A noteworthy scientific success, with political implications.
Organisms in a cryptobiotic state can endure the complete absence of water or oxygen and withstand high temperatures, as well asfreezing or extremely salty conditions. They remain in a state “between death and life,” in which their metabolic rates decrease to an undetectable level
This state of stasis, a third alternative (to life & death), has also been achieved by our Labour Party. Can it be revived? Unkind commentators will note the uncanny resemblance to the worm (slimy, ultra-tiny brain, etc).
"Yes we can", said Obama. "No we can't", said Hipkins. Luxon has set an extremely low bar for Hipkins to slither under. We can tell from Hipkins' resolute stance that he's serious about getting down there and sliding beneath it.
One of the worst aspects of political discourse is to impugn the humanity of others, such as when Christians refer to others as reptilians.
Generally the left question the mammonesque – celebration of the order of rule of the imperial coin/American dollar capital.
And the right, focus on conservative social values vs liberal tolerance and question the threat to private ownership and wealth via social democratic policy concepts of equity.
Thus the greedy vs those of envy taxation.
Benjamin Disraeli after becoming the prime minister in 1868, "I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole."
And of course poll driven leadership.
Then there is the term down the greasy poll in relation to the ultimate stage of a debate – down the thread, when all there is left to say is insults, one party of which will have deserved.
I suspect the last post today will be classier than the first.
Such likening is traditional, however. Whether it be analogy, metaphor or simile, figures of speech have always been used.
They achieve currency in proportion to (perceived) accuracy, which is why they will remain endemic. Whilst it may be suitably tribal for left-wingers to do the ole christian `holier than thou' at others, doing so shrinks their influence. Trying to eliminate part of humanity will seem inhuman to others.
The Blue Jay, (one of their home bases is Toronto, also the home court of the born again up their above us down below Raptors) love to eat worms.
Blue Jays are related to the Crows, those by the cradle of the born again.
The religious revival (vibrations filling up believers like a wine cup overflowing) of January 1994 began at Vineyard Airport Church Toronto.
Unilever has a long history in Canada having started operating in the 1890's in downtown Toronto with the Lever Brother's soap factory. Lux is now on the brand, for those who believe cleanliness is next to god, rather than the unwashed masses (a joke about those with a little water on a little hair and the adult baptised – full body).
They also retail food for corporate profit.
The Hunger Games referred to the mocking of the parasitic (rentiers who impose their ECA precariat order) overlords (who own central city prime land property, rather than rent in the outer districts).
The Blue Tit of Mother England also likes to eat worms.
One can play by the rules of the establishment, or note that they cannot take their wealth with them, just hand it on to their class descendants till the revolution comes. Wat Tyler, Levellers, 1689, 1893 (Enzed) and 1908 (UK Labour), 1935, 1996 (MMP).
A diet of worms for the those who believe in the lords and masters of imperial capital mammon, or grab that apple, vote and keep the the house safe from the crows of capitalism.
PS Unilever is behind a basic food of the poor called pot noodle.
I love figures of speech and the more extreme or unlikely in content the better.
They remain in a state “between death and life,” in which their metabolic rates decrease to an undetectable level
"This state of stasis, a third alternative (to life & death), has also been achieved by our Labour Party. "
Of course stasis is a biological response to the conditions.
I am keen on the PM continuing with the tradition of explaining is losing concept, particularly in relation to the fresh food/GST so-called leak. So what may be stasis for worms and also biological, may be deliberate policy by the so-called higher powers, humans.
As well as the political context the stasis of these worms is interesting…..is hibernation also classed as stasis?
I thought it was apt. I noted mild-mannered Parker's elegant side-step in the direction of authenticity. All is not lost for Labour but their lethargy remains the only notably aspect of their performance in the campaign thus far.
Re the PM, he's been big on negativity yet he could still deliver a pleasant surprise, so I'll wait & see…
Well, Patricia, I have to say Parker was being principled in my view. There's also been a bunch of msm commentary to similar effect. The gist I noticed was that he & Robertson were amenable to a consensual wealth tax & at least one of them (Parker) seems to have invested a significant amount of time & energy to it. Given their likely coalition partners are both committed to that, seems both sensible and prudent for him to have done that work ahead of the time for negotiating any points of difference. He therefore deserves respect for his political nous. Can't say that for the PM unless he's eyeing up a prospective Nat/Lab option to save neoliberalism.
