Last week we were swimming in the sea, it was so hot here. This morning it’s freezing, fresh dusting of snow on the mountains and hills, which will melt fast once the sun hits it, but it is unusual weather for this time of year. Hot/Cold weather = earthquakes.
Climate change is very really and our whole human existence depends on it, it’s nuts how little coverage media gives it, seeing they talk about the weather every hour on the wireless.
Thanks for the links Paul, will check them out.
I am typing this to you from a location deep in the sub-Arctic. Temperatures are in the -10 to -15 degC range. Instead of -25 to 35 degC range they should be right now.
In other words about 10 to 15 degC warmer than they should be. The local Innuit people I work with all say the same thing; the change over recent seasons is perfectly obvious to them.
Weren’t we told the point of no return into irreversible global immolation was several years ago? Why then do people persist in what must be a futile attempt to reverse something that can’t be changed for the better?
And what is your view about what is going on in the Arctic?
Have you read Peter Wadham’s ‘A Farewell to Ice? Scientist with over 30 years experience in the Arctic.
James Renwick is discussing Arctic ice on Kathryn Ryan this morning btw.
Shhhhh don’t mention the Arctic, global warming is good for business, new shipping routes take less time, less cost, less danger, less ice. Money first is the right wing way, profit over the planet, look at the current government, shocking.
Paul – James Renwick will not be mentioning Guy McPherson
If you really want to draw attention to the very real concern of AGW, please do not continue to drag in this alarmist, because he undermines the real science with his outlandish claims. There are very few Climate scientists who support his claims. Yes the threat of AGW is real and the impending catastrophic outcomes may be far more horrific than most people are aware. However to over egg the threat is just as damaging as under estimating.
So now you think we should only listen to Climate Change scientists who operate at an acceptable severity rating? It’s bad, but not too bad. It’s still hopeful but not 100% hopeful. We still have time to act and change, not too much time, but just enough time, still.
That’s delusional thinking IMO.
McPherson is the only person I know who has put the big picture together with the absolute latest in literature from across multiple fields.
For instance, you can’t object to McPherson saying that there are now multiple positive feedback loops in full swing, making human action to reduce CO2 emissions largely irrelevant.
So whether McPherson is right about the ten year time frame or it is in fact going to be twenty years or thirty years is a bit beside the point – climate change is most probably unstoppable at this stage and it will be catastrophic for the habitat that the human race needs to survive.
But if he’s wrong and the timeframe is fifty years, and we can stop it in thirty, then he’s doing humanity a disservice by throwing his hands in the air and preaching the futility of effort.
We should listen to the bulk of scientists, not the extreme fringes. The fringes can occasionally be coincidentally correct, but usually the most accurate assessment based on information available at the time comes from within the scientific consensus.
1) Nothing is going to be ‘stopped in 30 years.’ Non-man controllable positive feed back loops are already in full swing. And even ignoring them, if we ended the burning of fossil fuels tonight, additional warming from current record levels of GHGs would continue for another 50-100 years, taking us well beyond 2 deg C warming.
2) McPherson is closer to where the mainstream scientific position would be if scientists did not have to worry about looking and sounding respectable to get their next government grant and their next peer reviewed paper published.
The bulk of scientists have to worry about appearing respectable, trying to get tenure, sounding like they are mainstream enough to get their papers through peer review boards, and appearing optimistic enough to get the next round of research grants.
Governments aren’t interested in funding people with relentlessly bad news.
The bulk of scientists have to worry about appearing respectable,
lol
trying to get tenure,
It is a struggle – best achieved by coming up with research outputs that change conventional thinking or at least add to the sum of human knowledge (in those countries where tenure still exists, of course)
sounding like they are mainstream enough to get their papers through peer review boards,
That’s not how peer review works. Look at the EM drive.
and appearing optimistic enough to get the next round of research grants.
Scott Johnson
Is a geoscience educator, hydrogeologist, and freelance science writer contributing at Ars Technica. He is also Science Editor for Climate Feedback.
and then there is Michael Tobas here: http://planet3.org/2014/03/13/mcphersons-evidence-that-doom-doom-doom/
On McPhersons so called “multiplicative feedbacks”.
Michael Tobis, is editor-in-chief of Planet3.0 and site cofounder, he has always been interested in the interface between science and public policy. He holds a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences where he developed a 3-D ocean model on a custom computing platform. He has been involved in sustainability conversations on the internet since 1992,
Methane feedbacks in the Arctic are going to be important for future climate change, just like the direct emissions from humans. This includes substantial regions of shallow permafrost in the Arctic, which is already going appreciable change. Much larger changes involving hydrate may be important longer-term. Nonetheless, these feedbacks need to be kept in context and should be thought of as one of the many other carbon cycle feedbacks, and dynamic responses, that supplement the increasing anthropogenic CO2 burden to the atmosphere. There is no evidence that methane will run out of control and initiate any sudden, catastrophic effects. There’s certainly no runaway greenhouse. Instead, chronic methane releases will supplement the primary role of CO2. Eventually some of this methane oxidizes into CO2, so if the injection is large enough, it can add extra CO2 forcing onto the very long term evolution of global climate, over hundreds to thousands of years.
The recent US election has prompted cries that the decision on Earth’s climate has now been irrevocably made, that the US has unilaterally decided to scrap the peak warming target from the Paris agreement of 1.5 oC. What do the numbers say? Is Earth’s climate now irrevocably fracked?
The short answer is that, strictly speaking, the future of global climate would have been fracked even had the election gone the other way, unless stronger action to cut CO2 emissions is taken, very soon.
