Clownish National MPs are letting the Opposition down
"King is the worst of a number of MPs who have shown a flippancy with facts. Spin is fine in politics, but facts are facts. Facts are important. You can't campaign in a different reality.
We trust our politicians to make big decisions. Most of the decisions they make will not be campaigned on, will arise through their terms in power, or will go unreported.
As a farmer, King should know climate change is the biggest issue facing New Zealand agriculture, says Glenn McConnell.
The ability, then, to know fact from fiction and to be able to understand science and reasoning is the most basic skill a politician must have. By sharing disinformation, King has exposed that he lacks this basic requirement. He must go.
He must go, also, because his stance shows an absolute disregard for New Zealand's future. Climate change is the biggest issue facing agriculture, and the biggest challenge facing the world. He does not understand the issue.
This blasé approach to what most people are calling a crisis is irresponsible. He, and the other politicians who are ignoring the climate crisis, are condemning future generations to food insecurity, environmental catastrophe and global economic instability. If you're an MP who hasn't caught up with this, then you are out of touch and must go."
I'm not even sure "spin is OK". Framing – sure. Spin is designed to prevent basic honesty and openness, to obfuscate and be frugal with the truth. It's one reason people lose faith in their representatives.
I think we can agree though that King is a complete muppet
Spin is too kind a word. The Opposition will be infamous for repeatedly straight out lying and by the time the truth is out there the damage has been done. Remember the $100,000 bottle of wine that wasn't?
Matt King only got elected because Peters and Prime split their vote – National had been declining in previous elections in Northland. We shouldn't need 'deals' like Epsom to get rid of King at the next election, but it would help if we moved to STV. . .
That scheme was going to add a paltry 20MW of capacity, and trash a pretty special bit of river in the conservation estate.
Meanwhile, there's 2500MW of windfarms consented, but not yet being built due to lack of demand. At first glance, I don't see any of those requiring the trashing of part of our conservation estate.
There's also 285MW of geothermal consented, but not yet being built due to lack of demand.
The obstacle to turning our electricity generation 100% renewable has more to do with the way fossil generators get to dump their hazardous waste on the rest of us for free. Not going ahead with trivially small hydro schemes that carry significant environmental costs has bugger-all to do with it.
It's a bad-faith, rhetorical trick to equate 'renewable' with 'green'. Hydro is one of the least desirable renewables because it trashes natural ecosystems. A very useful technology historically, but not the future.
Its now a given , as the heating and cooling with fresh air are a single 'system'. Its like using microphones and speakers, you really cant do without them
There’s no middle ground or compromise with people with your thought process. If you look hard enough the pursuit of energy will trash something. Whether it’s the sea the wind farm, the river, the nuclear waste. There has to be middle here. The massive impact that the Manapouri Dam had on the landscape has recovered over time. The difference these days is our ability to be a lot thoughtful with the way these projects are instigated.
None of the South Island rivers that I'm aware of that have been dammed have recovered, and certainly not the Waiau.
The whole point of dams is that they give control of water flows to humans, who then manage then in highly destructive ways without much regard for the ecology of the river. Hydro dams being opened for lots of power generation produce tornado like effects in the river itself for the things that live in the river. I think the issues with the Waiau are related to low flow and the river having lost its 20,000 year old capacity to respond to changes in water coming out of two lakes. The Manapouri scheme would never be allowed today and let's not forget that the huge damage that would have come from raising the lake was prevented by environmentalists.
The river flows can be controlled. Any new Dam would would have strict controls. The Manapouri Dam wouldn’t have been built now as you say. But I can’t see why not. No body travelling around that area complains what a tragedy it is. When travellers drive past these lakes they don’t comment how ugly they are. They are part of a new beautiful landscape. The areas were wonderful landscapes before and are now. Just different. The North Island would be an underdeveloped wilderness without SI power. Unless you burn coal that is. Put up enough wind turbines and all the visual pollution people will come out of the woodwork. There must be compromise.
Thats rewriting history. Manapouri was an existing lake it wasnt created by people. The lake level is only controlled. Thats way it 'looks good' , but hey its not just about views for people who drive past
For the original project they did propose to RAISE the lake level, and rightly that created an almighty storm.
Compromise involves understanding where the limits are. I just wrote a whole post about this, you can read it if you like. There are no good reasons to keep damming rivers in NZ. We don't have to keep growing exponentially, and we will be forced to stop soon anyway because of climate change.
What we are talking about here is NZ's excessive usage of power. We could be conserving power and working within our limits. There's still compromise there, but small scale wind has a distinctly different impact than what happens to rivers when we dam them. It's not so much about visual pleasure, although that's an issue in some ways, it's about the impact on the river itself. Meaning the entity, perhaps what you think of as the beauty, as well as all the life that exists because of the river.
I'm guessing you're not familiar with Manapouri and the Waiau. It's not a Manapouri dam, it's a system across two lakes, a river, a mountain and a fiord. The mountain has two tailraces built under it to drop water from Manapouri to the sea. To control that they built two control dams at the outlets of Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau. The Waiau drains out of Manapouri, and because they want Manapouri to flow under the mountain instead, the Waiau river is kept abnormally low. This affects the whole river right to the sea.
Algae build up is an issue, and this will become more so as water temperatures increase with climate change.
Nice description of the project Weka, but don’t assume too much. I traveled up the river from TeAnau to Manapouri before the project was started around 1964.
Or Alas, poor China, burdened by imperial fantasies in Taiwan, Xinjiang, Xiazang (Tibet), Nei Mongolia (Inner Mongolia). The largest empire on earth today is the Chinese empire.
Sorry, I forgot. Only white people are racists, colonialists and imperialists.
Oh FGS. Sorry, I expect people to be able to voice reasonable opinions of their own that are backed by facts without having some PC person criticise because the comment touches on one of their particular sensitivities. It is where free speech is needed, with cool analysis and telling it like it is, without belabouring the point beyond reason.
News – QE2 has sunk to depths uncharted. Salvage by PC is unlikely because of the state of the wreck. A vicissitude of Titanic proportions; it reminds me of the German state making Hitler the Chancellor.
Why did not the Queen insist, in her precise, measuring way, that it seems unconstitutional to have Parliament in abeyance when there were concerns for the country that are of extreme importance to be thoroughly discussed before finality?
May I suggest if you are going to persist in commentating on the UK and brexit, you undertake a little research, so others don't have to keep posting how wrong you are most of the time.
It would have been impossible for the Queen to turn down the prime minister's request, our royal correspondent Jonny Dymond writes.
The Queen acts on the advice of her prime minister.
While many, many people may be upset that Parliament is not going to sit at such time, precedent is on the side of those making this decision.
The idea is these things are settled in the Palace of Westminster, not Buckingham Palace.
The Queen had very little wriggle room to make any kind of political decision.
May I suggest that you butt out from dropping in on other's comments with total derision and stop playing the superior pedant. What I have said will echo what many people think.
I myself consider this so important that the Queen, if boxed in by convention or even law, should have pushed it aside and done her duty to all the people of the UK. She put up with Thatcher and to let Johnson and Co. have their way was cowardice despite what advisors might say. She won't keep royalty high in people's allegiance by letting the country go further to the dogs. It is a time of face-off against the barons and merchants of coming doom, and perhaps she is too old for the job.
No need to get hurt, it's just a simple request for you to actually find out a miniscule amount of information about the subject you intend to post on, before you actually do it. Clearly this didn't work second time around either @4.2.2.1 🙄
Greywarshark, you do not seem to understand the role of the Queen in the UK.
Even if she wanted to, she could not have have 'pushed it aside…'. Likewise, she had to put up with Thatcher, Blair et al. The Queen is just a figurehead, bound by the constitution. She MUST defer to her Ministers, almost without exception.
What you are proposing is little short of a royalist revolution, and certainly against the laws of Great Britain, laws that have taken centuries of struggle to wrest the power from an unelected elite.
Whether you realize it or not, you are proposing that the clock of political freedom be turned back by around 400 years.
So now the power is with the elected elite. You people are so unthinking. Everything is changing in the world. The elected government lies to the people who vote according to the lie, and then find out too late, but a slight majority that has been received is enough apparently to start the dissolution of what remains of the marvellous democracy that you are wetting your pants about. So many lies. Tony Blair and WMD so war. Defending that should bring a red blush to your cheek.
The USA is the same – quoting its founding documents for authority of just about everything it does, just by twisting the words away from their intention at the time it was drawn up. It no longer stands as the rules for a fine nation, rather as a blind for the use of a magician practising legerdemain.
And the clock is being turned around as we watch, and going back to times we hoped would never return. All the checks and balances produced have been invalidated by complacency, wilful ignorance and assertion of entitlement. We can do this because we are right and they are wrong, and undeserving.
The ability for a UK government to move on any referendum should have been put in block capitals in the statutes or whatever to be 80 for 20 against. I think that would allow for a telling majority against those who would not budge. All these words in laws etc are just that. and they can be misread, badly administered different from the intent; they aren't unchanging. Humans created them, and if on close scrutiny, they are found to be confusing or misunderstood, they can be changed, and honest, principled people would change them.
In the UK, since it became a constitutional monarchy, the power has always been in the hands of the elected elite. Politicians can lie, make or break promises, get elected then unelected. Welcome to democracy.
Can't you just admit you didn't have a clue and move on?
" three days of Parliamentary sittings will be lost in the week after the party conferences. Let me just repeat that – three days 8, 9 and 10 of October."
A new PM having a new session of parliament with a Speech from the Throne …thats all . Remember hes only been PM for a month. ( 24th July)
Look what happened in Canada – that well known facist dictatorship-after the Harper minority government in 2008 prorogued parliament just after an election when the were facing losing a vote of no confidence and new government from the opposition parties.
Progressively, brexit is a nightmare pandering to little Britain. from an environmentalist POV its a god send as it puts the brakes on goods moving round using carbon emssions as they are too easy to tax and prevents people movement with the same benefit.
Ross Meurant is not a well-rounded figure. In his comment he presents his Right side, but look further on and there is no left; just a cardboard facsimile of someone who has learned a bit in life, just enough to sometimes sound like a thinking human. But of course there are many like him around; it is a mast year.