Re the two rightist options, others have being assiduous & not needed my help but if they come up with anything particularly obnoxious I'll have a go at skewering any prospective rightist govt position…
If you are referring to DMK's quote from SPC bwaghorn, I think he is replying to Dennis Frank's first post of the day. In particular these bits?
… a third alternative (to life & death), has also been achieved by our Labour Party. Can it be revived? Unkind commentators will note the uncanny resemblance to the worm (slimy, ultra-tiny brain, etc).
Luxon has set an extremely low bar for Hipkins to slither under. We can tell from Hipkins' resolute stance that he's serious about getting down there and sliding beneath it.
Still at least, you for one are honest..so maybe no troll !
And you at least aren't a NAct ?
Anyway, FYI for you and other Anti-Labour types.
I get that Labour aren't perfect. But you and the others cant bear to admit to the long list that Labour has achieved. (Its been on here many times..you maybe flick straight past ? )
Maybe you wont be as affected by the alternative NAct govt.
I think reform is sad joke under this economic system.
So for me any so called achievements are not worth the salt, sweat, and tears they cost. As the poor keep being raped and pillaged by brutal economic forces.
"Unkind commentators will note the uncanny resemblance…."
Yes, we noticed the unkindness. Usually, "unkind commentators" would be followed by a critique of that unkindness. not by a further extension of it.
Because that makes it even unkinder, since the commentator is aware of his/her unkindness.
The word 'kind' is also associated with 'kinship'. The lovely Irish song "She Moved Through the Fair" has a line "And my father won't slight you for your lack of kind".
The object of that line is not a fairy, not of the fairy kind, but the singer says that won't matter.
But, in unkindness we try to 'other' the ones we don't like. We say they are not like us. They are not akin to us. We might even compare them to worms.
I have to say that when I wake up in the morning, being 'woke' as it were, and find that Open Mike has not opened with its become usual first contribution, then I am happier. Today I skipped off to work by 8.30 and missed this 8.27 contribution.
I had a good morning. I was kind to my students and they were the same to me. It was my last lesson before final retirement! I sang them a song- "So long, it's been good to know you."
As a life member of the Labour Party I was not enthused to being likened to a worm. That was an unkindly cast, but I guess in the end we, the worms, win, every time………..
Have a happy healthy retirement Mac1. After 22 years I highly recommend it. "Lang may your lum reek" Metaphorically as we are Red and Green or TM Parti lol
Patricia, I thought about my "Lang may your joints creak", your "Lang may your lums reek" and composed this combined version in honour of another contributor here- "Lang may your joints reek!" Cheers, Philip.
Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice charge against Donald John Trump explained
On Thursday, prosecutors unveiled a new indictment, which charges Trump, his co-defendant and valet Walt Nauta and a third Trump employee, Carlos De Oliveira, with attempting to delete security camera footage at Mar-a-Lago after they were sent a grand jury subpoena for the videos in June 2022.
Prosecutors allege De Oliveira told another employee "the boss" wanted a server containing security footage to be deleted.
This time around, Labour’s campaign launch looks to be along the same timelines.
I don’t expect Labour to promise us avocado toast, even with GST removed, instead of ‘boring’ bread & butter policies, but it would be good if they can fill the current narrative vacuum and turn this General Election into a genuine policy contest of ideas founded on core principles & values.
NACT, Te Pāti Māori, and the Greens have started setting the scene and it’s Labour’s move now and it better be bold.
"You can't bullshit a bullshitter"….turns out to be bullshit.
Abstract
Research into both receptivity to falling for bullshit and the propensity to produce it have recently emerged as active, independent areas of inquiry into the spread of misleading information. However, it remains unclear whether those who frequently produce bullshit are inoculated from its influence. For example, both bullshit receptivity and bullshitting frequency are negatively related to cognitive ability and aspects of analytic thinking style, suggesting that those who frequently engage in bullshitting may be more likely to fall for bullshit. However, separate research suggests that individuals who frequently engage in deception are better at detecting it, thus leading to the possibility that frequent bullshitters may be less likely to fall for bullshit. Here, we present three studies (N = 826) attempting to distinguish between these competing hypotheses, finding that frequency of persuasive bullshitting (i.e., bullshitting intended to impress or persuade others) positively predicts susceptibility to various types of misleading information and that this association is robust to individual differences in cognitive ability and analytic cognitive style.
However, separate research suggests that individuals who frequently engage in deception are better at detecting it, thus leading to the possibility that frequent bullshitters may be less likely to fall for bullshit.
