Ther is becoming an increasing common thread of power prices in Europe and Asia dramatically increasing well beyond current inflation. Another case of funneling the limited funds of the middle, poor and elderly to a selected few. Just reinforcing keeping ownership in the state. Yet unlike the last 10 years there has to be price controls to protect from this bring just another means for indirect taxes as had been evident by national and labours past actions in their expectations for increased dividends by the soe’s
As opposed to New Zealand where since 2002 real prices have gone up by an average of 4.7% per year.
Price controls would be just as effective whether or not the enterprises were state-owned.
I’m not that pro asset sales (not against them either though), but sick of hearing the two arguments that state-owned companies keep pricing down yet also somehow have magical returns for the government that need to be preserved.
If they are that great at keeping the prices down surely the returns shouldn’t be good.
And still those clowns want to do the same to us sell our power companies. And they must know that prices will skyrocket why would they ? They will either be living overseas or be one of the ‘share holders’. And Ma and Pa Shareholder will be shafted as usual.
There are many things conspiring against Labour, there must be for them to be continually performing poorly in polls and for getting so much negative media coverage. Labour are the only party that can rescue the country from financial ruin, and they are the only party that can eliminate poverty and get everyone into employment with a decent wage and a fair tax rate.
Do you agree that the country is facing financial ruin because of decisions this Government has made, that there are distressing amounts of poverty and that it is important to get everyone into employment with a decent wage and a fair tax rate?
If not I think that arguing with you will be a complete and utter waste of time.
Do you agree that the country is facing financial ruin because of decisions this Government has made
No. Most people don’t seem to think that.
that there are distressing amounts of poverty
In New Zealand, yes, on our measure of “poverty”.
In East Africa , yes, that is what distressing poverty really is.
that it is important to get everyone into employment with a decent wage
No – it’s important to strive to get as many people who are able to work as possible into sufficient levels of employment, but we have to accept not everyone will always be able to have the job they want with the wages they want.
and a fair tax rate?
“Fair tax” is a meaningless term that can be debated with futility. What is fair to some is not seen as fair to others. What a fair balance of tax burden is will always be argued and tweaked, and never agreed on.
Do you agree that the country is facing financial ruin because of decisions this Government has made
No. Most people don’t seem to think that.
So you do not know anything about the country’s financial condition, you base your opinion on what the polls are saying, even though they measure political parties popularity and not peoples understanding of the country’s finances and you decry Labour even though you clearly do not understand what their policies are?
Can you link to any serious expert opinion that New Zealand is currently facing financial ruin, and that it is due to decisions this Government has made?
Perhaps it would be more accurate to describe NZ’s financial ruin to come as the result of the global financial fraud of the banksters. Of which John Key was a very integral part while he worked for Merrill Lynch selling Derivatives.
Well there are a few billion dollars worth of untargetted cuts that have to be made. And we are selling off power shares to pay for the housekeeping bill. And we are no longer putting aside enough to pay for baby boomers retirements. And there are obviously signs of major difficulties in various departments. And we have kids eating dog food to get by. And third world diseases, the types caused by grinding enduring poverty are apprearing far too frequently.
But apart from that no I can’t prove a thing.
And Pete you are trolling. You are not taking to task.
I have just given you 6 examples of where things are going wrong. So far you have provided nothing except to express a single view based on the misinterpretation of opinion polls.
Go on, argue the specifics, give it a go. Show that you are not trolling.
You need to argue specifics, you’re the one who claimed “the country is facing financial ruin because of decisions this Government has made”.
Your “examples” are weak and vague talking points and do nothing to back up your claim. If you can’t give any specifics does that mean you’re trolling?
These are examples that have been highlighted for some time. Don’t you recall posting thousands of comments in posts that dealt with these topics? Do you actually read the posts?
I’m sure you have no idea that you’re doing it, but you are illustrating exactly the point I was making.
You expect others to take your word for being right, and get exasperated when others don’t just accept it without question. And you attack the messenger while desperately ignoring the message.
You are walking around with your eyes deliberately closed and refusing to accept the truth of anything you cannot see.
Help help I am trying to understand Pete’s thought processes and my brain hurts because I cannot.
I gave you 6 different areas:
1. A few billion dollars worth of untargetted cuts that have to be made.
2. Selling off power shares to pay for the housekeeping bill.
3. No longer putting aside enough to pay for baby boomers retirements.
4. Obviously signs of major difficulties in various departments.
5. Kids eating dog food to get by.
6. Third world diseases, the types caused by grinding enduring poverty appearing far too frequently.
You replied that my examples “are weak and vague talking points and do nothing to back up your claim”.
Well feck me. This from the king of weak and vague.
You’ve posted 6 arguable political points, some very arguable. Nothing there points to anything that tries to prove that “the country is facing financial ruin because of decisions this Government has made”.
You saying kids eat dog food is not proof. It’s you using emotive talking points to try and shame people into agreeing with you.
