John Key has just put a huge challenge don for David Shearer: I am going to take Auckland away from you, for good.
Aucklanders voted with their cars in 1946, and with that motorway-shaped vision have dominated New Zealand’s direction and its politics for 70 years.
Auckland has got more and more National-dominant in its electorate seats since the 1980s. Those seats Labour held dear are now seemingly irretrievably lost. Remember Central Auckland? What used to be Mt Eden and One Tree Hill? Which way have all the new electorates gone since the 1990s?
The metropolitan centers were Labour’s last great holdout – and of course tides come back in again to a degree. But Auckland now has National and Council in lock step in its top Auckland Plan transport priorities. Auckland now has National and Council lock step in its housing and growth. Inside 3 months Key has removed Auckland off the strategic board in two great strokes.
Auckland Council should have been the great growth engine of Labour political apprenticeship. But National have simultaneously sucked the political oxygen out of transport, tamed Mayor Brown, and shut down Auckland as a discursive contest.
Meanwhile, back in Labour’s caucus, Labour had no alternative speech or conference ready. No alternative plan. No opposition organized. No unity with the Greens or anyone else for the day. It’s nt like Key made the speech a secret. We just had Twyford sputtering about how he likes it and hates it.
– It was a day for Labour’s leader to go toe to toe on Campbell Live about the future of Auckland, because it is the future of New Zealand. And to win. Imagine Shearer or Robertson even trying.
– It was a day for the south to be mobilised to attack motorways generating further transport poverty.
– It was a day for commentators and unions to be lined up promoting a job-rich and innovation-rich Auckland instead of yet another sugar-rush construction phase from roading pushing yet another cheap housing boom in the south. “Let’s take $10billion and do some good, starting with …”
Does anyone think David Shearer or Beltway Grant could be imagined pulling this off?
Taking out Auckland’s game, and continuing to take out its electorates, is the accelerated death of Labour. Wish it weren’t so, but it’s a third of the seats and will shortly be 40% of the seats in Parliament. Winning Christchurch or a Maori seat unfortunately means nothing compared to winning Auckland.
We need leadership of Labour that can pull this off. Who is understood by the professional elites, by Auckland’s hard core party loyalist activists, is supported by unions, who can out-strategise National, and – so vitally – who could beat John Key on tv.
Labour isn’t doing themselves any favours but neither is National. People will see National’s sudden change as cynical maneuvering rather than properly considered policies.
Beltway Grant and the coterie in the wheelhouse of Labour are Wellington centric. They are truly Absolutely Positively Wellington in their pre-occupations. The gobsmacking thing about that is the continual decline in the Labour vote of the Wellington Hutt ABC group. Their performances over the past three elections has been the worse in the whole country.
Yet they have time to spend weekends in Auckland as guests of Skycity.
I think it was a smart move by Key, but I don’t think he has owned Auckland as much as you think, Ad.
Certainly not out here in the West where SkyCity is removed from daily life, while transport and housing loom as big issues that are part of daily life.
The reason Mt Eden etc have shifted to National is the gentrification, and colonisation of those areas by the relatively wealthy. I grew up in Mt Eden, in a mixed class neighbourhood. I can no longer afford to live there.
This has a lot to do with the changing economic landscape as anything: a central city area built of entertainment and consumer society commerce.
Meanwhile, out west here are many of the people who don’t give a toss for SkyCity, or fancy RONS, but want affordable houses, jobs near were they live, living incomes, and decent infrastructure, including public transport.
Who will step up and lead in this direction?
I’ve come to the conclusion, overnight, that the Labour caucus needs to step up and make peace with Cunlifffe. He has been involved in Auckland issues, and particularly the development of New Lynn for many years. He also has been involved in policies of nation-wide and international scope.
Labour’s caucus don’t have a lot of choices to turn things around. Cunliffe’s not perfect, is fairly centrist, and he’s shown he can eat humble pie and take a back seat when it was required.
Key may not own Auckland but he certainly owns Len Brown and most of the Auckland Council now.
The pressure will really be on them to sell water, ports and anything else that can bring in a dollar to pay for the transport plans.
A few (although there is only three that could be counted on) Councillors will resist, but most will succumb to either selling assets or some other form of making the poorest people they can find pay the bill.
The middle class Greens will be pretty happy, even if some of them pretend not to be in that bob each way political game they play.
Labour doesn’t really care about anything but protecting priviliged existance of a handful of worn out party hacks.
It will be left to the ragtag Mana bunch to form the resistance to the looting that will pay for this transport plan.
In the long term this is probably all for the good because the momentum for real change and the building of socialist political organisations will grow as the hapless social democrats are swept to the sidelines in a torrent of their own bullshit.
Key may not own Auckland but he certainly owns Len Brown and most of the Auckland Council now.
Auckland is owned alright, but not by the politicians!
The pressure will really be on them to sell water, ports and anything else that can bring in a dollar to pay for the transport plans.
The plan always was, and will remain to, *get the assets*, strpping the assets away from the people, hollow out the public services, at the same time, slash the head count, while having the consultants, all over the place, and the services outsourced!
Its already well in flight, with departments being completely overrun, by 500k-1m/PY *independent contractors*, who do not show on the public numbers, and where the financial management is way beyond fraudulant.
Problem is, it goes to the top, so there is little which is going to stop it!
The sick joke is, the people are paying the bill, and the books are ,CLOSED!
New Lynn was an interesting set of deals when you are comparing to the gentrification of Mt Eden.
New Lynn is gentrifying in no small part so fast because of the smart transport interventions by both central and local government, and for the way they involved the private sector into the new development both completed and underway.
Those were Labour deals.
New Lynn shows Labour can really “do” Auckland, and deliver for citizens who need places to live, fantastic health services, jobs in New Lynn’s accelerating services sector – and all of it built around public transit.
All the while growing local developers and local capital.
Imagine that as a set of plans rolled across Auckland. Imagine that called Labour policy, as an alternative to national’s launched today. And yes, it’s no accident which MP was in the middle of all of those deals, and it wasn’t David Shearer, Grant Robertson, or indeed Phil Goff.
Yep. Cunliffe got Clark’s government on board with the Waitakere City Council to start the development of the New Lynn Rail Trench. Now of course, Key’s lot are claiming it, as the development was finished under their watch.
Yes, the gentrification of New Lynn is a concern as well.
Gentrification.Urban gentrification often involves population migration as poor residents of a neighborhood are displaced. In a community undergoing gentrification, the average income increases and average family size decreases. This generally results in the displacement of the poorer, pre-gentrification residents, who are unable to pay increased rents, and property taxes, or afford real estate (Wiki)
I’m wary of your concern of “gentrification” Karol.
1. Labour wants the people of New Lynn or any changing areas to have increased incomes and quality of life. Labour should be relevant to middle classes also. Under Clark we had the majority of nealrly every socio -economic group at one stage.
2. Labour can return to being the party of the Liberals, The Environmentalists, The Avante-garde, the Arty-crafty, the 3rd Level students and more. Being passionate champion of the poor, the consumer, the worker, the retired, the alienated and the infirm does not preclude Labour from winning support among the enlightened and the caring middle classes.
Professor Robert Wade, Political Economist, LSE, might question the compatibilty of the aspirations of the middle classes, caring, or enlightened, with the other sectors you identify Bill; Middle-class anxiety in the west is on the increase.( with enlightenment comes awareness, awareness of climate change, surveillance, health risks, relative status, prospects for their children, etc).
Gentrification can be good. New Lynn prior to those set of interventions was a wreck. There are plenty of counterfactual town centres across Auckland with no plan for years – Avondale and Otahuhu being the standouts. Otahuhu, like New Lynn, lost much of its blue-collar manufacturing in the last two decades, and there has been no alternative plan.
What New Lynn has now is huge percentages of immigrants with huge desire for work, huge desire for upward mobility including education and healthcare – and needs homes to put these new migrants in.
We need Labour to show that it can take the nation-building mantle back off National. Labour – together of course with Seddon – used to own that. Now, with Christchurch City locked into a long term funding agreement, and Auckland locked into an agreed direction with government, Labour have lost that in the course of a week.
Whether Labour have lost it for good is for Labour’s leadership to stand up and determine.
But apparently none of Labour’s caucus majority that have ruled since Helen’s departure can see that, let alone plan the fight to get it back.
Labour needs the leadership that can take the fight on a strategic scale, and win.
“Whether Labour have lost it for good is for Labour’s leadership to stand up and determine.
But apparently none of Labour’s caucus majority that have ruled since Helen’s departure can see that, let alone plan the fight to get it back.
Labour needs the leadership that can take the fight on a strategic scale, and win.”
You captured our frustrations and hopes of the Labour membership in one piece there Ad.
Out of the 34 MPs there must be 18 who see that we cannot continues this backward slide.
As members we must make our feelings be know to our MPs. However it is up to the MPs to swallow their pride. They must accept that we need to rally around a Leader who can the vision and skill to help the WHOLE team realise their potential.
We cannot put another back office professional bureaucrat into the leadership role again.
karol
I listened to Professor Robert Wade this morning – and put some comments on Open Mike at 11.
I think he makes relevant points about your points in 1.3.
Get audio on http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday.
Well said but dont hold your breath on that one. With candidates like beaumont and adern who did SFA and allowed the harder work ethic of kaye and lotu and didnt counter the BS at public debates I cannot see inroads being made.
Beaumont was particularly weak and probably explains the ineffective organisation in the seat who didnt even supply enough flyers to be delivered by volunteers, simply pathetic like the labour caucus.
A well run independent campaign, would go a long way to removing NK from the electorate seat.
The “AKL Appeal*, as RT puts it, is true, but NK does not have such appeal, which could not be rather easily unpicked, with a well targetted effort, aimed squarely at her voting record!
“We need leadership of Labour that can pull this off.” How about having a front bench politician who can do his job, even minimally, because at the moment they are not even trying. I hope they lose Ikaroa Rawhiti It would show them how fucking useless they have become!
2020 is at three more elections away and almost certainly his government will never be around to deliver on this.
However John Armstrong is right, Key has totally outmaneuvered a completely impotent Labour Party, and in doing so almost certainly set the stage to win the next election… and it cost him absolutely nothing. He’s humiliated Len Brown and David Shearer totally. It’s Key at his most brilliant and most corrupt at the same time.
The sooner this pathetic cabal controlling the Labour Party is completely dismantled the better. Their failure could not be more complete.
It’s possible the Nats have developed a taste for crow and could unashamedly borrow more Labour policies. I wouldn’t rule out a CGT in which case they could see 50%+ in 2014. No need for Luigi, the Hair, Maori or Colin Craig .
Once Labour dump Shearer as Leader they need to desperately sort out their factions and create some cohesion. Not only to win in 2014 but also to ensure that they can run an effective government!
