“Universal” welfare programmes effectively make EVERYBODY a beneficiary…
One looks forward to the Herald editor steadfastly refusing to accept universal superannuation turning them into a beneficiary after they’re 65, and instead returning the money to the government…
The future is all unknowable claim these intellectual giants, so why bother preparing for it (other than by implementing libertarianism, naturally). #pffft
Someone could possibly remind us of the link to use so you don’t have to go to whaleoil or kiwiblog? I thought there was one but haven’t noted it.
Incidentally an email from Scoop Gordon Campbell now overall Editor and two new Trustees Jeremy Rose and Jan River of Public Good Aotearoa NZ. Great news in every sense.
Did you notice this in the Stuff piece?
“Economist Brian Easton has written that, with a universal income, either “the required tax rates are horrendous or the minimum income is so low” it won’t eliminate poverty”.
If you have Brian, who is fairly much of the left, saying your ideas are barmy you are really in trouble.
My prediction is that in a couple of months Labour will simply stop talking about it and quietly drop the whole scheme. Pity really.
Labour have thrown the dice on UBI…lets see if it gives them some traction, or becomes a liability come the serious debates in 2017.
Which ever way one looks at a UBI, it can’t be done without a major rehash of the tax system in NZ. Money does not grow on tree’s (although I imagine more than 1 commentator here would say it does!! all that’s required is a printing press).
Oh common bm if it was the greens you would be here telling us how it proves the greens are , insert meme of the week here.
Robinson points out that the tpu are not to be taken seriously and leaves unspoken the fact that they are tools for the right.
As a democracy we need an effective opposition to try and hinder the Government from doing dumb things,and Labour is the best bet we have.
We dont see the Greens fulfilling that role, Winston’s not really doing it either, so while we may not vote Labour, we do care about its role in our democracy.
The Nats recovered from the low 20s and I expect that Labour will recover from its time in the 20s also.
Growth: 2-3% per year over the next several years.
Jobs: Unemployment fallen to 5.3%
Infrastructure: Fibre Broadband, Roads of National Significance, Christchurch Rebuild.
Unfortunately Stuart your comment is without foundation.
I partially agree with you about the debt though – I am sure the government could have limited their spending over the last 7 years to minimize how much debt they incurred.
Your advise about labour is always wrong. Actually never seen when you have been right. You jump on the band wagon of us who criticise the labour party with child like glee. But never in a constructive manor, unless it is to support some right wing nut job inside the labour party. It’s a bore.
and your fake pathos about the labour party is sickening.
You and yours just don’t want people to do better, are you opposed to helping the poor? Are you opposed to a society that thinks all it’s members are worth something?
To make them sleep easier I’d suggest introduction of a TPPA or Tax on Property Profit Actualised AKA CGT; it must be the TPU’s equivalent of a ‘nocturnal emission’.
“Quoting Obama’s declaration that “it is time, now, for us to leave the past behind,” the man who shaped Cuba during the second half of the 20th century writes that “I imagine that any one of us ran the risk of having a heart attack on hearing these words from the President of the United States.”
Castro then returns to a review of a half-century of US aggression against Cuba. Those events include the decades-long US trade embargo against the island; the 1961 Bay of Pigs attack and the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner backed by exiles who took refuge in the US.
He ends with a dig at the Obama administration’s drive to increase business ties with Cuba.”
I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be but it would be nice to have actual study on it. Oh, here’s one:
he findings from the 84 in-depth interviews provided information on residents’ perceptions and experiences of living in medium density housing. the findings afforded us the opportunity to assess how effectively the outcomes of smart growth policies have met the expectations,
aspirations, and needs of this group of intensive housing residents.
Seems that it’s probably the same in NZ as in Australia.
Just wondering what Matthew Hooton will do once he becomes part of the precariat. Does he have any skills other than speaking with a forked tongue? What could he retrain as?
Good to hear the left wing guy challenging his bullshit on Nine to Noon.
Good to hear the left wing guy challenging his bullshit on Nine to Noon.
I agree, weka. Stephen Mills actually seemed to have thought about what he was going to say today, and to have worked out that Hooton needs to be challenged constantly.
I was concerned, however, that Hooton still does the great majority of the talking, and still gets away with the most outrageous statements.
Still, a much better performance from Stephen Mills. He’s given Hooton a hard time in the past….
Key-Sucker Audrey Young still picking over the corpse of her darling’s flag fuck up. Presumably to impress that there’s something essentially rum in the result. No Audrey. Your darling Man-Child’s vanity fucked him up. You as well need to grow up. As a journalist you’re an irresponsible disgrace.
Reposting this excellent doco (50mins) on Glyphosate that TMM posted the other day. Glyphosate is the most common weed killer used in farming, and it’s also used globally and domestically for preparing fields for crop production. Basically we eat plant material that comes into contact with a poison:
It’s deactivated almost immediately when it hits soil colloids and that’s why it’s used for preparing land for planting crops. You can plant the next day or even the same day,
This seems to be at odds with the documentary, that glyphosate isn’t deactivated at all.
You would do well as a spokesperson for the manufacturer Monsanto, who can’t seem to put up a good case for it being safe other than it’s been in use for 40 years. Then let the state and any other not for profit organisation do all the fact finding for you on the actual risks.
The half-life of glyphosate ranges from several weeks to years, but averages two months. In water, glyphosate is rapidly dissipated through adsorption to suspended and bottom sediments, and has a half-life of 12 days to ten weeks. Glyphosate by itself is of relatively low toxicity to birds, mammals, and fish, and at least one formulation sold as Rodeo® is registered for aquatic use.
Some surfactants that are included in some formulations of lyphosate, however, are highly toxic to aquatic organisms, and these formulations are not registered for aquatic use.
Further to the above its not difficult to find many studies that confirm that Round Up as sold by Monsanto is more toxic than was once thought. Here is one reviewed in Scientific American
Until now, most health studies have focused on the safety of glyphosate, rather than the mixture of ingredients found in Roundup. But in the new study, scientists found that Roundup’s inert ingredients amplified the toxic effect on human cells—even at concentrations much more diluted than those used on farms and lawns.
One specific inert ingredient, polyethoxylated tallowamine, or POEA, was more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells than the herbicide itself – a finding the researchers call “astonishing.”
It’s hardly astonishing, given that glyphosate works by suppressing an enzyme that’s found in plants but not animals. The list of things more deadly to human embryonic cells than glyphosate would be a very, very long one that included some really-not-very-toxic-at-all stuff on it.
If you were to read the studies further you would see:
““This clearly confirms that the [inert ingredients] in Roundup formulations are not inert,” wrote the study authors from France’s University of Caen. “Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death [at the] residual levels” found on Roundup-treated crops, such as soybeans, alfalfa and corn, or lawns and gardens.
The research team suspects that Roundup might cause pregnancy problems by interfering with hormone production, possibly leading to abnormal fetal development, low birth weights or miscarriages.”
“The authorizations for using these Roundup herbicides must now clearly be revised since their toxic effects depend on, and are multiplied by, other compounds used in the mixtures,” Seralini’s team wrote.
The EPA’s classification of Roundup was initially done in 1993 and hasn’t been reviewed since. The study quoted above was done in 2009. I would not place a great deal of reliance on the EPA’s assessment at this stage. Particularly as most of the research was conducted by the chemical industry and in particular Monsanto itself:
But the EPA’s exoneration — which means that the agency will not require additional tests of the chemical’s effects on the hormonal system — is undercut by the fact that the decision was based almost entirely on pesticide industry studies. Only five independently funded studies were considered in the review of whether glyphosate interferes with the endocrine system. Twenty-seven out of 32 studies that looked at glyphosate’s effect on hormones and were cited in the June review — most of which are not publicly available and were obtained by The Intercept through a Freedom of Information Act request — were either conducted or funded by industry. Most of the studies were sponsored by Monsanto or an industry group called the Joint Glyphosate Task Force. One study was by Syngenta, which sells its own glyphosate-containing herbicide, Touchdown.
No.
1. Less toxic than many other things != non-toxic.
2. Just about everything’s lethal in a big enough dose.
Re the studies claiming glyphosate is dangerous, is that the same Seralini whose study claiming that GMOs caused tumours in rats had to be withdrawn because it was so bad? The EU says: “To date, more than 800 studies have been conducted along with evaluations carried out by regulatory authorities across the world, all of which have confirmed the safety of glyphosate.”
“To date, more than 800 studies have been conducted along with evaluations carried out by regulatory authorities across the world, all of which have confirmed the safety of glyphosate.”
That is not what the concern is about – talk about shifting goal posts!
The problem is with the mixture of glyphosate and POEA. Few of the so-called “independent” reviews consider this. Certainly not the regulatory authorities who take their “research” from the manufacturers and then those outside the states who take their research from the EPA. It’s all a big back scratching exercise. No wonder people are turning off, and doubting “scientific” regulatory authorities when their research is so compromised. It’s like asking the Koch Bros to give a dissertation on Global Warming!
Then to cite 800 studies – well they would not all have been done in the past year would they. And Roundup has been around for a few years now – but its only in the recent past that people have begun to wonder if some of the things they are experiencing now might not be connected with this product. I myself used Roundup extensively on the farm for a number of years and before that Paraquat – before it was taken off the market because of its toxicity. oh and the EU approved the use of it 2004!
So, yeah, shifting goalposts. Apparently, glyphosate isn’t anything to worry about, but polyoxyethyleneamine is. I wouldn’t know enough about it to comment, but if that is the situation maybe people could stop wittering on about glyphosate?
And when it comes to “compromised” research that can’t be trusted, you really couldn’t find a better example than anti-GMO activist Gilles-Eric Seralini. After the rat-tumours propaganda fiasco, any research with his name on it is worthless.
Almost all of the criticism against the Seralini research was from researchers primarily funded by the Industry, and that includes the regulatory bodies which (as I have previously pointed out) rely heavily on Industry funded research. If the critics of Serelini really wanted to prove their point then they would repeat the research with greater numbers of animals, rats less susceptible to cancer, and controls which they were happy with. They may not like the results however.
Roundup weed-killer – glyphosate – is “probably carcinogenic,” according the World Health Organization. The decision was laid out in an analysis in The Lancet Oncology.
And who am I to argue with that.
Glyphosate is also one of the most commonly used garden herbicides, as well as the most commonly used in agriculture. It is sold under different names but everyone knows it as Roundup.
With our she’ll be right attitude here in NZ we tend to use it with wild abandon at the sight of the tiniest of weeds, not knowing or understanding just how toxic it is. I mean, it’s sold on supermarket shelves so it must be safe right?
Our local council seems to love Monsanto too. It sprays council berms, gutters and parks liberally and excessively.
