1. Labour to to take utilities back into public ownership and change the way the economy runs.
2. The public sector pay cap must end.
3. A Labour government will bring in rent controls and ensure tenants are rehoused locally when estates are regenerated.
4. Labour wants more workplace democracy.
5. Corbyn attacks the traditional media and its tax exile owners who “trash Labour at every turn”, especially the Daily Mail.
6. Tuition fees would be abolished for both university and further education students.
7. Businesses will have to pay a bit more tax.
I thought this speech from the UK Labour conference was also something that would sound like beautiful music coming from NZ Labour, but I guess with old third way crusaders like Robinson, Clarke and Mike Williams being the ideological back bone of NZ Labour now…all we will hear is the unpleasant sounds of NZ Labour digging further into it’s own grave….
Paul Mason ‘We Will Change the World’ Labour Party Conference
Ed, this is similar to Winstons policy to take back utilities companies again along with any ‘errant manufacturing companies that get public taxpyer bailouts and then leave NZ’ and we have several of those dont we just.
All around Corbyn is a hero I see there and a new dawn to take back our countries from the ‘rogue elites’ ( we call carpetbaggers invited here by John Key & mow accomodated by Bill English.)
Hopefully we will get a Labour/NZ First/Greens coalition to save our country.
An excellent platform for a Labour-NZ First-Greens coalition for the next 3 years. Each of those points has been championed by one of these three parties at some stage… except no.2… but pretty sure Green and NZ First would support it.
Leaky homes: ‘If you can’t afford to pay for it, then tough luck’
The son of one elderly Auckland owner said authorities needed to urgently step in because open-ended repair bills put all the risk on the owners.
“There is no protection. It will cost what it will cost and if you can’t afford to pay for it, then tough luck,” Iain Swan said.
His 86-year-old father has moved out of his leaky Bay Palms apartment in Browns Bay, on the North Shore, but Mr Swan said payment demands from the body corporate remained.
“Under the Unit Titles Act the body corp committee are quite able to forcibly sell your apartment.”
I wonder who the son has been voting for the last 20 years? I worked in the leaky home area and it became a gravy train for so-called building experts and lawyers. The Council (Auckland in particular) got so fixated on its own liability it has forced many properties into full reclad when Building Code repairs were possible.
Building experts cream money for being a project manager of a rebuild. On a multi-unit, we are talking no change from 50k and often far higher.
WHY would they recommend repairs? Why would they fight for repairs?
Many Body Corps run by professional Body Corps have been treated negligently but suing your Body Corp is the same as suing yourself.
IF National wanted to deal with this for future generations (and that would include Christchurch rebuild) they would have made developers personally liable, along with Designers and Builders. The Cowboys would have disappeared and the good ones would dominate. Instead
Developer starts a company – does build – removes profits – shuts down company – = escapes any legal liability for wrongdoing.
Sadly too many people dismiss such issues until it happens to them (or their loved one).
Developer starts a company – does build – removes profits – shuts down company – = escapes any legal liability for wrongdoing.
And it’s not just developers who do that.
IIRC, there was a tech shop a few years ago who got into trouble for not paying his employees enough. Went to court, was found guilty and ordered to pay. Next day the business was shut down and a new one in its place owned by the same person and selling the same stuff. The liability disappeared overnight as the business that had been charged no longer existed.
When shit like this can happen then the law needs to change to hold the people that own the business liable. After all, it’s not the business that’s breaking the law as that’s an inanimate object. It’s the people that own it.
I agree on both counts but developers decided to buy the cheap mediterranean suited cladding.
Note how quickly BRANZ was changed into a company jyst in time to escape liability. I have seen documentation which shows BRANZ never tested Harditex before put their mark on it they just accepted JH testing… which it turns out they didnt do
Acceptance of inequality at heart of CEO pay – researcher
‘Chief executives are paid more in societies that are more tolerant of inequality, a researcher says.
Researcher Max Rashbrooke specialises in salary trends.
He told Morning Report research showed that New Zealand chief executives received large salaries whether their companies did well or not.
“They’ve kind of got a bit of a bet each way.”
Mr Rashbrooke said chief executives earned far more than their predecessors a generation ago but there was no evidence they were more effective.
“They are paid more because they’re in a society that’s much more tolerant of inequality.
“Whereas conversely, if you look at a country like Japan where you have people running huge multinational companies, most Japanese chief executives would be paid less than $1m New Zealand.
“Because in Japan it’s still, to a large extent, culturally unacceptable to have those very large salaries which people don’t regard as deserved.”‘
Poverty, illness and living on less than the minimum wage.
‘The last time there was fresh produce on the table was more than two years ago.
After covering her basic expenses, Lynlie Beazley survives on just $22 per week and sometimes she sleeps on an empty stomach. The west Auckland resident described herself as the “face of poverty” in the country. “I don’t know how I live each day.”
Beazley said she would not be able to survive without food parcels from The Salvation Army. She is one of a growing number of people knocking on the charity’s door for help. Her weekly benefit was about $236, but she only had $22 after rent, expenses, and hire purchase payments. Beazley, a Housing NZ tenant, said this was enough for two bottles of milk, three loaves of bread and a tray of eggs.
Salvation Army welfare national Practice Manager Jono Bell said they helped 10,555 individuals and families around the country with food parcels between April and June – an 8 per cent increase on the same period last year
“For many people we see food parcels are a temporary measure to help them out in a crisis, such as losing their job, but we do have a number of clients who rely on food parcels for survival, because their income is not enough to meet their needs.
“The rising cost of food on top of the increasing rents we’ve seen in the past few years have been a major factor in this.” ….’
Don’t be so mean.
Bringing facts into the debate is totally unfair.
That is like asking Metira to tell the truth about the amount of support she got from her child’s fathers family.
Why doesn’t RNZ release the material they received about that? They have no problem with releasing anything provided to them if it denigrates a National MP’s character.
Of course she shouldn’t.
On the other hand I do think she should have fulfilled her obligations to the taxpayer and done such minor little things as naming the father.
She should also, when she justified her fraud, have told the truth about her situation instead of leaving the impression that the father had basically abandoned her and left her, and her daughter to go hungry.
She also had an obligation, at least in my view, to have looked for a part time job instead of spending her time running for Parliament on the ticket of idiot parties. It is called “taking responsibility” and even toward the end she never seemed to have grown up enough to do that.
I do apologise. The numbers on the indents don’t show up very clearly and I did think I was one of the two people you were referring to.
I can assure you I have no obsession with Turei. I dislike in equal measure all corrupt politicians.
On the other hand, having read your last sentence I withdraw the words of apology. The rest stands though.
Yup. Rewards those who show no personal responsibility or accountability for their lawbreaking (from positions of power) but preaches personal responsibility and accountability for others
Alwyn, just maybe the father did not want to be named ? If fathers are not married to the mothers of their children then they have to specifically front up to the registry office and sign on the dotted line. Many men won’t take that final step. Mother can name the father to WINZ but without the signature the mother is deemed to have “not named the father”.
Ms Beazley has been to prison and has completed her sentence.
Also to the point – in the article I read she has been searching for work. She clearly wasn’t coached as to the sheer amount of effort it would take to pick up an entry level job.
It’s silly in the extreme to expect someone from a hard background, with prison sentences, to know how to operate in the mainstream.
Why aren’t ex-prisoners being set up with work when they leave prison? And a mentor-buddy to help them past the rocky parts?
Or do we choose to keep on punishing them?
I didn’t see the piece on ‘$1000 of damage’. I have no idea whether it was accidental or deliberate. I do know that the amount she has to cover her overheads and living costs is far too low.
Remember – she’s done her time. Don’t let the punishment continue.