Its deja vu all over again except the man in charge is Shearer not Goff, my advice is to concede 2014 to National (I mean pretend you’re going to contest just don’t waste major money on it)
Then you’ll have a few years to sort Labour out, sort the leadership out, reconnect with your supporters and hopefully have some money for 2017, which you’ll have a good chance of winning because John Key will have retired by then
National would have done a lot more damage by the time 2017 rolls round.
Shipley and Richardson (along with Upton) tried to shrink the state radically after 1990, Key, English and Bennett might just succeed if Labour doesnt get its shit together.
The public provision of services and infrastructure is more or less despised by this government.
Labour need to act and act quickly. They have nothing to lose by installing Cunliffe, and then pensioning off the old guard.
Plus they need innovative new policies. Not just variations to the same old neo-liberal crap, but something decent.
Labour needs to do more than dump Shearer – there’s a whole group of them that need to be removed from Labour’s neck and the only way that’s going to happen is if the membership remove them.
Officials on Thursday acknowledged that the Ecuadorean Embassy in London had issued a June 22 letter of safe passage for Snowden that calls on other countries to allow him to travel to asylum in Ecuador. But Ecuador’s secretary of political management, Betty Tola, said the letter was invalid because it was issued without the approval of the government in the capital, Quito.
She also threatened legal action against whoever leaked the document, which she said “has no validity and is the exclusive responsibility of the person who issued it.”
“..(ed:..this is an (ultimately-fatal) horror story of a baby born hooked on methadone – after the govt got her mother hooked on methadone..becauuse she was using speed/meth..(!)..)..”
..i really wish the mainstream media would turn a light on the insane/so-so wrong getting people addicted to methadone method of treating issues with any other drug..
..i repeat..methadone is much more addictive than heroin..is harder to ‘kick’ than heroin..
..and unlike heroin..cold-turkey withdrawals from methadone can kill you..
..could we describe methadone as the drug-cure you have – when you aren’t having a drug-cure..?
Yes its true Phillip. It’s the most ridiculous situation that could possibly be. It’s “harm reduction” madness gone wild.
The idea seems to have just that (Harm Minimisation) RATHER than a combination of that and any attempt at rehabilitation.
How one believes that putting a P Freak on Methadone will eventually cure their problem is utterly beyond me.
Could be a case of TINA though I guess – given that most rehab centres (a la Hanmer, Marton, et al) have been shut down. (Just anaesthetise then all)
That’s not true. Sickness has been merged with the dole to become job seeker, and IB has been renamed Supported Living or something like that. Even within the job seeker category, it will still be possible for unwell people to be treated like sickness beneficiaries – their job seeker status has to take into account medical assessment.
Well as a Sickness beneficiary, I have had all the ‘jobseeker’ bullshit, and in my yearly review ( I should be on Invalids but some faceless doctor whom I had NEVER seen denied me without the courtesy of a consultation) And ALL they were interested in (at my review) was how they can get me out to work. Nothing about what they might be able to do to help me live a little better. But they still did manage to cut my Benefit by 10 bucks a week. We don’t smoke, don’t drink, been 5 years since I played a pokie machine, Lotto tickets are a dream. I need sky for TV (I have children). I need Internet for Teens education and my sanity. So I have no money to waste but I will have to find a saving somewhere.
Sorry to hear that David. Have you had support from a beneficiary advocate? if you are not getting your full DA entitlements, they can help with that.
“( I should be on Invalids but some faceless doctor whom I had NEVER seen denied me without the courtesy of a consultation)”
Again, get an advocate involved. I can’t think what the process would be that WINZ would decline IB without you being assessed face to face, but they do turn down applications within the dept I think, and that decision would be reviewable. It’s a major pain in the arse, but worth it if you can get on IB.
What I find to be the most negligent is that the baby was sent home with the mother who needed to be looked after herself. In such a situation for the sake of a vulnerable/addicted 3 kg baby (if that) the carer should need to prove that the baby will have the best chance of survival and the necessary treatment/care that is required.
Who didn’t see these circumstances coming together 12 months ago, dear Standardistas? Apparently, a whole lot of Labour MPs in Wellington. You have to question the political antennae on the party at the moment.
George Soros, referred to MM, as the, Human Face of Globalization!
Does anyone seriously believe Mike Moore was allowed to be the head of the WTO, without having sold NZ out, you can apply the same to Helen Clark!
These top level positions , are not *available*, they come with a price, and the higher up you are, the bigger the sacrifice you have offered up, or the bigger the crimes you have covered/committed!
Right now, fascinating interview Kim Hill with London School of Economics professor of political economy Robert Wade (?). I think I have the name right. Paraphrasing……..austerity is a destructive vehicle directed by the politically empowered elite to advance themselves. Above all else. Thus compounding inequality. Call it greed, surely ? Sin. On a biblical scale.
Sounds like a recipe for continuing failure and ultimate implosion.
The stuff at which ShonKey Python simply shrugs and asserts – “I disagree”. Astonishing.
…particularly interesting is how the ‘wealthy’ come to believe their disposition is completely their own doing, whilst the indigent have only themselves to blame (The Bennet Syndrome)
Yes, I was particularly interested in a couple of things – firstly his distinction between pre-distribution and redistribution. His idea was that the wealthy and powerful, through lobbying, get to control the flow of wealth toward themselves. so that it becomes “their money.” Then they baulk at its being redistributed, as in “yeah, yeah, tax and spend.” Hence for some level of economic balance to occur it needs to kick in at the pre-distribution stage.
The other related thing was his pointing to the replacement of the establishment with an oligarchy, which of course follows from putting too much wealth and power into too few hands.
Ownership of the income earning asset base of a country is crucial in controlling the pre-distribution stage. That means things like banks, power stations and land. The right wing aren’t silly, they know exactly what they are doing.
Well they are silly in the long term sense, since by acting as they do, as people with maximal power and minimal social responsibility, they create the preconditions for reckless, untested “saviours” to gain an audience, coming up from the outside of their carefully controlled political systems. I do not think that you can blame politicians too much prior to 2008, since until then it was still possible for them to believe that the market economy would mature and stabilise. But the curtain has since been torn from that belief, and failure to acknowledge the fact looks more and more like wilful blindness.
You’re being far too generous to the pollies IMO re: your 2008 timeframe.
It was clear to most people by the end of Thatcher, and also by the end of Rogernomics, that free market neoliberalism was a dangerous and destructive political economic dogma with only a few redeeming features.
Should we give pollies another 15-20 years grace after that point to figure it out: no, I wouldn’t.
You do not get much chance to look at the overview when you are in the thick of things, goaded on by threats, promises and crises. Lange tried to contain Douglas and ended up resigning himself, Bolger tried to divest himself of Richardson, and sought moderation in coalition with Winston, but got rolled. After all this, Clark’s government trod carefully, still harbouring a few remaining neo-libs and aware that they could do nothing if driven out of office by constant vilification. Before the 2008 election, their policies reflected Krugman’s advice on the crisis – ensure that people stay employed, build infrastructure and address the housing bubble. Huge money and effort went into getting rid of them and ensuring that Winston would not be around to get them over the line.
So, while I am disappointed at the way things have gone, I do not entirely blame them. However, since 2008 there are no further excuses for failing to take a stand. Most particularly, you can no longer claim to be saving your country by following prescribed neo-liberal measures.
Therefore…expect the levels of external coercion and pressure to go up on our politicians. To my mind that is what TPPA, ‘PRISM’, credit agency downgrades etc. is all about. Also filling up your public sector with free market idealogues so that even if a true left wing govt is voted in, they are stymied and delayed for years.
The right wing aren’t silly – that’s true from the point of view of maintaining their wealth and implementing any and every mechanism to try and ensure that remains so.
Where they’re complete fucking idiots though, is to assume it’s all going to end well.
It’s a recipe for revolution, and unfortunately the more the oppression, the more likely it is to be violent. There are exceptions of course (like maybe velvet revolutions), but times have changed: the distribution of ‘illegal’ weaponry, the increase in escapist activity such as alcohol, go-fast and ‘wired-up’ people, the absolutism in various forms of alienation we see, the emphasis on matters economic & excessive competition (we discussed on another thread somewhere) and the increasing resentment that promotes, etc.
Here is the link to the Robert Wade interview – it really was well worth listening to. IMO one of the best interviews I have heard on Kim’s excellent programme which I do not miss most Sat mornings.
I have quickly googled him, and there are links to a number of other articles etc by him which are now on my Must Read list.
Wade is originally a NZer – and I am wondering whether, if my memory is correct, he went to Wellington College and was dux in (wait for it!) about 1960.
North
Yes good and illuminating interview. Some memories dredged up – in 2010 the top 1% in USA gained 93% of the Increase in GDP that year – left for the rest of the people 99% was the remaining 7%. (Possible small percentage adjustment necessary, it is still a demonstration of the points made in the interview.)
Professor Robert Wade – http://www.lse.ac.uk/internationalDevelopment/whosWho/wader.aspx http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/20130629 (audio isn’t up yet, may be subject to copyright) 8:15 Robert Wade
Robert Wade is a New Zealander who has lived and worked in Britain and the US for the past four decades. He is Professor of Political Economy and Development at the Development Studies Institute, London School of Economics, and a member of the Economists’ Forum, a group described by the Financial Times as “50 of the world’s most influential economists”. Professor Wade is a contributor to a new book edited by Max Rashbrooke, Inequality: a New Zealand Crisis (Bridget Williams Books, ISBN: 978-1-927131-51-0), and returns to New Zealand next month to present a free public lecture, Inequality and the West: Capitalism at a Tipping Point, in Auckland (8 July), Dunedin (11 July), Christchurch (12 July), and Wellington (16 July). He will also speak at an Inequality Conference hosted by the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Victoria University in Wellington on 18 July.
I’ve put some of his discussion from memory. He says that establishment governments concerning themselves with the whole nation’s welfare have since Reagan and Thatcher increasingly acted to assist the process of money and benefits flowing to the well-off. Establishment governments in the ‘West” have changed to oligarchies. In Western Europe, Germany, Scandinavia they have managed their polity in a different way that he doesn’t seem to have studied yet, and they have not gone down the oligarchy route.
The capture of political parties by necessary funding only being available from the wealthy, and their willingness to fund and demand political processes and policy that favour them, is very dangerous for democracy as we have known it and the majority need to have it. The policies from these captured political parties are shaped to siphon money to their wealthy backers.
Right!
He comments on the ‘West’ which is basically the English speaking countries being caught up in a downward movement for living standards and constant poverty but also with an excess of wealth driving bubbles in stock exchanges, housing etc. which does not invest money where most people need it, and is inefficient economically. And money that should have gone to the ordinary people so they can run their lives at a modern level of living, is wasted, and the economy suffers further because there is reduced consumption.