As well as being a health risk it’s also largely unnecessary. You can pull weeds out of the ground. For free! Or if you have tough weeds on a paved patio you can sprinkle the weeds with the cheapest table salt you can buy and pour boiling water over and your weeds die almost instantly. I’ve done this successfully in the past. Or for large scale weeding you can purchase a hand held weed burner, powered by a gas cannister.
Good tips Rosie, I have been thinking about this a bit lately. I don’t get why people would want to liberally go around and poison weed spray over everything around their house (I have seen it a couple of times recently). After all it is just going to come back in a few months, and you’ve created a possible health risk, changed soil conditions and had an effect on the insect life too.
I also see it with councils where they spray along fencelines and edges of tracks. Most of it is unnecessary, unless there is something like a blackberry infestation growing across a track its a good idea. But spraying fencelines again and again to create some scorched earth at the bottom of it is crazy, especially with a toxic chemical.
I have tried a salt and vinegar spray before on blackberry, with dishwashing liquid to make it stick to the leaves, but it didn’t really work, only a small amount of the leaves browned off. So I might look into that gas torch idea. Thanks.
Blackberry is particularly hard to get rid of and even Roundup won’t be effective. Good luck with the gas torch. Heavy duty herbicides such as Tordon and Scrub Cutter are used on blackberry. Even though 2,4,D is banned in NZ, a variant of this chemical is used in the manufacture of these two herbicides. You need full PPE to apply this stuff, but I wouldn’t go near it myself.
Tordon was used aerially on gorse on a farm near us a few years ago. There were two breaches of the regional council’s rules. One was a lack of notification to nearby residents and the other was a breach of the 300 metre buffer zone. The helicopter pilot dumped this crap, literally, over our neighbourhood, as people were walking up the street to the bus stop and cycling to work in the morning rush. Despite the evidence people gathered, it took a massive effort to get the regional council to act. The pilot ended up with a “please don’t do this again” note. We really do have such a lazze faire approach to agrichemical safety in this country.
Final point. I used to work in the organic food industry in the 90’s, 2000’s. I remember visiting a supplier’s apple orchard. As well as the air being alive with bee’s and butterflies due to the lack of pesticides there was a marked difference in the quality of the soil around his tree’s compared to the soil around the tree’s of his neighbours. His neighbour was a supplier of conventionally grown apples to the supermarkets. Despite it being a dry time of the year, the soil on the organic orchard retained it’s structure and a bit more moisture, where as the soil of the roundup sprayed tree bases were crumbly and in large chunks. It looked dead.
The health of the different soils were in stark contrast. And the neighbour had all that extra cost too.
Basically we eat plant material that comes into contact with a poison
It comes into contact with dirt and the excretions of a wide variety of different creatures, too. If you’re going to panic about stuff you can’t see that is entering the sacred temple of your body, the risk of microbiological contamination offers far better material than whatever traces of herbicide might still be on there.
“the risk of microbiological contamination offers far better material than whatever traces of herbicide might still be on there.”
Only if you are microbe-phobic.
The issue is what humans have evolved with. We’re actually pretty good at living alongside microbes and dirt, with some notable exceptions, because we have millions of years of co-evolution (those that best fit survived). The number of chemicals we are exposed to now is massively higher than pre-industrial revolution, and science is still not so good at studying culmulative effect, multiple variables, and individual response.
We know that some herbicides are dangerous (which is why we’ve banned them), so unless you are arguing that Glyphosate-based herbicides are a special class of chemicals with zero side effects (would love to see that), we’re talking a matter of degrees. A big part of the problem is that PR has been a major driver of information (Monsanto are the new tobacco companies), so you have conflicting ideas about what the problem might be, let alone what it actually is. Fortunately there does seem to be much more non-industry research being done now to present a more comprehensive picture of what the issue are.
The thing about evolution is that the microbes also evolve, and quicker than we do. You’re far more likely to get sick from microbial life forms in your food than from glyphosate, which is pretty much never found in quantities that have a chance of being harmful to humans (and that’s not because big government and Monsanto have prevented anyone testing the levels remaining in food, it’s because there’s been plenty of testing and the results show no threat).
We do know that some herbicides are dangerous and have banned them, which is one of the main reasons glyphosate is so ubiquitous – it works and is (relatively) safe. If it wasn’t, it would be among those banned herbicides. This is a subject like vaccination, in which anti-science irrationalists convince themselves that the lack of evidence something is harmful doesn’t trump their gut instinct that it just has to be.
And why is it in the documentary they show evidence that the chemical can change gene structures and destroy good gut bacteria. In studies with rats they found feeding them human tolerable amounts of glyphosate that the rats grew large tumors. And why were several farmers finding that their livestock were having lower reproductive rates and higher birth defects when their stock was being fed glyphosate based feed?
The industry response is that these trials/tests didn’t follow some proper scientific process, so they should be ignored. Industry don’t seem to want to conduct their own trials with matching conditions – funny that! You’re the one sounding like the science irrationalist I’m afraid.
The thing is, those studies really don’t follow proper scientific process. Actual scientists do study this stuff – and come up with results like “glyphosate, the main ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, does not accumulate in mother’s breast milk.” (Washington State University study).
The WSU study was a scientific one conducted by a biological scientist who is “an executive committee member for the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation and a national spokesperson for the American Society for Nutrition.”
The German study claimed to have been carried out by the Green Party is mentioned on globalresearch.ca, an anti-globalisation activist site, and a detox nutter site, with the study itself not available. The American study that prompted it was carried out by “anti-GMO activist group Moms Across America with “Sustainable Pulse,” an online “news service” published by anti-GMO campaigner and organic food entrepreneur Henry Rowlands.” (academicsreview.org, in a piece aptly titled “Debunking pseudo science “lab testing” health risk claims about glyphosate (Roundup)”).
The thing is, those studies really don’t follow proper scientific process…The WSU study was a scientific one…
It is a non-peer reviewed study done in conjunction with Monsanto. The authors have since published a paper specifically on their quantification method ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4743594/ ) but not on the methodology of their overall study, which was presented as a report at a conference.
“The thing is, those studies really don’t follow proper scientific process…
The WSU study was a scientific one…”
The WSU study is a non-peer reviewed report presented at a conference and done in conjunction with Monsanto. The authors have now published a paper specifically on their quantification method but not on the methodology of the overall study.
I find it interesting that you’ve avoided that evidence that does look like proper science and that the World Health Organisation thinks it’s a carcinogen. This should be swept aside because we have nothing to worry about right?.. Wouldn’t best practice be, lets stop it’s use until we find out what it’s doing and what it’s effects are. Maybe that’s the approach that countries like Sri Lanka and some in Europe who have banned it already, will go down.
The list of things the WHO thinks “probably causes cancer” is a very long one and is of little value in the absence of the info “what level of risk” and “at what dose.” For example, they think red meat “probably causes cancer,” ie some studies have shown a slight increase in risk if you eat lots of it. This comes under the heading of “Big Whoop.”
A useful rule of thumb when considering how credible studies about glyphosate are, is to figure out whether the people carrying out the studies are anti-GMO activists or not. Activism and science are about as compatible as religion and science – ie, not very. Both the articles you’ve linked to are anti-GMO activism – one is featured on an anti-GMO activist web site and the other involves Gilles-Eric Seralini, whose reputation hasn’t survived his rat-tumours propaganda exercise.
A quote from Oscar Wilde who is still amusing and satirical. Sincerity
A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.
I’d quote but it was just a selection of inane BS comments from off of Facebook seemingly selected to show that there’s no support for becoming a republic.
Really, if they want to report on the public’s feeling of becoming a republic then the should be doing a poll. Like this:
The poll, by Curia Market Research, was commissioned by New Zealand Republic. It shows support for a New Zealand Head of State has risen to 44%. Support from people aged 18-30 is at now at 66%. Support for using the next British Monarch as our next head of state has fallen to 46%.
Yeah, we won’t be staying part of the British monarchy for much longer.
Looks like it’s a matter of time. When Liz goes I expect it will become an issue. I really hope we don’t do it soon though, can you imagine National running the process?
What makes you think using a UBI to stick it to the elderly isn’t Grants plan? I have certainly seen plenty of comments which argue a UBI is a good way to smuggle in and restructure the entire tax system which appears to be popular with the commentariat on here.
I think it’s better that Labour don’t start commenting on this. They don’t have a policy, and I’m guessing they haven’t done to much more work on a UBI other than the report they commissioned. They put the report out for discussion. That’s what is happening. I’d like to see a whole range of people grapple with this before Labour get too involved. Let people hash it out.
We all know they haven’t formulated a policy on this yet. However, they have been quick to totally rule things out. Like the 50% tax rate.
With talk of replacing benefits, coupled with a UBI rate centered around $200 a week and the possibility of a capital tax, a number of pensioners and home owning low income earners are becoming rather concerned.
Therefore, to put an end to their concern and keep the discussion on track, if they have ruled this out they should inform us.
It’s a total waste of time having the public hash things out when they have (if that is the case) been totally ruled out.
Labour wanted to have this debate, the least they can do is partake a little more. Keeping us all up to date with what has and hasn’t been ruled out as the discussion moves forward.
And by partaking, it also acknowledges the discussion is being heard. It only takes a brief comment, like good points made to achieve this.
An Emmerson cartoon that the Herald kept off the digital version until today.I have been chuckling since Saturday and was about to copy and post today when it appeared. Here you are Standardistas have a laugh.
…”Meanwhile, London Mayor Boris Johnson has chosen to speak out, despite the silence of his country’s prime minister.
Praising the “ruthless clarity” of Russian President Vladimir Putin in aiding the Syrian government’s removal of “maniac” Islamic State jihadists from Palmyra, Johnson said that Moscow has made the West look “ineffective.”
“If reports are to be believed, the Russians have not only been engaged in airstrikes against Assad’s opponents, but have been seen on the ground as well. If Putin’s troops have helped winkle the maniacs from Palmyra, then (it pains me to admit) that is very much to the credit of the Russians. They have made the West look ineffective; and so now is the time for us to make amends, and to play to our strengths,” Johnson wrote in his column for the Telegraph.
Johnson went on to note the archaeological and historical significance of the city, much of which has been destroyed by Islamic State.
“The victory of Assad is a victory for archaeology, a victory for all those who care about the ancient monuments of one of the most amazing cultural sites on Earth,” Johnson wrote….
Good on you Little for not shying away from Hooton’s vicious attacks. Hooton claims he doesn’t know what he (Little) is talking about and says – he ought to demand an apology but doesn’t think he’ll bother. You bet he won’t bother because anyone who listens to the RNZ political spot on a Monday morning or reads his media opinions knows how true it is.