If your attitude remains prevalent in Labour the party is dog tucker.
You’ve posted 6 arguable political points, some very arguable. Nothing there points to anything that tries to prove that “the country is facing financial ruin because of decisions this Government has made”.
But you won’t debate any of these points. You just dismiss them because they do not fit in with your world view and then claim that I have raised nothing of substance.
You contribute nothing to a debate but always insist on having the last word.
I’m asking you to support your original claim which you keep avoiding.
There have been stories of people eating dog food for decades – how would you claiming kids eat dog food now be any sort of proof that “decisions this Government has made” are causing the country to “face financial ruin”?
PG must be that treasury official that say we are going to have 170,000 new jobs, or is he the one thats been working on NZ catching up with Australia, I think he might be the one that wrote John Keys speech before the last elections although he left out one line “for the rich” no new taxes read my lips.
Perhaps we are facing financial Hardship particislly due to the mismanagement and missed opportunities from many govts including the last labour. Your myopic view of the world separates you from total reality. Nat has continued the long line of missed opportunities and poor management. As one case our ranking in the OECD and lack of substainable areas of growth and ability to prosper in the future.all areas of failure in govt leadership.and why should anything change?
We have not had ten years of finacial chaos… .. yet. National furthering the same policies without any change is obvious to all except the myopic. Policies shovelling more money into the economy (to the rich) because its expanding on cheaper oil (in real terms) don’t work any more. Labour have yet to get a grip on the new language of peak oil, and policies, since even the CGT is a old policy, like roading, that we should have introduced thrity years ago.
Look we’re in transition and all the rocks, poisionous pests, are all exposed as the tide goes out. The politics of poision are now current as the losers (the rightwing revolutionaries) try vainly to shore up their flagging position. The dodo economic pundits like Brash are brought out to steady the sinking ship with their retortic (a bland rather unthink form of right wign talking points framed to lie to the masses in good times).
Welcome to the collapse, see you on the other side.
Micky in good times mismanagement is less evident, but in the later years of the last labour govt this for me is what nz was delivered. Life increased in difficulity
Micky in good times mismanagement is less evident, but in the later years of the last labour govt this for me is what nz was delivered. Life increased in difficulty, and remember what is not reported in any inflation, cost of living – interest cost which peaked in 2008 at 10.4percent. Given the position when labour left govt the likes of unemployment would be similar to what we have today,govt deficits would be similar given labs tax cuts that were promised.
There is this incredible article in the Herald this morning about the already wealthy and some amazing comments by those who already have more than they could ever need.
Apparently the fortunes of the country’s 150 richest people grew by almost 20 per cent over the past year but the poor dears are still calling for the easing of “constrictions” around wealth creation.
The article does not say what these constrictions are, but presumably minimum employment standards and environmental controls are the sorts of things that stop the uber rich from acquiring even more wealth.
The NBR called it “freeing up the entrepreneurial spirit”. If it was me it would be called “rampant and excessive greed that is destroying our society and our environment”.
I now await being labelled as engaging in the politics of envy.
Gooday Polly, had a look and the top 10 are the usual suspects, no TW or Psfka in view. Surprisingly I was not surprised. I am sure you will be shocked to hear that, given that I am assured by my regular reading of blogs from RWNJs that its all down to the individual. Its what you personally do, there is no disadvantage etc etc. So there!
Do you have a link to support the assertion re Donna Hall as it does not equate with my understanding of how Treaty settlements are negotiated.
Settlements are largely the result of many years of hard work by groups of people with many dying in the process. At the negotiating table are usually kaumātua and kuia, lawyers, other professionals – so no one individual is responsible for the outcome.
The only reference I was able to find online to match your claim about Donna Hall was at http://www.treatyofwaitangi.net.nz/payouts that insinuates she earned $20,000,000 out of treaty claims. In the same websearch there is a link to a site that shows her arguing over fees of $19,000. Treatyofwaitangi.net.nz has as much credibility as Celticnz.co.nz and is hosted by the same redneck mentality.
Our entire socio-economic system has been designed by the rich to further the interests of the rich. Time to can that design system as it just doesn’t work for the majority.
Jeweller Sir Michael Hill, worth $245 million, told NBR: “Could not the Government give us a little freedom to be able to make common sense decisions for ourselves?”
This is from that Herald article, and I note both the whinging tone, and also, the lack of meaning in Hill’s comment. What kind of decisions is he talking about?
Just a few of the war crimes committed by NATO the last two weeks while everybody got distracted byt the horrible events in Norway.
NATO bombed and destroyed the $ 30 million water pipe providing 70% of Tripoli with fresh drinking water on Friday 22 of July. On Saturday they bombed the factory needed to repair the water pipe.
NATO bombed a hospital in West Libya were there is no military presence.
