A good follow up to Nigel Latta’s expose of the sugar industry in NZ.
Katherine Rich ( ex Nat MP ) is the hired gun for the sugar industry.
I think they used Slater to attack people who questioned the sugar industry.
Lewis Road Creamery Chocolate Milk, with queues of customers waiting for delivery every day. Each bottle contains 22 pieces of (delicious) Whittakers chocolate (half a chocolate slab).
Twenty two pieces …….. Glug glug glug.
A second drink, perhaps? Or a glass of coke to ‘wash it down’?
Could I please have a side order of diabetes?
The research referred to was some blind taste testing with dinner guests, that I carried out . Nothing to do with Mars. I was trying to understand if the queues could really be justified on the basis of taste, and also highlight the foolishness of the queues on the basis of health.
Yep he was floored by the question by Espiner about whether it was moral for NZ to enter the war. I thought he had difficulties understanding the concept of morality.
I have looked in vain for six years for any suggestions that Mr Key has a moral base. Right now the National Party is a convenient vehicle to satisfy his personal interests. Hopefully somone can explain why my view has no substance, as I would like to think better of him?
I think he has said himself that he is not an “ideology” type of person. The only thing I recall he has said he that believes in are asset sales. Is there another living NZer that cannot recall what they thought about the Springbok tour? When he first came out with this I thought he was lying. Now I actually believe it.
Yep one of his answers to ‘is it moral’ was “It is if we agree to that.” So what is moral is what we agree is moral.
That might be an interesting philosophical stance on ethics al la David Hume, but I for one would like a stance less cynical from our leader that doesn’t smack of focus group analysis on this issue. Higher standards anyone?
I don’t think he has any idea. He is totally amoral. I can recognise it because I was like that until I grew up a bit in my late 20s. As far as his philosophy goes, it’s a weird mix of Aleister Crowley and Nietsche, mixed with a desire for acceptance from those he worships. As a human being, he is hugely dysfunctional.
Why is that such a surprise, the ‘terror’ narrative arrived within a week of the election duely pushed by the MSM muppets so top diversionary tactic whilst the RMA, employment, exploration and sell offs etc etc continue.
kiwi soldiers bodies being returned home will be another unwanted legacy of key as he marches them off and increases our risk once we engage.
this govt has no moral compass just a monetary one.
This morning on the news about David cameron the journalist said all western leaders were on high alert since the canadian parliament incident.
I was at dinner sunday evening when the Pm arrived. There was no pre dinner sweep of the restaurant, he arrived with his wife and son, alone. NO guards, none of his special big boys. They were not discreetly outside they were nowhere…
So, NOT on high alert here.
BUT maybe he was dining as John Key the man, and not PM. The terrorists will probably respect that distinction aye?
He needs to be truthful. This isn’t about NZers, it is that he believes we should play a part alongside our allies. There are many who agree with that thinking so why not just say it, Honest John?
I’ve said before, how many of the jingoistic types will send their own children. I note, John Keys daughter the right age to fight – should she not be running off to basic?
i didnt see him… heads turned, conversations lowered and my right wing dad and his wife said he had arrived. he sat at a table behind me. i had eaten so it was just a question of keeping it down.
when i stood to leave, i was so tempted to say lousd enough
“i see the terror threat is very low tonight”… but didnt
he has good taste in restaurants. hes come in before when i was there…
But Tracey did you notice the casually dressed but awkward bloke who came in a few minutes before maybe with a companion, who could have been man or a woman, and the lone diner who came in a bit later or who stayed hanging around the door or feigned interest in the shop windows in the vicinity.
Key is paranoid, but increasingly aware that more NZers think the whole “entourage” thing is preposterous posing
The entourage thing is US-style politics invading New Zealand. Have you seen the motorcades that travel with the likes of Eric Holder? Not even the President.
I bet Steven Joyce et al. are frothing at the mouth for a personal security detail.
I wonder whether David Parker has demanded a team from the Diplomatic Protection Squad to travel with him all the time now he is the (acting) leader of the party? Cunliffe wanted them around all the time. Perhaps he thought it made him seem important.
Actually perhaps Cunliffe was worried about the other members of his caucus. It would seem justified wouldn’t it? http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10470344/Campaign-Diary-Monday-September-8
“Dirty Journalism” post by Bat Bean Beam is a must read. Asks all the right questions about journalists in NZ and the failure to change anything substantial since the release of Hager’s Dirty Politics book:
And while Nicky Hager is constantly questioned about the ethics of his working with stolen correspondence, none of the reporters who have collaborated with Slater have had to defend the public interest value of their stories against the danger of exposing others to Whaleoil. Yet that is also where the naivety defence falls apart: for nobody can claim not to have known what that blog was about. There is no excuse.
“We are always told that wages shouldn’t rise unless productivity rises. Well, productivity rose 48% from 1990 to 2010 – but after inflation, the average wage rose only 18%. This is a fundamentally unfair wages system, caused in large part by the lack of bargaining power that working people – wage and salary earners – have suffered.”
For a lot of people, those in the lower decile, as productivity has risen their wages have actually gone down.
It’s a simple fact that, if everything else remains the same, as productivity increases wages must decline. This government and all governments going back to the 4th Labour government have been working to keep everything else the same in the name of stability and with that has come the inevitable decrease in bargaining power and remuneration.
Oh, look, IT just increased productivity, had nothing to do with employees!
I must be due a bonus, and my banker can leverage the new ongoing wealth to sustain even higher valuations.
It must be great to live in a world when citizens are widgets, expendable moveable parts, where discourse about finance is all about how wealth is mismeasird and allotted to a shrinking class of super rich and their hanger on-ers.
Key screws us all, locking away choice.
Help Shut Down the Illegal and extremely cruel Dog Meat Trade in Thailand. Watch the video to understand what is happening there.
Please act immediately to stop thousands of dogs from being tortured and butchered for their meat.
Every aspect of the dog meat trade in Southeast Asia is horrifically cruel.
You can save thousands of dogs from unspeakable pain by adding your name to Soi Dog’s global petition. It calls on Thailand’s leaders to crack down hard on the criminals who profit from the agony of animals.
The modern equivalent of slavery is slavery. It’s pretty gross to exploit the utter dehumanisation of actual humans in order to make a cheap shock-value attack on people who eat things you don’t like.
Even conservative John Armstrong has something bad to say about National’s housing ‘reform’ (read: sell off all the shit to our corporate funders for pennies on the dollar). Armstrong refers to the policy as ideological for ideology’s sake.
National is continuing its policy of strip mining all the assets of the state, thus breaking a promise it made that there would be no more selling. They are behaving like a mafia that has taken over a business to squeeze every last dollar out of it before they send it into bankruptcy.
History tells us that the invisible hand is NOT the best solution to social problems. One of the main jobs of Government is dealing with the negative externalities the invisible hand creates in the first place, which is in essence what state housing is an example of – Providing where the market can’t, or won’t without the introduction of overbearing regulation.
Isis will “rain carnage on the world”, Prime Minister John Key tells us today … but he has yet to make a decision on whether NZ troops will go.
What sort of apocalyptic theology does he subscribe to these days ? Revelations ?
Will a NZ SAS haka have any effect on the Saudis and Qataris who used Chlorine at Kobane ? Is he referring to ballistic mass destruction ?
He may wish retire to a professorship in strategic decision making at Auckland University.
Isn’t this phrase indicative of the breathtaking level of arrogance of our current PM – given the carnage unremittedly being dropped from the sky creating vast civilian casualties is primarily and immorally being committed by his US “allies”?
The carnage being rained is a direct result of the insane invasion of Iraq which Key wanted NZ to be part of. So we could sell more butter to the yanks. Still need to shift more of it…
He’s just making sure that when we send our troops over, we know we’re doing A Good Thing, because otherwise we might have some public pressure to the contrary.
Last time I looked, it was nation states with developed economies, and strong military forces that were capable of raining carnage on the world, not a bunch of Koran waving teenagers with a couple of stolen MiGs.
Millsy, we are very selective about which people who are doing harm in the world that we should visit with our strong military forces, that as you say are capable of raining carnage on the world. Let us not forget that Vietnam received triple the bombing that took place in all of WWII !
In relationship to all this, I wonder what certain elements of society today would have called the men who went as volunteers to Spain to fight Franco’s fascists. Is that similar to the young men fighting with the Islamic State? Were those Spanish War volunteers idealists and defenders of freedom or were they brainwashed, radicalised terrorists?
Would our present Government have considered a military intervention into Republican Spain then?
It is the remuneration packages of bank CEOs that have been out of control. They are the ones who are left unchecked and will rain carnage on the world.
Well, well, I never knew that. George Key. My use of the Spanish Civil War analogy was entirely outside of that information. (And that’s no John Key-style memory lapse. His techniques for avoidance of issues are well criticised in tonight’s Marlborough Express editorial, by the way).
Remember that those who fought against Franco were reviled by the establishment, who thought that fascism, which got rid of those “pesky communist trade unions”, was a good idea.
Right up until Poland was invaded, and their skills were needed.
[lprent: I have no real objections to you placing these links here (all about ISIS, chemical weapons, and Kurds). However I do have a strong objection to you link-whoring them on our site for promoting google links. You haven’t provided a reason in the form of a paragraph or two for the people on this site why they should click into them.
This site values the opinions of those who comment here. We don’t value straight linking with no explanations. ]
Strange thing though, I imagine that there are many more young people willing to take up arms against IS than the few odd entrails that media manage to find have signed for IS.
Re. “link-whoring them on our site for promoting google links.”
.. they all linked to newspaper media sources, as I remember it, not google. A link is just an economical way of doing it ..
Putting raw links in a comment is most commonly used by bots and spam artists to increase google scores. When I look at a list of raw links that is what I presume.
There are many other search and meta-search engines out there besides google. I find google very limited, predictable, and constricting these days and try to broaden my sources. In this case I used
Moral is a word beloved of the Hasbara Zionists. The IDF is a moral army, Israel acts morally, etc….. Key is on the same side, so it’s no surprise to see the word being misused here as well. It’s a favourite term of immoral liars.
Good point. Plenty of more conservative lefties and left leaning intellectuals will nod sagely with the PM though. What could be more worthy than a ‘just’ war?
He won’t have read Dirty Politics
He will ignore all evidence on any subject which counters his limited self interested and parochial viewpoint.
He will rely on anecdotes to support his points.
He will aim tok provoke.
He’s unlikely to admit the only reason he voted for the Tories is naked self interest.
In short, he is not worth debating with.
I believe very much in democracy especially the last election where the people of NZ (well enough of them anyway) told you exactly what they think of so-called dirty politics and voted National back in
If you think an elected dictator every 3 years is cool and nobody should ask questions and the media should just be a propaganda tool,
then you are a f*cken tool as well mate.
Far be it for me to agree with a curmudgeon, but check out Gavin Ellis? (Elice?) on the regular gal’s NinetoNoon today. Completely on the mark – and couple that with the recent TVNZ decision.
When I get around to it, it may form a question on another post re what the fuck are prospective Labour Party candidates going to do about our media, and in particular PSB.
I’m hopeful I’ll hear that there will be some sort of bipartisan mechanism that protects our 4th Estate (not that we have one), and our public sphere. AND such a mechanism that bypasses old hacks and self-interested old boy/gal networks.
Personally, I believe there is such a mechanism, and one that not only recognises individuals’ true worth, and one that puts back a citizenry’s RIGHT.
(Might take one or two ex-pats to return home, and they can be convinced – AND one which is somewhat more ambitious than a CBB – which I have to support, but regard as JUST a little namby pamby – otherwise known as a co-alascence of a 3rd Way)
EDIT: What the fuck ever happened to protest, and journalistic integrity?
“America used to be a country that built for the future,” Krugman opens, somewhat mournfully. “Sometimes the government built directly: Public projects, from the Erie Canal to the Interstate Highway System, provided the backbone for economic growth. Sometimes it provided incentives to the private sector, like land grants to spur railroad construction. Either way, there was broad support for spending that would make us richer.”
