On October 7, New Zealand’s Labour Party-led coalition government announced draconian class-based restrictions on immigration. From February 2020, the government will reopen the Parent Category visa nearly four years after the previous National Party ...
Organise Aotearoa joined a rally held by the Chilean expatriate community on Tuesday outside the Chilean Embassy in Wellington, following widespread repression and brutality against protesters by President Sebastián Piñera’s armed forces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Shine, Robinson Fellow, University of Sydney Have you ever sat down to complete your morning crossword or Sudoku and wondered about what’s happening in your brain? Somewhere in the activity of the billions of neurons in your brain lies the code ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mehmet Ozalp, Associate Professor in Islamic Studies, Director of The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation and Executive Member of Public and Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University The five-day ceasefire negotiated by US Vice President Mike Pence and Turkish President Recep Tayyib ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne The unprecedented blackout of front pages by Australia’s newspaper publishers this week is a highly significant event in Australian political and media history. It represents the completion of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Hansen, Chief of Staff, The Conversation In recent years coconut water has left the palm-treed shores of tropical islands where tourists on lounge chairs stick straws straight into the fruit, and exploded onto supermarket shelves – helped along by beverage giants ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Petterson, Professor of Geology, Auckland University of Technology CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University A Greenpeace video of me plugging a trackless tram that went viral with 4 million hits has caused a few eyebrows to be raised over whether I think light rail is dead. So let me ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Asher, Associate Professor, UNSW Here’s the boldest idea the government’s inquiry into retirement incomes should consider but might not: no longer exempting all of the value of each retiree’s home from the pension assets test. The test would merely exempt part ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Sernack-Chee Quee, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building, University of Technology Sydney 1973 was a remarkable year for Sydney, with the opening of two major cultural icons. The first was the Sydney Opera House. The second, possibly more important ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: In today’s edition: Serious ramifications likely from SkyCity fire, dozens of partnership visas being denied, and yet another police pursuit death.The fire at the SkyCity Convention Centre construction site has continued to burn overnight. Fire crews were forced to abandon the roof, ...
Orange-fronted parakeets will still get protection but some mohua populations miss out as DoC reduces the area of forest being covered by 1080 poison. ...
The main way small countries like New Zealand can lead on climate change is through our ideas. Policies developed here may help other countries with similar issues, writes David Frame. ...
By Rebecca Ananian-Welsh Australians picked up their morning papers yesterday to find heavily blacked-out text instead of front-page headlines. This bold statement was instigated by the “Your Right to Know” campaign, an unlikely coalition of Australian media organisations fighting for press freedom and source protection. A key reform advocated by a ...
Surrounding sites evacuated and one reported hospitalised in serious condition as blaze rips through two floors of the under-construction building in the Auckland CBDLast updated: 6.30pmParts of central Auckland have been brought to a standstill this afternoon after a major fire broke out shortly after 1pm at the Sky City ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phil McManus, Professor of Urban and Environmental Geography: Head of School of Geosciences, University of Sydney In the wake of a shocking ABC report on the dismal end of many racehorses’ lives in slaughterhouses, many Australians are questioning whether the horse racing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohiuddin Ahmed, Lecturer of Computing & Security, Edith Cowan University Machines and the internet are woven into the fabric of our society. A growing number of users, devices and applications work together to produce what we now call “big data”. And this ...
After an unusually nasty campaign for their country, Canada has gone to the polls. They’ve decided that Justin Trudeau will continue as prime minister, but just like in New Zealand, he’ll have to work with coalition politics. What’s happened?After a brutal and at times humiliating campaign, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has ...
“The Prime Minister must publicly support an immediate ban on Gay Conversion Therapy . If I was Jacinda I would feel morally obligated to give more confidence on where I stand, when I have asked for, and received, support from that community.” ...
New abortion law marks significant and needed progress for reproductive rights in New Zealand Amnesty International has today made its submission to the Abortion Legislation Committee in Wellington. The rights at stake in the legislation include the rights ...
Open mike 28/08/2011 
Tiwai Point's electricity contract is up for renewal. And as usual, they're sticking their hand out, demanding a government subsidy, and threatening to close if they don't get one:The owners of the aluminium smelter said on Wednesday that there were seeking talks with the Government amid a strategic review which ...5 hours ago
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One of the key arguments used by trans ideologists is that some male-bodied people (ie men) are women because they ‘feel’ they are women. To make this hocus-pocus sound a bit more credible, some will argue that such men have a ‘female brain’. But this is thoroughly anti-scientific too. . ...12 hours ago
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Keir Starmer has hinted that Labour might vote in favour of the Johnson government's shoddy deal, with the proviso that a second referendum is attached:Speaking to BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “We will see what that looks like but it makes sense to say that by whatever ...3 days ago
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Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...6 days ago
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I wonder if it would be possible to get a petition going to have the ‘Left Leaning’ column, which ostensibly provides one of the few spaces for the voices of the left in our largely right-leaning media, to be written by someone who is, I dunno, a bit left? Even centre would be a step in the left direction.