But the demonising and stigmatising (can these be used together, I wonder) must go on. You know, once a thief, always a thief. This applies to Beazley, Turei, as well as to Bill English. How on Earth can these be ‘fundamentally decent’ people once they’ve erred in their ways, I ask you … Let those we have never committed sin stand tall be counted and they shall be knighted for their good deeds and unblemished record. Yeah, nah!
“The Electoral Commission is looking into a social media post on election day by former broadcaster Sean Plunket that used a play on words to endorse the political party he worked for.
The commission confirmed it has received complaints about the tweet, which read: “Hope everyone remembers to put a top on before going out to vote, when it’s cold, two tops.”
I hope the complaint is upheld. I noticed a bit of this sort of thing going on on election day at Kiwiblog but it’s a whole new level when someone (formerly) in the media is doing it.
So in other words Alwyn…….you just don’t give a fuck about people being bone poor in New Zealand. That disregard necessarily includes bone poor children. To the contrary you militate for a small proportion of the population to earn, and enhance their earnings way, way, way beyond need. There seems to be no other conclusion.
You are therefore one of those self-perceived ‘fine’, repugnant, subversive extremists worthy of nothing less than contempt. In my more than 4 decades of active engagement with NZ criminal law I am yet to find the penalty of starvation prescribed in any New Zealand criminal legislation. A word to the ignorant…….it is extremely dishonest to muddy the waters by invoking a conviction without at the same time providing full detail of the circumstances of the offending. The offence of aggravated robbery covers a wide range of unlawful behaviour. Not that that would worry a darkly ignorant blowhard.
Even if this woman’s offence fell at the very serious end of the scale of such offending, where imprisonment is more or less mandatory, starvation was never part of that sentence. Or are you saying that if one has a serious conviction you’ll not be left to starve while serving your prison sentence but that’s all good once you’re released ? Karma will take you Alwyn.
Did anyone else hear the item on Morning Report (I just heard it on the 7 am news) where there was some discussion talked about in which Tuariki John Delamere is said to have stated that “if Jacinda offers Winston the shared PM” she will probably get a deal – there was then some suggestion that “Bill wouldn’t and shouldn’t”.
Maybe I’m just being sensitive before my morning coffee, but it reeked sexism to me.
I heard it but I didn’t hear it as sexist… I heard it as Jacinda having less of an ego than Bill, making such an arrangement possible. Given that time is on Jacinda’s side and not on Winnie’s… why not make that offer? They could do 18 months each.
Ha! Hell… why not throw in James as well and they can have 12 months each… 🙂
@SpaceMonkey – ok, must have been the lack of coffee then 😉
I just hope it’s the lack of ego factor driving people to make such comments, rather than any insinuation about her gender, age or relative lack of experience – those things push my sensitive wee buttons!!
Sounds like a bitter member of the old boys club grasping at straws and living in the dark ages.
A bit like all the speculation that is rife in the media again today.
Bitter ex MP’s facing irrelevance like Dunne giving his opinion and speculations while preparing his CV after withdrawing from the election due to a lack of popularity that was waging a war against his ego.
Hey there Frida 😀 I’m finding it super amusing, how media are asking opinions of all these people, because their opinions will have absolutely no bearing on any decision making.
Winston click bait for the masses, it’s sooooo funny.
Tualeki the two faced .
Former National/NZfirst MP.
Traitorous meddler.
Bill English is finished washed up if he doesn’t get over the line.
Now at least that’s up the anti how trustable are National in holding their coalition deal given this Rant from the Tuafaced Delamare.
NOne of my favorite programs on TV IS Gold Rush Its a good program that shows that the small guy can win and beat big money with a bit of learning and some good intelligence . I remember one day and Mitch Parkers mechanic had a water leak in one of
There machine and Mitch said that a tip that Jean Cheesman was to have heaps of black pepper and they put that in the radiatior and it stops the water leaks so six months ago when I found that my radiator cap had been loosened and had a slight crack in the head I remember that episode and poured black pepper into my trucks cooling system and what do you no it works so DON’T by any of that shit they sell in the shop just put black pepper in your cooling system and top the water up if you are losing water and you will be able to get home it was a temporary fix
That gave me six months .Now the grass is growing and my other job has started well I will be able to pay my loan off piece o piss and also the big picture is were are the small COUNTRY so don’t go shooting our own foot off and attacking fonterra One old say if I like is if it ain’t broke DON’T fix it yes there need to be some environment issues sorted but fonterra business structures are fine.
“…poured black pepper into my trucks cooling system and what do you no it works so DON’T by any of that shit they sell in the shop.”
Would get us home as long as we had black pepper on board. Great ide Eco maori.
Don’t you get it our largest trading nation has a controlled economy and they can fuck WITH our exports at the drop of a hat By the way someone direct credit $30 into my bank account and reference it with KEEP GROWING IN TAURANGA.
Now that can be interpreted in many ways so DON’T DO that because it’s not helping me.
Sweden and Norway, for example, both experienced a major power shift in the 1930s after prolonged nonviolent struggle. They “fired” the top 1 percent of people who set the direction for society and created the basis for something different.
Both countries had a history of horrendous poverty. When the 1 percent was in charge, hundreds of thousands of people emigrated to avoid starvation. Under the leadership of the working class, however, both countries built robust and successful economies that nearly eliminated poverty, expanded free university education, abolished slums, provided excellent health care available to all as a matter of right and created a system of full employment. Unlike the Norwegians, the Swedes didn’t find oil, but that didn’t stop them from building what the latest CIA World Factbook calls “an enviable standard of living.”
I know schadenfreude is not a particularly noble emotion. But should Winston go with a progressive government, the shit fight within the National Party will be a joy to behold.
Because they were in Government when he got his citizenship. It’s not a secret Chairman. But National, they are the ones who elevated him to parliamentarian.
[lprent: Quite inadequate. If you want people to click into links, then provide some summary information about why they should click into it rather than your effective statement of “I am a pretentious wanker”. As you can see it just causes stupid flames which I don’t like reading or dealing with and have a tendency to deal with by making sure that don’t happen again. ]
no you didn’t provide clarification. You merely linked to something you claim provides clarification.
And if you don’t provide a clear description of your point in a sentence or two of your own construction, then you’re either incapable of doing so (in which case discussing the topic with you is pointless, as you cannot comprehend it), or you’re to lazy to do so (in which case there’s no point in discussing the topic with you), or you used the request for clarification as an excuse to insert irrelevant information into the discussion alongside whatever “clarification” your link might provide (in which case there’s no point in discussing the topic with you because you’re discusssing things in bad faith).
Are there allegations that any Labour MPs worked for schools that taught agents of foreign intelligence services?
No?
Probably just what Tracey said, then.
Did national do due diligence when making him a candidate?
“Are there allegations that any Labour MPs worked for schools that taught agents of foreign intelligence services?”
No, not that I’m aware of at this stage. But there are questions about donations and their connection to the CCP. As I pointed out to Tracey, it is thought (by the author of the report) both National and Labour were being similarly influenced by the Chinese.
And we need to know how influential that influence is. In both parties.
As for Nationals due diligence, it’s another thing the inquiry will need to discover. The same goes for Labour and their MPs.
And by the way, I did warn about this, but as usual, I was largely brushed off as a concern troll.
When Labour face the same allegations as the nats, go consider your “questions”.
And by the way, I did warn about this
Hey, seeing as it’s about you now, did you have any concerns about, say, US involvement with the nats? Like sharing the data from the KDC search with the FBI? What about rewriting NZ labour laws after meetings with Hollywood folk?
Oh, wait, the yanks aren’t Chinese, so…. no, you probably didn’t.
“When Labour face the same allegations as the nats…”
They largely are.
However, I’m not to clear on the point you’re trying to make re go consider my questions?
And as for the US (and any other nation for that matter) of course I have concerns about what influence they have on our nation. One of the reasons why I opposed the TPP.