Not any more. These days, our government steadfastly refuses to invest in the country’s future.
It isn’t as if there’s no cash to do so. Seven years after the housing bubble burst, “the country is awash in savings,” Krugman writes, “with nowhere to go.” Corporations and banks are holding on to trillions in excess reserves that are simply sitting idle. State governments are strapped, yes, but the federal government, with its ability to borrow money cheaply, could easily help them out.
(if watching replays of q-time..i wouldn’t bother much past question five..if i were you..
..norman under-performed/delivered..
..king got follow-up question of the day..(referencing/comparing collins/key..vis a vis ‘ministerial-responsibility’..
..and this:..
(excerpt..)
‘..and english slam-dunks him/labour by noting labour signed up to the social-accord in 2013..which detailed this dismantling/devolution of the state houses asset..(!)
..(ed:..i didn’t know that..did you..?..that labour signed up to this..?..whoar..!..)..’
John Robertson, Professor of Media Politics at the University of West Scotland, on media bias in the Scottish Independence Referendum …..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajd4R-9BEIw
Some of his arguments towards the end of the clip (on the Establishment Media’s demonization of Opposition Leaders) has particular relevance for New Zealand.
A couple of minor corrections and additions to your report.
1. Oceana Gold is not a NZ company. It is just another foreign owned company making money out of NZ.
2. It is poisoning El Salvador’s water.
3. It is using a free trade agreement to sue the El Salvador government.
“Oceana Gold is claiming that under the US-central America free trade agreement, it has a “right” to compel mining or be compensated for loss of profits. In response, the company will today be handed a petition signed by 200,000 opponents to its attempt to force gold mining in El Salvador.”
But who cares. Some selfish shareholders are making heaps of money out of polluting the earth and screwing over a people.
Simply put yes, yes it does…except for the little issue of its not a case of me doing well therefore no one else can do well instead its a case of I’m doing well and everyone else can do well if they so choose
The problem with the left in general is you all think that for someone to do well (whatever the definition of doing well is) it has to be at the expense of someone else
Whereas the inconvenient truth of the matter is that everyone can do well if they choose to but most choose not to
actually, if you bought power shares you are doing well at the expense of everyone else, in the form of increased overseas debt the government pays because of the reduced dividend take.
“Restaurant Brands is a fast food company based in New Zealand and is listed on the NZ Stock Exchange as RBD. It operates most of New Zealand’s KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl’s Jr. and Starbucks stores and provides management and support services to New Zealand’s independent KFC franchisees. It holds the New Zealand franchise for KFC and Pizza Hut from Yum Restaurants and Starbucks from Starbucks USA.”
So just a subsidiary and a franchise of a massive US company owned by large multinational banks.
“Yum! Brands, Inc. or Yum! is an American fast food company. A Fortune 500 corporation, Yum operates the licensed brands Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Wing Street worldwide. Prior to 2011, Yum! also owned Long John Silver’s and A&W Restaurants.”
Nope sorry they weren’t, they were offered at a fair price and the controlling majority were kept by the government and there been two elections thus far that have returned National to be power
James Shaw, the new Green Party MP’s maiden speech in parliament,
When we’re presented with this conflict between the environment and the economy and it is almost always a false choice. There’s almost always a solution that delivers both.
Problems and conflicts that seem unsolvable have solutions, and the hard part is getting the different parties to work together to find them
Yes, Shaw is in the section of the Green Party that see a future working with National. They are still in a minority but do have influence. Julie-Ann Genter and Russel Norman are in this group also, but are not quite as right as Shaw.
I am still appalled that Norman said in the minor leader’s debate that the politician he most admired in another party was Bill (sell off state houses) English.
I’ve always had some criticisms of Norman’s values.
Actually. In the speech, Shaw doesn’t say he’s a fan of “market forces”. He says he’s a fan of “the market”; that the cause of destructive climate change is economic, but the solution is political. He said the market is not sentient, and we need to tell it what to do.
I have heard before that people generally rate him as pretty right wing.
So, he’s into regulated markets. He cites the abolition of slavery (having outlined the various strand of his whakapapa, which includes a female slave in the US).
He also talked of his mother raising him and his siblings on her teacher’s salary, as well as saying he was raised by his mother and her female partner. He spoke in praise of suffragettes and stroppy activist women.
Even those Greens who have rightish economic views are still a lot smarter and more socially enlightened than the right of the Labour Party (Cosgrove, O’Connor etc).
I’m just listening now. He’s saying some prettty radical stuff eg that nature has inherent rights. His stuff about the expansion of rights is very good (how they are feared but the fears prove unfounded in time).
and yeah, interesting re his statement that he likes the market, which he follows by saying that the market needs to be controlled. He says that for setting prices and allocating scarce resources it’s better than the alternatives. It would be good to see him do actual comparisons with the alternatives.
I know that presently we are stuck. To get unstuck, we will all need to let go of some things, and to be more committed to finding the answers than to being right or to others being wrong
The guy has serious problem solving intelligence and skills, I can see why the GP have promoted him. Very good speech.
I was also appalled at Russel Norman’s snuggling up to the Nats. Because of that I changed my vote from Greens to Labour and wonder if that comment lost them many votes at the election. Politics is in a woeful state at the moment.
I will probably vote reluctantly for Andrew Little in the Labour Leader contest, dont like any of the others in the running but is a worry when I cant even say to myself that I will vote for Greens if the outcome isn’t what I prefer.
Well, it’s the likes of Metiria Turei, Catherine Delahunty, and Jan Logie in the Greens that keep me voting Green. i’d also like to see Jack McDonald and Marama Davidson in the House.
But it is hard to decide who to vote for when I have criticisms of every party on the “left”.
“..I am still appalled that Norman said in the minor leader’s debate that the politician he most admired in another party was Bill (sell off state houses) English…”
yeah..that one is still echoing/bedding-in…
..and yeah..macdonald and davidson have both impressed..
“There’s a lot of chatter on twitter about Shaw being into market force. A bit worrying.”
I think it is inevitable with the Greens. Unless the left organises a progressive movement pretty damn quick, the party will work with whatever it can, including market forces. Norman of course is also into using the market to effect change.
It will be an interesting dilemma for the Greens. There is this idea that they’re neither left nor right (I think Lynn once used the imagery of them being vertical to the horizontal axis of the traditional left/right spectrum). I tend to see them as trying to move beyond the left/right gulf (which is why the whole ‘we can work with anyone on policy’ thing is so important to them). I have some sympathy for this because the left appears to be failing to stop neoliberalism and proto-fascism. Not that I think the left is necessarily at fault, but that we may need other things as well.
I’ll try and download Shaw’s speech later so I can see what all the fuss is about.
i also empathise. i think they are trying to go beyond left right dichotomy and are saying that whoever is in power and wants to advance policies the green party advocate they will work with.
that is not the same as being “right”
it seems to me that there is no single solution to many of our big problems but amalgams which most of our parties dont want a bar of.
It’s the same as doing what the Maori Party does, without the cabinet posts. It’s hugely dangerous, but then again, I also consider any collaboration with Labour since 1984 as working with the right.
the greens memorandum with national has resulted in over 400,000 homes being more insulated.
there has been a pilot scheme for a building wof
both things done by parties not around the cabinet table and with no outside cabinet baubles either.
far too little credit, and too many brickbats, get thrown for this. insulating homes is a step toward homes affects health improvements for the poorer amongst us
I don’t buy that line about moving beyond left and right. The MO of working for consensus and collaborative rather than being into competitive game-playing is to me a left wing value.
I think people like Shaw =, saying they are beyond political partisanship, and being into working with whoever for solutions to the big problems, are deluded.
They ignore that there are those out to maintain their power and privilege, and will resists any changes that challenge that – even if it damages the whole planet.
Slavery, for instance, never really went away, the capitalists used the market for exploit people in new ways.
i am not even sure it is a left wing value given the labour caucus consider itself left wing.
it is possible that people can believe they are moving beyond left and right in an attempt to place the value or ethic pursued above any exterior label. they may or may not achieve that but it doesnt change the intent. intent is often more key than outcome whether that outcome is negative or positive. the greens appear to be trying to place their policies, the intent above traditional labels. i admire the attempts given the people and process they are surrounded by
Well, I don’t see the current Labour caucus as being into consensus building and collaborative approaches.
There’s a strong element within that caucus that are into approaching politics as combative game playing. Very different from the approach of the Greens.
oh i agree but many behaving that way will consider themselves left wing.
i hesitate to say this but collaborative and consensus, imo, is a feminine trait rather than left or right wing… and before anyone leaps on that by feminine i mean as opposed to masculine not women versus men.
I see a collaborative approach as being more dominant on the left. I also see it as being more common among women. But, there are also some pretty competitive, combative, individualistic and right wing women: Judith Collins, for example.
For me, traditional human communities have always functioned with both conservative and liberal elements. While I also see the intent to shift beyone game playing and power-over structures as being more naturally left, I think that conservatives can also work collaboratively (I’m not talking about neoliberals or fundamentalists). The GP moving beyond left/right doesn’t mean they leave left wing values or skills behind.
“I think people like Shaw =, saying they are beyond political partisanship, and being into working with whoever for solutions to the big problems, are deluded.”
That’s a somewhat different thing than what I was talking about. I think that in principle we could have multi-party accords on some things (across the left/right divide), and to an extent this already happens within MMP. But in practice it won’t happen much because NACT’s agenda is so extreme and because we live in an MMP age where taking out opponents is part of the process (aka cutting off one’s nose to spite’s one face).
A question for any IT geeks around. Is there a technical reason for not having platforms that allow multiple logins at the same time on the same computer/browser (eg gmail, twitter etc)? Or is it that developpers don’t see the need?
yes I know how to use different browsers, my question is if there is a technical reason why it can’t be done on the same app.
How do you login to two different gmail accounts in the same browser? When I do that, gmail just logs me out of the first one, once I’m in the second one.
in gmail using a web browser, click on the person-shaped icon (top right) and click “add account”. Each account is opened in a different tab in firefox.
I suspect it involves cookies that link each session on the website to the specific tab, so on the flipside it might not work so well for sites whose users like to open the browser, go to the site and straight into their account with no further clicks.
Of course, all of the above are security workarounds that mean anyone using your machine can open your accounts, so you might not want to do it with any emails you conduct business on.
It’s by design, for security and convenience (in most use cases – not yours though!).
The Gmail login page creates an “authentication” cookie, so when you open a new tab Google knows you are logged in already. And when you open your other Gmail account, a new Gmail cookie is created which supersedes the previous one.
You may wonder why opening a different browser does what you want. It’s because they don’t share cookies among one another. Each browser (Firefox, IE, Chrome, Safari, etc.) has a separate set of cookies.
Email clients like Outlook or Thunderbird should make it easier to collect your email from different accounts.
Thanks. I understand why using different browsers works (cookies).
I’m still not clear if there is a technical reason multiple logins can’t be used on one platform. How is it a security issue? And in this day and age, how is it a convenience issue?
“Clients like Outlook or Thunderbird should make it easier to collect your email from different accounts.”
Can I send from the different gmail accounts using Outlook?
It’s not about making it easier to collect email. It’s about being able to work in two or more different logins at once. eg working with googledocs, I’ve been logged in on a community group account and my own account, which requires me currently to use two browsers.
Cookies are per-website not per-account. If you had 2 cookies for the same website there’s a good chance the browser will mix up the account details when sending email.
Outlook is able to send & receive from different accounts no probs.
‘Canadian Green MP warns against harsh anti-terror measures’
By Keith Locke / October 28, 2014
“Canada’s Green Party has provided a welcome counterpoint to Prime Minister Harper’s call for tougher anti-terrorism laws in the wake of a soldier outside the Canadian Parliament…
How many times does it need to be said that it was not terrorism.
It was an act of war in a country that has been at war for 13 years. Unless can someone prove otherwise. Or just silly gormless soundbites for te news. probably
The latest news I’ve heard on Canada is that Toronto heavyweight Rob Ford was going to stand again for Mayor? but became ill, and at the last minute his brother stepped into his place. So how will Toronto vote?