Not from my many and varied past experiences.
Not only do they spread bullshit like an out of control fire, but they assume that everybody is like them and into bullshit. Thus they double down and end up causing untold damage to the poor mugs in the firing line.
Yep. You can’t bullshit a bullshitter is a load of bullshit. 🙁
At the geopolitical level ministers of states are proving inadequate:
The EU, represented by Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius at the meeting, responded with exasperation. “At the end of our meeting today, is the glass half full or half empty?” Sinkevičius asked in his closing remarks. “It is certainly empty when we look at where we stand on G20 commitments to address climate change — we simply are nowhere.”
“The disappointing G20 energy and climate outcomes show ministers don’t have the mandate to negotiate on the defining issues of our time,” said Luca Bergamaschi, co-founder of Italian climate think tank ECCO. “G20 leaders must step in and together agree the actions needed for a safer planet.”
So the talkfest got no practical results. That ministers lack mana is an interesting conclusion for the activist to draw from their failure:
G20 climate ministers failed to make progress on key issues on Friday, drawing sharp criticism from the European Union. Talks in the southern Indian city of Chennai took place against the backdrop of scientists finding that July is on track to become the world’s hottest month on record. But the discussions wrapped up without consensus on the global transition away from fossil fuels; last week's G20 energy ministerial ended similarly.
The split forced the Indian G20 presidency to publish an incomplete outcome document on issues countries managed to agree on, as well as an additional chair’s summary on others where ministers did not reach consensus.
From my experience leading the consensus process for the Greens for several years, looks like insufficient preliminary work done. Meetings cost time & money – best to get a basis for agreement first via online consensus-building.
Could just be that Adam. Thing is, whereas the ideology is toxic in many respects, there's a paradox due to the benefits it generates in pulling third world nations out of poverty. In a global view, there's actually little that works better.
Consequently, although the report never spelt it out, I suspect those objecting see the benefits of global capitalism as a sufficient reason to retain the status quo. Since they are only ministers, they are as likely as not to be in bed with vested interests. So they can artfully argue benefits to their poor whilst not mentioning their selfish motives.
Neo-idealism, a morally-based approach to geopolitics, grounded in the power of values conceived as ideals to strive for.
.
There is a new idealism at work in international politics. Pioneered by people and politicians in Ukraine, the Baltic states, and the Czech Republic, but increasingly apparent in the actions and words of leaders across the free world, it has opened the door to a better kind of grand strategy for liberal democracies.
The standard bearers for this new hard-edged, forward-looking idealism in (geo)politics include Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and her erstwhile Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin, as well as President Edgars Rinkēvičs (Latvia) and Foreign Ministers Gabrielius Landsbergis (Lithuania) and Jan Lipavsky (Czechia).
They are joined by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a leader reborn in the crucible of Europe’s response to Russian aggression. At the head of the pack though is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who, channelling the courage and conviction of his people, has done most to pioneer the ‘Neo-Idealist’ synthesis of morality and materiel, principle and progress.
I would cheer Wagner on, only so far as internal russian strife might save Ukrainians. Wagner is nonetheless despicable and I hope both Putin and Wagner lose.
"X did bad. Y opposes X. Therefore Y is good."
Many of the Putin fans commenting here seem to fall into this error.
Encouraging, huh? Strange to say I haven't noticed Biden's idealism yet. From your link:
Even the Biden administration, so crucial yet so hesitant to commit to Ukraine’s victory over Russia, has clearly positioned itself as the leader of a democratic bloc with the intent to face down authoritarian China as a systemic rival. Relatedly, Washington has been more hawkish on geoeconomics than geopolitics as it seeks to move on from Neo-liberal economics.
USA moving on from neoliberalism? Where's the evidence?
Oh, I see, it's a resilience strategy, that's good! From a speech by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan at the Brookings Institution:
When President Biden came into office more than two years ago, the country faced, from our perspective, four fundamental challenges.
First, America’s industrial base had been hollowed out… The second challenge we faced was adapting to a new environment defined by geopolitical and security competition… The third challenge we faced was an accelerating climate crisis and the urgent need for a just and efficient energy transition.. Finally, we faced the challenge of inequality and its damage to democracy.
Official cognizance of this tetrad is a good basis upon which to proceed. They ought to have told the media about it back then!
Ultimately, our goal is a strong, resilient, and leading-edge techno-industrial base that the United States and its like-minded partners, established and emerging economies alike, can invest in and rely upon together.
President Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen talked about this here in Washington last month. They released a very important statement, which, if you haven’t read it, I really encourage you to read. At its heart, what the statement said was the following: bold public investments in our respective industrial capacity needs to be at the heart of the energy transition. And President von der Leyen and President Biden committed to working together to ensure that the supply chains of the future are resilient, secure, and reflective of our values—including on labor.
They laid out practical steps in the statement to achieve those goals—like aligning respective clean-energy incentives on each side of the Atlantic and launching a negotiation on supply chains for critical minerals and batteries. Shortly after that, President Biden went to Canada. He and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau established a task force to accelerate cooperation between Canada and the United States toward exactly the same end: ensuring our clean-energy supply and creating middle-class jobs on both sides of the border. And just a few days after that, the United States and Japan signed an agreement deepening our cooperation on critical-mineral supply chains.
Now this kind of thing is likely to make a wide swathe of folks less cynical about Democrats. Not airheads after all.
When President Biden came into office more than two years ago, the country faced, from our perspective, four fundamental challenges.
First, America’s industrial base had been hollowed out.
The vision of public investment that had energized the American project in the postwar years—and indeed for much of our history—had faded. It had given way to a set of ideas that championed tax cutting and deregulation, privatization over public action, and trade liberalization as an end in itself.
There was one assumption at the heart of all of this policy: that markets always allocate capital productively and efficiently—no matter what our competitors did, no matter how big our shared challenges grew, and no matter how many guardrails we took down.
Now, no one—certainly not me—is discounting the power of markets. But in the name of oversimplified market efficiency, entire supply chains of strategic goods—along with the industries and jobs that made them—moved overseas. And the postulate that deep trade liberalization would help America export goods, not jobs and capacity, was a promise made but not kept.
Doggy animals Phillip? Our cat does not like guitars banjos or fiddles. If him indoors plays his guitar she is “outta there” The caravan sounds like a friends, well built.
I was in this place ..and I had this old ex-pig hunting dog..who was one of the gentlest dogs I have known..
And I became aware that a feral cat was sleeping underneath my caravan…it wouldn't come near me.. totally feral ..but I would leave a bowl of vegan dog biscuits and water under there for her ..
Sometime later she had a couple of kittens..in a cavity in a cliff..
Shortly after she was caught in a trap..and one of her front legs was just hanging…so she couldn't care for them..
So what she did was she deposited the kittens under my caravan ..and disappeared…
So I had these two hissing/spitting entities to contend with..
And it was a quandary for me…I knew if I handed them to spca/whoever they would likely just off them…(they were very antisocial..)
So I fed them all I had..vegan dog biscuits…and they loved them…
So I sourced them some vegan cat biscuits..(vegan pet food company..off titirangi rd..)…and we were off and running..
But they were still as feisty as..
So what I did was I would sit still and speak softly to them ..(and later on I figured it was like I was purring at them..)
So they eventually melted..and they both just adored the old dog…would sleep curled up on him…he seemed to like it too..
Anyway…the old boy dog died..leaving these two boys…
And I haven't had cats before.. it's always been dogs..
But I hafta say..these two have won me over…their apparent enjoyment of music just part of it..
Tho' I am conflicted still…them being cats and all..
They are on demand food..the bowl is always full…and collars/bells and all that. .but they are cats..still..
If you describe a situation as a virtuous circle, you mean that once one good thing starts happening, other good things happen, which cause the first thing to continue happening.
Such as
I want a virtuous circle of investment and growth in the rail industry. That is the virtuous circle at which we aim. Together, the modernisation of civil justice and the reform of legal aid will complete a virtuous circle.
Vicious Cycle
when the more something is done, the worse it gets, which means that it happens more.
Such as
A vicious cycle is a negative series of events that build on and reinforce each other. If you can't you can't get a job without experience, but you can't get experience without a job, then you are in a vicious cycle.
What is vicious circle in psychology?
A vicious cycle (also known as vicious circle) is used to describe a situation in which events are in a feedback loop in which the action or event is strengthened by its consequence which starts the cycle all over again. It is an event pattern that never reaches equilibrium and is in constant motion.
What is vicious circle in philosophy?
Vicious Circle. Description: The conclusion of the argument is appealed to as one of the truths or principles upon which the argument itself rests.
What is the word for arguing in circles?
A circular argument, also known ascircular reasoning, is an incorrect argument that tries to prove itself using its conclusion as evidence, such as “our boss is the best person for the job because they were promoted to boss.”