Matt King would kill our environnemnt as he can't even say climate change is real So this is our press release. CEAC supports Tribunal criticism of crown freshwater failures Press release from Citizens Environmental Advocacy centre. 29th August 2019. Recent Radio NZ press release covering the Waitangi Tribunal freshwater failures hearings (seen here in this link below) shows a lack of over years of Crown awareness of another “elephant in the room” regarding how other sources of pollution of our freshwater is now seriously been contaminated badly, and shows that the crown over the last 11 years has not used the RMA to protect our degrading water quality, so we wholeheartedly support the tightening of provisions in the RMA to protect our whole natural and built environment to protect everyone in our precious environment. https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/waitangi-tribunal-slams-crown-over-freshwater-failures/ar-AAGrxFe Regarding the “elephant in the room” being the not previously considered by the crown; – let us clarify; Recently on (Thursday, 22 August 2019) our centre (Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre, ‘CEAC’ ) discussed this issue of ‘road pollution runoff’ as the “elephant in the room” in a press release – see in this link below; http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1908/S00089/drinking-water-quality-improved-by-using-rail.htm Quote; We at CEAC believe ‘this is the elephant in the room now’ as we already know from the ‘NZ Ministry of Transport’ documented studies from the 2002 report entitled “Emission Factors for Contaminants Released from Motor Vehicles in NZ” Fuels and Energy Management Group December 2002. https://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Import/Documents/9fa2b3a10b/stormwater-emission-factors.pdf That report shows that tyre particulates have many toxic chemicals that are known to be harmful to humans. These are already found to be freely released in the tyre dust as we drive and are then washed off our roads into our drains, streams, rivers, lakes and aquifers, and finally into our drinking water, so we are part of the problem already now. EV vehicles will still emit the same tyre dust toxins as regular gasoline vehicles do. The new scientific German report https://www.sott.net/article/418585-Plastic-particles-falling-out-of-sky-with-snow-in-the-Arctic ‘Raining plastic’ – QUOTE “fragments of rubber tyres”. Un-Quote; So now we see the ‘Transmission Gully’ mega NZTA roading project has been found to be causing the “silt build-up now chocking the nearby coastal estuaries and causing very long term serious damage to the life of all aquatic species including kai moana which is the tāonga – life-blood of Māori Iwi/hapu. Bluntly; the RMA definitely failed us all here especially over the ‘loosely controlled’ activities of the road builder NZTA; We quote; Presiding officer Chief Judge Wilson Isaac; "The RMA has allowed a serious degradation of water quality to occur in many ancestral water bodies, which are now in a highly vulnerable state," he said. “RMA did not provide adequately for the tino rangatiratanga and the kaitiakitanga of iwi and hapū over their freshwater tāonga.” CEAC believes NZTA must be “heavily regulated” by having the Ministry of health, Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Transport along with the Government stepping in here and placing ‘new controls over the road builder going forwards’ now so NZTA actually comply with strict regulatory rules to protect all those living near their roads in future. From this time forward we expect to see serious care and consideration be written into the RMA to stop the widespread pollution and emissions of ‘air and water carrying pollution’ and ‘road- runoff‘ being washed of NZTA roads and carried through air pollution from tyre wear from tyre dust and exhaust emissions from over use activities of heavy truck freight particularly. We at CEAC have always advocated for widespread use of rail, as an environmentally friendly transport system and with national party policy of overuse of ‘freight trucks’ on our regional roads is now destroying our ‘natural/coastal and built’ residential environments alike and endangering our health and wellbeing. Secretary. CEAC.
It's a thoughtful and detailed post from Cleangreen with research and study from the Gisborne group? for a long time as they have looked at rail and road and assessed their costs and benefits.
I thought it would be good to know what it's all about so have put it into paragraphs for readability and hope this is satisfactory. It would be unfortunate if the work in writing it was not matched by useful knowledge gained from it.
Matt King would kill our environnemnt as he can't even say climate change is real So this is our press release. CEAC supports Tribunal criticism of crown freshwater failures Press release from Citizens Environmental Advocacy centre. 29th August 2019.
Recent Radio NZ press release covering the Waitangi Tribunal freshwater failures hearings (seen here in this link below) shows a lack of over years of Crown awareness of another “elephant in the room” regarding how other sources of pollution of our freshwater is now seriously been contaminated badly, and shows that the crown over the last 11 years has not used the RMA to protect our degrading water quality, so we wholeheartedly support the tightening of provisions in the RMA to protect our whole natural and built environment to protect everyone in our precious environment. https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/waitangi-tribunal-slams-crown-over-freshwater-failures/ar-AAGrxFe
Regarding the “elephant in the room” being the not previously considered by the crown; – let us clarify; Recently on (Thursday, 22 August 2019) our centre (Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre, ‘CEAC’ ) discussed this issue of ‘road pollution runoff’ as the “elephant in the room” in a press release – see in this link below; http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1908/S00089/drinking-water-quality-improved-by-using-rail.htm
Quote; We at CEAC believe ‘this is the elephant in the room now’ as we already know from the ‘NZ Ministry of Transport’ documented studies from the 2002 report entitled “Emission Factors for Contaminants Released from Motor Vehicles in NZ” Fuels and Energy Management Group December 2002. https://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Import/Documents/9fa2b3a10b/stormwater-emission-factors.pdf
That report shows that tyre particulates have many toxic chemicals that are known to be harmful to humans. These are already found to be freely released in the tyre dust as we drive and are then washed off our roads into our drains, streams, rivers, lakes and aquifers, and finally into our drinking water, so we are part of the problem already now. EV vehicles will still emit the same tyre dust toxins as regular gasoline vehicles do.
The new scientific German report https://www.sott.net/article/418585-Plastic-particles-falling-out-of-sky-with-snow-in-the-Arctic ‘Raining plastic’ – QUOTE “fragments of rubber tyres”. Un-Quote; So now we see the ‘Transmission Gully’ mega NZTA roading project has been found to be causing the “silt build-up now chocking the nearby coastal estuaries and causing very long term serious damage to the life of all aquatic species including kai moana which is the tāonga – life-blood of Māori Iwi/hapu.
Bluntly; the RMA definitely failed us all here especially over the ‘loosely controlled’ activities of the road builder NZTA; We quote; Presiding officer Chief Judge Wilson Isaac; "The RMA has allowed a serious degradation of water quality to occur in many ancestral water bodies, which are now in a highly vulnerable state," he said. “RMA did not provide adequately for the tino rangatiratanga and the kaitiakitanga of iwi and hapū over their freshwater tāonga.”
CEAC believes NZTA must be “heavily regulated” by having the Ministry of health, Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Transport along with the Government stepping in here and placing ‘new controls over the road builder going forwards’ now so NZTA actually comply with strict regulatory rules to protect all those living near their roads in future.
From this time forward we expect to see serious care and consideration be written into the RMA to stop the widespread pollution and emissions of ‘air and water carrying pollution’ and ‘road- runoff‘ being washed of NZTA roads and carried through air pollution from tyre wear from tyre dust and exhaust emissions from over use activities of heavy truck freight particularly.
We at CEAC have always advocated for widespread use of rail, as an environmentally friendly transport system and with national party policy of overuse of ‘freight trucks’ on our regional roads is now destroying our ‘natural/coastal and built’ residential environments alike and endangering our health and wellbeing. Secretary. CEAC.
That "Gisborne group?" appears to consist of cleangreen and one or two of his family members. I've had more than just a cursory look online, and the only names I've ever seen associated with CEAC have been either cleangreen's IRL name or someone sharing the same surname. I believe the term for that is "astroturfing".
Apart from calling Matt King names and the link to the Waitangi Tribunal statement, the rest looks like just a repaste of the same stuff cleangreen pastes here over and over ad nauseum.
What the hell? Why are you kicking over Cleangreen and what the ginger group call themselves. Some of you are such a nasty negative lot. You don't seem interested in advancing and helping NZs, talking about ideas, exchanging info etc. and getting together with others to get us out of the hole we are in.
You just want to sit in negative judgment and do nothing useful, indeed actually destroy spirit. I find you despicable Andre in 6 111… You are ad nauseum big time.
In the real world dukeofurl you are swamping the blog with your negatives. Preventing discussion. I don't know what your other blog sites call it, have you nothing else to do except push your dislike of fellow citizens with sneers and supposed superior information which is usually not accompanied by sources.
Sometimes rail is efficient, othertimes woefully not.
Using a truck to, say, take stock from a farm near Oxford in Canterbury to the Freezing works in Christchurch is hugely more efficient and environmentally friendly compared to what used to happen there, where a truck took it to the Oxford railhead, then railed to ChCh, then shunted around back to Belfast. In almost all rural cases, rail is environmentally inferior to road.
Rail is great for point to point, and particularly for bulk freight. Less so for small consignments and seldom at all for non point to point.
Agreed, NZ is unfortunately too small for the kind of rail most people would like. Having said that I wouldn't mind seeing more rail used, where it makes sense to use it
I've been to Auckland and Wellington in the last few months and would have jumped a train in both cases in ohakune if there was a morning and evening daily service. (I did jump on the train at paraparaumu for the welly trip. )
That is more to do with the lack of money invested in extending the rail network, compared with mega billions spent on roads, rather than relative efficiency.
Planet of the Humans dares to say what no one will—that we are losing the battle to stop climate change because we are following environmental leaders who have taken us down the wrong road—selling out the green movement to wealthy interests and corporate America.
Um, lots of people have been saying this for a long time. It's hardly controversial. That situation (green tech BAU) is a consequence of right wing and neoliberal control. Criticising it is entirely within the purview of the left. I just wrote about it in the Saving our Rivers post. Although tbf, I also criticised the traditional left for its long held position of jobs before nature.
Sure but there's also one heckuva lot of people that see the climate change movement as an almost religious movement so Michael may well see himself cast in a new light, that of the betrayer of the faith
I however am doing my part by trading in my older SUV for a 2019 diesel ute and our older car for 2019 small hatchback and yes I'm feeling quite virtuous because they're much better for the environment especially compared to electric vehicles
By upgrading I'll be using less fossil fuels and diesel is better for the environment so yeah we all gotta play our part no matter how small that part is
Maybe something Greta Thunberg (or her father) might have liked to consider:
'The sailing team that's taking climate activist Greta Thunberg from England to the United States aboard a high-tech racing yacht says it will fly two crew across the Atlantic to bring the boat back, but that the carbon emissions from their flights will be compensated for.'