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NZ First seems to be nakedly trying to enrich itself from public office:A powerful New Zealand First figure helped establish a forestry company that then pushed for money from two key funding streams controlled by a New Zealand First Minister. An RNZ investigation has found Brian Henry, lawyer for Winston ...
Behrouz Boochani is an award winning author and journalist. He is also a refugee, who for the past six years has been detained in Australia's offshore gulag on Manus Island, and in Papua New Guinea. But last night, with the cooperation of the WORD Christchurch festival and Amnesty International, he ...
Different Strokes: If a multicultural immigration policy imposes no obligation on immigrant communities to acknowledge and ultimately embrace their host nation’s most cherished traditions and values, then how is that nation to prevent itself from being reduced to a collection of inward-looking and self-replicating ethnic and cultural enclaves?THE COALITION GOVERNMENT’S ...
Protective Zone: Reading the rules and guidelines released by Massey University, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that its governing body considers the whole concept of free speech a disruptive threat to the orderly imparting of orthodox academic knowledge.IN TRUE ORWELLIAN fashion, Massey University has announced its commitment to ...
Farmers held a hate-march on Parliament today, complete with MAGA hats, gun-nut signs, and gendered insults. While supposedly about a grab-bag of issues - including, weirdly, mental health - it was clear that the protest was about one thing, and one thing only: climate change. And specifically, forestry "destroying" rural ...
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security released their annual report today, and I've been busy reading through it. In amongst the usual review of what they've been doing all year, there's a few interesting bits. For example, a discussion on "agency retention and disposal of information", which points out that ...
Recently more than 150 post-graduate students and young scientists presented an open letter to the Green Party via The Spinoff, encouraging them to reconsider their position on genetic modification. Their target is tackling climate change issues.[1] Can any party continue to be dismissive about genetic modification (GM) contributing to ...
by Deirdre O’Neill Under Thatcher and then Blair and continuing up until our contemporary moment, the working class has seen its culture slowly and progressively destroyed. The change from an industrial society to a service society produced a marked shift in focus from the working class as the backbone of ...
Since 2013, the Australian government has detained refugees without trial in Pacific gulags, where they are abused, tortured, and driven to suicide. The policy is not just an abuse of human rights and possible crime against humanity; it has also had a corrosive effect on the states Australia uses as ...
It seems fair to say that we currently live in a problematic political moment in world history. Democracies are in decline and dictatorships are on the rise. Primordial, sectarian and post-modern divisions have re-emerged, are on the rise or have been accentuated by political evolutions of the moment such as ...
Last month, Greenpeace head Russel Norman surrendered his speaking slot at an EPA conference to student climate activist Sorcha Carr, who told the EPA exactly what she thought of them. It was a bold move, which confronted both regulators and polluters (or, as the EPA calls them, "stakeholders") with the ...
The core principle supposedly underlying New Zealand's electoral finance regime is transparency: parties can accept large donations from rich people wanting to buy policy, but only if they tell the public they've been bought. Most parties abide by this, so we know that TOP was wholly-owned by Gareth Morgan, and ...
Today is a Member's Day, probably the second-to-last one of the year, and its a big one, with the Third Reading of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. last Member's Day it was reported back from committee, after MPs voted narrowly to make it subject to a (rules TBA) ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThe growth of the human population over the last 70 ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...
by Don Franks In 1957, E M Forster wrote, of his greatest work: “The India described in ‘A Passage to India’ no longer exists either politically or socially. Change had begun even at the time the book was published ( 1924) and during the following quarter of a century it ...
The Referendums Framework Bill was due back from select committee today. But there's no report on it. Instead, the bill has been bounced back to the House under Standing order 29593) because the Committee didn't bother to produce one. They probably tried. But given the membership of the committee (which ...
Two years into New Zealand’s Labour-led government, the long-delayed Zero Carbon Bill became law on 7 November. Passed essentially unanimously, the lengthy public debates and political manoeuvring faded away until the final passage was even anticlimactic: Flipping through the @nzstuff@DomPost I was starting to wonder if I’d dreamt ...
Now the Zero Carbon Bill is law, what's next? Obviously, the ETS changes currently before select committee are going to be the next battleground. But we're also going to get a good idea of where we're going, and if the progress the Zero Carbon Act promises is good enough, during ...
Grant PearceThe effects of the current Australian bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland (and also again in California) are devastating and far-reaching. To date, the fires have resulted in several lives being lost and many homes and properties destroyed. Here in New Zealand, the impacts have been only ...
A passing comment in a post the other day about the labour force participation rates of older people prompted me to pull down the fuller data and see what we could see about various participation rates over the decades since the HLFS began in 1986. As it happens, the ...
Distract And Divert: The rise of what we have come to call “Identity Politics” represents the ideological manifestation of the ruling class’s objective need to destroy class politics, and of the middle-class’s subjective need to justify their participation in the process.THE RELIEF of the ruling class can only be imagined. ...
"I saw a newspaper picture,From the political campaignA woman was kissing a child,Who was obviously in pain.She spills with compassion,As that young child'sFace in her hands she gripsCan you imagine all that greed and avariceComing down on that child's lips?" ...
Dr Matt Boyd, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick WilsonThe Global Health Security Index which considers pandemic threats has just been published. Unfortunately, NZ scores approximately half marks (54/100), coming in 35th in the world rankings – far behind Australia. This poor result suggests that the NZ Government needs to ...
The Zero Carbon Act is inadequate, with a weak methane target designed to give farmers a free ride. But it turns out it could have been worse: Climate Change Minister James Shaw was so desperate to get National on board, he wanted to gut that target, and leave it in ...
The Herald reprints an Australian story on a couple of tragic deaths in Bali from drinking cocktails that had methanol in them. The story argues that methanol is likely the result of home distillation. But what the young tourists were experiencing was far from a hangover. They’d consumed a toxic cocktail ...
Last month, the police announced a trial of specialist roaming armed units, which would drive round (poor, brown) areas in armoured SUVs, armed to the teeth. When they announced the trial, they told us it was about having armed police "ready to attend major incidents at any time if needed". ...
Spain went to the polls today in the second elections this year, after the Socialists (who had come to power in a confidence vote, then gone to the polls in April) rejected the offer of a coalition with the left-wing PoDemos, and instead decided to gamble n a better outcome ...
A couple of days ago I attended (and spoke at) the University of Waikato’s “LearnFest” event. There were lots of talks and sessions on very diverse aspects of teaching, mostly at tertiary level. One was by Myra Williamson from Te Piringa Faculty of Law here at Waikato, on Contract Cheating ...
There will be a transit of Mercury – the planet Mercury will pass across the face of the Sun – taking place at sunrise in New Zealand on Tuesday, 12th November. It was by observing such an event 250 years ago that James Cook and his scientist colleagues were able ...
Since becoming the world’s first openly transexual mayor and member of parliament, Georgina Beyer has been recognised as a trailblazer for trans rights. Daphna Whitmore talks with her about where she sees the current trans movement We start out talking about legislation the government put on hold that would have ...
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ...
National Messiah? Chris Luxon identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. If he is genuine in this self-characterisation, then he will take every opportunity his public office provides to proselytise on behalf of his faith. He will also feel obliged to bear witness against beliefs and practices he believes to be ...
I'm going to make a Reckless Prediction™ that the Tories have 'topped out' in the 'poll of polls' / Britain Elects multipoll tracker at about 38%, and in the next week we will start to see Labour creep up on them.In fact, we might just be seeing the start of ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Lizzie Marvelly: “I may have missed this… has @afterellen gone all terf-y? Or am I reading something incorrectly? “ https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/1191840059105742849 After Ellen is a lesbian website that is unashamedly pro-lesbian, as you’d expect. So why is Ms Marvelly so bothered about lesbians having their ...
Did you know there once was a time when it was illegal to be a gypsy (aka Romani) in Britain?That was between 1530, when the Egyptians Act was passed, and 1856, when it was repealed.Amongst other things, the act forbade the entry of 'Egyptians' into England, ordered those already there ...
Some days I sit and think, “what will I write…?” What do you say when you get to 1000 posts? Maybe you just start where you are, diverge to where this all began, then offer a collection of reader’s favourite posts, and a few of your own? (And throw in ...
Counter-Puncher: The “activists” and “radicals” (his own words) from the Indian community who took such strong exception to Shane Jones’ remarks about Immigration NZ’s treatment of arranged marriages, may end up bitterly regretting their intervention. Jones is not the sort of person who turns the other cheek to his critics.SHANE ...
In the spirit of Remember, remember the fifth of November, let's keep this in mind FOREVER.
Oh dear. Extraordinary interview on PM with Andrew Bridgen and @EvanHD just now. Bridgen was defending Jacob Rees Mogg’s Grenfell comments. Evan asked him if JRM had meant to say he would have left ...
Collision Course? In conditions of ideological white-out, the international bankers’ “Woop-Woop! Pull Up!” warning may have come too late to save global capitalism.WHAT DOES IT MEAN when international bankers are more willing to embrace radical solutions than our politicians and their electors? At both the International Monetary Fund and the ...
Pertussis (whooping cough) is a conundrum. It is a disease that was described hundreds of years ago and the bacteria that causes it (Bordetella pertussis) isolated in 1906. We have had vaccines for about 80 years but this disease is defiant in the face of human immunity. I wanted to ...
The Zero Carbon Bill has just passed its third reading, uanimously. In the end, National supported it - but we all know they'll turn around and gut it the moment they regain power. Meanwhile, I guess ACT's David Seymour didn't even bother to show up. I am on record as ...
Dr Lindsay Robertson, Dr Jerram Bateman, Professor Janet HoekMembers of the public health community hold divergent views on how access to vaping products or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products should be arranged. Some believe ENDS should be as widely available as smoked tobacco and argue for liberal ...
When the Police were trying to cover up for the National Party over Dirty Politics, they went all-in with their abuses of power. They illegally search Nicky Hager's house, violating his journalistic privilege and invading his privacy. They unlawfully acquired Hager's bank records. They did the same to left-wing blogger ...
Last month, in response to a wave of protests by Extinction Rebellion, the British government purported to ban their protests from the whole of London. It was a significant interference with the freedoms of expression and assembly, and another sign of the country's decline into tyranny. But now, a court ...
Last year, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security reported on significant problems with the intelligence warrant system. While they were unwilling to declare any warrant "irregular" (meaning unlawful) due to the recent law change, they were also not willing to give the system a clean bill of health. Now, they've ...
The National Party has come out in support of encouraging greater vaccination uptake. But it sure isn’t the way I’d do it. National’s suggested docking the benefits of those on benefit whose kids aren’t keeping up with their vaccinations. Some in National have suggested extending that to payments under Working ...
Feeding The Flames: It is simply not enough to demand an end to “corruption”, or “inequality”, or the overbearing influence of the authorities in Beijing. These are just “lowest common denominator” demands: the sort of slogans that pull people onto the streets. They are not a plan.WHERE’S THE PLAN? Across ...
The labour market statistics have been released, and unemployment has risen to 4.2%. There are 115,000 unemployed - 11,000 fewer than when Labour took office. In that time the minimum wage has gone up by $2 an hour, which shows that the right's fears about increases causing unemployment are simply ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has called for submissions on Andrew Little's tyrannicalTerrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill. Normally I encourage participation in the democratic process. I am not doing so in this case. Instead, I encourage all of you to boycott this submissions process, and to post ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIf tiny concentrations of carbon dioxide can hold enough heat ...
Aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and within it, one of the fastest sources is elite travel: billionaires flitting around the world in their private jets, spewing excessive pollution into the atmosphere just so they can avoid mixing with us dirty peasants. But in ...
That's what we face if we don't stop climate change, according to a warning from 11,000 scientists:The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from more than 11,000 scientists. “We declare clearly and unequivocally ...
by Phil Duncan Here’s just a few of the kind of threats issued day in and day out against gender-critical women – feminists, marxists, etc – overwhelmingly by MEN (albeit men identifying as women). “Kill all Terfs”. “Shoot a Terf today”. “All terfs deserve to be shot in the head”. ...