This shows the evil of the right. For so long they have avoided climate action of any kind and told us to buy insurance if we were worried. Here it shows how traumatising it can be to just get what you are owed out of your insurer.
Today we also found out how costly dealing with flooding in Auckland will be. God knows what it will be like if this happens more regularly.
Climate change and extreme weather events are going to make inequality worse. We shouldn’t have a business environment where some industries are exempt from doing their part socially, morally or fiscally.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
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TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
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A worm was spotted 40m deep down into Siberian permafrost, extracted, dated to 46,000 years ago, and revived: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/28/world/worm-resurrected-frozen-siberian-permafrost-intl-scli-scn/index.html
A noteworthy scientific success, with political implications.
This state of stasis, a third alternative (to life & death), has also been achieved by our Labour Party. Can it be revived? Unkind commentators will note the uncanny resemblance to the worm (slimy, ultra-tiny brain, etc).
"Yes we can", said Obama. "No we can't", said Hipkins. Luxon has set an extremely low bar for Hipkins to slither under. We can tell from Hipkins' resolute stance that he's serious about getting down there and sliding beneath it.
One of the worst aspects of political discourse is to impugn the humanity of others, such as when Christians refer to others as reptilians.
Generally the left question the mammonesque – celebration of the order of rule of the imperial coin/American dollar capital.
And the right, focus on conservative social values vs liberal tolerance and question the threat to private ownership and wealth via social democratic policy concepts of equity.
Thus the greedy vs those of envy taxation.
Benjamin Disraeli after becoming the prime minister in 1868, "I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole."
And of course poll driven leadership.
Then there is the term down the greasy poll in relation to the ultimate stage of a debate – down the thread, when all there is left to say is insults, one party of which will have deserved.
I suspect the last post today will be classier than the first.
Completely agree. Slur politics is on the rise and the left should be resisting this with all our might.
Such likening is traditional, however. Whether it be analogy, metaphor or simile, figures of speech have always been used.
They achieve currency in proportion to (perceived) accuracy, which is why they will remain endemic. Whilst it may be suitably tribal for left-wingers to do the ole christian `holier than thou' at others, doing so shrinks their influence. Trying to eliminate part of humanity will seem inhuman to others.
Censorship then?
Nope, self-moderation and not acting as a bastard.
or you will censor?
I’m a Mod here, not a censor.
Well I'd suggest to you, that sometimes it does not look that way.
Take a deep breath, pause I'm not having a go, just giving you feedback.
Because I'm that sort of bastard.
My suggestion to you is to avoid any suggestion of accusing Mods here of censoring, as this is considered an attack even when you say it isn’t.
We take this very recent Post on TS moderation as read & understood (https://thestandard.org.nz/moderation-notes-in-election-year/).
good lord, you're an anarchist and you think the only way to resist slur politics is censorship?
The Blue Jay, (one of their home bases is Toronto, also the home court of the born again up their above us down below Raptors) love to eat worms.
Blue Jays are related to the Crows, those by the cradle of the born again.
The religious revival (vibrations filling up believers like a wine cup overflowing) of January 1994 began at Vineyard Airport Church Toronto.
Unilever has a long history in Canada having started operating in the 1890's in downtown Toronto with the Lever Brother's soap factory. Lux is now on the brand, for those who believe cleanliness is next to god, rather than the unwashed masses (a joke about those with a little water on a little hair and the adult baptised – full body).
They also retail food for corporate profit.
The Hunger Games referred to the mocking of the parasitic (rentiers who impose their ECA precariat order) overlords (who own central city prime land property, rather than rent in the outer districts).
The Blue Tit of Mother England also likes to eat worms.
One can play by the rules of the establishment, or note that they cannot take their wealth with them, just hand it on to their class descendants till the revolution comes. Wat Tyler, Levellers, 1689, 1893 (Enzed) and 1908 (UK Labour), 1935, 1996 (MMP).
A diet of worms for the those who believe in the lords and masters of imperial capital mammon, or grab that apple, vote and keep the the house safe from the crows of capitalism.
PS Unilever is behind a basic food of the poor called pot noodle.
That's the oddest post comment ive ever read
I think it is brilliant. Thank you DF.
I love figures of speech and the more extreme or unlikely in content the better.
"This state of stasis, a third alternative (to life & death), has also been achieved by our Labour Party. "
Of course stasis is a biological response to the conditions.
