The Government last week announced a resettlement package offer would be made to 23 Afghan interpreters currently workingwith the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Bamiyan….
Former interpreters have been excluded from the offer but will be looked upon “sympathetically” by the Government if they apply hrough the normal channels, Prime Minister John Key said….
So what are these normal channels?
Having little funds and no support, first they have to get out of the country. Diamond Kazimi reports that two of his relatives have done this. A cousin got to Germany and his brother managed to reach Canada. Applying for refugee status, he was told by the Canadian authorities told that the New Zealand government should be dealing with this. Diamond Kazimi himself was only able to reach New Zealand after a serving New Zealand soldier sponsored his travel here. Without this sponsorship he would never have made it. He then had to enter the country posing as a temporary visitor, the only way he could legally get entry into New Zealand.
What could be called “normal” about this?
Normal channels for refugees are a series of difficult hurdles especially placed in their path by the border authorities of the countries they wish to enter. For those with meagre funds, or lacking sponsorship, these hurdles more times than not are insurmountable.
A disgrace. Diamond Kazimi has appealed to the NZ media to take up the cause of the interpretors and other support workers left in Afghanistan to face the wrath of Taliban for working for us.
Does anyone else see the comments made by Key as American in style? (We got what we wanted from you so screw you). Perhaps I’m biased. I do sound a little bitter when I read that back.
These people should be given priority to at the very least have their cases looked at, and frankly I don’t see why we shouldn’t bump the quota for a year to accommodate them and their families. Where is the compassion? Key REALLY hates beneficiaries of any kind huh.
Key (like so many from the Right) knows nothing of “compassion”, just don’t expect it from him. Key hates people, full stop – human beings are an impediment to getting on with making money and being an ego-driven hedonist. All of those overseas holidays must make him very “rusty”, by the way!
This should have been thought of when we started with the coaltion in Afghanistan.
Why can’t those people continue as interpeters, 3 months on in Afghanistan, 9 months off in Aoteoroa ?
We talk about reconstruction, surely helping them and their families get a good education and experience of a more evolved society would be one of the best reconstructive things we could do?
(No offense to the people on the ground in Afghanistan but Soldiers are not University Lecturers)
How about Dual NZ / Afghan citizenship for instance ?
To apply a “Letter of the Law” approach to this is not “Good Civilised Behaviour” on Johny Sparkles behalf.
Yet another strike on the ledger of Gnats’ policy M8’s!
Aye they did. I have the utmost respect for Simon Upton for driving it through.
I can recall having some fun at an election meeting where a Nat MP was trying to criticize the decision to ratify the Kyoto Treaty by pointing out that they were the ones to actually negotiate NZ’s involvement.
Upton and Shipley should be exhumed and a seance held on Campbell Live, with their mortal remains on display and interrogated, to divine what they make out of this Administration’s nonsense.
This lot would be in good company with the likes of Tex Slampacker in Ben elton’s ‘stark’ ordering endangered species like baked swan whilst obliterating another piece of wilderness.
Finally Nationals starting to do what it needs to do. Now it needs to keep going and do what needs to be done (as long as it avoids a coalition deal with winstonfirst)
A word of advice: the fuckwit of the year prize will not be won by a climate change denier: you will need to find something more original to demonstrate your idiocy.
OTH wonder whether there is a misunderstanding of terms of reference. There is no denying of a global climate change going on, however even the scientific community is split about absolute cause.(don’t forget the sun!) Yes, we all can do our bit to lessen the effect and NZ has done well. And yes, National should not sell the power stations which give us an edge.
But also to consider is the issue of commercialization of carbon credits via Kyoto protocol. Just another vehicle to make money? A way of distorting measures by manipulation value vs cost? Once measures of cause/effects are outside the rigorous scrutiny of the scientific community, it will be difficult to know what is true and what is false. We have had too many of those examples of corporate greed in the last 2 decades. Secondly, the biggest polluters do not participate. So that will distort the “value” straight away. Just saying….
Did you read the article? Familiar with Intellectual Ventures at all?
Yup, and so what! – But wait on, the insurance industry will sort out “climate change”..
Hint: the reason I don’t take you seriously has nothing to do with your little tanty lower down.
Trying to trivialise/divert/avoid, with cutesy little words such as “tanty”, only serve you highlight what a tweezer you must be, even online you transfer via your words!
Appreciate the compliment BTW – Hint , Its not about being taken seriously, if thats something your narcissistic side craves, perhaps you need to get back on those meds again!
“So what” – do the words “patent troll” mean anything to you?
Still trying to spin what I said about insurance companies? Let’s recap: “…of all the responses to climate change to date, insurance companies refusing to cover certain areas is perhaps the strongest…”
Do you see why I don’t take your comments seriously?
I just wonder whether you have read my comment. By all intend and purposes you are the one making the world a meaner place (see your own comment below) with you inability to discuss an issue without being offensive when you encounter deviating opinions.
Get a grip and grow up. Yes and here is a list of scientist who have some serious questions:
Scientists questioning the accuracy of IPCC climate projections
Scientists in this section have made comments that it is not possible to project global climate accurately enough to justify the ranges projected for temperature and sea-level rise over the next century. They may not conclude specifically that the current IPCC projections are either too high or too low, but that the projections are likely to be inaccurate due to inadequacies of current global climate modeling.
Freeman Dyson, professor emeritus of the School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study; Fellow of the Royal Society [9]
Richard Lindzen, Alfred P. Sloan professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and member of the National Academy of Sciences[10][11][12]
Nils-Axel Mörner, retired head of the Paleogeophysics and Geodynamics department at Stockholm University, former chairman of the INQUA Commission on Sea Level Changes and Coastal Evolution (1999–2003), and author of books supporting the validity of dowsing[13]
Garth Paltridge, retired chief research scientist, CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research and retired director of the Institute of the Antarctic Cooperative Research Centre, visiting fellow ANU[14]
Philip Stott, professor emeritus of biogeography at the University of London[15]
Hendrik Tennekes, retired director of research, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute [16]
Scientists arguing that global warming is primarily caused by natural processes
Scientists in this section have made comments that the observed warming is more likely attributable to natural causes than to human activities. Their views on climate change are usually described in more detail in their biographical articles.
Khabibullo Abdusamatov, mathematician and astronomer at Pulkovo Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences[17]
Sallie Baliunas, astronomer, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics[18][19]
Ian Clark, hydrogeologist, professor, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa[20]
Chris de Freitas, associate professor, School of Geography, Geology and Environmental Science, University of Auckland[21]
David Douglass, solid-state physicist, professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester[22]
Don Easterbrook, emeritus professor of geology, Western Washington University[23]
William M. Gray, professor emeritus and head of the Tropical Meteorology Project, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University[24]
William Happer, physicist specializing in optics and spectroscopy, Princeton University[25]
William Kininmonth, meteorologist, former Australian delegate to World Meteorological Organization Commission for Climatology[26]
David Legates, associate professor of geography and director of the Center for Climatic Research, University of Delaware[27]
Tad Murty, oceanographer; adjunct professor, Departments of Civil Engineering and Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa[28]
Tim Patterson, paleoclimatologist and professor of geology at Carleton University in Canada.[29][30]
Ian Plimer, professor emeritus of Mining Geology, the University of Adelaide.[31]
Nicola Scafetta, research scientist in the physics department at Duke University[32][33]
Tom Segalstad, head of the Geology Museum at the University of Oslo[34]
Fred Singer, professor emeritus of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia[35][36][37]
Willie Soon, astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics[38]
Roy Spencer, principal research scientist, University of Alabama in Huntsville[39]
Henrik Svensmark, Danish National Space Center[40]
Jan Veizer, environmental geochemist, professor emeritus from University of Ottawa[41]
I am no scientist but I do have an open mind to ALL opinions and even more so if these are from recognized scientists of international reputation. And lets not forget astute academic organizations. Have a good look before you start getting into your next tantrum.
I get the feeling somehow you work here for a particular interest? Democratic exchange of comments seem to be not in your forte either.
You are just plain rude and as I see it, you discriminated yourself from being taken seriously.
You are not an academic of any stature by what I gather from your comments because the ones I have met have had open minds to other peoples opinions without reacting in the way you do. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_and_celestial_effects_on_climate
FW: “Just plain rude” – but swallowing destructive and transparent lies and then parroting them as some sort of “honest opinion” is just fine and dandy and oh so democratic?
Hypocrite.
PS: yes, Muzza, I decline to pick up your Tar Baby, and raise you a tin foil hat.
Actually free-speech, an open mind, questioning everything and searching for understanding, regardless of whether you agree or not, are some of the cornerstones of so called democracy!
As such your use of the work hypocrite towards FW, is wrong!
Destructive, is what attitudes such as yours are, not FW, so you are projecting wildly again. I’ve explained that to you before, whose ideas are more dangerous, the open or the closed mind!
You understand so little, and jump down others so hard, that the mind boggles just how scared you must be of anything which might challenge your self righteous view of life, and may lead you to have to ask hard questions yourself!
Hey, look at that, a list scientists and not a single one a climatologist. BTW, do any of them know that they’re on the list? And did you also know that there are about 30,000 climatologists in the world, 99.9% of which agree that climate change is being caused by human action?
Climatology is itself a branch of physics, but it is often highly dependent upon other sciences.
Thus if one is to understand various aspects of of the science of climatology, one will oftentimes need to understand the results and methods of various various other sciences. For example, climatology is highly dependent upon the study of radiation and how it interacts with matter: this is afterall a large part of the basis for our understanding of the greenhouse effect. Climatology depends upon chemistry insofar as it must understand the formation of ozone – one of the greenhouse gases. Climatology depends upon geology insofar as it attempts to identify the principles governing climates by learning lessons from deep geologic time. Climatology depends upon meteorology insofar as its results will be dependent upon the variation of precipitation or the dependence of various aspects of the climate upon temperature.
I am no denier that something is wrong. I have been growing up in the northern hemisphere with lots of snow during the winter and seasons to recognize. This is not happening anymore and has a huge impact on the farming community because the lack of freezing of the ground which causes an increase of infestations of bugs that weren’t there before. Health issues coupled to that are on the increase. Not to mention the catastrophic thinning of the permafrost in the arctic circle. There is no doubt that deforestation does play a big part as does CO2 emissions. The list goes on. However, there are other voices that point to an cycle of worming and cooling of the planet too. What I question is the apparent certainty coupled with an almost immediate commercial solution. This makes me suspicious whether we are being made ready to be fleeced once more under a different pretext.
I personally do not belief in a commercial solution but in a technological. So the scientists who currently put themselves out there to hurry through the money wagon are the ones I am particular wary about.
“…the scientists who currently put themselves out there to hurry through the money wagon…”
Transparent and destructive lies. Did you make them up or are you just repeating what you’ve read without thinking or fact checking? The arrogance to call people who have fact checked and taken the time to learn the difference “rude” – because your wickle feelings got hurt.
“Technological solutions” – let’s hear about them. Oh, oops, you didn’t fact check that little howler either.
Solar energy, tidal energy, electrical cars, etc….. The possibilities are endless and most likely the horizon is brighter for the younger generation rather then the older who can be (not all though) stuck in their paradigm.
Rude is your behavior, even in this online facility and I am surprised that this is actually OK.
As to fact finding missions, I think you have a very selective way of presenting them and thus my observations.
I will regard this issue as closed. As so many things in NZ no point of persevering.
Hey Precious, obviously you don’t like my tone. Well I don’t like your implied weasel accusations of scientific and financial malpractice (“…the money wagon…”), especially when scientists and their families receive death threats.
Or have you got a specific allegation of actual malpractice? If so name names, or drop the hypocritical pretence that you’re Snow White.
What exactly is this “money wagon” that reputable climate scientists are said to be on while a denier like Plimer believes the Sun is a ball of iron and is on the board of mining companies? Or Monckton who is flown around the world to spew his tripe, all paid for by foundations with words like liberty and free enterprise in their names? I suspect I know which are the climate prostitutes here, and I suspect many of them are on your list.