And anyone who dares to stand up to Hooton is painted as an idiot/crazy/mad and deranged according the maddest/craziest and most deranged “commentator” in the country.
Please do a post someone so we can all verbally attack him with relish.
So Little says hooton is part of the problem and hooton responds by calling the leader of the second biggest political party an idiot, there by proving Little right. Your a fucking moron hooton.
And anyone who dares to stand up to Hooton is painted as an idiot/crazy/mad and deranged according the maddest/craziest and most deranged “commentator” in the country.
Hooton doesn’t need “standing up to”. He is a political commentator who says things some people don’t agree with. No more, no less. Disagreeing with him, easily done through any of the the myriad of social media available, isn’t “standing up” to him in the sense of implying courage and determination in the face of threats and pressure. Not need to over-egg it.
And calling him names doesn’t help either. Is he really the most “deranged” commentator in the country? If you think that, you need to get out more.
Tinshed. It was Hooton who recently called someone “deranged”. He has also used the words “idiot”, “mad” and “crazy” to describe various opposition politicians. I was using his own words against him with some accuracy – as anyone who has listened to him on radio and elsewhere could testify.
You need to learn to read text more carefully.
And for your edification, Hooton is a verbal bully who needs to be stood up to.
I note that nothing has been said today about the death threats received by Paula Bennett on Facebook. Andrew Little has indicated that while he does not condone, of course, such comments, given the difficult economic times combined with the harsh rhetoric of commentators like Matthew Hooton, such aggressive actions are, to some degree, a factor in such threats. Is that the view shared by most people? I would have thought threatening to kill a Cabinet Minister was pretty serious stuff and required not only Police action, but unequivocal rejection and condemnation by all. Violence, or threats of violence, have no place in political discourse.
Someone called Mike Hosking a moron on Twitter that got a lot of media attention. Someone told his psychiatrist he wanted to bomb John Key & was imprisoned. Helen Clark had an axe through her window. Dildos, meringues, buckets of mud. The hoi polloi are getting restless. Hooton thrives on hatred.
See my comment @ 19 Tinshed. Read the link because Andrew Little made it clear there was no justification for that type of aggressive behaviour. He then goes on to say he has observed an upsurge in such behaviour in recent years and he believed it was partly in response to the struggle so many NZers are experiencing because of harsh government actions.
And in case there is an attempt to “blame the behaviour on Labour”, he pointed out that the kind of vicious commentary some right wing PR commentators indulge in is also adding to the problem. (I paraphrase)
He is correct on both counts.
Edit: My last sentence @19 is tongue in cheek. I’m not encouraging “aggressive” action be taken against Hooton as some rwnj might try to claim.
My issue with the factors you raise – that Little condemned the behaviour and then went on to observe that harsh government actions makes such behaviour understandable, is that it reeks of victim-blaming. It is kinda of like having a bob each way – violence is unacceptable but I understand why people are violent. I suspect that many people hear is only the second part – times are hard, so violence is understandable. I am not sure that is the right response to threats to kill politicians.
So Tinshed you’re saying that a political leader is not allowed to reflect on what might be causing the behaviour? That is precisely what Andrew Little should be doing when it is appropriate. And it is appropriate to point out the treatment meted out to so many people by this government is what is behind the increase in the behaviour. It is also appropriate to point out the aggressive verbal attacks by right wing commentators also plays a role in the behaviour. Matthew Hooton in particular is a purveyor of hatred.
What I observe is that no-one here really condemns the implied violence directed at Paula Bennett, but instead finds reasons for the behaviour elsewhere. Matthew Hooton is just a political commentator who most here disagree with. He doesn’t publish death threats, yet those that do seem to get a free pass. I find it odd that some commentators here seem so eager to criticise Matthew Hooton as a purveyor of hate, yet are much less inclined to condemn the violence directed at National Party Cabinet ministers. I believe Andrew Little also falls into that category. You may see this as Little merely “reflecting” on what he sees, but I see it differently. Violence has no place in our political discourse and must be unreservedly denounced.
Violence has no place in our political discourse and must be unreservedly denounced.
Well, I call dubbing opposition politicians mad/stupid/ idiots/deranged as being a form of violent political discourse. Especially when they are patently untrue. So how about you reserve some of your ‘denouncing’ for Matthew Hooton.
And what about the violence directed and Labour and Green politicians eh? There’s plenty of it but they tend not to make too much of a fuss about it.
Well, I call dubbing opposition politicians mad/stupid/ idiots/deranged as being a form of violent political discourse.
With respect, from someone who also said,and I quote, I was using his own words against him with some accuracy – as anyone who has listened to him on radio and elsewhere could testify.. What you seem to be saying is that it is OK to call Hooton mad/stupid/idiots/deranged because a) he used these words to describe other people b) they are true when describing him, but should anyone else uses the very same adjectives to describe opposition politicians then they are engaging in political violence. Sorry, I don’y see that way and suggest you are demonstrating a double standard.
Hooton says the one thing he was ashamed about “when you read it in the cold light of day” was the bit where the blogger Cactus Kate (real name Cathy Odgers) asks for Hager’s home address, so she can pass it on to wealthy Chinese clients angered by a study Hager co-authored about tax havens: “Chop chop for Nicky, ” wrote Odgers. Hooton gave her Hager’s street name (but not number)
There’s other stuff that never makes it into political discourse. Like how many suicides, mental health issues, domestic violence and regular violent incidents happen each year that can be linked to the effect of WINZ policies and culture? But then again maybe it’s more important we talk about Bennett instead..
The streets of London have seen an increase in bike riders and a decrease in car commuters. According to an article published by the BBC, the number of cyclists during rush hour will outnumber cars within the new few years.
According to Transport for London, over the last decade and a half car drivers have decreased by almost 50% – from 137,000 in 2000 to 64,000 in 2014 – while the number of cyclists has tripled from 12,000 to 36,000. The authority touts the statistics as “a feat unprecedented in any major city.”
More bad news for supporters of the status quo and good news for the rest of us.
1 of a series on TPP Beware of TPP’s Investor–State Dispute Settlement Provision
By Joseph Stiglitz | 03.28.16
,blockquote>The alleged goal of ISDS is to increase security for investors in states without an adequate “rule of law.” But the fact that the U.S. is insisting on the same provisions in Europe, where legal safeguards are as strong as they are in the U.S., suggests another motive: the desire to make it harder to adopt new financial regulations, environmental laws, worker protections, and food and health safety standards. http://rooseveltinstitute.org/beware-tpps-investor-state-dispute-settlement-provision/
Also well worth a read from a study by Krzysztof J. Pelc
Using newly released data covering 696 investment disputes, I
assess some of the central claims about ISDS. I argue that the regime has indeed undergone a major shift: a majority of claims deal not with direct takings by low rule of law countries, but with regulation in democratic states. The result of this shift towards indirect expropriation affects firms’ incentives:claimants may gain even when they lose a challenge, if litigation can deter governments’ regulatory ambitions. The result, as I show, is an increase in the number of cases, accompanied by a precipitous decrease in their legal merit. Investors bringing indirect expropriation claims also appear far less likely to settle, and more likely to publicize the dispute,
consistently with theoretical expectations.
Local body voting papers went in the post on Friday, and should be arriving over the course of this week (mine arrived today). And if you care about climate change, I urge you to vote. While local government seems irrelevant and out of touch (like a whine of old white ...
Like many people, my submission on the Zero Carbon Bill urged more ambitious targets. And if the select committee was in any doubt, they're needed:An assessment backed by the world’s major climate science bodies has found commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions must be at least tripled and increased by ...
NZ Energy and Environment Business Week reports (in Scoop) that the government is finally moving on reforming the Crown Minerals Act, including banning mining on conservation land and repealing the hated Anadarko Amendment:The Government is planning to change the Crown Minerals Act’s purpose from “promoting” mining in light of changing ...
Anti-fluoride campaigners think a new Canadian fluoride IQ study is the best thing since sliced bread but the scientific critiques warn they are wrong. Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty The new Canadian ...
Reprinted from Jacobinmag by Jane Slaughter and Chris Brooks Almost 50,000 UAW workers are on strike against GM and a two-tier labor system that undermines worker solidarity. But members may need to wage a battle on two fronts — against the company, but also against their own union leadership. Forty-nine ...
Before Jacingrant There Was Gracinda: Grant Robertson and his 2014 running mate, Jacinda Ardern. She stood at his side: loyal and obliging, as she had ever been. The media dubbed this duo “Gracinda” – a sort of political “Brangelina”. The other young people who worked alongside Robertson were also ambitious ...
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...
Is the terrorist Organisation Greenpeace and the loony Green parties around the World hiring professional internet trolls? I have noticed a trend lately where if you post research, news articles or even comments that show the manmade climate change scam to be just that, you are immediately attacked, often within ...
Today is the first day of the global climate strike. Led by schoolkids, people all around the world are going to protest to demand action on climate change. New Zealand isn't doing it till next Friday (join us!), but if you want to get active early, there's plenty to do ...
The Herald has a story today about the 400 MW of wind power currently under construction. Good news, right? Except that none of it is being driven by policy (instead, its about replacing Contact Energy's Taranaki Combined Cycle gas-fired power plant, due to shut down in 2022), and most of ...
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...
The Make It 16 campaign to lower the voting age is launching this afternoon, and they have already announced plans to challenge the law in court:The campaign, named "Make it 16" will launch at Parliament on Friday, with plans to take their case to the High Court, testing the rights ...
by Daphna Whitmore The long years of Netanyahu’s reign are drawing to an end. For years he has epitomized reactionary zionism as he oversaw hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers seize land in the West Bank. There are now 700,000 settlers, putting an end to the myth that Israel was ...
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...
The Operation Burnham inquiry continued to question senior NZDF staff today, and their shoddy coverup over their knowledge of civilian casualties continue to fall apart. If you recall, first, we were asked to believe that it was all a series of "mistakes and errors": a senior officer with multiple degrees ...
The Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2) had part of its committee stage yesterday. its a generally tedious bill about the nitty-gritty of local government reorganisation. But it includes a clause making the Local Government Commission subject to the Ombudsmen Act, and hence the OIA. Great! Except of ...
Yesterday Ihumātao's mana whenua reached a consensus that they would like their land back, and asked the government to negotiate with Fletcher's for its return. The government's response? Try and undermine that consensus, while talking about how doing anything would undermine existing Treaty settlements. The first is just more bad ...
Its Suffrage Day, the 126th anniversary of women winning the right to vote (but not stand in elections) in New Zealand. And to celebrate, the government has bought Kate Sheppard's house in Christchurch:The government has bought Kate Sheppard's former home in Christchurch for more than $4 million. The Ilam villa ...
