It is more certain than ever that human civilisation is the main cause of global warming, putting the world on track for dangerous temperature rises, the latest major UN assessment of climate change science has found.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says it is “extremely likely” that humans are the dominant cause of observed warming since the mid-20th century, with carbon dioxide emissions the main factor.
If emissions remain high, by 2100 temperatures are likely to rise by more than 2 degrees – and up to 4.8 degrees – breaching a threshold agreed by governments as limiting the worst impacts of climate change.
Heatwaves will be more frequent and last longer, the report found. Most wet regions will get more rainfall, and most dry regions less.
Glaciers and ice sheets will continue to shrink, and the sea level will rise more quickly.
Scientists are now almost certain that mankind’s carbon emissions are warming up the planet.
As the world’s most important climate report was released internationally last night, its New Zealand authors spelt out the outlook for our country and our closest neighbours.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s draft fifth assessment report (AR5) warned that if the world could not rein in carbon emissions to a cap of one trillion tonnes of carbon – a budget already half spent – it would not be able to hold global warming back within 2°C, causing widespread extreme weather, drought and rising sea levels.
The report says that by the end of this century, the world’s climate would have warmed by at least this level.
The report says it is a virtual certainty that natural variables alone could not have fuelled changes that since 1950 have warmed the troposphere and warmed the stratosphere.
[…]
In New Zealand, extreme rainfall events will become more frequent and intense by the end of the century, while drought risk would increase substantially, especially in the east and north of the country.
Elsewhere in the country, more high temperature extremes and fewer cold extremes were virtually certain to become the norm.
“Longer observational records, improved models and better understanding tell us that climate change will be on-going this century and beyond and will bring significant changes to New Zealand and to the Pacific,” said Victoria University climate scientist Dr James Renwick, a contributor to the report.
“The South Pacific Convergence Zone, a major feature of rainfall variability in the tropical Southwest Pacific, may become more variable in its movement and rainfall intensity, which would be associated with increased risk of both floods and droughts for many of our Pacific neighbours.”
The number of tropical cyclones was not likely to increase, but they would become more powerful.
You can sit down to veggie bacon, a hash brown, grilled tomato and mushrooms for your breakfast and know you are making a small contribution and it tastes delish as well. Try it people!
Wellington cafes, I’m missing you. Ask at the local cafe if they make their own hashbrowns or buy them in – then you can check the ingredients. But, seeing as I love potato so much – home made hash browns with olive oil (although they do taste pretty yummy with butter). However, I prefer potato hash with a poached egg myself…
The kartoffelpuffer (potato pancake) man is back in town for the autumn/winter seasons in my part of the world – potato street food, I couldn’t believe my luck – cooked in those black drums that are used for roasting chestnuts on the street, then served with salt and/or crushed garlic painted on. Delicious when its minus something horrible degrees. Apparently they serve them with applesauce in Germany – that seems strange to me.
There is no other reason that potato tastes that good.
Sacrilege!, the Irish in me is deeply offended. As any true spuddie fan knows the best hash browns are made with grated cold baked in their skin spuddies formed into a cake, fried in butter and salted before eating. So there!.
Lolz, what is this breakfast thing you speak of, breakfast along with lunch has only ever been on the menu round here when one has been a guest of Her Majesty…
Vegans will eat fake meat because they like the taste but not the cruelty involved in eating meat.
So why would you put animals through torture when you can buy a substitute that doesnt involve cruelty and tastes the same.
The Auckland diocese has divested from fossil fuels.
Bill mcKibben on his recent speaking tour recommended divestment as a way to hurt the fossils who run fossil fuel industries.
How’s that CV padding line going for you guys? What DID John key do at Harvard? Where did Hooton get the idea he is NZ’s leading political commentator?
Shifting your target to flawed minor players now? Bit of a fail I’d say.
I also read the Guardian piece of Milliband’s power price freeze. After the GFC and failure of neo-liberalism we wallowed along in a vacuum as the previous generation of “left wing” politicians either wouldn’t or couldn’t face the facts about the failure of the central project of their political careers. What is happening, across the English speaking world, is social-democratic politicians are discarding the baggage of Blairism and the distractions of identity and are re-discovering their nerve and socialism. And in the process, they’ve discovered that the apparently iron fortress of neo-liberalism is built on increasingly shakey electoral foundations. There are never any final battles in politics, and the left is coming back again.
PS I love Millibands line: ” “the rising tide only seems to lift the yachts”.
is social-democratic politicians are discarding the baggage of Blairism and the distractions of identity embracing a “Larger world of Freedom” and are re-discovering their nerve and socialism.
I guess we all agree they are finally widening the focus from that which is commonly termed as ‘identity politics’ and putting class back into politics? It’s not and has never been an either/or situation. But until now class has been rendered invisible in political discourse. And that’s fueled a fair bit of perfectly understandable yet regrettable and misdirected resentment from those put aside and left to languish as liberal ‘identity politics’ (ie, class free policies) have been advanced through legislation.
i usually just call him Slippery, the British press tho waxed wonderfully lyrical over our Prime Ministers exhibition while a guest of the Queen at Balmoral this week allotting Him the grand title of ”the Galloping Colonial Clot”,
Not to be out done, the Herald’s Clare Trevett, usually found doting over the PM bestowed upon Him the descriptive ”the Antipodean Mouse that roared” after the PM opened His empty suitcase of intellectual rigor for all to see at the UN this week, lambasting the Security Council for failing to find a solution to the Syrian chemical weapons crisis at the very same time as news was breaking that a solution had been agreed…
Oh so there is our beloved Leader, opening his mouth really wide, inserting both feet in up to the knees. Then unlocks the Intellectual suitcase to find it’s full of dirty socks.
So this added to the 300k Grosser wasted, is our attempt at a seat on the security council. They must be pissing themselves in New York.
If you are seriously trying to pass off a middle market tabloid like the Daily Mail as the entirety of “the British press”, you should be helping Hoots-mon with his CV padding.
would this be a good time to introduce my idea/concept of ‘partial-nationalisation’..?
..without banging on and on/in a nutshell..
..it involves turning the tory ‘partial-privatisation’ plan on its’ head..
..veering away from energy for a mo’..lets look at the food-supply duopoly screwing us blind..(nz-owned..or not..)
..partial-nationalisation means the people/state takes 51% of any given entity..
..(and those bought out will of course get paid off..over a negotiated period of time..)
..so in the case of the supermarket-duopoly..the benefits from economies of scale/purchasing are obvious..and people still have to eat..the market won’t suddenly die..’
(plus..minimal upfront costs..as that 51% payback to current owners/shareholders comes largely from future profits..)
..and i think this what is essentially a marriage of capitalism/socialism has much to appeal..
..in that the people will no longer be screwed blind…(in the case of the supermarket-duopoly) healthy food regimes will be so much easier to implement..
..but the special beauty of this model i feel is that the commercial nous/operational-skills-base of any operation partially-nationalised will still be retained…
..and i wd add this model is especially relevant to the many monopolies that currently are bleeding the people dry..
..(and yes..!..of course the ‘sin’-industries are included..gambling/alcohol etc..)
..i have tipped this one upside-down/looked at it from all angles..
The robot’s circuitry is overloaded by human contradiction:
‘ Ms Collins is concerned about the length of time some judgments take and she is sick of hearing that the best answer to addressing delays is to appoint more judges.
“If I have heard that once I have heard it 100 times.”
But with crime rates dropping and fewer people going into court “it cannot be right; it does not compute”. ‘
Among its new rules:
‘ Allow court documents to be filed, held and issued electronically.
Require use of audio visual link for procedural cases involving prisoners to reduce transportation. ‘
I have just read something about James K. Galbraith economist, son of John K, and it is so damning of our present societal approach. I didn’t realise that such things were being said so strongly in public by leading professionals and academics. I’llput some text from him that I got from Wikipedia because it summarises much of what we have been saying here.
Today, the signature of modern American capitalism is neither benign competition, nor class struggle, nor an inclusive middle-class utopia. Instead, predation has become the dominant feature — a system wherein the rich have come to feast on decaying systems built for the middle class. The predatory class is not the whole of the wealthy; it may be opposed by many others of similar wealth. But it is the defining feature, the leading force. And its agents are in full control of the government under which we live.[6]
Galbraith is also highly critical of the Bush administration’s foreign policy apropos of the Iraq invasion:
There is a reason for the vulnerability of empires. To maintain one against opposition requires war — steady, unrelenting, unending war. And war is ruinous — from a legal, moral and economic point of view. It can ruin the losers, such as Napoleonic France, or Imperial Germany in 1918. And it can ruin the victors, as it did the British and the Soviets in the 20th century. Conversely, Germany and Japan recovered well from World War II, in part because they were spared reparations and did not have to waste national treasure on defense in the aftermath of defeat… The real economic cost of Bush’s empire building is twofold: It diverts attention from pressing economic problems at home and it sets the United States on a long-term imperial path that is economically ruinous.