I am keen on the PM continuing with the tradition of explaining is losing concept, particularly in relation to the fresh food/GST so-called leak. So what may be stasis for worms and also biological, may be deliberate policy by the so-called higher powers, humans.
As well as the political context the stasis of these worms is interesting…..is hibernation also classed as stasis?
Re the PM, he's been big on negativity yet he could still deliver a pleasant surprise, so I'll wait & see…
Parker at the Leadership contest here in Rotorua was memorable for the number of "I" s in his speech.
Where Andrew Little was the one to say "We have to change and do better"
Grant Robertson said he would like to lead a unified team and would choose Jacinda Ardern as his DP.
Parker's "side step" was petulance in my view. You may consider it elegant, when really it is self serving.
Plus some worms are like white ants and borer destroying the structure as they care not for the host, and do not have a symbiotic relationship.
Dennis where are your barbs for our real foe? Where are your clever word plays on Act and National? ?![devil devil](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/devil_smile.png?x42494)
Well, Patricia, I have to say Parker was being principled in my view. There's also been a bunch of msm commentary to similar effect. The gist I noticed was that he & Robertson were amenable to a consensual wealth tax & at least one of them (Parker) seems to have invested a significant amount of time & energy to it. Given their likely coalition partners are both committed to that, seems both sensible and prudent for him to have done that work ahead of the time for negotiating any points of difference. He therefore deserves respect for his political nous. Can't say that for the PM unless he's eyeing up a prospective Nat/Lab option to save neoliberalism.
Re the two rightist options, others have being assiduous & not needed my help but if they come up with anything particularly obnoxious I'll have a go at skewering any prospective rightist govt position…
Act wanting to do away with human rights? the Treaty? Not meaty enough for you?
Correct, such blatherings from ACT are devoid of substance therefore not worthy of comment. Posturing only…
But wait, there's more coming? DF's comments are at times seemingly random.
A kind of "stream of conscious (unconscious?) thought " ….
or something.
Best viewed with an open mind. And maybe..a smile : )
If you are referring to DMK's quote from SPC bwaghorn, I think he is replying to Dennis Frank's first post of the day. In particular these bits?
If I’m correct I agree with SPC.
Hi Anne. No, im pretty sure Bwaghorn's comment was in reply direct to DF.
And…I would say it was pretty much as he wrote.. : )
Def high on the Odd scale.
No argument on the ramping anti Labour part…….
Oops yes. I assumed he was replying to DMK.![blush blush](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/embarrassed_smile.png?x42494)
Nevertheless my comment stands by itself.
Anne you're allgood. And yep lets call out the Anti-Labour troll attempts (on here at least)
And…Keep Left : )
Anti-labour party here 🙂
As economically they are not left.
Ahuh. I could have said..no shit : )
Still at least, you for one are honest..so maybe no troll !
And you at least aren't a NAct ?
Anyway, FYI for you and other Anti-Labour types.
I get that Labour aren't perfect. But you and the others cant bear to admit to the long list that Labour has achieved. (Its been on here many times..you maybe flick straight past ? )
Maybe you wont be as affected by the alternative NAct govt.
I and many hundreds of thousands others will be.
I think reform is sad joke under this economic system.
So for me any so called achievements are not worth the salt, sweat, and tears they cost. As the poor keep being raped and pillaged by brutal economic forces.
Was to df, as far as seques go it was a lonnnng reach.
The worm bit @1 was interesting, but couldn’t make head nor tail of the rest of it.
I suspect such pointless provocations will become more frequent, "going forward."
D.frank must surely be a shoo-in for today's groin-stretch-metaphor award..?
46,000 yr old worm…to hipkins-labour..?
whoar..!
Lol. I'd also add, the sheer arm strength needed for that Long Bow stretch. Must be superhuman : )
That 46,000 old frozen worm @ Phillip was reported as being revived/arisen. If only it could speak.
Too much incrementalism leads inevitably to stasis..
.. which is where we are..
"Unkind commentators will note the uncanny resemblance…."
Yes, we noticed the unkindness. Usually, "unkind commentators" would be followed by a critique of that unkindness. not by a further extension of it.
Because that makes it even unkinder, since the commentator is aware of his/her unkindness.
The word 'kind' is also associated with 'kinship'. The lovely Irish song "She Moved Through the Fair" has a line "And my father won't slight you for your lack of kind".
The object of that line is not a fairy, not of the fairy kind, but the singer says that won't matter.
But, in unkindness we try to 'other' the ones we don't like. We say they are not like us. They are not akin to us. We might even compare them to worms.