The UN climate summit is happening in new York next week, and unlike previous years, coal-burners and denier-states are not being invited to speak:Leading economies such as Japan and Australia will not be invited to speak at next week’s crunch UN climate change summit, as their continued support for coal ...
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...
Please spread widely, and sign, to support science and rationalism over the new irrationalism sweeping universities and institutions. PROJECT NETTIE Sexual reproduction, the generation of offspring by fusion of genetic material from two different individuals, evolved over 1 billion years ago. It is the reproductive strategy of all higher animals ...
Just when I was thinking that Palmerston North's mayoral race (which includes a convicted child molester / public wanker and a convicted child beater) was the worst in the country, Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere opened his mouth:Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere is being slammed for using the words "sieg ...
We reprint below an article from the excellent website the Economics of Imperialism by Tony Norfield This is an update of the statistics for my Index of Power, using data for 2018-19 and discussing what a country’s ranking reflects. The major change is that China’s rank has shifted up and ...
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...
Alone, Alone, All, All, Alone: To argue that the Prime Minister is the victim of her advisers’ failure to keep her informed may offer Jacinda some measure of exoneration – but only at the cost of casting her as a hopeless political ingénue. A star-dusted muppet, whose only purpose is to ...
In times of hysteria about the “World coming to an end” and “rising sea levels” so-called ‘Journalists’ who can barely spell words longer than four letters are having a ball! Though the majority of the Public have worked out that manmade climate change is nothing short of pseudo-science, and the ...
I don't want to give pblicity to certain parts of the internet that are better left to fester in their own irrelevance (I know, a bit like this place) but the listing of Chris Trotter as a 'author' on Cameron Slater's spinoff website, the BFD requires some explanation.Now, I don't ...
The text below is a Twitter thread by Heather Heying that explains the essence of sexual reproduction and it long evolutionary history. She is an evolutionary biologist and a “professor-in-exile” after she and her husband, Bret Weinstein, stood up to supporters of an enforced “Day of Absence” for white staff and teachers ...
With crunch time for new Zealand climate policy approaching, most of the New Zealand media have got on board with a global reporting effort to cover the issue. There's one strand of stories today about polling and what it shows about changing public attitudes to the crisis, but the strand ...
Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...
Current and former NZDF top brass are being publicly grilled this week by the hit and run inquiry over their public responses to allegations of civilian casualties. Previously, they've claimed there were no casualties, a position which led them to lie to Ministers and to the public. Now, they're saying ...
by Rafael D. Quiles (gender-critical gay man from Puerto Rico) The writing on the wall is right in people’s faces and people just don’t see it or don’t want to. What could actually possess a heterosexual male to want to feminize himself and claim that he is a lesbian? Because ...
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...
by the Redline blog collective At Redline we are very saddened to hear of the death of Magdalen Burns who passed away on the morning of Friday, September 13 (British time). Magdalen was a great fighter for the rights of women in general and lesbian women in particular, a defender ...
The Brexit issue has certainly brought with it a series of apparently difficult constitutional issues, many of them concerning the respective roles of the executive and parliament. Most of them arise because of the unwillingness of MPs, despite their professions to the contrary, to be bound by a constitutional rarity ...
. . This blogpost is different to my usual format of reporting on issues… Since July 1011, I have blogged on a variety of political issues; near always political and/or environmental; mostly highly critical of the previous National Government. Other issues included Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of ...
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...
The government has released its Arms Legislation Bill, containing the second tranche of changes to gun laws following the March 15 massacre. And it all looks quite sensible: a national gun register, higher penalties for illegal possession and dealing, tighter restrictions on arms dealers and shooting clubs, and a shorter ...
Private prisons are a stain on humanity. Prison operators explicitly profit from human misery, then lobby for longer prisons terms so they can keep on profiting. And in the US, prison companies run not only local and state prisons, but also Donald Trump's immigration concentration camps. Faced with this moral ...
When National was in power, they were very keen on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) - basicly, using private companies to finance public infrastructure as a way of hiding debt from the public. They were keen on using them for everything - roads, schools, hospitals. But as the UK shows, that "service" ...
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...
by Philip Ferguson Much of the left, even people who formally identify as marxists, have collapsed politically in the face of postmodern gender theory of the sort pioneered by American philosopher Judith Butler. For Butler even biological sex is socially constructed. “If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps ...
The media is reporting that the (alleged) Labour party sexual assaulter has resigned from their job at Parliament, which means hopefully he won't be turning up there making people feel unsafe in future. Good. But as with everything about this scandal, it just raises other questions. Most significantly: why the ...
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...
Property developers think there is an "oversupply" of houses in Auckland:High turnover rates and falling prices may be a sign that there are too many new houses going in to some parts of Auckland, commentators say. [...] Property developer David Whitburn said there was a "bit of an oversupply" in ...
Labour Party president Nigel Haworth resigned yesterday over the party's sexual assault scandal. But while that's good news, its unlikely to take away the stench of a coverup. Because according to Paula Bennett in Parliament yesterday, pretty much everyone in the Prime Minister's office was involved as well:I have been ...
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...
There has been a lot of talk about Boris Johnson wanting an election, and he has blustered with great gusto about 'chicken' Jeremy Corbyn refusing one, but I think there are many reasons why he is secretly glad he has been refused the opportunity:The Tories are an utter rabble,tearing themselves ...
Scottish appeal court judges have declared that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to the October Brexit deadline is unlawful. The three judges, chaired by Lord Carloway, Scotland’s most senior judge, overturned an earlier ruling that the courts did not have the powers to interfere in the prime ...
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...
I understand there's some stuff going round about how the SIS "was removed from the list of public offices covered by the Public Records Act in 2017". The context of course being their records derived from US torture, which will be disposed of or sealed. The good news is that ...
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ...
Australia is burning down again, and meanwhile its natural disaster minister is denying climate change:Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, has said that he doesn’t “know if climate change is manmade”. Clarifying earlier comments that the question is “irrelevant” when considering the Coalition government’s response to ...
Auckland Philippines Solidarity is excited to host Professor Judy Taguiwalo for a speaking tour of NZ in September. She is a well-known activist in the Philippines and was a political prisoner under the Marcos dictatorship. Professor Taguiwalo briefly served as a Cabinet member under President Duterte but was forced from ...
This open letter to the Green Party was penned after an opinion piece by Jill Abigail, a feminist and founding member of the party, was censored by the Greens’ leadership. (Redline has reprinted her article here).The intolerance of the Green Party leaders and their acceptance of the misogyny of gender ...
Today is a Member's day, and David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill continues its slow crawl through its committee stage. They're spending the whole day on it today, though the first hour is likely to be spent on voting left over from last time. After that they'll move on ...
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says that if the Deputy Prime Minister has indicated progress is slow for welfare reform, an appropriate and timely response would be for the Government to urgently adopt the simple and effective changes outlined in ...
Leading accounting software provider MYOB has welcomed the Coalition Government’s focus on innovation with the announcement of new tax incentives and investment rules targeted at small business. ...
IrrigationNZ welcomes the Government’s Economic Plan for a productive, sustainable and inclusive economy released today, but says a comprehensive, nationwide strategy for New Zealand’s water is missing, and could underpin the country’s well-being. ...
International Day of Older Persons is a day to celebrate older people – to highlight the value of all older people and to promote dignity and respect. The 2019 international theme is “The Journey to Age Equality“. ...
One in six New Zealanders did not complete the 2018 Census - a result which has already led to the resignation of the Government's chief statistician. ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has cautioned the nation and policy makers on the 2018 Census figures released today and indicated that while some work has been done the fact that Maori remained unrepresented as a national figure in the tally on the day ...
A ground-breaking study which looks at how Māori and Samoan peoples describe their experience of youth justice across three different but comparable countries is calling for participants. ...
New Zealand’s 34th Census of Population and Dwellings was held on 6 March 2018. We combined data from the census forms with administrative data to create the 2018 Census dataset, which meets Stats NZ’s quality criteria for population structure ...
Results from the 2018 Census show New Zealand’s cultural make-up is becoming more diverse after high population growth in the past five years, Stats NZ said today. ...
Population growth since 2013 has resulted in one new general electorate in the North Island but no change to the number of Māori electorates for the next general election, Stats NZ said today. ...
As the public submissions process draws to a close, and with more than 900 submissions received to date, the Royal Commission is still urging people to come forward if they have information which may help with its inquiries. “We have twice extended ...
Amending the rules on black hole expenditure and loss continuity shows excellent judgment from the Government, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
If we want New Zealand to be the best place in the world to be a child, the Government needs to increase benefits, remove sanctions, individualise benefits, and fix abatement rates now, says Child Poverty Action Group and ActionStation . ...
Today the we have another chance to do the right thing to really lift incomes for thousands of people in this country who are missing out, says The Salvation Army Te Ope Whakaora. ...
Saving the ocean’s environment continues tomorrow as Ngati Ruanui Iwi takes on Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) who wish to mine iron sand off the South Taranaki Bight in the Tasman Sea in what has been a five-year battle. ...
Wellington - 23 September 2019 -- Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) and Greenpeace are in the Court of Appeal in Wellington this week, defending last year’s High Court ruling that quashed Trans-Tasman Resources’ (TTR) consent to mine the South ...
“Climate change is here - we all need to do our part.” Monday 23rd September 2019. Press Release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre Climate change is happening. CEAC – compendium facts tribute to ‘Climate Change Week’ https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/115098866/exceptionally-rare-warming-above-antarctica-may-be-affecting-nzs-weather ...
Criminal law changes are now increasingly being used by politicians as a vote gathering tool pandering to lynch mob special interest groups. To look tough against crime, govts constantly increase penalties, create new crimes, and make it harder to get ...
It has been two years since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called climate change her generation's nuclear free moment. And on Monday, against a backdrop of global climate protest, she will give the opening speech at the United Nation's climate ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson is under intense scrutiny. New figures show economic growth has slowed to levels not seen for six years. And he has chosen not to answer questions about when he heard about serious allegations of a sexual assault cover-up ...
NZDF Attends Commemorations to Mark International Mission in East Timor A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent participated today in the 20th anniversary commemorations of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) mission in Dili. The commemoration ...
They’ve only been up and running for a few months, but a New Zealand not-for-profit has already made a big impact on period poverty in New Zealand. ...
The allocation of money for publicly funded broadcasting for election campaigns should be turned on it's head according to Massey University professor of communication design Claire Robinson. ...
Disappointment expressed by Fletcher Building CEO, Ross Taylor, reflects the increasing frustration held by many with this Government’s failure to protect private property rights.[1] ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee today launched an eight-week, nationwide call for evidence on options available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ...