On radionz this afternoon a USA couple from near the Appalachians were talking about their music. One letter from a music lover was from an Iraqi soldier saying how it reminded him of home. He is over there because he joined the Forces so he could get higher education, and he is not sure why he’s there, what it’s for. Some come home and then commit suicide. It all serves the USA and its imperialist purposes. It won’t bring peace.
Interesting…..Judge Judy takes on the beaks in populist fashion. Can we expect another Key swipe before long? Cracks appearing in the Natsy edifice lads, brace for a barrage of distraction…..
SSLands,you are proving to be the ever elusive fool, there might be advantages in the proposed TPP, there also might be some very unpalatable disadvantages,
David Cunliff has rightly said that we all should get to see the text of the agreement and have time to discuss it befor any decision is made on whether to sign it,
By the way, you still havn’t answered the question, which do you want to buy me, the new fridge or the new washing machine…
As if you would know how to use a washing machine.
The negotiations should be held in secret. It is impossible to hold multi party negotiations with the uneducated rabble like you baying inanities that get picked up in the MSM. It is a distraction from rational discussion.
Ok, i will take that as a yes to you buying me, as per new National Party policy, a brand new fridge/freezer,
Best tell Slippery to sign the thing befor November 2014 then, or the readers and writers, excluding you, of the Standard will get to have a strong voice on what is in that TPP,
SSLands is an excellent ‘handle’ for you who does not believe in the democratic process…
Um, no. That would be a Labour Shadow Minister still believing in the tooth fairy neo-liberal economics – the stuff that just brought the world economy to its knees.
In reply to bad12, who wrote…
“None of your taxes pay for the treatment of tobacco related illness or death, tobacco taxes have been estimated to be collecting up to a billion dollars a year over and above the cost to the country of tobacco usage…”
As a grow your own man and by the looks quite proud of it, none of your taxes are going to pay for your health care because you don’t pay any on your smokes. That’s like double dipping, but worse.
Sort of puts you in context. I could call hypocrite. 😉
Those taxes used for smoking related illness, wherever they come from ($250m in 2004 and no doubt much higher now) could help alleviate child poverty and provide opportunities to many in need. So much for your points about funding america cup races and other corporate welfare deals.
Like I said, you go for it, mate, just ’cause you are too obstinate, ignorant or stupid to use the stop smoking incentives to quit is completely up to you.
I don’t even mind if you don’t say thanks to taxpayers for the care you will get at our expense, but a sorry to the disadvantaged children who’s tax dollar funding you’re stealing should be mandatory for all left wing smokers, not to mention to the nurses on the lung cancer wards and the morgue porters who’ll have to trolley your frigid corpses around.
I just hope you don’t smoke anywhere near children.
That’s simply pathetic,the tax dollars smokers currently pay are around a billion dollars over and above the actual cost of smoking and it’s obvious even to the thickest head on the planet that the Government that imposed these taxes have no intention of spending such on impoverished children,
Do you tax rugby players extra and disburse that among needy children as every weekend 1000’s of them deliberately go out and get injured playing that game,
Road users, who also cost the country billions above and beyond what tobacco users cost get to pay extra cash to feed the kids most in need do they,
Considering what you have called me in that comment without answering the salient point which is the spurious claim that tobacco kills 50% of those who use it by means of heart disease and various cancers when 49. something % of people who have never touched tobacco products will die of that very same heart disease and those very same various cancers i would suggest that i am debating with a fucking moron who has a genetic intellectual disability,
So if we all stopped using tobacco the poor wee nurses on the cancer ward would simply have to follow us over to the other wards where we will still die in the same numbers from heart disease and various cancers coz that’s what kills 50% of us whether we smoke or not,
Your whole comment above reeks of mental retardation, you should get that seen to…
sheesh, just bunged out a long reply for bad12 and alien only to have the lot lost and now it too late on Saturday afternoon. Time for one of those naughty activities….
“Your whole comment above reeks of mental retardation”
Seriously? I don’t see it that way. That $250m spent on dying smokers by the government could, as you posted the other night, lift children out of poverty in a stroke (no pun intended).
Wherever the tax dollars come from, and clearly it’s not from you, having an extra 1/4 of a billion dollars in the kitty shouldn’t be so easily dismissed.
I can smell the guilty conscience on your breath as you type, but as a proven double dipper, you have to admit that your free will to smoke comes at a great cost to many deserving causes. That you don’t care, try to deflect the argument and dismiss a common sense point does you little credit at all.
Your points about taxing rugby players and drivers is avoidance (I’m sensing a theme).
Your point about percentages is manipulating statistics to support your view, and I believe, and I’m happy to be corrected by the scholars, false logic.
I’m okay with you smoking, though really you should pay your fair share of taxes or at least (try to) pay privately if you want healthcare down the track, but like a soft touch lefty, concede that you should be treated by the state at the expense of others when your time comes, because that’s what we do in the caring left, even for selfishly stupid people who could have helped themselves, given the encouragement and funding on offer.
I’m not okay with preventable illnesses costing vast amounts of money and causing social damage, which is why most of us want to stop our families living in sub standard housing, getting third world diseases – Same for smoking. Those kids, mums and dads can’t help themselves, but hard as stopping smoking is, you can.
I challenge you to quit. Right here, right now, even though it’ll add years to you.
Three months time when you can breathe and taste food again, you’ll thank me, rather than call me a retard.
Sod off with your pathetic rubbish you fool, i have no intentions of quitting, i just had a 4.99 pizza and it tasted just fine, finished off with a good puff on my home grown and a cup of tea,
Ah life’s great when you can appreciate the small things…
Ps, if you weren’t such an overcoat changing abusive little twat i would dig out the link to the health department stats that show 50% of those who do not smoke die of heart disease and various cancers so you have as much chance as me of clocking off via those ailments,
i have posted that same link befor here on the Standard, go fetch…
It is then even odds that either one or the both of us will die of cancer or heart disease, i pick yours to be brain cancer based upon the fact that there is obviously something amiss with it at present,
Me, i reckon heart disease caused by having too much fun will knock me off…
“It is then even odds that either one or the both of us will die of cancer or heart disease, i pick yours to be brain cancer based upon the fact that there is obviously something amiss with it at present,”
I think it was because I was desperately trying to find a valid point in the post, I skimmed past the third or fourth insult.
But interesting to note, given my charitable will to treat you should you be the 1 in 2 to die from smoking, how you respond to someone you view as having a genetic intellectual disability.
Maybe not just a leech, a hypocrite and enemy of the poor, but also an abuser of the intellectually challenged.
That’s not a good thing to have on ones record, but there it is in black and white.
Pathetic scum who are you to tell me what i should and should not do, smoking tobacco is perfectly legal as is growing it,
Do those who grow tomatoes,cabbages and apples in their back-yard get taxed for it, your zealots view show you up for the overcoat changing trash that you really are,
Perhaps you would like the chance now to deny that you voted for Labour and took the WFF tax credit and then changed your overcoat to vote National and took the tax cuts, something i put to you the other day and you did not deny,
You claim that i am a proven ‘double dipper’ you and Hooten use the same smear tactics, where exactly am i double dipping you pathetic fool,
“Perhaps you would like the chance now to deny that you voted for Labour and took the WFF tax credit and then changed your overcoat to vote National and took the tax cuts, something i put to you the other day and you did not deny,”
Like I wrote at the time, I’m as red/green as my logos eyes.
Not that I have to justify myself to some angry prick on the internet, but, I have never voted other than for Labour and the Green party, and can’t foresee a time when I would do otherwise.
“where exactly am i double dipping you pathetic fool”
“Do those who grow tomatoes,cabbages and apples in their back-yard get taxed for it”
Home tomato growers don’t get taxed, but then the tax on the tomato industry, using your argument, doesn’t adequately fund the healthcare and associated societal cost of one in two tomato eaters dying.
However, you smoking and not paying the taxes on smokes, means unless you have a private health plan, which I doubt, you’ll get your healthcare, should you be the one in two preventable deaths that need a share of the $250m (2004 figure) budget for nothing. Cake and eat it, with a double dose of dipping.