Remember the UN mandated only a no fly zone as a humanitarian intervention so remind me again how this is helping to “liberate” the Libyan population who on the whole have no interest in being “liberated” by the West and who have been given millions of arms to protect their country if and when the US and NATO begin to send in the troops and guess what; They are going to be fighting women. You know? Those subdued suppressed Muslim women? Yep, those!
I’m wondering if all this wasn’t the plan from the start…
It was. The developed nations need that oil and money to keep their delusional economies turning over just that bit longer and to transfer wealth to the already wealthy and then they’ll look for other wars to keep it going when that runs out.
We have a govt that appeals to a lot of folk who believe in the ‘I’m right jack f you all and get out of my way so I can have more more more’ and the article Mickey linked to is a sad indictment of the attitudes that are behind this govt.
The games rigged with the MSM on the nats leash. Williamson this morning blah blah about the 9 years of surplus whilst he’s fronting the leaky home issue his govt created a case in point, no challenge or questions put to him about the fact he is guilty of creating it, just let the soundbite about surpluses hang there unchallenged……sad indeed.
Has Labour invited Robbie Williams out here yet? And how about kicking up about our bikkies? Asset sales are one thing, but hands off our gingernuts you tory swine.
Trying to engage Pete (aka Secret Squirrel) George in a serious debate is like trying to catch a cloud to pin it down or holding a moonbeam in your hand. Unless you have an inordinate ammount of time to waste it’s best avoided.
He does have ads, but mostly I think he just wants to give himself an air of legitimacy by boosting his page rank.
AFAIK, links from comments on this site are set to “nofollow” by default so he’s not getting any link juice anyway, so all he gains are page views when people click his links.
And as anyone who reads his comments can see, there’s really no point clicking them. 😉
Some RWReactionaryNJ who will remain unnamed today sent a pile of spammed emails informing recipients that 10% of taxpayers pay 75% of the tax……..
For my Friday fun on receipt of his email I promptly Googled a few Viagra sites and handed off the email address. He can finally fell like a real prick. Any more unsolicited emails and it 1000 automated replies….
Cripes how bloody boring. Is this what blogs are about? Somebody with a differing view and immense time to display opinions and everyone taking a nip at his ankles. Pete G is swamping the site.
It could be that he is bringing up the very same arguments that other NACTs circulate amongst themselves and it is handy to be able to get a backdoor into their brains? a bit like that film Being John Malkovich. But the brains being addressed are more like what the USA call ground beef.
The advice appears more akin to a self help suggestion to those who experience frustration and annoyance engaging with PG and a strategy which will hopefully result in less of the party political broadcast (which we get already from the MSM) type comment and link farming. He is a politician so it is understandable – however this is not his soapbox – it is a shared space. What is really boring is reading the same shit day after day.
It’s a free country though (or at least going cheap under the Nacts) so if you think Petes brain will make a nutritious meal help yourself to a scoop, however you will have to forgive me for not joining you in optimism.
Sending people to Coventry was very effective in England. Either ignoring Pege G and his ilk would be a sensible response, or just registering the words Ho hum so he doesn’t feel ignored. That would be a blow to enthusiasm, even putting a failing grade alone of D-.
I read what I choose and skip what I want to, it’s quite easy really. That’s what most people do. Those that want to stop different points of view are usually the ones who stop and make hissy comments.
Not so easy on a blog – being seen to be ignoring someone.
BTW Ian, the post about Happy Feet is nothing about me. It’s someone else taking the piss about their own organisation, and it’s very funny for anyone with a sense of humour.
No-one criticizes you for having a “different point of view” Pete.
In fact the most common complaint I see about you is that you refuse to express any point of view.
Worse though is your habit of spreading your spam links by pretending to raise some matter of debate, but then refusing to debate it.
It’s becoming very clear to many that you aren’t here to engage with people at all, but simply to stand on a soap-box and shout at the top of your voice. And usually about nothing but your brand.
As Campbell says, you’re a politician. Way out on the margin, sure, but a politician nonetheless. I wonder how you’d react if, say, Hone Harawira spent all day every day plastering your website with links to his press releases, refusing to discuss anything, and playing the victim whenever his behaviour was questioned.
Have a think about how you come across with this approach, Pete.
Have a think about what happened here. I posted something with a link, nothing unusual, that’s common practice. Anyone can choose to read or ignore.
MS chose to respond (I doubt he read the link, but even if he did he was obblivious to the point of it). He then made a claim that he couldn’t substantiate and kept complaining, but not fronting up. If he’d offered something substantive other than repeating his opinion there would have had something debate. I eventually gave up on that and addressed one of his points and he chose not to follow up. His choice.
I don’t have any problem debating with other people in other forums.
A perfect example of Pete’s duplicitous behaviour. Look closely.
Pete appeared to reply to my comment, but actually ignored it entirely. Not one word of what he wrote was in address to anything I questioned him on. So now we have another comment full of Pete’s statements to wade through, and still no engagement from him.
See?
As you know full well, Pete, I’m not talking about a specific conversation with ms.