Numerous reasons but among them is the reliance of rare earth metals, not always having access to a charger, modern engines being far more efficient then ever before, not sure of how many mechanics are qualified to work on electric vehicles, petrol and diesel easier to source and finally the price
Yep. I'm ok with changing my behaviour around those things (we're all going to have to do that eventually so may as well get used to it), but I'm not sure the rural South Island is there yet for making it feasible. I wonder how the AA are handling this.
I read somewhere that EV have in their GPS system all charging locations ( regular updates)
You pop in your destination, it looks at the distance and likely speed etc , reads the existing charge in the batteries and will ROUTE you via the suitable charging spots to enable the journey to complete. This was for the UK where there are 1000s of chargers now- as many public chargers as petrol/diesel service stations ( each station would have multiple pumps though)
'The time it takes to charge an electric car can be as little as 30 minutes or more than 12 hours. This depends on the size of the battery and the speed of the charging point. A typical electric car(60kWh battery) takes just under 8 hours to charge from empty-to-full with a 7kW charging point.'
some of those might be pending. I tend to last about a decade with a car, so by the time I'm looking for the next one both the cars and the charging points will have changed significantly. If I had enough money I'd probably do it now and make it work.
yeah, nah. The climate movement isn't a monolith, but for instance in NZ, mainstream orgs that have been leading the way on climate action (Greenpeace, Green Party) are full of people who know the score about green BAU and greenwashing. Those orgs have been forced into taking a middle of the road approach, because of deniers and people dragging the chain.
…there's also one heckuva lot of people that see the climate change movement as an almost religious movement…
Most of them right-wingers who think AGW is a hoax. Those guys seem more inclined to cheer Moore on when it comes to this movie, because they don't understand the difference between environmentalism and greenwashing.
Chris Trotter just wrote a piece imagining if Jacinda Ardern died, apparently as a way of commemorating Big Norm's death anniversary and making the point that… I'm not sure what exactly, something about the gloss coming off?
It's at TDB if you want to read it. Weird. 'We really hope it doesn't happen, but let's now speculate if it does', it's all a bit Daily Mail.
I seldom take any notice of what Chris Trotter says. He just likes to drone on and on and make constant references to obscure and totally irrelevant classical myths. Just a silly old borish dinasaur really.
I see he writes now for the BFD (and before that for Whaleoils Incite). Clearly happy to associate with anyone who will give him oxygen, no matter how criminal, hypocritical or thuggish.
Novel way of getting around those damn campaign finance laws.
/
Federal Election Commission Vice Chairman Matthew Petersen announced his resignation today.
This means the agency that enforces and regulates the nation’s campaign finance laws will effectively shut down — something that hasn’t happened since 2008 — because it won’t have the legal minimum of four commissioners to make high-level decisions.
Petersen’s resignation, first reported by the Washington Examiner, will throw the FEC into turmoil for weeks — and perhaps months — as the nation enters the teeth of 2020 presidential and congressional elections.
When you lose the FT..
That doesnt say what you/Sheppard claim at all.
They just say "for ardent remainers and Liberal democrats, THEY may also require a Corbyn caretaker government."
There isnt going to be a 'Corbyn caretaker governmen't , but the next 2 weeks means they can try. Its not Australia where the Governor General can dismiss the PM ( as per their written constitution)
That Outrager- in- chief Blair used to regularly prorogue parliament for 12 weeks.
But how times change , anything about leaving the EU is now all sorts of incendiary words, even Boris adding 3 sitting days to the September break
The Speech from the Throne , after debate, can be voted down by a majority and thats when Johnsons government would fall. Thats the usual process to get rid of him.
Being given a lift home, we got covered in diesel fumes from an ancient 'temporary replacement' bus in front of us. I lamented the loss of the trolley buses on that route, and how the GWRC STILL haven't even bothered getting us the promised electric bus replacements.
I've never had a fellow Wellingtonian disagree with that assessment of things until now. What I got from this lady, I wonder if she watches Fox in her down time. "I don't believe in this Global warming nonsense…it's a natural occurring phenomena….giant con job….all about businesses making money….that thing in Tuvalu recently, that was a con…."etc etc
I didn't even bother responding, reacting or anything. She's an elderly lady (and no, I am not for one moment making generalisations!) and I really don't think it was possible to have a civil debate on the matter. It was was extremely upsetting though. Of course I know they exist but sometimes I rather not know who they are.
Did you wonder why the Greens get 6% and the national party gets 43%.
She seemed to be at the extreme end but a lot of voters are in the mild climate change category, because they are older ( grew up in a period when nuclear war seemed almost certain, but wasnt) or seen more adversity than millennials who are addicted to mobile devices.
Yes, but part of the reason for the cynicism is due to the ludicrous doomsday prophecies of the last 25 years, and the hypocrisy of many of those pushing an often self serving barrow.
Al Gore springs immediately to mind, but he is but one. It is down to these people that the reality of climate change is not more widely accepted.
People have bizarre and irrational viewpoints all the time. I wouldn't let it upset you. At the end of the day you've got to have a chuckle, because if you didn't laugh at the state of the world you'd probably throw yourself off a building. Whenever I find myself railing at the television, my kids remind me that the television isn't a person, the people on the television can't actually hear me, and I should probably calm down and go make a cup of tea. Kids are clever like that.
@Wens, very true! I'm almost over the shock of the encounter now. What can one do but laugh at some people. It's (almost) a shame she won't be around to experience the fruits of her denial, living as she does right on Lyall Bay. Although with that sort of extremism I'd imagine the more frequent inundations, coastal erosion, extreme storm surges etc, it would all be 'naturally occurring'
While the waves on Lyall Bay beach are great for surfing, they are anything but ideal for infrastructure. On September 16, 1916, the Evening Post reported on a southerly depression, which was responsible for exceptionally high tides. Seawater crossed Lyall Parade and reached well over the road. Marine debris was spread across the parade.
Sea storms and surges are an annual event on Lyall Parade. But resident Suzi Wilson isn’t worried about tsunamis.
“Winter time is when the sea washes up on to the road. Logs end up all over the footpath.” She has developed a passion for collecting shells and debris washed up on the beach since moving to the parade five years ago. She displays her collection inside and outside of her home.
The first life-saving clubhouse was washed away in a storm only a few months after being built by Wellington City Council in 1910. "
The current 2018 building replaced a 1957 one and maybe a new building after 1910 one was destroyed and then replaced in 1957.
Maybe living by the seaside with large waves has made that lady more resiliant
There is a picture on page 4 of the 28 August Blenheim Sun family advised me of. It shows a Year 13 form photo in which a large lad in centre picture holds a baby.
Shades of the Trevor Mallard Effect. It is now allowable for young men to be pictured proudly and happily dandling babies. The opposite to 'toxic masculinity"!
Psycho Milt, the baby is that of his form teacher. He is not the father, just as Speaker Mallard is not the father of the children he dandled while in the Speaker's chair.
The only part that is right is the supply line from Darwin to ET did crash 7 times in the first 2 to 3mths from memory. As our Rifle Flight was on 24hr E ration packs for 21days straight and which almost sent us Trop’o or native and it was quicker to get boots, bog roll etc via the mailman than via the supply chain.
Ah the joys of INTERFET, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Interesting. Wondering about comparing Timor Leste with Hong Kong in the current unrest.
Its the same but different. Murderous gangs supported by the government …that could be a method the Beijing government could use as 'plausible denial' in the way China does and no one believes them ..the US has this problem too.
Polly Toynbee: "A civil war state of mind now threatens our democracy"
"Boris Johnson’s assault on parliament is unprecedented, but he can – and must – be stopped
"This country that self-identified so smugly as stable, tolerant and moderate, with a crown to symbolise traditions honed down the centuries, is revealed as fissile, fragile and ferociously divided. A constitution that relied on gentlemanly governments’ willingness to bow to parliament has evaporated, blown away now it’s led by a man who doesn’t give a damn for parliamentary sovereignty: taking back control is for him alone. He is ready to destroy anything that threatens his ambition."
<snip>
I asked Bob Kerslake, former head of the civil service, where their duty lies in this unprecedented situation.
We are reaching the point where the civil service must consider putting its stewardship of the country ahead of service to the government of the day,” he said. That is a devastating verdict."
Parliament has lost only 3 sitting days because of the prorogation ended the longest session of parliament since the 1600s.
After the Queens Speech , Mps can vote against it and if they have a majority Johnson has to resign.
Thats parliament doing what its always done.
Did the Remain diehards and the Guardian elite really think they and Bercow were going to twist all the rules to suit their agenda like they have been doing ?
Latest on Brexit and Boorish. David Townsend refers to Johnson 'smirking' which seems apt. (* David Townsend is an ex-UK Parliamentary Labour candidate, a former Labour ministerial speech writer and special adviser and contributor to The Guardian, The Independent and The Times.)
Johnson himself claims his action is to enable his government to present its policies on matters such as education, law and order and health spending in a Queen's Speech. Inevitably his pomposity and smirking appearance making the announcement means few will believe him. His decision is likely to be challenged in the courts by MPs and others.
Why?
With Prime Minister Johnson's October 31st deadline of leaving the EU with or without a "deal", the reassembly of Parliament on the 14th October leaves only a limited time for opposition MPs to produce legislation to stop a "no deal" exit. It is clear the Speaker of the Commons – who was not consulted by Johnson on this timetable – would assist MPs in their opposition to a "no deal".
When Parliament reassembles next week before being pro-rogued the options open to oppose are really limited. A no confidence motion in the government might succeed but only if sufficient Conservative MPs are prepared to bring down the Johnson government and probably be de-selected as Conservative candidates in an ensuing election. Or if selected again lose their seats.,,,
And what of the EU? Dismay at the staggering ineptitude of the oldest democracy in Europe is most commonly reflected in the European media. The third PM in the UK in three years and still no consensus. A Parliament that rejected three times the painstakingly negotiated deal with the EU by the last prime minister.