Money wagon? I was unaware there was much money to be made in supporting the international scientific consensus. The only people who make money out of climate change are the deniers who get handouts from big business to push their bullshit uphill
What its going to target the owners/controllers of the biggest polluters – Nah it wont!
The local governments.
You are in dreamland Draco, like your comment about cashless society, you are so deluded about the results that will come from these, and given your comments are usually sensible, I am a little surprised at your naievity over this!
By decreasing GHG emissions.
Ok, and how many people do you think will be saved by the altuism of those currently ruling this planet of ours ?
What its going to target the owners/controllers of the biggest polluters – Nah it wont!
It’s not supposed to – for that we need other regulations. What it’s supposed to do is decrease GHG emissions.
You are in dreamland Draco, like your comment about cashless society, you are so deluded about the results that will come from these, and given your comments are usually sensible, I am a little surprised at your naievity over this!
It would require the move to a more democratic and accountable system than we have now but it could be done. People saying that it can’t be done because of the PTB are just as much in the way of the needed changes as the PTB.
Ok, and how many people do you think will be saved by the altuism of those currently ruling this planet of ours ?
The people presently ruling this planet don’t have an altruism – that’s why they need to be removed from those positions of power.
No one owns the “Air”, but no one has worked out the real cost of Air pollution.
If land for instance can be valued at say $100/m2 then how bout the same for Air?
$100/m3 say ?
So your average 2litre car eminates 2m3 of air for every 16 revolutions ……
That’s 500m3 of polluted air for every minute of cruising at 4000rpm.
1 hour trip = 30,000m3 of polluted air.
I know “Air” is a huge resource, that cleans itself, but …..
Yearly Average hours per Domestic car in Aoteoroa = 2 * 365 = 730hrs
730 * 30,000 = 21,900,000m3 per car per year.
Yearly Average hours per (2litre) Business vehicle in Aoteoroa = 8 * 350 = 2800hrs
2800 * 30,000 = 84,000,000m3 per car per year.
(Even at .001 cent per m3 that’s a lot of money per vehicle)
Then you add all the industry …..
The currenly accepted rate of carbon produced per kilowatt hour of power is 1.5 pounds of carbon/KWh.
The average city uses 3,000KW(Lowish Estimate) per capita per hour ( 😮 )
We really need to stop producing so much Carbon methinks.
Scientific Fact No One : “You can’t breath exhaust fumes M8!”
I would suggest the whole thing needs correction. I started reading it but decided you had no idea what you were talking about when I hit the line “so your average 2litre car eminates 2m3 of air for every 16 revolutions”
For your information there is one turnover of “air” every 2 revolutions, at least in a four-stroke engine which I would think 99.9% of petrol powered cars are.
Thus 16 revolutions would mean 16 litres of air.
There are 1000 litres in a cubic metre. You wouldn’t get 2m3 but 0.016 cubic metres.
I glanced at the rest but decided that if you go so badly wrong so quickly why bother reading it.
I did note however that you appear to think a business car is driven 8 hours per day, 7 days a week and 50 weeks per year.
When I was working. and visiting customer sites I would have received a rap on the hand if I had been driving more that about an hour per day. The only cars that would do anything like your times would be taxis.
So NZ and it’s farmers carry on as climate change criminals while the rest of the world does there bit to address global warming. why would anyone buy our dairy products and meat when they can buy climate friendly produce.
But the rest of the world arn’t “doing their bit”.
We can be “leaders” and feel all warm and fuzzy while our economy collapses around our ears because our products become too expensive or even cease to exist (dairy).
And what also happens is that China just keeps pumping out our annual CO2 output in around two days (and that output is increasing). Please explain again why we should flaggelate ourselves while the rest of he world continues on its merry way. So we can puff out out chests and say look at me, look at me?
“I’m surprised people are not filling their boots,” one market participant said. “People seem to be having a tough time believing the market is credible.”
That would be because the market isn’t credible as the government keeps undermining it. Markets are a social construct and if the rules end regulation needed to maintain them aren’t in place then the market doesn’t exist.
Speaking of fuckwits … about ten days from now, this guy is going to really regret this tattoo, whoever wins the US election.
“I want young people to know that it’s O.K. to be young, and it’s O.K. to be a Republican. You don’t have to be rich or elderly to be labeled as a Republican, and I want everyone to know that.”
Yes, you could, by showing me the evidence that supports the delusional policies you have learned to parrot.
Everywhere we look, these delusional policy settings destroy lives and make the world a meaner, worse place. That is why I call you a fuckwit: all you’re doing is regurgitating the lies you believe.
It’s “easy” to show me I’m wrong: all you have to do is show me the evidence. When you can’t, of course, you’ll start clinging to your beliefs even harder.
So, you think that National need to continue to make the world a nastier place?
Okaaaay…
EDIT:
Here, have a short bit of reading. It’s about economics and how what most economists say is complete bollocks and not supported by actual historic fact.
Devotees of Amphetamine Aynnie may well blather on about their appreciation for philosophy, but unless we are talking about a charter school, they’re not likely to get a look in. Curricula aren’t just thrown together.
In any formal study of philosophy you have to start with the basics. After that, Ayn is only really fit as a bit of raw meat for the young pups to tear apart.
Imean, give anyone a week on epistemology basics, and then start explaining A=A’.
I’m not saying this government is going to do it, or of they do it, implement it well. What I am saying is that having it be a Randian indoctrination process is not anything we need to worry about.
Rand is a cul de sac. You can only get there by taking that one specific turn. If you start from anywhere else; if you start with epistemology, or Phil of language, or metaphysics, or the history of phil, or (as is most likely) syllogisms for dummies; then you won’t take the corner. You’ll stand there at the corner, looking down at the philosophical detritus, and ask only, “Who are these people, and why are they saying these things?”
I take your point that Rand is a cul-de-sac, but that is no consolation to Greenspan’s victims. I don’t think you can discount the possibility that Rand in schools isn’t on some twisted agenda, especially now we’re to give tax-payer dollars to faith schools.
In this circumstance, the schools in question would probably talk about “teaching our philosophy”.
If you have an example of them saying that, then sure; but all I can see in that article is them talking about teaching philosophy.
the texts in the photo look fine, from the pupils comments it looks like they are getting a 100 level intro into ethics and logic. I’d be surprised if they weren’t doing a bit of metaphysics, simply because those questions are really good for teaching about propositional logic.
I don’t see any evidence for concern based on what is being proposed.
Honestly, you sound a bit like them thar freaks banging on about how if we teach the kids about evilution it’s actually a plot to make them think they are animals in order to groom them for the gays.
Teaching kids philosophy is a good thing. It’s an inoculation against poor thought. Fuck all people bother with it at uni, and even fewer keep their hand in by taking time to read some now and then. We are poorer for that.
An exposure to at school, (I’d start em at about age 10 if I had my druthers), would save an awful lot of bother later.
By the time kids leave secondary school, they should be able to identify basic logical errors, construct and identify syllogisms, and know the difference between is and ought, and why it matters.
Quote:
” Beneficiaries and other strugglers have been informed that the state’s handup will be withdrawn if they do not observe certain rules about what they spend, where they live, what they ingest and when their kids go to school.
So it was surprising, to say the least, to see that National Education Minister Hekia Parata is promoting a bill that would tie the hands of educators who might want to drug-test school students or introduce drug-sniffing dogs to help weed out the dealers and users. ”
2) And another example:
Lindsay Mitchell points out research that shows we are spending a disproportionate amount of money preventing domestic violence when the majority of violence is men on men where very little money is spent. http://www.truth.co.nz/index.php/truthsays/667-right-on-october-18
Quote:
“His [Prof John Langley] research found the rate of serious assaults increased 50% from 2003 to 2008 and there was “no evidence of recent abatement”. Listening to him interviewed on Breakfast television I was almost relieved. Not because NZ isn’t getting safer but that someone is at least able to paint an accurate picture and convey it to us. He also expressed concern that most of the prevention focus was on domestic abuse, yet over three quarters of the serious assaults were men on men.
” Beneficiaries and other strugglers have been informed that the state’s handup will be withdrawn if they do not observe certain rules about what they spend, where they live, what they ingest and when their kids go to school.”
– I agree with this, its all part of the social contract but now the recipients have to live upto their end of the bargain
So it was surprising, to say the least, to see that National Education Minister Hekia Parata is promoting a bill that would tie the hands of educators who might want to drug-test school students or introduce drug-sniffing dogs to help weed out the dealers and users. ”
– I don’t agree with this at all. I’m the type of right-wing guy that thinks everyone should be subject to the same rules. ie Slam bene fraudsters and slam tax dodgers. We need to get drugs out of schools (well as much as it can be done)
Lindsay Mitchell points out research that shows we are spending a disproportionate amount of money preventing domestic violence when the majority of violence is men on men where very little money is spent.
– Good luck championing that
I’m guessing your “opinion” about it comes from parroting some right wing bullshit that you didn’t even bother to fact check.
“In political philosophy the social contract or political contract is a theory or model, originating during the Age of Enlightenment, that typically addresses the questions of the origin of society and the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Social contract arguments typically posit that individuals have consented, either explicitly or tacitly, to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the ruler or magistrate (or to the decision of a majority), in exchange for protection of their remaining rights.”
You see how there is precisely zero in there about the obligations of the individual? Can you see how the definition you have been duped by doesn’t gell with reality?
“individuals have consented, either explicitly or tacitly, to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the ruler or magistrate (or to the decision of a majority”
– like the freedom to decide what they can and can’t spend the money given to them?
– like the freedom to decide what they can and can’t spend the money given to them?
What specific rights we have are always up for negotiation. Look at history. Things that at one time that are considered by a society to be vital for the pursuit of happiness, are at other times, and in other societies, considered anathema.
What is the same is that in in any stable society, the rights that we have are protected by some overseeing authority, of one form or another. that authority retains its legitimacy as long as it is seen to be protecting the rights that the society, (in aggregate), considers appropriate.
As to your example, there are very few societies in which you have absolute freedom to do what you will with your money. Otherwise, legitimate Murder Inc companies would be far more common.
Lindsay Mitchell is a mental midget, but I can see how you would still look up to him, CB.
The number of victims affected directly or indirectly by domestic violence makes it a greater problem than man on man violence. Neither form is acceptable, but while violence in a pub carpark directly affects those involved, violence in the home affects everyone in the home and flows onto the next generation.
getting back to TRP’s comment about Lindsay Mitchell:
Not to mention the victims of family violence being locked-in with their attackers of an evening. Domestic violence is a completely different animal. If Ms Mitchell doesn’t see a difference she is indeed a vaccuous, moral and intellectual midget.
She also fails to realise that different problems require different solutions. And, indeed, the first step to stop males fighting each other might very well be to stop them beating their partners.
And one of the big factors involved of the majority of domestic violence incidents, is that someone with more physical (and possibly social) strength/power attacks a weaker one.
Male-on-male violence tends to be between males who choose to be in particular social environments – pubs etc. Domestic violence, is in the place where people live.
Personally I am uncomfortable with the way that principals want to conduct such invasive measures, ie drug testing, drug dogs, search after search after search and so on. There seems to be a wanton disregard for students civil rights in our school.
Walsh and his mates are better off calling for a comprehensive D and A education program in our schools. In the USA you have the students going through metal detectors when they walk into school in the morning, under the watchful eyes of security guards. I would hate for that to happen here.
I’m actually surprised that principals or teachers would want any part of it. I’m wondering how much of it is just a beat up, maybe to divert attention from hungry kids.
Seems the guilty plea is what stitched it, but wonder what the catalyst was that lead to the plea!
This has much more consequence than what it appears at face value, and does the same apply to the medical/mental/parma industries where drugs are issued to children, or is that type of experimentation deemed acceptable?
Yeah, mobilise the ski mask boys and go gung ho into a family home but oh noes!, rather than full blown class A production under way you find a brown man cooking up oil out of a heap of cabbage.
The ultimate goal of the anti gay-marriage lot is the repeal of the Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986. Louisa Wall’s bill is just an excuse for them to kick up a fuss.
Interesting that they are also the same people who go on about ‘nanny state’, it seems OK for nanny state to kick down the bedroom doors of consenting adults.