I’m talking about your well established pattern of behaviour on this site over a long period of time.
Seriously Pete, think about how you would react to someone who tried this on at your site, and think about the enormous amount of liberty granted to you by the operators of this site.
It’s my opinion that you’re abusing those liberties.
felix, it’s refreshing to see you being up front with this.
I accept that I push boundaries and I know I annoy some people here (I know not everyone because I get other feedback too). Same elsewhere. If a blog or forum wants to stop me from what I do they ask me to stop, delete posts, warn me or whatever, but that’s been rare and I’ve never been banned anywhere else.
Labour complains about the lack of media coverage they get, it’s much worse for small parties, and if you’re smaller still you have to find your own ways of saying things and experimenting with what works and what doesn’t.
My “well established pattern of behaviour” here is not just me. I could easily be ignored. My pattern of behaviour fhere has a lot to do with the pattern of behaviour of others like you and MS, how you react and in particular how you attack.
You know full well you often haven’t tried to engage in meaningful debate. You don’t seem to engage in meaningful debate much at all here, you more often try to “deal with” selected commenters. Whose liberties are you abusing?
I don’t aim to piss people off, I’d prefer I didn’t piss people off, but to raise attention to issues being blunt or confrontational is sometimes necessary and it will annoy people. No one likes being told they are wrong or stupid or blind – me neither and that happens often.
In most forums I’ve participated in I’ve actually managed to get on with most ok (admittedly it took maybe a year at KB).
I find it odd that a blog in the political spectrum I’m probably closest to (or was) can be so unwelcoming and intolerant of people pre judged as “undesirable”. Partly I know that’s due to how I’ve done things, but partly I think it’s due to a high sensitivity here to criticism, particularly of Labour, and due to a posse of patch protectiveness that you often seem to ride shotgun on.
We could probably both reduce the level of conflict here.
Have a look back into the 2007 and 2008 archives. There were some pretty active attempts to shut this site down with quite deliberate trolling behaviors. We clamped some highly reactive and strong behavioral limits on to the site about what is permissible. This is because it fitted the time constraints that we had for doing moderation (especially mine).
And we don’t muck about when people try to violate those rules or if they try to put in their own rules. This prevented the comments from becoming unreadable and ensured that we kept authors. They remain in place because they ensure that we don’t get a repetition of the boring comments sections when the trolls ran rampant.
Most of the longer term commentators (like felix) also remember those crowds of trolls descending from clint, camerons, and davids sites, the tactics used, and act accordingly.
The specific tactic that people are talking about with you is not being “being blunt or confrontational”, but avoiding confrontation like a politician. It is also a ‘debating’ tactic that I know as “slithering”. You whack up a few general statements that are barely sketched out, and then when people start to point out the gaping holes the lack of detail and the apparent lack of any thought, you slide off onto a different topic rather than deal with it. Frequently that consists of accusations that the critics are not being upfront or are being too confrontational.
We’ve had a number of people use the technique here in the past. It is as boring as hell to read. You tend to get a lot of criticism for it.
It is also a ‘debating’ tactic that I know as “slithering”. You whack up a few general statements that are barely sketched out, and then when people start to point out the gaping holes the lack of detail
That’s what MS did, he made a way out claim and avoided backing it up. I wouldn’t say he slithered, but he didn’t seem aware that anyone should doubt his word because simply that’s what he said.
(I doubt he read the link, but even if he did he was obblivious to the point of it).
I assume he did read it, and so did I… and as far as I can see, the point of it, was simply to jeer. There was no actual evidence for any of your assertions.
Housing problems being addressed!! Maurice Williamson speaks positively about great National initiative. unlike Labour who didn’t exert themselves!!
This is another NZ Government shonky go at having a policy that does the minimum, on the cheap, addresses the surface iceberg that is obvious and does nothing or little for the hidden probs. It demands that people match government help dollar for dollar, and can lead people to penury without even a complete house to live in which was worse than the deteriorating building they previously had.
It would be manageable for people affected if government offered limited cheap secondary loans or capped guarantees for extra remedial work required after the walls etc were opened and the true state of the interior supports was revealed. That doesn’t deal with people who built outside the 10 year building legal liability period.
Sad very, and another case of how the RWNJ are diminishing prosperity and wealth of ordinary NZs, really because of the decreasing regulations and desire for self-policing businesses with less government monitoring. Crazy, the reason we had laws regulating stuff was because of past bad experience of failures of standards and probity with business corner-cutting, which properly policed laws would prevent.
The biggest Joke is that their not paying any one out who had a leaky home under their watch.Neither are they paying any one with structural damage cased by leaks or by poor building practice.These buildings were signed off under their laissez fair building codes and inspectors.Wheres the justice in that I suspect CHCH citizens will have a similar battle to come!
I say add a $1tax per burger and/or fries sold – transfer the money straight to the Ministry of Health – less obesity as the price goes up and McD’s becomes less affordable and the country generates more than enough cash to operate a school lunch programme.