Thanks for that antidote to the alarmist stuff Macro. It seems very important to me that we have such responses that are grounded and evenhanded and based in knowledge, including when people react against what you say and misinterpret it.
(Me, I just want to call McPherson a traitor but am biting my tongue as much as I can).
No no you don’t understand this is a great, not good, result for the left, here let me explain it for you
See if you look at the poll you’ll see John Key has dropped, yes dropped, in his popularity which shows that the people of NZ now see him how the left see him (evil in case you were wondering)
Also you must, I say must, add Winston Peters into the left block because as we all know Winston Peters will go with the left block because his ego is such that he would have no problems being the third wheel behind Labour and the Greens as opposed to being the tail wagging the dog with National
So its actually a great result and besides the only poll that counts is on election day and Trump and Brexit shows that the polls don’t count and will sweep Labour into victory and Jesus will love us
On the bright side it keeps Labour focused on opposing harmful policies instead of kicking the poor in the teeth, and National implementing Labour’s good ideas.
Your Christmas gift to The Standard! It would be fun to write a little serial while you are away about how you’ll spend your Christmas break: painstakingly drafting John’s Christmas card then hand writing the craven thing using a drop of blood squeezed ecstatically from a prick to your finger tip, wrapping up the print-outs from all your trolling and posting that into HQ for the archives, opening the brown-paper packet they send back to you as “thanks” for your efforts through the year, sitting beneath the portrait of your Dear Leader, tossing back egg nog after egg nog in an ongoing toast to his brilliance, giving the bright blue sock hanging above the fireplace a furtive squeeze (will he remember me this year?) before standing expectantly under the mistletoe for half an hour or so, then trotting upstairs to bed, to dream, to sleep the sleep of the just…do you think I’d have an audience for that sort of gripping stuff? You know I mean this in the kindest way, Pucky, it being the Season of Goodwill (nearly). In any case, looking forward to your break almost as much as you are 🙂
Waits for Little to pull out another poll showing Labour is on track to win.
Seriously though, with the next election less than a year away and with Labour still struggling to get any traction (despite all the work done on their Future of Work) do they have anything significant to pull out of their hat which will win-over voters?
So it’s Centre-left 11%, Centre-right 28%, Nationalists 10%, Bumbling right wing incompetents 50%, sundry parasites with electorate seats 1%.
That’s basically appalling, and it does look like New Zealand is going to vote for more self-flagellation and failure next year.
James – you hang around The Standard like a human botfly inserting your eggs into the body of the discussion where ever you can – does this bring you some sort of parasitical joy? Or is it that you are driven by your DNA to infest for the sake of reproduction? Are there more of you gestating? Should the moderators stock up on swats?
I’ve always felt you’re more perceptive then most and more able to look past the political leanings of the poster and consider the argument on its own merits 🙂
The polls! The polls! I’m picturing the viscera-readers of ancient times, huddled over the newly-slaughtered beast, peering into the mass of glistening organs, seeing futures in the slippery goop – it’s not the seers who make me laugh, theirs is a lucrative pursuit, it’s the slack-jawed, wall-eyed crowd standing anxiously about, hanging on their every word.
James… Dude, the outgoing PM is downward trending in the polls, and he is very uncomfortable about it. Should have seen him on TVNZ this morning, he was making every excuse imaginable to explain why he is consistently declining in the polls.
Key is just going to become another Toady (Tony) Blair. Still trying to be relevant and justify his bad decisions years down the track.
Blair like Key just gamed everything to make himself look good on the world stage and be powerful – until one day – he wasn’t and will soon become too scared to travel incase one day he is picked up and tried at the Hague.
Yesah, Swordfish sure did a great job, lots of numbers clearly demonstrating the downward trend.
I’m not interested in other political parties atm, i’m interested in the trends of the outgoing government.
You know what… why have some of you Tories got the meows with me? Did I touch a nerve?
Nessalt it is not the slowest drop in the history of politics, that’s a lie. And with MMP who knows what’s going to happen next election, it’s not a two party race anymore and hasn’t been for a long time. Long live MMP
How’s his support partners doing?
By crikey Maori Party has fallen to 1%,
ACT and Dunne don’t even get a mention, no one chose them when rung about the poll.
As well 13% of people are undecided voters
National would not be able to govern alone
it’s the slowest drop in the history of politics. The trend line that shows you that John Key’s personal pm preference ratings as dropping, also shows that he’ll be in power for two more elections. He’ll be at about 30% by the election next year. andrew little on the other hand will at around 2%.
“the outgoing PM is downward trending in the polls, and he is very uncomfortable about it. Should have seen him on TVNZ this morning”
Yeah, I had to laugh at John’s relatively cynical attempt to discredit the Colmar Brunton’s Preferred PM figures by feigning bewilderment at the fact that the collective ratings for the 3 main leaders added up to only 52%.
Key:
My main point was really going to be the … (slight stutter / pause) … that counts for 52%. So I don’t know what happens – in your poll – what happens to the other 48% (his voice here characteristically rises at end of sentence – teenage New Zealander-style – looking for some sort of tacit endorsement from the interviewer). Coz, if you add up – you had all the leaders going down but the whole 3 of us added up to 52%. I don’t know where the other 48% is but (pauses and throws his arms up in the air to suggest genuine, innocent bewilderment at what he hints is dubious methodology, albeit betrayed by a somewhat guilty / embarrassed / sheepish-looking smile that suggests he’s fully aware that Tame knows he’s talking bollocks) … I don’t know, you’d have to ask your Pollsters but …
As Jonathan Wedgewood Key knows full well, the Colmar Brunton’s – like the Reid Research Polls – include the Don’t knows and None-of-the-Aboves in their Preferred PM figures. Always have.