Shame on you. 😉
“Pathetic scum who are you to tell me what i should and should not do”
This site needs a :grrr: smiley or I’ll just use :bad12: as everyone will know what I mean 😆
Yes exactly, pathetic scum run round sticking their noses into other peoples business that is perfectly legal,
The above is why i think you are a fucking moron with some form of brain dysfunction/disease,
The 50% death figures for tobacco users is based upon deaths from heart disease and various cancers, correct,
The problem with those figures is that 50% of those who have never been near a cigarette will also according to the health statistics die of heart disease and various cancers including YOU,
So when that brain cancer inflames ya brain what are you going to blame,
As i said above i have posted a link to the figures befor on the Standard, be a good little puppy and go fetch…
Consider if the smokers who get sick, needing expensive health care and then die from smoking didn’t, how much extra cash would the health service have to treat and prevent non smokers from getting sick and dying? Not to mention extra taxes they’d contribute from not being too sick to work and or dead.
Consider the money spent on initiatives, programs and drugs that try, successfully in many cases, except for the very most weak willed, selfish or ignorant, to stop smokers from smoking with the goal of preventing addicts from getting sick and needing expensive health care, instead being diverted to preventing other causes of cancer and heart disease to help people who get sick without the option of choosing to play 50/50 russian roulette.
Consider all that extra money being spent on smokers being spent on children in poverty, for example, or education, night classes etc…
If only smokers weren’t so addicted and narcissistic to the point of sacrificing the health and well being of others and especially the poor.
Again, you argue like a bit of a dimwit, mate, deliberately diverting off in tangents, throwing out a challenge, having it answered, ignoring it and then repeating the same things over and over in a barrage of insults and slurs.
You are hard work, for sure.
Have been on a staff who ostracized smokers continuously, blah, blah,…yet there were lots of fat bastards who didn’t smoke and sat down at ‘smoko’ to their pies and donuts and whilst putting lashings of butter on their scones would deride their smoking colleagues who were outside as bad role models????
*Current tobacco excise revenues in New Zealand amount to approximately $1 billion per year and have been at that level for some years. This is just under 2% of total tax revenues.
*Of the approximate $1.6 billion per year retail spending on tobacco products, approximately 70% is accounted for by taxation, including GST as well as tobacco taxes.
Smoking has better returns for the Government than a Power Co!
If your figure of $250 million is the cost to ‘the country’; I’d say “Smokers- smoke away to your heart’s content.”
You make assumptions,(false), that if only all those smokers would just give up then they would not die of heart diseases nor cancers,
69.4% of us all will be snuffed out by one or the other, given that, if everyone quit using tobacco products tomorrow 49.4% of them would still die of cancers or heart diseases,
You make another assumption,(again false), that many are aided in giving up the use of tobacco products by aides and interventions which of course your small brain does not allow you to see are paid for from tobacco taxation,
The current round of interventions(past 4 years),have according to those who run the quitline and others who have conducted studies only reached 2% of tobacco users and resulted in only 2% of actual success after a 6 month period,
In other words, a waste of money, as the uptake among youth is un-measured but likely to out-number the minute numbers of those who quit,
Your whining is just that, smokers pay for ALL the money spent upon them in hospital care and in attempts to stop them using the product with hundreds of millions more going into the Governments general accounts,(Treasury says 1 billion dollars),from taxation on the product,
If no-one smoked how would this money get to be spent on hungry kids etc etc as you say, perhaps as ex-smokers you would have us taxed even more,
Your arguments are pathetic rubbish based upon nothing but your willingness to interfere in others lives and if you actually believe any of the trite bullshit you trot out then its obvious you are retarded by brainwashing…
And Paula could be Beneficial to the poor if she gave up some of her breakfast, lunch, multi-course dinner, morning tea, afternoon tea, supper, midnight snacks, office draw munchies, elevensies, high tea, brunch… thus giving her saved expenditure to the health budget; and by ‘slim-lining’ on this austerity she’d potentially not become a heart disease cost.
“You make assumptions,(false), that if only all those smokers would just give up then they would not die of heart diseases nor cancers,”
…that if only all those smokers would just give up then they would not die of heart diseases nor cancers earlier than non-smokers do (generally speaking).
Not that I’m saying you shouldn’t smoke – I only tell my kids that. Tis just that is more years are lost through earlier death, is all.
“Of the approximate $1.6 billion per year retail spending on tobacco products, approximately 70% is accounted for by taxation, including GST as well as tobacco taxes.”
“The New Zealand government collected a total of $842 million in tobacco excise tax in 2005.”
“The tangible costs of smoking to New Zealand in 2005 were around NZ$1.7 billion, or about 1.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product. This includes costs incurred because of lost production due to early death, lost production due to smoking-caused illness, and smoking-related health-care costs.”
“It is estimated that many deaths due to various diseases could be prevented if smoking was eliminated, including:
68% of female deaths and 82% of male deaths due to lung cancer
65% of female deaths and 79% of male deaths due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
11% of female deaths and 18% of male deaths due to heart disease
8% of female deaths and 15% of male deaths due to stroke.
Now you can be in denial all you like, but the $ shortfall in from the cost of smoking compared to revenue gained by smoking is huge, double by those figures. Imagine those extra $800m dollars getting kids out of poverty.
Every time you puff on a fag, you think how you’re taking food out of a poor kids belly, or sending that kid to school in shoes and an overcoat in winter.
If you enjoy the drag, then you are what I’ve called you, a leech, a hypocrite and enemy of the poor.
Accounting for the direct treatment of smoking-related illnesses assumes that those people will never get cancer, heart disease, nor any other condition that requires palliative care towards the end of life. In short, it assumes that every smoker would suddenly drop dead without warning at a ripe old age if only they did not smoke.
Secondly, assuming 20-odd years of lost life for one in two smokers, that period involves about 12 years of pensions paid by society saved by those smokers who die early.
Thirdly, the “lost economic activity” is only valid if it involves new production – again, not in retirement years. The deceased’s estate is distributed and spent by their inheritors – the economic activity is not lost.
Basically, all you’ve got is the smoking industry’s lies about addiction, and passive smoking. One hasn’t been valid in NZ for thirty-odd years, the other is negligible in current smokefree laws, barring the personal risk choices of relatives.
It seems that the National voters and the middle class have grown disillusioned with PinoKeyo, Blinglish and their government.
Well serves you right, were you stupid or what?
It is not akin to a corporate negotiation unkess it is true that it kowtows to corporate interests. Tppa is between countries and negotiations began in 2008. In any event its what the usa wants that will be driving this. Negotiate in private ratify in public.
Jesus tap-dancing Christ in a sidecar on a pogo stick. The misogyny of the pigs in blue knows no bounds. A senior cop thinks that a ten year old girl asked to be raped:
I repeat that: a TEN YEAR OLD GIRL was supposedly ASKING FOR IT.
That disgusting sack of shit thinks that a little girl wanted to be raped. These are the sort of people (I use the term loosely) decide to promote to senior positions.
Look at that swine’s “apology” – all the usual “I’m sorry if I MIGHT have…”
The most generous thing I can say is that Central District Commander Russell Gibson is a very, very sick man who needs some intensive psychiatric treatment… but I know that he’ll get a slap across the wrist with a wet bus ticket.
That being said, I disagree that he needs “intensive psychiatric treatment”. Mental illness doesn’t make people misogynist douchebags. Society makes normal people into misogynist douchebags quite happily.
(There’s a term for it, and it rhymes with “shmape culture”, but mentioning that would probably just be me being a nasty academic feminist or something)
That being said, I disagree that he needs “intensive psychiatric treatment”
Ah well, QoT, I was gritting my teeth over that. I have a mental illness – anxiety crossed with depression – and all my best friends have their own variants.
I was choking back what I really think and what he really deserves shouldn’t be mentioned here.
Anyway, yes, we see in that shitbag, and the people who promoted him to a position of authority, are rape culture embodied, and don’t let anyone deny that it exists.
Although it’s rape culture, the phrase sort of shortcuts what is going on here, and yeah, is dismissed as some academic, feminist rant thing. So just to spell it out…
This was a crime of child abuse, rape, abuse of trust (of child and her parents), abuse of power and a police officer’s complete misunderstanding of what grooming children means. Add to that it’s the absolving an adult, who is fully aware of what he’s doing, of responsibility for his crime for no justifiable reason.
Clearly he’s had a bit of a lesson and is repentant (the officer, that is) but is shows how easily this stuff gets embedded in people’s heads and how hard it is to remove when even the apologies are qualified with ‘may have re-victimised’ the child with a poor choice “of language” (?!)
No wonder that even if kids know what is happening to them is a crime and they’re in a position to report it, they don’t.