Remember Lockwood Smith Speaker of the House ruling “Privatization” as a word not acceptable but rather use the newspeak word of…? Can’t remember because its meaningless verbiage, deliberately so to confuse and bewilder criticism.
None Dare Call It Privatization
Dispatch from a high-powered conference spelling out a new strategy for raiding the commons
“Just remember something: The term “Privateer” means PIRATE. It means someone who will steal from you without a moment’s hesitation. Kill you if need (or just plain malice) be.
Real world example: Back in 1980, Colorado spent an average adjusted $70 million per year on it’s prison system. We were sold a bill of goods that said that for profit prisons would be SO much cheaper, it would be just foolish NOT to implement them. So we did. Now, 30 years later, after all these “savings” have been realized, that has gone UP to $770 MILLION PER YEAR. Only an 11 TIMES INCREASE. And as a result, our schools are now at the absolute LOWEST rate of funding in the country.
If you allow this kind of horse shit to go on in your state, expect JUST THIS KIND of savings. You can expect EVERYTHING that your govt’ USED to do to cost you 11 TIMES more. how can it NOT? You’re adding profit to the operating expenses, which are generally as low as they will be in govt’ services, because there is NO profit motive. Add a 30% charge on top of those expenses and tell me HOW they will get lower? NOT going to happen. PERIOD.
ANYONE who wants to do this kind of thing has MONEY in the game. PERIOD. Watch out for these people, they want YOUR money and they don’t CARE how much of a hardship it puts on you, your state, your family or the country. They LIVE for the money,. and everything else be damned.
Tell these people to go to hell.
Tresser sez: “… privatization is what happens when we transfer control of public assets, infrastructure and services into the private sector …”
***
“Privatization” is itself a soft euphemism. Before its introduction to the lexicon, another word sufficed to describe this practice. That is, corporate fascism.Because the Public’s Government becomes increasingly financially powerless(Due to less and less revenue from tax cuts and public assets) and controlled by the increasing financial power of necessary corporate backers as in the U$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
Seems like the correct term would be “profitization” – adding an extra layer of cost to the public to provide sufficient profits for the (newly) private owners of (formerly) public property and services.
I don’t see how a private company can provide a service at less cost than the government. The private operator must charge enough to provide ample returns to the owners. Public operators can provide services at cost. We’re seeing this in my own state and several nearby, where private interests are taking over public services and properties. In most cases the profit operators reduce pay and benefits for the (newly) private employees while charging the government more than it cost to provide the service in-house. In many cases (some say in all cases) there are concealed price escalation clause in state contracts so that the actual cost to the government is higher than the :”bid” price on which the contract was originally based. In the case of public properties (state parks being an example) the fees charged to the public are raised as well as reducing wages and benefits, and using fewer employees.”
Why do the NZ sheople still support a Government that aims to impoverish them further by selling their assets to FOREIGNERS! Is that the price we pay for Pin Up Key our celeb PM and not too high a price at that?
Seems like the correct term would be “profitization” – adding an extra layer of cost to the public to provide sufficient profits for the (newly) private owners of (formerly) public property and services.
QFT&E
There’s absolutely no way privatisation can make anything cheaper than what it was being provided for under government ownership. Lots of ways for it to add to the costs though and that’s what always happens.
Earlier this year Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett, as part of National’s divide and rule agenda announced a “War on Beneficiaries.”
Hi jackal
She’s caught out there! Why would you make war on your fellow kiwis? Last year she attended the “Eisenhower Foundation” whose most prominent member is War Criminal Colin Powell who publically lied that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction despite WEAPONS iNSPECTORS having certified Iraq was in the clear. He is part of the WAR ON TERROR. Looks like poor cow Bennett has been picking up tricks while sitting on his lap! The U$$$$$$$$$$$ is a Corporate Fascist State,we’re heading that way even more if Pin Up Shonkey gets back in Power this election.We already have GruntMeister Brownlee having assumed Dictator powers due to the CHCH earthquake.
WAR ON BENEFICIARIES In the useless U$$$$$$$$, that’s already happening: they’re screwing up the courage to attack social security and medicaid by you guessed it! by screwing those same people!
Today’s Press (print edition) reports from one of its polls, that 56% of women intend to vote National and 49% put Key as their preferred PM. Quite a change from the Clark years.
Speculation in the article suggests it’s because Key’s perceived as a ‘family man’, ‘loves his children’, is powerful, is wealthy, ‘charming’, ‘blokey’, ‘ordinary’, etc., etc..
Turns out that the coming election is not about choosing a government, after all. A shame, really. Perhaps we can set up a proper process to do that sometime?
And then he is going to turn into the devil incarnate after they have sold off all the Silverware and these same women are trying to make ends meet then they will know that he is cold heartless conniving prick who thinks less of the general population than he does of a dog in the street.