No. A nat mp has allegations, your wider wank merely has questions.
marty was pretty clear, and my point is that I agree with him: I think you’re a racist. But with the addition that you also give national a pass on genuine issues and beat up bullshit about labour and the greens.
It’s not just my “wank” as you put it. As highlighted above, the author of the study believes both National and Labour are being similarly influenced by the Chinese.
If it were only my “wider wank” (again, as you put it) Labour would have little to worry about, but as it happens, it’s not.
This study was largely drowned out by the election, but once that is done and dusted (and especially if Labour become the new Government) don’t be surprised if the media refocuses on this.
And while at this stage it may be only questions being raised, don’t you think it would be prudent to duly investigate before any potential damage is done and ensure the line hasn’t already been crossed?
Marty is a pinhead who can stay on the sidelines (having fun) hurling his insults for all I care. Sticks and stones. But every now and then I may give him a clip (verbally of course) and have some fun of my own.
Resorting to the race card is often done as a means of diminishing the concern (as in, don’t listen to him he’s a racist) and shutting down these types of discussions.
Like Marty and a number of others (regardless of the topic at hand) you jump at the opportunity to make it about me. It may appeal to the ignorant and pinheads like Marty, but I’m hoping more readers are above that and will see through all this racist, concern troll, undercover righty crap that continually gets thrown at me.
But I’m sure, going forward, you and Marty will be there to hurl your abuse, distract the discussion and do your best to make it about me. Knock yourself out. You won’t deter me.
Dude, even when I addressed the topic without discussing you, you made it about you. But if someone else does it, you get all twee and self-effacing.
The fact is that allegations with serious ramifications have been made about a specific individual, and wider “questions” are raised about donations overwhelmingly directed at one party in particular. Your article mentions fifteen donations to national, probably totalling well over a million bucks. But you give equal time to the one 40k donation to Labour before one donor switched allegiance. Your fixation is on China and Labour. This bias affects your comments.
I know you won’t be deterred – like most bigots you think that your opinions are normal and reasonable.
As usual the self absorbed its not about me chair gets all cut up cos hes misunderstood.
As a troll you are quite funny but your wee mask is slipping and your bed of rancor is exposed too often now. Zero cred usually means you’ll up your comments. Ho hum lets do this…
Whether or not someone wants to make themselves the topic is their prerogative. Evidently, you don’t respect that.
Moreover, the instance I take it you are referring too was a side note, merely stating I forewarned about this and I was largely brushed off as a concern troll. It was inline with the topic, hence wasn’t a means to distract. And again, it’s ones prerogative and you should respect that. It’s not a green light for you to go piling it on.
The fact is there is more than allegations with serious ramifications being made. You’re overlooking there are also questions with potentially serious ramifications requiring answers.
Moreover, I’m not taking a one sided approach to this. As shown from my call for a wide-ranging inquiry.
Hence, that’s just you resorting to lies again in an attempt to score a point and discredit my approach.
The reason Labour has gotten a little more attention in this discussion relates to some being oblivious to (and some attempting to diminish) Labour’s role in this. Pointing at you.
As my comments will overwhelmingly show. I don’t come here to talk about me. I come here to talk politics and that which relates to it. Unlike you, that clearly wants to continue making it about me. As shown in this and most of your other replies too me.
So thanks again for providing readers with another example.
Labour’s “role” in this is at worst a bit part, with the nats centre stage. Your emphasis on Labour raises the question as to why your attention dwells well away from the major players. Like your emphasis on China yet nothing about the yanks.
The main issue is that the nats put NZ on sale to the highest bidder. Chinese millionaires, yank billionaires, limited raw materials at low low prices, everything must go! Even earning an honourable mention from Mossack Fonseca. A cynic would argue that this is why National got so many “questioned” donations and Labour got only one – the donors got no return on their “investment” to one party, maybe? Which one?
The author of the study believes both National and Labour are being similarly influenced by the Chinese, suggesting their role is far larger than a bit part.
But, without a thorough investigation, you’re clearly speculating at best.
My emphasis on Labour in this particular discussion relates to some being oblivious to (and some attempting to diminish) Labour’s role in this. As I already explained.
So your assertion can only be seen as another attempt to discredit and make this discussion about me.
Thanks again for another example of you playing the man and not the ball. The more you do it, the more I’ll highlight it.
And as I told Marty, the more you play up like this, the more chance you’ll be caught out.
Moreover, each time your play the man and not the ball your veil is further lifted, exposing readers to your troll like behaviour.
But as I mentioned above, knock yourself out.
It will be interesting to see how long you’ll get away with it.
As for National obtaining larger donations, perhaps it’s due to them being in Government and (until recently) being perceived as more likely to maintain hold of that power. It’s rather pointless donating large sums of money to a party that won’t achieve power, thus produce a return.
Or maybe with Labour having two Chinese MPs to potentially apply influence, the large fiscal incentive isn’t as necessary. And with Labour having set up the free trade deal with China, perhaps they’ve already won over the support of a number within the party?
you’re the one making the claim, doofus. You allege Labour is being influenced by the Chinese government. All you have is that Labour received one donation from people who gave repeatedly to the national party, and someone you agree with wrote an article.
If China is controlling the Labour party as much as it is the nats, why were Labour opposing foreign involvement in the housing market, while the nats have refused to do a damned thing?
You know why people usually demand (or conduct) investigations when there is no evidence of wrongdoing, or even where there is exculpatory evidence? Bias. Often racial bias (just saying that as a “side note” so apparently it would be unfair for you to respond to it in any way. /sarc)
Why should I have to read your links? I could end up anywhere, like Whaleoil… You ask so many questions and demand answers of others.
“Moreover, do you believe its got nothing to do with questions surrounding a couple in their own camp?” I don’t know what you mean by this, Labour, National or Greens?
You don’t have to read my links, Tracey. However, it was a rather important political article that I would have assumed those that have an interest in politics (such as yourself) would’ve already been aware of.
The link clearly reads newsroom, so there was no chance of you ending up at Whaleoil.
Nevertheless, back to the clarification seeing as the link provided seems to have been considered inadequate. There are also questions surrounding the connections (to the CCP) of two labour MPs.
And as shown in the link, Professor Anne-Marie Brady from the University of Canterbury (the author of the study) believed both National and Labour were being similarly influenced by the Chinese.
Personally, I’d go for it. If the investigation shows malicious intent and the MSM says but it was you who gave him citizenship I’d then say Yes, and now that mistake is being corrected.
I think the torch needs to be shone on National for knowingly appointing him to their candidate list and turning him into a Parliamentarian. I won’t hold my breath though. Good luck, let us know what else you uncover.
“I think the torch needs to be shone on National for knowingly appointing him to their candidate list and turning him into a Parliamentarian.”
So from that can we take it you will be holding their (Labour, Greens) feet to the fire for them to support an inquiry? Or is not holding your breath what you recommend we all do?
Moreover, you’ll be holding Labour to the same standard?
I have no problem with an inquiry except I know they are very expensive. I would just prefer the redacted document was unredacted. So much cheaper than an inquiry
In this instance, I don’t believe we can let the cost of an investigation excuse not having one. And it needs to go deeper than just removing the redaction.
Allow me to modestly predict that in a day or two our “Leftie” Mr Chairman will be raising points with great concern, subtly trying to prompt Greens and Labour towards those pits…
Listening to RNZ this morning and heard about the seriously substandard apartment buildings in NZ – so serious that people will be killed if something is not done about it. The incredible thing is that these buildings cannot be named for legal reasons. What on earth is Health and Safety going to do about this. The apartment building owners have been informed but not the apartment dwellers who are owners. They are owners of these apartments. Are they going to be left in limbo forever and a day not knowing if they step on their balcony it will collapse, the building will fall off its foundations or the walls so rotting that two people have a fun fight in their apartment will fall through the side walls.