This is the third of the synopses of parts of the opening chapter of John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century (New York, Monthly Review Press, 2016). The synopsis and commentary below is written by Phil Duncan. Unlike the humble cup of coffee and t-shirt that we looked at in ...
Tom MooreTraditionally a food source and cutting tool, freshwater mussels/kākahi are now widely valued as water filters that help clean our waterbodies and maintain ecosystem health throughout Aotearoa. The improvement they provide in water quality can make it easier for other animals to live in streams and rivers, as ...
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…Installation complete: this was nothing ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is back in the House today for its second reading. While this isn't the final stage, its still effectively D-Day for the bill. Because today, at around 5pm, is when we're going to find out if it has a majority, whether National will support it or ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters met with Korea Racing Authority Chairperson Nak Soon Kim in Seoul today to discuss closer cooperation between the New Zealand and Korean horse racing industries. As part of the visit to the Seoul Racecourse, Mr Peters witnessed ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $10 million to establish Otago as the centre of New Zealand’s creative digital industry over the next ten years, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “The initiative will bring us closer to the vision of ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)’s skills and employment programme will help young Otago people into long-term forestry careers, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Te Ara Mahi will invest $63,000 in the 2020 school year to support eight 17 and 18 ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will support local plans to revitalise and stimulate economic development opportunities in Otago, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The four Regional Economic Development Ministers have approved an in-principle investment of $19.9 million towards the region’s ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is pleased to have received the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) report on the Coalition Government’s Mycoplasma bovis eradication efforts, which shows significant progress in the fight against the disease. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, says the report’s findings ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon David Parker, Minister for Trade and Export Growth The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing to support economic growth opportunities for Otago’s engineering and manufacturing sectors, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Trade and Export Minister David Parker announced today. Almost $20 million ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, discussed in Seoul today opportunities to work more closely in the Pacific and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Mr Peters and Minister Kang confirmed New Zealand and the ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Minister for Māori Development The three marae in the historic Parihaka Pa complex in Taranaki have been upgraded to high speed broadband with the support of the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Connecting the ...
***Please check against delivery*** Good morning everyone. It is a pleasure to be with you this morning to open this year’s New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Conference and AGM. Firstly, thank you Dr Alan Jackson, NZTR Chair for your introduction. And let us acknowledge also: The NZTR Board; Dean McKenzie, Chair ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer and more secure, Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing) Kris Faafoi has announced today. Both renters and landlords will benefit from the suite of practical changes to the Residential ...
A marine conservation milestone - the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve - is being celebrated today at a community event in Tairāwhiti/East Coast attended by the Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “The creation of this marine reserve in November 1999 was a game ...
The Government is asking the food industry to step up work to tackle obesity including reducing sugar, fat and salt in their products, better information for consumers, and tighter restrictions on advertising to children. Health Minister David Clark and Food Safety Minister Damien O’Connor have responded to a ...
ew, modern emergency department and outpatient facilities at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital mean better emergency care for the growing tourist mecca’s visitors and locals, says Health Minister David Clark. Today Dr Clark officially opened the hospital’s redeveloped Emergency Department and Outpatient facilities. The new facilities include: • An extended Emergency Department ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
Nelson’s Salisbury School is to be rebuilt, creating a modern and suitable learning environment for students at the residential special school, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The school for girls aged 8-15, in Richmond, was earmarked for closure by National until the process ...
The panel undertaking a comprehensive review of the Resource Management Act has identified the main issues to be addressed and options for reform and is calling for feedback to inform its final report. In July the Government announced the comprehensive review of the resource management system, including the RMA - ...
An important safety valve has been added to New Zealand’s criminal justice system with the third reading of the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill today. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) will investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “We’ve seen how our justice system can very occasionally get things spectacularly wrong, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters welcomes the tabling of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) 2019 Annual Report in Parliament today. He says the 2019 Annual Report marks the point when New Zealand’s racing industry’s decline was arrested and a turnaround started. RITA’s 2019 Annual Report recorded an industry net profit ...
The New Zealand Government is today sending 21 firefighters to help fight the ongoing catastrophic Australian bushfires. “The fires in Australia are in some of the toughest, most challenging conditions ever,” says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “As of yesterday morning, there were 100 active bushfire-related incidents across Queensland and ...
More frontline support for schools through a new education agency, as part of a redesigned Ministry of Education More support for principals and school boards including through a new centre of leadership and local leadership advisor roles New independent disputes panels for parents and students Management of school property ...
The Government’s reform of the Tomorrow’s Schools system is a watershed moment in education and an opportunity to create meaningful change for ākonga Māori and their whānau, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis said today. “Last year through Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation, Māori teachers, parents, ākonga, whānau, hapū and iwi ...
Infrastructure Minister is welcoming the first of many updated project pipelines from the newly established New Zealand Infrastructure Commission today. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, has released an expanded pipeline of major capital projects – another crucial step towards delivering better infrastructure outcomes. “The first iteration of the ...
Tougher gun laws designed to improve public safety through firearms prohibition orders are proposed in a new document released for public input. Police Minister Stuart Nash says firearms prohibition orders (FPOs) would give new powers to Police to ensure high-risk individuals come nowhere near firearms. “We have already prohibited the ...
Andy Coupe has been confirmed as TVNZ’s new Board Chair. “Mr Coupe has strong commercial and capital markets experience and TVNZ has benefited from his technical knowledge of business and finance, as well as his extensive governance experience,” the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Kris Faafoi said. Andy ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today officially opened a separated pathway, following the completion of the Kaiwharawhara Stream bridge, which will improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians along Hutt Road. The $6.8m Hutt Road project provides a separated path for cycling and pedestrians, the replacement of informal parking ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced the appointment of career diplomat Si’alei van Toor as New Zealand’s next Ambassador to Russia. “I’m pleased to appoint Ms van Toor to this position. She brings a wealth of experience to the role having previously served as Senior Trade Adviser to the ...
The Treasury’s 2019 Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) will be released on Wednesday December 11, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Coalition Government will publish the 2020 Budget Policy Statement at the same time, outlining the priorities for Budget 2020. Further details on arrangements for the release will ...
A new initiative to better support small businesses through hands-on mentoring and advice has been launched by the Minister for Small Business. The first event in the Kiwi Business Boost series of regional workshops and online tools has been launched in Wairoa by Stuart Nash. “The Business Boost initiative combines ...
The latest Quarterly Connectivity Report shows that more and more New Zealanders are moving to Ultra-fast Broadband (UFB), with Rolleston having the highest uptake at 74 per cent, as at the end of September. “This means that nearly three quarters of Rolleston’s households and businesses have moved to ultra-fast services. ...
The passing of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill will help ensure a safe planet for our kids and grandkids, the Minister for Climate Change James Shaw said today. The landmark legislation which provides a framework to support New Zealanders to prepare for, and adapt to, the effects ...
The Labour-led coalition may have to generate a second wave of Jacindamania if it is to win another term in the Beehive. Re-election is not an impossible dream, despite the failure of Labour to deliver what many of those who voted for it in 2017 expected. Retiring Green MP Gareth Hughes ...
A corporate undertaker talks top tips for making sure you get paid, reining in rogue liquidators, and having a heart for those who’ve lost money.PwC’s John Fisk has handled high profile company failures from Pike River to Lombard Finance and the Ross Asset Management Ponzi scheme. He also chairs the ...
Armed police represent a serious cause for concern, especially for the most vulnerable, writes the chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation.The Mental Health Foundation has publicly condemned the police trial of special armed response teams patrolling three districts around New Zealand. We’re extremely worried these trials will result in ...
International crime rings are increasingly targeting New Zealanders’ bank accounts to launder proceeds from scams and fraud. Bronwyn Groot, Fraud Education Manager at the Commission for Financial Capability (CFFC) is highlighting the rising incidence ...
A just-released report shows that the food industry wants to stay in a business-as-usual mode with a few minor tweaks around the edges. In response, the New Zealand Government appeared comfortable with that approach, and provided no Government plans for comprehensive ...
New Zealand consumers will be left in the dark about foods grown in Australia that have been created using gene editing techniques. On the 13 November the Australian Senator Rice put up a motion to disallow, or overturn, the recently passed Gene Technology ...
As Aotearoa plans for festive season celebrations, The Salvation Army is preparing to make its house a home to hundreds of men, women and children who have nowhere else to stay. ...
Landlords say they feel under siege with the government planning to make it tougher for them to boot out troublesome tenants; and skilled immigrants waiting for a residents visa say its unfair officials are fast tracking applications for those on salaries over $105,000. ...
Standing with the farmers, New Conservative is committed to pushing back against the lunacy of the ETS and Carbon Zero commitments by this government. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tomas Trescak, Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Systems, Western Sydney University Just a few years ago, virtual reality (VR) was being showered with very real money. The industry raised an estimated US$900 million in venture capital in 2016, but by 2018 that figure ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rowena Maguire, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Institute for Future Environments, Queensland University of Technology Over the past two weeks, bushfires have raged across New South Wales and Queensland. While the narrative appears focused on potential causes and political point-scoring, what’s lost ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Davis, Chair of Women’s Health, Monash University At menopause, a woman’s ovaries lose their reproductive function. Eggs are no longer released and the production of the hormones oestrogen and progesterone falls. It’s the lowered levels of oestrogen after menopause that gives ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Bolleter, Deputy Director, Australian Urban Design Research Centre, University of Western Australia Around the world, the vast majority of people are flocking to cities not to dwell in their centres but to live in the new suburbs expanding their outer limits. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Natalya Saldanha, Academic, RMIT University Like any eight-year-old, Ryan Kaji loves to play with toys. But when Ryan plays, millions watch. Since the age of four he’s been the star of his own YouTube channel. All up his videos have gained ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kieran Wong, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Indigenous voices are finally being acknowledged as important voices in Australian galleries and museums. Since 2014, I have worked as an advisor to Western Australia’s New Museum, a A$450 million project and one of ...
Retiring Green MP Gareth Hughes says the pace of change in the current Government is not fast enough for his liking but that is not the reason he is quitting politics. ...
The Superdiversity Institute for Law, Policy and Business is releasing its latest report today on Culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse parties in the Courts: A Chinese case study . The Report’s author, Mai Chen, Chair of the Superdiversity ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Doubts emerge about Auckland port move, NZDF leaves death-causing material behind in Afghanistan, and laws around renting to be shaken up.Over the last week, the ramifications of moving most of the operations of Auckland’s port north to Whangarei have been ...
An ambitious new partnership between Sky Sports and more than 50 sports promises more free sport for Kiwis. Suzanne McFadden looks at how it will change the way we see female athletes ...
Catriona MacLennan helped conduct a survey of the top NZ companies to establish the ethnicity of their directors. The results were not surprising, but also far from encouraging. ...
Episode 1 in a series on the trials of injured animals as they’re rescued, rehabilitated and released back into the wild follows the rescue of a yellow-eyed penguin. ...
New Zealand Defence Force's failed to clean up properly after itself in Afghanistan - with the result that seven children have been killed and another 10 civilians injured. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Chinese embassy has lashed out at two Liberal members of parliament, Andrew Hastie and James Paterson, saying they would need to “repent and redress their mistakes” before they would be welcome in China. The ...
Tim Costley National’s new candidate in Otaki Local party members have selected Tim Costley as National’s candidate in Ōtaki for the 2020 General Election. Mr Costley is replacing retiring MP Nathan Guy, who is standing down after five terms. ...
“Compelling research out of the UK reaffirms vaping’s life-saving role. Here’s hoping our Government’s pending legislation reflects vaping’s increasingly documented health benefits for smokers,” say Ben Pryor, co-owner of the largest Kiwi-owned ...
Government has announced a raft of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act. The Minister has said he does not want to be seen to unduly punishing landlords. These changes do more than punish landlords however. They will punish anyone living next ...
Democracy under Fire on Firearms Law Reform - COLFO SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2019 The Government supposedly wants to “hear from all New Zealanders” about firearms law reform – unless you happen to be a licenced firearms owner. ...