Clearly he’s had a bit of a lesson and is repentant (the officer, that is)
The pig isn’t repentant at all – he’s still making excuses – “I might have”, “people may have” “I made a poor choice of words” – that’s all diversionary bullshit by a coward.
Enough of this “may” and “might”.
“I am a complete and utter shitbag” is the only honest thing he can say, instead he tries to suggest that he’s being persecuted because other people have chosen to be offended.
Worse still, there are people who put this pig in a position of authority. Who are they? We must name them.
Just to add to that – we really have to ask ourselves some serious questions about the police. Their misogyny, their violence, the propensity for rape and corruption of justice has been well documented. Are they the enemy within now?
They’ve been the biggest gang in the country for as long as I can remember. Sure, sometimes they’ll deny that they’re a criminal organisation and say that while some individuals might commit offences, it’s not overall policy. They’ll try and tell us that they hang out together because they have a love of white cars and bright lights, plus blue uniforms, and they shouldn’t be judged by their propensity to use tasers. They say people ask for it and what can they do? Now and then they even do some good acts, such as rescue kittens, but that’s only to get public sympathy.
I dunno Jon. Not saying you’re wrong to read the article in the way you have. We know Goff is right-wing.
But when I read the article I bore in mind both the author and the fact that Tory sympathisers like her have been somewhat desperately casting around for divisions to leverage. And I’m aware that where none exist, attempts will be made to manufacture them.
Then I reflected that almost the entire article is O’Sullivan’s interpretation/opinion. There is only one quote of substance. And it contains a note of hesitancy, which given Goff’s neo-liberal pedigree is, at least, something – and maybe indicative of Goff pushing the bounds of the narrative rather than breaking it.
The quote runs:-
“There are huge advantages from being involved with TPP and even bigger disadvantages of being locked out. But there are defensive issues where we need to fight tooth and nail to protect interests.”
I disagree with his take, but at least he is not being unabashedly pro-free trade, eh?
This comment is for QoT (sorry folks, the phone doesn’t seem to let me insert a reply once the chain of discussion has moved on).
I’m seriously offended by your jibes about vegans. I and other vegans are committed enough to LIVE our politics, not just snipe away at others. You don’t have to agree with my values, but guess what, mate – I have never preached them at you or anyone else on this site, you seem to be the “preachy wanker trying to convert” me and others and if you give it more than a millisecond’s thought (a challenge I know, but try) you’ll see that in a discussion line that was up until then about global warming it is you who “look(s) like (a) total hypocrite”. Try going a bit of research into basic issues like carbon release vs oxygenation, or demands on land and water resources, then come on back and argue that it is we vegans who are the total hypocrites.
I’m also really disappointed that only one other person replied to this unprovoked rant.
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
President Trump on the day he announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China, unleashing a shock to supply chains globally that is expected to slow economic growth and increase inflation for most large economies. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 9 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 3Politics: New Zealand Government cabinet meeting usually held early afternoon with post-cabinet news conference possible at 4 pm, although they have not been ...
Trump being Trump, it won’t come as a shock to find that he regards a strong US currency (bolstered by high tariffs on everything made by foreigners) as a sign of America’s virility, and its ability to kick sand in the face of the world. Reality is a tad more ...
A listing of 24 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 26, 2025 thru Sat, February 1, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
What seems to be the common theme in the US, NZ, Argentina and places like Italy under their respective rightwing governments is what I think of as “the politics of cruelty.” Hate-mongering, callous indifference in social policy-making, corporate toadying, political bullying, intimidation and punching down on the most vulnerable with ...
If you are confused, check with the sunCarry a compass to help you alongYour feet are going to be on the groundYour head is there to move you aroundSo, stand in the place where you liveSongwriters: Bill Berry / Michael Mills / Michael Stipe / Peter Buck.Hot in the CityYesterday, ...
Shane Jones announced today he would be contracting out his thinking to a smarter younger person.Reclining on his chaise longue with a mouth full of oysters and Kina he told reporters:Clearly I have become a has-been, a palimpsest, an epigone, a bloviating fossil. I find myself saying such things as: ...
Warning: This post contains references to sexual assaultOn Saturday, I spent far too long editing a video on Tim Jago, the ACT Party President and criminal, who has given up his fight for name suppression after 2 years. He voluntarily gave up just in time for what will be a ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is global warming ...
Our low-investment, low-wage, migration-led and housing-market-driven political economy has delivered poorer productivity growth than the rest of the OECD, and our performance since Covid has been particularly poor. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty this ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.As far as major government announcements go, a Three Ministers Event is Big. It can signify a major policy development or something has gone Very Well, or an absolute Clusterf**k. When Three Ministers assemble ...
One of those blasts from the past. Peter Dunne – originally neoliberal Labour, then leader of various parties that sought to work with both big parties (generally National) – has taken to calling ...
Completed reads for January: I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson The Black Spider, by Jeremias Gotthelf The Spider and the Fly (poem), by Mary Howitt A Noiseless Patient Spider (poem), by Walt Whitman August Heat, by W.F. Harvey Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson ...
Do its Property Right Provisions Make Sense?Last week I pointed out that it is uninformed to argue that the New Zealand’s apparently poor economic performance can be traced only to poor regulations. Even were there evidence they had some impact, there are other factors. Of course, we should seek to ...
Richard Wagstaff It was incredibly jarring to hear the hubris from the Prime Minister during his recent state of the nation address. I had just spent close to a week working though the stories and thoughts shared with us by nearly 2000 working people as part of our annual Mood ...
Odd fact about the Broadcasting Standards Authority: for the last few years, they’ve only been upholding about 5% of complaints. Why? I think there’s a range of reasons. Generally responsible broadcasters. Dumb complaints. Complaints brought under the wrong standard. Greater adherence to broadcasters’ rights to freedom of expression in the ...
And I said, "Mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone"'Cause I can't go outside, I'm scared I might not make it homeWell I'm alive, I'm alive, but I'm sinking inIf there's anyone at home at your place, darlingWhy don't you invite me in?Don't try to feed me'Cause I've been ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ star is on the rise, having just added the Energy, Local Government and Revenue portfolios to his responsibilities - but there is nothing ambitious about the Government’s new climate targets. Photo: SuppliedLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
It may have been a short week but there’s been no shortage of things that caught our attention. Here is some of the most interesting. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at public transport ridership in 2024 On Thursday Connor asked some questions ...
The East Is Red: Journalists and commentators are referring to the sudden and disruptive arrival of DeepSeek as a second “Sputnik moment”. (Sputnik being the name given by the godless communists of the Soviet Union to the world’s first artificial satellite which, to the consternation and dismay of the Americans, ...
Hi,Back on inauguration day we launched a ridiculous RFK Jr. “brain worms” tee on the Webworm store, and I told you I’d be throwing my profits over to Mutual Aid LA and Rainbow Youth New Zealand. Just to show I am not full of shit, here are the receipts. I ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump over Gaza and Ukraine.Health expert and author David Galler ...
In an uncompromising paper Treasury has basically told the Government that its plan for a third medical school at Waikato University is a waste of money. Furthermore, the country cannot afford it. That advice was released this week by the Treasury under the Official Information Act. And it comes as ...
Back in November, He Pou a Rangi provided the government with formal advice on the domestic contribution to our next Paris target. Not what the target should be, but what we could realistically achieve, by domestic action alone, without resorting to offshore mitigation. Their answer was startling: depending on exactly ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest David Patman and ...
I don't like to spend all my time complaining about our government, so let me complain about the media first.Senior journalistic Herald person Thomas Coughlan reported that Treasury replied yeah nah, wrong bro to Luxon's claim that our benighted little country has been in recession for three years.His excitement rose ...
Back in 2022, when the government was consulting internally about proactive release of cabinet papers, the SIS opposed it. The basis of their opposition was the "mosaic effect" - people being able to piece together individual pieces of innocuous public information in a way which supposedly harms "national security" (effectively: ...
With The Stroke Of A Pen:Populism, especially right-wing populism, invests all the power of an electoral/parliamentary majority in a single political leader because it no longer trusts the bona fides of the sprawling political class among whom power is traditionally dispersed. Populism eschews traditional politics, because, among populists, traditional politics ...
I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. ...
Mr Mojo Rising: Economic growth is possible, Christopher Luxon reassures us, but only under a government that is willing to get out of the way and let those with drive and ambition get on with it.ABOUT TWELVE KILOMETRES from the farm on the North Otago coast where I grew up stands ...