Its appalling that people’s lives are so bloody cheap in this country. Surely the decent thing is to notify these owners of the apartments of the state and danger of their abode and give them a chance to relocate and sort out the fiasco at a later date. At least they won’t be killed or seriously injured living on in their ignorance. It just disgusts me that lives are so cheap and building owners can get away with their sloppy building practices to cut costs.
National made builders and designers personally liable but not developers, as a response to leaky homes… this one smaall step might have made a big difference to the quality of the final product. The Developer generally determines the budget, not the builder.
Tracey It doesn’t matter who is to blame for the state of the buildings, its the fact that people are living in these buildings and not being forewarned about the dangers and that they could be seriously injured or killed. Protecting shoddy work is not acceptable and should be against the law.
It does matter Kate because history repeats cos of such things. Until we get personal responsibility on the ones holding the wallet this will keep happening. Why would National make it against the law when they refuse to fix part of the problem at the source
Remember Key says all young people should look to apartments but left apartments off the Homesmart funding.
There is a pattern. Labour in the past and National feed the Developer appetite knowing they avoid all recourse from shoddy work. It is another example of money over people. It is wrong of course
Wow bill and Jim must have smoke coming out there ass after what I wrote last nite because the intimation stepped up ten fold today I tried my bluff with the bank it did not work but I will not retaliate because they are worried about me getting locked up and not been able to pay there money back YEA FIGHT.
And I can’t blame anyone for being victims of the fight between me the police and national my G mar would not approve Ka Pai
This may have been canvassed before but does anyone know NZF’s position on the tax cuts scheduled for April 18 ?
Essentially Labour’s programme of education / health / etc investment is dependent upon cancelling those cuts. So if NZF wants to retain those tax cuts then Labours has its hands tied , yes? Which way did NZF vote on these tax changes?
I’m trying to support some people’s Wairua and you neo liberal go and stuff them up.
So why did you not support Joe,s fight when they needed it is it because he would become a role model for all Brown people in NZ O we can’t have that because they will come out in force and vote you out you neo liberals are idiots and have tunnel vision and we cannot let you run OUR Country we are all on this journey together you fools
Ka Pai
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For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, it’s been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us here—Citizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL for your ...
The deed is done, the doers undoneHad I been a Brit, I would have voted ‘Remain’ rather than Brexit (or ‘Leave’). Instead, I have been bemused by the comic theatre of British politics, fascinated by what the Brits actual think and professionally interested by the revelations of the complexity of ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
New virus variants and ongoing high rates of diseases in some countries prompt additional border protections Extra (day zero or day one) test to be in place this week New ways of reducing risk before people embark on travel being investigated, including pre-departure testing for people leaving the United Kingdom ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
Covid-19 fears accelerated banks’ moves towards cashless transactions. But the Reserve Bank is fighting to protect cash, and those who still use it. ...
Good morning and welcome to this one-off edition of The Bulletin, covering major stories from the last few weeks.A quick preamble to this: Today’s special edition of The Bulletin is all about filling you in on some of the stories you might have missed over the summer period. Perhaps you had ...
Summer reissue: In this episode of Bad News, Alice Snedden is forced to confront her own mortality before hosting a very special dinner party to get to grips with the euthanasia debate.First published August 27, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
The contrast between the words of John F Kennedy and today’s anti-democratic demagogue is inescapable, writes Dolores Janiewski I still remember three eloquent speeches by an American president. One happened in January 1961 and spoke about a “torch being passed to a new generation”. Two years later and one day apart, ...
The debate over cutting down a large macrocarpa to make way for a new residential development has highlighted a wider agreement between developers and protesters: that we also need to be planting far more trees. At the corner of Great North Road and Ash Street in Avondale, a 150-year-old macrocarpa stands its ground ...
More infectious variants of Covid-19 are increasingly being intercepted at the country’s borders, but the minister running New Zealand’s response is resisting pressure to accelerate vaccination plans despite demands from health experts as well as political friends and foes, Justin Giovannetti reports.New Zealand’s first Covid-19 jabs will be administered in ...
As CEO of her iwi rūnanga, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer was on the frontline protecting her community during the first outbreak of Covid-19. Now that more virulent strains threaten to breach our borders, the Māori Party co-leader calls on the government to introduce much stricter measures.As we enter the New Year I ...
The Prada Cup challenger series starts today. Suzanne McFadden goes behind the scenes of the world's only live yachting regatta to see what's in store for the next five weeks. At 6am on race days, Iain Murray wakes up and immediately checks the weather outside his Auckland window. “It’s all ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Raquel Peel, Lecturer, University of Southern Queensland This story contains spoilers for Bridgerton The first season of Bridgerton, Netflix’s new hit show based on Julia Quinn’s novels, premiered on December 25 last year. The show is set in London, during the ...
The New Zealand government believes its own negotiations with Rio Tinto will be resolved "fairly quickly" now there is certainty about the future of the Tiwai Point smelter. ...
Amanda Thompson and her family are attempting to cut back on the meat, so they gave all the vego sausies the local supermarket had to offer a hoon on the barbie. Here are the results.I was a vegetarian once. Even the best of us take a well-meaning wrong turn on ...
The Taxpayers’ Union welcomes the call by Wellington City Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons for a shift to land value based rates charges. Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, "Local government leaders across the country should join in Fitzsimons’s call ...
It’s been described as ‘pointless revenge’, but impeaching the president has a firm moral purpose, argues Michael Blake – setting a limit to what sorts of action a society will accept.A House majority, including 10 Republicans, voted today to impeach President Trump for “incitement of insurrection”. The vote will initiate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bryan Cranston, Lead Academic Teacher – Politics & Social Science (Swinburne Online), Swinburne University of Technology In a historic vote today, Donald Trump became the only US president to be impeached twice. By a margin of 232–197, the Democrat-controlled US House of ...
Hurrah. The PM is back to posting her announcements on the government’s official website, her deputy is back in the business of self-congratulation, Rio Tinto is back in the business of sucking up cheap electricity to produce aluminium at Tiwai Point, near Bluff. And overseas students (some, anyway) can come ...
The electricity sector, Government and people of Southland are rejoicing after Tiwai Point aluminium smelter owner Rio Tinto announced the major industrial would be open until the end of 2024, Marc Daalder reports Stakeholders in the electricity sector and across Southland are celebrating the extension of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter's ...
If you’ve been on social media this week, you may well have come across a surge in interest in sea shanties. We asked a veteran of the style why. In case you missed it, soon may the Wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum. If that sentence is even ...
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NZ Labour should listen to this.
Some key points.
1. Labour to to take utilities back into public ownership and change the way the economy runs.
2. The public sector pay cap must end.
3. A Labour government will bring in rent controls and ensure tenants are rehoused locally when estates are regenerated.
4. Labour wants more workplace democracy.
5. Corbyn attacks the traditional media and its tax exile owners who “trash Labour at every turn”, especially the Daily Mail.
6. Tuition fees would be abolished for both university and further education students.
7. Businesses will have to pay a bit more tax.
The speech in 4 minutes.
The bit where he attacks the Daily Mail.
I thought this speech from the UK Labour conference was also something that would sound like beautiful music coming from NZ Labour, but I guess with old third way crusaders like Robinson, Clarke and Mike Williams being the ideological back bone of NZ Labour now…all we will hear is the unpleasant sounds of NZ Labour digging further into it’s own grave….
Paul Mason ‘We Will Change the World’ Labour Party Conference
Ed, this is similar to Winstons policy to take back utilities companies again along with any ‘errant manufacturing companies that get public taxpyer bailouts and then leave NZ’ and we have several of those dont we just.