The middle class attitudes are biased against redistribution, because they feel uncertain about the stability of their own position and resent giving more of their taxes to the growing number in poverty. The governments have not used judicious spending on projects along with quantitative easing which would have been healthier for the economy and reduced unemployment.
He talks abut pre-distribution as being an area that is largely ignored when looking at what governments do that affects the economy – patents for instance. They are an important guard for the inventor and innovator. But have become onerous, and another method for large entities already wealthy to siphon more wealth to themselves.
-Higher levels of inequality impose higher costs on a society- US, UK and New Zealand.
-the financial ‘collapse’ in the UK is = / > to The Great Depression
-Professor Wade’s work confirms the theses of The Spirit Level.
-greater inequality leads to greater social malaise, evident in trends of teenage pregnancy, imprisonment, drug taking.
-low income families may invest less capital in childrens education
High-income people effect a self-serving influence on politics, particularly via their funding of political parties.
A breadth of research by psychologists has found people who have more money tend to have less empathy- The Money – Empathy Gap.
The research findings are consistent from a range of research.
The establishment elite have morphed into an oligarchic elite.Government intervention in the ‘free- market’ favours ‘conservatives’.
Yes, Rosetinted, policy settings are necessary that influence ‘pre-distribution’ rather than ‘re-distribution’ However, there is “great anxiety amongst the middle-classes of the west over the shrinking employment prospects for their off-spring etc, and thus antipathy from them to redistribution of wealth, via taxes for example, from the top to the bottom.
In the US, 93% of growth in national income went to 1%, the remaining 7% to the rest of the population.
-Higher levels of inequality impose higher costs on a society- US, UK and New Zealand.
-the financial ‘collapse’ in the UK is = / > to The Great Depression
-Professor Wade’s work confirms the theses of The Spirit Level.
-greater inequality leads to greater social malaise, evident in trends of teenage pregnancy, imprisonment, drug taking.
-low income families may invest less capital in childrens education
High-income people effect a self-serving influence on politics, particularly via their funding of political parties.
A breadth of research by psychologists has found people who have more money tend to have less empathy- The Money – Empathy Gap.
The research findings are consistent from a range of research.
The establishment elite have morphed into an oligarchic elite.Government intervention in the ‘free- market’ favours ‘conservatives’.
Yes, Rosetinted, policy settings are necessary that influence ‘pre-distribution’ rather than ‘re-distribution’ However, there is “great anxiety amongst the middle-classes of the west over the shrinking employment prospects for their off-spring etc, and thus antipathy from them to redistribution of wealth, via taxes for example, from the top to the bottom.
In the US, 93% of growth in national income went to 1%, the remaining 7% to the rest of the population.
I was in moderation before and wrote another comment noting that and when I went to send it
I got a blank screen and then the message came up – ‘The HTTP request method was not accepted by the server’.
Is the GCSB hanging out here. There seem to be ha-has being set up around the site lately.
(The barrier type.)
Interesting. I will have a look at the logs. We have been hammered by bots over the last weeks. That sounds like the number of allowed connections got touched.
lprent
Also quite often doubling up comments showing up such as Rogues comment above appears
at 11.1 and 11.2. The second one has had a link added but the first still appears.
just a short note on “Understanding al1en belief sysyems” :
In so far as sociology attempts to arrive at propositions which have general validity, comparative study of cultures is a necessary feature of sociological research. While some sociologists have adopted a ‘Relativism’, most sociologists argue that valid knowledge of other cultures is in principle possible, despite the methodological problems which such knowledge involves. The problems of comparative understanding can be illustrated by two issues. (1) How can we know what counts as X (honour, religion, madness, etc) in our culture also counts as X in some other culture? (2) How can we know that a sociological explanation of X in our culture will be valid for another culture? Cross-cultural comparisons involve difficulties of identification and explanation.
Followers of philosophers like L. Wittgenstein and P.Winch have argued that understanding X in terms of the actor ‘Own definition of the situation’ is the best way of avoiding misidentification, since we no longer impose our categories on their behaviour. However, this procedure can be criticized on two grounds : (1) it involves ‘contextual charity’ to such an extent that no behaviour or belief in another culture could ever be regarded as irrational once it is located in it’s appropriate cultural context; (2) sociologists and anthropologists often, regardless of their intentions, inherit frameworks (discourses) which organize culture in such a way as to rule out any genuine understanding of the subjective experience of actors in other cultures.
Good intentions not to impose alien categories are never in themselves sufficient to rule out bias.
Peel (1969b); Rogue (Saturday).
Thanks Rogue – I wonder what would be an effective way of establishing some shared ground to start from? Then establish just what differences like on certain set matters.
Yes the other day I wasnt allowed on….the machine said it thought I was a bot ( I am not, I am a chook)…..and wanted me to copy in some letters….I tried….the first letter came up OK…but it would not allow me to copy in the second letter, no matter how hard i tried….so much for these smart ‘bot detecting’ machines I thought…..this missive of mine could have changed the world on charter schools and fundamentalism and fermenting social unrest, where there isnt any ….and then i thought John Key( and Banks and the GCSB) might have been on to me….and sent out a false bot …..BUGS, I thought….squawk!!!!
“big fall in unemployment” post- Budget???
“intelligence” or cunning.
and yes Matthew, strategic, opportunistic, “forgetfulness”. (Are Rogues invited? we do like to slum it with the best, don’t you know). 😎
Hmmm weigh up list of things that need doing against reading anything written by a shill of the right and bottom of the list ‘pick my nose’ tips the scales in favor of not bothering…
To clear things up? Cactus Kate was pretty quick to debunk your version of events, a version that most people would have been suspicious of anyway. Rather than clearing them up I think your piece confirms the suspicions you refer to some people having.
Does your support for Cunliffe come more from a sense that the left’s pretty much over David Shearer so his incompetence has pretty much been milked making it time to change tack and take advantage of a new kind of unrest within Labour that Cunliffe as leader may bring?
Maybe you said it on 20 June, then? Instead of trying to split hairs over what “a few days ago” means why don’t you just tell us that you didn’t say that on Radiolive on 20 June? You’re more of a wormtongue than Pete George. It’s no wonder so many people don’t respect you.
….also to get in again this time I had to repeat my email address and name …like I am persona non grata…exiled with no name to Siberia…..I am just a chooky…you cant exile a chooky
Nassim Taleb is quoted in that link. Have you seen him talking on screen. His thoughts are so fast, and he explains things so well, that I almost can understand what he’s discussing. Well worth paying attention to. He was talking about fragility when I heard him last.
He has written book “Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder”.
Was a good read and, yes, decentralisation is far more resilient than top down hierarchy. Of course, the people at the top won’t admit that as it proves that they aren’t as good as they like to think they are and that they’re being over paid.
IS the ‘science’ settled on the issue of fluoridation of public water supplies?
If YES – then how come a number of DOCTORS will be speaking out in Auckland tonight against fluoridation at a Public Meeting – to which you are all invited?
Auckland Mayoral candidate Penny Bright supports this Public Meeting Saturday 29 June 7 – 9pm: “Doctors present the case to end fluoridation”.
“As an Auckland Mayoral candidate – I am opposed to the fluoridation of public drinking water supplies, and encourage folks to come tonight, and hear for themselves, doctors who will present the case to end fluoridation.”
“It really concerns me that those who have considered opinions opposing the fluoridation of public drinking water supplies based on FACTS and EVIDENCE – are being dismissed as ‘anti-fluoride nutters’, by others who cannot provide the ‘science’ to support their ‘pro-fluoride’ views.”
“IS the ‘science’ settled on the issue of fluoridation of public drinking water supplies?”
“The popular myth and legend is that fluoridation of public drinking water supplies, helps to protect the teeth of poorer people who can’t afford dental care.
Is this true?
Does the fluoridation of public drinking water supplies help protect ‘public health’?
Or not?
Can the stated opinions Ministry of Health, and District Health Boards be trusted, regarding the fluoridation of public drinking water supplies?”
“FYI – I have previously done some some hundreds of hours of research on the use of the Waikato river as a ‘raw’ source of drinking water for the Auckland region.
During this process, I discovered some alarming FACTS and EVIDENCE that caused me to question just how much the both the Ministry of Health, and Watercare Services can be trusted when it comes to safeguarding public health, and public drinking water supplies.
If you want to read this research yourself – it’s available here:
You only need look at the data from the Canterbury DHB to know that ‘the Prime Minister’s science adviser’ is talking effluent when claiming ‘science’ backs the fluoridation of water supplies,
Christchurch has never added fluoride to it’s water,and, it does not appear to have had an ongoing detrimental effect upon their dental out-comes,
bzzzt – another fail.
I don’t regard 36,000 kids with all their teeth in perfect condition, and tens or hundreds of thousands with improved dental health, to be a “weak effect”.
But I do. Especially when you are medicating 4,400,000 people to get there, and cities like Christchurch show that you can have good dental health with zero water fluoridation.
Oh, by the way – the otago caries-free rate is similar to canterbury’s – but only in unfluoridated areas.
In fluoridated areas, otago has a significantly higher cares-free rate than canterbury.
But you wouldn’t give a shit about that.
“Blame society (consumers, not leadership) for Pike River and the Gulf of Mexico disasters”.
Yep, we should. You cannot get anything for less than what it costs but the consumers aren’t willing to pay that amount. It’s why we have suicidal Chinese workers in the Apple factories. If the consumers were willing to pay what it actually costs then those factories would be in NZ with the workers having high working and living standards (well, that would have been true before the Rogernomics revolution).
And the researchers says that society needs to take some of the blame, not all of it. They still put most of the blame on the businesses and the drive for profit.
Paul Thomas writes good crime books, good sports comment. Nothing to worry about politically there. It is easier to sit on the sidelines taking the high line when not running up against the strength of realpolitik. The Tuhoe raid has left lasting trauma in those people’s minds. Snowden and Assange have stepped off the primrose path into the bog and need what help they can get.
Paul Thomas is a FUCKING FOOL. He doesn’t understand SHIT. Listen to Paul Thomas’ whiny crap:
(Orwell) would surely dwell on the hypocrisy of Snowden and fellow whistleblower Julian Assange claiming to be fighting the good fight on behalf of freedom of the press and open government while seeking and accepting assistance from the Chinese and Russian Governments which are fundamentally hostile to those principles.
Given that the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin provided the totalitarian model for both 1984 and Animal Farm, Orwell would have appreciated the irony of Snowden hiding behind the coat-tails of Russian leader Vladimir Putin…
Here is the REAL IRONY, which Thomas in his ignorance, skipped straight over without noticing:
that Snowden has been FORCED to seek help from Russia, from China, from Ecuador, because the United States of America, that bulwark of “free speech” and “freedom” will offer him no help, and is now one of the most dangerous places for a whistle blower and political dissident of conscience.