You're nearly a good laughAlmost a jokerWith your head down in the pig binSaying, 'Keep on digging.'Pig stain on your fat chinWhat do you hope to findDown in the pig mine?You're nearly a laughYou're nearly a laughBut you're really a crySongwriter: Roger Waters.NZ First - Kiwi Battlers.Say what you like ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Climate denial is dead. Renewable energy denial is here. As “alternative facts” become the norm, it’s worth looking at what actual facts tell us about how renewable energy sources like solar and wind are lowering the price of electricity. As ...
SIR GEOFFREY PALMER is worried about democracy. In his Newsroom website post of 27 January 2025 he asserts that “the future of democracy across the world now seems to be in question.” Following a year of important electoral contests across the world, culminating in Donald Trump’s emphatic recapture of the ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
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IPPC report now public, and even the MSM can’t ignore it, though expect it to slip off the main pages quickly:
Stuff:
Jamie Morton on NZ Herald:
Don’t worry Karol, the depopulation/eugenics policies will be ramping up to, ‘even more blatant’, soon enough!
Can’t imagine the IPCC will be too concerned about it!
from my roamings this morn..i have found ‘the guardian’ has the best coverage..
..so i wd recommend heading over there..
..and i found this one particularly chilling/scary..
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/interactive/2013/sep/27/climate-change-how-hot-lifetime-interactive
go on..!..
key in yr offsprings’ birthdate..and then scroll thru what is going to happen to them/their world..
..if we continue to do nothing..
(and then go and vote for key and the other ‘drill baby! drill!’ bastards..?..eh..?..)
..(but hey..!..you will tutt-tutt…then you will probably sit down to bacon and eggs for breakfast..
..after you have slipped on yr animal-skin foot/body-coverings..
..(after washing/bathing in animal-fat..)
..and ask (helplessly/resigned) as you chew:..’but what can i do?’
..eh..?
phillip ure..
You can sit down to veggie bacon, a hash brown, grilled tomato and mushrooms for your breakfast and know you are making a small contribution and it tastes delish as well. Try it people!
Hash browns full of beef fat? There is no other reason that potato tastes that good.
“Hash browns full of beef fat?”
Wellington cafes, I’m missing you. Ask at the local cafe if they make their own hashbrowns or buy them in – then you can check the ingredients. But, seeing as I love potato so much – home made hash browns with olive oil (although they do taste pretty yummy with butter). However, I prefer potato hash with a poached egg myself…
The kartoffelpuffer (potato pancake) man is back in town for the autumn/winter seasons in my part of the world – potato street food, I couldn’t believe my luck – cooked in those black drums that are used for roasting chestnuts on the street, then served with salt and/or crushed garlic painted on. Delicious when its minus something horrible degrees. Apparently they serve them with applesauce in Germany – that seems strange to me.
Sacrilege!, the Irish in me is deeply offended. As any true spuddie fan knows the best hash browns are made with grated cold baked in their skin spuddies formed into a cake, fried in butter and salted before eating. So there!.
Lolz, what is this breakfast thing you speak of, breakfast along with lunch has only ever been on the menu round here when one has been a guest of Her Majesty…
veggie bacon
If the veg*n diet is so superior and delish, why do you need to eat fake meat?
fucking. awesome.
I’d never picked that Tegel didn’t produce “chicken-based imitation tofu”.
Ew. That’s a disgusting thought.
I have no true hatred of veg*nism in of itself, but fuck I hate preachy wankers trying to convert me while looking like total hypocrites.
that s*ems out of character
Vegans will eat fake meat because they like the taste but not the cruelty involved in eating meat.
So why would you put animals through torture when you can buy a substitute that doesnt involve cruelty and tastes the same.
Because they don’t and it doesn’t.
also @ guardian:..there is a blueprint for cunnliffe/ labour…
“..An iron law of politics has been broken.
The rulebook states clearly that if traditional Labour red meat is gobbled up inside the conference hall –
– the electorate watching from afar will start to gag.
For at least three decades that has been the received wisdom –
– accepted by Labour luminaries along with the rest of the political class:
– if it tickles Labour’s erogenous zone – then it’s too leftwing for the country.
But that was before Ed Miliband’s proposed 20-month freeze on energy bills.
It sent the Brighton conference hall into convulsions of ecstasy of course –
– but it also received an “off the charts” welcome from the public.
Indeed – it’s had the Conservatives and their allies reeling in rare confusion – as they head to their own clan gathering in Manchester.
Usually the Tories can cheerfully brand any Labour move leftward as a doomed journey into electoral Siberia:
– what should they say now – when Ed’s hint of red is unarguably popular?
It prompts an intriguing thought: if using the state to rein in the energy behemoths finds favour with the voters –
– what other left ideas might be popular?
Can Miliband repeat his success – and craft a populism of the left?
If populism often comes down to channelling public anger against a perceived elite –
– there is plenty of rich terrain for Labour to explore..”
(cont..)
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/27/ed-milband-new-populism-energy-prices
phillip ure..
Nationalisation of powercos, re-branding “welfare” as “social security”.
Actually those are not new moves, not “re-” anything. They are a return to core Labour values.
going on labour both here and there ..since fucken douglas/prebble/whoever..
..i wd submit they are most certainly ‘new moves’..
..given the wholesale abandonment of those ‘core-values’ by labour..
..the new new labour…should/must be able to look back at that recent history..
..with a degree of horror..
..and an even higher degree of repudiation..
..phillip ure
The Auckland diocese has divested from fossil fuels.
Bill mcKibben on his recent speaking tour recommended divestment as a way to hurt the fossils who run fossil fuel industries.
Excellent News
I was also roaming this morning and I still fail to see anything about Paul Findlay. You dudes not talking about your colleagues?
How’s that CV padding line going for you guys? What DID John key do at Harvard? Where did Hooton get the idea he is NZ’s leading political commentator?
Shifting your target to flawed minor players now? Bit of a fail I’d say.
What did Richard Worth do, to have to resign?
How many tranzrail shares did John Key own?
Which charity does Key donate his PM salary to?
How did Arron Gilmore get selected?
You can add smiling sam to that as he stated he was donating one of his salaries to charity when double dipping as a paid akl city counciller.
Is it really “Worth” it Dumb Arse ?
You plugging for a ban?
I also read the Guardian piece of Milliband’s power price freeze. After the GFC and failure of neo-liberalism we wallowed along in a vacuum as the previous generation of “left wing” politicians either wouldn’t or couldn’t face the facts about the failure of the central project of their political careers. What is happening, across the English speaking world, is social-democratic politicians are discarding the baggage of Blairism and the distractions of identity and are re-discovering their nerve and socialism. And in the process, they’ve discovered that the apparently iron fortress of neo-liberalism is built on increasingly shakey electoral foundations. There are never any final battles in politics, and the left is coming back again.
PS I love Millibands line: ” “the rising tide only seems to lift the yachts”.
Agree with most of your comment, Sanctuary,
but this:
I guess we all agree they are finally widening the focus from that which is commonly termed as ‘identity politics’ and putting class back into politics? It’s not and has never been an either/or situation. But until now class has been rendered invisible in political discourse. And that’s fueled a fair bit of perfectly understandable yet regrettable and misdirected resentment from those put aside and left to languish as liberal ‘identity politics’ (ie, class free policies) have been advanced through legislation.
deep sigh, of relief.
+ 1
It’s time for boldness! Let boldness be your friend (ask Oracle).
People are crying out for leadership – the leadership of good ideas and equal opportunities; of the common good, of a fair go for all.
Who cares what the selfish self-interested think! Let them start worrying about tomorrow.
i usually just call him Slippery, the British press tho waxed wonderfully lyrical over our Prime Ministers exhibition while a guest of the Queen at Balmoral this week allotting Him the grand title of ”the Galloping Colonial Clot”,
Not to be out done, the Herald’s Clare Trevett, usually found doting over the PM bestowed upon Him the descriptive ”the Antipodean Mouse that roared” after the PM opened His empty suitcase of intellectual rigor for all to see at the UN this week, lambasting the Security Council for failing to find a solution to the Syrian chemical weapons crisis at the very same time as news was breaking that a solution had been agreed…
Oh so there is our beloved Leader, opening his mouth really wide, inserting both feet in up to the knees. Then unlocks the Intellectual suitcase to find it’s full of dirty socks.
So this added to the 300k Grosser wasted, is our attempt at a seat on the security council. They must be pissing themselves in New York.
If you are seriously trying to pass off a middle market tabloid like the Daily Mail as the entirety of “the British press”, you should be helping Hoots-mon with his CV padding.
would this be a good time to introduce my idea/concept of ‘partial-nationalisation’..?
..without banging on and on/in a nutshell..
..it involves turning the tory ‘partial-privatisation’ plan on its’ head..