Social Credit has lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman over the way the Overseas Investment Office is handling its official information request for disclosure of documents on the sale of Westland Milk Products to Chinese company Inner Mongolian ...
This Friday in Solidarity with the Global Climate Strike All of the SodaStream’s e-commerce platforms and head office operations will be closed to kick-off the week-long event, and employees will march the #CLIMATESTRIKE in Auckland on 27 September. ...
Federated Farmers congratulates the Auditor-General’s office on its release today of its report Managing Freshwater Quality: Challenges and Opportunities. ...
Growth has now slowed to a 6-year low, and downside risks are dominating. June quarter GDP growth came in at 0.5%qoq, in line with our expectation, and slightly above consensus. Although there were a few sensational reports of the chance of a negative print. ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is calling the release of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA) framework a good first step in balancing New Zealand’s response to climate change. ...
Family First NZ says that a new Colorado report compiled by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area finds marijuana-positive traffic fatalities, hospitalisations, marijuana use, and illegal market activity have exploded since marijuana legalization. ...
This year’s Ratepayers’ Report , local government league tables released yesterday, reveals which local councils owe the most and which owe the least. ...
Rachel MacGregor welcomes the decision released today by Justice Hinton. The key issue on which all the various litigation has been based is the question, did Colin Craig sexually harass Rachel. That question has been answered – he did. Justice ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marissa Parrott, Reproductive Biologist, Wildlife Conservation & Science, Zoos Victoria, and Honorary Research Associate, BioSciences, University of Melbourne Australia’s water rats, or Rakali, are one of Australia’s beautiful but lesser-known native rodents. And these intelligent, semi-aquatic rats have revealed another talent: they ...
Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters says the government has had "meaningful" discussions with Fletchers on how to resolve the situation at Ihumātao. ...
Joan Fleming on Wild Honey: Reading New Zealand Women’s Poetry, the humming, house-like opus by poet and champion of poets, Paula Green. When Miranda July came to Melbourne in 2016, she did something that I have found difficult to forget. She told us that she was going to stage a conversation ...
By Jamie Tahana of RNZ Pacific Taiwan suffered two major diplomatic blows in the Pacific this week with both the Solomon Islands and Kiribati severing their ties in favour of China. In just four days, Taiwan’s diplomatic allies fell from 17 to 15, further isolating the island as Beijing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lara Farrell, Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist, Griffith University If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.Where do phobias come from? – Olivia, age 12, Strathfield, Sydney. Phobias are an intense fear ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Rogers, Senior lecturer, School of Law and Justice, Southern Cross University The phrase “climate emergency” became part of the political lexicon this year. Governments at all levels made declarations of a climate emergency, as did various organisations such as the Australian ...
Following serious allegations emerging online, episode two of New Zealand Today has been removed from ThreeNow along with all relevant clips. Mediaworks have removed episode two of Guy Williams’ comedy series New Zealand Today from its streaming platform ThreeNow after being informed that there were serious allegations involving a person briefly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marcus Luigi Spiller, Associate Professor (Urban Planning) – honorary , University of Melbourne Labor’s Rudd-era National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) has come under attack just when it might be needed. The Abbott government stopped funding new deals under the scheme in 2014, ...
It’s Spinoff Youth Voting Week, where old people aren’t allowed to vote*. To celebrate, Tamsyn Matchett has written on a civics education programme giving teenagers a first sweet taste of local democracy before they’re legally permitted to vote for real.The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff ...
Carla van Zon, former artistic director of the Auckland Arts Festival, issues a call for artists to make their voices heard in the battle against climate change.I am passionate about the arts and believe art can change lives, attitudes and even the world, individual by individual. I also believe that ...
Christchurch City Councillor Deon Swiggs has identified himself as the person at the centre of a complaint of inappropriate behaviour, but denies he has done anything wrong. ...
Reporters have been denied any access to the prime minister's meeting with US President Donald Trump tomorrow, but Jacinda Ardern says it wasn't her decision. ...
New Zealand businesses will benefit from tax breaks worth at least $80 million over five years, to encourage them to spend more on research and innovation. ...
Nerds, rejoice. The day of reckoning is finally upon us, with the release of the data from the 2018 census. So what are some of the interesting facts and figures?Forget about how badly this Census was botched. Forget about how there are concerns over how accurate the response data is, ...
A perfectly preserved set of Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit and Veges went on sale this week. Hayden Donnell delivers an exclusive update on their fate.Everyone remembers their first encounter with Junk & Disorderly’s set of Big Fresh Animatronic Fruit & Veges. There’s something overpowering about the experience. The Butter looms ...
In our latest local elections 2019 race briefing (read the rest here), Don Rowe looks at the two horse race to control the tourism capital of New Zealand.The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.Where?Queenstown, ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Foreign affairs and trade Derek Cheng (Herald): Jacinda Ardern to take climate change stage in ...
The Government has included two small tax changes with its 32 page 'Economic Plan' that paints a big picture for economic and wellbeing transformation. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simone Casey, Research Associate, Future Social Service Institute, RMIT University In all Australia’s capital cities, average share-house rents in the inner suburbs (where jobs are concentrated) leave people without enough money for food and other basics, new research shows. This research, for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Lenten, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics and Finance, La Trobe University Tonight is the AFL’s annual night of nights, the red-carpet spectacular known as the Brownlow Medal vote count. The Brownlow is awarded to the season’s “fairest and best” player. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gianluca Demartini, Associate professor, The University of Queensland The information we encounter online everyday can be misleading, incomplete or fabricated. Being exposed to “fake news” on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can influence our thoughts and decisions. We’ve already ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Howard Manns, Lecturer in Linguistics, Monash University Not to put a damper on things, but Australian food hasn’t always made us happy little Vegemites. One needn’t look further than the humble meat pie to see how our love/hate relationship with Aussie tucker ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirrie J Ballard, Professor, Speech Pathology, University of Sydney Sam is a high school drama teacher — articulate, funny, smart. It’s an ordinary day and she isn’t feeling great, but pushes through. At morning tea, she spills coffee down her shirt; at ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Penelope Carroll, Researcher in Public Health, Massey University Our research project explored the everyday lives of disabled young people, aged from 12 to 25 years, with mobility, vision and hearing impairments. We measured and asked them about factors that enabled or constrained ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jagannath Adhikari, Sessional Lecturer, UNSW Reducing emissions from deforestation and farming is an urgent global priority if we want to control climate change. However, like many climate change problems, the solution is complicated. Cutting down forests to plant edible crops feeds some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Margaret Kristin Merga, Senior Lecturer in Education, Edith Cowan University Reading aloud can help young children learn about new words and how to sound them. There’s great value too in providing opportunities for children to enjoy regular silent reading, which is sustained ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lili Pâquet, Lecturer in Writing, University of New England In Dervla McTiernan’s book, The Scholar, published earlier this year, women are consistently used as the “fall guys” for men with high aspirations. Two young women are killed when they uncover fraud. Another ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Indonesia to send contaminated recycling back to NZ, LAWA report shows water quality dropping at more sites than not, and Spark Sport suffers harsh weekend.Shipping containers full of contaminated recycling could be shipped back to New Zealand, Anna Whyte from One News reported ...
Solomon Islands and Kiribati last week dramatically switched diplomatic allegiances from Taiwan to China, a shift with possibly wide-ranging implications writes Stephen Hoadley of the University of Auckland. ...
Jacinda Ardern has a busy agenda for her second trip to the annual leaders' week, not least a high-profile sit-down with US President Donald Trump. ...
An Auckland mayoral candidate has reacted furiously to an advertising approach from Māori Television, which he says was a pay-for-play offer of coverage. Alex Braae reports. Craig Lord, a long-shot candidate for the Auckland mayoralty, has described an advertising offer from Māori Television as inappropriate, and close to “extortion.”In an email ...
Until our mental health system gets its promised overhaul, we need to find cost-effective and creative ways for mental health professionals to increase their awareness across all areas of diversity. ...
Two important World Cup contests played out on Saturday night; one of which has consequences not just for this tournament in Japan, but possibly the next one in France, too. ...
Two important World Cup contests played out on Saturday night; one of which has consequences not just for this tournament in Japan, but possibly the next one in France, too. ...
Assessing the fallout – for better and for worse – of Spark’s dismal RWC debut.The worst fears of Spark came true over the weekend, as issues impacted its stream of the All Blacks’ pivotal matchup with South Africa, leading to it transferring the livestream to TVNZ’s Duke. The following day ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison was frank, when quizzed at a news conference during his visit to Washington, on whether he would be seeking to travel to China in the next year. “Well, you have to be invited ...
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Covering Climate Now: There’s a range of dairy-free ice creams available these days, but it’s a fair bet none will be as delicious – or satisfying – as making your own. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!If the latest stats ...
Covering Climate Action: Ahead of the UN’s Climate Action Summit, artist Joseph Michael and composer Rhian Sheehan teamed up to create Voices For The Future, a 30-minute installation projected onto the UN buildings.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Joseph Michael is ...
Open mike 29/03/2016 
Open mike is your post.
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http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11612925
The tax payers Unions opinion on the ubi.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/editorials/78314101/editorial-labours-universal-basic-income-idea-deserves-consideration
A more considered version, the affect on at home carers would be huge , and in MHO that’s how you sell the idea.
Herald editorial concludes a UBI would be dangerous socialism: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11612852
Emphasis mine, wording unchanged.
Panic stations! 😀
pearls clutched!
“Universal” welfare programmes effectively make EVERYBODY a beneficiary…
One looks forward to the Herald editor steadfastly refusing to accept universal superannuation turning them into a beneficiary after they’re 65, and instead returning the money to the government…
Nobody is forcing any millionnaires to claim Super ..
Righties add to the misinformation about Labour’s proposal (warning: contains Farrar and Hooten): http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2016/03/hooton_on_the_future_of_work.html
The future is all unknowable claim these intellectual giants, so why bother preparing for it (other than by implementing libertarianism, naturally). #pffft
Someone could possibly remind us of the link to use so you don’t have to go to whaleoil or kiwiblog? I thought there was one but haven’t noted it.
Incidentally an email from Scoop Gordon Campbell now overall Editor and two new Trustees Jeremy Rose and Jan River of Public Good Aotearoa NZ. Great news in every sense.
Donotlink is borked at the moment for some reason. Trustworthy alternative suggerstions welcome.
Using this at the mo
http://archive.li/
link to the sewer piece
http://archive.li/jDc3q
Thanks.
Did you notice this in the Stuff piece?
“Economist Brian Easton has written that, with a universal income, either “the required tax rates are horrendous or the minimum income is so low” it won’t eliminate poverty”.
If you have Brian, who is fairly much of the left, saying your ideas are barmy you are really in trouble.