@ Puddleglum 1.06pm *Sigh* Depressing really. How much is it a Fairfix constructed poll? Was that the list of choices they gave people who voted? Did they mention anything about NAct’s poor record on women – re-policies and women’s roles within NAct? That record is also something that doesn’t get much coverage in Fairfix’s papers.
On that point, the figures for National/Labour support are identical to the May, 2008 Fairfax poll. Perhaps they just reprinted it? (I joke, of course).
Oh, and ‘no’ there was nothing on policy in the article though it was embedded (in a formatting sense) in a story about record numbers of people leaving New Zealand. (That article is online, hence the link – but I couldn’t find the one about women voters preferring Key, online.)
I was hoping that they realised it was too much of a puff piece to bother giving it a wider audience. But what do I know? Obviously those at stuff realise the value of the old saying – no-one ever went poor underestimating the intelligence (or was it ‘taste’?) of the public.
One and a half kilometres of steel tracks have been laid around Wynyard Quarter, along Halsey Street, Gaunt Street, Daldy Street and Jellicoe Street.
Waterfront Auckland spokesman Luke Henshall says testing of the two 1920s trams is due to start this weekend when electrification of overhead wires is complete.
"They're literally just being tried out on the tracks," Henshall says.
"It's just something we need to do to check the gauge and the technical specifications.
Clearly, O’Reilly does not believe this killer’s actions or profile qualify him as Christian. Which I would agree with. But his barrier to entry is somewhat less strict when it comes to linking the Fort Hood maniac and Islam.
BILL O’REILLY (7/26/2011): I’m saying that he was a Muslim terrorist because he carried a business card that said “Soldier of Allah”. And he committed his crimes in the name of Allah.
See the difference? That guy printed up Soldier of Allah business cards! The other guy only printed up an Army of Christ manifesto! I guess, the only connection is both psychos, for some reason, spent the day at Kinko’s.
You know, I actually feel sorry for the pundits and anchors who have added this story to their file of grievances that are perpetrated against them. Not because I think they are actually victims of persecution, but because I know that the sense of grievance and victimization that appears to pervade their every waking moment is actually something they hate……………… in others.
SEAN HANNITY (1/5/2009): Liberals do make themselves out to be victims.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN (9/2/2009): … victimization thing you guys on the left come up with …
REP. ALLEN WEST, R-FL (7/20/2011): The liberals want to play victim.
MONICA CROWLEY (6/1/2011): They play the victimhood card all the time.
All the time! Victims play the victim card! Liberals play it even when they’re playing Yahtzee, which doesn’t use cards! It’s annoying.
The latest figures from the Fairfax Media-Research International poll have finally cheered the Labour Party…
Why would having a quarter of young people planning to leave the country cheer them up? Oh, that’s right, it wouldn’t except in some delusional journalists’ mind as he writes to get more ratings rather than to inform people.
It says a lot about how journalists themselves see everything as just an opportunity for political advantage. I notice the only related quote was from Parker, who called it a “shocking statistic”.
The only two people in the article who were, in fact, sanguine about the figures were Bill English – who, oddly, saw these figures as representing young Kiwis looking forward to their OE – and, also oddly, the person reporting the poll who seemed keen to play down the number of people who might actually leave (despite the real world stats for the months of May and June – discussed in the article – being the highest net exodus since 1979 and 1981, respectively).
That latter comment is odd because it undermines the meaningfulness/validity of one of the items used in his own poll. (Since, presumably, the item aimed to measure and report intentions that might reliably lead to behaviour as opposed to, for example, statistics that might generate headlines.)
I can see the article on the Auckland Library’s website dDgital Library, Press Display – It’s available to Library Members.
There’s a quote from Sue Bradford saying he has more charm than most politicians, but he doesn’t appeal to her – that some women go for the blokey quality. And those quotes about Key’s qualities are from a Massey uni Assoc. Prof of Commendation Design (Say what?), who says Key has qualities women like “doting husband, adores his kids…. and is a nice guy.”
Strange and pathetic. Not the press blatantly lying to make Labour look bad – that’s been a given since 2004 – but Brash attacking his only cobber and making better political hay than the Labour machine can.
Cut the pleasant waffle brothers and sisters, nice was last year and they’ve picked their idol. It’s the serious drama slot; remember you’re talking to the swinging voter and tell him with conviction:
“Key promised to stop this. He promised over and again that we’d catch up with Oz, but the gap’s got wider on his watch. Bugger the polls, our kids are voting with their feet – and they won’t be back while he keeps borrowing billions to give tax cuts to his rich mates and hocking off their last assets. For our kids’ sake, we need to lock up the family silver and throw away the key.”
saw these figures as representing young Kiwis looking forward to their OE
This ‘O.E’ thing amuses me greatly! In the late 80s, I met another solo mother at a church creche, and became friends with her. She was from an upper middle class background, and a bit stunned to have ended up on a DPB… but we had everything else in common, and so we ‘bonded’… Then one day we were talking about art, and she started enthusing about galleries in Venice. When I said I’d never seen them, she asked “But where did you go on your O.E?” She was stunned to learn that I had never had one, and still haven’t – that in common with almost everyone I had known at school, I had gone to work straight out of school, and got to Uni only 10 years later… that the O.E was a middle class kiddie thing, and not a norm!