Arguably, a far more accurate measure of Leader popularity than the (now defunct) Herald-Digi – which excluded the Don’t knows and hence massively exaggerated Key’s (and everyone else’s) popularity, generating headlines and misleading voters into believing that two-thirds or more of the public wanted Key as PM.
Most of the “missing” 48% whose personal welfare John agonized over in the interview are accounted for by:
9% preferring various other minor leaders / politicians as PM.
Good topic savenz. Does anyone know if its illegal to skip dive in supermarket bins here? ive seen a couple of tv shows recently that had people skip diving outside supermarkets in aussie and the uk, seemed legal there.
I’d like to see supermarkets be forced to give their best before food to food banks to be given for free to anyone who needs food. It is a crime that people may be hungry in this country when we are a food producer and apparently Kiwis are the fourth richest country per capita in the world. Not to mention the problems when the food is going into land fill!
Yeah fully agree with you there. We might need (god forbid!) a socialist in charge to get some common sense happening though.
The Hugh’s War on Waste doco opened my eyes to food wastage. It focused a lot on produce not meeting cosmetic standards and then being thrown away… We need a better model.
Good people doing good work. Flaxmere residents pulling the community out of its nosedive.
“It’s 7.30am in the Hastings suburb of Flaxmere. Half a dozen children, some as young as 5, are already at Kimi Ora Community School tucking into spaghetti on toast.
Over the next half-hour, other hungry mouths arrive. No parents come with them.
“We might see five parents a day who walk their kids to school. Our kids walk to school and walk home by themselves,” says principal Matt O’Dowda.
White-bearded caretaker Wayne Reading, who serves the breakfast every school day, usually feeds about 25 of the school’s 130 pupils – or 70 on Fridays, when he serves a full cooked breakfast.
At lunchtimes almost all students cram into the dining room for $1 lunches prepared by a mum and her partner.”
“It’s not the black eyes, it’s more children that have had a lack of sleep because there’s been a party going on at home. Or not being picked up on time, or not being brought to school.”
O’Dowda says the partying and overcrowding put children at risk.
“We have just done a pubertal change unit with the seniors [Years 6-8, aged about 10-12],” he says.
“For our girls, their major concern was how do you protect yourself from men, because they know there are parties and there’s lots of people around. So we have now got a two-day self-defence programme coming in this term just for our Year 6-8 girls.”
Dr Sandra Jessop, a general practitioner in Flaxmere since 1988, cries when she speaks of women who disclose childhood abuse when she asks gently about injuries she can see when she does cervical smears.
“Sometimes you get depression in the mums when their girls start to go through puberty, because of what happened to them,” she says.””
Excellent piece of writing from veteran ‘tell it like it is’ journalist Simon Collins.
If New Zealand’s inherent dottiness and glaring contradictions were ever a local secret, this year they have been paraded for all the world to see.
We often made the overseas news – whether it was because of the poor living in cars and garages in a supposedly egalitarian society, our heavily polluted rivers (and drinking water) in a land we tout as being environmentally 100% Pure, or our high domestic violence rates in a country we like to think of as family friendly.
There were the Panama Papers, reported extensively around the world, that suggested we are a tax haven – an unfortunate impression that is at odds with our longstanding reputation for honesty, transparency and incorruptibility. John Key firmly rejected the “tax haven” tag but we were exposed in the Australian Financial Review, for one, as having been involved in questionable transactions – including setting up accounts for Maltese politicians that some of the world’s dodgiest banks (in Miami, the Caribbean and Panama) wouldn’t touch because of strict disclosure laws for money-laundering politicians.
We’ve got to own up to our faults and change them. This will not happen with the present corrupt government because these faults suit them and their backers as it makes them richer.
The Government has been warned not to cave in and make it easier for Chinese investors to buy strategically important land and businesses just to secure better access to China’s market.
In a country where homelessness is rising maybe it is time we think that “strategically” means “all land” not being sold offshore. Land should be for citizens only. And being a citizen of NZ should also be a lot harder to achieve – not just a left over choice for those that can’t get into Canada or OZ.
The Qatari dictatorship’s official TV station does not
miss a chance to ridicule and demean the late Fidel Castro
Al Jazeera 10 a.m. News, Monday 28 November 2016
Al Jazeera is again featuring ugly demonstrations of gloating by the extreme right fringe of the Cuban-American community after the death of Fidel Castro. Interestingly, Al Jazeera three years ago did not feature any of the similar gloating that occurred in some of the similarly rabid pockets of South Africa when Castro’s great friend and supporter Nelson Mandela died.
Yet even the most grievous propaganda channel will sometimes, perhaps accidentally, provide access to more balanced, representative views. This morning that balanced representation came in the form of 22 year old Elian Gonzalez. In 1999, five-year-old Elian Gonzalez was kidnapped by some of these so-called “exile” fanatics. After a momentous legal battle, he was eventually returned to his father in Cuba. Today Elian Gonzalez, now 22 years old, appeared on Al Jazeera, praising the late Cuban leader.