Interesting that they are also the same people who go on about ‘nanny state’, it seems OK for nanny state to kick down the bedroom doors of consenting adults.
No, it’s more like that they’re quite happy about having a nanny state as long as they’re the nanny and so get to force their own beliefs onto others.
People who go on about nanny state aren’t necessarily anti-gay or anti-gay marriage.
Yup, just yesterday the MC reminded everybody that a greenie nanny state would ban the kids shemozzle and all the while his events insurance was provided by nana ACC.
Ironically it was the MC’s beloved National Party that brought in all the PC greenie nanny state nonsense with the OSH legislation.
Last time I looked, the actual greenies were calling for some of that PC nanny state nonsence to be relaxed a little so schools could keep their pools open.
We spent a beautiful in day in Hunterville, knee deep in kids, eating $3 spit roasted porky sandwiches, and, come 1pm, drinking beer in the marquee.
They’ve tidied things up with an alcohol ban outside of the two outlets so I’d highly recommend the event as a family outing and an insight into rural NZ.
Because they’re fucking ignorant, if they knew their history as well, they’d know the same line of argument was used to attack inter-racial marriages and justify enslaving africans and native americans. Also there’s the environment of the churches they’re members of, which are most likely newer, charismatic evangelical ones that aren’t big on independent thinking and question traditional bullshit.
Is it apathy that middle New Zealanders do not care about whatever the Nats are doing to the country ?
Why are there no real demonstrations or marches, other than small bands of malcontents.
Where are the left leaders (other than Russell Norman) ?
As summer comes upon us are we to see less and less time given to the machinations of the Government before the summer recess.
Where is Labour’s visions to enable this to be digested over the summer ?
No wonder the Greens have taken the left lead – against Labour they are frightening and will do so to the horses unless Labour takes a lead to the middle class voters.
Or as said, are middle New Zealaders muddling along apathetically waiting for the golden summer -these are the real votes, particularly the women.
The Greens voters are effectively the latte drinking, white middle class, comfortably off, well educated, chardonnay drinking, mainly women not the real working people of this country.
Fix the housing affordability issue and many others ( Improved disposable income and the financial stress that is associated with this) greatly improves. But unfortunately any government is dependent upon maintaining the apathy towards politics, this will be maintained as long as there is the feeling that peoples wealth is increasing (home owners).
Introduce a CGT will not solve the increasing property and the exclusion of many, all that means is that the govt receives an increase in tax take (unless the bubble explodes ) http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/finance-minister-bill-english-video-5166774 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10843323
This year’s renewed 10-20 per cent surge in Auckland house prices to record highs has further focused attention. http://www.interest.co.nz/property/home-loan-affordability
My eyes tend to roll when I hear the term ‘red-tape’…can you expend on what you mean? What is the red-tape, what is it preventing and how do we get rid of it.
Bill English said on Q+A that we need more high density housing…he then said that this is difficult because we can’t just build because people’s right to having a ‘view’ would be compromised. So on the one hand, its get rid of the red-tape, and on the other, English is promoting red-tape.
What do you mean by red-tape?
There are current regulations in place that restrict what can be built. To change these would take time, plenty of time. Unless we allow Nanny state to intervene and to override due process, then who pays the cost to retrofit the infrastructure e.g. Road widths, sub base of roads are based on the carrying capacity of the road. Storm & waste water, water pressure, power, phone, gas capacity of an area which are based on no. of users.
opening more land would take 5-10 year to achieve in the planning then you have how these new areas dove tail into the existing infrastructure. We already have a growth plan being implemented for Auckland http://www.arc.govt.nz/albany/fms/main/Documents/Auckland/Aucklands%20growth/Auckland%20regional%20growth%20strategy.pdf
Many developments have covenants in place that have mim restrictions on size of dwelling, building materials, only one dwelling per lot which is in place to protect other residents.
One note when comparing historic house affordability one should remember that house sizes have increased, so the cost to build is greater in 1980 it was 150m, 10 years later 200m2. The cost to build this additional 50m2 would be $70-100k http://www.qv.co.nz/propertyinformation/KnowledgeCentre/Average+house+size+by+age10052011.htm
KJT (tongue in cheek) this aspect has been successful. Just look at the discount that is placed on mono plastered houses as to those “safe” B&T and other safe building materials and both the price and the time it takes to sell.
Agree with limiting the ability for banks to loan on property.
Also should property drop the banks will be safe all the lose attributed to would be born by the land owner or insurance company that the mortgage protection is held by.
No it won’t – it’ll push the costs up. Slightly cheaper houses, far more running costs.
Really want to drop house prices? Then do this. I’m sure you’ll find house prices dropping quite rapidly as people figure out that it’s better not owning.
Found this site ( http://votes.wotfun.com/ ) and a few interesting votes by Winston Peters. His reputation as a dick is kind of well deserved, it horrifies me that people plan to [seriously] vote for him next election. 😮
* Human Rights Act – Votes against
* Civil Unions Act – Votes against
* Homosexual Law Reform Act – Votes against
* Prostitution Reform Act – Votes against
* Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill (to allow gay marriage) – Votes against
* New Zealand Bill of Rights Act Act – Votes against
* Death With Dignity 1995 Bill – Votes against
* Crimes (Abolition of Force as a Justification for Child Discipline) Amendment [2nd Reading] Bill – Votes Against
* Care of Children Amendment Act – Votes against
Well I voted for him last election, mainly because he was such a rabble rouser. Now he has a lot of political power though, I am definitely going to disagree with his party (and vote for another); a quick flick through his party’s website and I am already in disagreement. Winston here ( http://nzfirst.org.nz/what-we-stand-for/constitutional-review ) argues to remove the treaty of Waitangi from legislation i.e. turn back race relations a hundred years.
Last month I wrote my blog on covid-19 pointing out the in our pre Alert Level 4 days that a subject no one had heard here months ago was now dominating the media. An amazing feature of this crisis is how quickly it has swept every other issue aside worldwide. ...
Nick Wilson,1 Ayesha Verrall,1,2 Len Cook,3 Alistair Gray,3 Amanda Kvalsvig,1 Michael Baker,1 (1epidemiologists, 2infectious disease physician, 3statisticians)In this blog, we raise ideas for how New Zealand might optimise testing to both identify cases in the community as part of the COVID-19 elimination strategy, and to confirm when the virus ...
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As the world economy slides rapidly towards deep recession there are growing calls for a Universal Benefit coming from some leftists and rightists. Now Finance Minister Grant Robertson is saying it is on the table. This article by a French party Workers Struggle provides analysis of various forms of universal ...
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One of the key voices in this extraordinary time in which we live is that of University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker. Philip Matthews did an an excellent job this weekend of capturing the way he became the man for this moment in a profile for The Press.But one ...
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As the first week of Level Four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was (and was not) allowed under its “rules”. Partly these were driven by some apparently contradictory messagesfrom different authority figures and explanations carried in the media. Partly they reflected a somewhat sketchy legal basis ...
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For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of a pretty flower, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a cute animal video. . . . =fs= ...
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Outgoing Police Commissioner Mike Bush appeared before the Epidemic Response Committee today, who asked him for the rules police are using to enforce the lockdown. He refused:Police Commissioner Mike Bush has admitted the advice given to Kiwis about what they're able to do during the lockdown hasn't been clear enough. ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of my cat, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a pretty flower. . . . =fs= ...
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Funnily enough, my thought as I start this post is whether it will be well written enough. Or should that be well enough written? Because so much of what I know about good writing came from my two stints at The Listener, which this morning was shut down due to ...
With normal democratic procedures in abeyance, there were two ways to go. First, it was open for the government to dissolve itself and invite the National Party to join a ministry of national salvation. That would have lessened the democratic deficit of the times by having a team of rivals without ...
Dr Kirsty Ross Children and young people can respond differently in times of distress. This also varies by age and developmental stage, with younger children having more magical and imaginative thinking, and older children having more awareness and knowledge of the issues our communities are facing (which brings up ...
Hungary has been a virtual dictatorship for a decade now, as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has gradually eroded its democracy. But now, its official, with the passage of an indefinite emergency law allowing rule by decree:Hungary’s parliament has passed a new set of coronavirus measures that includes jail terms for ...
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Image credit:Diamond Harbour School Blogs 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 ...
Yesterday's Horizon poll showing support for a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum sliding into the majority for the first time in a year looked like good news for reformers – and it probably is. But the result warrants some scrutiny.The poll is the fifth in a series commissioned ...
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The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...
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On March 17, Finance Minister Grant Robertson was quick out of the blocks with an economic rescue package to help businesses through the inevitable recession resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Robertson had pulled together a scheme in short order that so far seems to have saved many jobs. In his ...
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The story of Les Gray, the public sector psychologist who told the truth about his use of cannabis and set off a storm, has a special place in the lore of cannabis reform in New Zealand.When Paul Shannon interviewed Gray for the 'Dope and Hope' issue of Planet magazine in ...
by Phil Duncan For Marxists, a key concern about social trends is their context – not just their causes, but why they happen when they do. Events and phenomena have causes, but they also are time or period-specific. While much of the left have capitulated recently to postmodernism, most notably ...
Since the lockdown began, we've all suddenly been reminded who the actually essential workers in our society are: not the people at the top who pay themselves the big bucks and rort the perks, but the people at the bottom they screw over and squeeze: cleaners, warehouse staff, truck drivers ...
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Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to trying to extirpate the virus that causes COVID-19 from its shores. To do that, as a society we’ve moved to “Level 4”. That means adapting to unprecedented restrictions on our personal freedoms, particularly to our rights to move freely and associate with friends and ...
When the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency last week, she handed the police powers to enforce it. And almost immediately, we started hearing about heavy-handed, arbitrary "enforcement" by police who (at best) cared more about order than law, or (more likely) had no idea what the rules were ...
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by Don Franks Hi David, Nice hearing from you, I’m glad to hear you’re getting by okay in these grim times. You asked how’s it going for us back here in New Zealand. You would have heard that the whole country is locked down and with breaks for exercise and ...
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The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...
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From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, our Government has striven to provide calm, clear and consistent communication, including daily press conference updates from the Prime Minister. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world".Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...
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Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging New Zealanders overseas to stay where they are amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are reaching a point where the best option for most New Zealanders offshore is to shelter in place, by preparing to safely stay where they are.” "This includes following the instructions ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging the tens of thousands of New Zealanders travelling overseas to consider sheltering in place, in light of COVID-19. “Since 18 March, we have been warning New Zealanders offshore that the window for flying ...
Ground-breaking law has passed that will decriminalise abortion and ensure women and pregnant people seeking abortions have compassionate healthcare. ...
The Green Party says that the measures announced by the Government today will help families and businesses to prioritise our collective health and wellbeing in the response to COVID-19. ...
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The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...
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Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
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The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
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The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
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New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
Analysis: New Zealand has dedicated itself to going hard and going early against Covid-19. When compared with other countries, how did we do? When Jacinda Ardern announced a requirement for everyone entering the country to self-isolate for 14 days, she told the nation what New Zealand's strategy for the months ...
Covid-19 quickly put Vodafone NZ to the test, but CEO Jason Paris - working out of his son's bedroom - tells Rod Oram the telco is in good shape, with the crisis giving it the opportunity "to accelerate to our digital future" Vodafone New Zealand got an early start preparing ...
Inland Revenue (IR) will turn off its computer systems for seven days from this Thursday to implement the latest round of planned transformation changes. All phone and online services will be unavailable from 3pm on 9 April until 16 April. That ...
Taxis drivers working during lockdown are facing challenges to keep themselves and their passengers safe, and rideshare service drivers face extra problems. The Taxi Federation's John Hart says most companies are asking callers who request a taxi whether the travel is allowed under the lockdown rules. "If they don't meet ...
Auckland Airport is the latest big company to rush to strengthen its finances to counter the impact of the Covid-19 virus. The company is to raise more than $1.2 billion through a share issue to big institutional investors and existing shareholders, including the Auckland Council which has a 22 percent ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ilan Noy, Professor and Chair in the Economics of Disasters, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Governments across the world have rolled out extensive financial packages to support individuals, businesses and large corporations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Equally, central ...