..veering away from energy for a mo’..lets look at the food-supply duopoly screwing us blind..(nz-owned..or not..)
..partial-nationalisation means the people/state takes 51% of any given entity..
..(and those bought out will of course get paid off..over a negotiated period of time..)
..so in the case of the supermarket-duopoly..the benefits from economies of scale/purchasing are obvious..and people still have to eat..the market won’t suddenly die..’
(plus..minimal upfront costs..as that 51% payback to current owners/shareholders comes largely from future profits..)
..and i think this what is essentially a marriage of capitalism/socialism has much to appeal..
..in that the people will no longer be screwed blind…(in the case of the supermarket-duopoly) healthy food regimes will be so much easier to implement..
..but the special beauty of this model i feel is that the commercial nous/operational-skills-base of any operation partially-nationalised will still be retained…
..and i wd add this model is especially relevant to the many monopolies that currently are bleeding the people dry..
..(and yes..!..of course the ‘sin’-industries are included..gambling/alcohol etc..)
..i have tipped this one upside-down/looked at it from all angles..
..and can see so much to commend..
..and in my eyes…so little to criticise..
..phillip ure..
‘
A class system for internet data . . . no thanks.
This has been bubbling away for a long time now, it will be interesting to see how this comes to pass.
The robot’s circuitry is overloaded by human contradiction:
‘ Ms Collins is concerned about the length of time some judgments take and she is sick of hearing that the best answer to addressing delays is to appoint more judges.
“If I have heard that once I have heard it 100 times.”
But with crime rates dropping and fewer people going into court “it cannot be right; it does not compute”. ‘
Among its new rules:
‘ Allow court documents to be filed, held and issued electronically.
Require use of audio visual link for procedural cases involving prisoners to reduce transportation. ‘
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/274855/collins-puts-judges-notice
I have just read something about James K. Galbraith economist, son of John K, and it is so damning of our present societal approach. I didn’t realise that such things were being said so strongly in public by leading professionals and academics. I’llput some text from him that I got from Wikipedia because it summarises much of what we have been saying here.
What a brilliant, concise summary!
The Predator State
Well worth a read.
2009; quite recent.
On radionz this afternoon a USA couple from near the Appalachians were talking about their music. One letter from a music lover was from an Iraqi soldier saying how it reminded him of home. He is over there because he joined the Forces so he could get higher education, and he is not sure why he’s there, what it’s for. Some come home and then commit suicide. It all serves the USA and its imperialist purposes. It won’t bring peace.
Interesting…..Judge Judy takes on the beaks in populist fashion. Can we expect another Key swipe before long? Cracks appearing in the Natsy edifice lads, brace for a barrage of distraction…..
“You can’t legislate for revenue.” – Phil Goff
“”There are huge advantages from being involved with TPP and even bigger disadvantages of being locked out.” – Phil Goff
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11131278
At last some encouragingly intelligent statements from a Labour shadow Minister. I wonder what will happen to him?
SSLands,you are proving to be the ever elusive fool, there might be advantages in the proposed TPP, there also might be some very unpalatable disadvantages,
David Cunliff has rightly said that we all should get to see the text of the agreement and have time to discuss it befor any decision is made on whether to sign it,
By the way, you still havn’t answered the question, which do you want to buy me, the new fridge or the new washing machine…
As if you would know how to use a washing machine.
The negotiations should be held in secret. It is impossible to hold multi party negotiations with the uneducated rabble like you baying inanities that get picked up in the MSM. It is a distraction from rational discussion.
Ok, i will take that as a yes to you buying me, as per new National Party policy, a brand new fridge/freezer,
Best tell Slippery to sign the thing befor November 2014 then, or the readers and writers, excluding you, of the Standard will get to have a strong voice on what is in that TPP,
SSLands is an excellent ‘handle’ for you who does not believe in the democratic process…
So, you think that we shouldn’t have a say in our own governance? That would make you an authoritarian but that really does come back to my saying:
Libertarians: Dictators hiding behind Liberal values.
Um, no. That would be a Labour Shadow Minister still believing in the
tooth fairyneo-liberal economics – the stuff that just brought the world economy to its knees.Not wanting to ruin Weekend social.
In reply to bad12, who wrote…
“None of your taxes pay for the treatment of tobacco related illness or death, tobacco taxes have been estimated to be collecting up to a billion dollars a year over and above the cost to the country of tobacco usage…”
As a grow your own man and by the looks quite proud of it, none of your taxes are going to pay for your health care because you don’t pay any on your smokes. That’s like double dipping, but worse.
Sort of puts you in context. I could call hypocrite. 😉
Those taxes used for smoking related illness, wherever they come from ($250m in 2004 and no doubt much higher now) could help alleviate child poverty and provide opportunities to many in need. So much for your points about funding america cup races and other corporate welfare deals.
Like I said, you go for it, mate, just ’cause you are too obstinate, ignorant or stupid to use the stop smoking incentives to quit is completely up to you.
I don’t even mind if you don’t say thanks to taxpayers for the care you will get at our expense, but a sorry to the disadvantaged children who’s tax dollar funding you’re stealing should be mandatory for all left wing smokers, not to mention to the nurses on the lung cancer wards and the morgue porters who’ll have to trolley your frigid corpses around.
I just hope you don’t smoke anywhere near children.
That’s simply pathetic,the tax dollars smokers currently pay are around a billion dollars over and above the actual cost of smoking and it’s obvious even to the thickest head on the planet that the Government that imposed these taxes have no intention of spending such on impoverished children,
Do you tax rugby players extra and disburse that among needy children as every weekend 1000’s of them deliberately go out and get injured playing that game,
Road users, who also cost the country billions above and beyond what tobacco users cost get to pay extra cash to feed the kids most in need do they,
Considering what you have called me in that comment without answering the salient point which is the spurious claim that tobacco kills 50% of those who use it by means of heart disease and various cancers when 49. something % of people who have never touched tobacco products will die of that very same heart disease and those very same various cancers i would suggest that i am debating with a fucking moron who has a genetic intellectual disability,
So if we all stopped using tobacco the poor wee nurses on the cancer ward would simply have to follow us over to the other wards where we will still die in the same numbers from heart disease and various cancers coz that’s what kills 50% of us whether we smoke or not,
Your whole comment above reeks of mental retardation, you should get that seen to…
sheesh, just bunged out a long reply for bad12 and alien only to have the lot lost and now it too late on Saturday afternoon. Time for one of those naughty activities….
“Your whole comment above reeks of mental retardation”
Seriously? I don’t see it that way. That $250m spent on dying smokers by the government could, as you posted the other night, lift children out of poverty in a stroke (no pun intended).
Wherever the tax dollars come from, and clearly it’s not from you, having an extra 1/4 of a billion dollars in the kitty shouldn’t be so easily dismissed.
I can smell the guilty conscience on your breath as you type, but as a proven double dipper, you have to admit that your free will to smoke comes at a great cost to many deserving causes. That you don’t care, try to deflect the argument and dismiss a common sense point does you little credit at all.
Your points about taxing rugby players and drivers is avoidance (I’m sensing a theme).
Your point about percentages is manipulating statistics to support your view, and I believe, and I’m happy to be corrected by the scholars, false logic.
I’m okay with you smoking, though really you should pay your fair share of taxes or at least (try to) pay privately if you want healthcare down the track, but like a soft touch lefty, concede that you should be treated by the state at the expense of others when your time comes, because that’s what we do in the caring left, even for selfishly stupid people who could have helped themselves, given the encouragement and funding on offer.
I’m not okay with preventable illnesses costing vast amounts of money and causing social damage, which is why most of us want to stop our families living in sub standard housing, getting third world diseases – Same for smoking. Those kids, mums and dads can’t help themselves, but hard as stopping smoking is, you can.
I challenge you to quit. Right here, right now, even though it’ll add years to you.
Three months time when you can breathe and taste food again, you’ll thank me, rather than call me a retard.
Sod off with your pathetic rubbish you fool, i have no intentions of quitting, i just had a 4.99 pizza and it tasted just fine, finished off with a good puff on my home grown and a cup of tea,
Ah life’s great when you can appreciate the small things…
Ps, if you weren’t such an overcoat changing abusive little twat i would dig out the link to the health department stats that show 50% of those who do not smoke die of heart disease and various cancers so you have as much chance as me of clocking off via those ailments,
i have posted that same link befor here on the Standard, go fetch…
“Sod off with your pathetic rubbish you fool, i have no intentions of quitting”
Then you are a leech, a hypocrite and enemy of the poor.