The irony is the dystopian forerunner to 1984 the Russian novel WE also addressed the problems with the one state based on the authors observations of work practices in UK shipyards such as Taylorism.eg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Winslow_Taylor
We is generally considered to be the grandfather of the satirical futuristic dystopia genre. It takes the totalitarian and conformative aspects of modern industrial society to an extreme conclusion, depicting a state that believes that free will is the cause of unhappiness, and that citizens’ lives should be controlled with mathematical precision based on the system of industrial efficiency created by Frederick Winslow Taylor
There is also analogies to the problems formed by the oligarchs such as seen in the IRON HEEL and the control they exert,that they can evade prosecution (read big banks today) and control and manipulate markets.
Nobody forced Snowden to sign the secrecy agreement, nor did anyone force him to violate it and thus breaking US federal law just to tell us what anyone who’d thought about it for ten minutes would have already guessed. No one (as far as we know) forced him to give taunting addresses to the Chinese media or fritter his (? or somebody’s) money away in an expensive luxury Hong Kong hotel. No one forced him to seek out help from the oppressive Chinese and Russian regimes (presumably in return for more US intel, ie more treason) when he could just as easily flown straight to Ecuador, or Switzerland, or any one of a number of non-aligned countries. It all boils down to the decision he made, and if you are going to make a martyr of yourself you should expect the consequences gracefully.
Technically they’re not criminal – they are covered by US law. By all means call them immoral, unethical, and quite possibly fattening, but illegal they are not.
AFAIA the admin is claiming it has a legal theory to get around the 4th, but it’s classified and they aren’t prepared to show it to anyone. It hasn’t been tested in court.
If you and Pop1 know what it is, there are dozens of journos who have been on this beat for a decade who would love to hear from you.
Well, the applicable judgment seems to suggest that the 4th amendment requires a “reasonable expectation of privacy“. Just an RT link I know, but my expertise in U.S, lawis limited. But it does seem to suggest that anything that is broadcast to a network is fair game.
This conversation re: legal/illegal is an academic luxury.
The US gov wants a historically complete 360 degree profile of the electronic life of every person on the planet, including all their relationships and communications with others, private or public.
Whether you are a judge, an MP, head of a regulator, political activist or a trade unionist, diplomat or corporate executive, they have the systems and the technology to completely record and view your digital life and work correspondence, in real time if necessary.
There are a thousand quite disturbing implications from this – let’s just start with the fact that our TPPA negotiations are likely to be fatally compromised, and that the balance of support for or against David Shearer in the Labour caucus is likely to be completely transparent to a foreign power, even more so than to the Labour caucus itself.
Legal/illegal, constitutional/unconstitutional? Who gives a damn.
We may never know all the details of the mass surveillance programs, but we know this: The administration has justified them through abuse of language, intentional evasion of statutory protections, secret, unreviewable investigative procedures and constitutional arguments that make a mockery of the government’s professed concern with protecting Americans’ privacy. It’s time to call the N.S.A.’s mass surveillance programs what they are: criminal.
Authors: “Jennifer Stisa Granick is the director of civil liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. Christopher Jon Sprigman is a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law.”
Al Capone was done for tax evasion.
Bits of paper matter.
OK, I’ll just wait for the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the activities of the NSA.
The surveillance apparatus is a government sponsored hundred billion dollar industry. My guess is that no one is getting done, apart from Snowden and Assange.
Yeah, they should have just gone straight to Google who have already been doing much the same for a few years now. The Fourth Amendment suddenly becomes very flexible when dealing with information conveyed by third parties and how that relates to expectation of privacy. Emails and phone calls aren’t covered by the same legal protections as snail mail – of course perhaps that’s one reason the US government seems keen to break up the federal postal service and hand its dutues over to private companies.
And your authority is…. the U.S. president and his cast of criminals.
Got a citation?
Ha! We’re back with this tactic, are we? Are you really trying to waste everybody’s time by demanding we run after evidence for what we all know is true? You know and everybody else knows that the U.S. has been exposed, yet again, as a violent, anti-democratic and criminal regime.
That’s why they are ramping up their war of rhetoric against Edward Snowden and any other dissenters and men (and women) of conscience.
It all boils down to the decision he made, and if you are going to make a martyr of yourself you should expect the consequences gracefully.
Pop1: nah mate, make it as hard for the pricks as possible.
No one forced him to seek out help from the oppressive Chinese and Russian regimes (presumably in return for more US intel, ie more treason)
Yeah bullshit to you mate. Snowden isn’t a “traitor”, he is a whistleblower, and as you already stated, he hasn’t told China or Russia anything that they didn’t already know.
He was a whistle blower whilst revealing the extent of domestic spying – though anyone who had thought about it for a second could probably have come to that conclusion on their own based on reading the 2001 Patriot Act, the Protect America Act of 2007, and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The moment he started revealing things to foreign powers it became treason, nor is there any point in pretending that every country in the world is spying on every other country in the world to the best of their ability.
US Senators complain that the US gov is relying on “secret law” to collect massive data. One step away from an irresistable, impossible to overcome, turn key totalitarian state.
The world is being stolen in front of the eyes of humanity, *secret law*, and the mesh of deceit, which hold the *hidden law* in place, is global, and at work right here in NZ!
Anyone who considers another human being, to be above, or below themself, is being distracted, and those who bow down to perceived authority, of the man made law, need to accept their role in the deterioration of humanity!
People have become the, *public servants* of today, this is what the *law*, supported by other, seemingly innocuous industry. has manufactured!
Here is yet another example of illicit interference designed to influence the outcome of a court case by Judith Collins.
I am no expert nor do I care about legal technicalities. As far as I’m concerned Collins is not even fit to be in parliament let alone the Minister of Justice. She is a prejudiced and spiteful woman who will go to any length to get her own way. God help this country if she ever became PM!
No she wouldn’t last 10 minutes. She utterly lacks Key’s brilliant salesmanship.
And yes her involvement in the case like this is extraordinary. In an earlier age she would have instantly lost her job for this. Under this PM there will be a few malcontents grumbling, maybe a lawyerly type or two whinging. And then it will be back to Business As Usual.
Reminds me of ‘Kohlberg’s Theory – Hierarchy of Moral Development’ …..principled moral thinking vs conventional moral thinking and pre-conventional moral thinking….Important theory for journalists and all of us!…( shades of decisions that had to be faced in the late 1930s re fascism/ totalitarianism.
Thanx also Rosetinted for ref to Nassim Taleb and the ‘theory of antifragile’……fascinating stuff!
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
NONFICTION 1 The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Allen & Unwin, $37.99) 2 The Life of Dai by Dai Henwood and Jaquie Brown (HarperCollins, $39.99) 3 A Life Less Punishing by Matt Heath (Allen & Unwin, $37.99) 4 Waitohu by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $35) ...
John Key has just put a huge challenge don for David Shearer: I am going to take Auckland away from you, for good.
Aucklanders voted with their cars in 1946, and with that motorway-shaped vision have dominated New Zealand’s direction and its politics for 70 years.
Auckland has got more and more National-dominant in its electorate seats since the 1980s. Those seats Labour held dear are now seemingly irretrievably lost. Remember Central Auckland? What used to be Mt Eden and One Tree Hill? Which way have all the new electorates gone since the 1990s?
The metropolitan centers were Labour’s last great holdout – and of course tides come back in again to a degree. But Auckland now has National and Council in lock step in its top Auckland Plan transport priorities. Auckland now has National and Council lock step in its housing and growth. Inside 3 months Key has removed Auckland off the strategic board in two great strokes.
Auckland Council should have been the great growth engine of Labour political apprenticeship. But National have simultaneously sucked the political oxygen out of transport, tamed Mayor Brown, and shut down Auckland as a discursive contest.
Meanwhile, back in Labour’s caucus, Labour had no alternative speech or conference ready. No alternative plan. No opposition organized. No unity with the Greens or anyone else for the day. It’s nt like Key made the speech a secret. We just had Twyford sputtering about how he likes it and hates it.
– It was a day for Labour’s leader to go toe to toe on Campbell Live about the future of Auckland, because it is the future of New Zealand. And to win. Imagine Shearer or Robertson even trying.
– It was a day for the south to be mobilised to attack motorways generating further transport poverty.
– It was a day for commentators and unions to be lined up promoting a job-rich and innovation-rich Auckland instead of yet another sugar-rush construction phase from roading pushing yet another cheap housing boom in the south. “Let’s take $10billion and do some good, starting with …”
Does anyone think David Shearer or Beltway Grant could be imagined pulling this off?
Taking out Auckland’s game, and continuing to take out its electorates, is the accelerated death of Labour. Wish it weren’t so, but it’s a third of the seats and will shortly be 40% of the seats in Parliament. Winning Christchurch or a Maori seat unfortunately means nothing compared to winning Auckland.
We need leadership of Labour that can pull this off. Who is understood by the professional elites, by Auckland’s hard core party loyalist activists, is supported by unions, who can out-strategise National, and – so vitally – who could beat John Key on tv.
Labour isn’t doing themselves any favours but neither is National. People will see National’s sudden change as cynical maneuvering rather than properly considered policies.
however regardless of what they see, recent history tells us that they will vote for what gets them a bigger share at the trough.
eg tax cuts, they know that it means less for the poor but i get an extra $65 a week!
Beltway Grant and the coterie in the wheelhouse of Labour are Wellington centric. They are truly Absolutely Positively Wellington in their pre-occupations. The gobsmacking thing about that is the continual decline in the Labour vote of the Wellington Hutt ABC group. Their performances over the past three elections has been the worse in the whole country.
Yet they have time to spend weekends in Auckland as guests of Skycity.
I think it was a smart move by Key, but I don’t think he has owned Auckland as much as you think, Ad.
Certainly not out here in the West where SkyCity is removed from daily life, while transport and housing loom as big issues that are part of daily life.
The reason Mt Eden etc have shifted to National is the gentrification, and colonisation of those areas by the relatively wealthy. I grew up in Mt Eden, in a mixed class neighbourhood. I can no longer afford to live there.
This has a lot to do with the changing economic landscape as anything: a central city area built of entertainment and consumer society commerce.
Meanwhile, out west here are many of the people who don’t give a toss for SkyCity, or fancy RONS, but want affordable houses, jobs near were they live, living incomes, and decent infrastructure, including public transport.
Who will step up and lead in this direction?
I’ve come to the conclusion, overnight, that the Labour caucus needs to step up and make peace with Cunlifffe. He has been involved in Auckland issues, and particularly the development of New Lynn for many years. He also has been involved in policies of nation-wide and international scope.
Labour’s caucus don’t have a lot of choices to turn things around. Cunliffe’s not perfect, is fairly centrist, and he’s shown he can eat humble pie and take a back seat when it was required.