The EU is obliged to wait on events and ask the UK as it has over the last three years to be clear about what it wants and then discuss what it can reasonably expect, given the EU is a body of 27 nations with political and economic shared interests and not the local golf club.
Boris wants to leave under the Deal – with backstop removed.
Thats not a vile plot. EU wont budge until the it can see the remainers in parliament have been royally screwed.
EU always wants to thwart any referendum that goes against them ….happened many times Norway is good example- voted 2x against but they are stuck in EU web
In Denmark, two referendums were held before the treaty of Maastricht passed. The first one rejected the treaty.
Ireland had 2 referendums to finally get Treaty of Nice approved
France and Netherlands voted against 2005 European Constitution but the EU just changed the rules in a different way to thwart the anti votes
Again the Irish had to have a 2nd vote after they first rejected Treaty of Lisbon
Good to this RNZN/ MOD project is slowly getting some traction, since the two inservice OPV’s are no longer fit for purpose for Southern Ocean Patrols due to the changing environment in the Southern Ocean as a result of CC, which nearly seen one of the OPV’s capsized last year or the year before on a run down Sth.
The story goes that Ronnie was up on the bridge at time, where he went white as sheet, Ms Sage was down the back chatting with the DoC staff, the boffins (one of my cousins was on that trip for his PhD) and the film crew when the OPV got smacked with shit flying about/ rolling all over the place, and the other cousin who is in the Jack Tar’s as a cook was on duty having a shit of time the galley when the OPV got smacked.
The Civilians including Ms Sage weren’t told about what happened or how close to Davie Jones locker they were until they returned back to NZ, as it happened about 3/4 mark on the trip down Sth to the Auckland or Campbell Islands which ever is the furthest.
There is talk at various levels that this new SOPV with possibly one or two of the IPV’s maybe based in Dunedin/ Port Chamlers if the Odt is anything to go by. (Sorry don’t have the link for that one).
Land lubbers always think rough weather is 'almost capsize'.
Im guessing this is just another unfunded project on someones wish list. RNZN doesnt need it and the funding wishing well is depleted by gold plating on recent purchases such as Poseidon and new Hercs ( used RAF ones of the latest J model would be fine!)
What a farce! Greta Thunberg has sailed into New York to be greeted by her parents who FLEW there, no doubt accompanied by her PR team of God knows how many.
This makes a complete mockery of the message which I suspect in time will turn out to be a money making scam orchestrated by her father if various reports are to be believed.
Engineering wise the boat she sailed on uses considerably more construction material per person per kilometre than the aircraft her parents used. It may use wind but it still has a marine engine of some size.
Greta travelled by sailboat. The rest is immaterial. Everything can be challenged and criticised but Greta didn't fly, she spent 2 weeks aboard a sailboat; stop belly-aching and put your energy into something useful. Criticising the actions of a 16 year-old girl is kinda…silly.
The sailing team that's taking climate activist Greta Thunberg from England to the United States aboard a high-tech racing yacht says it will fly two crew across the Atlantic to bring the boat back
It's the action of her parents I'm criticising , she is almost certainly the product of a very sophisticated rort. Pretty much any other child and a competent school essay can be spun into this sort of media personality with the aid of the type of public relations professionals that her father has engaged. It's bullshit. That boat was organised months and months ago.
A bit of planning, lateral thinking, and community suggestions, and we can find alternatives to the things we now burn fossils on.
Yes, it was a symbolic act. Tokenistic, even. Lots of fodder for the people who hate change. But now people are arguing about alternatives to flying everywhere for conferences, so… not a bad thing, overall.
True, Robert. Because if she had flown, the simpletons on the Right would all have screamed, "Hypocrite!" – their empty, unthinking response. Because she has not flown, they cannot do that.
For more normal people, it is facile to insist that anyone who preaches that burning fossil fuels should be reduced should never ever in their lives ever again benefit from any atom of fossil fuel burnt.
In our modern world, that argument is a stupid distraction pushed by those who wish to avoid serious discussion of the real issue – why we do actually need to reduce our burning of fossil fuels. It is ad hominem – shooting the messenger, and ignoring the message.
But even on this site, we have a number of Righties who like to try such juvenile crap. Pushing 'Practice what you Preach' to such a silly level is just moronic. We all have to use fossil fuels in some way in modern society. This does not mean that one cannot campaign for a future change for us all.
And for any numpties still wanting a reason to scream, "Hypocrite!" at Greta, she is trying to warn us about Global warning overall, not exclusively the fossil fuel thing.
Are you going to scream, "Hypocrite!" at her for daring to breathe and thereby produce carbon dioxide?
That would be no less stupid than the previous 'Hypocrite' argument.
No one on the Right is a simpleton. They have all worked out the advantages of wilful ignorance, and of spending all their time carping, criticising and demoralising the people they have decided to discriminate against. It saves them from thinking hard and change would make a difference, perhaps lessen their present level of satisfaction, so their wants must take precedence. They will continue this behaviour on principle, even if what is planned by the progressives will advantage them – because that's what they do. Lemmings the lot.
I wonder how many leftish people still blog here? The path seems to be wide open to the gang who gather to bark and chew at those who come here and want to discuss what the left can do and celebrate what it has.
I think there is a sustained campaign by a low number of trolls operating under several pseudonyms each aimed at creating the situation you describe. Discouraging positivity is easy for them. But I am one of those conspiracy theorists..
If you mean sockpoppets, I’d like to think we do have a pretty good handle on those.
The problem as I see it is that too many people here bite and don’t let go. Sometimes, I don’t know which one is worse, the ‘troll’ or the one who gives them oxygen – it becomes a symbiotic act of creating noise and counter-noise and in the end you cannot tell who is or does what. In fact, it doesn’t really matter because what matters is the noise and it is all noise coming from both sides. You don’t want noise, don’t make noise (back).
Yes, Incognito – I do not envy you the efforts you put in to controlling this maelstrom.
We all ignore one thing, but get fired up and respond to another, often depending on how good we think our response is.
Maybe you are helping us all with some kind of therapeutic outlet?
I hope that the best political policies and ideas benefit from all this, but fear that the path will be a long and winding way. (Damn those silly old pop songs..)
Nah, I/we don’t control anything here, we (i.e. the Moderators) are just the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff so to speak. The real control (or better: influence) is with the people who comment here, who make the site what it is IMO.
My secret suspicion is that there is no destiny at the end of the path and that the path is it. In saying that, we can, of course, look back and see how far or how high we have come, or not for that matter. We can also follow footsteps in the sand or snow, hoping that we’ll reach a special place (of rescue or salvation perhaps) only to realise, after some time, that we are tracing or own footsteps. Life is a funny thing when you think about it …
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The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
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 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
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Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
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The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Clownish National MPs are letting the Opposition down
"King is the worst of a number of MPs who have shown a flippancy with facts. Spin is fine in politics, but facts are facts. Facts are important. You can't campaign in a different reality.
We trust our politicians to make big decisions. Most of the decisions they make will not be campaigned on, will arise through their terms in power, or will go unreported.
As a farmer, King should know climate change is the biggest issue facing New Zealand agriculture, says Glenn McConnell.
The ability, then, to know fact from fiction and to be able to understand science and reasoning is the most basic skill a politician must have. By sharing disinformation, King has exposed that he lacks this basic requirement. He must go.
He must go, also, because his stance shows an absolute disregard for New Zealand's future. Climate change is the biggest issue facing agriculture, and the biggest challenge facing the world. He does not understand the issue.
This blasé approach to what most people are calling a crisis is irresponsible. He, and the other politicians who are ignoring the climate crisis, are condemning future generations to food insecurity, environmental catastrophe and global economic instability. If you're an MP who hasn't caught up with this, then you are out of touch and must go."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/115330531/loony-national-mps-are-letting-the-opposition-down
I'm not even sure "spin is OK". Framing – sure. Spin is designed to prevent basic honesty and openness, to obfuscate and be frugal with the truth. It's one reason people lose faith in their representatives.
I think we can agree though that King is a complete muppet
Spin is too kind a word. The Opposition will be infamous for repeatedly straight out lying and by the time the truth is out there the damage has been done. Remember the $100,000 bottle of wine that wasn't?
Not the slightest apology from hack John Armstrong over that fiasco either.
Matt King only got elected because Peters and Prime split their vote – National had been declining in previous elections in Northland. We shouldn't need 'deals' like Epsom to get rid of King at the next election, but it would help if we moved to STV. . .
Labour dumps renewable hydro energy plan while spouting wanting energy to be more renewable.
Why does this not surprise me?
Ardern's "nuclear issue" and the Greens "WW2" seems to bit more sales pitch than substance
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/115349596/mt-cook-of-rivers-will-not-be-tamed-as-govt-rejects-waitaha-hydropower-scheme
That scheme was going to add a paltry 20MW of capacity, and trash a pretty special bit of river in the conservation estate.
Meanwhile, there's 2500MW of windfarms consented, but not yet being built due to lack of demand. At first glance, I don't see any of those requiring the trashing of part of our conservation estate.
There's also 285MW of geothermal consented, but not yet being built due to lack of demand.
The obstacle to turning our electricity generation 100% renewable has more to do with the way fossil generators get to dump their hazardous waste on the rest of us for free. Not going ahead with trivially small hydro schemes that carry significant environmental costs has bugger-all to do with it.
"Why does this not surprise me?"
Because, ChrisT, your views are predetermined and on top of that, you don't read for meaning or integrate new ideas into your prejudice.
Does that help answer your question?
It's a bad-faith, rhetorical trick to equate 'renewable' with 'green'. Hydro is one of the least desirable renewables because it trashes natural ecosystems. A very useful technology historically, but not the future.
Damn!
yep.
Historical technology was (and is) often very clever and simple.Solutions were often very cheap.
https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1166152778818785280
Unfortunately the examples you give were from an era ( 1910 ?)where public buildings were barely heated and certainly not air conditioning.
[All though this was a special case
https://www.rehva.eu/rehva-journal/chapter/reintroduction-of-natural-ventilation-to-a-historic-opera-house%5D but more was done other than ‘just’ restore the old methods and the complaints were because the ‘old vents and windows were blocked off’
Its now a given , as the heating and cooling with fresh air are a single 'system'. Its like using microphones and speakers, you really cant do without them
Don't say that thing about mics at the opera 🙂
There’s no middle ground or compromise with people with your thought process. If you look hard enough the pursuit of energy will trash something. Whether it’s the sea the wind farm, the river, the nuclear waste. There has to be middle here. The massive impact that the Manapouri Dam had on the landscape has recovered over time. The difference these days is our ability to be a lot thoughtful with the way these projects are instigated.