All around Corbyn is a hero I see there and a new dawn to take back our countries from the ‘rogue elites’ ( we call carpetbaggers invited here by John Key & mow accomodated by Bill English.)
Hopefully we will get a Labour/NZ First/Greens coalition to save our country.
An excellent platform for a Labour-NZ First-Greens coalition for the next 3 years. Each of those points has been championed by one of these three parties at some stage… except no.2… but pretty sure Green and NZ First would support it.
And property developers must ‘use it or lose it’ when it comes to land banking.
That south islanders pay 30+ cents a litre more than north Islanders, and the BPs and Caltexes say it is NOT to do with transport, means it is
a. greed
b. informal price fixing
I have a pretty good idea of the relative transport costs.
It is fractions! of a cent per litre.
If anyone has trouble hearing JC, this RT link has much better sound and you get the intro.
Take it back. Sound is shit after 50 or so mins.
This is what neo-liberalism looks like #1
Leaky homes: ‘If you can’t afford to pay for it, then tough luck’
The son of one elderly Auckland owner said authorities needed to urgently step in because open-ended repair bills put all the risk on the owners.
“There is no protection. It will cost what it will cost and if you can’t afford to pay for it, then tough luck,” Iain Swan said.
His 86-year-old father has moved out of his leaky Bay Palms apartment in Browns Bay, on the North Shore, but Mr Swan said payment demands from the body corporate remained.
“Under the Unit Titles Act the body corp committee are quite able to forcibly sell your apartment.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/339867/leaky-homes-if-you-can-t-afford-to-pay-for-it-then-tough-luck
I wonder who the son has been voting for the last 20 years? I worked in the leaky home area and it became a gravy train for so-called building experts and lawyers. The Council (Auckland in particular) got so fixated on its own liability it has forced many properties into full reclad when Building Code repairs were possible.
Building experts cream money for being a project manager of a rebuild. On a multi-unit, we are talking no change from 50k and often far higher.
WHY would they recommend repairs? Why would they fight for repairs?
Many Body Corps run by professional Body Corps have been treated negligently but suing your Body Corp is the same as suing yourself.
IF National wanted to deal with this for future generations (and that would include Christchurch rebuild) they would have made developers personally liable, along with Designers and Builders. The Cowboys would have disappeared and the good ones would dominate. Instead
Developer starts a company – does build – removes profits – shuts down company – = escapes any legal liability for wrongdoing.
Sadly too many people dismiss such issues until it happens to them (or their loved one).
And it’s not just developers who do that.
IIRC, there was a tech shop a few years ago who got into trouble for not paying his employees enough. Went to court, was found guilty and ordered to pay. Next day the business was shut down and a new one in its place owned by the same person and selling the same stuff. The liability disappeared overnight as the business that had been charged no longer existed.
When shit like this can happen then the law needs to change to hold the people that own the business liable. After all, it’s not the business that’s breaking the law as that’s an inanimate object. It’s the people that own it.
Unfortunately it is the cladding manufacturers and the academics who advised Branz, as much as the developers. So far they have escaped any liability.
I agree on both counts but developers decided to buy the cheap mediterranean suited cladding.
Note how quickly BRANZ was changed into a company jyst in time to escape liability. I have seen documentation which shows BRANZ never tested Harditex before put their mark on it they just accepted JH testing… which it turns out they didnt do
This is what neo-liberalism looks like #2
Acceptance of inequality at heart of CEO pay – researcher
‘Chief executives are paid more in societies that are more tolerant of inequality, a researcher says.
Researcher Max Rashbrooke specialises in salary trends.
He told Morning Report research showed that New Zealand chief executives received large salaries whether their companies did well or not.
“They’ve kind of got a bit of a bet each way.”
Mr Rashbrooke said chief executives earned far more than their predecessors a generation ago but there was no evidence they were more effective.
“They are paid more because they’re in a society that’s much more tolerant of inequality.
“Whereas conversely, if you look at a country like Japan where you have people running huge multinational companies, most Japanese chief executives would be paid less than $1m New Zealand.
“Because in Japan it’s still, to a large extent, culturally unacceptable to have those very large salaries which people don’t regard as deserved.”‘
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/340243/acceptance-of-inequality-at-heart-of-ceo-pay-researcher
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201859949
How does Fonterra boss’ $8.3m pay packet stack up to other professions?
Select a card to flip it over and find out.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/97314609/comparing-fonterra-boss-theo-spierings-83m-pay-packet
“Acceptance of inequality at heart of CEO pay”
The silence on the matter from some political parties is enlightening.
This is what neo-liberalism looks like #3
Poverty, illness and living on less than the minimum wage.
‘The last time there was fresh produce on the table was more than two years ago.
After covering her basic expenses, Lynlie Beazley survives on just $22 per week and sometimes she sleeps on an empty stomach. The west Auckland resident described herself as the “face of poverty” in the country. “I don’t know how I live each day.”
Beazley said she would not be able to survive without food parcels from The Salvation Army. She is one of a growing number of people knocking on the charity’s door for help. Her weekly benefit was about $236, but she only had $22 after rent, expenses, and hire purchase payments. Beazley, a Housing NZ tenant, said this was enough for two bottles of milk, three loaves of bread and a tray of eggs.
Salvation Army welfare national Practice Manager Jono Bell said they helped 10,555 individuals and families around the country with food parcels between April and June – an 8 per cent increase on the same period last year
“For many people we see food parcels are a temporary measure to help them out in a crisis, such as losing their job, but we do have a number of clients who rely on food parcels for survival, because their income is not enough to meet their needs.
“The rising cost of food on top of the increasing rents we’ve seen in the past few years have been a major factor in this.” ….’
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/western-leader/96992301
Beazley was convicted of aggravated robbery, and she’s been evicted for doing $1000 of damage to her house.
Don’t be so mean.
Bringing facts into the debate is totally unfair.
That is like asking Metira to tell the truth about the amount of support she got from her child’s fathers family.
Why doesn’t RNZ release the material they received about that? They have no problem with releasing anything provided to them if it denigrates a National MP’s character.
Wow alwyn, not enough to destroy someones political career, you want to put the boot into their family as well.
But what is even stranger no matter how far down the gutter a natioanl mp goes you will support them.
You have no morals, where should I send the white sheets?
Or Bill lying about a hole or imaginary taxes or using lawyers/accountants to take another 900 a week for living in Dipton, when he didn’t
Stinking bully you are alwyn and a liar lover too.
neither of which mean she should have to rely on private charity to live, so… fuck you, arsehole.
Of course she shouldn’t.
On the other hand I do think she should have fulfilled her obligations to the taxpayer and done such minor little things as naming the father.
She should also, when she justified her fraud, have told the truth about her situation instead of leaving the impression that the father had basically abandoned her and left her, and her daughter to go hungry.
She also had an obligation, at least in my view, to have looked for a part time job instead of spending her time running for Parliament on the ticket of idiot parties. It is called “taking responsibility” and even toward the end she never seemed to have grown up enough to do that.
Was it your obsession with Turei that makes you think I replied to you, or merely your ego? Both seem to be unhealthy.
[edit: what the hell – fuck you, too]
I do apologise. The numbers on the indents don’t show up very clearly and I did think I was one of the two people you were referring to.
I can assure you I have no obsession with Turei. I dislike in equal measure all corrupt politicians.
On the other hand, having read your last sentence I withdraw the words of apology. The rest stands though.
Dislikes corrupt politicians. Supports national. ’nuff said.
Yup. Rewards those who show no personal responsibility or accountability for their lawbreaking (from positions of power) but preaches personal responsibility and accountability for others
In other words you are a self righteous, bigoted judgemental twit.
You have no idea what you would do in the same situation. I suspect, like Turei, Bennett and everyone else, you do what you have to do to survive.
There you go again, judging her for not being honest, but votiing for National.