My prediction is that in a couple of months Labour will simply stop talking about it and quietly drop the whole scheme. Pity really.
“Pity really”
Why?
You have to admit its got people talking about important things instead of the flag.
Labour have thrown the dice on UBI…lets see if it gives them some traction, or becomes a liability come the serious debates in 2017.
Which ever way one looks at a UBI, it can’t be done without a major rehash of the tax system in NZ. Money does not grow on tree’s (although I imagine more than 1 commentator here would say it does!! all that’s required is a printing press).
Labour are fools for mentioning the UBI, honestly, it’s as if they’ve forgotten how to be a political party.
This is not the path a major party should be going down, this is the sort of thing the Greens should be doing.
Seriously, where’s the damage control?
Oh common bm if it was the greens you would be here telling us how it proves the greens are , insert meme of the week here.
Robinson points out that the tpu are not to be taken seriously and leaves unspoken the fact that they are tools for the right.
Greens are a 10% party you’d expect them to promote more radical ideas.
Labour is supposed to be the foundation party of the left coalition, their role is to provide stability not wackiness.
Yes, dear, we really want your advice about the left should be doing 🙄
It’s very cute, you would almost think he cares about Labour.. almost.
Or cares about the left, lol.
or cares.
Some of us do nearly care about the NZLP.
As a democracy we need an effective opposition to try and hinder the Government from doing dumb things,and Labour is the best bet we have.
We dont see the Greens fulfilling that role, Winston’s not really doing it either, so while we may not vote Labour, we do care about its role in our democracy.
The Nats recovered from the low 20s and I expect that Labour will recover from its time in the 20s also.
From the moran who worships the party that created $120 billion worth of debt without creating growth, jobs, or infrastructure.
Hmmm
Growth: 2-3% per year over the next several years.
Jobs: Unemployment fallen to 5.3%
Infrastructure: Fibre Broadband, Roads of National Significance, Christchurch Rebuild.
Unfortunately Stuart your comment is without foundation.
I partially agree with you about the debt though – I am sure the government could have limited their spending over the last 7 years to minimize how much debt they incurred.
Oh do be quite BM.
Your advise about labour is always wrong. Actually never seen when you have been right. You jump on the band wagon of us who criticise the labour party with child like glee. But never in a constructive manor, unless it is to support some right wing nut job inside the labour party. It’s a bore.
and your fake pathos about the labour party is sickening.
You and yours just don’t want people to do better, are you opposed to helping the poor? Are you opposed to a society that thinks all it’s members are worth something?
And the RWNJ come in to tell the Left how they should act and why what we’re doing is all so bad.
Wonder what they’re afraid of.
The TPU study authored by Jim Rose, the guy who frequently bombards the Green facebook page with his writings to get his point across. Hmm credible…
To make them sleep easier I’d suggest introduction of a TPPA or Tax on Property Profit Actualised AKA CGT; it must be the TPU’s equivalent of a ‘nocturnal emission’.
Interesting.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/78321021/fidel-castro-to-barack-obama-we-dont-need-your-presents
“Quoting Obama’s declaration that “it is time, now, for us to leave the past behind,” the man who shaped Cuba during the second half of the 20th century writes that “I imagine that any one of us ran the risk of having a heart attack on hearing these words from the President of the United States.”
Castro then returns to a review of a half-century of US aggression against Cuba. Those events include the decades-long US trade embargo against the island; the 1961 Bay of Pigs attack and the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner backed by exiles who took refuge in the US.
He ends with a dig at the Obama administration’s drive to increase business ties with Cuba.”
The problem with Gallipoli is that it promotes Edwardian concepts of war as a purifying force for the nation.
What happens if Erdogan starts selling the ocean views to ISIS veterans ?
Useful discussion of Indias very large scale Job Guarantee scheme in practice.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=33238
What were you thinking, dear Sue? http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/78322250/labour-mp-sue-moroney-slammed-for-meanspirited-lockwood-flag-attack
Register of Pecuniary and Other Specified Interests of Members of Parliament
Clearly the Farrar/Slater/Lusk talking point du jour. Managed to generate 2 damning opinion pieces on Stuff politics already.
I look forward to National MPs receiving the same hysterical scrutiny of their twitter feeds.
Looks like she didnt bow and scrape to the rich like everyone is expected to in John Key’s (and to a lesser extent, Helen Clark’s) NZ.
You wont catch me paying fealty to the rich.
Something for the RWNJs, who keep telling us that people want more sprawl, to think about:
Isn’t it truly amazing how the RWNJs are almost always wrong in their beliefs.
You neglect to mention this is not a NZ study.
I bet it would be different here.
Isnt it truly amazing that LWI’s are almost always 1/2 quoting something trying to make it fit their own personal agenda.
/sarc
I thought it was pretty obvious.
I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be but it would be nice to have actual study on it. Oh, here’s one:
Seems that it’s probably the same in NZ as in Australia.
How different do you think it would be?
Do you think NZers are lazier than the overseas sample?
hah, if they were lazier then they’d be demanding high density housing because it’s cheaper.
I really do love Samantha Bee
Just wondering what Matthew Hooton will do once he becomes part of the precariat. Does he have any skills other than speaking with a forked tongue? What could he retrain as?
Good to hear the left wing guy challenging his bullshit on Nine to Noon.
Good to hear the left wing guy challenging his bullshit on Nine to Noon.
I agree, weka. Stephen Mills actually seemed to have thought about what he was going to say today, and to have worked out that Hooton needs to be challenged constantly.
I was concerned, however, that Hooton still does the great majority of the talking, and still gets away with the most outrageous statements.
Still, a much better performance from Stephen Mills. He’s given Hooton a hard time in the past….
Certainly Mills performed to a much higher standard than he has on some recent programs….
Key-Sucker Audrey Young still picking over the corpse of her darling’s flag fuck up. Presumably to impress that there’s something essentially rum in the result. No Audrey. Your darling Man-Child’s vanity fucked him up. You as well need to grow up. As a journalist you’re an irresponsible disgrace.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11612563
Audrey
Oh dear! “What went wrong?!” Audrey asks, plaintively… well, she’ll have to find her navel before she can do any gazing. I don’t envy her that task.
Reposting this excellent doco (50mins) on Glyphosate that TMM posted the other day. Glyphosate is the most common weed killer used in farming, and it’s also used globally and domestically for preparing fields for crop production. Basically we eat plant material that comes into contact with a poison:
It’s also interesting the reassurance we get from the media from the likes of a New Zealand weed scientist “expert”:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/295040/glyphosate-ban-would-change-farming
This seems to be at odds with the documentary, that glyphosate isn’t deactivated at all.
Yes but it’s reactivated by the formula in the chemtrails.
You would do well as a spokesperson for the manufacturer Monsanto, who can’t seem to put up a good case for it being safe other than it’s been in use for 40 years. Then let the state and any other not for profit organisation do all the fact finding for you on the actual risks.
From the Weeds Control Methods Handbook pdf
So the RNZ “expert” was basically talking bull shit.
Further to the above its not difficult to find many studies that confirm that Round Up as sold by Monsanto is more toxic than was once thought. Here is one reviewed in Scientific American
It’s hardly astonishing, given that glyphosate works by suppressing an enzyme that’s found in plants but not animals. The list of things more deadly to human embryonic cells than glyphosate would be a very, very long one that included some really-not-very-toxic-at-all stuff on it.
🙄
Ok so I’m sure you would be happy to drink it.
If you were to read the studies further you would see:
““This clearly confirms that the [inert ingredients] in Roundup formulations are not inert,” wrote the study authors from France’s University of Caen. “Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death [at the] residual levels” found on Roundup-treated crops, such as soybeans, alfalfa and corn, or lawns and gardens.
The research team suspects that Roundup might cause pregnancy problems by interfering with hormone production, possibly leading to abnormal fetal development, low birth weights or miscarriages.”
“The authorizations for using these Roundup herbicides must now clearly be revised since their toxic effects depend on, and are multiplied by, other compounds used in the mixtures,” Seralini’s team wrote.
The EPA’s classification of Roundup was initially done in 1993 and hasn’t been reviewed since. The study quoted above was done in 2009. I would not place a great deal of reliance on the EPA’s assessment at this stage. Particularly as most of the research was conducted by the chemical industry and in particular Monsanto itself:
Ok so I’m sure you would be happy to drink it.
No.
1. Less toxic than many other things != non-toxic.
2. Just about everything’s lethal in a big enough dose.
Re the studies claiming glyphosate is dangerous, is that the same Seralini whose study claiming that GMOs caused tumours in rats had to be withdrawn because it was so bad? The EU says: “To date, more than 800 studies have been conducted along with evaluations carried out by regulatory authorities across the world, all of which have confirmed the safety of glyphosate.”
“To date, more than 800 studies have been conducted along with evaluations carried out by regulatory authorities across the world, all of which have confirmed the safety of glyphosate.”
That is not what the concern is about – talk about shifting goal posts!
The problem is with the mixture of glyphosate and POEA. Few of the so-called “independent” reviews consider this. Certainly not the regulatory authorities who take their “research” from the manufacturers and then those outside the states who take their research from the EPA. It’s all a big back scratching exercise. No wonder people are turning off, and doubting “scientific” regulatory authorities when their research is so compromised. It’s like asking the Koch Bros to give a dissertation on Global Warming!
Then to cite 800 studies – well they would not all have been done in the past year would they. And Roundup has been around for a few years now – but its only in the recent past that people have begun to wonder if some of the things they are experiencing now might not be connected with this product. I myself used Roundup extensively on the farm for a number of years and before that Paraquat – before it was taken off the market because of its toxicity. oh and the EU approved the use of it 2004!
So, yeah, shifting goalposts. Apparently, glyphosate isn’t anything to worry about, but polyoxyethyleneamine is. I wouldn’t know enough about it to comment, but if that is the situation maybe people could stop wittering on about glyphosate?
And when it comes to “compromised” research that can’t be trusted, you really couldn’t find a better example than anti-GMO activist Gilles-Eric Seralini. After the rat-tumours propaganda fiasco, any research with his name on it is worthless.
Almost all of the criticism against the Seralini research was from researchers primarily funded by the Industry, and that includes the regulatory bodies which (as I have previously pointed out) rely heavily on Industry funded research. If the critics of Serelini really wanted to prove their point then they would repeat the research with greater numbers of animals, rats less susceptible to cancer, and controls which they were happy with. They may not like the results however.
Roundup weed-killer – glyphosate – is “probably carcinogenic,” according the World Health Organization. The decision was laid out in an analysis in The Lancet Oncology.
And who am I to argue with that.