None of the South Island rivers that I'm aware of that have been dammed have recovered, and certainly not the Waiau.
The whole point of dams is that they give control of water flows to humans, who then manage then in highly destructive ways without much regard for the ecology of the river. Hydro dams being opened for lots of power generation produce tornado like effects in the river itself for the things that live in the river. I think the issues with the Waiau are related to low flow and the river having lost its 20,000 year old capacity to respond to changes in water coming out of two lakes. The Manapouri scheme would never be allowed today and let's not forget that the huge damage that would have come from raising the lake was prevented by environmentalists.
The river flows can be controlled. Any new Dam would would have strict controls. The Manapouri Dam wouldn’t have been built now as you say. But I can’t see why not. No body travelling around that area complains what a tragedy it is. When travellers drive past these lakes they don’t comment how ugly they are. They are part of a new beautiful landscape. The areas were wonderful landscapes before and are now. Just different. The North Island would be an underdeveloped wilderness without SI power. Unless you burn coal that is. Put up enough wind turbines and all the visual pollution people will come out of the woodwork. There must be compromise.
Thats rewriting history. Manapouri was an existing lake it wasnt created by people. The lake level is only controlled. Thats way it 'looks good' , but hey its not just about views for people who drive past
For the original project they did propose to RAISE the lake level, and rightly that created an almighty storm.
I lament the Waiau every time I see it.
Very picturesque https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/i/j/x/d/9/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.710×400.1ijx2e.png/1492472129311.jpg
Compromise involves understanding where the limits are. I just wrote a whole post about this, you can read it if you like. There are no good reasons to keep damming rivers in NZ. We don't have to keep growing exponentially, and we will be forced to stop soon anyway because of climate change.
What we are talking about here is NZ's excessive usage of power. We could be conserving power and working within our limits. There's still compromise there, but small scale wind has a distinctly different impact than what happens to rivers when we dam them. It's not so much about visual pleasure, although that's an issue in some ways, it's about the impact on the river itself. Meaning the entity, perhaps what you think of as the beauty, as well as all the life that exists because of the river.
I'm guessing you're not familiar with Manapouri and the Waiau. It's not a Manapouri dam, it's a system across two lakes, a river, a mountain and a fiord. The mountain has two tailraces built under it to drop water from Manapouri to the sea. To control that they built two control dams at the outlets of Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau. The Waiau drains out of Manapouri, and because they want Manapouri to flow under the mountain instead, the Waiau river is kept abnormally low. This affects the whole river right to the sea.
Algae build up is an issue, and this will become more so as water temperatures increase with climate change.
https://www.niwa.co.nz/sites/niwa.co.nz/files/styles/large/public/Kilroy%2C%20Lower%20Waiau%20River_with%20didymo.JPG?itok=uqd0LsJO
Nice description of the project Weka, but don’t assume too much. I traveled up the river from TeAnau to Manapouri before the project was started around 1964.
Down river 😉 I'd love to have seen these lakes and rivers before they were dammed.
I remember the Clutha before the Clyde Dam went in especially the Cromwell Gorge.
All those apricots were lost too maybe the best in the country
I know! I remember those.
There's a post up about this https://thestandard.org.nz/why-we-save-rivers
Too simplistic by far Chris T.
See the comments, including mine, on the dedicated post for this issue.
Solar, wind, tidal and wave motion as energy sources.
Alas, poor England .. burdened by imperial fantasies after the fall of Singapore .. or should that be Hong Kong ?
Or Alas, poor China, burdened by imperial fantasies in Taiwan, Xinjiang, Xiazang (Tibet), Nei Mongolia (Inner Mongolia). The largest empire on earth today is the Chinese empire.
Sorry, I forgot. Only white people are racists, colonialists and imperialists.
Oh FGS. Sorry, I expect people to be able to voice reasonable opinions of their own that are backed by facts without having some PC person criticise because the comment touches on one of their particular sensitivities. It is where free speech is needed, with cool analysis and telling it like it is, without belabouring the point beyond reason.
News – QE2 has sunk to depths uncharted. Salvage by PC is unlikely because of the state of the wreck. A vicissitude of Titanic proportions; it reminds me of the German state making Hitler the Chancellor.
Why did not the Queen insist, in her precise, measuring way, that it seems unconstitutional to have Parliament in abeyance when there were concerns for the country that are of extreme importance to be thoroughly discussed before finality?
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1908/S00151/uk-pm-to-suspend-parliament-queens-speech.htm
Clever and apt title starts: Untied Kingdom.
May I suggest if you are going to persist in commentating on the UK and brexit, you undertake a little research, so others don't have to keep posting how wrong you are most of the time.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49495575
May I suggest that you butt out from dropping in on other's comments with total derision and stop playing the superior pedant. What I have said will echo what many people think.
I myself consider this so important that the Queen, if boxed in by convention or even law, should have pushed it aside and done her duty to all the people of the UK. She put up with Thatcher and to let Johnson and Co. have their way was cowardice despite what advisors might say. She won't keep royalty high in people's allegiance by letting the country go further to the dogs. It is a time of face-off against the barons and merchants of coming doom, and perhaps she is too old for the job.
No need to get hurt, it's just a simple request for you to actually find out a miniscule amount of information about the subject you intend to post on, before you actually do it. Clearly this didn't work second time around either @4.2.2.1 🙄
Greywarshark, you do not seem to understand the role of the Queen in the UK.
Even if she wanted to, she could not have have 'pushed it aside…'. Likewise, she had to put up with Thatcher, Blair et al. The Queen is just a figurehead, bound by the constitution. She MUST defer to her Ministers, almost without exception.
What you are proposing is little short of a royalist revolution, and certainly against the laws of Great Britain, laws that have taken centuries of struggle to wrest the power from an unelected elite.
Whether you realize it or not, you are proposing that the clock of political freedom be turned back by around 400 years.
So now the power is with the elected elite. You people are so unthinking. Everything is changing in the world. The elected government lies to the people who vote according to the lie, and then find out too late, but a slight majority that has been received is enough apparently to start the dissolution of what remains of the marvellous democracy that you are wetting your pants about. So many lies. Tony Blair and WMD so war. Defending that should bring a red blush to your cheek.
The USA is the same – quoting its founding documents for authority of just about everything it does, just by twisting the words away from their intention at the time it was drawn up. It no longer stands as the rules for a fine nation, rather as a blind for the use of a magician practising legerdemain.
And the clock is being turned around as we watch, and going back to times we hoped would never return. All the checks and balances produced have been invalidated by complacency, wilful ignorance and assertion of entitlement. We can do this because we are right and they are wrong, and undeserving.
The ability for a UK government to move on any referendum should have been put in block capitals in the statutes or whatever to be 80 for 20 against. I think that would allow for a telling majority against those who would not budge. All these words in laws etc are just that. and they can be misread, badly administered different from the intent; they aren't unchanging. Humans created them, and if on close scrutiny, they are found to be confusing or misunderstood, they can be changed, and honest, principled people would change them.
'Defending Tony Blair and WMD war'? Hmm, comprehension: E – fail.
In the UK, since it became a constitutional monarchy, the power has always been in the hands of the elected elite. Politicians can lie, make or break promises, get elected then unelected. Welcome to democracy.
Can't you just admit you didn't have a clue and move on?
The real effect of what Johnson has done is this:
" three days of Parliamentary sittings will be lost in the week after the party conferences. Let me just repeat that – three days 8, 9 and 10 of October."
A new PM having a new session of parliament with a Speech from the Throne …thats all . Remember hes only been PM for a month. ( 24th July)
”what I have said will resonate…” trumpian, and completely plays to the point the Al1en was making.
Because the Queen does what the PM asks for …thats what their system is about.
Maybe the Speaker should go back to his 'strictly neutral' role before the Queen disregards the 'advice' of the PM.
Two things you forget.
1) MPs would in recess for 3 weeks anyway as Sept is 'party conference time'
2) This 'session of parliament' begun back in 2017 , prorogation ends it for a new one in October.
get over your nonsense
"reminds me of the German state making Hitler the Chancellor."
You have the imagination and forethought of a goldfish Dukeofurl.
Look what happened in Canada – that well known facist dictatorship-after the Harper minority government in 2008 prorogued parliament just after an election when the were facing losing a vote of no confidence and new government from the opposition parties.
The prorogation was for 2 months not 2 weeks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%9309_Canadian_parliamentary_dispute
Much hot air at the time , but life went on.
Some people seem to substitute muddy waters overseas as an excuse to paddle furiously in them. I suppose it gives meaning to an empty life.
Dont forget its the height of European newspapers 'silly season', but only this time only the cricket is being taken seriously
yet you’ve rolled in with nothing but fake news.
Progressively, brexit is a nightmare pandering to little Britain. from an environmentalist POV its a god send as it puts the brakes on goods moving round using carbon emssions as they are too easy to tax and prevents people movement with the same benefit.
