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.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Dell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...
Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...
In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
The pungent smell of gasoline in your car can be an alarming and potentially dangerous problem. Not only is the odor unpleasant, but it can also indicate a serious issue with your vehicle’s fuel system. In this article, we will explore the various reasons why your car may smell like ...
Tree sap can be a sticky, unsightly mess on your car’s exterior. It can be difficult to remove, but with the right techniques and products, you can restore your car to its former glory. Understanding Tree Sap Tree sap is a thick, viscous liquid produced by trees to seal wounds ...
The amount of paint needed to paint a car depends on a number of factors, including the size of the car, the number of coats you plan to apply, and the type of paint you are using. In general, you will need between 1 and 2 gallons of paint for ...
Jump-starting a car is a common task that can be performed even in adverse weather conditions like rain. However, safety precautions and proper techniques are crucial to avoid potential hazards. This comprehensive guide will provide detailed instructions on how to safely jump a car in the rain, ensuring both your ...
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
A look at the state of the previous government’s affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: What’s KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertson’s valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is seen some as its ‘silicon shield’ against invasion – but how will overseas expansion affect that protection? The post The state of Taiwan’s silicon shield appeared first on Newsroom. ...
There’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules – and costs – that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
After more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didn’t know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race he’d dreamed ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 24 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...
COMMENTARY:By Murray Horton New Zealand needs to get tough with Israel. It’s not as if we haven’t done so before. When NZ authorities busted a Mossad operation in Auckland 20 years ago, the government didn’t say: “Oh well, Israel has the right to defend itself.” No, it arrested, prosecuted, ...
NEWSMAKERS:By Vijay Narayan, news director of FijiVillage Blessed to be part of the University of Fiji (UniFiji) faculty to continue to teach and mentor those who want to join our noble profession, and to stand for truth and justice for the people of the country. I was privileged to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Lowry, Ice Sheet & Climate Modeller, GNS Science Hugh Chittock/Antarctica New Zealand, CC BY-SA As the climate warms and Antarctica’s glaciers and ice sheets melt, the resulting rise in sea level has the potential to displace hundreds of millions of ...
The government's plan to reintroduce a three strikes regime is being strongly opposed by lawyers, who argue there is no evidence it reduces crime or helps people rehabilitate. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Jerker B. Svantesson, Professor specialising in Internet law, Bond University Do Australian courts have the right to decide what foreign citizens, located overseas, view online on a foreign-owned platform? Anyone inclined to answer “yes” to this question should perhaps also ask ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni E Ferreira, NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney Last week in a post on X, owner of the platform Elon Musk recommended people look into disc replacement if they’re experiencing severe neck or back pain. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University anek.soowannaphoom/Shutterstock NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey caught the headlines yesterday, courtesy of a blistering speech condemning the latest GST carve-up. New South Wales, he claimed, would be A$11.9 billion worse off over the ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived at Kokoda Station, Northern province, at the start of his state visit to Papua New Guinea. Both Albanese and Prime Minister James Marape will meet with the locals and the Northern Provincial government before they begin their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wallace, Professor, School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law, University of Canberra Shutterstock An important principle was invoked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week in defence of the government’s Future Made in Australia industry ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Security forces reinforcements were sent from France ahead of two rival marches in the capital Nouméa today, at the same time and only two streets away one from the other. One march, called by Union Calédonienne party (a component of the ...
A poll last August found that just 16% of New Zealanders oppose bringing back the ‘Three Strikes’ law. The nationwide poll of 1,000 New Zealanders was commissioned by Family First NZ and carried out by Curia Market Research. ...
The solo show from Ana Scotney is both sprawling and intimate, and a must-see, writes Mad Chapman. In the opening moments of Scattergun: After the Death of Rūaumoko, writer and performer Ana Scotney lays out the groundwork, literally. Silently moving around the square stage, Scotney is not so much dancing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Burridge, Professor of Linguistics, Monash University Who makes the words? Why are trees called trees and why are shoes called shoes and who makes the names? – Elliot, age 5, Eltham, Victoria Good question Elliot! Let’s start with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne at amRawpixel.com/Shutterstock Roles of health professionals are still unfortunately often stuck in the past. That is, before the ...
COMMENTARY:By Malcolm Evans Last week’s leaked New York Times staff directive, as to what words can and cannot be used to describe the carnage Israel is raining on Palestinians, is proof positive, since those reports are published verbatim here in New Zealand, that our understanding of the conflict is ...
In the case of New Zealand, the results confirm that there is no popular support for the vicious austerity program being imposed by the National Party-led government, which is backed in all fundamental respects by the opposition Labour Party. ...
The ‘Vampire’ singer has never visited our part of the world, but that might all be about to change. We assess the evidence.Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour is pulling in massive crowds as it whips around the US and Europe, even helping to catapult regular supporting act Chappell Roan ...
Testing of drinking water in rural Canterbury over the weekend by Greenpeace revealed that several public town supplies were reaching levels of nitrate above 5 mg/L - the threshold which a growing body of scientific evidence has linked to increased ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rohan Fisher, Information Technology for Development Researcher, Charles Darwin University It may come as a surprise to hear 2023 was Australia’s biggest bushfire season in more than a decade. Fires burned across an area eight times as big as the 2019–20 Black ...