Alwyn, just maybe the father did not want to be named ? If fathers are not married to the mothers of their children then they have to specifically front up to the registry office and sign on the dotted line. Many men won’t take that final step. Mother can name the father to WINZ but without the signature the mother is deemed to have “not named the father”.
Ms Beazley has been to prison and has completed her sentence.
Also to the point – in the article I read she has been searching for work. She clearly wasn’t coached as to the sheer amount of effort it would take to pick up an entry level job.
It’s silly in the extreme to expect someone from a hard background, with prison sentences, to know how to operate in the mainstream.
Why aren’t ex-prisoners being set up with work when they leave prison? And a mentor-buddy to help them past the rocky parts?
Or do we choose to keep on punishing them?
I didn’t see the piece on ‘$1000 of damage’. I have no idea whether it was accidental or deliberate. I do know that the amount she has to cover her overheads and living costs is far too low.
Remember – she’s done her time. Don’t let the punishment continue.
Well said!
But the demonising and stigmatising (can these be used together, I wonder) must go on. You know, once a thief, always a thief. This applies to Beazley, Turei, as well as to Bill English. How on Earth can these be ‘fundamentally decent’ people once they’ve erred in their ways, I ask you … Let those we have never committed sin stand tall be counted and they shall be knighted for their good deeds and unblemished record. Yeah, nah!
Heh. National ripping off “Lose Yourself” just took on another level of irony. Allegedly it’s a favourite song for psychopaths.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11927110
I guess they figured “Sociopaths, psychopaths, near enough.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11926756
“The Electoral Commission is looking into a social media post on election day by former broadcaster Sean Plunket that used a play on words to endorse the political party he worked for.
The commission confirmed it has received complaints about the tweet, which read: “Hope everyone remembers to put a top on before going out to vote, when it’s cold, two tops.”
I hope the complaint is upheld. I noticed a bit of this sort of thing going on on election day at Kiwiblog but it’s a whole new level when someone (formerly) in the media is doing it.
God he must think he’s so clever. Like Whaleoil with his name suppression breaches.
So in other words Alwyn…….you just don’t give a fuck about people being bone poor in New Zealand. That disregard necessarily includes bone poor children. To the contrary you militate for a small proportion of the population to earn, and enhance their earnings way, way, way beyond need. There seems to be no other conclusion.
You are therefore one of those self-perceived ‘fine’, repugnant, subversive extremists worthy of nothing less than contempt. In my more than 4 decades of active engagement with NZ criminal law I am yet to find the penalty of starvation prescribed in any New Zealand criminal legislation. A word to the ignorant…….it is extremely dishonest to muddy the waters by invoking a conviction without at the same time providing full detail of the circumstances of the offending. The offence of aggravated robbery covers a wide range of unlawful behaviour. Not that that would worry a darkly ignorant blowhard.
Even if this woman’s offence fell at the very serious end of the scale of such offending, where imprisonment is more or less mandatory, starvation was never part of that sentence. Or are you saying that if one has a serious conviction you’ll not be left to starve while serving your prison sentence but that’s all good once you’re released ? Karma will take you Alwyn.
Did anyone else hear the item on Morning Report (I just heard it on the 7 am news) where there was some discussion talked about in which Tuariki John Delamere is said to have stated that “if Jacinda offers Winston the shared PM” she will probably get a deal – there was then some suggestion that “Bill wouldn’t and shouldn’t”.
Maybe I’m just being sensitive before my morning coffee, but it reeked sexism to me.
I heard it but I didn’t hear it as sexist… I heard it as Jacinda having less of an ego than Bill, making such an arrangement possible. Given that time is on Jacinda’s side and not on Winnie’s… why not make that offer? They could do 18 months each.
Ha! Hell… why not throw in James as well and they can have 12 months each… 🙂
@SpaceMonkey – ok, must have been the lack of coffee then 😉
I just hope it’s the lack of ego factor driving people to make such comments, rather than any insinuation about her gender, age or relative lack of experience – those things push my sensitive wee buttons!!
A turn each would definitely be egalitarian 🙂
Sounds like a bitter member of the old boys club grasping at straws and living in the dark ages.
A bit like all the speculation that is rife in the media again today.
Bitter ex MP’s facing irrelevance like Dunne giving his opinion and speculations while preparing his CV after withdrawing from the election due to a lack of popularity that was waging a war against his ego.
@Cinny – +1 – Dunne should just go back into his box…..! The ego of that man knows no bounds.
Hey there Frida 😀 I’m finding it super amusing, how media are asking opinions of all these people, because their opinions will have absolutely no bearing on any decision making.
Winston click bait for the masses, it’s sooooo funny.
@Cinny – agreed! I am enjoying that aspect of it too
Tualeki the two faced .
Former National/NZfirst MP.
Traitorous meddler.
Bill English is finished washed up if he doesn’t get over the line.
Now at least that’s up the anti how trustable are National in holding their coalition deal given this Rant from the Tuafaced Delamare.
NOne of my favorite programs on TV IS Gold Rush Its a good program that shows that the small guy can win and beat big money with a bit of learning and some good intelligence . I remember one day and Mitch Parkers mechanic had a water leak in one of
There machine and Mitch said that a tip that Jean Cheesman was to have heaps of black pepper and they put that in the radiatior and it stops the water leaks so six months ago when I found that my radiator cap had been loosened and had a slight crack in the head I remember that episode and poured black pepper into my trucks cooling system and what do you no it works so DON’T by any of that shit they sell in the shop just put black pepper in your cooling system and top the water up if you are losing water and you will be able to get home it was a temporary fix
That gave me six months .Now the grass is growing and my other job has started well I will be able to pay my loan off piece o piss and also the big picture is were are the small COUNTRY so don’t go shooting our own foot off and attacking fonterra One old say if I like is if it ain’t broke DON’T fix it yes there need to be some environment issues sorted but fonterra business structures are fine.
ground pepper or peppercorns?
I suppose ground pepper would do it, drifting into the cracks. As long as the pipes in the system don’t block…
“…poured black pepper into my trucks cooling system and what do you no it works so DON’T by any of that shit they sell in the shop.”
Would get us home as long as we had black pepper on board. Great ide Eco maori.
Don’t you get it our largest trading nation has a controlled economy and they can fuck WITH our exports at the drop of a hat By the way someone direct credit $30 into my bank account and reference it with KEEP GROWING IN TAURANGA.
Now that can be interpreted in many ways so DON’T DO that because it’s not helping me.
Eco Maori Fonterra is a monopoly it needs fixing .
Rod Oram has way more knowledge than your bandaide fixes.
Poor comparison.
A good article on Films for Action, How Swedes and Norwegians broke the power of the 1%.
Wow
Meanwhile the investigation continues…
chuckling
Yeh and many a true word spoken in jest.
I know schadenfreude is not a particularly noble emotion. But should Winston go with a progressive government, the shit fight within the National Party will be a joy to behold.
“Labour has not joined Peters’ call for an inquiry and has remained silent on the Yang story.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/97325576/winston-peters-wont-let-yang-allegations-slide
Why is that?
Because they were in Government when he got his citizenship. It’s not a secret Chairman. But National, they are the ones who elevated him to parliamentarian.
Which raises questions in itself.
Moreover, do you believe its got nothing to do with questions surrounding a couple in their own camp?
So, you read an article yesterday and this is your stick de jour.
What do you mean by
“do you believe its got nothing to do with questions surrounding a couple in their own camp?”
Really, Tracey?
Head in the sand much?
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/09/18/48616/expert-calls-for-inquiry-into-chinese-threat
Really Chairman? Cannot answer my simple question seeking clarification?
The answer was in the link provided, Tracey.