This moment of sanity was soon relegated, however. To “balance” the testimony of Elian Gonzalez, the host interviewed one Peter Hakim, who rejoices in the splendid title of “president emeritus and senior fellow” of the Inter-American Dialogue. For a couple of minutes, Hakim released, pompously and slowly, a stream of anti-Castro propaganda, and absurdly lied that Castro had been opposed to the democratic developments in Latin America. To hear Peter Hakim telling this lie was especially galling, in view of the fact that in 1994, Hakim stated with equal pomposity, that the U.S. should not be concerned with either human rights or democracy in Haiti, and in fact the democratically elected President Aristide should be deposed, in the usual brutal manner.
RT: Chris Hedges ‘On Contact’ Standing Rock protest special
Documentary special by Chris Hedges, veteran war correspondent, as part of his ‘On Contact’ series on RT.
He follows the Water Protectors standing in the way of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Warning this is Chris Hedges on RT – ‘fake news ‘ – the news and the viewpoints that the establishment media doesn’t want you to know and will not cover themselves.
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown says the deal with China “complements, not replaces” the relationship with New Zealand after signing it yesterday. Brown said “The Action Plan for Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) 2025-2030” provides a structured framework for engagement between the Cook Islands ...
The government should not set military style academies into youth justice law, the children's commissioner says, despite its first bootcamp getting a glowing report. ...
The infamous over-the-suit T-shirt worn by the PM at a Parliament barbecue has gone on sale to raise funds for children living in poverty, in a TradeMe auction. ...
MONDAYSheriff Seymour rode slowly down the main street of Dodge on his faithful white horse Atlas Network.He liked what he saw.Children were being fed free lunches prepared by kind people who collected the scraps from an offal rendering plant.“Very strongly flavoured liver, such as ox liver, can be soaked overnight ...
Once upon a time it was all about being an astronaut, a firefighter or doctor; but these days kids have their sights set on becoming vloggers or YouTubers.That’s according to a 2019 study by Lego that surveyed 3000 children between the ages of eight to 12 from the US, the ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. From the moment I started high school and realised almost every other girl in my year was at least partially interested in what the boys were up to, I realised that I would be single for life. The feeling wasn’t one of ...
The Pacific profiles series shines a light on Pacific people in Aotearoa doing interesting and important work in their communities, as nominated by members of the public. Today, Selina Alesana Alefosio.All photos by Geoffery Matautia.On a bright Sunday morning from her grandparent’s home in Pito-one, I spoke with ...
The White Lotus star reflects on her life in TV, including the local ad reference that doesn’t work in Australia, and her bananas co-star on Neighbours.Morgana O’Reilly was scrolling her phone next to her sleeping son on an idle Saturday morning when she got the call confirming that she ...
Claire Mabey explores the pros and cons of puff quotes on book covers.In January, Publishers Weekly put out an article by Sean Manning – publisher of Simon & Schuster’s flagship US imprint – in which he said he’d “no longer require authors to obtain blurbs for their books”.The ...
New Zealand’s Entomological Society is hosting its annual bug of the year contest. Here are some of the insects in the running. For some reason – perhaps humans’ inherent competitiveness, the idealisation of democracy, the need to demarcate winners and losers – one of the best ways to get people ...
A journey along the border, with words and illustrations by Bob Kerr.The Spinoff Essay showcases the best essayists in Aotearoa, on topics big and small. Made possible by the generous support of our members.The Sunset Limited leaves Union Station New Orleans on time at nine in the morning. We ...
Neville Peat is the 2024 recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in nonfiction. He’s written 56 books, mostly on natural history; this excerpt is from The Falcon and the Lark: A New Zealand High Country Journal, first published in 1992. The falcon wintering on the Rock and ...
It was a light-hearted gesture Greta Pilkington will be forever grateful for – thanks to an Aussie rival who jumped in when the Olympic sailor couldn’t be at her own graduation.Pilkington, then 20, had been leading a double life – while qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the ILCA ...
I was born in the back of my grandfather’s ute, by an overgrown windbreak in a remote place called Wahi-Rakauyou can’t find on a map. I was born a girl but given the man’s name Harvey, as my dad always wanted a violent-minded boy to one day help him ...
“We’re not here to interfere in people’s property rights,” Ngāi Tahu’s Te Maire Tau has told the High Court.Tau, a historian, Upoko (traditional leader) of Ngāi Tūāhuriri, and a university professor of history, is the lead witness in a case designed to force the Crown to recognise the tribe’s rangatiratanga ...
Pacific Media Watch Trump administration officials barred two Associated Press (AP) reporters from covering White House events this week because the US-based independent news agency did not change its style guide to align with the president’s political agenda. The AP is being punished for using the term “Gulf of Mexico,” ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific Presenter/Bulletin editor France’s top diplomat in the Pacific region says talks around the “unfreezing” of New Caledonia’s highly controversial electoral roll are back on the table. The French government intended to make a constitutional amendment that would lift restrictions prescribed under the Nouméa Accord, which ...
By bringing these global voices to the fight for free expression in New Zealand, we’ll continue to protect and expand our culture of free speech, says Nathan Seiuli, the Free Speech Union's Events Manager. ...
The issue is no longer a hypothetical one. US President Donald Trump will not explicitly suggest death camps, but he has already consented to Israel’s continuing a war that is not a war but rather a barbaric assault on a desolate stretch of land. From there, the road to annihilation is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cecelia Cmielewski, Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University To be selected as the artist and curator team to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale is considered the ultimate exhibition for an artistic team. To have your selection rescinded, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steve Turton, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography, CQUniversity Australia Severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia is bearing down on the northwest coast of Australia and is likely to make landfall early Friday evening. It’s a monster storm of great concern to Western Australia. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Ireland-Piper, Associate Professor, ANU National Security College, Australian National University A Victorian government decision to allow dingo culling in the state’s east until 2028 has reignited debate over what has been dubbed Australia’s most controversial animal. Animals Australia, an animal welfare ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Deakin University Overnight, Robert F. Kennedy Jr was confirmed as the secretary of the US Health and Human Services Department. Put simply, this makes him the most influential figure in overseeing the health and wellbeing of more ...