In this particularly appalling piece, http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/blogs/john-pagani-left-leaning/5511201/Heres-how-we-stop-our-kids-being-bashed Pagani links to an even more appalling item written by Tony Blair, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/20/tony-blair-riots-crime-family which he says he found “moving”.
On a positive note: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10747833
Here’s what I think would be a realistic outcome from the election with a good balance of power that reflects the current state of politics.
National 56
UnitedFuture 6
Maori Party 4
Act 4
Labour 40
Greens 10
Mana 1
Explained more: Election Predictions
But Pete you won’t even declare who you are going to vote for. Why should we place credence in your views?
And ACT 4 ups but Mana only one? Is this a sign of right wing bias?
It’s got nothing to do with left right anything, I’d be quite happy with Act 1, Mana 1.
I rate Act 0-5 depending on Epsom and how much party vote they get.
Mana are a probably going to get one, ok, they could pick up one or two more on party vote but that would be at the expense of Labour.
Just listening to Sepuloni, I wish she wouldn’t talk in election slogans.
United Future 6??
hahha comedy central
Seconded! 😀
So let’s all play pull figures out of our arse.
And by no means should we discuss anything meaningful, like the country’s problems and what to do about them.
One way of dealing with problems is to get into government, but that’s not all I’m doing, I work off the net as well.
Today I’m also working on doing something about problems, like NARK, Child Matters, and here’s a really neat thing that I’m helping promote at the moment: chatbus.org.nz
I’d prefer if UF got 6 seats at the expense of National and Act too.
No doubt you want this outcome as well so you can swan off to Wellington and suck up the nice salary and pension scheme.
Unfortunately for you, they’re not likely to get more than 2 seats, and only then if Dunne can take his seat which isn’t exactly the safest in the country.
And do they even have 6 candidates????
Often on the net you see unwarranted ‘LOL’s but today I actually Laughed Out Loud after reading tory Pete’s mirthful post-UF 6? Harr effin harr!
only just read this UF6 – lol – hahahahaha
Gawd on Q&A they have three right wingers, Tamihere, Phil O’Reilly, and some woman who thinks the Spirit Level has been discredited, discussing the book. O’Reilly thinks that not growing “is just madness”. And Holmes admitted he diid not understand an interview with one of the authors of the book.
Where is the balance?
although we don’t really need the MSM’s facile version of ‘balance’…we need critical discussion and a media able to use facts and figures to force people to move on from their little PR platitudes.
MS – surely in a global sense with more and more countries and modern type consumers coming onstream there must be net global growth to cater for the increased number who demand consumerables. More connected countries means more efficiencies in resource utilisation surely.
Do we as a global connected society simple say too the rest i.e africa, etc too late, you missed the boat but we’ll take your resources though.
Now good points from Q+A
– discource on envirnomental impact and increased awareness and contribution from agri sector.
– need for a socital discusion around social inequality and at what slope do we ‘float the boats’.
-good imput on crime and how to lessen impact on society and police resources.
Orlov put it very well: Mother Nature does not change its behaviour due to price signals.
There will be no more global net growth because the physical world system cannot support exponential growth any longer. And our financial system cannot support exponential growth (of debt) any longer.
And the main constraint: cheap oil. There is virtually none left.
yes CV i agree totally peak oil, lack of eco stability etc etc…There must and will be a shift from oil for energy to oil for consumerables only at some point but limiting factors are availability of govt cash reserves and willpower (both in very short supply ). I wonder if the extreme right ,who can read the same signals as the left, havent a plan for after as well. Use cheap energy and resources and then via science / techno use their system liquidity and cash in / control the next phase of development.
I see two paths – social democratic slow adaption to the next growth/ developement phase via govt control and constructs or a sole bought out /leveraged mega-private sector society without any public controls or direction at all.
The societial arrangement surely isn’t all that relevant, its the one we choose.