Glyphosate is also one of the most commonly used garden herbicides, as well as the most commonly used in agriculture. It is sold under different names but everyone knows it as Roundup.
With our she’ll be right attitude here in NZ we tend to use it with wild abandon at the sight of the tiniest of weeds, not knowing or understanding just how toxic it is. I mean, it’s sold on supermarket shelves so it must be safe right?
Our local council seems to love Monsanto too. It sprays council berms, gutters and parks liberally and excessively.
As well as being a health risk it’s also largely unnecessary. You can pull weeds out of the ground. For free! Or if you have tough weeds on a paved patio you can sprinkle the weeds with the cheapest table salt you can buy and pour boiling water over and your weeds die almost instantly. I’ve done this successfully in the past. Or for large scale weeding you can purchase a hand held weed burner, powered by a gas cannister.
Good tips Rosie, I have been thinking about this a bit lately. I don’t get why people would want to liberally go around and poison weed spray over everything around their house (I have seen it a couple of times recently). After all it is just going to come back in a few months, and you’ve created a possible health risk, changed soil conditions and had an effect on the insect life too.
I also see it with councils where they spray along fencelines and edges of tracks. Most of it is unnecessary, unless there is something like a blackberry infestation growing across a track its a good idea. But spraying fencelines again and again to create some scorched earth at the bottom of it is crazy, especially with a toxic chemical.
I have tried a salt and vinegar spray before on blackberry, with dishwashing liquid to make it stick to the leaves, but it didn’t really work, only a small amount of the leaves browned off. So I might look into that gas torch idea. Thanks.
Blackberry is particularly hard to get rid of and even Roundup won’t be effective. Good luck with the gas torch. Heavy duty herbicides such as Tordon and Scrub Cutter are used on blackberry. Even though 2,4,D is banned in NZ, a variant of this chemical is used in the manufacture of these two herbicides. You need full PPE to apply this stuff, but I wouldn’t go near it myself.
Tordon was used aerially on gorse on a farm near us a few years ago. There were two breaches of the regional council’s rules. One was a lack of notification to nearby residents and the other was a breach of the 300 metre buffer zone. The helicopter pilot dumped this crap, literally, over our neighbourhood, as people were walking up the street to the bus stop and cycling to work in the morning rush. Despite the evidence people gathered, it took a massive effort to get the regional council to act. The pilot ended up with a “please don’t do this again” note. We really do have such a lazze faire approach to agrichemical safety in this country.
Final point. I used to work in the organic food industry in the 90’s, 2000’s. I remember visiting a supplier’s apple orchard. As well as the air being alive with bee’s and butterflies due to the lack of pesticides there was a marked difference in the quality of the soil around his tree’s compared to the soil around the tree’s of his neighbours. His neighbour was a supplier of conventionally grown apples to the supermarkets. Despite it being a dry time of the year, the soil on the organic orchard retained it’s structure and a bit more moisture, where as the soil of the roundup sprayed tree bases were crumbly and in large chunks. It looked dead.
The health of the different soils were in stark contrast. And the neighbour had all that extra cost too.
Basically we eat plant material that comes into contact with a poison
It comes into contact with dirt and the excretions of a wide variety of different creatures, too. If you’re going to panic about stuff you can’t see that is entering the sacred temple of your body, the risk of microbiological contamination offers far better material than whatever traces of herbicide might still be on there.
“the risk of microbiological contamination offers far better material than whatever traces of herbicide might still be on there.”
Only if you are microbe-phobic.
The issue is what humans have evolved with. We’re actually pretty good at living alongside microbes and dirt, with some notable exceptions, because we have millions of years of co-evolution (those that best fit survived). The number of chemicals we are exposed to now is massively higher than pre-industrial revolution, and science is still not so good at studying culmulative effect, multiple variables, and individual response.
We know that some herbicides are dangerous (which is why we’ve banned them), so unless you are arguing that Glyphosate-based herbicides are a special class of chemicals with zero side effects (would love to see that), we’re talking a matter of degrees. A big part of the problem is that PR has been a major driver of information (Monsanto are the new tobacco companies), so you have conflicting ideas about what the problem might be, let alone what it actually is. Fortunately there does seem to be much more non-industry research being done now to present a more comprehensive picture of what the issue are.
The thing about evolution is that the microbes also evolve, and quicker than we do. You’re far more likely to get sick from microbial life forms in your food than from glyphosate, which is pretty much never found in quantities that have a chance of being harmful to humans (and that’s not because big government and Monsanto have prevented anyone testing the levels remaining in food, it’s because there’s been plenty of testing and the results show no threat).
We do know that some herbicides are dangerous and have banned them, which is one of the main reasons glyphosate is so ubiquitous – it works and is (relatively) safe. If it wasn’t, it would be among those banned herbicides. This is a subject like vaccination, in which anti-science irrationalists convince themselves that the lack of evidence something is harmful doesn’t trump their gut instinct that it just has to be.
Uh, then why is it being found in German mother’s breast milk in far greater levels than what is regulated for humans?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/intolerable-levels-of-monsantos-glyphosate-roundup-found-in-breast-milk/5459080
And why is it in the documentary they show evidence that the chemical can change gene structures and destroy good gut bacteria. In studies with rats they found feeding them human tolerable amounts of glyphosate that the rats grew large tumors. And why were several farmers finding that their livestock were having lower reproductive rates and higher birth defects when their stock was being fed glyphosate based feed?
The industry response is that these trials/tests didn’t follow some proper scientific process, so they should be ignored. Industry don’t seem to want to conduct their own trials with matching conditions – funny that! You’re the one sounding like the science irrationalist I’m afraid.
The thing is, those studies really don’t follow proper scientific process. Actual scientists do study this stuff – and come up with results like “glyphosate, the main ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, does not accumulate in mother’s breast milk.” (Washington State University study).
The WSU study was a scientific one conducted by a biological scientist who is “an executive committee member for the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation and a national spokesperson for the American Society for Nutrition.”
The German study claimed to have been carried out by the Green Party is mentioned on globalresearch.ca, an anti-globalisation activist site, and a detox nutter site, with the study itself not available. The American study that prompted it was carried out by “anti-GMO activist group Moms Across America with “Sustainable Pulse,” an online “news service” published by anti-GMO campaigner and organic food entrepreneur Henry Rowlands.” (academicsreview.org, in a piece aptly titled “Debunking pseudo science “lab testing” health risk claims about glyphosate (Roundup)”).
hi pm,
i would like to point you in the direction of you-tube and dr don huber and what he has to say about glyphosate.
very reasonable man making some uncomfortable points.
The thing is, those studies really don’t follow proper scientific process…The WSU study was a scientific one…
It is a non-peer reviewed study done in conjunction with Monsanto. The authors have since published a paper specifically on their quantification method ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4743594/ ) but not on the methodology of their overall study, which was presented as a report at a conference.
“The thing is, those studies really don’t follow proper scientific process…
The WSU study was a scientific one…”
The WSU study is a non-peer reviewed report presented at a conference and done in conjunction with Monsanto. The authors have now published a paper specifically on their quantification method but not on the methodology of the overall study.
Ok, so the breast milk study is looking dubious. Here’s a couple of other studies that looks like “proper scientific process” to me, but what would I know.
http://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-015-0056-1
http://www.gmoevidence.com/dr-jayasumana-glyphosate-leads-to-5-fold-increase-in-deadly-kidney-disease-risk/
I find it interesting that you’ve avoided that evidence that does look like proper science and that the World Health Organisation thinks it’s a carcinogen. This should be swept aside because we have nothing to worry about right?.. Wouldn’t best practice be, lets stop it’s use until we find out what it’s doing and what it’s effects are. Maybe that’s the approach that countries like Sri Lanka and some in Europe who have banned it already, will go down.
The list of things the WHO thinks “probably causes cancer” is a very long one and is of little value in the absence of the info “what level of risk” and “at what dose.” For example, they think red meat “probably causes cancer,” ie some studies have shown a slight increase in risk if you eat lots of it. This comes under the heading of “Big Whoop.”
A useful rule of thumb when considering how credible studies about glyphosate are, is to figure out whether the people carrying out the studies are anti-GMO activists or not. Activism and science are about as compatible as religion and science – ie, not very. Both the articles you’ve linked to are anti-GMO activism – one is featured on an anti-GMO activist web site and the other involves Gilles-Eric Seralini, whose reputation hasn’t survived his rat-tumours propaganda exercise.
Keep poisons out of our ecosystem thanks.
How do you propose to do that? Our ecosystem is full of stuff that’s poisonous to one thing or another.
And humans being the smartasses that they are, think that we can just pour into that mix with no effect.
A quote from Oscar Wilde who is still amusing and satirical.
Sincerity
A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.
Little cops a fair amount of flak for republic referendum suggestion
I’d quote but it was just a selection of inane BS comments from off of Facebook seemingly selected to show that there’s no support for becoming a republic.
Really, if they want to report on the public’s feeling of becoming a republic then the should be doing a poll. Like this:
Yeah, we won’t be staying part of the British monarchy for much longer.
Looks like it’s a matter of time. When Liz goes I expect it will become an issue. I really hope we don’t do it soon though, can you imagine National running the process?
You’re trying to give me nightmares aren’t you?
Actually, there was that constitution review that National launched a couple of years ago and seems to have sunk without a ripple.
Quite safe for at least the next 10 years. And probably 20.
Hang on, I don’t think she’ going to live to 110. 😯
10 maybe, won’t be 20.
I see Grant has totally ruled out Labour having a policy of a tax rate of 50 per cent.
I also see Labour are following the debate on a UBI with interest.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/78316664/taxpayers-union-rubbishes-universal-basic-income-idea
Lets hope they are following the debate on The Standard (Hickey on the UBI).
It would be good to see him put to rest the concern Labour want to stick it to the elderly (and some) through the introduction of a capital tax.
lol no-one is going to do anything to the elderly other than kiss their arses while they remain registered voters.
Labour were going to stick it to them last time.
They also wanted a CGT.
Leaving some concerned Labour may use the UBI as a backdoor to do it again.
Therefore, it would be good if Grant could put this concern to bed.
What makes you think using a UBI to stick it to the elderly isn’t Grants plan? I have certainly seen plenty of comments which argue a UBI is a good way to smuggle in and restructure the entire tax system which appears to be popular with the commentariat on here.
Seeing how quickly he came out to put the 50% tax rate to bed, yet no comment to date on this, you could well be right.
Moreover, we all know the party is still captured by the right within.
The ball is now in your court Grant. Your silence (Grant) only affirms the suspicion.
GR2020
I think it’s better that Labour don’t start commenting on this. They don’t have a policy, and I’m guessing they haven’t done to much more work on a UBI other than the report they commissioned. They put the report out for discussion. That’s what is happening. I’d like to see a whole range of people grapple with this before Labour get too involved. Let people hash it out.