From Monday 18 November New Zealand women are working for free until the end of the year because of the gender pay imbalance between men and women. ...
Award-winning investigative team Stuff Circuit is releasing its most hard-hitting documentary yet, exposing a secret the NZ Defence Force doesn’t want Kiwis to know. ...
The government has announced a suite of practical changes to the Residential Tenancies Act in its bid to make renting fairer and more secure. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happening?A number of changes to the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) has just been announced by associate minister of housing Kris ...
US Trumpian Inspired Rhetoric From Anti-Trans Group Not a Good Fit with Nz Society Trans-rights support groups around the country have been dismayed by recent divisive and repellent comments by Stand Up For Women (SUFW), a group calling itself feminist ...
Sam Brooks reviews the third season of The Crown, a show that can’t decide whether it wants to humanise the monarchy or tear it all down.This review contains very mild spoilers for world history, 1964-1977.Three seasons in, there’s no doubt that The Crown is the, well, crown jewel in Netflix’s ...
An easy, flavour-packed noodle recipe from Bounty – Cooking With Vegetables, the new cookbook from national food education charity the Garden to Table Trust.The fresh flavours of these noodles are less complex than many Thai dishes, as the simple spice paste uses just a few ingredients. If you’d rather not ...
Part 2: In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department explains what ministers should be told by public servants ...
In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department summarises our governing arrangements. ...
With the 2020 cannabis referendum fast approaching, New Zealanders have a unique opportunity to let the government know what they want from drug reform. It will then be up to our policy makers to decide whether drug reform will focus on changing outcomes for those struggling under historically racist policy.By ...
It breaks my heart to think of young queer and trans people seeing this sign, and thinking there are no spaces where they will ever belong, writes Hadassah Grace. The first time I ventured into a gay bar, I vowed never to go back.It was a vulnerable time in my life. ...
It breaks my heart to think of young queer and trans people seeing this sign, and thinking there are no spaces where they will ever belong, writes Hadassah Grace. The first time I ventured into a gay bar, I vowed never to go back.It was a vulnerable time in my life. ...
Hayden Donnell looks for inspiration and innovation on how to house the city’s future.Auckland Council’s Unitary Plan has enabled a building boom. More than 14,600 building consents were issued in the city in the year to September. Despite that, houses remain extremely expensive and out-of-reach for many first home buyers. ...
Simon Shepherd: David Seymour's euthanasia bill passed this week, and next week he will be putting the finishing touches on his next bill. Is he just a very hard-working politician or is this the longest one-person election campaign known to mankind? ...
Simon Shepherd: It's Transgender Awareness Week, the same week a feminist group, Speak Up For Women, has brought Megan Murphy from Canada to speak in New Zealand. Murphy is a radical feminist who believes trans women aren't women, views that have ...
As a follow-up to our post about police station office hours for the public and in the cause of balance, we bring positive news – or rather, we are passing on the positive news which the police delivered in a press statement, It’s all about the productivity gains achieved – it ...
Books editor Catherine Woulfe follows Wellington author Lawrence Patchett into his extraordinary story of heat and humanity and history repeating. The Burning River begins like the best kind of yarn. “Someone had been there. Someone strange. In the centre of his camp, a new circle of sooted rocks. A campfire, with ...
SPECIAL REPORT: By Philip Cass in BrisbaneMelanesian Media Freedom Forum – Day two –The second day of the Melanesian Media Freedom Forum began with praise for the work of young Pacific journalists by Professor David Robie and ended with a warning that threats to journalism in the ...
In this special episode of The Real Pod, brought to you by Nando’s, we chat to the champions of My Restaurant Rules NZ 2019.In the afterglow of Rustic Kitchen’s historic win on My Restaurant Rules NZ, Duncan and Alex got on the blower with Tyson and Denise. Then we forgot ...
Hannah Kronast attends a women’s empowerment panel focused on the huge disparities in training and employment within science and technology. In the far back left-hand corner of a women’s equality and empowerment event, a male stuck up his hand. “What can men do to help?” he asked.It was at a panel ...
Our recent Spinoff Art survey provided a snapshot on gender equality in the local art scene, but it wasn’t the full story. Anna Knox continues the conversation by asking some gallery owners and directors for their responses to our findings.The Spinoff’s survey of gender bias in visual arts found that ...
Based on their study of trans wellbeing Aotearoa, the research team at Counting Ourselves find six data points that highlight the strength of our trans and non-binary community.Last month the first comprehensive national survey on transgender health and wellbeing in Aotearoa was published by the academics and researchers at Counting ...
The SpinoffBy Dr Jaimie Veale, Jack Byrne and Ahi Wi-Hongi
Ten thousand years ago, roasted hares and figs were flat-layed on Levantine flax leaves. Now, we drape prosciutto over strawberries on computer desks. Josie Adams mourns the death of the platter.Three days ago I stumbled on an accidental recreation of a 1950s platter: a giant ham, a cake that was ...
India’s decision not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership promoted by China is politically significant. But its impact on trade and prosperity is more nuanced, as Bloomberg explains.It avoids some market opening on both sides (India to agriculture; others to services) that would have been economically beneficial. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Geoff Crisp discusses the the week in politics the government’s response to the bush fires as well as the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action. They also talk about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The proposed acquisition of infant formula producer Bellamy’s Australia Ltd by China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited has been given approval by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Strict, legally enforceable conditions, have been set by the treasurer, which ...
The Council of Trade Unions (CTU) is condemning the All Saints Day evening raid on 31 October. With the arrest of over 60 union organisers, human rights defenders and activists in the Philippines province of Negros. The 16th of November is an international ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Assistant professor, University of Canberra What’s happening? Suddenly, at the level of central banks, Australia is regarded as an investment risk. On Wednesday Martin Flodén, the deputy governor of Sweden’s central bank, announced that because Australia and Canada were “not ...
SPECIAL REPORT: By Philip Cass in Brisbane Opening session – Day OneThe problems of operating in the Pacific and the impact of online news and the emergence of ‘citizen journalists’ were common concerns for all delegates to this week’s Melanesian Media Freedom Forum.The forum, held at Griffith ...
Standoff between protesters and the police at Yeung Uk Road, Hong Kong. Image by Studio Incendo – 20190825 Tsuen Wan March. CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81751531.The recent surge in social protests world-wide is quantitatively and qualitatively different than in previous ages. The advent of individualised mass communications technologies and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Livingstone, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is going to start asking internet service providers to block certain offshore gambling websites. The decision follows former New South Wales premier ...
The Zero Carbon Act (ZCA) is over a week old, but it’s still being heavily debated and analysed. After all, depending on who you listen to, it’s the most significant new law of the year, of this Government, or even of some people’s lifetime. And it deals with a giant ...
Green MP and refugee Golriz Ghahraman was there last night when the former Manus Island detainee and acclaimed writer arrived in New Zealand.Last night, quietly and without fanfare a small group made up of human rights activists, literary folk, and just two journalists, came together at Auckland Airport to welcome ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sandra D’urso, Researcher, The Australian Centre, University of Melbourne To perform an exit is not as simple as it sounds. In fact, exiting a situation can be almost impossible for some. Exit Strategies is a new production by indie performer and theatre ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Niro Kandasamy, Tutor, University of Melbourne Sri Lanka’s presidential election on Saturday comes at a critical time for the country. The government has been in turmoil since President Maithripala Sirisena sacked the prime minister last year and replaced him with former strongman ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Hansen, Chief of Staff, The Conversation If you have kids, chances are you’ve worried about their presence on social media. Who are they talking to? What are they posting? Are they being bullied? Do they spend too much time on it? ...
New Zealand Police has won a prestigious World Class Policing Award for its ‘more street than station approach’ Mobility programme, which has saved millions of hours of officers’ time. ...
Open mike 28/10/2014 
Open mike is your post.
Next year is an election year, and Labour needs money to fund its campaign. So naturally, they're selling access:Labour is charging wealthy business figures $1500-a-head to lunch with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at its annual conference later this month. [...] On the weekend beginning November 29th, around 800 delegates will ...23 mins ago
Words and images by Jacqui Gibson Gone are Auckland Museum’s days of doing science using a museum-centric academic approach, after Māori land rights holders Ngāti Kuri gave the museum an ultimatum.
MediaWorks announced in October 2019 that it intended to sell off its struggling television business and cancel or cut back on several popular local programmes, including New Zealand Today, Married at First Sight New Zealand and 7 Days. Its radio and outdoor advertising arms are currently performing well, but MediaWorks’ ...7 hours ago
Some readers may remember that I mentioned last year that I was applying for NZ citizenship. I filled out the paperwork and had my original citizenship interview in February. Everything went well until they discovered that, because I had spent five months in the US in 2017, I had not ...24 hours ago
by Deirdre O’Neill It is becoming quite acceptable for certain sections of the left to declare that people like me – women who are ‘gender critical’ – should not be allowed in leftist or anarchist spaces. Leaving aside the arrogance and implicit authoritarianism of this claim, its lack of critical ...1 day ago
There is an article in The Conversation, written by Jeremy P. Shapiro (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University), about what he sees as the psychologically-based underpinnings of three main matters that seem to vex people all around the planet. The article is titled “The Thinking ...2 days ago
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Different Strokes: If a multicultural immigration policy imposes no obligation on immigrant communities to acknowledge and ultimately embrace their host nation’s most cherished traditions and values, then how is that nation to prevent itself from being reduced to a collection of inward-looking and self-replicating ethnic and cultural enclaves?THE COALITION GOVERNMENT’S ...3 days ago
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...6 days ago
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ... 1 week ago
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…
Installation complete: this was nothing ... 2 weeks ago
We're setting our young people up for success, investing in education around the country. ...4 hours ago
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...4 days ago
***Please check against delivery*** Good morning everyone. It is a pleasure to be with you this morning to open this year’s New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Conference and AGM. Firstly, thank you Dr Alan Jackson, NZTR Chair for your introduction. And let us acknowledge also: The NZTR Board; Dean McKenzie, Chair ...55 mins ago
Air New Zealand has cancelled some of its international flights due to ongoing issues with its Rolls-Royce engines. ...58 mins ago
The Labour-led coalition may have to generate a second wave of Jacindamania if it is to win another term in the Beehive. Re-election is not an impossible dream, despite the failure of Labour to deliver what many of those who voted for it in 2017 expected. Retiring Green MP Gareth Hughes ...1 hour ago
A corporate undertaker talks top tips for making sure you get paid, reining in rogue liquidators, and having a heart for those who’ve lost money.PwC’s John Fisk has handled high profile company failures from Pike River to Lombard Finance and the Ross Asset Management Ponzi scheme. He also chairs the ...2 hours ago
International crime rings are increasingly targeting New Zealanders’ bank accounts to launder proceeds from scams and fraud. Bronwyn Groot, Fraud Education Manager at the Commission for Financial Capability (CFFC) is highlighting the rising incidence ...3 hours ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tomas Trescak, Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Systems, Western Sydney University Just a few years ago, virtual reality (VR) was being showered with very real money. The industry raised an estimated US$900 million in venture capital in 2016, but by 2018 that figure ...4 hours ago
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Labour is charging wealthy business figures $1500-a-pop to lunch with Jacinda Ardern; and NZ First-linked forestry company pushed for govt funds. ...5 hours ago
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Catriona MacLennan helped conduct a survey of the top NZ companies to establish the ethnicity of their directors. The results were not surprising, but also far from encouraging. ...7 hours ago
Episode 1 in a series on the trials of injured animals as they’re rescued, rehabilitated and released back into the wild follows the rescue of a yellow-eyed penguin. ...7 hours ago
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Many fund managers are overconfident and the public buy the illusion. ...1 day ago
Part 2: In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department explains what ministers should be told by public servants ...1 day ago
In this excerpt from the evidence of Sir Maarten Wevers in the High Court case of Winston Peters over his superannuation leak, the former head of the Prime Minister's Department summarises our governing arrangements. ...1 day ago
New Zealand's coroners learnt lessons of cultural competency and communication from March 15. ...1 day ago
As a follow-up to our post about police station office hours for the public and in the cause of balance, we bring positive news – or rather, we are passing on the positive news which the police delivered in a press statement, It’s all about the productivity gains achieved – it ...2 days ago
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India’s decision not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership promoted by China is politically significant. But its impact on trade and prosperity is more nuanced, as Bloomberg explains. It avoids some market opening on both sides (India to agriculture; others to services) that would have been economically beneficial. But ...2 days ago
“..John Oliver Calls Out Sugar Industry..