Centralizers want to control resources, but its turning out that the solutions
to our world crisises, food, population, climate, resources, energy, is more
ant like. The ‘central’ of an ant colony is a egg producer, nothing more
nothing less. Government in the new networked local centric world will\
not be the centre. So you could be right, depending on who you ask
the world could look owned by mega-private ‘queens’ yet still be slowly
adapt to the next growth phase. The right could be right, government is
the problem, and the left could be right that businesses are not the engine
of society. That when we all conform our behavior – think local act
globally – then we will survive. Think of it like this, why do you
drive within the white lines. Well the council makes the best road
in between the lines. The lines aren’t there to contain you, its your
choice to stay within the lines, its in your interest since others
stay on the other side of the line and so you gain safety by
staying within the line. This is when government should be,
drawing lines, measuring if they work, and keeping us from harming
ourselves and prospering. But government does not do this anymore,
the right believe its their right to get very very rich and exploit,
the left believe its there right to decide what society should look like,
what we need is neither the right or the left, we need to trust people
and provide the people networks to faciliate their personal growth,
and everything will come right again. We just have too many sociopathic
control narcissists in power and in the media, and we will all pay
dearly for their needy attention disorders. clip of Key dressed in drag
at a gay festival.
That’s what we’ve been telling them since colonisation a few hundred years ago.
yes but each region or country is on its own economic pathway with its own pace of economic evolution. stability, security and consumerism would appear to be necessary factor that allow for a sucessful adoption into the western paradym…oh and the McDonalds too.
We all know the rational for USA etc to support or invade non connected or misaligned strategic countries such as iraq…and dictate to other countries adherance to internation regs that allow free trade or movment of capital.
We IMO need every country connected and functioning so we can face the challenges ahead over the next 50-100 years.
The only viable long term solution is a ‘next way’ economic system that will manage the transition from a Neolib / Socialist matrix flipflop to a more balanced, globally connected social democratic govt where we still have room for capital investment in a limited private sector.
My thoughts would see the rise of workplace co-ops ( as the new work unions ) expanded SOE / Public sector sphere that provide control / influence on wages and worker condition ( the expanded public sector would provide a balance to the private sector ). Erodicate the concept of traditional model of ownership of housing and control the price of land as this cause market created bubbles and artifical instabilities.
Why not a complex ‘rent to own’ scheme where need is meet by the state…The real nominal cost of a new average house build is far far lower than present values.
At present our economic system is chaotic, full of contridiction, lack of coordination and simply inefficient in a holistc sense. resources are being misused and wasted.
What right does 1500 billionaire individuals have to live a utopian dream when the billions upon billions of the global population starve or eck out a miserable existance?
There is no such thing as a private sector or, for that matter, a government sector – there is only society.
Yep, there is a massive misallocation of the worlds resources caused by the capitalist paradigm.
I can’t remember the name of the woman either but ….OMG!
Our binge drinking culture is a product of children coming home and watching Home and Away where people meet at the local bar for drinks?
That’s it! Pissed teens are gathering on the North Shore for riotous parties because they saw it on Home and Away! Well, that’s easily solved.
Let’s axe Home and Away and replace with something safer….like Cheers.
BTW…..there is no bar on Home and Away!
Going by the discussion of The Spirit Level, I don’t think any of them had read the book.
Their problems with the theory had been covered and refuted in the book.
They were not even listening, the prof said inequality measure was a flag indicating
poor economic outcomes for rich and poor. Rich parent are just as likely too be
uneducated enough to stop their kids getting immunized, for example.
But the ost conceited media was laid law on entrepreneurs, that was a shocker
for myopia.
inerestingly the balance is alreay presnt at grassroot levels…’the spirit level’ and its insight are being discussed at various levels or sectors such as in ECE.
Q&A is another soapbox to ensure Ellis pockets a circa million p.a. Package from his nat mates and masters.
due to a lack of a public broadcaster providing balance and objectivity we get this one sided approach…..look across the Tasman where ABC and SBS set a bar the others follow or just don’t get watched when it matters.
They enjoy jumps in ratings when major events occur as people know they can be trusted….whereas here it’s reality tv and jokers like Holmes, Espiner, garner and associated sycophants.
I dont know about the rest of the country but round here the Labour Party candidate and his team have been working away for over a year and I think they have avery good chance of toppling the incumbent National party and dispatching them with a very healthy majority for Labour. Locally Labour is seen as the can do party and the chances are looking better every day.
Totally
I met the new MP for Otaki 3 weeks ago
Primo guy
Had good 30 mins talking with him
and he said from his meeting people in Levin- it highly likely Guy will lose his seat
made my day
Spotted in the Herald comments.
“Yes you’re right. There is this famous exchange at the G* a year or so back between Gordon Brown and Angela Merkel where Brown asks why Germany weathered the GFC so well and Britain had just plummeted into debt. Merkel answered “Because Germany still makes things Mr Brown!””