Pacific Media Watch From the second week of lockdown in New Zealand, to Covid-19 in the Pacific and an “authoritarianism creep” by governments in the Asia-Pacific region provided a fast-changing landscape on the Pacific Media Centre’s Southern Cross radio programme on 95bFM today. New Zealand had crossed the 1000-case ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union is urging the Government to halt its non-essential legislative agenda, including the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Bill, until the worst of COVID-19 has passed. Taxpayers' Union spokesperson Islay ...
Fuel sales have dropped dramatically and stocks are building up, creating pressure on storage facilities globally and in New Zealand. Z Energy's chief executive Mike Bennetts told Morning Report that there are many storage tanks throughout the country and at the Marsden Point Oil Refinery. "The issue for us is more about ...
Join us for our eighth live Q&A session with Dr Ayesha Verrall, a senior lecturer at Otago University who specialises in infectious diseases. Ayesha Verrall is an infectious diseases physician and senior lecturer at Otago University's Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine (Wellington). Dr Verrall has been monitoring the spread and impact of Covid-19 ...
SkyCity has broken the law by sacking hundreds of workers as of today with no consultation or discussion. Salaried managers at SkyCity were told on Friday that their jobs would finish today. Their letter of notice states clearly that the decision has already ...
The latest in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersThese posts collate the most recent statistics and presents them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in the early ...
Mark Jennings writes on some of the good things to have come out of lockdown - and the tough times that lie ahead. We are well into our second week of lockdown and, for me, our old world already feels strangely remote. I’ve learned that working from home is fine, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Sharpe, Associate Professor in Philosophy, Deakin University Some weeks ago, I got an email from a student who had returned to Northern Italy over Christmas to see family. Unable to return to Australia, they were in lockdown. The hospitals were filling ...
The Taranaki-Whanganui Conservation Board (TWCB) has welcomed its latest victory in a long-running court battle to prevent seabed mining off the Taranaki coast. The TWCB has been working with iwi, seafood and other environmental organisations to ...
If you’re a movie-lover but don’t feel like funnelling more money to a giant global corporation right now, good news: there are plenty of free – and legal – streaming options out there. You just have to know where to look.The number of people with access to linear television is ...
The face mask question is more complicated than it might at first seem, explains Siouxsie Wiles.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 crisis is only possible because of the support of members. If you can, please consider joining Spinoff Members here. Read Toby Morris’s new Side Eye comic, created with Siouxsie Wiles, here. ...
In times of economic uncertainty, good information can be an invaluable commodity. So we’ve been working on a way to channel it to you.For many people, knowing what to do in our radically changing economy is like trying to figure out what to do when the power in your house ...
3 April 2020: The Auditor-General has written to the chief executives of a range of public agencies about important governance matters to consider during the response to the pandemic. The contents of this letter are useful matters for all chief executives ...
Cries that coronavirus lockdown was interfering with “essential pest control” were scare-mongering not unlike supermarket panic buying says a hunting organisation the Sporting Hunters Outdoor Trust. The comment was in response to an Auckland University ...
The Chief High Court judge’s decision to step down has triggered a question bluntly expressed in a headline on Asian Invasion 2019 – What The Hell Is Going On In The New Zealand Judiciary? First, the blogger says, the judiciary was accepting debate sparked by a newly appointed Supreme Court ...
The daily growth in Covid-19 cases in New Zealand continues to slump as the number of tests carried out yesterday reached a record high, Marc Daalder reports The continuing stagnation in the number of new Covid-19 cases on Monday is encouraging, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said. Monday saw just 67 ...
Laura Jean McKay is hunkered down in Palmerston North but her much-hyped novel The Animals in That Country is out there in the world – earlier than expected, too, because it’s about a strange new flu. Two women stand close to each other in an aisle labelled CANS. They’re young, ...
She’s not a teacher or a fluent speaker – she just wants to practise with you. Join Leonie Hayden as she works through the first four weeks of Scotty Morrison’s Māori Made Easy.Today we’re making it count – from 0 to 1000!Most of us learned tahi, rua, toru, whā when ...
Human rights lawyer Kingsley Abbott warns that Kiwis should not be too complacent about the restrictions being placed upon them In New Zealand, swimming at the beach is prohibited, an activity so entrenched in the Kiwi psyche that for many it is like being asked to go without oxygen. The ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet ...
Gareth Morgan believes if current trends continue, the Government could "open the jail" in another week Each week we’re locked up imparts irreparable harm to the economy, people’s livelihoods and not least our health. We all know why it’s been necessary and the Government is to be congratulated for moving ...
The Reserve Bank will buy up local government bonds in a major move to support the smooth functioning of the market in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic The Reserve Bank has heeded the call of economists and the country's largest council to expand its multi-billion dollar asset-purchasing programme to include bonds issued by ...
Today President Trump again touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for Covid-19, despite a lack of good evidence that it is safe or effective against the coronavirus. Here’s what we do know about the drug Trump calls a ‘game changer’.On Saturday the US Food and Drug Administration approved the use ...
Simon Bridges supports the start of discussions about a possible exit plan from level-4 restrictions, as long as the government remains focused on enforcing an effective lockdown. ...
PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY:By Sri Krishnamurthi, self-isolating in Auckland under New Zealand’s Covid-19 lockdown as part of a Pacific Media Watch series. As New Zealand edges toward the third week of lockdown having passed 1000 cases threshold (1039) with 89 new cases, 12 clusters and one death on day ...
It’s a more complicated issue than simply whether one company should control the majority of the market, writes regulatory law expert Edward Willis.The closure of Bauer Media’s operations in New Zealand, along with many well-loved magazine titles, is devastating. The broad impact of the closure, coupled with the realisation that ...
Pacific Media Watch Authorities are cracking down to try and stop the spread of the coronavirus in Fiji, which already has 12 cases, reports TVNZ One News. Police have arrested more than 240 people in the last two days for breaching curfew. “This level of lawlessness is irresponsible, un-Fijian ...
‘When you reach for the exact same thing day after day, your grasp on everything else in the world loosens.’Read more Lockdown Letters hereAt the end of 2001, my brother JP and I picked cherries and thinned apples at an orchard just outside Blenheim. It was hot and tiring work ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin USA still far from worst. Chart by Keith Rankin. Looking at known cases of Covid19, as for Friday 3 April, we still see the dominance of the jetsetter enclaves – including the tax shelters of Europe. We also see the Norse ‘viking’ cluster of Norway, ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand. Today’s contentPublic health strategy Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): How hard, how early? The numbers behind New Zealand’s quick lockdown David Fisher ...
Alex Casey talks to a physiotherapist about how we can all save our necks and backs from a world of pain while working from home during the lockdown. As we enter another week of lockdown, you might be starting to feel a new twinge at the nape of your neck, or ...
The country's three major IT groups have been left out of the loop by the Government in the race to speed up critical contact tracing of virus carriers. ...
America faces 'Pearl Harbour moment' this week; Trump still promoting anti-malaria drug; Irish PM to work as doctor as wellA million cases is so last week, huge doubt over data: A weekend is a long time for an exponential epidemic to do its mathematical work. Early today, New Zealand time, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suze Wilson, Senior Lecturer, Executive Development, Massey University Imagine, if you can, what it’s like to make decisions on which the lives of tens of thousands of other people depend. If you get things wrong, or delay deciding, they die. Your decisions ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hewson, Professor and Chair, Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Climate deniers have been hanging out for the United Nations’ next big summit to fail. In a sense, the coronavirus and its induced policy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide You’ve lost income because of the coronavirus crisis and finding it hard to pay the bills. What if you can’t pay your rent? The short answer, if you live in Australia, is that rules ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aaron Burton, Lecturer in Media Arts, University of Wollongong Being in isolation might be a great time to try something new. In this series, we get the basics on hobbies and activities to start while you’re spending more time at home. ...
The prime minister has pushed back on comments made by an Australian government minister telling New Zealanders to go home if they have no means of support. ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Safe harbour for directors; Virgin Australia shuts NZ base; Z Energy cancels dividend and talks to banks; Serko bounces on cost cutsSafe harbour: Company directors might be sleeping a little easier now that the Government has provided clarity around the issue of reckless trading or trading while insolvent. The ...
Covid 19 coronavirus: Foreign Minister Winston Peters says up to 100,000 foreign nationals may be heading home; and pressure on Government to bring forward capital projects as part of infrastructure injection. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Debate over leaving lockdown fires up, how the tax system could change after Covid-19, and concerns as cyclone bears down on Vanuatu.Over the last few days, a debate has started to fire up about leaving level four restrictions, and restarting some ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Queenstown author Jane Bloomfield on a writing compeition which unlocks kids' imaginations during the lockdown. Encouraging young minds to roam wild is what drives myself and nine other children’s authors to run the online story-writing competition, Fabostory. With the current lockdown in place, we invite writers aged 7–13 to unlock ...
Newsroom wanted to find out why so many small shops still don’t want us to use paywave. And the answer hasn’t changed - bank fees. Suddenly, surfaces are scary. Door handles, taps, light switches, lift buttons, eftpos machines. These days they aren't just useful inanimate objects we touch without a ...
Should all New Zealanders wear face masks in public to reduce the spread of Covid-19? Farah Hancock looks at the science. The success of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore in keeping Covid-19 levels low has seen a call for widespread mask-wearing. In the United States, the message from officials has ...
The Global Financial Crisis badly hurt the employment prospects of young people about to enter the workforce. Roger Smyth writes that Covid-19 will have a deeper impact, and the Government needs to respond better this time. Recessions hit the young hardest. Employers stop recruiting. Those without qualifications and those without experience end ...
March 16, 2020 is a day that any share market investor is likely to remember for a long time. That’s the day that the Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index that tracks the top 30 companies listed on US stock exchanges, lost 2997 points, nearly 13 percent of its value. ...
The University of Otago's Patrick Boudreau explains how 'adventure psychology' can help you cope with self-isolation Imagine being halfway up a sheer vertical face of rock. Gripping ledges smaller than the width of your iPhone with the tips of your fingers and edge of your toes. If the rock gives ...
After 15 years on the world pro tennis circuit, Marina Erakovic is chasing a new dream in sports medicine and mentoring young tennis stars. Marina Erakovic can’t run anymore. She didn’t really like it anyway, but still, it’s a measure of the toll a 15-year career at the highest level of tennis has ...
Scientists hope to seek evidence of the coronavirus, or its absence, in wastewater. Mirjam Guesgen explains.The fight against Covid-19 is headed for the sewers, with New Zealand scientists hoping to analyse wastewater samples for signs of the coronavirus.Tests would allow health authorities to see whether New Zealand’s elimination strategy has ...
Since the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment relaxed the rules around the supply of essential non-food items last week, more businesses are announcing that their online stores are up and running. Some things, however, are not what leaps to mind as ‘essential’.Under the new policy allowing essential non-food items ...
By Jane Patterson, political editor of RNZ News Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it’s too early to claim success against the spread of Covid-19 but 11 days into lockdown, New Zealand has made a good start. At today’s media briefing, Ardern was reluctant to draw too many conclusions from ...
By Stefan Armbruster of SBS News in Brisbane Refugees and asylum seekers in Brisbane have begun daily protests urging for their release after doctors and human rights lawyers flagged fears that a repurposed hotel could become a coronavirus infection hotspot. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the UN Human ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it's too early to claim success against the spread of Covid-19 but 11 days into lockdown, New Zealand has made a good start. ...
Sam Brooks, a lifelong Studio Ghibli fan, presents a guide to the Japanese studio’s animated films, including which ones to show your kids when.Just heard ‘Let It Go’ for the billionth time? Sick of those class-traitor dogs that make up the cast of Paw Patrol? Look no further than the ...
Alan Simmons co-leader of the NZ Outdoors Party says tensions are at breaking point around New Zealand. “I cannot keep up with the calls and messages from New Zealanders who are extremely stressed, distressed and frustrated by dramatic changes imposed ...
Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass.Well, we’ve all said we wish we had more time to read and now we’ve got what we wished for. Jenna, Kiran and Louisa delve into some book news (that’s not too heavy for ...