Everything you missed from day five of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard eight hours of submissions.Read our recaps of the previous hearings here.It was another work from home day for the Justice Committee, the only people in Room 3 being security guards, committee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor & Principal Fellow in Urban Risk & Resilience, The University of Melbourne Juris Teivans/Shutterstock In Australia, fatal road crashes are climbing again, especially since the pandemic, and despite years of attempts to reduce road trauma, the numbers ...
In its eagerness to appease supporters of Israel, the media is happy to ride roughshod over due process and basic rights. It’s damaging Australia’s (and New Zealand’s?) democracy.COMMENTARY:By Bernard Keane Two moments stand out so far from the Federal Court hearings relating to Antoinette Lattouf’s sacking by the ...
“The reality is we’re getting poorer. The government this year is leaning heavy on chasing economic growth, which is absolutely the right thing to do.” ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Granta, $28) Han Kang’s astounding novel was based on an ...
This new docuseries about two single comedians looking for love is also a joyful celebration of female friendship. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. “How many people do you think are boning right now?” Kura Forrester asks Brynley Stent as the bright ...
It would appear the climate is spinning out of control.
All other news seems to fade into insignificance as a result.
‘Things are getting weird in the polar regions’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/11/21/things-are-getting-weird-in-the-polar-regions/?utm_term=.37d956c3d647&wpisrc=nl_green&wpmm=1
Climate change happening ‘too fast’ for plant and animal species to adapt.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/climate-change-extinction-species-happening-too-fast-for-plant-and-animals-to-adapt-a7433111.html
Arctic ice melt could trigger uncontrollable climate change at global level
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/25/arctic-ice-melt-trigger-uncontrollable-climate-change-global-level
Starvation has killed 80,000 reindeer in Siberia because of melting sea ice
Arctic tundra warming at a faster rate than the rest of the globe
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/starvation-reindeer-siberia-melting-sea-ice-global-warming-climate-change-a7434746.html
Guy McPherson: “I can’t imagine there will be a human on the planet in 10 years” He would be worth listening to in Wellington on the 6th December.
https://guymcpherson.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/whole-tour.jpg
Here is his interview on Paul Henry.
Last week we were swimming in the sea, it was so hot here. This morning it’s freezing, fresh dusting of snow on the mountains and hills, which will melt fast once the sun hits it, but it is unusual weather for this time of year. Hot/Cold weather = earthquakes.
Climate change is very really and our whole human existence depends on it, it’s nuts how little coverage media gives it, seeing they talk about the weather every hour on the wireless.
Thanks for the links Paul, will check them out.
McPherson is visiting Christchurch as part of his tour.
Will have a listen to him later on, I’m intrigued.
“Hot/Cold weather = earthquakes.”
Wha………….. ?
No, no ,no…Earthquakes are caused by winds trapped in subterranean caves. And maybe Namazu.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/namazu-the-earthshaker/
I am typing this to you from a location deep in the sub-Arctic. Temperatures are in the -10 to -15 degC range. Instead of -25 to 35 degC range they should be right now.
In other words about 10 to 15 degC warmer than they should be. The local Innuit people I work with all say the same thing; the change over recent seasons is perfectly obvious to them.
Weren’t we told the point of no return into irreversible global immolation was several years ago? Why then do people persist in what must be a futile attempt to reverse something that can’t be changed for the better?
Guys idea is to hold hands with your clan, sing kumbaya and wait until the asteroid hits. Pretty nuts. Don’t question the cult leader though..
How much money does this chap make from these speaking tours?
if you believe doomer guy and no one would be around in 10 years why waste time and energy going to his talk – doesn’t make sense.
Just like preparing a will doesn’t make sense. You’re going to be dead anyway so who cares?
You assume someone will be there to read it don’t you otherwise why do it.
Similarly, you can go listen to McPherson and see if there are a lot of other people there who also get the message. Which there are.
And waste your time if you believe there is 10 years left.
That’s not a call for you to make for other people.
Its not a call that you can make about me making a call – feel free to explain if you have a point rather than you’re just being awkward.
Sigh ….guy macpherson is lie a photonegative of a
climate change denier.
And what is your view about what is going on in the Arctic?
Have you read Peter Wadham’s ‘A Farewell to Ice? Scientist with over 30 years experience in the Arctic.
James Renwick is discussing Arctic ice on Kathryn Ryan this morning btw.
Shhhhh don’t mention the Arctic, global warming is good for business, new shipping routes take less time, less cost, less danger, less ice. Money first is the right wing way, profit over the planet, look at the current government, shocking.
“And what is your view about what is going on in the Arctic?”
Ice melt is faster and more complete each year due to climate change.
“Have you read Peter Wadham’s ‘A Farewell to Ice? Scientist with over 30 years experience in the Arctic.”
Nope.
Paul – James Renwick will not be mentioning Guy McPherson
If you really want to draw attention to the very real concern of AGW, please do not continue to drag in this alarmist, because he undermines the real science with his outlandish claims. There are very few Climate scientists who support his claims. Yes the threat of AGW is real and the impending catastrophic outcomes may be far more horrific than most people are aware. However to over egg the threat is just as damaging as under estimating.