Anyone noticed that Labour’s blog site ‘Red Alert’ is being rapidly taken over by trained trollers whose brief is to undermine the site’s owners and supporters? These individuals seem to work in loose groups, and bully their victims with repetitive criticisms and insults. I put much of the blame on the timidity of the MP owners who talk about the problem, but seem unwilling to take positive action to get rid of them. Genuine critics are welcome and make for healthy debate, but these narcisstic nasties are anything but genuine.
All I can say is: it will be to the site’s detriment, because soon there will be nobody of worth bothering to comment there – which I guess is the ultimate aim of the NAct campaign.
Haven’t properly visited for awhile, but always thought that ‘Red Alert’ would be a prime target for attack by trolls, whether coordinated by spin merchants or just a bunch of losers with an axe to grind. I think it was always going to happen sooner or later unless they switched comments off or engaged in very strict moderation.
always thought that ‘Red Alert’ would be a prime target for attack by trolls, whether coordinated by spin merchants or just a bunch of losers with an axe to grind
There’s both. It’s easy to tell which is which. The ‘losers’ are one man bands and, as you say, they have a bee in their bonnet. The professional spin merchants repeatedly attack the authors and commenters until – particularly in the case of commenters – they fall silent presumably cowered. Their lines are just too pat to be random.
in the case of commenters – they fall silent presumably cowered.
err… in the case of some commenters- not all.
Or maybe the arguements presented are piss-weak and easily countered…
But at least you’ve still got your true believers like spud 🙂
He’s alright chris 73. I enjoy his witty one liners. Although even Spuddy boy has been silenced a bit of late…
I’m sorry but did you mention spud and witty one liners in the same breath?
Seriously though any swing voter that goes onto red alert and reads his comments are likely to think hes a bit…(not sure how to say this without insulting anyone) simple
I was responding to your comment in friendly jest. Spud his who he is. He’s of Pacific Island extraction and it’s part of his personality. He may like to use seemingly simple minded one liners much of the time but he isn’t simple, and contributes pertinent observations when he want to. Cmon chris73, live and let live.
Fair call, wouldn’t hurt though if he gave the emoticons a rest…
Agreed.
You havn’t spent much time reading Kiwibog.
Don’t blame you though. You leave feeling soiled.
NRT has removed the comments feature without much trouble. Personally I think having a forum for people to directly communicate with their representatives is a good idea. The trolls be damned!
Didn’t Clare mention that she was going get rid of the trolls?
They got rid of one and have threatened (too timidly in my view) to moderate or ban a few others but that’s all. They need a lesson or two from lPrent.
The problem is that a troll is a subjective term and if you’re going to start banning right-wing trolls will you then ban the left-wing trolls as well?
I have a recollection RA did ban one insufferably rude leftie not too long ago. Can’t remember is blogging name.
We have done it a number of times, booting people from all sides when required. There is a definite bias against rwnj’s. But I suspect that most of that is because the nj’s of other persuasions tend to value having the site available more – they amend their behavior when warned.
But we look much more at behavior rather than peoples philosophy. The underlying criteria is the good of the site as expressed in the about. You don’t do that by supression of alternate ideas. You do it by removing people who are incapable of arguing and have the flexibility of a badly programmed robot.
The fastest way to find out if someone is capable of learning is to stress them at a personal level. Personally I have decades of experience at how to do it, and query level access to a rather large database of whatever is said here makes it a hell of a lot easier. That is why I will sometimes start to torment people – I want to find out is they are merely automata.
All that being said, I have one major advantage at moderating on a site like this. I simply do not care about what others think about me. I am not a politician nor anything more than a member of a political party. The things that I consider as being crucially important questions are not those discussed here.
My involvement in the political sphere because of a sense of duty in constraining the ability of political people from screwing up too badly. Having open and public forums is a effective way to do it.
Getting back to Annes point about team trolling – I just don’t tolerate it. To me it is just evidence of a berserk reproducing virus type program, and programmers hate CPU gobblers like that. People will operate as individuals here if theydo not want to attract my attention.
Well thats what I mean, this site doesn’t allow it and red alert doesn’t allow it yet it seems to me that red alert is far more “trigger-happy” when it comes to banning people for being trolls
Maybe they’re a tad more… precious
Getting the right balance is far more of an art than a science and it depends on how far the local comment culture is from what is wanted.
I was a *lot* more trigger happy when I was changing pattern of the comment culture here. But we’re also far more sadistic than a politician can be seen to be. That gives us far more options about how to modify behavior. We can do other things rather than banning, and those are frequently a damn sight worse.