Key may not own Auckland but he certainly owns Len Brown and most of the Auckland Council now.
The pressure will really be on them to sell water, ports and anything else that can bring in a dollar to pay for the transport plans.
A few (although there is only three that could be counted on) Councillors will resist, but most will succumb to either selling assets or some other form of making the poorest people they can find pay the bill.
The middle class Greens will be pretty happy, even if some of them pretend not to be in that bob each way political game they play.
Labour doesn’t really care about anything but protecting priviliged existance of a handful of worn out party hacks.
It will be left to the ragtag Mana bunch to form the resistance to the looting that will pay for this transport plan.
In the long term this is probably all for the good because the momentum for real change and the building of socialist political organisations will grow as the hapless social democrats are swept to the sidelines in a torrent of their own bullshit.
Auckland is owned alright, but not by the politicians!
The plan always was, and will remain to, *get the assets*, strpping the assets away from the people, hollow out the public services, at the same time, slash the head count, while having the consultants, all over the place, and the services outsourced!
Its already well in flight, with departments being completely overrun, by 500k-1m/PY *independent contractors*, who do not show on the public numbers, and where the financial management is way beyond fraudulant.
Problem is, it goes to the top, so there is little which is going to stop it!
The sick joke is, the people are paying the bill, and the books are ,CLOSED!
New Lynn was an interesting set of deals when you are comparing to the gentrification of Mt Eden.
New Lynn is gentrifying in no small part so fast because of the smart transport interventions by both central and local government, and for the way they involved the private sector into the new development both completed and underway.
Those were Labour deals.
New Lynn shows Labour can really “do” Auckland, and deliver for citizens who need places to live, fantastic health services, jobs in New Lynn’s accelerating services sector – and all of it built around public transit.
All the while growing local developers and local capital.
Imagine that as a set of plans rolled across Auckland. Imagine that called Labour policy, as an alternative to national’s launched today. And yes, it’s no accident which MP was in the middle of all of those deals, and it wasn’t David Shearer, Grant Robertson, or indeed Phil Goff.
Yep. Cunliffe got Clark’s government on board with the Waitakere City Council to start the development of the New Lynn Rail Trench. Now of course, Key’s lot are claiming it, as the development was finished under their watch.
Yes, the gentrification of New Lynn is a concern as well.
Gentrification.Urban gentrification often involves population migration as poor residents of a neighborhood are displaced. In a community undergoing gentrification, the average income increases and average family size decreases. This generally results in the displacement of the poorer, pre-gentrification residents, who are unable to pay increased rents, and property taxes, or afford real estate (Wiki)
I’m wary of your concern of “gentrification” Karol.
1. Labour wants the people of New Lynn or any changing areas to have increased incomes and quality of life. Labour should be relevant to middle classes also. Under Clark we had the majority of nealrly every socio -economic group at one stage.
2. Labour can return to being the party of the Liberals, The Environmentalists, The Avante-garde, the Arty-crafty, the 3rd Level students and more. Being passionate champion of the poor, the consumer, the worker, the retired, the alienated and the infirm does not preclude Labour from winning support among the enlightened and the caring middle classes.
Professor Robert Wade, Political Economist, LSE, might question the compatibilty of the aspirations of the middle classes, caring, or enlightened, with the other sectors you identify Bill; Middle-class anxiety in the west is on the increase.( with enlightenment comes awareness, awareness of climate change, surveillance, health risks, relative status, prospects for their children, etc).
Gentrification can be good. New Lynn prior to those set of interventions was a wreck. There are plenty of counterfactual town centres across Auckland with no plan for years – Avondale and Otahuhu being the standouts. Otahuhu, like New Lynn, lost much of its blue-collar manufacturing in the last two decades, and there has been no alternative plan.
What New Lynn has now is huge percentages of immigrants with huge desire for work, huge desire for upward mobility including education and healthcare – and needs homes to put these new migrants in.
We need Labour to show that it can take the nation-building mantle back off National. Labour – together of course with Seddon – used to own that. Now, with Christchurch City locked into a long term funding agreement, and Auckland locked into an agreed direction with government, Labour have lost that in the course of a week.
Whether Labour have lost it for good is for Labour’s leadership to stand up and determine.
But apparently none of Labour’s caucus majority that have ruled since Helen’s departure can see that, let alone plan the fight to get it back.
Labour needs the leadership that can take the fight on a strategic scale, and win.
“Whether Labour have lost it for good is for Labour’s leadership to stand up and determine.
But apparently none of Labour’s caucus majority that have ruled since Helen’s departure can see that, let alone plan the fight to get it back.
Labour needs the leadership that can take the fight on a strategic scale, and win.”
You captured our frustrations and hopes of the Labour membership in one piece there Ad.
Out of the 34 MPs there must be 18 who see that we cannot continues this backward slide.
As members we must make our feelings be know to our MPs. However it is up to the MPs to swallow their pride. They must accept that we need to rally around a Leader who can the vision and skill to help the WHOLE team realise their potential.
We cannot put another back office professional bureaucrat into the leadership role again.
It is time for Cunliffe.
Is the constitutional threshold 50% at the moment?
Exsulte jubilate !
karol
I listened to Professor Robert Wade this morning – and put some comments on Open Mike at 11.
I think he makes relevant points about your points in 1.3.
Get audio on http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday.
+ 1 Good analysis Ad.
Well said but dont hold your breath on that one. With candidates like beaumont and adern who did SFA and allowed the harder work ethic of kaye and lotu and didnt counter the BS at public debates I cannot see inroads being made.
Beaumont was particularly weak and probably explains the ineffective organisation in the seat who didnt even supply enough flyers to be delivered by volunteers, simply pathetic like the labour caucus.
Yep Arden is invisible in the electorate, even at certain events which you think would be bread and butter for a Labour MP you see Kaye and not Arden.
I think Kaye has the seat locked down hard.
she has “Auckland Appeal”.
A well run independent campaign, would go a long way to removing NK from the electorate seat.
The “AKL Appeal*, as RT puts it, is true, but NK does not have such appeal, which could not be rather easily unpicked, with a well targetted effort, aimed squarely at her voting record!
“We need leadership of Labour that can pull this off.” How about having a front bench politician who can do his job, even minimally, because at the moment they are not even trying. I hope they lose Ikaroa Rawhiti It would show them how fucking useless they have become!
Of course Key has done nothing.
2020 is at three more elections away and almost certainly his government will never be around to deliver on this.
However John Armstrong is right, Key has totally outmaneuvered a completely impotent Labour Party, and in doing so almost certainly set the stage to win the next election… and it cost him absolutely nothing. He’s humiliated Len Brown and David Shearer totally. It’s Key at his most brilliant and most corrupt at the same time.
The sooner this pathetic cabal controlling the Labour Party is completely dismantled the better. Their failure could not be more complete.
sigh, Ad.
It’s possible the Nats have developed a taste for crow and could unashamedly borrow more Labour policies. I wouldn’t rule out a CGT in which case they could see 50%+ in 2014. No need for Luigi, the Hair, Maori or Colin Craig .
Yes, the Nats would bring in a gutless CGT, and even cooked breakfasts in schools, if it allowed them to sell off all the power assets.
Once Labour dump Shearer as Leader they need to desperately sort out their factions and create some cohesion. Not only to win in 2014 but also to ensure that they can run an effective government!
Its deja vu all over again except the man in charge is Shearer not Goff, my advice is to concede 2014 to National (I mean pretend you’re going to contest just don’t waste major money on it)
Then you’ll have a few years to sort Labour out, sort the leadership out, reconnect with your supporters and hopefully have some money for 2017, which you’ll have a good chance of winning because John Key will have retired by then
National would have done a lot more damage by the time 2017 rolls round.
Shipley and Richardson (along with Upton) tried to shrink the state radically after 1990, Key, English and Bennett might just succeed if Labour doesnt get its shit together.
The public provision of services and infrastructure is more or less despised by this government.
Labour need to act and act quickly. They have nothing to lose by installing Cunliffe, and then pensioning off the old guard.
Plus they need innovative new policies. Not just variations to the same old neo-liberal crap, but something decent.
Labour needs to do more than dump Shearer – there’s a whole group of them that need to be removed from Labour’s neck and the only way that’s going to happen is if the membership remove them.
Yep the whole goddam frontbench is nothing but a millstone around our necks!
I seem to have jumped into auto-moderation for some reason.
EDIT: This comment didn’t but the other two have.
singed wings 😀
Things aren’t looking too flash for Snowdon.
Officials on Thursday acknowledged that the Ecuadorean Embassy in London had issued a June 22 letter of safe passage for Snowden that calls on other countries to allow him to travel to asylum in Ecuador. But Ecuador’s secretary of political management, Betty Tola, said the letter was invalid because it was issued without the approval of the government in the capital, Quito.
She also threatened legal action against whoever leaked the document, which she said “has no validity and is the exclusive responsibility of the person who issued it.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/ecuador-says-letter-of-safe-conduct-for-snowden-is-real-but-unauthorized-and-invalid/2013/06/27/fe72008e-df2d-11e2-8cf3-35c1113cfcc5_print.html
Still early days mate.
i did a drug-rant last night..after a snippet of news that would have passed most by..had me clawing at the walls/howling at the moon..
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/commentwhoar-ed-are-you-fucken-kidding-me-it-this-govthealth-dept-getting-people-who-have-meth-problems-hooked-on-fucken-methadone-that-vilestmost-addictive-of-all-drugs/
(excerpt..)
“..(ed:..this is an (ultimately-fatal) horror story of a baby born hooked on methadone – after the govt got her mother hooked on methadone..becauuse she was using speed/meth..(!)..)..”
..i really wish the mainstream media would turn a light on the insane/so-so wrong getting people addicted to methadone method of treating issues with any other drug..
..i repeat..methadone is much more addictive than heroin..is harder to ‘kick’ than heroin..
..and unlike heroin..cold-turkey withdrawals from methadone can kill you..
..could we describe methadone as the drug-cure you have – when you aren’t having a drug-cure..?
…phillip ure..
Yes its true Phillip. It’s the most ridiculous situation that could possibly be. It’s “harm reduction” madness gone wild.
The idea seems to have just that (Harm Minimisation) RATHER than a combination of that and any attempt at rehabilitation.
How one believes that putting a P Freak on Methadone will eventually cure their problem is utterly beyond me.
Could be a case of TINA though I guess – given that most rehab centres (a la Hanmer, Marton, et al) have been shut down. (Just anaesthetise then all)
Ironically the money saved from the closure of those centres would have just gone into the prison system, or on sickness/invalids benefits…
Millsy said ” or on sickness/invalids benefits…”
How can the money go on something that the Nats have canned ?? There is No sickness benefit No Invalids it’s all job seeker shit now.