So now you think we should only listen to Climate Change scientists who operate at an acceptable severity rating? It’s bad, but not too bad. It’s still hopeful but not 100% hopeful. We still have time to act and change, not too much time, but just enough time, still.
That’s delusional thinking IMO.
McPherson is the only person I know who has put the big picture together with the absolute latest in literature from across multiple fields.
For instance, you can’t object to McPherson saying that there are now multiple positive feedback loops in full swing, making human action to reduce CO2 emissions largely irrelevant.
So whether McPherson is right about the ten year time frame or it is in fact going to be twenty years or thirty years is a bit beside the point – climate change is most probably unstoppable at this stage and it will be catastrophic for the habitat that the human race needs to survive.
But if he’s wrong and the timeframe is fifty years, and we can stop it in thirty, then he’s doing humanity a disservice by throwing his hands in the air and preaching the futility of effort.
We should listen to the bulk of scientists, not the extreme fringes. The fringes can occasionally be coincidentally correct, but usually the most accurate assessment based on information available at the time comes from within the scientific consensus.
1) Nothing is going to be ‘stopped in 30 years.’ Non-man controllable positive feed back loops are already in full swing. And even ignoring them, if we ended the burning of fossil fuels tonight, additional warming from current record levels of GHGs would continue for another 50-100 years, taking us well beyond 2 deg C warming.
2) McPherson is closer to where the mainstream scientific position would be if scientists did not have to worry about looking and sounding respectable to get their next government grant and their next peer reviewed paper published.
The bulk of scientists have to worry about appearing respectable, trying to get tenure, sounding like they are mainstream enough to get their papers through peer review boards, and appearing optimistic enough to get the next round of research grants.
Governments aren’t interested in funding people with relentlessly bad news.
lol
It is a struggle – best achieved by coming up with research outputs that change conventional thinking or at least add to the sum of human knowledge (in those countries where tenure still exists, of course)
That’s not how peer review works. Look at the EM drive.
That’s not how grants work.
A more detailed analysis as to how Guy McPherson gets it wrong is available here:
https://fractalplanet.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/how-guy-mcpherson-gets-it-wrong/
Scott Johnson
Is a geoscience educator, hydrogeologist, and freelance science writer contributing at Ars Technica. He is also Science Editor for Climate Feedback.
and then there is Michael Tobas here:
http://planet3.org/2014/03/13/mcphersons-evidence-that-doom-doom-doom/
On McPhersons so called “multiplicative feedbacks”.
Michael Tobis, is editor-in-chief of Planet3.0 and site cofounder, he has always been interested in the interface between science and public policy. He holds a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences where he developed a 3-D ocean model on a custom computing platform. He has been involved in sustainability conversations on the internet since 1992,
As Skeptical Science puts it here
https://www.skepticalscience.com/toward-improved-discussions-methane.html
my bold
Prof. David Archer at Realclimate.
Worth reading the whole article for some perspective.
Thanks for that antidote to the alarmist stuff Macro. It seems very important to me that we have such responses that are grounded and evenhanded and based in knowledge, including when people react against what you say and misinterpret it.
(Me, I just want to call McPherson a traitor but am biting my tongue as much as I can).
Maybe start a petition against him, or protest outside his talk venues.
Is Penny Hulse Jill Stein’s doppelganger?
Latest Colmar Brunton good news for the Left… Labour 28%, Labour-lite 50%, Greens 10%
No no you don’t understand this is a great, not good, result for the left, here let me explain it for you
See if you look at the poll you’ll see John Key has dropped, yes dropped, in his popularity which shows that the people of NZ now see him how the left see him (evil in case you were wondering)
Also you must, I say must, add Winston Peters into the left block because as we all know Winston Peters will go with the left block because his ego is such that he would have no problems being the third wheel behind Labour and the Greens as opposed to being the tail wagging the dog with National
So its actually a great result and besides the only poll that counts is on election day and Trump and Brexit shows that the polls don’t count and will sweep Labour into victory and Jesus will love us
Yeah
On the bright side it keeps Labour focused on opposing harmful policies instead of kicking the poor in the teeth, and National implementing Labour’s good ideas.
That’s…not a bad point actually
When are these rogue polls going to stop?
When are these Rogue comments going to stop?
Can’t speak for anyone else but in a little under three weeks from now I’ll be knocking off for Christmas 🙂
Your Christmas gift to The Standard! It would be fun to write a little serial while you are away about how you’ll spend your Christmas break: painstakingly drafting John’s Christmas card then hand writing the craven thing using a drop of blood squeezed ecstatically from a prick to your finger tip, wrapping up the print-outs from all your trolling and posting that into HQ for the archives, opening the brown-paper packet they send back to you as “thanks” for your efforts through the year, sitting beneath the portrait of your Dear Leader, tossing back egg nog after egg nog in an ongoing toast to his brilliance, giving the bright blue sock hanging above the fireplace a furtive squeeze (will he remember me this year?) before standing expectantly under the mistletoe for half an hour or so, then trotting upstairs to bed, to dream, to sleep the sleep of the just…do you think I’d have an audience for that sort of gripping stuff? You know I mean this in the kindest way, Pucky, it being the Season of Goodwill (nearly). In any case, looking forward to your break almost as much as you are 🙂
That might in fact be the best thing I’ve seen written on here
https://imgflip.com/s/meme/Leonardo-Dicaprio-Cheers.jpg
Waits for Little to pull out another poll showing Labour is on track to win.
Seriously though, with the next election less than a year away and with Labour still struggling to get any traction (despite all the work done on their Future of Work) do they have anything significant to pull out of their hat which will win-over voters?