Ross Meurant is not a well-rounded figure. In his comment he presents his Right side, but look further on and there is no left; just a cardboard facsimile of someone who has learned a bit in life, just enough to sometimes sound like a thinking human. But of course there are many like him around; it is a mast year.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/08/28/guest-blog-ross-meurant-half-way-mark/
Matt King would kill our environnemnt as he can't even say climate change is real So this is our press release. CEAC supports Tribunal criticism of crown freshwater failures Press release from Citizens Environmental Advocacy centre. 29th August 2019. Recent Radio NZ press release covering the Waitangi Tribunal freshwater failures hearings (seen here in this link below) shows a lack of over years of Crown awareness of another “elephant in the room” regarding how other sources of pollution of our freshwater is now seriously been contaminated badly, and shows that the crown over the last 11 years has not used the RMA to protect our degrading water quality, so we wholeheartedly support the tightening of provisions in the RMA to protect our whole natural and built environment to protect everyone in our precious environment. https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/waitangi-tribunal-slams-crown-over-freshwater-failures/ar-AAGrxFe Regarding the “elephant in the room” being the not previously considered by the crown; – let us clarify; Recently on (Thursday, 22 August 2019) our centre (Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre, ‘CEAC’ ) discussed this issue of ‘road pollution runoff’ as the “elephant in the room” in a press release – see in this link below; http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1908/S00089/drinking-water-quality-improved-by-using-rail.htm Quote; We at CEAC believe ‘this is the elephant in the room now’ as we already know from the ‘NZ Ministry of Transport’ documented studies from the 2002 report entitled “Emission Factors for Contaminants Released from Motor Vehicles in NZ” Fuels and Energy Management Group December 2002. https://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Import/Documents/9fa2b3a10b/stormwater-emission-factors.pdf That report shows that tyre particulates have many toxic chemicals that are known to be harmful to humans. These are already found to be freely released in the tyre dust as we drive and are then washed off our roads into our drains, streams, rivers, lakes and aquifers, and finally into our drinking water, so we are part of the problem already now. EV vehicles will still emit the same tyre dust toxins as regular gasoline vehicles do. The new scientific German report https://www.sott.net/article/418585-Plastic-particles-falling-out-of-sky-with-snow-in-the-Arctic ‘Raining plastic’ – QUOTE “fragments of rubber tyres”. Un-Quote; So now we see the ‘Transmission Gully’ mega NZTA roading project has been found to be causing the “silt build-up now chocking the nearby coastal estuaries and causing very long term serious damage to the life of all aquatic species including kai moana which is the tāonga – life-blood of Māori Iwi/hapu. Bluntly; the RMA definitely failed us all here especially over the ‘loosely controlled’ activities of the road builder NZTA; We quote; Presiding officer Chief Judge Wilson Isaac; "The RMA has allowed a serious degradation of water quality to occur in many ancestral water bodies, which are now in a highly vulnerable state," he said. “RMA did not provide adequately for the tino rangatiratanga and the kaitiakitanga of iwi and hapū over their freshwater tāonga.” CEAC believes NZTA must be “heavily regulated” by having the Ministry of health, Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Transport along with the Government stepping in here and placing ‘new controls over the road builder going forwards’ now so NZTA actually comply with strict regulatory rules to protect all those living near their roads in future. From this time forward we expect to see serious care and consideration be written into the RMA to stop the widespread pollution and emissions of ‘air and water carrying pollution’ and ‘road- runoff‘ being washed of NZTA roads and carried through air pollution from tyre wear from tyre dust and exhaust emissions from over use activities of heavy truck freight particularly. We at CEAC have always advocated for widespread use of rail, as an environmentally friendly transport system and with national party policy of overuse of ‘freight trucks’ on our regional roads is now destroying our ‘natural/coastal and built’ residential environments alike and endangering our health and wellbeing. Secretary. CEAC.
Um, yeah. Can you give us the gist ?
Exactly Yorick…I seldom read long posts.
It's a thoughtful and detailed post from Cleangreen with research and study from the Gisborne group? for a long time as they have looked at rail and road and assessed their costs and benefits.
I thought it would be good to know what it's all about so have put it into paragraphs for readability and hope this is satisfactory. It would be unfortunate if the work in writing it was not matched by useful knowledge gained from it.
Matt King would kill our environnemnt as he can't even say climate change is real So this is our press release. CEAC supports Tribunal criticism of crown freshwater failures Press release from Citizens Environmental Advocacy centre. 29th August 2019.
Recent Radio NZ press release covering the Waitangi Tribunal freshwater failures hearings (seen here in this link below) shows a lack of over years of Crown awareness of another “elephant in the room” regarding how other sources of pollution of our freshwater is now seriously been contaminated badly, and shows that the crown over the last 11 years has not used the RMA to protect our degrading water quality, so we wholeheartedly support the tightening of provisions in the RMA to protect our whole natural and built environment to protect everyone in our precious environment. https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/waitangi-tribunal-slams-crown-over-freshwater-failures/ar-AAGrxFe
Regarding the “elephant in the room” being the not previously considered by the crown; – let us clarify; Recently on (Thursday, 22 August 2019) our centre (Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre, ‘CEAC’ ) discussed this issue of ‘road pollution runoff’ as the “elephant in the room” in a press release – see in this link below; http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1908/S00089/drinking-water-quality-improved-by-using-rail.htm
Quote; We at CEAC believe ‘this is the elephant in the room now’ as we already know from the ‘NZ Ministry of Transport’ documented studies from the 2002 report entitled “Emission Factors for Contaminants Released from Motor Vehicles in NZ” Fuels and Energy Management Group December 2002. https://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Import/Documents/9fa2b3a10b/stormwater-emission-factors.pdf
That report shows that tyre particulates have many toxic chemicals that are known to be harmful to humans. These are already found to be freely released in the tyre dust as we drive and are then washed off our roads into our drains, streams, rivers, lakes and aquifers, and finally into our drinking water, so we are part of the problem already now. EV vehicles will still emit the same tyre dust toxins as regular gasoline vehicles do.
The new scientific German report https://www.sott.net/article/418585-Plastic-particles-falling-out-of-sky-with-snow-in-the-Arctic ‘Raining plastic’ – QUOTE “fragments of rubber tyres”. Un-Quote; So now we see the ‘Transmission Gully’ mega NZTA roading project has been found to be causing the “silt build-up now chocking the nearby coastal estuaries and causing very long term serious damage to the life of all aquatic species including kai moana which is the tāonga – life-blood of Māori Iwi/hapu.
Bluntly; the RMA definitely failed us all here especially over the ‘loosely controlled’ activities of the road builder NZTA; We quote; Presiding officer Chief Judge Wilson Isaac; "The RMA has allowed a serious degradation of water quality to occur in many ancestral water bodies, which are now in a highly vulnerable state," he said. “RMA did not provide adequately for the tino rangatiratanga and the kaitiakitanga of iwi and hapū over their freshwater tāonga.”
CEAC believes NZTA must be “heavily regulated” by having the Ministry of health, Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Transport along with the Government stepping in here and placing ‘new controls over the road builder going forwards’ now so NZTA actually comply with strict regulatory rules to protect all those living near their roads in future.
From this time forward we expect to see serious care and consideration be written into the RMA to stop the widespread pollution and emissions of ‘air and water carrying pollution’ and ‘road- runoff‘ being washed of NZTA roads and carried through air pollution from tyre wear from tyre dust and exhaust emissions from over use activities of heavy truck freight particularly.
We at CEAC have always advocated for widespread use of rail, as an environmentally friendly transport system and with national party policy of overuse of ‘freight trucks’ on our regional roads is now destroying our ‘natural/coastal and built’ residential environments alike and endangering our health and wellbeing. Secretary. CEAC.
That "Gisborne group?" appears to consist of cleangreen and one or two of his family members. I've had more than just a cursory look online, and the only names I've ever seen associated with CEAC have been either cleangreen's IRL name or someone sharing the same surname. I believe the term for that is "astroturfing".
Apart from calling Matt King names and the link to the Waitangi Tribunal statement, the rest looks like just a repaste of the same stuff cleangreen pastes here over and over ad nauseum.
What the hell? Why are you kicking over Cleangreen and what the ginger group call themselves. Some of you are such a nasty negative lot. You don't seem interested in advancing and helping NZs, talking about ideas, exchanging info etc. and getting together with others to get us out of the hole we are in.
You just want to sit in negative judgment and do nothing useful, indeed actually destroy spirit. I find you despicable Andre in 6 111… You are ad nauseum big time.
Exchanging ideas…is that what you call your endless snippets of nothing.
In the real world its called concern trolling …perhaps someone should show you how on Twitter and Facebook . They would love your work
In the real world dukeofurl you are swamping the blog with your negatives. Preventing discussion. I don't know what your other blog sites call it, have you nothing else to do except push your dislike of fellow citizens with sneers and supposed superior information which is usually not accompanied by sources.
It's not so much the length, it's more the lack of paragraphs. White space is your friend.
Matt King bad, rail good.
Sometimes rail is efficient, othertimes woefully not.
Using a truck to, say, take stock from a farm near Oxford in Canterbury to the Freezing works in Christchurch is hugely more efficient and environmentally friendly compared to what used to happen there, where a truck took it to the Oxford railhead, then railed to ChCh, then shunted around back to Belfast. In almost all rural cases, rail is environmentally inferior to road.
Rail is great for point to point, and particularly for bulk freight. Less so for small consignments and seldom at all for non point to point.
Agreed, NZ is unfortunately too small for the kind of rail most people would like. Having said that I wouldn't mind seeing more rail used, where it makes sense to use it
I've been to Auckland and Wellington in the last few months and would have jumped a train in both cases in ohakune if there was a morning and evening daily service. (I did jump on the train at paraparaumu for the welly trip. )
Yep that makes sense
That is more to do with the lack of money invested in extending the rail network, compared with mega billions spent on roads, rather than relative efficiency.
Partly at least. At least this government has given rail a chance.
we don't celebrate the invention of the paragraph – anywhere near enough….
I Celebrate The Upper Case Daily Filly.
So Michael Moores latest production: Planet of the Humans could see him excommunicated, crucified and vilified by the left.
Interesting to see how well it does
http://planetofthehumans.com/
Um, lots of people have been saying this for a long time. It's hardly controversial. That situation (green tech BAU) is a consequence of right wing and neoliberal control. Criticising it is entirely within the purview of the left. I just wrote about it in the Saving our Rivers post. Although tbf, I also criticised the traditional left for its long held position of jobs before nature.
Sure but there's also one heckuva lot of people that see the climate change movement as an almost religious movement so Michael may well see himself cast in a new light, that of the betrayer of the faith
I however am doing my part by trading in my older SUV for a 2019 diesel ute and our older car for 2019 small hatchback and yes I'm feeling quite virtuous because they're much better for the environment especially compared to electric vehicles
Feeling virtuous by having a car – what a flop.
By upgrading I'll be using less fossil fuels and diesel is better for the environment so yeah we all gotta play our part no matter how small that part is
Maybe something Greta Thunberg (or her father) might have liked to consider:
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/sailing-team-fly-crew-us-bring-thunberg-boat-65021301
'The sailing team that's taking climate activist Greta Thunberg from England to the United States aboard a high-tech racing yacht says it will fly two crew across the Atlantic to bring the boat back, but that the carbon emissions from their flights will be compensated for.'
why didn't you buy an EV?