..How much sugar are you eating?
Odds are you don’t know – and as John Oliver pointed out Sunday on ‘Last Week Tonight’ –
-it’s because food makers are doing their best to make sure you never find out..”
(cont..)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/27/john-oliver-sugar-peanuts_n_6052298.html
A good follow up to Nigel Latta’s expose of the sugar industry in NZ.
Katherine Rich ( ex Nat MP ) is the hired gun for the sugar industry.
I think they used Slater to attack people who questioned the sugar industry.
http://tvnz.co.nz/nigel-latta/index-group-6006369
rich pimps for the sugar-pushers..
..and other rightwinger/actite heather roy now pimps for big-pharma..
..classy..!..
..both of them earning their dirty-money by/for essentially..selling us out..
(and funny story..!..i had forgotten roys’ name..so i googled ‘act mp big-pharma’..)
..first link/hit..?..bingo..!..heather roy…)
Lewis Road Creamery Chocolate Milk, with queues of customers waiting for delivery every day. Each bottle contains 22 pieces of (delicious) Whittakers chocolate (half a chocolate slab).
Twenty two pieces …….. Glug glug glug.
A second drink, perhaps? Or a glass of coke to ‘wash it down’?
Could I please have a side order of diabetes?
Thanks Katherine.
Chocolate Milk comparison
(personal experiment)
it’s also measured as 82 grams..3+ ounces..or 21 teaspoons of sugar..
..it is like the crack of sugar..
..that’s what those idiots/fools/suckers are queuing to pay top-dollar for..
..’there’s one (a sucker) born every minute’..eh..?
..and today we can know them by their chosen/favoured brand of chocolate milk..
..eh..?
..(do we have sugar-lift-off..?..)
..(and those rushing out to buy/stock up on milk chocolate on the back of that research (funded by mars bars..(!)..)
..that chocolate is good for aging-minds/memories..
..should know those results were found after using almost pure cocao..
..which is sure as hell not what you get in the sugary-delights offered by..i dunno.!…milk-chocolate/the mars company..?..)
@ phillip ure (1.1.2.1)
The research referred to was some blind taste testing with dinner guests, that I carried out . Nothing to do with Mars. I was trying to understand if the queues could really be justified on the basis of taste, and also highlight the foolishness of the queues on the basis of health.
Keep on the good work talking about sugar.
Good one phillip. Sugar is a bad bad word. And thanks to Nigel Latta for his more detailed program.
Did anyone hear Key’s interview with Espiner on RNZ this morning?
It sounded to me like he was positioning us for military action.
Oh dear.
Yep he was floored by the question by Espiner about whether it was moral for NZ to enter the war. I thought he had difficulties understanding the concept of morality.
I have looked in vain for six years for any suggestions that Mr Key has a moral base. Right now the National Party is a convenient vehicle to satisfy his personal interests. Hopefully somone can explain why my view has no substance, as I would like to think better of him?
Made a career in currency trading. Made 50m in the financial sector. You have to have very selective morality to get as far as he did…
There are no flawlessly ethical guys at the top of banking or money market trading… they are loophole boys, rationalisers of untruths.
He’s no doubt worth far, far more than $50M now.
To get that far in finance you pretty much have to have no morality.
I think he has said himself that he is not an “ideology” type of person. The only thing I recall he has said he that believes in are asset sales. Is there another living NZer that cannot recall what they thought about the Springbok tour? When he first came out with this I thought he was lying. Now I actually believe it.
is pursuit of money at any cost an ideology?
A common trait in psychopaths.
Yep one of his answers to ‘is it moral’ was “It is if we agree to that.” So what is moral is what we agree is moral.
That might be an interesting philosophical stance on ethics al la David Hume, but I for one would like a stance less cynical from our leader that doesn’t smack of focus group analysis on this issue. Higher standards anyone?
“Higher standards anyone?”
Bahahaha that’s a fucking myth.
not quite… it is in the cabinet manual so it is real.
I don’t think he has any idea. He is totally amoral. I can recognise it because I was like that until I grew up a bit in my late 20s. As far as his philosophy goes, it’s a weird mix of Aleister Crowley and Nietsche, mixed with a desire for acceptance from those he worships. As a human being, he is hugely dysfunctional.
Of course he is Paul.
And to make matters worse Key knew he would be doing this if re-elected yet he deceitfully declined to raise the matter during the election.
Key is going to bring war and death into our country.
Why is that such a surprise, the ‘terror’ narrative arrived within a week of the election duely pushed by the MSM muppets so top diversionary tactic whilst the RMA, employment, exploration and sell offs etc etc continue.
kiwi soldiers bodies being returned home will be another unwanted legacy of key as he marches them off and increases our risk once we engage.
this govt has no moral compass just a monetary one.
when key was saying earlier this year that he ‘had no intention of taking nz into another middle-east war’..
..i was writing/calling ‘bullshit!’ on that..
..and that if re-elected..that five minutes later key would morph into spear-carrier/war-monger for america..
..to me at the time..it seemed the bleeding obvious..
..i am actually surprised people are surprised that this is how it has turned out..
..as key now marches us into yet another intractable sectarian/religious-war..as americas’ mercenaries..
..killing more arabs..for america..again..
..and of course..in the process..painting a big fucken bulls-eye on nz..
..as a soft-target for retaliatory-attacks..(!)
(of course key also lied until the un seat was secured..playing the peacemaker up until then..did anyone else also notice that..?..)
..and 21,000 civilians were killed by the invading/occupying forces in afghanistan..
..i wonder how many were killed in our name..?
If the gummint has a monetary compass I wish they would set up an expedition, go and find it and pay the workers better!!
This morning on the news about David cameron the journalist said all western leaders were on high alert since the canadian parliament incident.
I was at dinner sunday evening when the Pm arrived. There was no pre dinner sweep of the restaurant, he arrived with his wife and son, alone. NO guards, none of his special big boys. They were not discreetly outside they were nowhere…
So, NOT on high alert here.
BUT maybe he was dining as John Key the man, and not PM. The terrorists will probably respect that distinction aye?
He needs to be truthful. This isn’t about NZers, it is that he believes we should play a part alongside our allies. There are many who agree with that thinking so why not just say it, Honest John?
Perhaps Tracey, Key was having a last meal before sending his son off to fight war against ISIS …….
I’ve said before, how many of the jingoistic types will send their own children. I note, John Keys daughter the right age to fight – should she not be running off to basic?
no – no – no – no..!
..armchair-warriors always send other peoples’ children to war..
..and funny story..!..they are usually the children of the poor..
..those children who are sent to war..
..no parnell boys there..
Seeing Key would have spoilt my meal. In fact, it would have spoilt my whole evening.
i didnt see him… heads turned, conversations lowered and my right wing dad and his wife said he had arrived. he sat at a table behind me. i had eaten so it was just a question of keeping it down.
when i stood to leave, i was so tempted to say lousd enough
“i see the terror threat is very low tonight”… but didnt
he has good taste in restaurants. hes come in before when i was there…
not suggesting he is stalking me
“he sat at a table behind me”
I would have farted loudly. Would have been the “morally right” thing to do.
and you cd tell him that fart did not come from you as you..
..(i am sure he would understand..)
lol
But Tracey did you notice the casually dressed but awkward bloke who came in a few minutes before maybe with a companion, who could have been man or a woman, and the lone diner who came in a bit later or who stayed hanging around the door or feigned interest in the shop windows in the vicinity.
Key is paranoid, but increasingly aware that more NZers think the whole “entourage” thing is preposterous posing
hmmmm….i hang around the minties bowl myself
The entourage thing is US-style politics invading New Zealand. Have you seen the motorcades that travel with the likes of Eric Holder? Not even the President.
I bet Steven Joyce et al. are frothing at the mouth for a personal security detail.
I wonder whether David Parker has demanded a team from the Diplomatic Protection Squad to travel with him all the time now he is the (acting) leader of the party? Cunliffe wanted them around all the time. Perhaps he thought it made him seem important.
Actually perhaps Cunliffe was worried about the other members of his caucus. It would seem justified wouldn’t it?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10470344/Campaign-Diary-Monday-September-8
maybe but key is the one saying we are under threat from terrorists while standing down his security
“Dirty Journalism” post by Bat Bean Beam is a must read. Asks all the right questions about journalists in NZ and the failure to change anything substantial since the release of Hager’s Dirty Politics book:
hooton prounounced hager NOT a journalist today. so i guess tgat ends the argument
An Unfair Wages System
For a lot of people, those in the lower decile, as productivity has risen their wages have actually gone down.
It’s a simple fact that, if everything else remains the same, as productivity increases wages must decline. This government and all governments going back to the 4th Labour government have been working to keep everything else the same in the name of stability and with that has come the inevitable decrease in bargaining power and remuneration.
Oh, look, IT just increased productivity, had nothing to do with employees!
I must be due a bonus, and my banker can leverage the new ongoing wealth to sustain even higher valuations.
It must be great to live in a world when citizens are widgets, expendable moveable parts, where discourse about finance is all about how wealth is mismeasird and allotted to a shrinking class of super rich and their hanger on-ers.
Key screws us all, locking away choice.
Help Shut Down the Illegal and extremely cruel Dog Meat Trade in Thailand. Watch the video to understand what is happening there.
Please act immediately to stop thousands of dogs from being tortured and butchered for their meat.
Every aspect of the dog meat trade in Southeast Asia is horrifically cruel.
You can save thousands of dogs from unspeakable pain by adding your name to Soi Dog’s global petition. It calls on Thailand’s leaders to crack down hard on the criminals who profit from the agony of animals.
https://savedogs.soidog.org/petition
@ clem..
..a slight amendment/edit could be needed there..
“..Every aspect of the meat trade is horrifically cruel..”
..there ya go..!
..fixed now..!
..we wouldn’t want selective/speciesist-outrage to break out..would we now..?
..i mean..!..people might choke on their bacon..
..so..”..Please act immediately to stop thousands of dogs(pigs/calves/chooks etc.) from being tortured and butchered for their meat..”
..we should try for consistancy..eh..?
I just ate a bacon sandwich. It was delicious.
What can you say to a response like that.
You could say “Now I want some bacon too”?
No thanks. I would hate to think I would be as insensitive and lacking in empathy as you are.
You got that from a bacon sandwich?
yep..!
Amazing
no ‘amazing’..you are the modern equivalent of the slave-owner..
..thinking animals are just there for you to do whatever you like to them..
..that they have no ‘rights’ as sentient-beings..
..to be treated with respect/humanely..
..much the same way slave-owners scoffed at the very idea of their human-slaves having any ‘rights’..
..what do you find so hard to understand about that..?
..are you really that unthinking/dull..?
Slavery now? Of course, it is just like slavery dear.
The modern equivalent of slavery is slavery. It’s pretty gross to exploit the utter dehumanisation of actual humans in order to make a cheap shock-value attack on people who eat things you don’t like.
it’s a shame the power-imbalance prevents me from replying to you..
“it’s a shame the power-imbalance prevents me from replying to you..”
Don’t you mean your yellow streak and insipid fortitude?
I got a desire to eat a bacon sandwich…
Fuck. Now I’m really hungry.
nom nom
Even conservative John Armstrong has something bad to say about National’s housing ‘reform’ (read: sell off all the shit to our corporate funders for pennies on the dollar). Armstrong refers to the policy as ideological for ideology’s sake.
National is continuing its policy of strip mining all the assets of the state, thus breaking a promise it made that there would be no more selling. They are behaving like a mafia that has taken over a business to squeeze every last dollar out of it before they send it into bankruptcy.