It is then even odds that either one or the both of us will die of cancer or heart disease, i pick yours to be brain cancer based upon the fact that there is obviously something amiss with it at present,
Me, i reckon heart disease caused by having too much fun will knock me off…
“It is then even odds that either one or the both of us will die of cancer or heart disease, i pick yours to be brain cancer based upon the fact that there is obviously something amiss with it at present,”
Ouch! 😆
your problem alien is the dismissal of humankinds desires
“your problem alien is the dismissal of humankinds desire for the wild”
I don’t think that’s true, but then there’s nothing wild or desirable about tumours 🙂
sorry, went and edited post post….
but I think you do dismiss something that cannot be so dismissed.
I saw your edit and amended my answer to reflect.
I don’t know what you’re thinking I’m dismissing, but desire and/or call of the wild wouldn’t be on my list if I were.
Missed this first time around 😆
“i would suggest that i am debating with a fucking moron who has a genetic intellectual disability”
As you now know, you’re not as good at astute as I am 🙂
Yes, you missing that the first time round just adds the proof to the assertion…
I think it was because I was desperately trying to find a valid point in the post, I skimmed past the third or fourth insult.
But interesting to note, given my charitable will to treat you should you be the 1 in 2 to die from smoking, how you respond to someone you view as having a genetic intellectual disability.
Maybe not just a leech, a hypocrite and enemy of the poor, but also an abuser of the intellectually challenged.
That’s not a good thing to have on ones record, but there it is in black and white.
Pathetic scum who are you to tell me what i should and should not do, smoking tobacco is perfectly legal as is growing it,
Do those who grow tomatoes,cabbages and apples in their back-yard get taxed for it, your zealots view show you up for the overcoat changing trash that you really are,
Perhaps you would like the chance now to deny that you voted for Labour and took the WFF tax credit and then changed your overcoat to vote National and took the tax cuts, something i put to you the other day and you did not deny,
You claim that i am a proven ‘double dipper’ you and Hooten use the same smear tactics, where exactly am i double dipping you pathetic fool,
^ 😆
“Perhaps you would like the chance now to deny that you voted for Labour and took the WFF tax credit and then changed your overcoat to vote National and took the tax cuts, something i put to you the other day and you did not deny,”
Like I wrote at the time, I’m as red/green as my logos eyes.
Not that I have to justify myself to some angry prick on the internet, but, I have never voted other than for Labour and the Green party, and can’t foresee a time when I would do otherwise.
“where exactly am i double dipping you pathetic fool”
“Do those who grow tomatoes,cabbages and apples in their back-yard get taxed for it”
Home tomato growers don’t get taxed, but then the tax on the tomato industry, using your argument, doesn’t adequately fund the healthcare and associated societal cost of one in two tomato eaters dying.
However, you smoking and not paying the taxes on smokes, means unless you have a private health plan, which I doubt, you’ll get your healthcare, should you be the one in two preventable deaths that need a share of the $250m (2004 figure) budget for nothing. Cake and eat it, with a double dose of dipping.
Shame on you. 😉
“Pathetic scum who are you to tell me what i should and should not do”
This site needs a :grrr: smiley or I’ll just use :bad12: as everyone will know what I mean 😆
Yes exactly, pathetic scum run round sticking their noses into other peoples business that is perfectly legal,
The above is why i think you are a fucking moron with some form of brain dysfunction/disease,
The 50% death figures for tobacco users is based upon deaths from heart disease and various cancers, correct,
The problem with those figures is that 50% of those who have never been near a cigarette will also according to the health statistics die of heart disease and various cancers including YOU,
So when that brain cancer inflames ya brain what are you going to blame,
As i said above i have posted a link to the figures befor on the Standard, be a good little puppy and go fetch…
Again, false logic bad12.
Consider if the smokers who get sick, needing expensive health care and then die from smoking didn’t, how much extra cash would the health service have to treat and prevent non smokers from getting sick and dying? Not to mention extra taxes they’d contribute from not being too sick to work and or dead.
Consider the money spent on initiatives, programs and drugs that try, successfully in many cases, except for the very most weak willed, selfish or ignorant, to stop smokers from smoking with the goal of preventing addicts from getting sick and needing expensive health care, instead being diverted to preventing other causes of cancer and heart disease to help people who get sick without the option of choosing to play 50/50 russian roulette.
Consider all that extra money being spent on smokers being spent on children in poverty, for example, or education, night classes etc…
If only smokers weren’t so addicted and narcissistic to the point of sacrificing the health and well being of others and especially the poor.
Again, you argue like a bit of a dimwit, mate, deliberately diverting off in tangents, throwing out a challenge, having it answered, ignoring it and then repeating the same things over and over in a barrage of insults and slurs.
You are hard work, for sure.
Have been on a staff who ostracized smokers continuously, blah, blah,…yet there were lots of fat bastards who didn’t smoke and sat down at ‘smoko’ to their pies and donuts and whilst putting lashings of butter on their scones would deride their smoking colleagues who were outside as bad role models????
*Current tobacco excise revenues in New Zealand amount to approximately $1 billion per year and have been at that level for some years. This is just under 2% of total tax revenues.
*Of the approximate $1.6 billion per year retail spending on tobacco products, approximately 70% is accounted for by taxation, including GST as well as tobacco taxes.
Smoking has better returns for the Government than a Power Co!
If your figure of $250 million is the cost to ‘the country’; I’d say “Smokers- smoke away to your heart’s content.”
Lolz unbridled stupidity is a joy to read only for the fact of it’s humor content, i actually got my %’s a little wrong above,
There’s always a little time for correction tho,
Annual death from heart diseases in New Zealand 40% of deaths annually,
http://www.heartfoundation.org.nz/know-the-facts/statistics
Annual death from cancers in New Zealand 29.4% of deaths annually,
http://www.cancernz.org.nz/divisions/about/cancer-statistics
You make assumptions,(false), that if only all those smokers would just give up then they would not die of heart diseases nor cancers,
69.4% of us all will be snuffed out by one or the other, given that, if everyone quit using tobacco products tomorrow 49.4% of them would still die of cancers or heart diseases,
You make another assumption,(again false), that many are aided in giving up the use of tobacco products by aides and interventions which of course your small brain does not allow you to see are paid for from tobacco taxation,
The current round of interventions(past 4 years),have according to those who run the quitline and others who have conducted studies only reached 2% of tobacco users and resulted in only 2% of actual success after a 6 month period,
In other words, a waste of money, as the uptake among youth is un-measured but likely to out-number the minute numbers of those who quit,
Your whining is just that, smokers pay for ALL the money spent upon them in hospital care and in attempts to stop them using the product with hundreds of millions more going into the Governments general accounts,(Treasury says 1 billion dollars),from taxation on the product,
If no-one smoked how would this money get to be spent on hungry kids etc etc as you say, perhaps as ex-smokers you would have us taxed even more,
Your arguments are pathetic rubbish based upon nothing but your willingness to interfere in others lives and if you actually believe any of the trite bullshit you trot out then its obvious you are retarded by brainwashing…
And Paula could be Beneficial to the poor if she gave up some of her breakfast, lunch, multi-course dinner, morning tea, afternoon tea, supper, midnight snacks, office draw munchies, elevensies, high tea, brunch… thus giving her saved expenditure to the health budget; and by ‘slim-lining’ on this austerity she’d potentially not become a heart disease cost.
“You make assumptions,(false), that if only all those smokers would just give up then they would not die of heart diseases nor cancers,”
…that if only all those smokers would just give up then they would not die of heart diseases nor cancers earlier than non-smokers do (generally speaking).
Not that I’m saying you shouldn’t smoke – I only tell my kids that. Tis just that is more years are lost through earlier death, is all.
NAS, your figures are wrong, but I agree with what you’re saying that fatties who smoke are the worst of all.
bad12 …
29 September 2013 at 1:17 am
Or you could just read the info on the smokefree website. It has gems like…
COSTS OF SMOKING
http://smokefree.org.nz/costs-smoking
“Of the approximate $1.6 billion per year retail spending on tobacco products, approximately 70% is accounted for by taxation, including GST as well as tobacco taxes.”
“The New Zealand government collected a total of $842 million in tobacco excise tax in 2005.”
“The tangible costs of smoking to New Zealand in 2005 were around NZ$1.7 billion, or about 1.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product. This includes costs incurred because of lost production due to early death, lost production due to smoking-caused illness, and smoking-related health-care costs.”
And…
HEALTH EFFECTS
http://smokefree.org.nz/health-effects
“It is estimated that many deaths due to various diseases could be prevented if smoking was eliminated, including:
68% of female deaths and 82% of male deaths due to lung cancer
65% of female deaths and 79% of male deaths due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
11% of female deaths and 18% of male deaths due to heart disease
8% of female deaths and 15% of male deaths due to stroke.