[lprent: Quite inadequate. If you want people to click into links, then provide some summary information about why they should click into it rather than your effective statement of “I am a pretentious wanker”. As you can see it just causes stupid flames which I don’t like reading or dealing with and have a tendency to deal with by making sure that don’t happen again. ]
🙄
So you’re either incapable of stating the answer in your own words, or you’re just playing silly buggers. Gee, which could it be?
She was seeking further clarification, I provided it.
Moreover, I’m not the topic.
Cheeky bugger.
https://tinyurl.com/yd977ufu
no you didn’t provide clarification. You merely linked to something you claim provides clarification.
And if you don’t provide a clear description of your point in a sentence or two of your own construction, then you’re either incapable of doing so (in which case discussing the topic with you is pointless, as you cannot comprehend it), or you’re to lazy to do so (in which case there’s no point in discussing the topic with you), or you used the request for clarification as an excuse to insert irrelevant information into the discussion alongside whatever “clarification” your link might provide (in which case there’s no point in discussing the topic with you because you’re discusssing things in bad faith).
I provided a link that contained further clarification. Which I thought would have been more than sufficient, but apparently not.
So your assumptions are merely that (assumptions). Which, of course, are incorrect.
But here we are talking about me again, funny that.
Care to engage in the topic at hand?
If you’re genuinely interested (which I doubt) the clarification was posted to Tracey below.
Not that I can see much point, but here goes:
Are there allegations that any Labour MPs worked for schools that taught agents of foreign intelligence services?
No?
Probably just what Tracey said, then.
Did national do due diligence when making him a candidate?
“Are there allegations that any Labour MPs worked for schools that taught agents of foreign intelligence services?”
No, not that I’m aware of at this stage. But there are questions about donations and their connection to the CCP. As I pointed out to Tracey, it is thought (by the author of the report) both National and Labour were being similarly influenced by the Chinese.
And we need to know how influential that influence is. In both parties.
As for Nationals due diligence, it’s another thing the inquiry will need to discover. The same goes for Labour and their MPs.
And by the way, I did warn about this, but as usual, I was largely brushed off as a concern troll.
When Labour face the same allegations as the nats, go consider your “questions”.
Hey, seeing as it’s about you now, did you have any concerns about, say, US involvement with the nats? Like sharing the data from the KDC search with the FBI? What about rewriting NZ labour laws after meetings with Hollywood folk?
Oh, wait, the yanks aren’t Chinese, so…. no, you probably didn’t.
“When Labour face the same allegations as the nats…”
They largely are.
However, I’m not to clear on the point you’re trying to make re go consider my questions?
And as for the US (and any other nation for that matter) of course I have concerns about what influence they have on our nation. One of the reasons why I opposed the TPP.
lol largely are?
No. A nat mp has allegations, your wider wank merely has questions.
marty was pretty clear, and my point is that I agree with him: I think you’re a racist. But with the addition that you also give national a pass on genuine issues and beat up bullshit about labour and the greens.
It’s not just my “wank” as you put it. As highlighted above, the author of the study believes both National and Labour are being similarly influenced by the Chinese.
If it were only my “wider wank” (again, as you put it) Labour would have little to worry about, but as it happens, it’s not.
This study was largely drowned out by the election, but once that is done and dusted (and especially if Labour become the new Government) don’t be surprised if the media refocuses on this.
And while at this stage it may be only questions being raised, don’t you think it would be prudent to duly investigate before any potential damage is done and ensure the line hasn’t already been crossed?
Marty is a pinhead who can stay on the sidelines (having fun) hurling his insults for all I care. Sticks and stones. But every now and then I may give him a clip (verbally of course) and have some fun of my own.
Resorting to the race card is often done as a means of diminishing the concern (as in, don’t listen to him he’s a racist) and shutting down these types of discussions.
Like Marty and a number of others (regardless of the topic at hand) you jump at the opportunity to make it about me. It may appeal to the ignorant and pinheads like Marty, but I’m hoping more readers are above that and will see through all this racist, concern troll, undercover righty crap that continually gets thrown at me.
But I’m sure, going forward, you and Marty will be there to hurl your abuse, distract the discussion and do your best to make it about me. Knock yourself out. You won’t deter me.
Though, you may end up in the big guys bad book.
Dude, even when I addressed the topic without discussing you, you made it about you. But if someone else does it, you get all twee and self-effacing.
The fact is that allegations with serious ramifications have been made about a specific individual, and wider “questions” are raised about donations overwhelmingly directed at one party in particular. Your article mentions fifteen donations to national, probably totalling well over a million bucks. But you give equal time to the one 40k donation to Labour before one donor switched allegiance. Your fixation is on China and Labour. This bias affects your comments.
I know you won’t be deterred – like most bigots you think that your opinions are normal and reasonable.
As usual the self absorbed its not about me chair gets all cut up cos hes misunderstood.
As a troll you are quite funny but your wee mask is slipping and your bed of rancor is exposed too often now. Zero cred usually means you’ll up your comments. Ho hum lets do this…
@Marty
Thanks again for providing readers with another example of you playing the man and not the ball, Marty.
You know the more you do it the more chance you are going to get the big guys attention? But feel free to dig your own grave.
Sounds like a threat.
No, not at all. I hold no power here to threaten you with, Marty.
As Winston would say, it’s just commonsense.
The more you play up, the more chance you’ll be caught out.
Correct – you have no power.
Whether or not someone wants to make themselves the topic is their prerogative. Evidently, you don’t respect that.
Moreover, the instance I take it you are referring too was a side note, merely stating I forewarned about this and I was largely brushed off as a concern troll. It was inline with the topic, hence wasn’t a means to distract. And again, it’s ones prerogative and you should respect that. It’s not a green light for you to go piling it on.
The fact is there is more than allegations with serious ramifications being made. You’re overlooking there are also questions with potentially serious ramifications requiring answers.
Moreover, I’m not taking a one sided approach to this. As shown from my call for a wide-ranging inquiry.
Hence, that’s just you resorting to lies again in an attempt to score a point and discredit my approach.
The reason Labour has gotten a little more attention in this discussion relates to some being oblivious to (and some attempting to diminish) Labour’s role in this. Pointing at you.
As my comments will overwhelmingly show. I don’t come here to talk about me. I come here to talk politics and that which relates to it. Unlike you, that clearly wants to continue making it about me. As shown in this and most of your other replies too me.
So thanks again for providing readers with another example.
Labour’s “role” in this is at worst a bit part, with the nats centre stage. Your emphasis on Labour raises the question as to why your attention dwells well away from the major players. Like your emphasis on China yet nothing about the yanks.
The main issue is that the nats put NZ on sale to the highest bidder. Chinese millionaires, yank billionaires, limited raw materials at low low prices, everything must go! Even earning an honourable mention from Mossack Fonseca. A cynic would argue that this is why National got so many “questioned” donations and Labour got only one – the donors got no return on their “investment” to one party, maybe? Which one?
“Labour’s “role” in this is at worst a bit part…”
That’s a bold claim.
The author of the study believes both National and Labour are being similarly influenced by the Chinese, suggesting their role is far larger than a bit part.
But, without a thorough investigation, you’re clearly speculating at best.
My emphasis on Labour in this particular discussion relates to some being oblivious to (and some attempting to diminish) Labour’s role in this. As I already explained.
So your assertion can only be seen as another attempt to discredit and make this discussion about me.
Thanks again for another example of you playing the man and not the ball. The more you do it, the more I’ll highlight it.
And as I told Marty, the more you play up like this, the more chance you’ll be caught out.
Moreover, each time your play the man and not the ball your veil is further lifted, exposing readers to your troll like behaviour.
But as I mentioned above, knock yourself out.
It will be interesting to see how long you’ll get away with it.
As for National obtaining larger donations, perhaps it’s due to them being in Government and (until recently) being perceived as more likely to maintain hold of that power. It’s rather pointless donating large sums of money to a party that won’t achieve power, thus produce a return.