History tells us that the invisible hand is NOT the best solution to social problems. One of the main jobs of Government is dealing with the negative externalities the invisible hand creates in the first place, which is in essence what state housing is an example of – Providing where the market can’t, or won’t without the introduction of overbearing regulation.
Interesting read:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/john-armstrong/news/article.cfm?a_id=3&objectid=11347878
only cos we are past the election and he is getting his balance reporting in now to refer back to nearer the next election
Money Wars, A Race To The Bottom And Massive Wealth Transfer Or Why The $ 523 Billion Printed In August 2012 Is Bad News For New Zealanders
They sold $521 million in August this year. Only a thousand times less, and 2 years later.
Isis will “rain carnage on the world”, Prime Minister John Key tells us today … but he has yet to make a decision on whether NZ troops will go.
What sort of apocalyptic theology does he subscribe to these days ? Revelations ?
Will a NZ SAS haka have any effect on the Saudis and Qataris who used Chlorine at Kobane ? Is he referring to ballistic mass destruction ?
He may wish retire to a professorship in strategic decision making at Auckland University.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11349273&ref=rss
“Rain carnage on the world”?
Isn’t this phrase indicative of the breathtaking level of arrogance of our current PM – given the carnage unremittedly being dropped from the sky creating vast civilian casualties is primarily and immorally being committed by his US “allies”?
The carnage being rained is a direct result of the insane invasion of Iraq which Key wanted NZ to be part of. So we could sell more butter to the yanks. Still need to shift more of it…
Did he himself actually come up with that turn of phrase? Seriously?
He’s just making sure that when we send our troops over, we know we’re doing A Good Thing, because otherwise we might have some public pressure to the contrary.
Last time I looked, it was nation states with developed economies, and strong military forces that were capable of raining carnage on the world, not a bunch of Koran waving teenagers with a couple of stolen MiGs.
Millsy, we are very selective about which people who are doing harm in the world that we should visit with our strong military forces, that as you say are capable of raining carnage on the world. Let us not forget that Vietnam received triple the bombing that took place in all of WWII !
In relationship to all this, I wonder what certain elements of society today would have called the men who went as volunteers to Spain to fight Franco’s fascists. Is that similar to the young men fighting with the Islamic State? Were those Spanish War volunteers idealists and defenders of freedom or were they brainwashed, radicalised terrorists?
Would our present Government have considered a military intervention into Republican Spain then?
It is the remuneration packages of bank CEOs that have been out of control. They are the ones who are left unchecked and will rain carnage on the world.
I read on wikipedia that John Key’s Dad went to fight in the Spanish civil war
Well, well, I never knew that. George Key. My use of the Spanish Civil War analogy was entirely outside of that information. (And that’s no John Key-style memory lapse. His techniques for avoidance of issues are well criticised in tonight’s Marlborough Express editorial, by the way).
“Fight for the filthy commo’s, no way”.
Remember that those who fought against Franco were reviled by the establishment, who thought that fascism, which got rid of those “pesky communist trade unions”, was a good idea.
Right up until Poland was invaded, and their skills were needed.
[deleted]
[lprent: I have no real objections to you placing these links here (all about ISIS, chemical weapons, and Kurds). However I do have a strong objection to you link-whoring them on our site for promoting google links. You haven’t provided a reason in the form of a paragraph or two for the people on this site why they should click into them.
This site values the opinions of those who comment here. We don’t value straight linking with no explanations. ]
Strange thing though, I imagine that there are many more young people willing to take up arms against IS than the few odd entrails that media manage to find have signed for IS.
Re. “link-whoring them on our site for promoting google links.”
.. they all linked to newspaper media sources, as I remember it, not google. A link is just an economical way of doing it ..
Putting raw links in a comment is most commonly used by bots and spam artists to increase google scores. When I look at a list of raw links that is what I presume.
There are many other search and meta-search engines out there besides google. I find google very limited, predictable, and constricting these days and try to broaden my sources. In this case I used
http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/World+News/Middle+East/Syria?JavaScript=1&searchheadlines=&search=Aleppo
.. but because it is continually updating it seems to use a lot of bandwidth.
Key: Action against IS ‘morally right’
http://www.3news.co.nz/politics/key-action-against-is-morally-right-2014102810
Odd statement coming from a compulsive liar.
Not at all, brazenly claiming the moral high ground is standard practice for compulsive liars.
And Key gets away with it too.
Moral is a word beloved of the Hasbara Zionists. The IDF is a moral army, Israel acts morally, etc….. Key is on the same side, so it’s no surprise to see the word being misused here as well. It’s a favourite term of immoral liars.
Good point. Plenty of more conservative lefties and left leaning intellectuals will nod sagely with the PM though. What could be more worthy than a ‘just’ war?
Not strictly politics, but good comedic analysis – and it’s just so damn funny. Key and Peele alien imposters
Questions for oral answer today:
More questions to the PM on his communications with Slater – aimed at Key doing this in his role as PM.
Questions on workplace safety; state and social housing; TVNZ outsourcing it’s Māori & Pacific content.
*Yawn*
Oh sorry are we still talking about the thing that the opposition parties complained about stealing all oxygen during the election?
Jolly good then, carry on.
Are you from North Korea? Prefer licking the boots of the Great Leader?
In this country some still believe in this quaint notion called ‘democracy’, where the government is accountable to the people.
He won’t have read Dirty Politics
He will ignore all evidence on any subject which counters his limited self interested and parochial viewpoint.
He will rely on anecdotes to support his points.
He will aim tok provoke.
He’s unlikely to admit the only reason he voted for the Tories is naked self interest.
In short, he is not worth debating with.
I believe very much in democracy especially the last election where the people of NZ (well enough of them anyway) told you exactly what they think of so-called dirty politics and voted National back in
1 million people did not vote.
here’s who voted for National. It’s democracy as borderline failure. Funny you should like that so much chris.
If you think an elected dictator every 3 years is cool and nobody should ask questions and the media should just be a propaganda tool,
then you are a f*cken tool as well mate.
+1 ropata.
There is a little bit of Slater in everybody…my conclusion from that result.
Far be it for me to agree with a curmudgeon, but check out Gavin Ellis? (Elice?) on the regular gal’s NinetoNoon today. Completely on the mark – and couple that with the recent TVNZ decision.
When I get around to it, it may form a question on another post re what the fuck are prospective Labour Party candidates going to do about our media, and in particular PSB.
I’m hopeful I’ll hear that there will be some sort of bipartisan mechanism that protects our 4th Estate (not that we have one), and our public sphere. AND such a mechanism that bypasses old hacks and self-interested old boy/gal networks.
Personally, I believe there is such a mechanism, and one that not only recognises individuals’ true worth, and one that puts back a citizenry’s RIGHT.
(Might take one or two ex-pats to return home, and they can be convinced – AND one which is somewhat more ambitious than a CBB – which I have to support, but regard as JUST a little namby pamby – otherwise known as a co-alascence of a 3rd Way)
EDIT: What the fuck ever happened to protest, and journalistic integrity?
Rock stars do really die much younger than the general population.
So what about a so-called rock star economy when compared with other economies?
Good quip from a listener on Raionz yesterday.
NZ has a rock star economy because as usual the managers have run off with the money.
DTB put up a link on housing in the USA on Alternet. Very good reporting with anecdotes and background. http://www.alternet.org/hard-times-usa/turning-public-housing-over-private-developers-has-unfortunate-consequences?page=0%2C2
While I was there I saw this piece by Paul Krugman on the USA decline into stasis and ‘starvation in the midst of plenty’.
http://www.alternet.org/economy/paul-krugman-how-gops-ideology-destroying-americas-future
“America used to be a country that built for the future,” Krugman opens, somewhat mournfully. “Sometimes the government built directly: Public projects, from the Erie Canal to the Interstate Highway System, provided the backbone for economic growth. Sometimes it provided incentives to the private sector, like land grants to spur railroad construction. Either way, there was broad support for spending that would make us richer.”
Not any more. These days, our government steadfastly refuses to invest in the country’s future.
It isn’t as if there’s no cash to do so. Seven years after the housing bubble burst, “the country is awash in savings,” Krugman writes, “with nowhere to go.” Corporations and banks are holding on to trillions in excess reserves that are simply sitting idle. State governments are strapped, yes, but the federal government, with its ability to borrow money cheaply, could easily help them out.
(if watching replays of q-time..i wouldn’t bother much past question five..if i were you..
..norman under-performed/delivered..
..king got follow-up question of the day..(referencing/comparing collins/key..vis a vis ‘ministerial-responsibility’..
..and this:..
(excerpt..)
‘..and english slam-dunks him/labour by noting labour signed up to the social-accord in 2013..which detailed this dismantling/devolution of the state houses asset..(!)
..(ed:..i didn’t know that..did you..?..that labour signed up to this..?..whoar..!..)..’
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/new-zealand-parliament-list-of-questions-for-oral-answer-tuesday-28-october-2014/
laugh-out-loud appearance on panel from rodeo-pimp..
..quote:..’rodeo are leaders in animal welfare’…
..when in fact..they are ritualised animal-abuse/torture..
..and the rodeo-pimp made a real horses’-arse of trying to defend what they do..
..making farcical-claims that the animals ‘like it’..(!)..
John Robertson, Professor of Media Politics at the University of West Scotland, on media bias in the Scottish Independence Referendum …..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajd4R-9BEIw
Some of his arguments towards the end of the clip (on the Establishment Media’s demonization of Opposition Leaders) has particular relevance for New Zealand.
here..the greens and labour just seemed relieved that harawira was ‘it’..
..and not them..
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11349388
– Woohoo! Good to see NZ companies doing well
As far as OceanaGold is concerned, I’m happier to go with the Guardian and call it Australian. It’s not particularly good to see any company threatening a sovereign country, especially one which has been kept dirt poor by corruption and foreign business.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/03/australian-mining-is-poisoning-el-salvador-it-could-soon-send-it-broke-too
A couple of minor corrections and additions to your report.
1. Oceana Gold is not a NZ company. It is just another foreign owned company making money out of NZ.
2. It is poisoning El Salvador’s water.
3. It is using a free trade agreement to sue the El Salvador government.
“Oceana Gold is claiming that under the US-central America free trade agreement, it has a “right” to compel mining or be compensated for loss of profits. In response, the company will today be handed a petition signed by 200,000 opponents to its attempt to force gold mining in El Salvador.”
But who cares. Some selfish shareholders are making heaps of money out of polluting the earth and screwing over a people.
Woohoo, as you put it so intelligently chris 73.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/03/australian-mining-is-poisoning-el-salvador-it-could-soon-send-it-broke-too
And Mighty River Power and Meridian were stolen from us.
All that chart demonstrates is the level of the theft.
Stolen? No I think you’ll find NZ still has majority shareholding but if it makes you feel better I’m doing better out of it
As long as you are ok.
That’s all that matters, isn’t it.
Simply put yes, yes it does…except for the little issue of its not a case of me doing well therefore no one else can do well instead its a case of I’m doing well and everyone else can do well if they so choose
The problem with the left in general is you all think that for someone to do well (whatever the definition of doing well is) it has to be at the expense of someone else
Whereas the inconvenient truth of the matter is that everyone can do well if they choose to but most choose not to
actually, if you bought power shares you are doing well at the expense of everyone else, in the form of increased overseas debt the government pays because of the reduced dividend take.
Ah, the old myth of pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps. Works pretty well when you can afford a Harvard education, or you went to school with the PM, or your brother is the Speaker of the House…
It also works pretty well if you’re the son of a cleaner and a sickness bene, who went to a state school
Utter nonsense.
“Restaurant Brands is a fast food company based in New Zealand and is listed on the NZ Stock Exchange as RBD. It operates most of New Zealand’s KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl’s Jr. and Starbucks stores and provides management and support services to New Zealand’s independent KFC franchisees. It holds the New Zealand franchise for KFC and Pizza Hut from Yum Restaurants and Starbucks from Starbucks USA.”