Responding to the Government’s announcement of changes to resource management laws, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said: “These changes are a step in the right direction in terms of removing ideological and unworkable ...
More than two years after the Human Rights Council called for the establishment of a national human rights commission, such a body has yet to be formed. ...
Comment:An emergency management system with wide variations in performance, significant capability gaps, funding shortfalls and above all a setup that is not meeting the needs of New Zealanders at times of crisis. The Government’s inquiry into the response to Cyclone Gabrielle and other severe weather events in the North ...
Welcome to the whirring wonders of one brain trying to align its actions with its beliefs within a system it thinks is evil. My brain has been spiralling in a woke conundrum ever since I found out a bookshop I’ve never been to was shutting down. Good Books, a bookshop ...
We repeat our call for criminal justice policy to be based on evidence, something the three strikes regime neglects to recognise – with no evidence that it either reduces crime or assists with rehabilitation. ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara With only four more seats in the 50-member Parliament yet to be officially declared, there is no outright winner in the Solomon Islands elections. As of Monday, the two largest blocs in the winner’s circle, independents and the incumbent Prime Minister Manasseh ...
Two/fiftyseven is a multi-purpose space hidden in the heart of Wellington that is paving a way for sustainable building and responsible landlording in Aotearoa and beyond.By 2060 the world is predicted to double its entire building stock, which equates to building an entire New York City every 34 days, ...
Popstars wasn’t just a reality television revolution, it was also a huge moment for Y2K fashion.It’s 25 years since girl group TrueBliss was formed on New Zealand national television, breaking new ground for both the reality television industry and the shiny clothing industry. With the first episode on NZ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Pepping, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, Griffith University Marvin / Shutterstock Are all single people insecure? When we think about people who have been single for a long time, we may assume it’s because single people have insecurities that make ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Geary, Lecturer in Quantitative Ecology & Biodiversity Conservation, The University of Melbourne Trismegist san, Shutterstock Landscapes that have escaped fire for decades or centuries tend to harbour vital structures for wildlife, such as tree hollows and large logs. But these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Gladstone-Gallagher, Lecturer in Marine Science, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Shutterstock/S Curtis Why are we crossing ecological boundaries that affect Earth’s fundamental life-supporting capacity? Is it because we don’t have enough information about how ecosystems respond to change? Or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Crocker, PhD Student in Economics, Deakin University Here’s something for the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia to ponder as it meets next month to set interest rates. It has pushed up rates on 13 occasions since it began its ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a charity director outlines how she’s saving for retirement and buying secondhand. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Female Age: 45 Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: Charity director, mum of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sophie Yates, Research Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Many Australians with disability feel on the edge of a precipice right now. Recommendations from the disability royal commission and the NDIS review were released late last year. Now a ...
It’s been called a failed experiment and a judicial straightjacket but the government says the revised three strikes law will be a more workable regime, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Three ...
New Zealand’s Palestinian community and Palestinian Youth Aotearoa are voicing alarm and disappointment with the lack of factual rigour present during the Israeli Ambassador’s appearance as a guest on TVNZ’s Q+A With Jack Tame Sunday (21/04). ...
Both ACT leader David Seymour, who played a key role in drawing up the assisted dying law, and hospice leaders say it's time the legislation was changed. ...
Public submissions on proposed gang control laws are being heard today. Rising gang membership has been cited as rationale for a crackdown – but what do we actually know about how many people belong to gangs in New Zealand?What’s all this then?A rise in the number of gang ...
Climate activists are setting their sights on an unpopular target, and hoping to bring lots of the public with them. It’s hard to miss the Majestic Princess: the enormous cruise ship, docked at Auckland’s Prince’s Wharf, looms over the nearby buildings. The ship, which can fit nearly 6,000 people, ...
Opinion: We’ve kicked the tyres on the perception NZ’s economy is in a parlous state compared to Australia. We take a quick tour of relative trends in GDP, housing markets, labour markets, trade, the fiscal situation, and the outlooks for inflation and interest rates. We find the cyclical positions of ...
Opinion: Making sure developers, local and central government, and landowners are all on the same page makes sense The post A new kind of city deal appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 23 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The following korero between Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku, author of the newly published memoir Hine Toa, one of the year’s most important books, and Dale Husband from e-tangata, was first published in October. It traverses her involvement with the activist group Ngā Tamatoa at Auckland University in the early 1970s, her ...
In the 16 years since it was bought by the government for $690 million, KiwiRail has had several overhauls and turnaround plans worth billions of dollars. Its ambitions as a successful, profitable operator of tourism, freight and ferries have often been derailed by disasters from earthquakes to cyclones, mine explosions ...
Black Ferns trailblazer Kendra Cocksedge was on the verge of tears when her young protégé, Hannah King, unassumingly broke the news. Three-time Rugby World Cup winner Cocksedge and Lincoln agriculture student King meet every few weeks over a hot chocolate, in an enduring mentorship that’s spanned years. “Before we even ...
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.