Like the climate change deniers who spend vast sums to discredit the convincing science that supports it, there is an equivalent reaction to Wilkinson and Pickett’s research on income inequality. The panel on Q&A were very dismissive of The Spirit Level based on the interview with Richard Wilkinson but I wonder how many of them actually read the book and the data that supported it.
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.com/2011/08/spirit-level-deserves-attention.html
anne..red alert red alert..bandits at 12 o’clock.
Super Fund Invests in Nuclear Weapons
Last Wednesday it was revealed that the New Zealand superannuation fund holds 44,595 shares worth $2,082,736 in a Mumbai-based multinational company called Larsen and Toubro, which in partnership with the Indian Navy, is involved in designing and manufacture a fleet of nuclear-armed submarines for India. But that’s not all Larsen & Toubro (L&T) India’s largest engineering group gets up to…
Shocking…
“THE HOLLOW MEN” the film, is on Maori channel tonight at 8.30 pm. Very pertinent especially now, the main players are still getting away with their shady, self-serving scams.
NZ loves to grow weeds! Evn when it finds a king crop, milk, it puts its whole weight
behind it and leaves a bit pile of cow shit floating down the water ways. Its always
so black and white. NZ needs to diversify, so that means we should ignore the
problem with all the weedy companies we have now, throw money at new start ups
with a now discreited consumer paradigm. Oh, what insipidness. Any farmer
does better with what he has, and that’s why we spend so much time with
jingoistic business mantras about new innovation. We need to seize the new
world economic reality, local, networked, low energy (or high energy where
its cheap – i.e. Here IN nz), but no with new roads, and less education we
are going to drive ourselves into a new growth phase.
ACT has released a list of rich white men from Auckland: http://www.act.org.nz/news/act-releases-its-party-list-for-2011-general-election
Bit surprised to see Meth-Whore Barbie missed out. When I saw her on telly screaming about how she hates animals I thought she’d be fighting off the party list offers with a shitty stick.
Where’s Cathy Odgers alias Cactus Kate? Is she the mystery no 3?
Haha I missed that nickname Meth-Whore Barbie, who does that refer too felix? I am pretty sure I will LOL at the answer 🙂
It’s a new nickname for a nasty old lady: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/outrage-act-mp-s-silly-little-chickens-comments-4218223/video
actaully ive met the ‘silly old lady’ on many an occasion – pleasant veneer with a smug superior interior, sums up anyone with money really IME.
Incredible, this is currently one of the top headlines on NACT PR webs—… er, sorry, Stuff:
Peter Jackson heads John Key on Googled list
Hah, he was searched because people didn’t know who this Prime Mincer of newsland, robber baron, cheap wannabe comedian, agent of the NWO, buddy of Obama, John ‘Keys’ really is….
It was most probably people looking for overweight camp male catwalk models, with a greedy streak and an overinflated sense of self worth coupled with a deep and insatiable need for recognition and public affirmation – I’ve heard that that particular combo is harder to find and more popular than you would think.
For all you people with fingers poised above the search keys – you don’t need google to find out what this prick is like – just come to New Zealand, swim in our rivers of effluent and see the faces of the people whose lives he has touched (hint: you won’t see them at the RWC – begging is to be made an offense just in time for the big game)
The Hollow Men is on Maori TV tonight at 8.30. Watch it and weep for our future.
Thanks Maori TV for screening it.
…and thanks Jum for highlighting the fact it was on. I am glad not to have missed it, I don’t usually watch TV so thanks for the heads-up (and I know I should have seen it back then, but they were on their way out back then). Very timely to see the young Key so enthusiastically lying, and to observe the groups formed during the Brash/English takeover.
concur, thanks Maori TV. I really hope others watched, especially blind Key-followers.
Congratulations to Hillary Calvert for being, er, dropped from the ACT party list. Don Brash richly rewarded Clavert for her support during his putsch by cutting her out of the top 10 on the ACT list. Doesn’t say much for Brash and his commitment to reward loyalty. His purchase of the ACT Party was bad enough however, sorry Hillary, his project for take over of the party and stacking it with his mates is total. If that means you are a casualty then that is expedient for Brash.
And the ACT Party, man, you have to be white male and old to be at the top. Anyone not old, male and white need not apply. “Young” Don Nicholson is the youthful face of ACT. The only other party with such a similar homogeneous list of candidates is the Maroi Party and they are clear about who their support base is and even they have women at the top.
OMG – Act really is the angry old white mans party (plus Cathy)
What’s in a Domain Name?
Don’t you just love the competitive free-market? It keeps costing more and more and more.