Numerous reasons but among them is the reliance of rare earth metals, not always having access to a charger, modern engines being far more efficient then ever before, not sure of how many mechanics are qualified to work on electric vehicles, petrol and diesel easier to source and finally the price
the charger one is an issue for me too, but none of the EVs are affordable to me so I don't have to make the decision yet.
The range and how long it takes to charge are issues as well
Yep. I'm ok with changing my behaviour around those things (we're all going to have to do that eventually so may as well get used to it), but I'm not sure the rural South Island is there yet for making it feasible. I wonder how the AA are handling this.
I read somewhere that EV have in their GPS system all charging locations ( regular updates)
You pop in your destination, it looks at the distance and likely speed etc , reads the existing charge in the batteries and will ROUTE you via the suitable charging spots to enable the journey to complete. This was for the UK where there are 1000s of chargers now- as many public chargers as petrol/diesel service stations ( each station would have multiple pumps though)
betting that doesn't work in NZ with Japanese imports which are programmed for Japan.
It would be ok as a town car but you wouldn't want to trust it taking to the more rural areas of NZ
https://pod-point.com/guides/driver/how-long-to-charge-an-electric-car
'The time it takes to charge an electric car can be as little as 30 minutes or more than 12 hours. This depends on the size of the battery and the speed of the charging point. A typical electric car(60kWh battery) takes just under 8 hours to charge from empty-to-full with a 7kW charging point.'
Map of charging points. Green are public, orange are fast charge.
https://driveelectric.org.nz/chargers-map/
Thats a lot more than I thought but price is still a major factor, maybe when I look to replace this car I'll look at an ev
some of those might be pending. I tend to last about a decade with a car, so by the time I'm looking for the next one both the cars and the charging points will have changed significantly. If I had enough money I'd probably do it now and make it work.
wow really missed the point – must be a tory thing…
yeah, nah. The climate movement isn't a monolith, but for instance in NZ, mainstream orgs that have been leading the way on climate action (Greenpeace, Green Party) are full of people who know the score about green BAU and greenwashing. Those orgs have been forced into taking a middle of the road approach, because of deniers and people dragging the chain.
Lots of the movement is outside of the US too.
…there's also one heckuva lot of people that see the climate change movement as an almost religious movement…
Most of them right-wingers who think AGW is a hoax. Those guys seem more inclined to cheer Moore on when it comes to this movie, because they don't understand the difference between environmentalism and greenwashing.
So why puckers?
When you lose the FT..
https://twitter.com/OilSheppard/status/1166784521930465280
It reminds me of the febrile atmosphere in Sydney during the Dismissal.
Qui bono ?
https://www.theguardian.com › australia-news › oct › prince-charles-knew-…
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/aug/28/cross-party-rebel-alliance-gears-up-for-brexit-clash-with-johnson
Chris Trotter just wrote a piece imagining if Jacinda Ardern died, apparently as a way of commemorating Big Norm's death anniversary and making the point that… I'm not sure what exactly, something about the gloss coming off?
It's at TDB if you want to read it. Weird. 'We really hope it doesn't happen, but let's now speculate if it does', it's all a bit Daily Mail.
He never really got over Women leading the labour party- somehow its not 'industrial' as in freezing works and coal mines and cloth caps
I seldom take any notice of what Chris Trotter says. He just likes to drone on and on and make constant references to obscure and totally irrelevant classical myths. Just a silly old borish dinasaur really.
I see he writes now for the BFD (and before that for Whaleoils Incite). Clearly happy to associate with anyone who will give him oxygen, no matter how criminal, hypocritical or thuggish.
Novel way of getting around those damn campaign finance laws.
/
Federal Election Commission Vice Chairman Matthew Petersen announced his resignation today.
This means the agency that enforces and regulates the nation’s campaign finance laws will effectively shut down — something that hasn’t happened since 2008 — because it won’t have the legal minimum of four commissioners to make high-level decisions.
Petersen’s resignation, first reported by the Washington Examiner, will throw the FEC into turmoil for weeks — and perhaps months — as the nation enters the teeth of 2020 presidential and congressional elections.
For now, the FEC can’t conduct meetings.
It can’t slap political scofflaws with fines.
It can’t make rules.
It can’t conduct audits and approve them.
It can’t vote on the outcome of investigations.
https://publicintegrity.org/federal-politics/federal-election-commission-fec-to-effectively-shut-down/
When you lose the FT..
That doesnt say what you/Sheppard claim at all.
They just say "for ardent remainers and Liberal democrats, THEY may also require a Corbyn caretaker government."
There isnt going to be a 'Corbyn caretaker governmen't , but the next 2 weeks means they can try. Its not Australia where the Governor General can dismiss the PM ( as per their written constitution)
Just checked the full FT editorial and I was wrong about the snippet.
Then again the FT has been pro remain and anti any sort of Brexit, so it figures
That Outrager- in- chief Blair used to regularly prorogue parliament for 12 weeks.
But how times change , anything about leaving the EU is now all sorts of incendiary words, even Boris adding 3 sitting days to the September break
The Speech from the Throne , after debate, can be voted down by a majority and thats when Johnsons government would fall. Thats the usual process to get rid of him.
I met a real live climate change denier 🙁
Being given a lift home, we got covered in diesel fumes from an ancient 'temporary replacement' bus in front of us. I lamented the loss of the trolley buses on that route, and how the GWRC STILL haven't even bothered getting us the promised electric bus replacements.
I've never had a fellow Wellingtonian disagree with that assessment of things until now. What I got from this lady, I wonder if she watches Fox in her down time. "I don't believe in this Global warming nonsense…it's a natural occurring phenomena….giant con job….all about businesses making money….that thing in Tuvalu recently, that was a con…."etc etc
I didn't even bother responding, reacting or anything. She's an elderly lady (and no, I am not for one moment making generalisations!) and I really don't think it was possible to have a civil debate on the matter. It was was extremely upsetting though. Of course I know they exist but sometimes I rather not know who they are.
Did you wonder why the Greens get 6% and the national party gets 43%.
She seemed to be at the extreme end but a lot of voters are in the mild climate change category, because they are older ( grew up in a period when nuclear war seemed almost certain, but wasnt) or seen more adversity than millennials who are addicted to mobile devices.
Yes, but part of the reason for the cynicism is due to the ludicrous doomsday prophecies of the last 25 years, and the hypocrisy of many of those pushing an often self serving barrow.
Al Gore springs immediately to mind, but he is but one. It is down to these people that the reality of climate change is not more widely accepted.
People have bizarre and irrational viewpoints all the time. I wouldn't let it upset you. At the end of the day you've got to have a chuckle, because if you didn't laugh at the state of the world you'd probably throw yourself off a building. Whenever I find myself railing at the television, my kids remind me that the television isn't a person, the people on the television can't actually hear me, and I should probably calm down and go make a cup of tea. Kids are clever like that.
Not so sure about this; it is becoming more common to hack smart TVs and other devices that control your life, including the camera …
Even Apple’s Siri conversations can be overheard and recorded …
Some people think that IoT is something to look forward to but to others it is more like a dystopian near—future.
@Wens, very true! I'm almost over the shock of the encounter now. What can one do but laugh at some people. It's (almost) a shame she won't be around to experience the fruits of her denial, living as she does right on Lyall Bay. Although with that sort of extremism I'd imagine the more frequent inundations, coastal erosion, extreme storm surges etc, it would all be 'naturally occurring'
Lyall Bay ?
While the waves on Lyall Bay beach are great for surfing, they are anything but ideal for infrastructure. On September 16, 1916, the Evening Post reported on a southerly depression, which was responsible for exceptionally high tides. Seawater crossed Lyall Parade and reached well over the road. Marine debris was spread across the parade.
Sea storms and surges are an annual event on Lyall Parade. But resident Suzi Wilson isn’t worried about tsunamis.
“Winter time is when the sea washes up on to the road. Logs end up all over the footpath.” She has developed a passion for collecting shells and debris washed up on the beach since moving to the parade five years ago. She displays her collection inside and outside of her home.
The first life-saving clubhouse was washed away in a storm only a few months after being built by Wellington City Council in 1910. "
The current 2018 building replaced a 1957 one and maybe a new building after 1910 one was destroyed and then replaced in 1957.
Maybe living by the seaside with large waves has made that lady more resiliant
http://www.massey.ac.nz/~wwjourn/surfing-stormy-history/
https://issuu.com/blenheimsun/docs/blenheim_sun_190828
There is a picture on page 4 of the 28 August Blenheim Sun family advised me of. It shows a Year 13 form photo in which a large lad in centre picture holds a baby.
Shades of the Trevor Mallard Effect. It is now allowable for young men to be pictured proudly and happily dandling babies. The opposite to 'toxic masculinity"!
If there's something to be proud of about making a baby while you're still in school, I'm not sure what it would be.
Psycho Milt, the baby is that of his form teacher. He is not the father, just as Speaker Mallard is not the father of the children he dandled while in the Speaker's chair.
Turn the page to page four!
https://farmersweekly.co.nz/section/other-sectors/view/farmers-efforts-to-be-rewarded
Thankyou thankyou thankyou.
Good words from Shaw and co .
Well well, someone is telling porky pies now and I don’t trust either side on who is telling the truth or who is talking a load of bollocks.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-29/declassified-us-intelligence-documents-sheds-light-timor-leste/11459284
The only part that is right is the supply line from Darwin to ET did crash 7 times in the first 2 to 3mths from memory. As our Rifle Flight was on 24hr E ration packs for 21days straight and which almost sent us Trop’o or native and it was quicker to get boots, bog roll etc via the mailman than via the supply chain.
Ah the joys of INTERFET, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Interesting. Wondering about comparing Timor Leste with Hong Kong in the current unrest.
Its the same but different. Murderous gangs supported by the government …that could be a method the Beijing government could use as 'plausible denial' in the way China does and no one believes them ..the US has this problem too.
Re. "My memories of .."
What's new ?