It still isn’t. My sons both went into tertiary study and then work straight out of school (no gap years or OE for solo Mum kids!). My older son married, and he and his wife may get an OE when they retire. If the younger one goes overseas, it won’t be for years – and then, it will be to work.
I look back, and think how nice it would have been to have rich parents (or parents at all), and to have spent the years of my late teens seeing Venice! Sigh… 😀
The News of the World hacking thing just gets worse http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/28/phone-hacking-sarah-payne
Not only did they gift a phone that they later hacked, they also convinced the mother that she had not been hacked and got her to write an article stating this.
There is no doubt that many of the parents of hungry kids are simply incapable of managing anything, even the smallest amount of money. They are what broadcaster Michael Laws quite rightly calls the “ferals” of our society.
Yeah, he is. Sure, those people exist but they’re not “ferals” just people who haven’t been properly educated by either their parents or the schooling system.
I am amazed DtB that you picked that one paragraph out of the article, and ignored the other 90% of it. It’s as if you were looking for something to hate – but how could you intentionally ignore this?
The widely held view is that parents are to blame, that they spend their money on booze, smokes and other drugs and let their children starve, and that food vouchers should be given to beneficiaries instead of cash.
It’s the old “I pay my taxes and that’s enough” philosophy.
But what do we do about hungry kids in the meantime? Let them starve?
…………………………. and right after the two sentences you complained about we have …
They may be irredeemable, but their children are not. And for them, we must all make ourselves responsible.
I might choose this moment to point out that when I was on a DPB I supported one and a half children (I had regular visits from my older son, custodially stolen by my alcoholic ex, and while this son, a teenager, visited, I got no money for him at all.) None of us ever went without food in all those years. Granted it wasn’t very nice food most of the time, and it’s lucky that I don’t have the alcoholism problem that’s in the family – I tend to agree with George that some parents just can’t manage money! (I remember a solo Mum who was a friend of mine, who owned her own home so had one less expense than I did, and who was constantly visiting me to do her washing etc because she couldn’t her bills – instead she devoted her money to looking middle class – to use her own words! and to feeding and paying vet bills for a ruddy great dog… )
I didn’t – I viewed it as the same as the paragraph I quoted. The children need to be helped and so do the parents and yet he’s certain that the parents can’t be helped and so should get thrown on the scrapheap.
The fact DtB is that some parents are very difficult to help! When I walked my son to school (remember, I was a nasty solo mother on DPB, and many of the other parents wouldn’t soil their skirts, as if it was catching – it was a high SES area!) we regularly met a little boy the same age as my son at the time (about 6 years old) who wore hand-downs too big for him, and no shoes (in winter). It wasn’t my duty to help (as if I even could have – beneficiary, remember!) but the father seemed to think it was, as I was white and he wasn’t – and he was a solo Daddy. *
No shoes for the son, but two bloody great Rottweilers in his front yard. Typically, the Lady Mucks in the area were greatly concerned about the living conditions – of the freaking dogs!
* I had the experience the other night, of seeing a solo Daddy on Clive the other night, talking about his problems feeding his family. Then the following night, I switched to Close Up, when Clive’s trailer in the news, showed the heaps of presents viewers had sent for solo Dad. How nice it would be if solo mothers got gifts, not abuse! (Such as the nasty email comments Sainsbury read out about the beneficiary he’d covered!)
So yes, some parents don’t deserve sympathy, but their kids do. That’s the whole point.
The fact DtB is that some parents are very difficult to help!
Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t help them if at all possible.
So yes, some parents don’t deserve sympathy,
I’m not the sympathetic type. If the parents can’t be helped you take the kids off them and help them directly and tell the parents to go fuck themselves but you do try to help the parents first.
Then the following night, I switched to Close Up, when Clive’s trailer in the news, showed the heaps of presents viewers had sent for solo Dad.
Yep, that’s pretty much disgusting. It’s obviously the sexism coming through. The females are “breeding for a living” while the guy’s having a hard time through no fault of his own.
Yep, that’s pretty much disgusting. It’s obviously the sexism coming through. The females are “breeding for a living” while the guy’s having a hard time through no fault of his own.
I have my own reasons for being very sour on solo daddies (my first ex got custody of our son solely because he had parents to help, and I didn’t – that was truly the reason the judge gave! My mother had just died a few months before the case came before the court, and the ensuing years showed that J., wanted custody so he wouldn’t need to work!)