The prime minister says she expects the health minister to continue doing his job, including media interviews, after he broke the lockdown rules last week to go mountain biking. ...
There have been calls for major institutions like Auckland Art Gallery to do better in identifying queer or queer-associated artists. New Auckland Art Gallery director Kirsten Paisley believes it’s ‘a conversation that needs to happen’. Writer Samuel Te Kani digs into the complications below the surface of the erasures of ...
Ardern says the role of planning for moving out of lockdown is not the Government's alone Businesses should plan how they will operate in an environment where intensive contact tracing would be needed post-lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. The Government was working on additional guidance for the move to Level 3 ...
Netflix’s four-part series Unorthodox traces a woman’s escape from a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. Emily Writes considers the lessons we can all learn from her journey. There was a moment watching Netflix’s miniseries Unorthodox when I felt like I was actually in Berlin, where much of the show is ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...
Open mike 28/10/2012 
Last month I wrote my blog on covid-19 pointing out the in our pre Alert Level 4 days that a subject no one had heard here months ago was now dominating the media. An amazing feature of this crisis is how quickly it has swept every other issue aside worldwide. ...1 hour ago
Nick Wilson,1 Ayesha Verrall,1,2 Len Cook,3 Alistair Gray,3 Amanda Kvalsvig,1 Michael Baker,1 (1epidemiologists, 2infectious disease physician, 3statisticians) In this blog, we raise ideas for how New Zealand might optimise testing to both identify cases in the community as part of the COVID-19 elimination strategy, and to confirm when the virus ...1 hour ago
Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... North Atlantic's capacity to absorb CO2 overestimated, study suggests Research into ocean’s plankton likely to lead to ...5 hours ago
The Treaty on Open Skies is one of the most effective mechanisms for preventing war curently in force. By letting countries make surveillance flights over each others' territory, it eliminates fears that they are secretly preparing for war. So naturally, the US is planning to withdraw from it: The Trump ...6 hours ago
. . April 5: Day eleven of living in lock-down… My one day of rest for the week, and an opportunity to mow my lawns – which I’d been delaying for about three weeks. (On the plus side, the damp micro-climate in my back yard yielded three lovely fresh mushrooms ...6 hours ago
Paul Connett is putting all his eggs in one basket. He says “you only have to read four studies” to find community after fluoridation harmful. Image credit: Fluoride Action Network newsletter. For part 1 of this series see Anti-fluoridation propaganda now relies on only four studies. 1: Bashash et al (2018). Paul Connett, ...9 hours ago
As far as anyone can say, New Zeaand still has a general election scheduled for September 19 this year. The election will be accompanied by two referenda, one of which will ask voters:Do you support the proposed Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill?The official campaign period for the cannabis referendum begins ...9 hours ago
As the world economy slides rapidly towards deep recession there are growing calls for a Universal Benefit coming from some leftists and rightists. Now Finance Minister Grant Robertson is saying it is on the table. This article by a French party Workers Struggle provides analysis of various forms of universal ...24 hours ago
This is the advice from the very top of the anti-fluoride movement – Paul Connett, director of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). Don’t worry about reading up on all the scientific information “You only have ... 1 day ago
Comfortably, in the very first round, with an impressive 56% of the votes.I wonder, did members of the Shadow Cabinet start tweeting their resignations during Starmer's victory speech, or is that only a trick the right pull?It is odd how all the talk of how the next leader "needs to ...1 day ago
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed the nation today about the decline in daylight New Zealand has been experiencing over the previous few months. She said “As many of you will notice, our attempts to stem the dwindling of the daylight over the last few months have been completely ...2 days ago
We must root out the traitors among us! ...3 days ago
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...4 days ago
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...4 days ago
Image credit: Diamond Harbour School Blogs 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 ... 5 days ago
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...5 days ago
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...6 days ago
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...1 week ago
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...1 week ago
From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, our Government has striven to provide calm, clear and consistent communication, including daily press conference updates from the Prime Minister. ...1 day ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world". Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...3 days ago
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The scale of what we face right now is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Overcoming it is our common purpose. ...2 weeks ago
The New Zealand Government has made arrangements to charter a flight for New Zealanders stranded in Peru to depart the country, following agreement with the Chilean government to allow the necessary transit through Chile, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters announced today. “Like many travellers around the world at the moment, ...2 hours ago
Analysis: New Zealand has dedicated itself to going hard and going early against Covid-19. When compared with other countries, how did we do? When Jacinda Ardern announced a requirement for everyone entering the country to self-isolate for 14 days, she told the nation what New Zealand's strategy for the months ...11 mins ago
Covid-19 quickly put Vodafone NZ to the test, but CEO Jason Paris - working out of his son's bedroom - tells Rod Oram the telco is in good shape, with the crisis giving it the opportunity "to accelerate to our digital future" Vodafone New Zealand got an early start preparing ...21 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Komesaroff, Professor of Medicine, Monash University Although recent encouraging news suggests the rate of new coronavirus cases in Australia is slowing, our medical facilities could still be overwhelmed at some point. One modelling study has suggested that, if public health measures ...39 mins ago
Inland Revenue (IR) will turn off its computer systems for seven days from this Thursday to implement the latest round of planned transformation changes. All phone and online services will be unavailable from 3pm on 9 April until 16 April. That ...1 hour ago
Taxis drivers working during lockdown are facing challenges to keep themselves and their passengers safe, and rideshare service drivers face extra problems. The Taxi Federation's John Hart says most companies are asking callers who request a taxi whether the travel is allowed under the lockdown rules. "If they don't meet ...2 hours ago
Auckland Airport is the latest big company to rush to strengthen its finances to counter the impact of the Covid-19 virus. The company is to raise more than $1.2 billion through a share issue to big institutional investors and existing shareholders, including the Auckland Council which has a 22 percent ...2 hours ago
Fuel sales have dropped dramatically and stocks are building up, creating pressure on storage facilities globally and in New Zealand. Z Energy's chief executive Mike Bennetts told Morning Report that there are many storage tanks throughout the country and at the Marsden Point Oil Refinery. "The issue for us is more about ...2 hours ago
Join us for our eighth live Q&A session with Dr Ayesha Verrall, a senior lecturer at Otago University who specialises in infectious diseases. Ayesha Verrall is an infectious diseases physician and senior lecturer at Otago University's Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine (Wellington). Dr Verrall has been monitoring the spread and impact of Covid-19 ...2 hours ago
The latest in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersThese posts collate the most recent statistics and presents them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in the early ...2 hours ago
Mark Jennings writes on some of the good things to have come out of lockdown - and the tough times that lie ahead. We are well into our second week of lockdown and, for me, our old world already feels strangely remote. I’ve learned that working from home is fine, ...2 hours ago
The Chief High Court judge’s decision to step down has triggered a question bluntly expressed in a headline on Asian Invasion 2019 – What The Hell Is Going On In The New Zealand Judiciary? First, the blogger says, the judiciary was accepting debate sparked by a newly appointed Supreme Court ...4 hours ago
The daily growth in Covid-19 cases in New Zealand continues to slump as the number of tests carried out yesterday reached a record high, Marc Daalder reports The continuing stagnation in the number of new Covid-19 cases on Monday is encouraging, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said. Monday saw just 67 ...4 hours ago
Human rights lawyer Kingsley Abbott warns that Kiwis should not be too complacent about the restrictions being placed upon them In New Zealand, swimming at the beach is prohibited, an activity so entrenched in the Kiwi psyche that for many it is like being asked to go without oxygen. The ...4 hours ago
The opposition leader is defending his decision to commute between Wellington and his home in Tauranga during the Covid-19 lockdown. ...5 hours ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet ...5 hours ago
The National Party leader Simon Bridges supports the start of discussions about a possible exit plan from level-4 restrictions. ...5 hours ago
Gareth Morgan believes if current trends continue, the Government could "open the jail" in another week Each week we’re locked up imparts irreparable harm to the economy, people’s livelihoods and not least our health. We all know why it’s been necessary and the Government is to be congratulated for moving ...5 hours ago
The Reserve Bank will buy up local government bonds in a major move to support the smooth functioning of the market in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic The Reserve Bank has heeded the call of economists and the country's largest council to expand its multi-billion dollar asset-purchasing programme to include bonds issued by ...5 hours ago
The country's three major IT groups have been left out of the loop by the Government in the race to speed up critical contact tracing of virus carriers. ...9 hours ago
America faces 'Pearl Harbour moment' this week; Trump still promoting anti-malaria drug; Irish PM to work as doctor as well A million cases is so last week, huge doubt over data: A weekend is a long time for an exponential epidemic to do its mathematical work. Early today, New Zealand time, ...9 hours ago
Cabinet ministers will today consider whether New Zealand is ready to come out of lockdown in another 16 days. ...9 hours ago
Safe harbour for directors; Virgin Australia shuts NZ base; Z Energy cancels dividend and talks to banks; Serko bounces on cost cuts Safe harbour: Company directors might be sleeping a little easier now that the Government has provided clarity around the issue of reckless trading or trading while insolvent. The ...11 hours ago
Covid 19 coronavirus: Foreign Minister Winston Peters says up to 100,000 foreign nationals may be heading home; and pressure on Government to bring forward capital projects as part of infrastructure injection. ...11 hours ago
Queenstown author Jane Bloomfield on a writing compeition which unlocks kids' imaginations during the lockdown. Encouraging young minds to roam wild is what drives myself and nine other children’s authors to run the online story-writing competition, Fabostory. With the current lockdown in place, we invite writers aged 7–13 to unlock ...12 hours ago
Newsroom wanted to find out why so many small shops still don’t want us to use paywave. And the answer hasn’t changed - bank fees. Suddenly, surfaces are scary. Door handles, taps, light switches, lift buttons, eftpos machines. These days they aren't just useful inanimate objects we touch without a ...12 hours ago
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Afghan package decried as too little
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7873308/Afghan-package-decried-as-too-little
So what are these normal channels?
Having little funds and no support, first they have to get out of the country. Diamond Kazimi reports that two of his relatives have done this. A cousin got to Germany and his brother managed to reach Canada. Applying for refugee status, he was told by the Canadian authorities told that the New Zealand government should be dealing with this. Diamond Kazimi himself was only able to reach New Zealand after a serving New Zealand soldier sponsored his travel here. Without this sponsorship he would never have made it. He then had to enter the country posing as a temporary visitor, the only way he could legally get entry into New Zealand.
What could be called “normal” about this?
Normal channels for refugees are a series of difficult hurdles especially placed in their path by the border authorities of the countries they wish to enter. For those with meagre funds, or lacking sponsorship, these hurdles more times than not are insurmountable.
A disgrace. Diamond Kazimi has appealed to the NZ media to take up the cause of the interpretors and other support workers left in Afghanistan to face the wrath of Taliban for working for us.
Does anyone else see the comments made by Key as American in style? (We got what we wanted from you so screw you). Perhaps I’m biased. I do sound a little bitter when I read that back.
These people should be given priority to at the very least have their cases looked at, and frankly I don’t see why we shouldn’t bump the quota for a year to accommodate them and their families. Where is the compassion? Key REALLY hates beneficiaries of any kind huh.
Key (like so many from the Right) knows nothing of “compassion”, just don’t expect it from him. Key hates people, full stop – human beings are an impediment to getting on with making money and being an ego-driven hedonist. All of those overseas holidays must make him very “rusty”, by the way!
This should have been thought of when we started with the coaltion in Afghanistan.
Why can’t those people continue as interpeters, 3 months on in Afghanistan, 9 months off in Aoteoroa ?
We talk about reconstruction, surely helping them and their families get a good education and experience of a more evolved society would be one of the best reconstructive things we could do?
(No offense to the people on the ground in Afghanistan but Soldiers are not University Lecturers)
How about Dual NZ / Afghan citizenship for instance ?
To apply a “Letter of the Law” approach to this is not “Good Civilised Behaviour” on Johny Sparkles behalf.
Yet another strike on the ledger of Gnats’ policy M8’s!