That’s not true. Sickness has been merged with the dole to become job seeker, and IB has been renamed Supported Living or something like that. Even within the job seeker category, it will still be possible for unwell people to be treated like sickness beneficiaries – their job seeker status has to take into account medical assessment.
Well as a Sickness beneficiary, I have had all the ‘jobseeker’ bullshit, and in my yearly review ( I should be on Invalids but some faceless doctor whom I had NEVER seen denied me without the courtesy of a consultation) And ALL they were interested in (at my review) was how they can get me out to work. Nothing about what they might be able to do to help me live a little better. But they still did manage to cut my Benefit by 10 bucks a week. We don’t smoke, don’t drink, been 5 years since I played a pokie machine, Lotto tickets are a dream. I need sky for TV (I have children). I need Internet for Teens education and my sanity. So I have no money to waste but I will have to find a saving somewhere.
Sorry to hear that David. Have you had support from a beneficiary advocate? if you are not getting your full DA entitlements, they can help with that.
“( I should be on Invalids but some faceless doctor whom I had NEVER seen denied me without the courtesy of a consultation)”
Again, get an advocate involved. I can’t think what the process would be that WINZ would decline IB without you being assessed face to face, but they do turn down applications within the dept I think, and that decision would be reviewable. It’s a major pain in the arse, but worth it if you can get on IB.
applying the ‘liquid handcuffs’; chained to the Pharmacist.
Clever. And the dunny.
What I find to be the most negligent is that the baby was sent home with the mother who needed to be looked after herself. In such a situation for the sake of a vulnerable/addicted 3 kg baby (if that) the carer should need to prove that the baby will have the best chance of survival and the necessary treatment/care that is required.
There is a Labour Leadership E-poll on Stuff. Cunliffe ahead.
Is that bloke ‘Someone else’ still coming second???, looks like a piece of Tory pot-stirring to me…
Who didn’t see these circumstances coming together 12 months ago, dear Standardistas? Apparently, a whole lot of Labour MPs in Wellington. You have to question the political antennae on the party at the moment.
Only 80 people voted so far, might be a bit soon to get excited 😉
Stuff engaging in some fortuning telling polling by asking who ‘will’ be leading Labour at the next election, rather than who should be.
Its all finally coming out: Please watch this is big. Wistle blower reveals extent of corruption at World Bank
And where has the RBNZ Gov, spent his career time, prior to the appointment here in NZ, you guessed it!
Stitched, right up!
then of course..mike moore ran the place for awhile..eh..?
..yoo..!..hoo..!..mike..!..a few questions..?
phillip ure..
Mike Moore
George Soros, referred to MM, as the, Human Face of Globalization!
Does anyone seriously believe Mike Moore was allowed to be the head of the WTO, without having sold NZ out, you can apply the same to Helen Clark!
These top level positions , are not *available*, they come with a price, and the higher up you are, the bigger the sacrifice you have offered up, or the bigger the crimes you have covered/committed!
+1
Right now, fascinating interview Kim Hill with London School of Economics professor of political economy Robert Wade (?). I think I have the name right. Paraphrasing……..austerity is a destructive vehicle directed by the politically empowered elite to advance themselves. Above all else. Thus compounding inequality. Call it greed, surely ? Sin. On a biblical scale.
Sounds like a recipe for continuing failure and ultimate implosion.
The stuff at which ShonKey Python simply shrugs and asserts – “I disagree”. Astonishing.
…particularly interesting is how the ‘wealthy’ come to believe their disposition is completely their own doing, whilst the indigent have only themselves to blame (The Bennet Syndrome)
Yes, I was particularly interested in a couple of things – firstly his distinction between pre-distribution and redistribution. His idea was that the wealthy and powerful, through lobbying, get to control the flow of wealth toward themselves. so that it becomes “their money.” Then they baulk at its being redistributed, as in “yeah, yeah, tax and spend.” Hence for some level of economic balance to occur it needs to kick in at the pre-distribution stage.
The other related thing was his pointing to the replacement of the establishment with an oligarchy, which of course follows from putting too much wealth and power into too few hands.
Ownership of the income earning asset base of a country is crucial in controlling the pre-distribution stage. That means things like banks, power stations and land. The right wing aren’t silly, they know exactly what they are doing.
Well they are silly in the long term sense, since by acting as they do, as people with maximal power and minimal social responsibility, they create the preconditions for reckless, untested “saviours” to gain an audience, coming up from the outside of their carefully controlled political systems. I do not think that you can blame politicians too much prior to 2008, since until then it was still possible for them to believe that the market economy would mature and stabilise. But the curtain has since been torn from that belief, and failure to acknowledge the fact looks more and more like wilful blindness.
My answer to CV is in moderation.
You’re being far too generous to the pollies IMO re: your 2008 timeframe.
It was clear to most people by the end of Thatcher, and also by the end of Rogernomics, that free market neoliberalism was a dangerous and destructive political economic dogma with only a few redeeming features.
Should we give pollies another 15-20 years grace after that point to figure it out: no, I wouldn’t.
You do not get much chance to look at the overview when you are in the thick of things, goaded on by threats, promises and crises. Lange tried to contain Douglas and ended up resigning himself, Bolger tried to divest himself of Richardson, and sought moderation in coalition with Winston, but got rolled. After all this, Clark’s government trod carefully, still harbouring a few remaining neo-libs and aware that they could do nothing if driven out of office by constant vilification. Before the 2008 election, their policies reflected Krugman’s advice on the crisis – ensure that people stay employed, build infrastructure and address the housing bubble. Huge money and effort went into getting rid of them and ensuring that Winston would not be around to get them over the line.
So, while I am disappointed at the way things have gone, I do not entirely blame them. However, since 2008 there are no further excuses for failing to take a stand. Most particularly, you can no longer claim to be saving your country by following prescribed neo-liberal measures.
Therefore…expect the levels of external coercion and pressure to go up on our politicians. To my mind that is what TPPA, ‘PRISM’, credit agency downgrades etc. is all about. Also filling up your public sector with free market idealogues so that even if a true left wing govt is voted in, they are stymied and delayed for years.
I agree. All of the things you list seem intended to lock in neo-liberalism and to ensure that its overthrow is very difficult to achieve.
The right wing aren’t silly – that’s true from the point of view of maintaining their wealth and implementing any and every mechanism to try and ensure that remains so.
Where they’re complete fucking idiots though, is to assume it’s all going to end well.
It’s a recipe for revolution, and unfortunately the more the oppression, the more likely it is to be violent. There are exceptions of course (like maybe velvet revolutions), but times have changed: the distribution of ‘illegal’ weaponry, the increase in escapist activity such as alcohol, go-fast and ‘wired-up’ people, the absolutism in various forms of alienation we see, the emphasis on matters economic & excessive competition (we discussed on another thread somewhere) and the increasing resentment that promotes, etc.
wot, no colloquialisms today Tim
:p (what – you mean like ‘liquid handcuffs and stuff like that?) 🙂 I had a brother that wore them for years
Here is the link to the Robert Wade interview – it really was well worth listening to. IMO one of the best interviews I have heard on Kim’s excellent programme which I do not miss most Sat mornings.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2560376/robert-wade-inequality.asx
Also, here is Wade’s bio from the programme Show Notes.
http://www.lse.ac.uk/internationalDevelopment/whosWho/wader.aspx
I have quickly googled him, and there are links to a number of other articles etc by him which are now on my Must Read list.
Wade is originally a NZer – and I am wondering whether, if my memory is correct, he went to Wellington College and was dux in (wait for it!) about 1960.
Why is my comment of 9.09 in moderation?
I have more words in moderation on election days – especially by elections. Most likely party or candidate names.
Ummm.. Toned it down a little
Aspiration, then and now:
We choose to go to the moon in this decade:
We choose to go to Takapuna about when Max is ready to run:
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/john-key-announces-second-auckland-harbour-crossing-video-5479435
(hat tip to Hauraki’s Matt Heath.)
“Men of good fortune
very often can’t do a thing
While men of poor beginnings
often can do anything.”
North
Yes good and illuminating interview. Some memories dredged up – in 2010 the top 1% in USA gained 93% of the Increase in GDP that year – left for the rest of the people 99% was the remaining 7%. (Possible small percentage adjustment necessary, it is still a demonstration of the points made in the interview.)
Professor Robert Wade – http://www.lse.ac.uk/internationalDevelopment/whosWho/wader.aspx
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/20130629 (audio isn’t up yet, may be subject to copyright)
8:15 Robert Wade
Robert Wade is a New Zealander who has lived and worked in Britain and the US for the past four decades. He is Professor of Political Economy and Development at the Development Studies Institute, London School of Economics, and a member of the Economists’ Forum, a group described by the Financial Times as “50 of the world’s most influential economists”. Professor Wade is a contributor to a new book edited by Max Rashbrooke, Inequality: a New Zealand Crisis (Bridget Williams Books, ISBN: 978-1-927131-51-0), and returns to New Zealand next month to present a free public lecture, Inequality and the West: Capitalism at a Tipping Point, in Auckland (8 July), Dunedin (11 July), Christchurch (12 July), and Wellington (16 July). He will also speak at an Inequality Conference hosted by the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Victoria University in Wellington on 18 July.
I’ve put some of his discussion from memory. He says that establishment governments concerning themselves with the whole nation’s welfare have since Reagan and Thatcher increasingly acted to assist the process of money and benefits flowing to the well-off. Establishment governments in the ‘West” have changed to oligarchies. In Western Europe, Germany, Scandinavia they have managed their polity in a different way that he doesn’t seem to have studied yet, and they have not gone down the oligarchy route.
The capture of political parties by necessary funding only being available from the wealthy, and their willingness to fund and demand political processes and policy that favour them, is very dangerous for democracy as we have known it and the majority need to have it. The policies from these captured political parties are shaped to siphon money to their wealthy backers.
Right!
He comments on the ‘West’ which is basically the English speaking countries being caught up in a downward movement for living standards and constant poverty but also with an excess of wealth driving bubbles in stock exchanges, housing etc. which does not invest money where most people need it, and is inefficient economically. And money that should have gone to the ordinary people so they can run their lives at a modern level of living, is wasted, and the economy suffers further because there is reduced consumption.
The middle class attitudes are biased against redistribution, because they feel uncertain about the stability of their own position and resent giving more of their taxes to the growing number in poverty. The governments have not used judicious spending on projects along with quantitative easing which would have been healthier for the economy and reduced unemployment.
He talks abut pre-distribution as being an area that is largely ignored when looking at what governments do that affects the economy – patents for instance. They are an important guard for the inventor and innovator. But have become onerous, and another method for large entities already wealthy to siphon more wealth to themselves.
-Higher levels of inequality impose higher costs on a society- US, UK and New Zealand.