We all know they haven’t formulated a policy on this yet. However, they have been quick to totally rule things out. Like the 50% tax rate.
With talk of replacing benefits, coupled with a UBI rate centered around $200 a week and the possibility of a capital tax, a number of pensioners and home owning low income earners are becoming rather concerned.
Therefore, to put an end to their concern and keep the discussion on track, if they have ruled this out they should inform us.
It’s a total waste of time having the public hash things out when they have (if that is the case) been totally ruled out.
Labour wanted to have this debate, the least they can do is partake a little more. Keeping us all up to date with what has and hasn’t been ruled out as the discussion moves forward.
And by partaking, it also acknowledges the discussion is being heard. It only takes a brief comment, like good points made to achieve this.
This is very descriptive
Reminds me of a mad man Howling at the moon
he’s not mad, he’s FURIOUS
What does? Looking in the mirror?
An Emmerson cartoon that the Herald kept off the digital version until today.I have been chuckling since Saturday and was about to copy and post today when it appeared. Here you are Standardistas have a laugh.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/news-cartoons/news/article.cfm?c_id=500814&objectid=11611763
The Shroud of Key
heh!
The bloke in 23B may not have been too happy but mate, ponyboy would be beside himself thinking he’d done died and gone to heaven!.
Dante Ramos Verified account
@danteramos
Congrats to the ponytailed young woman in seat 22B. You’ve invented a whole new way to be awful at 35,000 feet.
She’s bloody lucky they don’t allow siccors on planes, I’d chop half that thing off.
At least Boris Johnson is speaking out:
‘Russia questions UK silence on retaking Palmyra from ISIS’
https://www.rt.com/uk/337442-russia-slams-uk-palmyra/
…”Meanwhile, London Mayor Boris Johnson has chosen to speak out, despite the silence of his country’s prime minister.
Praising the “ruthless clarity” of Russian President Vladimir Putin in aiding the Syrian government’s removal of “maniac” Islamic State jihadists from Palmyra, Johnson said that Moscow has made the West look “ineffective.”
“If reports are to be believed, the Russians have not only been engaged in airstrikes against Assad’s opponents, but have been seen on the ground as well. If Putin’s troops have helped winkle the maniacs from Palmyra, then (it pains me to admit) that is very much to the credit of the Russians. They have made the West look ineffective; and so now is the time for us to make amends, and to play to our strengths,” Johnson wrote in his column for the Telegraph.
Johnson went on to note the archaeological and historical significance of the city, much of which has been destroyed by Islamic State.
“The victory of Assad is a victory for archaeology, a victory for all those who care about the ancient monuments of one of the most amazing cultural sites on Earth,” Johnson wrote….
Since there is no Daily Review I’ll put this here:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11613375
Good on you Little for not shying away from Hooton’s vicious attacks. Hooton claims he doesn’t know what he (Little) is talking about and says – he ought to demand an apology but doesn’t think he’ll bother. You bet he won’t bother because anyone who listens to the RNZ political spot on a Monday morning or reads his media opinions knows how true it is.
And anyone who dares to stand up to Hooton is painted as an idiot/crazy/mad and deranged according the maddest/craziest and most deranged “commentator” in the country.
Please do a post someone so we can all verbally attack him with relish.
So Little says hooton is part of the problem and hooton responds by calling the leader of the second biggest political party an idiot, there by proving Little right. Your a fucking moron hooton.
And anyone who dares to stand up to Hooton is painted as an idiot/crazy/mad and deranged according the maddest/craziest and most deranged “commentator” in the country.
Hooton doesn’t need “standing up to”. He is a political commentator who says things some people don’t agree with. No more, no less. Disagreeing with him, easily done through any of the the myriad of social media available, isn’t “standing up” to him in the sense of implying courage and determination in the face of threats and pressure. Not need to over-egg it.
And calling him names doesn’t help either. Is he really the most “deranged” commentator in the country? If you think that, you need to get out more.
Yes … ‘deranged’ was a poor word choice. I would have gone with ‘devious’.
Tinshed. It was Hooton who recently called someone “deranged”. He has also used the words “idiot”, “mad” and “crazy” to describe various opposition politicians. I was using his own words against him with some accuracy – as anyone who has listened to him on radio and elsewhere could testify.
You need to learn to read text more carefully.
And for your edification, Hooton is a verbal bully who needs to be stood up to.
Are you a FAYBEEYUN? ARE YOU?
“#degrowth means contraction of accumulatn, capitalism, exploitatn & predation; point is to chlnge concept of accumulation itself” Latouche
https://mobile.twitter.com/KTrebeck/status/714678397813841920
I note that nothing has been said today about the death threats received by Paula Bennett on Facebook. Andrew Little has indicated that while he does not condone, of course, such comments, given the difficult economic times combined with the harsh rhetoric of commentators like Matthew Hooton, such aggressive actions are, to some degree, a factor in such threats. Is that the view shared by most people? I would have thought threatening to kill a Cabinet Minister was pretty serious stuff and required not only Police action, but unequivocal rejection and condemnation by all. Violence, or threats of violence, have no place in political discourse.
[edited for minor clarification]
Someone called Mike Hosking a moron on Twitter that got a lot of media attention. Someone told his psychiatrist he wanted to bomb John Key & was imprisoned. Helen Clark had an axe through her window. Dildos, meringues, buckets of mud. The hoi polloi are getting restless. Hooton thrives on hatred.
See my comment @ 19 Tinshed. Read the link because Andrew Little made it clear there was no justification for that type of aggressive behaviour. He then goes on to say he has observed an upsurge in such behaviour in recent years and he believed it was partly in response to the struggle so many NZers are experiencing because of harsh government actions.
And in case there is an attempt to “blame the behaviour on Labour”, he pointed out that the kind of vicious commentary some right wing PR commentators indulge in is also adding to the problem. (I paraphrase)
He is correct on both counts.
Edit: My last sentence @19 is tongue in cheek. I’m not encouraging “aggressive” action be taken against Hooton as some rwnj might try to claim.
@Anne
My issue with the factors you raise – that Little condemned the behaviour and then went on to observe that harsh government actions makes such behaviour understandable, is that it reeks of victim-blaming. It is kinda of like having a bob each way – violence is unacceptable but I understand why people are violent. I suspect that many people hear is only the second part – times are hard, so violence is understandable. I am not sure that is the right response to threats to kill politicians.
So Tinshed you’re saying that a political leader is not allowed to reflect on what might be causing the behaviour? That is precisely what Andrew Little should be doing when it is appropriate. And it is appropriate to point out the treatment meted out to so many people by this government is what is behind the increase in the behaviour. It is also appropriate to point out the aggressive verbal attacks by right wing commentators also plays a role in the behaviour. Matthew Hooton in particular is a purveyor of hatred.
@Anne
What I observe is that no-one here really condemns the implied violence directed at Paula Bennett, but instead finds reasons for the behaviour elsewhere. Matthew Hooton is just a political commentator who most here disagree with. He doesn’t publish death threats, yet those that do seem to get a free pass. I find it odd that some commentators here seem so eager to criticise Matthew Hooton as a purveyor of hate, yet are much less inclined to condemn the violence directed at National Party Cabinet ministers. I believe Andrew Little also falls into that category. You may see this as Little merely “reflecting” on what he sees, but I see it differently. Violence has no place in our political discourse and must be unreservedly denounced.
Violence has no place in our political discourse and must be unreservedly denounced.
Well, I call dubbing opposition politicians mad/stupid/ idiots/deranged as being a form of violent political discourse. Especially when they are patently untrue. So how about you reserve some of your ‘denouncing’ for Matthew Hooton.
And what about the violence directed and Labour and Green politicians eh? There’s plenty of it but they tend not to make too much of a fuss about it.
@Anne
With respect, from someone who also said,and I quote, I was using his own words against him with some accuracy – as anyone who has listened to him on radio and elsewhere could testify.. What you seem to be saying is that it is OK to call Hooton mad/stupid/idiots/deranged because a) he used these words to describe other people b) they are true when describing him, but should anyone else uses the very same adjectives to describe opposition politicians then they are engaging in political violence. Sorry, I don’y see that way and suggest you are demonstrating a double standard.
Nope. You are being wilfully dumb. Not worth ‘discoursing’ with you.
Over and out.
He’s a fixer.
Hooton says the one thing he was ashamed about “when you read it in the cold light of day” was the bit where the blogger Cactus Kate (real name Cathy Odgers) asks for Hager’s home address, so she can pass it on to wealthy Chinese clients angered by a study Hager co-authored about tax havens: “Chop chop for Nicky, ” wrote Odgers. Hooton gave her Hager’s street name (but not number)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/68984535/matthew-hooton-and-dirty-politics-anatomy-of-the-vast-rightwing-conspiracy
Hi Tinshed,
The words ‘acceptable’ and ‘understandable’ are quite different.
If you reject the understandability of violence then you are elevating violence to some kind of mystical phenomenon.
Do you really think that the possibility of understanding violence is that hopeless?
So, rather than the traditional bloodbath, polite political discourse is going to bring change in the 21st century?.
/
joe90
I am not sure that the means of political change are as stark as you suggest.
Thirty years ago we were told there is no alternative and ever since it’s been all down hill for an awful lot of people.
I doubt our children will pursue polite political discourse and wait another thirty years.
There’s other stuff that never makes it into political discourse. Like how many suicides, mental health issues, domestic violence and regular violent incidents happen each year that can be linked to the effect of WINZ policies and culture? But then again maybe it’s more important we talk about Bennett instead..
Bicycling Triples In London While Driving Halves
More bad news for supporters of the status quo and good news for the rest of us.
Well-written and engaging blog post featured by Russell Brown by “Six”, a trans-female living rough in the Auckland CBD: http://publicaddress.net/speaker/her-outdoors/
1 of a series on TPP
Beware of TPP’s Investor–State Dispute Settlement Provision
By Joseph Stiglitz | 03.28.16
,blockquote>The alleged goal of ISDS is to increase security for investors in states without an adequate “rule of law.” But the fact that the U.S. is insisting on the same provisions in Europe, where legal safeguards are as strong as they are in the U.S., suggests another motive: the desire to make it harder to adopt new financial regulations, environmental laws, worker protections, and food and health safety standards.
http://rooseveltinstitute.org/beware-tpps-investor-state-dispute-settlement-provision/
Also well worth a read from a study by Krzysztof J. Pelc
http://politics.as.nyu.edu/docs/IO/42486/frivolity.pdf
i see someone wants to shoot paula bennett i wonder why what could the evil bitch have done ?????shes quite a wide not exactly slim