An excellent idea…
And so it appears New Zealand is readying itself to leave the Kyoto Protocol.
Not satisfied with weakening it to the point of its demise, plans are now to take it out back and drown it in a bath tub.
Shame on them.
Thanks, Micky. I will add the link to my post that is scheduled to publish here in about an hour.
Is it possible the Natz are deliberately being idiotic about this?
Which Administration signed (rather than ratified) the Kyoto Protocol?
Aye they did. I have the utmost respect for Simon Upton for driving it through.
I can recall having some fun at an election meeting where a Nat MP was trying to criticize the decision to ratify the Kyoto Treaty by pointing out that they were the ones to actually negotiate NZ’s involvement.
Upton and Shipley should be exhumed and a seance held on Campbell Live, with their mortal remains on display and interrogated, to divine what they make out of this Administration’s nonsense.
This lot would be in good company with the likes of Tex Slampacker in Ben elton’s ‘stark’ ordering endangered species like baked swan whilst obliterating another piece of wilderness.
Finally Nationals starting to do what it needs to do. Now it needs to keep going and do what needs to be done (as long as it avoids a coalition deal with winstonfirst)
A word of advice: the fuckwit of the year prize will not be won by a climate change denier: you will need to find something more original to demonstrate your idiocy.
Word of advice – f-wit of the year award will not be won by anyone who denies that weather modification (control) exists…Lets take a look..
Looks like the “100 year storm” due to interrupt the US elections is well timed for Obama, innit!
I’m sure its just down to “climate change, and/or good old fashioned bad weather”!
I expect they have full control of your “mind” by now: you’re dancing to HAARP’s tune, eh. Damn those Illuminatii think of everything.
Are you saying, you think that it can’t be done then?
Sorry, I’m teasing: HAARP mind control is only effective when it has a strong signal to work with.
The tinfoil hat usually blocks it
Almighty Higgs Boson save us! 🙂
OTH wonder whether there is a misunderstanding of terms of reference. There is no denying of a global climate change going on, however even the scientific community is split about absolute cause.(don’t forget the sun!) Yes, we all can do our bit to lessen the effect and NZ has done well. And yes, National should not sell the power stations which give us an edge.
But also to consider is the issue of commercialization of carbon credits via Kyoto protocol. Just another vehicle to make money? A way of distorting measures by manipulation value vs cost? Once measures of cause/effects are outside the rigorous scrutiny of the scientific community, it will be difficult to know what is true and what is false. We have had too many of those examples of corporate greed in the last 2 decades. Secondly, the biggest polluters do not participate. So that will distort the “value” straight away. Just saying….
Oh, you mean there’ll be issues to work through like any policy? Well I never!
“…the scientific community is split about absolute cause…” Oh yeah? Says who? What part of Quantum Mechanics are you calling into question?
Bill Gates Hurricane Tamer?
I’d say playing about with, and controlling the weather patterns would be a cause for contention.
It’s been going on for a long time already, but as you can’t wrap your head around that, you flap around stuck on the same old track….
Maybe go speak with Bill Gates, Im’ sure he can explain it all to you!
Did you read the article? Familiar with Intellectual Ventures at all?
Hint: the reason I don’t take you seriously has nothing to do with your little tanty lower down.
Yup, and so what! – But wait on, the insurance industry will sort out “climate change”..
Trying to trivialise/divert/avoid, with cutesy little words such as “tanty”, only serve you highlight what a tweezer you must be, even online you transfer via your words!
Appreciate the compliment BTW – Hint , Its not about being taken seriously, if thats something your narcissistic side craves, perhaps you need to get back on those meds again!
“So what” – do the words “patent troll” mean anything to you?
Still trying to spin what I said about insurance companies? Let’s recap: “…of all the responses to climate change to date, insurance companies refusing to cover certain areas is perhaps the strongest…”
Do you see why I don’t take your comments seriously?
I just wonder whether you have read my comment. By all intend and purposes you are the one making the world a meaner place (see your own comment below) with you inability to discuss an issue without being offensive when you encounter deviating opinions.
Get a grip and grow up. Yes and here is a list of scientist who have some serious questions:
Scientists questioning the accuracy of IPCC climate projections
Scientists in this section have made comments that it is not possible to project global climate accurately enough to justify the ranges projected for temperature and sea-level rise over the next century. They may not conclude specifically that the current IPCC projections are either too high or too low, but that the projections are likely to be inaccurate due to inadequacies of current global climate modeling.
Freeman Dyson, professor emeritus of the School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study; Fellow of the Royal Society [9]
Richard Lindzen, Alfred P. Sloan professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and member of the National Academy of Sciences[10][11][12]
Nils-Axel Mörner, retired head of the Paleogeophysics and Geodynamics department at Stockholm University, former chairman of the INQUA Commission on Sea Level Changes and Coastal Evolution (1999–2003), and author of books supporting the validity of dowsing[13]
Garth Paltridge, retired chief research scientist, CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research and retired director of the Institute of the Antarctic Cooperative Research Centre, visiting fellow ANU[14]
Philip Stott, professor emeritus of biogeography at the University of London[15]
Hendrik Tennekes, retired director of research, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute [16]
Scientists arguing that global warming is primarily caused by natural processes
Scientists in this section have made comments that the observed warming is more likely attributable to natural causes than to human activities. Their views on climate change are usually described in more detail in their biographical articles.
Khabibullo Abdusamatov, mathematician and astronomer at Pulkovo Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences[17]
Sallie Baliunas, astronomer, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics[18][19]
Ian Clark, hydrogeologist, professor, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa[20]
Chris de Freitas, associate professor, School of Geography, Geology and Environmental Science, University of Auckland[21]
David Douglass, solid-state physicist, professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester[22]
Don Easterbrook, emeritus professor of geology, Western Washington University[23]
William M. Gray, professor emeritus and head of the Tropical Meteorology Project, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University[24]
William Happer, physicist specializing in optics and spectroscopy, Princeton University[25]
William Kininmonth, meteorologist, former Australian delegate to World Meteorological Organization Commission for Climatology[26]
David Legates, associate professor of geography and director of the Center for Climatic Research, University of Delaware[27]
Tad Murty, oceanographer; adjunct professor, Departments of Civil Engineering and Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa[28]
Tim Patterson, paleoclimatologist and professor of geology at Carleton University in Canada.[29][30]
Ian Plimer, professor emeritus of Mining Geology, the University of Adelaide.[31]
Nicola Scafetta, research scientist in the physics department at Duke University[32][33]
Tom Segalstad, head of the Geology Museum at the University of Oslo[34]
Fred Singer, professor emeritus of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia[35][36][37]
Willie Soon, astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics[38]
Roy Spencer, principal research scientist, University of Alabama in Huntsville[39]
Henrik Svensmark, Danish National Space Center[40]
Jan Veizer, environmental geochemist, professor emeritus from University of Ottawa[41]
Oh look, a list of deniers. Do you know how funny it is that you cite Lindzen, Soon, Baliunas, Christie, Svensmark and Spencer? Do you know why?
Have you registered the fact that these people all have their own unique version of what they say is wrong with established Climatology?
You haven’t even got a coherent narrative.
L(1-α) = εσT^4
Where L = solar luminosity
α = albedo
ε = emissivity
σ = Stefan-Boltzmann constant and
T = surface temperature in degrees Kelvin.
Remind me how “L” has changed over the last century. That’ll be good for a laugh.
I am no scientist but I do have an open mind to ALL opinions and even more so if these are from recognized scientists of international reputation. And lets not forget astute academic organizations. Have a good look before you start getting into your next tantrum.
I get the feeling somehow you work here for a particular interest? Democratic exchange of comments seem to be not in your forte either.
“International reputation” for incompetence and downright lying. FIFY.
“I’m no scientist” – no shit, Sherlock – is that how you managed to drop that howler about the Sun in your first comment?
Get as many feelings as you like, they won’t entitle you to your own facts.
So no word from you the weather control , or Gates’s procurement of the hurricane control patents???
Yeah thats altruism right there eh, its as obvious as your self esteem issues!
You are just plain rude and as I see it, you discriminated yourself from being taken seriously.
You are not an academic of any stature by what I gather from your comments because the ones I have met have had open minds to other peoples opinions without reacting in the way you do.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_and_celestial_effects_on_climate
FW: “Just plain rude” – but swallowing destructive and transparent lies and then parroting them as some sort of “honest opinion” is just fine and dandy and oh so democratic?
Hypocrite.
PS: yes, Muzza, I decline to pick up your Tar Baby, and raise you a tin foil hat.
Actually free-speech, an open mind, questioning everything and searching for understanding, regardless of whether you agree or not, are some of the cornerstones of so called democracy!
As such your use of the work hypocrite towards FW, is wrong!
Destructive, is what attitudes such as yours are, not FW, so you are projecting wildly again. I’ve explained that to you before, whose ideas are more dangerous, the open or the closed mind!
You understand so little, and jump down others so hard, that the mind boggles just how scared you must be of anything which might challenge your self righteous view of life, and may lead you to have to ask hard questions yourself!
Hey, look at that, a list scientists and not a single one a climatologist. BTW, do any of them know that they’re on the list? And did you also know that there are about 30,000 climatologists in the world, 99.9% of which agree that climate change is being caused by human action?
Climatology is itself a branch of physics, but it is often highly dependent upon other sciences.
Thus if one is to understand various aspects of of the science of climatology, one will oftentimes need to understand the results and methods of various various other sciences. For example, climatology is highly dependent upon the study of radiation and how it interacts with matter: this is afterall a large part of the basis for our understanding of the greenhouse effect. Climatology depends upon chemistry insofar as it must understand the formation of ozone – one of the greenhouse gases. Climatology depends upon geology insofar as it attempts to identify the principles governing climates by learning lessons from deep geologic time. Climatology depends upon meteorology insofar as its results will be dependent upon the variation of precipitation or the dependence of various aspects of the climate upon temperature.
http://climate-change.wikidot.com/science:branches
No, they’re not and the sun has been ruled out as a cause.
Yep, a market system isn’t the best way to account for the cost of CO2e emissions. A flat tax would be far better.
I am no denier that something is wrong. I have been growing up in the northern hemisphere with lots of snow during the winter and seasons to recognize. This is not happening anymore and has a huge impact on the farming community because the lack of freezing of the ground which causes an increase of infestations of bugs that weren’t there before. Health issues coupled to that are on the increase. Not to mention the catastrophic thinning of the permafrost in the arctic circle. There is no doubt that deforestation does play a big part as does CO2 emissions. The list goes on. However, there are other voices that point to an cycle of worming and cooling of the planet too. What I question is the apparent certainty coupled with an almost immediate commercial solution. This makes me suspicious whether we are being made ready to be fleeced once more under a different pretext.
I personally do not belief in a commercial solution but in a technological. So the scientists who currently put themselves out there to hurry through the money wagon are the ones I am particular wary about.
“…the scientists who currently put themselves out there to hurry through the money wagon…”
Transparent and destructive lies. Did you make them up or are you just repeating what you’ve read without thinking or fact checking? The arrogance to call people who have fact checked and taken the time to learn the difference “rude” – because your wickle feelings got hurt.
“Technological solutions” – let’s hear about them. Oh, oops, you didn’t fact check that little howler either.
Forty seven joules per kilogram. Join the dots.
Solar energy, tidal energy, electrical cars, etc….. The possibilities are endless and most likely the horizon is brighter for the younger generation rather then the older who can be (not all though) stuck in their paradigm.
Rude is your behavior, even in this online facility and I am surprised that this is actually OK.
As to fact finding missions, I think you have a very selective way of presenting them and thus my observations.
I will regard this issue as closed. As so many things in NZ no point of persevering.
Hey Precious, obviously you don’t like my tone. Well I don’t like your implied weasel accusations of scientific and financial malpractice (“…the money wagon…”), especially when scientists and their families receive death threats.
Or have you got a specific allegation of actual malpractice? If so name names, or drop the hypocritical pretence that you’re Snow White.