Or maybe with Labour having two Chinese MPs to potentially apply influence, the large fiscal incentive isn’t as necessary. And with Labour having set up the free trade deal with China, perhaps they’ve already won over the support of a number within the party?
you’re the one making the claim, doofus. You allege Labour is being influenced by the Chinese government. All you have is that Labour received one donation from people who gave repeatedly to the national party, and someone you agree with wrote an article.
If China is controlling the Labour party as much as it is the nats, why were Labour opposing foreign involvement in the housing market, while the nats have refused to do a damned thing?
You know why people usually demand (or conduct) investigations when there is no evidence of wrongdoing, or even where there is exculpatory evidence? Bias. Often racial bias (just saying that as a “side note” so apparently it would be unfair for you to respond to it in any way. /sarc)
Why should I have to read your links? I could end up anywhere, like Whaleoil… You ask so many questions and demand answers of others.
“Moreover, do you believe its got nothing to do with questions surrounding a couple in their own camp?” I don’t know what you mean by this, Labour, National or Greens?
You don’t have to read my links, Tracey. However, it was a rather important political article that I would have assumed those that have an interest in politics (such as yourself) would’ve already been aware of.
The link clearly reads newsroom, so there was no chance of you ending up at Whaleoil.
Nevertheless, back to the clarification seeing as the link provided seems to have been considered inadequate. There are also questions surrounding the connections (to the CCP) of two labour MPs.
And as shown in the link, Professor Anne-Marie Brady from the University of Canterbury (the author of the study) believed both National and Labour were being similarly influenced by the Chinese.
Point taken, lprent. I’ll be more careful in future.
Well, I’d say that they’re still considering it.
Personally, I’d go for it. If the investigation shows malicious intent and the MSM says but it was you who gave him citizenship I’d then say Yes, and now that mistake is being corrected.
Anybody know where the Greens stand on this?
Have you asked them? And Seymour? And Peters? and English?
Shouldn’t they be telling us, Tracey?
I think the torch needs to be shone on National for knowingly appointing him to their candidate list and turning him into a Parliamentarian. I won’t hold my breath though. Good luck, let us know what else you uncover.
“I think the torch needs to be shone on National for knowingly appointing him to their candidate list and turning him into a Parliamentarian.”
So from that can we take it you will be holding their (Labour, Greens) feet to the fire for them to support an inquiry? Or is not holding your breath what you recommend we all do?
Moreover, you’ll be holding Labour to the same standard?
Whoa there sunshine you’re going from shine a torch to gruesome torture – twisted shit.
I’m not the topic, Marty.
But do feel free to engage the subject matter.
Do you support an inquiry?
Nah I think you are a racist – i only make fun of them.
I have no problem with an inquiry except I know they are very expensive. I would just prefer the redacted document was unredacted. So much cheaper than an inquiry
In this instance, I don’t believe we can let the cost of an investigation excuse not having one. And it needs to go deeper than just removing the redaction.
What would you like the outcome to be (of the enquiry0?
We require a wide-ranging inquiry, leaving no stone unturned and see what it develops.
See the Hagmann case of defamation against Little is going ahead as Hagmann was alive when his wife filed it.
It could cost Andrew $100 000 They got 7 million. Neo liberals.
Judges reserving a verdict. (yeah right!!)
Reserving a decision is usual practice in Civil cases.
Presumably that’s only the wife’s court action – defamation law in NZ is crystal clear that claims do not survive death.
An interesting read.
Pitfalls for the Greens and NZ First in coalition discussions – By Keith Locke.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/09/26/pitfalls-for-the-greens-and-nz-first-in-coalition-discussions/
Allow me to modestly predict that in a day or two our “Leftie” Mr Chairman will be raising points with great concern, subtly trying to prompt Greens and Labour towards those pits…
Good to see you picked up on the post. Sadly, your assumptions are delusional.
Clearly, the point of posting the link was to help make those pitfalls more widely known. Giving a greater chance they’ll be avoided.
Listening to RNZ this morning and heard about the seriously substandard apartment buildings in NZ – so serious that people will be killed if something is not done about it. The incredible thing is that these buildings cannot be named for legal reasons. What on earth is Health and Safety going to do about this. The apartment building owners have been informed but not the apartment dwellers who are owners. They are owners of these apartments. Are they going to be left in limbo forever and a day not knowing if they step on their balcony it will collapse, the building will fall off its foundations or the walls so rotting that two people have a fun fight in their apartment will fall through the side walls.
Its appalling that people’s lives are so bloody cheap in this country. Surely the decent thing is to notify these owners of the apartments of the state and danger of their abode and give them a chance to relocate and sort out the fiasco at a later date. At least they won’t be killed or seriously injured living on in their ignorance. It just disgusts me that lives are so cheap and building owners can get away with their sloppy building practices to cut costs.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/340396/multi-storey-building-flaws-almost-the-norm
National made builders and designers personally liable but not developers, as a response to leaky homes… this one smaall step might have made a big difference to the quality of the final product. The Developer generally determines the budget, not the builder.
Tracey It doesn’t matter who is to blame for the state of the buildings, its the fact that people are living in these buildings and not being forewarned about the dangers and that they could be seriously injured or killed. Protecting shoddy work is not acceptable and should be against the law.
It does matter Kate because history repeats cos of such things. Until we get personal responsibility on the ones holding the wallet this will keep happening. Why would National make it against the law when they refuse to fix part of the problem at the source
Remember Key says all young people should look to apartments but left apartments off the Homesmart funding.
There is a pattern. Labour in the past and National feed the Developer appetite knowing they avoid all recourse from shoddy work. It is another example of money over people. It is wrong of course
Wow bill and Jim must have smoke coming out there ass after what I wrote last nite because the intimation stepped up ten fold today I tried my bluff with the bank it did not work but I will not retaliate because they are worried about me getting locked up and not been able to pay there money back YEA FIGHT.
And I can’t blame anyone for being victims of the fight between me the police and national my G mar would not approve Ka Pai
Odd. On my Samsung S7 edge, since yesterday, the mobile theme isn’t displaying the comment box or the reply link inside of the posts.
I’ll see if there was some kind of crappy update last night. Otherwise it will have to wait until after work.
Anyone else seeing it?
yes @lprent on my iPhone
My phones is a Huawei and I have to use computer mode to post because there is no reply tabs in phone format Iprent thanks
This may have been canvassed before but does anyone know NZF’s position on the tax cuts scheduled for April 18 ?
Essentially Labour’s programme of education / health / etc investment is dependent upon cancelling those cuts. So if NZF wants to retain those tax cuts then Labours has its hands tied , yes? Which way did NZF vote on these tax changes?
Other than politicians, is there anyone in the world more unpleasant than Bill Gates?
Not only unpleasant, but fundamentally stupid….
The Panel repeating right wing bs about National Green alliance.
Please RNZ ……. stop repeating National Party lies and spin.
Do your job.
That is their job under Griffin, why else would you have DP players like Hooten and Farrar on unless you were intent on bias.
RNZ doesn’t have the reach that redneck radio rantland does that’s why they’ve ZB and radio Live to cover the demographics.
Just for Hugh Hefner, now he’s dead:
One day you’re going to have to face
A deep dark truthful mirror
A 13.2% swing to Labour and Greens in my electorate of Clutha-Southland. Not bad for one of the most conservative seats in the country.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/97283075/election-shows-ruralurban-divide-shrinking-not-growing
I’m trying to support some people’s Wairua and you neo liberal go and stuff them up.
So why did you not support Joe,s fight when they needed it is it because he would become a role model for all Brown people in NZ O we can’t have that because they will come out in force and vote you out you neo liberals are idiots and have tunnel vision and we cannot let you run OUR Country we are all on this journey together you fools
Ka Pai