I have to say that when I wake up in the morning, being 'woke' as it were, and find that Open Mike has not opened with its become usual first contribution, then I am happier. Today I skipped off to work by 8.30 and missed this 8.27 contribution.
I had a good morning. I was kind to my students and they were the same to me. It was my last lesson before final retirement! I sang them a song- "So long, it's been good to know you."
As a life member of the Labour Party I was not enthused to being likened to a worm. That was an unkindly cast, but I guess in the end we, the worms, win, every time………..
Thanks, Patricia. I have no chimney so more appropriate would be "Lang may my joints creak."
Maybe a dram will help![devil devil](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/devil_smile.png?x42494)
Patricia, I thought about my "Lang may your joints creak", your "Lang may your lums reek" and composed this combined version in honour of another contributor here- "Lang may your joints reek!" Cheers, Philip.
Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice charge against Donald John Trump explained
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2023/07/the-legal-troubles-of-former-us-president-donald-trump-after-latest-charges.html
Election Day was 17 October in 2020.
Labour released its first election campaign policy on 8 August 2020.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/08/nz-election-2020-labour-s-first-campaign-policy-revamped-national-policy.html
This time around, Labour’s campaign launch looks to be along the same timelines.
I don’t expect Labour to promise us avocado toast, even with GST removed, instead of ‘boring’ bread & butter policies, but it would be good if they can fill the current narrative vacuum and turn this General Election into a genuine policy contest of ideas founded on core principles & values.
NACT, Te Pāti Māori, and the Greens have started setting the scene and it’s Labour’s move now and it better be bold.
+100 on the narrative vacuum.
Where is Labour? Anyone?
After a lifetime I can't see myself voting for them this time.
And no idea who I will party vote for.
Who knew!! People who spread bullshit, are more prone to believing bullshit, due to faulty cognition in both cases.
"You can't bullshit a bullshitter"….turns out to be bullshit.
Not from my many and varied past experiences.
Not only do they spread bullshit like an out of control fire, but they assume that everybody is like them and into bullshit. Thus they double down and end up causing untold damage to the poor mugs in the firing line.
Yep. You can’t bullshit a bullshitter is a load of bullshit. 🙁
At the geopolitical level ministers of states are proving inadequate:
So the talkfest got no practical results. That ministers lack mana is an interesting conclusion for the activist to draw from their failure:
From my experience leading the consensus process for the Greens for several years, looks like insufficient preliminary work done. Meetings cost time & money – best to get a basis for agreement first via online consensus-building.
Neo-liberalism in any form = business as usual.
Could just be that Adam. Thing is, whereas the ideology is toxic in many respects, there's a paradox due to the benefits it generates in pulling third world nations out of poverty. In a global view, there's actually little that works better.
Consequently, although the report never spelt it out, I suspect those objecting see the benefits of global capitalism as a sufficient reason to retain the status quo. Since they are only ministers, they are as likely as not to be in bed with vested interests. So they can artfully argue benefits to their poor whilst not mentioning their selfish motives.
Neo-idealism, a morally-based approach to geopolitics, grounded in the power of values conceived as ideals to strive for.
.
There is a new idealism at work in international politics. Pioneered by people and politicians in Ukraine, the Baltic states, and the Czech Republic, but increasingly apparent in the actions and words of leaders across the free world, it has opened the door to a better kind of grand strategy for liberal democracies.
The standard bearers for this new hard-edged, forward-looking idealism in (geo)politics include Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and her erstwhile Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin, as well as President Edgars Rinkēvičs (Latvia) and Foreign Ministers Gabrielius Landsbergis (Lithuania) and Jan Lipavsky (Czechia).
They are joined by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a leader reborn in the crucible of Europe’s response to Russian aggression. At the head of the pack though is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who, channelling the courage and conviction of his people, has done most to pioneer the ‘Neo-Idealist’ synthesis of morality and materiel, principle and progress.
https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/the-rise-of-the-new-idealists
Did you cheer on the wagner group Joe90?
Russian fascists scare the hell of me, the pan European ones scare me just as much.
I would cheer Wagner on, only so far as internal russian strife might save Ukrainians. Wagner is nonetheless despicable and I hope both Putin and Wagner lose.
"X did bad. Y opposes X. Therefore Y is good."
Many of the Putin fans commenting here seem to fall into this error.
You know Wagner are nazis UncookedSelachimorpha?
Real life Russian nazi scum?