What exactly is this “money wagon” that reputable climate scientists are said to be on while a denier like Plimer believes the Sun is a ball of iron and is on the board of mining companies? Or Monckton who is flown around the world to spew his tripe, all paid for by foundations with words like liberty and free enterprise in their names? I suspect I know which are the climate prostitutes here, and I suspect many of them are on your list.
Money wagon? I was unaware there was much money to be made in supporting the international scientific consensus. The only people who make money out of climate change are the deniers who get handouts from big business to push their bullshit uphill
Who will the global flat tax target?
Who will handle this global tax?
How will this global tax “save the planet” – woops I mean save the humans?
It’s not who but what.
The local governments.
By decreasing GHG emissions.
What its going to target the owners/controllers of the biggest polluters – Nah it wont!
You are in dreamland Draco, like your comment about cashless society, you are so deluded about the results that will come from these, and given your comments are usually sensible, I am a little surprised at your naievity over this!
Ok, and how many people do you think will be saved by the altuism of those currently ruling this planet of ours ?
It’s not supposed to – for that we need other regulations. What it’s supposed to do is decrease GHG emissions.
It would require the move to a more democratic and accountable system than we have now but it could be done. People saying that it can’t be done because of the PTB are just as much in the way of the needed changes as the PTB.
The people presently ruling this planet don’t have an altruism – that’s why they need to be removed from those positions of power.
Really? Absolutely, completely 100%? When did that happen?
No, of course not 100% but beyond reasonable doubt.
You will disbelieve that though as it goes against your beliefs which no amount of evidence will ever change.
No one owns the “Air”, but no one has worked out the real cost of Air pollution.
If land for instance can be valued at say $100/m2 then how bout the same for Air?
$100/m3 say ?
So your average 2litre car eminates 2m3 of air for every 16 revolutions ……
That’s 500m3 of polluted air for every minute of cruising at 4000rpm.
1 hour trip = 30,000m3 of polluted air.
I know “Air” is a huge resource, that cleans itself, but …..
Yearly Average hours per Domestic car in Aoteoroa = 2 * 365 = 730hrs
730 * 30,000 = 21,900,000m3 per car per year.
Yearly Average hours per (2litre) Business vehicle in Aoteoroa = 8 * 350 = 2800hrs
2800 * 30,000 = 84,000,000m3 per car per year.
(Even at .001 cent per m3 that’s a lot of money per vehicle)
Then you add all the industry …..
The currenly accepted rate of carbon produced per kilowatt hour of power is 1.5 pounds of carbon/KWh.
The average city uses 3,000KW(Lowish Estimate) per capita per hour ( 😮 )
We really need to stop producing so much Carbon methinks.
Scientific Fact No One : “You can’t breath exhaust fumes M8!”
Sorry correction …
3,000KW(Lowish Estimate) should be …
3KW(Lowish Estimate)
I would suggest the whole thing needs correction. I started reading it but decided you had no idea what you were talking about when I hit the line “so your average 2litre car eminates 2m3 of air for every 16 revolutions”
For your information there is one turnover of “air” every 2 revolutions, at least in a four-stroke engine which I would think 99.9% of petrol powered cars are.
Thus 16 revolutions would mean 16 litres of air.
There are 1000 litres in a cubic metre. You wouldn’t get 2m3 but 0.016 cubic metres.
I glanced at the rest but decided that if you go so badly wrong so quickly why bother reading it.
I did note however that you appear to think a business car is driven 8 hours per day, 7 days a week and 50 weeks per year.
When I was working. and visiting customer sites I would have received a rap on the hand if I had been driving more that about an hour per day. The only cars that would do anything like your times would be taxis.
Fair enough multiply the numbers by four then.
Treasonous wretches.
So NZ and it’s farmers carry on as climate change criminals while the rest of the world does there bit to address global warming. why would anyone buy our dairy products and meat when they can buy climate friendly produce.
Key and his band of thugs should be strung up.
But the rest of the world arn’t “doing their bit”.
We can be “leaders” and feel all warm and fuzzy while our economy collapses around our ears because our products become too expensive or even cease to exist (dairy).
And what also happens is that China just keeps pumping out our annual CO2 output in around two days (and that output is increasing). Please explain again why we should flaggelate ourselves while the rest of he world continues on its merry way. So we can puff out out chests and say look at me, look at me?
What’s the carbon output in China per head compared to NZ?
That would be because the market isn’t credible as the government keeps undermining it. Markets are a social construct and if the rules end regulation needed to maintain them aren’t in place then the market doesn’t exist.
.
Surprise, surprise. National Ltd™ – 100% Pure Bullshit.
Chalupa – I wonder exactly what you believe really does “need to be done”? Probably best that you do not tell me.
Pushing ahead with the partial asset sales, more mining, shake up of the education sector just for starters
Yep, that’s pretty good, but a true fuckwit would go the extra mile. Come on, you can do it!
While looking for another group to kick and to bash, Natz has remembered they should also jail refugees:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7873306/MPs-cool-on-boat-people-jail-plan
Speaking of fuckwits … about ten days from now, this guy is going to really regret this tattoo, whoever wins the US election.
“I want young people to know that it’s O.K. to be young, and it’s O.K. to be a Republican. You don’t have to be rich or elderly to be labeled as a Republican, and I want everyone to know that.”
Reminds me of the line from the Dead Kennedys: “in a real fourth Reich you’d be the first to go.”
Yeah how dare he have a differing view to yourself…the cheek of the guy
Wow, so that’s what TRP’s comment looks like through blue-tinted spectacles, is it? Fascinating.
Dissent will not be tolerated. The party will be advised and you and your family will be transported for re-education.
I’m afraid I couldn’t possibly challenge a true master of fuckwitery like your goodself 🙂
Yes, you could, by showing me the evidence that supports the delusional policies you have learned to parrot.
Everywhere we look, these delusional policy settings destroy lives and make the world a meaner, worse place. That is why I call you a fuckwit: all you’re doing is regurgitating the lies you believe.
It’s “easy” to show me I’m wrong: all you have to do is show me the evidence. When you can’t, of course, you’ll start clinging to your beliefs even harder.
Where is your evidence to the contrary?
The suicide rate, the infectious disease admission rate, the unemployment rate, the wage rates.
So, you think that National need to continue to make the world a nastier place?
Okaaaay…
EDIT:
Here, have a short bit of reading. It’s about economics and how what most economists say is complete bollocks and not supported by actual historic fact.
I have one misgiving about philosophy in schools.
I have heard several people bring up this topic, and express great enthusiasm for the idea.
They were all victims of Ayn Rand. What better way to peddle her hateful lies than to make them part of the curriculum?
pfft.
Devotees of Amphetamine Aynnie may well blather on about their appreciation for philosophy, but unless we are talking about a charter school, they’re not likely to get a look in. Curricula aren’t just thrown together.
In any formal study of philosophy you have to start with the basics. After that, Ayn is only really fit as a bit of raw meat for the young pups to tear apart.
Imean, give anyone a week on epistemology basics, and then start explaining A=A’.
hahahaha.
“Curricula aren’t just thrown together.”
Check your assumptions. In the context of sane and effective education policy and pedagogy, “curricula aren’t just thrown together”.
You honestly think such sensible arguments have any traction with Anne Tolley or Hekia Parata?
“Not likely to get a look in” – you can say this with a straight face after the vandalism of National’s Standards?
I’m not saying this government is going to do it, or of they do it, implement it well. What I am saying is that having it be a Randian indoctrination process is not anything we need to worry about.
Rand is a cul de sac. You can only get there by taking that one specific turn. If you start from anywhere else; if you start with epistemology, or Phil of language, or metaphysics, or the history of phil, or (as is most likely) syllogisms for dummies; then you won’t take the corner. You’ll stand there at the corner, looking down at the philosophical detritus, and ask only, “Who are these people, and why are they saying these things?”
I think there might be a Chalupa that took a similar turn
“Not anything we need to worry about” – cf: Alan Greenspan and Glass/Steagel. You were saying?
What? Alan Greenspan and Glass/Steagel were the end result of teaching philosophy in schools?
how does that work?
It doesn’t; it’s a strawman.
I take your point that Rand is a cul-de-sac, but that is no consolation to Greenspan’s victims. I don’t think you can discount the possibility that Rand in schools isn’t on some twisted agenda, especially now we’re to give tax-payer dollars to faith schools.
In this circumstance, the schools in question would probably talk about “teaching our philosophy”.
If you have an example of them saying that, then sure; but all I can see in that article is them talking about teaching philosophy.
the texts in the photo look fine, from the pupils comments it looks like they are getting a 100 level intro into ethics and logic. I’d be surprised if they weren’t doing a bit of metaphysics, simply because those questions are really good for teaching about propositional logic.
I don’t see any evidence for concern based on what is being proposed.
Honestly, you sound a bit like them thar freaks banging on about how if we teach the kids about evilution it’s actually a plot to make them think they are animals in order to groom them for the gays.
Teaching kids philosophy is a good thing. It’s an inoculation against poor thought. Fuck all people bother with it at uni, and even fewer keep their hand in by taking time to read some now and then. We are poorer for that.
An exposure to at school, (I’d start em at about age 10 if I had my druthers), would save an awful lot of bother later.
By the time kids leave secondary school, they should be able to identify basic logical errors, construct and identify syllogisms, and know the difference between is and ought, and why it matters.
Isn’t that one of Ayn Rand’s pet catch-phrases? 😀
1) Another example of our current contrarian government:
Welfare drug testing vs making it easier to be undetected when dealing drugs at school
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/opinion/7871734/Blind-eye-to-school-drugs-most-unusual
Quote:
” Beneficiaries and other strugglers have been informed that the state’s handup will be withdrawn if they do not observe certain rules about what they spend, where they live, what they ingest and when their kids go to school.
So it was surprising, to say the least, to see that National Education Minister Hekia Parata is promoting a bill that would tie the hands of educators who might want to drug-test school students or introduce drug-sniffing dogs to help weed out the dealers and users. ”
2) And another example:
Lindsay Mitchell points out research that shows we are spending a disproportionate amount of money preventing domestic violence when the majority of violence is men on men where very little money is spent.
http://www.truth.co.nz/index.php/truthsays/667-right-on-october-18
Quote:
“His [Prof John Langley] research found the rate of serious assaults increased 50% from 2003 to 2008 and there was “no evidence of recent abatement”. Listening to him interviewed on Breakfast television I was almost relieved. Not because NZ isn’t getting safer but that someone is at least able to paint an accurate picture and convey it to us. He also expressed concern that most of the prevention focus was on domestic abuse, yet over three quarters of the serious assaults were men on men.
” Beneficiaries and other strugglers have been informed that the state’s handup will be withdrawn if they do not observe certain rules about what they spend, where they live, what they ingest and when their kids go to school.”
– I agree with this, its all part of the social contract but now the recipients have to live upto their end of the bargain
So it was surprising, to say the least, to see that National Education Minister Hekia Parata is promoting a bill that would tie the hands of educators who might want to drug-test school students or introduce drug-sniffing dogs to help weed out the dealers and users. ”
– I don’t agree with this at all. I’m the type of right-wing guy that thinks everyone should be subject to the same rules. ie Slam bene fraudsters and slam tax dodgers. We need to get drugs out of schools (well as much as it can be done)
Lindsay Mitchell points out research that shows we are spending a disproportionate amount of money preventing domestic violence when the majority of violence is men on men where very little money is spent.
– Good luck championing that
You flatter yourself that you understand the social contract.
I’m guessing you don’t
I’m guessing your “opinion” about it comes from parroting some right wing bullshit that you didn’t even bother to fact check.
You see how there is precisely zero in there about the obligations of the individual? Can you see how the definition you have been duped by doesn’t gell with reality?
Or will you just cling to the lies you were told?
“individuals have consented, either explicitly or tacitly, to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the ruler or magistrate (or to the decision of a majority”
– like the freedom to decide what they can and can’t spend the money given to them?
Just that one particular freedom? Or are you reserving the right to make up any number of others as well?
Seems to me the left are picking and choosing what the freedoms are as well
Lame. You made the claim, you defend it.
The fact is no one on a benefit is “given” any money, any more than someone who works 50 hours is “given” money.