-the financial ‘collapse’ in the UK is = / > to The Great Depression
-Professor Wade’s work confirms the theses of The Spirit Level.
-greater inequality leads to greater social malaise, evident in trends of teenage pregnancy, imprisonment, drug taking.
-low income families may invest less capital in childrens education
High-income people effect a self-serving influence on politics, particularly via their funding of political parties.
A breadth of research by psychologists has found people who have more money tend to have less empathy- The Money – Empathy Gap.
The research findings are consistent from a range of research.
The establishment elite have morphed into an oligarchic elite.Government intervention in the ‘free- market’ favours ‘conservatives’.
Yes, Rosetinted, policy settings are necessary that influence ‘pre-distribution’ rather than ‘re-distribution’ However, there is “great anxiety amongst the middle-classes of the west over the shrinking employment prospects for their off-spring etc, and thus antipathy from them to redistribution of wealth, via taxes for example, from the top to the bottom.
In the US, 93% of growth in national income went to 1%, the remaining 7% to the rest of the population.
-Higher levels of inequality impose higher costs on a society- US, UK and New Zealand.
-the financial ‘collapse’ in the UK is = / > to The Great Depression
-Professor Wade’s work confirms the theses of The Spirit Level.
-greater inequality leads to greater social malaise, evident in trends of teenage pregnancy, imprisonment, drug taking.
-low income families may invest less capital in childrens education
High-income people effect a self-serving influence on politics, particularly via their funding of political parties.
A breadth of research by psychologists has found people who have more money tend to have less empathy- The Money – Empathy Gap.
The research findings are consistent from a range of research.
The establishment elite have morphed into an oligarchic elite.Government intervention in the ‘free- market’ favours ‘conservatives’.
Yes, Rosetinted, policy settings are necessary that influence ‘pre-distribution’ rather than ‘re-distribution’ However, there is “great anxiety amongst the middle-classes of the west over the shrinking employment prospects for their off-spring etc, and thus antipathy from them to redistribution of wealth, via taxes for example, from the top to the bottom.
In the US, 93% of growth in national income went to 1%, the remaining 7% to the rest of the population.
Inequality : A New Zealand Crisis
I was in moderation before and wrote another comment noting that and when I went to send it
I got a blank screen and then the message came up – ‘The HTTP request method was not accepted by the server’.
Is the GCSB hanging out here. There seem to be ha-has being set up around the site lately.
(The barrier type.)
Interesting. I will have a look at the logs. We have been hammered by bots over the last weeks. That sounds like the number of allowed connections got touched.
lprent
Also quite often doubling up comments showing up such as Rogues comment above appears
at 11.1 and 11.2. The second one has had a link added but the first still appears.
just a short note on “Understanding al1en belief sysyems” :
In so far as sociology attempts to arrive at propositions which have general validity, comparative study of cultures is a necessary feature of sociological research. While some sociologists have adopted a ‘Relativism’, most sociologists argue that valid knowledge of other cultures is in principle possible, despite the methodological problems which such knowledge involves. The problems of comparative understanding can be illustrated by two issues. (1) How can we know what counts as X (honour, religion, madness, etc) in our culture also counts as X in some other culture? (2) How can we know that a sociological explanation of X in our culture will be valid for another culture? Cross-cultural comparisons involve difficulties of identification and explanation.
Followers of philosophers like L. Wittgenstein and P.Winch have argued that understanding X in terms of the actor ‘Own definition of the situation’ is the best way of avoiding misidentification, since we no longer impose our categories on their behaviour. However, this procedure can be criticized on two grounds : (1) it involves ‘contextual charity’ to such an extent that no behaviour or belief in another culture could ever be regarded as irrational once it is located in it’s appropriate cultural context; (2) sociologists and anthropologists often, regardless of their intentions, inherit frameworks (discourses) which organize culture in such a way as to rule out any genuine understanding of the subjective experience of actors in other cultures.
Good intentions not to impose alien categories are never in themselves sufficient to rule out bias.
Peel (1969b); Rogue (Saturday).
Thanks Rogue – I wonder what would be an effective way of establishing some shared ground to start from? Then establish just what differences like on certain set matters.
Yes the other day I wasnt allowed on….the machine said it thought I was a bot ( I am not, I am a chook)…..and wanted me to copy in some letters….I tried….the first letter came up OK…but it would not allow me to copy in the second letter, no matter how hard i tried….so much for these smart ‘bot detecting’ machines I thought…..this missive of mine could have changed the world on charter schools and fundamentalism and fermenting social unrest, where there isnt any ….and then i thought John Key( and Banks and the GCSB) might have been on to me….and sent out a false bot …..BUGS, I thought….squawk!!!!
Chooky
Don’t get upset, the cold weather does affect egg laying I am told. Remember the world love chickens. Stay with us, doo.
Some commentators here are suspicious of most post 2011 election party so I have written about it in NBR to finally clear things up. I also argue it is time for Labour to give David Cunliffe a go: http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/sorry-david-its-time-you-left-ck-142206
“big fall in unemployment” post- Budget???
“intelligence” or cunning.
and yes Matthew, strategic, opportunistic, “forgetfulness”. (Are Rogues invited? we do like to slum it with the best, don’t you know). 😎
Hmmm weigh up list of things that need doing against reading anything written by a shill of the right and bottom of the list ‘pick my nose’ tips the scales in favor of not bothering…
I’ve been enjoying how few responses there have been 🙂
To clear things up? Cactus Kate was pretty quick to debunk your version of events, a version that most people would have been suspicious of anyway. Rather than clearing them up I think your piece confirms the suspicions you refer to some people having.
Does your support for Cunliffe come more from a sense that the left’s pretty much over David Shearer so his incompetence has pretty much been milked making it time to change tack and take advantage of a new kind of unrest within Labour that Cunliffe as leader may bring?
She was so hung over from the night before she didn’t arive till mid afternoon. I don’t think you can rely too much on what the old lush has to say.
However, I was stone cold sober when listening to Radio Live a few days ago.
“Stick with Shearer! Stick with Shearer!” (M. Hooton, on Willie and JT show).
Of course, people can change their minds. It’s just that Matthew’s seems to change every week.
Can’t have been me. Haven’t been on RadioLIVE since 20 June, before Herald poll.
Maybe you said it on 20 June, then? Instead of trying to split hairs over what “a few days ago” means why don’t you just tell us that you didn’t say that on Radiolive on 20 June? You’re more of a wormtongue than Pete George. It’s no wonder so many people don’t respect you.
“She was so hung over from the night before she didn’t arive till mid afternoon. I don’t think you can rely too much on what the old lush has to say.”
Yet we’re expected to rely on what you say, having been on the piss for 5 hours and being a paid liar.
Whatevs.
Kate may have many faults but unlike you, when she makes a dick of herself it’s usually by being honest.
….also to get in again this time I had to repeat my email address and name …like I am persona non grata…exiled with no name to Siberia…..I am just a chooky…you cant exile a chooky
Why centralisation leads to collapse
A very good read and worth applying in many different areas of NZ.
http://www.zerohedge.com/node/475826
There’ll be “redundancy” alright, just not of the corrective kind.
“dissent IS information”
otherwise, can’t see the forest for the fire.
Nassim Taleb is quoted in that link. Have you seen him talking on screen. His thoughts are so fast, and he explains things so well, that I almost can understand what he’s discussing. Well worth paying attention to. He was talking about fragility when I heard him last.
He has written book “Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder”.
+1
Great piece here, on Snowden, Greenwald, Putin, Russia, the media, and the shit people say:
https://www.nsfwcorp.com/dispatch/half-baked-revolution/7b5f035a42de86aae920c56db7efdf0784848f6e/
You’ll have to get in quick, it’ll be behind a paywall by tomorrow.
Thanks for that link, PB. Thought-provoking reading.
Was a good read and, yes, decentralisation is far more resilient than top down hierarchy. Of course, the people at the top won’t admit that as it proves that they aren’t as good as they like to think they are and that they’re being over paid.
What, Greenwald isn’t who he appears to be – well I never….
/
Forbes on Greenwald
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmcquaid/2013/06/29/why-glenn-greenwald-drives-the-media-crazy/
the question? “What is journalism” (today).
The Slatest:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/06/29/edward_snowden_nsa_leaks_glenn_greenwald_on_the_guardian_s_next_scoop.html
Greenwald on how the NSA directs 1 Billion cell-phone calls a day into it’s sup / repositories.
IS the ‘science’ settled on the issue of fluoridation of public water supplies?
If YES – then how come a number of DOCTORS will be speaking out in Auckland tonight against fluoridation at a Public Meeting – to which you are all invited?
FYI
____________________________________________________________________________
Auckland Mayoral candidate Penny Bright supports this Public Meeting Saturday 29 June 7 – 9pm: “Doctors present the case to end fluoridation”.
“As an Auckland Mayoral candidate – I am opposed to the fluoridation of public drinking water supplies, and encourage folks to come tonight, and hear for themselves, doctors who will present the case to end fluoridation.”
https://www.facebook.com/events/393600607426474/permalink/404700832983118/
DOCTORS PRESENT THE CASE TO END FLUORIDATION
– Sat 29th June 7pm – 9pm
Freemans Bay Community Centre
52 Hepburn St
Freemans Bay
http://www.eventfinder.co.nz/venue/auckland-freemans-bay-community-hall
“It really concerns me that those who have considered opinions opposing the fluoridation of public drinking water supplies based on FACTS and EVIDENCE – are being dismissed as ‘anti-fluoride nutters’, by others who cannot provide the ‘science’ to support their ‘pro-fluoride’ views.”
“IS the ‘science’ settled on the issue of fluoridation of public drinking water supplies?”
“The popular myth and legend is that fluoridation of public drinking water supplies, helps to protect the teeth of poorer people who can’t afford dental care.
Is this true?
Does the fluoridation of public drinking water supplies help protect ‘public health’?
Or not?
Can the stated opinions Ministry of Health, and District Health Boards be trusted, regarding the fluoridation of public drinking water supplies?”
“FYI – I have previously done some some hundreds of hours of research on the use of the Waikato river as a ‘raw’ source of drinking water for the Auckland region.
During this process, I discovered some alarming FACTS and EVIDENCE that caused me to question just how much the both the Ministry of Health, and Watercare Services can be trusted when it comes to safeguarding public health, and public drinking water supplies.
If you want to read this research yourself – it’s available here:
(If you dare).
It’s a SHOCKER! ”
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz/?page_id=152
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation’ campaigner
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
Are these NZ registered medical practitioners?
You only need look at the data from the Canterbury DHB to know that ‘the Prime Minister’s science adviser’ is talking effluent when claiming ‘science’ backs the fluoridation of water supplies,
Christchurch has never added fluoride to it’s water,and, it does not appear to have had an ongoing detrimental effect upon their dental out-comes,
http://www.healthchristchurch.org.nz/media/…childadolescenthealth.PDF
According to McFlock that’s probably because of just about everything else and absolutely nothing to do with the weak effects of fluoridation.
bzzzt – another fail.