Polly Toynbee: "A civil war state of mind now threatens our democracy"
"Boris Johnson’s assault on parliament is unprecedented, but he can – and must – be stopped
"This country that self-identified so smugly as stable, tolerant and moderate, with a crown to symbolise traditions honed down the centuries, is revealed as fissile, fragile and ferociously divided. A constitution that relied on gentlemanly governments’ willingness to bow to parliament has evaporated, blown away now it’s led by a man who doesn’t give a damn for parliamentary sovereignty: taking back control is for him alone. He is ready to destroy anything that threatens his ambition."
<snip>
I asked Bob Kerslake, former head of the civil service, where their duty lies in this unprecedented situation.
We are reaching the point where the civil service must consider putting its stewardship of the country ahead of service to the government of the day,” he said. That is a devastating verdict."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/28/proroguation-parliament-boris-johnson-brexit
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-29-08-2019/
Hehehe.
Parliament has lost only 3 sitting days because of the prorogation ended the longest session of parliament since the 1600s.
After the Queens Speech , Mps can vote against it and if they have a majority Johnson has to resign.
Thats parliament doing what its always done.
Did the Remain diehards and the Guardian elite really think they and Bercow were going to twist all the rules to suit their agenda like they have been doing ?
HeHeHe's clearly limiting the ability of Parliament to thwart his vile plot Dooky. Three days or thirty isn't the point.
Latest on Brexit and Boorish. David Townsend refers to Johnson 'smirking' which seems apt. (* David Townsend is an ex-UK Parliamentary Labour candidate, a former Labour ministerial speech writer and special adviser and contributor to The Guardian, The Independent and The Times.)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/397747/brexit-boris-johnson-goes-for-the-nuclear-option
Johnson himself claims his action is to enable his government to present its policies on matters such as education, law and order and health spending in a Queen's Speech. Inevitably his pomposity and smirking appearance making the announcement means few will believe him. His decision is likely to be challenged in the courts by MPs and others.
Why?
With Prime Minister Johnson's October 31st deadline of leaving the EU with or without a "deal", the reassembly of Parliament on the 14th October leaves only a limited time for opposition MPs to produce legislation to stop a "no deal" exit. It is clear the Speaker of the Commons – who was not consulted by Johnson on this timetable – would assist MPs in their opposition to a "no deal".
When Parliament reassembles next week before being pro-rogued the options open to oppose are really limited. A no confidence motion in the government might succeed but only if sufficient Conservative MPs are prepared to bring down the Johnson government and probably be de-selected as Conservative candidates in an ensuing election. Or if selected again lose their seats.,,,
And what of the EU? Dismay at the staggering ineptitude of the oldest democracy in Europe is most commonly reflected in the European media. The third PM in the UK in three years and still no consensus. A Parliament that rejected three times the painstakingly negotiated deal with the EU by the last prime minister.
The EU is obliged to wait on events and ask the UK as it has over the last three years to be clear about what it wants and then discuss what it can reasonably expect, given the EU is a body of 27 nations with political and economic shared interests and not the local golf club.
Do try to keep up….
Boris wants to leave under the Deal – with backstop removed.
Thats not a vile plot. EU wont budge until the it can see the remainers in parliament have been royally screwed.
EU always wants to thwart any referendum that goes against them ….happened many times Norway is good example- voted 2x against but they are stuck in EU web
In Denmark, two referendums were held before the treaty of Maastricht passed. The first one rejected the treaty.
Ireland had 2 referendums to finally get Treaty of Nice approved
France and Netherlands voted against 2005 European Constitution but the EU just changed the rules in a different way to thwart the anti votes
Again the Irish had to have a 2nd vote after they first rejected Treaty of Lisbon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referendums_related_to_the_European_Union
Good to this RNZN/ MOD project is slowly getting some traction, since the two inservice OPV’s are no longer fit for purpose for Southern Ocean Patrols due to the changing environment in the Southern Ocean as a result of CC, which nearly seen one of the OPV’s capsized last year or the year before on a run down Sth.
The story goes that Ronnie was up on the bridge at time, where he went white as sheet, Ms Sage was down the back chatting with the DoC staff, the boffins (one of my cousins was on that trip for his PhD) and the film crew when the OPV got smacked with shit flying about/ rolling all over the place, and the other cousin who is in the Jack Tar’s as a cook was on duty having a shit of time the galley when the OPV got smacked.
The Civilians including Ms Sage weren’t told about what happened or how close to Davie Jones locker they were until they returned back to NZ, as it happened about 3/4 mark on the trip down Sth to the Auckland or Campbell Islands which ever is the furthest.
There is talk at various levels that this new SOPV with possibly one or two of the IPV’s maybe based in Dunedin/ Port Chamlers if the Odt is anything to go by. (Sorry don’t have the link for that one).
https://www.gets.govt.nz/MD/ExternalTenderDetails.htm?id=21465150
Land lubbers always think rough weather is 'almost capsize'.
Im guessing this is just another unfunded project on someones wish list. RNZN doesnt need it and the funding wishing well is depleted by gold plating on recent purchases such as Poseidon and new Hercs ( used RAF ones of the latest J model would be fine!)
What a farce! Greta Thunberg has sailed into New York to be greeted by her parents who FLEW there, no doubt accompanied by her PR team of God knows how many.
This makes a complete mockery of the message which I suspect in time will turn out to be a money making scam orchestrated by her father if various reports are to be believed.
Engineering wise the boat she sailed on uses considerably more construction material per person per kilometre than the aircraft her parents used. It may use wind but it still has a marine engine of some size.
Greta travelled by sailboat. The rest is immaterial. Everything can be challenged and criticised but Greta didn't fly, she spent 2 weeks aboard a sailboat; stop belly-aching and put your energy into something useful. Criticising the actions of a 16 year-old girl is kinda…silly.
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/sailing-team-fly-crew-us-bring-thunberg-boat-65021301
It's the action of her parents I'm criticising , she is almost certainly the product of a very sophisticated rort. Pretty much any other child and a competent school essay can be spun into this sort of media personality with the aid of the type of public relations professionals that her father has engaged. It's bullshit. That boat was organised months and months ago.
Yeah its not good, heres a young woman with depression and mental health issues being pushed into the spotlight big time
I mean its not like young people thrust into the spotlight at an early age ever end up regretting it (yeah sarcasm)
Her parents should be taking a long, hard look at themselves over this
🙄 thanks for your concern
She's not too far wrong, though.
A bit of planning, lateral thinking, and community suggestions, and we can find alternatives to the things we now burn fossils on.
Yes, it was a symbolic act. Tokenistic, even. Lots of fodder for the people who hate change. But now people are arguing about alternatives to flying everywhere for conferences, so… not a bad thing, overall.
https://twitter.com/neilukip/status/1153983337729613824
True, Robert. Because if she had flown, the simpletons on the Right would all have screamed, "Hypocrite!" – their empty, unthinking response. Because she has not flown, they cannot do that.
For more normal people, it is facile to insist that anyone who preaches that burning fossil fuels should be reduced should never ever in their lives ever again benefit from any atom of fossil fuel burnt.
In our modern world, that argument is a stupid distraction pushed by those who wish to avoid serious discussion of the real issue – why we do actually need to reduce our burning of fossil fuels. It is ad hominem – shooting the messenger, and ignoring the message.
But even on this site, we have a number of Righties who like to try such juvenile crap. Pushing 'Practice what you Preach' to such a silly level is just moronic. We all have to use fossil fuels in some way in modern society. This does not mean that one cannot campaign for a future change for us all.
And for any numpties still wanting a reason to scream, "Hypocrite!" at Greta, she is trying to warn us about Global warning overall, not exclusively the fossil fuel thing.
Are you going to scream, "Hypocrite!" at her for daring to breathe and thereby produce carbon dioxide?
That would be no less stupid than the previous 'Hypocrite' argument.
No one on the Right is a simpleton. They have all worked out the advantages of wilful ignorance, and of spending all their time carping, criticising and demoralising the people they have decided to discriminate against. It saves them from thinking hard and change would make a difference, perhaps lessen their present level of satisfaction, so their wants must take precedence. They will continue this behaviour on principle, even if what is planned by the progressives will advantage them – because that's what they do. Lemmings the lot.
Yes, the cunning ratbags use simpleton arguments.. I sort of meant that.
Oh. The perennial, " you used a plastic bag once, so you are hypocritical talking about AGW" argument.
To go with the "exploited girl". Argument.
The first argument is simply ridiculous, the second just shows the misogyny and ignorance of the person making it.
It is almost always climate change deniers and misogynists that come up with either. The two lots of attitudes seem to often occur in the same person.
16 year old, Young women, can and, do think for themselves.
I wonder how many leftish people still blog here? The path seems to be wide open to the gang who gather to bark and chew at those who come here and want to discuss what the left can do and celebrate what it has.
I think there is a sustained campaign by a low number of trolls operating under several pseudonyms each aimed at creating the situation you describe. Discouraging positivity is easy for them. But I am one of those conspiracy theorists..
If you mean sockpoppets, I’d like to think we do have a pretty good handle on those.
The problem as I see it is that too many people here bite and don’t let go. Sometimes, I don’t know which one is worse, the ‘troll’ or the one who gives them oxygen – it becomes a symbiotic act of creating noise and counter-noise and in the end you cannot tell who is or does what. In fact, it doesn’t really matter because what matters is the noise and it is all noise coming from both sides. You don’t want noise, don’t make noise (back).
Yes, Incognito – I do not envy you the efforts you put in to controlling this maelstrom.
We all ignore one thing, but get fired up and respond to another, often depending on how good we think our response is.
Maybe you are helping us all with some kind of therapeutic outlet?
I hope that the best political policies and ideas benefit from all this, but fear that the path will be a long and winding way. (Damn those silly old pop songs..)
Nah, I/we don’t control anything here, we (i.e. the Moderators) are just the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff so to speak. The real control (or better: influence) is with the people who comment here, who make the site what it is IMO.
My secret suspicion is that there is no destiny at the end of the path and that the path is it. In saying that, we can, of course, look back and see how far or how high we have come, or not for that matter. We can also follow footsteps in the sand or snow, hoping that we’ll reach a special place (of rescue or salvation perhaps) only to realise, after some time, that we are tracing or own footsteps. Life is a funny thing when you think about it …