So just a subsidiary and a franchise of a massive US company owned by large multinational banks.
“Yum! Brands, Inc. or Yum! is an American fast food company. A Fortune 500 corporation, Yum operates the licensed brands Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Wing Street worldwide. Prior to 2011, Yum! also owned Long John Silver’s and A&W Restaurants.”
You can always look up Starbucks Shareholders ….
http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/sbux/institutional-holdings#ixzz3HQ11PYg1
Looks really NZ owned, chris 73.
Do you understand how capitalism works nowadays?
In your defence, Liam Dann, who wrote the article comes out looking like a fool too.
Or a puppet.
It’s just you should know by now not to believe what you read in the Herald.
The shares I have are in the power companies so your points are moot
They were stolen from ordinary New Zealanders.
Nope sorry they weren’t, they were offered at a fair price and the controlling majority were kept by the government and there been two elections thus far that have returned National to be power
The people have spoken, deal with it.
James Shaw, the new Green Party MP’s maiden speech in parliament,
ahem, you listening Labour? (and Russel Norman).
There’s a lot of chatter on twitter about Shaw being into market force. A bit worrying.
yeah..he’s a rightwinger..
..(support a national gummint..?..you betcha..!..)
Yes, Shaw is in the section of the Green Party that see a future working with National. They are still in a minority but do have influence. Julie-Ann Genter and Russel Norman are in this group also, but are not quite as right as Shaw.
I am still appalled that Norman said in the minor leader’s debate that the politician he most admired in another party was Bill (sell off state houses) English.
I’ve always had some criticisms of Norman’s values.
Actually. In the speech, Shaw doesn’t say he’s a fan of “market forces”. He says he’s a fan of “the market”; that the cause of destructive climate change is economic, but the solution is political. He said the market is not sentient, and we need to tell it what to do.
I have heard before that people generally rate him as pretty right wing.
So, he’s into regulated markets. He cites the abolition of slavery (having outlined the various strand of his whakapapa, which includes a female slave in the US).
He also talked of his mother raising him and his siblings on her teacher’s salary, as well as saying he was raised by his mother and her female partner. He spoke in praise of suffragettes and stroppy activist women.
Even those Greens who have rightish economic views are still a lot smarter and more socially enlightened than the right of the Labour Party (Cosgrove, O’Connor etc).
I’m just listening now. He’s saying some prettty radical stuff eg that nature has inherent rights. His stuff about the expansion of rights is very good (how they are feared but the fears prove unfounded in time).
and yeah, interesting re his statement that he likes the market, which he follows by saying that the market needs to be controlled. He says that for setting prices and allocating scarce resources it’s better than the alternatives. It would be good to see him do actual comparisons with the alternatives.
The guy has serious problem solving intelligence and skills, I can see why the GP have promoted him. Very good speech.
I was also appalled at Russel Norman’s snuggling up to the Nats. Because of that I changed my vote from Greens to Labour and wonder if that comment lost them many votes at the election. Politics is in a woeful state at the moment.
I will probably vote reluctantly for Andrew Little in the Labour Leader contest, dont like any of the others in the running but is a worry when I cant even say to myself that I will vote for Greens if the outcome isn’t what I prefer.
Well, it’s the likes of Metiria Turei, Catherine Delahunty, and Jan Logie in the Greens that keep me voting Green. i’d also like to see Jack McDonald and Marama Davidson in the House.
But it is hard to decide who to vote for when I have criticisms of every party on the “left”.
@ karen..
“..I am still appalled that Norman said in the minor leader’s debate that the politician he most admired in another party was Bill (sell off state houses) English…”
yeah..that one is still echoing/bedding-in…
..and yeah..macdonald and davidson have both impressed..
“There’s a lot of chatter on twitter about Shaw being into market force. A bit worrying.”
I think it is inevitable with the Greens. Unless the left organises a progressive movement pretty damn quick, the party will work with whatever it can, including market forces. Norman of course is also into using the market to effect change.
It will be an interesting dilemma for the Greens. There is this idea that they’re neither left nor right (I think Lynn once used the imagery of them being vertical to the horizontal axis of the traditional left/right spectrum). I tend to see them as trying to move beyond the left/right gulf (which is why the whole ‘we can work with anyone on policy’ thing is so important to them). I have some sympathy for this because the left appears to be failing to stop neoliberalism and proto-fascism. Not that I think the left is necessarily at fault, but that we may need other things as well.
I’ll try and download Shaw’s speech later so I can see what all the fuss is about.
i also empathise. i think they are trying to go beyond left right dichotomy and are saying that whoever is in power and wants to advance policies the green party advocate they will work with.
that is not the same as being “right”
it seems to me that there is no single solution to many of our big problems but amalgams which most of our parties dont want a bar of.
It’s the same as doing what the Maori Party does, without the cabinet posts. It’s hugely dangerous, but then again, I also consider any collaboration with Labour since 1984 as working with the right.
@ murray..
“..I also consider any collaboration with Labour since 1984 as working with the right…”
..aye..!
the greens memorandum with national has resulted in over 400,000 homes being more insulated.
there has been a pilot scheme for a building wof
both things done by parties not around the cabinet table and with no outside cabinet baubles either.
far too little credit, and too many brickbats, get thrown for this. insulating homes is a step toward homes affects health improvements for the poorer amongst us
“It’s the same as doing what the Maori Party does,”
Except the Māori party is actually right wing.
I don’t buy that line about moving beyond left and right. The MO of working for consensus and collaborative rather than being into competitive game-playing is to me a left wing value.
I think people like Shaw =, saying they are beyond political partisanship, and being into working with whoever for solutions to the big problems, are deluded.
They ignore that there are those out to maintain their power and privilege, and will resists any changes that challenge that – even if it damages the whole planet.
Slavery, for instance, never really went away, the capitalists used the market for exploit people in new ways.
i am not even sure it is a left wing value given the labour caucus consider itself left wing.
it is possible that people can believe they are moving beyond left and right in an attempt to place the value or ethic pursued above any exterior label. they may or may not achieve that but it doesnt change the intent. intent is often more key than outcome whether that outcome is negative or positive. the greens appear to be trying to place their policies, the intent above traditional labels. i admire the attempts given the people and process they are surrounded by
Well, I don’t see the current Labour caucus as being into consensus building and collaborative approaches.
There’s a strong element within that caucus that are into approaching politics as combative game playing. Very different from the approach of the Greens.
oh i agree but many behaving that way will consider themselves left wing.
i hesitate to say this but collaborative and consensus, imo, is a feminine trait rather than left or right wing… and before anyone leaps on that by feminine i mean as opposed to masculine not women versus men.
I see a collaborative approach as being more dominant on the left. I also see it as being more common among women. But, there are also some pretty competitive, combative, individualistic and right wing women: Judith Collins, for example.
yup, she uses some masculine characteristics as part of her methodology.
we are none of us, in my opinion all masculine or all feminine.
Well, i think it’s a cultural thing. And I think many upperclass or upper middleclass women are used to tell others what to do.
For me, traditional human communities have always functioned with both conservative and liberal elements. While I also see the intent to shift beyone game playing and power-over structures as being more naturally left, I think that conservatives can also work collaboratively (I’m not talking about neoliberals or fundamentalists). The GP moving beyond left/right doesn’t mean they leave left wing values or skills behind.
“I think people like Shaw =, saying they are beyond political partisanship, and being into working with whoever for solutions to the big problems, are deluded.”
That’s a somewhat different thing than what I was talking about. I think that in principle we could have multi-party accords on some things (across the left/right divide), and to an extent this already happens within MMP. But in practice it won’t happen much because NACT’s agenda is so extreme and because we live in an MMP age where taking out opponents is part of the process (aka cutting off one’s nose to spite’s one face).
and we now have labour talking about 50% of the vote… FPP thinking
has that been said recently?
in the recesses of my memory i think it was parker… am happy to be corrected
How Pinkwashing is Creating More Cancer
Komen is supposed to be curing breast cancer. So why is its pink ribbon on so many carcinogenic products?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/10/21/komen-is-supposed-to-be-curing-breast-cancer-so-why-is-its-pink-ribbon-on-so-many-carcinogenic-products/?hpid=z11
Good link, and great to see the Washington Post covering this.
A question for any IT geeks around. Is there a technical reason for not having platforms that allow multiple logins at the same time on the same computer/browser (eg gmail, twitter etc)? Or is it that developpers don’t see the need?
MS Outlook 2013
what?
I can do it. However, there is something that happens with gmail that it locks into one gmail account from my computer some times.
It can be undone – forget how – maybe clear cache, start again, and untick something -“stay logged in”?
Google pisses me off. It tries to link everything I do, under diverse identities, to each other.
Oh, and to use different logins simultaneously – try using different browsers for each log in.
yes I know how to use different browsers, my question is if there is a technical reason why it can’t be done on the same app.
How do you login to two different gmail accounts in the same browser? When I do that, gmail just logs me out of the first one, once I’m in the second one.
in gmail using a web browser, click on the person-shaped icon (top right) and click “add account”. Each account is opened in a different tab in firefox.
Brilliant! thanks. Interestingly, that doesn’t work if I open a new tab manually, go to the login page, and then add another account that way.
So that answers the question. There appears to be no technical reason to not design for this. ie it could be done on other platforms too.
I suspect it involves cookies that link each session on the website to the specific tab, so on the flipside it might not work so well for sites whose users like to open the browser, go to the site and straight into their account with no further clicks.
Of course, all of the above are security workarounds that mean anyone using your machine can open your accounts, so you might not want to do it with any emails you conduct business on.
It’s by design, for security and convenience (in most use cases – not yours though!).
The Gmail login page creates an “authentication” cookie, so when you open a new tab Google knows you are logged in already. And when you open your other Gmail account, a new Gmail cookie is created which supersedes the previous one.
You may wonder why opening a different browser does what you want. It’s because they don’t share cookies among one another. Each browser (Firefox, IE, Chrome, Safari, etc.) has a separate set of cookies.
Email clients like Outlook or Thunderbird should make it easier to collect your email from different accounts.
More details here.
Thanks. I understand why using different browsers works (cookies).
I’m still not clear if there is a technical reason multiple logins can’t be used on one platform. How is it a security issue? And in this day and age, how is it a convenience issue?
“Clients like Outlook or Thunderbird should make it easier to collect your email from different accounts.”
Can I send from the different gmail accounts using Outlook?
It’s not about making it easier to collect email. It’s about being able to work in two or more different logins at once. eg working with googledocs, I’ve been logged in on a community group account and my own account, which requires me currently to use two browsers.
Cookies are per-website not per-account. If you had 2 cookies for the same website there’s a good chance the browser will mix up the account details when sending email.
Outlook is able to send & receive from different accounts no probs.
“Outlook is able to send & receive from different accounts no probs.”
Different gmail accounts?
“So that’s why websites don’t do it”
Except the others just demonstrated it’s possible in gmail (above) 😉
I hear what you are saying abotu cookies, just not sure why some other system can’t be used.
Bloody McFlock showed me up! 😮
A cookie is just a simple little text file stored on your computer, not having to log in everywhere you go is part of the convenience they offer.
Something like LastPass (browser addon) is a possible alternative
cheers 🙂
Technically: multiple sessions in one browser are possible, but almost always a bad idea! So that’s why websites don’t do it 😛
‘Canadian Green MP warns against harsh anti-terror measures’
By Keith Locke / October 28, 2014
“Canada’s Green Party has provided a welcome counterpoint to Prime Minister Harper’s call for tougher anti-terrorism laws in the wake of a soldier outside the Canadian Parliament…
– See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/10/28/canadian-green-mp-warns-against-harsh-anti-terror-measures/#sthash.Weky26Uy.dpuf
How many times does it need to be said that it was not terrorism.
It was an act of war in a country that has been at war for 13 years. Unless can someone prove otherwise. Or just silly gormless soundbites for te news. probably
The latest news I’ve heard on Canada is that Toronto heavyweight Rob Ford was going to stand again for Mayor? but became ill, and at the last minute his brother stepped into his place. So how will Toronto vote?