So far, nope.
They’re still hanging on to the failed neo-liberal ideology. The ideology that’s seen voters leave them in droves.
National’s winning because Labour’s not changing.
I often wonder when are left leaning voters and the Unions going to give up on them altogether?
The left have been waiting for years now for Labour to up their game. It seems they are incapable.
It’s time we all found another left-wing party to support.
Advice to Labour….. Don’t give him another six months.
Advice from National…please give him another six months 😉
You hit the nail on the head again
I’ve more sympathy for that poor nail than I have for either National or Labour..
So it’s Centre-left 11%, Centre-right 28%, Nationalists 10%, Bumbling right wing incompetents 50%, sundry parasites with electorate seats 1%.
That’s basically appalling, and it does look like New Zealand is going to vote for more self-flagellation and failure next year.
I am rating it 4:1 for a National win next year. And possibly with NZF support.
Has to be bogus. How cannnational still be so popular after all these years???
Cannot wait for Andrew little to come out with their own polling that shows labour doing so so so much better.
Funny isn’t it that the only poll that shows labour doing ok is the one they pay for.
Now just waiting for someone to say trump or brexit as an example of why the polls don’t matter.
Little’s excuse was that the US election distracted everybody.
Yeah… it was true. Trump even made Key look good in comparison.
Yeah – pity for Andrew Little that Trump couldn’t even make him look good.
James – you hang around The Standard like a human botfly inserting your eggs into the body of the discussion where ever you can – does this bring you some sort of parasitical joy? Or is it that you are driven by your DNA to infest for the sake of reproduction? Are there more of you gestating? Should the moderators stock up on swats?
So stating Trump makes Key = good comment, but saying that Trump dosnt make little look good makes me a human botfly.
Sorry that I dont echo the lines that you want Robert.
No s.o.h. these little RWNJ bots Robert.
At least PR and one or two others do exhibit moments of wit that makes them human rather than bots.
I’ve always felt you’re more perceptive then most and more able to look past the political leanings of the poster and consider the argument on its own merits 🙂
Ta PR. I do try – not always successfully.
The polls! The polls! I’m picturing the viscera-readers of ancient times, huddled over the newly-slaughtered beast, peering into the mass of glistening organs, seeing futures in the slippery goop – it’s not the seers who make me laugh, theirs is a lucrative pursuit, it’s the slack-jawed, wall-eyed crowd standing anxiously about, hanging on their every word.
🙂
brilliant Robert, brilliant
James… Dude, the outgoing PM is downward trending in the polls, and he is very uncomfortable about it. Should have seen him on TVNZ this morning, he was making every excuse imaginable to explain why he is consistently declining in the polls.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/blame-you-its-your-fault-john-keys-tongue-in-cheek-explanation-jack-tame-popularity-drop
Let’s not forget that Little dropped from 10% to 8%, effectively shedding 20% of his support…
Cinny…dude…at 50% party vote for National within a year of the election your “outgoing PM ” line is looking a little sick.
Cinny has been working on that meme for ages – best to just ignore – although I think we will be reading it until at least 2020.
Key is just going to become another Toady (Tony) Blair. Still trying to be relevant and justify his bad decisions years down the track.
Blair like Key just gamed everything to make himself look good on the world stage and be powerful – until one day – he wasn’t and will soon become too scared to travel incase one day he is picked up and tried at the Hague.
Cinny, swordfish explained very clearly last night that Key’s declining numbers are not associated with a corresponding increase in Labour’s.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27112016/#comment-1266638
Yesah, Swordfish sure did a great job, lots of numbers clearly demonstrating the downward trend.
I’m not interested in other political parties atm, i’m interested in the trends of the outgoing government.
You know what… why have some of you Tories got the meows with me? Did I touch a nerve?
Nessalt it is not the slowest drop in the history of politics, that’s a lie. And with MMP who knows what’s going to happen next election, it’s not a two party race anymore and hasn’t been for a long time. Long live MMP
How’s his support partners doing?
By crikey Maori Party has fallen to 1%,
ACT and Dunne don’t even get a mention, no one chose them when rung about the poll.
As well 13% of people are undecided voters
National would not be able to govern alone
See for yourselves, graphs and everything…
http://www.colmarbrunton.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Preliminary_ONE-News-Colmar-Brunton-Poll-report-Nov-12-13-21-23.pdf
it’s the slowest drop in the history of politics. The trend line that shows you that John Key’s personal pm preference ratings as dropping, also shows that he’ll be in power for two more elections. He’ll be at about 30% by the election next year. andrew little on the other hand will at around 2%.
“the outgoing PM is downward trending in the polls, and he is very uncomfortable about it. Should have seen him on TVNZ this morning”
Yeah, I had to laugh at John’s relatively cynical attempt to discredit the Colmar Brunton’s Preferred PM figures by feigning bewilderment at the fact that the collective ratings for the 3 main leaders added up to only 52%.
Key:
As Jonathan Wedgewood Key knows full well, the Colmar Brunton’s – like the Reid Research Polls – include the Don’t knows and None-of-the-Aboves in their Preferred PM figures. Always have.
Arguably, a far more accurate measure of Leader popularity than the (now defunct) Herald-Digi – which excluded the Don’t knows and hence massively exaggerated Key’s (and everyone else’s) popularity, generating headlines and misleading voters into believing that two-thirds or more of the public wanted Key as PM.
Most of the “missing” 48% whose personal welfare John agonized over in the interview are accounted for by:
9% preferring various other minor leaders / politicians as PM.