I don’t regard 36,000 kids with all their teeth in perfect condition, and tens or hundreds of thousands with improved dental health, to be a “weak effect”.
But I do. Especially when you are medicating 4,400,000 people to get there, and cities like Christchurch show that you can have good dental health with zero water fluoridation.
My point exactly.
“According to McFlock“? Really? You’re as good at mindreading as you are at math.
Oh, by the way – the otago caries-free rate is similar to canterbury’s – but only in unfluoridated areas.
In fluoridated areas, otago has a significantly higher cares-free rate than canterbury.
But you wouldn’t give a shit about that.
Rosetinted
Thanks . I will….just so long as those rats don’t roll away and steal my eggs
Watch out for the Blue Rats…they’re the worst.
Nice to see that Public education funding is even right across the board.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/8858466/Wealthy-schools-get-1000-a-pupil-more-than-poor
Rich pricks.
oooh, “Blame society (consumers, not leadership) for Pike River and the Gulf of Mexico disasters”.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10893769
How about that for a shift of the gaze! What next, kick the dog? Charge them with the Rena?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10893642
for not paying large enough donations for supposedly “free education”?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10893670
Yep, we should. You cannot get anything for less than what it costs but the consumers aren’t willing to pay that amount. It’s why we have suicidal Chinese workers in the Apple factories. If the consumers were willing to pay what it actually costs then those factories would be in NZ with the workers having high working and living standards (well, that would have been true before the Rogernomics revolution).
And the researchers says that society needs to take some of the blame, not all of it. They still put most of the blame on the businesses and the drive for profit.
Reasonable chance of Auroras in the southern lats over the next few nights.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/gif/pmapS.gif
Orwellian Backlash
Paul Thomas writes good crime books, good sports comment. Nothing to worry about politically there. It is easier to sit on the sidelines taking the high line when not running up against the strength of realpolitik. The Tuhoe raid has left lasting trauma in those people’s minds. Snowden and Assange have stepped off the primrose path into the bog and need what help they can get.
QE4 to follow? (I did not rate the one crime novel of his I read).
Paul Thomas is a FUCKING FOOL. He doesn’t understand SHIT. Listen to Paul Thomas’ whiny crap:
Here is the REAL IRONY, which Thomas in his ignorance, skipped straight over without noticing:
that Snowden has been FORCED to seek help from Russia, from China, from Ecuador, because the United States of America, that bulwark of “free speech” and “freedom” will offer him no help, and is now one of the most dangerous places for a whistle blower and political dissident of conscience.
see ‘dossier’ updates below 😎
The irony is the dystopian forerunner to 1984 the Russian novel WE also addressed the problems with the one state based on the authors observations of work practices in UK shipyards such as Taylorism.eg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Winslow_Taylor
We is generally considered to be the grandfather of the satirical futuristic dystopia genre. It takes the totalitarian and conformative aspects of modern industrial society to an extreme conclusion, depicting a state that believes that free will is the cause of unhappiness, and that citizens’ lives should be controlled with mathematical precision based on the system of industrial efficiency created by Frederick Winslow Taylor
There is also analogies to the problems formed by the oligarchs such as seen in the IRON HEEL and the control they exert,that they can evade prosecution (read big banks today) and control and manipulate markets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_%28novel%29
Nobody forced Snowden to sign the secrecy agreement, nor did anyone force him to violate it and thus breaking US federal law just to tell us what anyone who’d thought about it for ten minutes would have already guessed. No one (as far as we know) forced him to give taunting addresses to the Chinese media or fritter his (? or somebody’s) money away in an expensive luxury Hong Kong hotel. No one forced him to seek out help from the oppressive Chinese and Russian regimes (presumably in return for more US intel, ie more treason) when he could just as easily flown straight to Ecuador, or Switzerland, or any one of a number of non-aligned countries. It all boils down to the decision he made, and if you are going to make a martyr of yourself you should expect the consequences gracefully.
The issue is not Snowden, the issue is the criminal activities of the U.S. government.
Technically they’re not criminal – they are covered by US law. By all means call them immoral, unethical, and quite possibly fattening, but illegal they are not.
…they are covered by US law
Snooping on U.S. citizens is illegal.
apparently not. Got a citation?
4th amendment.
Where’s the cite to say it’s legal?
AFAIA the admin is claiming it has a legal theory to get around the 4th, but it’s classified and they aren’t prepared to show it to anyone. It hasn’t been tested in court.
If you and Pop1 know what it is, there are dozens of journos who have been on this beat for a decade who would love to hear from you.
Well, the applicable judgment seems to suggest that the 4th amendment requires a “reasonable expectation of privacy“. Just an RT link I know, but my expertise in U.S, lawis limited. But it does seem to suggest that anything that is broadcast to a network is fair game.
This conversation re: legal/illegal is an academic luxury.
The US gov wants a historically complete 360 degree profile of the electronic life of every person on the planet, including all their relationships and communications with others, private or public.
Whether you are a judge, an MP, head of a regulator, political activist or a trade unionist, diplomat or corporate executive, they have the systems and the technology to completely record and view your digital life and work correspondence, in real time if necessary.
There are a thousand quite disturbing implications from this – let’s just start with the fact that our TPPA negotiations are likely to be fatally compromised, and that the balance of support for or against David Shearer in the Labour caucus is likely to be completely transparent to a foreign power, even more so than to the Labour caucus itself.
Legal/illegal, constitutional/unconstitutional? Who gives a damn.
Al Capone was done for tax evasion.
Bits of paper matter.
Authors: “Jennifer Stisa Granick is the director of civil liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. Christopher Jon Sprigman is a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/28/opinion/the-criminal-nsa.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
OK, I’ll just wait for the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the activities of the NSA.
The surveillance apparatus is a government sponsored hundred billion dollar industry. My guess is that no one is getting done, apart from Snowden and Assange.
On the balance of probabilities, not far off. But still more likely than an “American Spring”. And note I didn’t say “successful American Spring”.
Yeah, they should have just gone straight to Google who have already been doing much the same for a few years now. The Fourth Amendment suddenly becomes very flexible when dealing with information conveyed by third parties and how that relates to expectation of privacy. Emails and phone calls aren’t covered by the same legal protections as snail mail – of course perhaps that’s one reason the US government seems keen to break up the federal postal service and hand its dutues over to private companies.
apparently not.
And your authority is…. the U.S. president and his cast of criminals.
Got a citation?
Ha! We’re back with this tactic, are we? Are you really trying to waste everybody’s time by demanding we run after evidence for what we all know is true? You know and everybody else knows that the U.S. has been exposed, yet again, as a violent, anti-democratic and criminal regime.
That’s why they are ramping up their war of rhetoric against Edward Snowden and any other dissenters and men (and women) of conscience.
Pop1: nah mate, make it as hard for the pricks as possible.
Yeah bullshit to you mate. Snowden isn’t a “traitor”, he is a whistleblower, and as you already stated, he hasn’t told China or Russia anything that they didn’t already know.
He was a whistle blower whilst revealing the extent of domestic spying – though anyone who had thought about it for a second could probably have come to that conclusion on their own based on reading the 2001 Patriot Act, the Protect America Act of 2007, and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The moment he started revealing things to foreign powers it became treason, nor is there any point in pretending that every country in the world is spying on every other country in the world to the best of their ability.
Post-Snowden
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/world/terrorists-harder-to-track-after-snowdens-leaks-officials-say-693593/?
“Terrorists harder to track”
Get in, before they get you (or traffic slows)
http://www.eweek.com/security/microsoft-wants-to-disclose-fisa-data-too/?
Microsoft (like Google) want to disclose FISA data.
ahhhh, the wonders of cloud computing data storage (unless lprent is the sysop) 😉
http://gigaom.com/2013/06/28/if-prism-doesnt-freak-you-out-about-cloud-computing-maybe-it-should-says-privacy-expert/?
NSA- “we don’t need no steenkeen warrant hombre’s”
http://www.naturalnews.com/040982_NSA_spy_data_Fourth_Amendment.html?
US Army blocks access to The Guardian for personnel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/28/us-army-blocks-guardian-website-access?
(to maintain ‘network hygiene’ don’t you know)
US Senators complain that the US gov is relying on “secret law” to collect massive data. One step away from an irresistable, impossible to overcome, turn key totalitarian state.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/28/senators-james-clapper-nsa-data-collection
QE 99 ‘kicking the can” all the way to Moonbase Alpha?
The world is being stolen in front of the eyes of humanity, *secret law*, and the mesh of deceit, which hold the *hidden law* in place, is global, and at work right here in NZ!
One way or another you have to answer to someone muzza.
Hi Red,
Sure, but for me, its not human.
Anyone who considers another human being, to be above, or below themself, is being distracted, and those who bow down to perceived authority, of the man made law, need to accept their role in the deterioration of humanity!
People have become the, *public servants* of today, this is what the *law*, supported by other, seemingly innocuous industry. has manufactured!
So often say the mediocre. Do you not consider a Shakespeare, an Einstein, a Mozart or a Michelangelo to be above you?
Here is yet another example of illicit interference designed to influence the outcome of a court case by Judith Collins.
I am no expert nor do I care about legal technicalities. As far as I’m concerned Collins is not even fit to be in parliament let alone the Minister of Justice. She is a prejudiced and spiteful woman who will go to any length to get her own way. God help this country if she ever became PM!
God help this country if she ever became PM!
No she wouldn’t last 10 minutes. She utterly lacks Key’s brilliant salesmanship.
And yes her involvement in the case like this is extraordinary. In an earlier age she would have instantly lost her job for this. Under this PM there will be a few malcontents grumbling, maybe a lawyerly type or two whinging. And then it will be back to Business As Usual.
Gentlemen prefer blondes, and even politicians do too!
Anne, your description of Collins, while mild, is why she is in the position, that she is in!
It oozes from every pore!
whoohoo, we’re back. Was that you r0b 😉
Glen Greenwald of the Guardian UK. You need to watch this.
I will repost this tomorrow.
CV…thanks for that link!…..Wow brave guys!!!!….
Reminds me of ‘Kohlberg’s Theory – Hierarchy of Moral Development’ …..principled moral thinking vs conventional moral thinking and pre-conventional moral thinking….Important theory for journalists and all of us!…( shades of decisions that had to be faced in the late 1930s re fascism/ totalitarianism.
Thanx also Rosetinted for ref to Nassim Taleb and the ‘theory of antifragile’……fascinating stuff!
Welcome, Chooky. I also posted a different presentation of Greenwald’s on the OM of 30 June. Also very worthwhile.
just a helpful sorta guy that Viper.