Yeah nah, no way I'd supporting nazi scum in any way, my Granddad use to shot them.
Encouraging, huh? Strange to say I haven't noticed Biden's idealism yet. From your link:
USA moving on from neoliberalism? Where's the evidence?
Oh, I see, it's a resilience strategy, that's good! From a speech by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan at the Brookings Institution:
Official cognizance of this tetrad is a good basis upon which to proceed. They ought to have told the media about it back then!
Now this kind of thing is likely to make a wide swathe of folks less cynical about Democrats. Not airheads after all.![surprise surprise](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/omg_smile.png?x42494)
It's almost like they've woken up.
.
When President Biden came into office more than two years ago, the country faced, from our perspective, four fundamental challenges.
First, America’s industrial base had been hollowed out.
The vision of public investment that had energized the American project in the postwar years—and indeed for much of our history—had faded. It had given way to a set of ideas that championed tax cutting and deregulation, privatization over public action, and trade liberalization as an end in itself.
There was one assumption at the heart of all of this policy: that markets always allocate capital productively and efficiently—no matter what our competitors did, no matter how big our shared challenges grew, and no matter how many guardrails we took down.
Now, no one—certainly not me—is discounting the power of markets. But in the name of oversimplified market efficiency, entire supply chains of strategic goods—along with the industries and jobs that made them—moved overseas. And the postulate that deep trade liberalization would help America export goods, not jobs and capacity, was a promise made but not kept.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/04/27/remarks-by-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivan-on-renewing-american-economic-leadership-at-the-brookings-institution/
The Biden administration’s international economic agenda: National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan
Brookings Institution
Here's the picture:
In my vintage caravan (1957).. a delight of varnished wood/yellow formica/chrome etc..
Parked on a cliff top overlooking a harbour.
There is no wind/rain.
Smoking slim-line joints..a blend of three examples of nz's best..
Listening to back episodes of that cornucopia of musical delights..nashville babylon..
A much loved animal sleeping either side of me ..their ears twitching to the music..as they do…
I've had worse Saturday nites..
(This has been a bulletin from te gypsy lifestyle…)
I was in this place ..and I had this old ex-pig hunting dog..who was one of the gentlest dogs I have known..
And I became aware that a feral cat was sleeping underneath my caravan…it wouldn't come near me.. totally feral ..but I would leave a bowl of vegan dog biscuits and water under there for her ..
Sometime later she had a couple of kittens..in a cavity in a cliff..
Shortly after she was caught in a trap..and one of her front legs was just hanging…so she couldn't care for them..
So what she did was she deposited the kittens under my caravan ..and disappeared…
So I had these two hissing/spitting entities to contend with..
And it was a quandary for me…I knew if I handed them to spca/whoever they would likely just off them…(they were very antisocial..)
So I fed them all I had..vegan dog biscuits…and they loved them…
So I sourced them some vegan cat biscuits..(vegan pet food company..off titirangi rd..)…and we were off and running..
But they were still as feisty as..
So what I did was I would sit still and speak softly to them ..(and later on I figured it was like I was purring at them..)
So they eventually melted..and they both just adored the old dog…would sleep curled up on him…he seemed to like it too..
Anyway…the old boy dog died..leaving these two boys…
And I haven't had cats before.. it's always been dogs..
But I hafta say..these two have won me over…their apparent enjoyment of music just part of it..
Tho' I am conflicted still…them being cats and all..
They are on demand food..the bowl is always full…and collars/bells and all that. .but they are cats..still..
A funny thing they do…is that because they used to walk with me and the dog…they now walk with me like they are dogs…
It's funny as..
The domino effect, or chain reaction.
Virtuous Circle
Such as
Vicious Cycle
Such as
What is vicious circle in psychology?
What is vicious circle in philosophy?
What is the word for arguing in circles?
Quotes from
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=a+virtuous+circle+idiom
This shows the evil of the right. For so long they have avoided climate action of any kind and told us to buy insurance if we were worried. Here it shows how traumatising it can be to just get what you are owed out of your insurer.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/494734/insurance-payout-for-flood-hit-owner-raised-after-months-of-delay
Today we also found out how costly dealing with flooding in Auckland will be. God knows what it will be like if this happens more regularly.
Climate change and extreme weather events are going to make inequality worse. We shouldn’t have a business environment where some industries are exempt from doing their part socially, morally or fiscally.
If NAct (led by Act ) gain control…..NZ, more Climate denial….and much less Climate support.
They wont give a toss.