36% choosing Don’t know or None.
Yes. I think the only inference is that if he doesn’t then his UMR polling is even worse.
And National don’t pay for the rest? hahahah
Price is what you pay, value is what you get
Isnt the North Pole and South Pole the only ones that really matter ?
Danish supermarket selling expired food opens second branch
Wefood in Copenhagen has proved a huge success as food waste becomes hot topic worldwide
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/27/food-waste-denmark-buy-expired-produce-copenhagen-wefood
Good topic savenz. Does anyone know if its illegal to skip dive in supermarket bins here? ive seen a couple of tv shows recently that had people skip diving outside supermarkets in aussie and the uk, seemed legal there.
I’d like to see supermarkets be forced to give their best before food to food banks to be given for free to anyone who needs food. It is a crime that people may be hungry in this country when we are a food producer and apparently Kiwis are the fourth richest country per capita in the world. Not to mention the problems when the food is going into land fill!
Yeah fully agree with you there. We might need (god forbid!) a socialist in charge to get some common sense happening though.
The Hugh’s War on Waste doco opened my eyes to food wastage. It focused a lot on produce not meeting cosmetic standards and then being thrown away… We need a better model.
Good people doing good work. Flaxmere residents pulling the community out of its nosedive.
“It’s 7.30am in the Hastings suburb of Flaxmere. Half a dozen children, some as young as 5, are already at Kimi Ora Community School tucking into spaghetti on toast.
Over the next half-hour, other hungry mouths arrive. No parents come with them.
“We might see five parents a day who walk their kids to school. Our kids walk to school and walk home by themselves,” says principal Matt O’Dowda.
White-bearded caretaker Wayne Reading, who serves the breakfast every school day, usually feeds about 25 of the school’s 130 pupils – or 70 on Fridays, when he serves a full cooked breakfast.
At lunchtimes almost all students cram into the dining room for $1 lunches prepared by a mum and her partner.”
“It’s not the black eyes, it’s more children that have had a lack of sleep because there’s been a party going on at home. Or not being picked up on time, or not being brought to school.”
O’Dowda says the partying and overcrowding put children at risk.
“We have just done a pubertal change unit with the seniors [Years 6-8, aged about 10-12],” he says.
“For our girls, their major concern was how do you protect yourself from men, because they know there are parties and there’s lots of people around. So we have now got a two-day self-defence programme coming in this term just for our Year 6-8 girls.”
Dr Sandra Jessop, a general practitioner in Flaxmere since 1988, cries when she speaks of women who disclose childhood abuse when she asks gently about injuries she can see when she does cervical smears.
“Sometimes you get depression in the mums when their girls start to go through puberty, because of what happened to them,” she says.””
Excellent piece of writing from veteran ‘tell it like it is’ journalist Simon Collins.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11737537
A year of living shamefully: New Zealand’s dirty secrets
We’ve got to own up to our faults and change them. This will not happen with the present corrupt government because these faults suit them and their backers as it makes them richer.
The Government has been warned not to cave in and make it easier for Chinese investors to buy strategically important land and businesses just to secure better access to China’s market.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201825535/govt-warned-not-to-give-up-too-much-in-china-fta-upgrade-talks
In a country where homelessness is rising maybe it is time we think that “strategically” means “all land” not being sold offshore. Land should be for citizens only. And being a citizen of NZ should also be a lot harder to achieve – not just a left over choice for those that can’t get into Canada or OZ.
The Qatari dictatorship’s official TV station does not
miss a chance to ridicule and demean the late Fidel Castro
Al Jazeera 10 a.m. News, Monday 28 November 2016
Al Jazeera is again featuring ugly demonstrations of gloating by the extreme right fringe of the Cuban-American community after the death of Fidel Castro. Interestingly, Al Jazeera three years ago did not feature any of the similar gloating that occurred in some of the similarly rabid pockets of South Africa when Castro’s great friend and supporter Nelson Mandela died.
Yet even the most grievous propaganda channel will sometimes, perhaps accidentally, provide access to more balanced, representative views. This morning that balanced representation came in the form of 22 year old Elian Gonzalez. In 1999, five-year-old Elian Gonzalez was kidnapped by some of these so-called “exile” fanatics. After a momentous legal battle, he was eventually returned to his father in Cuba. Today Elian Gonzalez, now 22 years old, appeared on Al Jazeera, praising the late Cuban leader.
This moment of sanity was soon relegated, however. To “balance” the testimony of Elian Gonzalez, the host interviewed one Peter Hakim, who rejoices in the splendid title of “president emeritus and senior fellow” of the Inter-American Dialogue. For a couple of minutes, Hakim released, pompously and slowly, a stream of anti-Castro propaganda, and absurdly lied that Castro had been opposed to the democratic developments in Latin America. To hear Peter Hakim telling this lie was especially galling, in view of the fact that in 1994, Hakim stated with equal pomposity, that the U.S. should not be concerned with either human rights or democracy in Haiti, and in fact the democratically elected President Aristide should be deposed, in the usual brutal manner.
https://chomsky.info/199408__/
RT: Chris Hedges ‘On Contact’ Standing Rock protest special
Documentary special by Chris Hedges, veteran war correspondent, as part of his ‘On Contact’ series on RT.
He follows the Water Protectors standing in the way of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Warning this is Chris Hedges on RT – ‘fake news ‘ – the news and the viewpoints that the establishment media doesn’t want you to know and will not cover themselves.
Great piece, Hedges is brilliant. He also mentions that Trump will make this situation worse