Thats true, I earn my money through the time, effort, skills and experience I bring to the company I work for.
Sure you do. And, my little hero, you do it all by yourself.
So brave. So smart. Such a rugged individual.
Thanks for the lolz.
On the basis of their employment status? How about they refrain from burning your neighbourhood to the ground and you count yourself lucky?
– like the freedom to decide what they can and can’t spend the money given to them?
What specific rights we have are always up for negotiation. Look at history. Things that at one time that are considered by a society to be vital for the pursuit of happiness, are at other times, and in other societies, considered anathema.
What is the same is that in in any stable society, the rights that we have are protected by some overseeing authority, of one form or another. that authority retains its legitimacy as long as it is seen to be protecting the rights that the society, (in aggregate), considers appropriate.
As to your example, there are very few societies in which you have absolute freedom to do what you will with your money. Otherwise, legitimate Murder Inc companies would be far more common.
Really just pointing out that freedoms means different things to different people especially with different political leanings.
+1
Stunning insight there. People with different political beliefs, have different ideas about things political.
Political freedom comes from having a say in your own governance. Anything else is BS.
Lindsay Mitchell is a mental midget, but I can see how you would still look up to him, CB.
The number of victims affected directly or indirectly by domestic violence makes it a greater problem than man on man violence. Neither form is acceptable, but while violence in a pub carpark directly affects those involved, violence in the home affects everyone in the home and flows onto the next generation.
I never said I agree or disagree with his comments, what I meant was whether its right or wrong you won’t be changing the attitude any time soon.
Much like theres less money spent on prostate cancer then breast cancer
Isnt she a she?
Dunno, TRP used “him” so I assumed hes a he
Because you’re quite new to this whole politics thing, have only been commenting on blogs for about a week and have never heard of Lindsay before.
Yeah seems legit.
I merely changed my handle from chris73 to Chalupa Batman (The League is the best comedy on TV at the moment)
Sorry if I don’t know everyone, I’ll preform 10 hail marys and sin no more.
I guess changing handles is a constant necessity when you spout as much embarrassingly stupid guff as you do.
If I was worried about changing handles why would I announce it? Kinda make it redundant don’t you think
Everything you do here is redundant, Chalupa.
Funny.
I hadn’t picked the gravatar thing, and thought CB was a new tory dickhead, all idiocy and arrogance. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet…
She is indeed a she.
getting back to TRP’s comment about Lindsay Mitchell:
Not to mention the victims of family violence being locked-in with their attackers of an evening. Domestic violence is a completely different animal. If Ms Mitchell doesn’t see a difference she is indeed a vaccuous, moral and intellectual midget.
yeah, she is.
She also fails to realise that different problems require different solutions. And, indeed, the first step to stop males fighting each other might very well be to stop them beating their partners.
And one of the big factors involved of the majority of domestic violence incidents, is that someone with more physical (and possibly social) strength/power attacks a weaker one.
Male-on-male violence tends to be between males who choose to be in particular social environments – pubs etc. Domestic violence, is in the place where people live.
Personally I am uncomfortable with the way that principals want to conduct such invasive measures, ie drug testing, drug dogs, search after search after search and so on. There seems to be a wanton disregard for students civil rights in our school.
More often than not, it’s about reassuring the school community that there are NOT drugs at school.
Plenty of upper crust parental types dabble.
+1 millsy,
What’s the difference between a Starbucks or McDonalds on/near campus and some kids trying to be successfull?
It’s one thing to educate them in the evil aspects of drugs etc.
It’s another thing to sentence them to prison at the age of 12.
Walsh and his mates are better off calling for a comprehensive D and A education program in our schools. In the USA you have the students going through metal detectors when they walk into school in the morning, under the watchful eyes of security guards. I would hate for that to happen here.
So true bud, how can we deal with an “Underground” culture in schools?
Not easy, but those kids should at least keep it off campus, for their own sake.
They are getting busted, the Gnats’ wouldn’t know about it otherwise.
I’m actually surprised that principals or teachers would want any part of it. I’m wondering how much of it is just a beat up, maybe to divert attention from hungry kids.
Although there’s more to this travesty the underlying crime appears to be smoking weed while brown.
http://www.wanganuichronicle.co.nz/news/woman-gave-baby-drug-via-breast-milk/1599493/
Seems the guilty plea is what stitched it, but wonder what the catalyst was that lead to the plea!
This has much more consequence than what it appears at face value, and does the same apply to the medical/mental/parma industries where drugs are issued to children, or is that type of experimentation deemed acceptable?
Or maybe just don’t smoke dope while breastfeeding?
Gotta add gettin drunk too that one M8.
Heard of alcoholic fetal syndrome ?
Maybe we should punish all those Mothers as well huh?
Or maybe raise the drinking age so they’ll understand the evils?
Yeah, mobilise the ski mask boys and go gung ho into a family home but oh noes!, rather than full blown class A production under way you find a brown man cooking up oil out of a heap of cabbage.
That’ll have a huge impact on class A producers.
Why are anti gay people so fuckin dumb?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10843389
I reckon it’s the other way round, Brett – dumb people are anti-gay (or anti-whatever).
How you doing anyway?
Tim Minchin tweeted this.
The ultimate goal of the anti gay-marriage lot is the repeal of the Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986. Louisa Wall’s bill is just an excuse for them to kick up a fuss.
Interesting that they are also the same people who go on about ‘nanny state’, it seems OK for nanny state to kick down the bedroom doors of consenting adults.
No, it’s more like that they’re quite happy about having a nanny state as long as they’re the nanny and so get to force their own beliefs onto others.
Thats true for the other side as well
so you acknowledge that National create a nanny state as well?…what’s your argument then?
People who go on about nanny state aren’t necessarily anti-gay or anti-gay marriage.
Just thought I’d put that out there
So what? That’s not what millsy said, it’s the inverse of it.
Your strawman is an idiot.
Yup, just yesterday the MC reminded everybody that a greenie nanny state would ban the kids shemozzle and all the while his events insurance was provided by nana ACC.
Sounds like a lot of fun (the shemozzle that is not banning it)
Ironically it was the MC’s beloved National Party that brought in all the PC greenie nanny state nonsense with the OSH legislation.
Last time I looked, the actual greenies were calling for some of that PC nanny state nonsence to be relaxed a little so schools could keep their pools open.
We spent a beautiful in day in Hunterville, knee deep in kids, eating $3 spit roasted porky sandwiches, and, come 1pm, drinking beer in the marquee.
They’ve tidied things up with an alcohol ban outside of the two outlets so I’d highly recommend the event as a family outing and an insight into rural NZ.
“Why are anti gay people so fuckin dumb?”
Regarding the people holding those signs…English is probably their second language, and their English is way better than my second language.
Because they’re fucking ignorant, if they knew their history as well, they’d know the same line of argument was used to attack inter-racial marriages and justify enslaving africans and native americans. Also there’s the environment of the churches they’re members of, which are most likely newer, charismatic evangelical ones that aren’t big on independent thinking and question traditional bullshit.
Not dumb just fucking fascists.
Is it apathy that middle New Zealanders do not care about whatever the Nats are doing to the country ?
Why are there no real demonstrations or marches, other than small bands of malcontents.
Where are the left leaders (other than Russell Norman) ?
As summer comes upon us are we to see less and less time given to the machinations of the Government before the summer recess.
Where is Labour’s visions to enable this to be digested over the summer ?
No wonder the Greens have taken the left lead – against Labour they are frightening and will do so to the horses unless Labour takes a lead to the middle class voters.
Or as said, are middle New Zealaders muddling along apathetically waiting for the golden summer -these are the real votes, particularly the women.
The Greens voters are effectively the latte drinking, white middle class, comfortably off, well educated, chardonnay drinking, mainly women not the real working people of this country.
Putting profits before people in the alcohol industry has a long history in NZ: http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/10/nz-alcohol-industry-triumphs-again.html
M7.7 – 139km S of Masset, Canada
Ten minutes later
M5.8 – 154km S of Masset, Canada
Fix the housing affordability issue and many others ( Improved disposable income and the financial stress that is associated with this) greatly improves. But unfortunately any government is dependent upon maintaining the apathy towards politics, this will be maintained as long as there is the feeling that peoples wealth is increasing (home owners).
Introduce a CGT will not solve the increasing property and the exclusion of many, all that means is that the govt receives an increase in tax take (unless the bubble explodes )
http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/finance-minister-bill-english-video-5166774
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10843323
This year’s renewed 10-20 per cent surge in Auckland house prices to record highs has further focused attention.
http://www.interest.co.nz/property/home-loan-affordability
Opening up more land for subdivision. and reducing council red-tape will generate the greatest reduction in the cost of housing.
My eyes tend to roll when I hear the term ‘red-tape’…can you expend on what you mean? What is the red-tape, what is it preventing and how do we get rid of it.
Bill English said on Q+A that we need more high density housing…he then said that this is difficult because we can’t just build because people’s right to having a ‘view’ would be compromised. So on the one hand, its get rid of the red-tape, and on the other, English is promoting red-tape.
What do you mean by red-tape?
He means freedom from oppressive red tape and regulation in places he doesn’t live where it won’t affect his own views or property values.
There are current regulations in place that restrict what can be built. To change these would take time, plenty of time. Unless we allow Nanny state to intervene and to override due process, then who pays the cost to retrofit the infrastructure e.g. Road widths, sub base of roads are based on the carrying capacity of the road. Storm & waste water, water pressure, power, phone, gas capacity of an area which are based on no. of users.
opening more land would take 5-10 year to achieve in the planning then you have how these new areas dove tail into the existing infrastructure. We already have a growth plan being implemented for Auckland
http://www.arc.govt.nz/albany/fms/main/Documents/Auckland/Aucklands%20growth/Auckland%20regional%20growth%20strategy.pdf
Many developments have covenants in place that have mim restrictions on size of dwelling, building materials, only one dwelling per lot which is in place to protect other residents.
One note when comparing historic house affordability one should remember that house sizes have increased, so the cost to build is greater in 1980 it was 150m, 10 years later 200m2. The cost to build this additional 50m2 would be $70-100k
http://www.qv.co.nz/propertyinformation/KnowledgeCentre/Average+house+size+by+age10052011.htm
Really. Like the reduction in red tape which caused leaky homes.
That was supposed to push down house prices too, if I remember rightly.
The best way to reduce house prices is to limit the ability of banks to push up speculative housing investment, AND supply state housing.
Prohibiting land sales to non residents would help also.
KJT (tongue in cheek) this aspect has been successful. Just look at the discount that is placed on mono plastered houses as to those “safe” B&T and other safe building materials and both the price and the time it takes to sell.
Agree with limiting the ability for banks to loan on property.
Also should property drop the banks will be safe all the lose attributed to would be born by the land owner or insurance company that the mortgage protection is held by.
No it won’t – it’ll push the costs up. Slightly cheaper houses, far more running costs.
Really want to drop house prices? Then do this. I’m sure you’ll find house prices dropping quite rapidly as people figure out that it’s better not owning.
Found this site ( http://votes.wotfun.com/ ) and a few interesting votes by Winston Peters. His reputation as a dick is kind of well deserved, it horrifies me that people plan to [seriously] vote for him next election. 😮
* Human Rights Act – Votes against
* Civil Unions Act – Votes against
* Homosexual Law Reform Act – Votes against
* Prostitution Reform Act – Votes against
* Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill (to allow gay marriage) – Votes against
* New Zealand Bill of Rights Act Act – Votes against
* Death With Dignity 1995 Bill – Votes against
* Crimes (Abolition of Force as a Justification for Child Discipline) Amendment [2nd Reading] Bill – Votes Against
* Care of Children Amendment Act – Votes against
Interesting site, thanks. And feel free to repost about Peters lots prior to the next election 😉
Well I voted for him last election, mainly because he was such a rabble rouser. Now he has a lot of political power though, I am definitely going to disagree with his party (and vote for another); a quick flick through his party’s website and I am already in disagreement. Winston here ( http://nzfirst.org.nz/what-we-stand-for/constitutional-review ) argues to remove the treaty of Waitangi from legislation i.e. turn back race relations a hundred years.