And…
One-half of smokers who do not quit smoking will die early from a smoking-related disease.
http://smokefree.org.nz/sites/default/files/Fact_One_in_two_smokers-fnl-081003_0.pdf
Smoking kills 5,000 New Zealanders every year
http://smokefree.org.nz/sites/default/files/Fact_5000_NZers-fnl-081003_0_0.pdf
Smokers who die from a smoking-related disease
lose, on average, 15 years of life
http://smokefree.org.nz/sites/default/files/Fact_15years-fnl-081003_0.pdf
Roll-your-own cigarettes are not safer to smoke than
tailor-made cigarettes
http://smokefree.org.nz/sites/default/files/Fact_Rollies-fnl-081003.pdf
Now you can be in denial all you like, but the $ shortfall in from the cost of smoking compared to revenue gained by smoking is huge, double by those figures. Imagine those extra $800m dollars getting kids out of poverty.
Every time you puff on a fag, you think how you’re taking food out of a poor kids belly, or sending that kid to school in shoes and an overcoat in winter.
If you enjoy the drag, then you are what I’ve called you, a leech, a hypocrite and enemy of the poor.
Right:
Accounting for the direct treatment of smoking-related illnesses assumes that those people will never get cancer, heart disease, nor any other condition that requires palliative care towards the end of life. In short, it assumes that every smoker would suddenly drop dead without warning at a ripe old age if only they did not smoke.
Secondly, assuming 20-odd years of lost life for one in two smokers, that period involves about 12 years of pensions paid by society saved by those smokers who die early.
Thirdly, the “lost economic activity” is only valid if it involves new production – again, not in retirement years. The deceased’s estate is distributed and spent by their inheritors – the economic activity is not lost.
Basically, all you’ve got is the smoking industry’s lies about addiction, and passive smoking. One hasn’t been valid in NZ for thirty-odd years, the other is negligible in current smokefree laws, barring the personal risk choices of relatives.
“Right”
Like your all authoritative 😆
lol
It was more where to get started after going through the latest debate on the issue 🙂
It seems that the National voters and the middle class have grown disillusioned with PinoKeyo, Blinglish and their government.
Well serves you right, were you stupid or what?
http://a-working-mans-opinion.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/dear-john-this-is-break-up-letter.html
What a stupid blog entry.
It is not akin to a corporate negotiation unkess it is true that it kowtows to corporate interests. Tppa is between countries and negotiations began in 2008. In any event its what the usa wants that will be driving this. Negotiate in private ratify in public.
watch murdochs machinary damn the climate report.
This would be the TPPA that Labour supports, yes?
Some of the lowest paid people on the planet, Bangladeshi garment workers, have had paramilitary troops set upon them – yay globalisation.
//
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-26/bangladesh-deploys-paramilitary-in-garment-zone-after-protests.html
were our soldiers in afghanistan given larium..?…(a malaria preventitive..)
..british soldiers were…
..and it is known as ‘the suicide drug’..
..phillip ure..
A quick google – doxycycline.
Feb 7, 2003 – Commander Joint Forces New Zealand. Each Service has a …… by NZDF personnel in East Timor is Doxycycline (100 milligrams per day).
Jesus tap-dancing Christ in a sidecar on a pogo stick. The misogyny of the pigs in blue knows no bounds. A senior cop thinks that a ten year old girl asked to be raped:
http://news.msn.co.nz/nationalnews/8730373/cop-sorry-for-calling-rape-victim-willing
I repeat that: a TEN YEAR OLD GIRL was supposedly ASKING FOR IT.
That disgusting sack of shit thinks that a little girl wanted to be raped. These are the sort of people (I use the term loosely) decide to promote to senior positions.
Look at that swine’s “apology” – all the usual “I’m sorry if I MIGHT have…”
The most generous thing I can say is that Central District Commander Russell Gibson is a very, very sick man who needs some intensive psychiatric treatment… but I know that he’ll get a slap across the wrist with a wet bus ticket.
What an utter shit.
That being said, I disagree that he needs “intensive psychiatric treatment”. Mental illness doesn’t make people misogynist douchebags. Society makes normal people into misogynist douchebags quite happily.
(There’s a term for it, and it rhymes with “shmape culture”, but mentioning that would probably just be me being a nasty academic feminist or something)
That being said, I disagree that he needs “intensive psychiatric treatment”
Ah well, QoT, I was gritting my teeth over that. I have a mental illness – anxiety crossed with depression – and all my best friends have their own variants.
I was choking back what I really think and what he really deserves shouldn’t be mentioned here.
Anyway, yes, we see in that shitbag, and the people who promoted him to a position of authority, are rape culture embodied, and don’t let anyone deny that it exists.
Although it’s rape culture, the phrase sort of shortcuts what is going on here, and yeah, is dismissed as some academic, feminist rant thing. So just to spell it out…
This was a crime of child abuse, rape, abuse of trust (of child and her parents), abuse of power and a police officer’s complete misunderstanding of what grooming children means. Add to that it’s the absolving an adult, who is fully aware of what he’s doing, of responsibility for his crime for no justifiable reason.
Clearly he’s had a bit of a lesson and is repentant (the officer, that is) but is shows how easily this stuff gets embedded in people’s heads and how hard it is to remove when even the apologies are qualified with ‘may have re-victimised’ the child with a poor choice “of language” (?!)
No wonder that even if kids know what is happening to them is a crime and they’re in a position to report it, they don’t.
Clearly he’s had a bit of a lesson and is repentant (the officer, that is)
The pig isn’t repentant at all – he’s still making excuses – “I might have”, “people may have” “I made a poor choice of words” – that’s all diversionary bullshit by a coward.
Enough of this “may” and “might”.
“I am a complete and utter shitbag” is the only honest thing he can say, instead he tries to suggest that he’s being persecuted because other people have chosen to be offended.
Worse still, there are people who put this pig in a position of authority. Who are they? We must name them.
Just to add to that – we really have to ask ourselves some serious questions about the police. Their misogyny, their violence, the propensity for rape and corruption of justice has been well documented. Are they the enemy within now?
They’ve been the biggest gang in the country for as long as I can remember. Sure, sometimes they’ll deny that they’re a criminal organisation and say that while some individuals might commit offences, it’s not overall policy. They’ll try and tell us that they hang out together because they have a love of white cars and bright lights, plus blue uniforms, and they shouldn’t be judged by their propensity to use tasers. They say people ask for it and what can they do? Now and then they even do some good acts, such as rescue kittens, but that’s only to get public sympathy.
The question you have to ask every pig is this: Who do you serve? The rich, yourselves or both?
And oh yeah, all those “good cops”: what are you, personally, doing to stop the rapists and thugs in your own force?
Nothing, right?
I’ve known the odd one who has tried to do something. They quickly find their lives become unbearable and generally leave.
Is Cunliffe going to follow through and discipline Goff for his Neoliberal positioning around the TPPA (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11131278), that has totally distorted the Labour Party position (http://thestandard.org.nz/cunliffe-declares-war-national-tppa/), and contradicted Cunliffe’s framing?
Goff should take a seat beside Banks and make his ACT membership official.
I dunno Jon. Not saying you’re wrong to read the article in the way you have. We know Goff is right-wing.
But when I read the article I bore in mind both the author and the fact that Tory sympathisers like her have been somewhat desperately casting around for divisions to leverage. And I’m aware that where none exist, attempts will be made to manufacture them.
Then I reflected that almost the entire article is O’Sullivan’s interpretation/opinion. There is only one quote of substance. And it contains a note of hesitancy, which given Goff’s neo-liberal pedigree is, at least, something – and maybe indicative of Goff pushing the bounds of the narrative rather than breaking it.
The quote runs:-
I disagree with his take, but at least he is not being unabashedly pro-free trade, eh?
This comment is for QoT (sorry folks, the phone doesn’t seem to let me insert a reply once the chain of discussion has moved on).
I’m seriously offended by your jibes about vegans. I and other vegans are committed enough to LIVE our politics, not just snipe away at others. You don’t have to agree with my values, but guess what, mate – I have never preached them at you or anyone else on this site, you seem to be the “preachy wanker trying to convert” me and others and if you give it more than a millisecond’s thought (a challenge I know, but try) you’ll see that in a discussion line that was up until then about global warming it is you who “look(s) like (a) total hypocrite”. Try going a bit of research into basic issues like carbon release vs oxygenation, or demands on land and water resources, then come on back and argue that it is we vegans who are the total hypocrites.
I’m also really disappointed that only one other person replied to this unprovoked rant.