But the more relevant story when it comes to differing standards is that years later, when I lived in Welly, and visited my sister in Nappy Valley, she pointed out Ross, the solo daddy who was the father of her daughter’s best friend. He’d gone to court to get the family home, and he’d got it in an ex parte hearing, as his wife Margaret had “run off” and left him… My sister and all the other neighbours, would take him casseroles, wash and mend the kid’s clothes etc…
I asked my sister to exercise a bit of caution about believing Ross’ story, especially as she had known Margaret and thought that running off and leaving three children, one of them from a previous marriage, was out of character. Well (and I credit my sister with honesty, for telling me later) it turned out that Margaret hadn’t known she was “running off” until her oldest daughter contacted her. She had cancer and had taken Ross’ advice to go home to Tauranga and live with her parents while having chemo. It was only when her father moved his new girlfriend into the family home, that the daughter (I think she was 13?) caught on to the fact that Daddy had been telling two different stories to his wife and children, and to the court and the neighbours! (I never said she was all that bright, it took months..)
The casseroles, the baby-sitting and the mending dried up then, along with the sympathy for poor solo dad doing the best he could!
It was the Chamber of Commerce, Chris73, and locally that is the Nactoids in business suits.
They did not want to be told a thing or two about Marlborough having the lowest wage economy in the country, the highest supermarket prices, or a shameful treatment of guest workers by using corrupt and exploitative contractors to act as proxy employers for grape growers.
They did not want to hear criticism of Marlborough being in many ways a third world country in that 80% of grapes grown in Marlborough are owned by non-Marlborough companies, many overseas owned. They do not want to hear that the Marlborough District Council has high rates in terms of national figures.
They do not want to hear of growing unemployment figures or that the local food kitchen fed 74 poor folk last week.
They do not want to hear that they are represented by an imported MP who possesses Key like qualities of geniality but who carries no weight within his own caucus nor bears any great intellectual burdens.
Of course they stayed away………… they’re not into self-flagellation.
Petulant Bean went to the U.S. to broaden her education. If it was all on the public purse can we expect her to report back to us with detail of what her courses covered and what she learnt. I expect it would be in the form of cartoon strips, and pictures but that doesn’t matter.
As an aside and further to the campaign (now at least 2 signatories if you are with me Vicky) for quality relaxing music being played while “hanging on” to a corporation phone call, I discovered that when one closes the doors on those modern street-side loos, quite a relaxing and pleasant melody ensues. Perhaps Pete George could take up the campaign.
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
Ther is becoming an increasing common thread of power prices in Europe and Asia dramatically increasing well beyond current inflation. Another case of funneling the limited funds of the middle, poor and elderly to a selected few. Just reinforcing keeping ownership in the state. Yet unlike the last 10 years there has to be price controls to protect from this bring just another means for indirect taxes as had been evident by national and labours past actions in their expectations for increased dividends by the soe’s
As opposed to New Zealand where since 2002 real prices have gone up by an average of 4.7% per year.
Price controls would be just as effective whether or not the enterprises were state-owned.
I’m not that pro asset sales (not against them either though), but sick of hearing the two arguments that state-owned companies keep pricing down yet also somehow have magical returns for the government that need to be preserved.
If they are that great at keeping the prices down surely the returns shouldn’t be good.
Re electricity price hikes in the UK :- http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/107461
And still those clowns want to do the same to us sell our power companies. And they must know that prices will skyrocket why would they ? They will either be living overseas or be one of the ‘share holders’. And Ma and Pa Shareholder will be shafted as usual.
I’ve collated reasons why Labour may be failing to get traction.
Linkwhoring again Pete?
Do you agree that the country is facing financial ruin because of decisions this Government has made, that there are distressing amounts of poverty and that it is important to get everyone into employment with a decent wage and a fair tax rate?
If not I think that arguing with you will be a complete and utter waste of time.
Do you agree that the country is facing financial ruin because of decisions this Government has made
No. Most people don’t seem to think that.
that there are distressing amounts of poverty
In New Zealand, yes, on our measure of “poverty”.
In East Africa , yes, that is what distressing poverty really is.
that it is important to get everyone into employment with a decent wage
No – it’s important to strive to get as many people who are able to work as possible into sufficient levels of employment, but we have to accept not everyone will always be able to have the job they want with the wages they want.
and a fair tax rate?
“Fair tax” is a meaningless term that can be debated with futility. What is fair to some is not seen as fair to others. What a fair balance of tax burden is will always be argued and tweaked, and never agreed on.
Do you agree that the country is facing financial ruin because of decisions this Government has made
No. Most people don’t seem to think that.
So you do not know anything about the country’s financial condition, you base your opinion on what the polls are saying, even though they measure political parties popularity and not peoples understanding of the country’s finances and you decry Labour even though you clearly do not understand what their policies are?
You are taking the piss, arn’t you?
No, taking the micky, to task.
Can you link to any serious expert opinion that New Zealand is currently facing financial ruin, and that it is due to decisions this Government has made?
Perhaps it would be more accurate to describe NZ’s financial ruin to come as the result of the global financial fraud of the banksters. Of which John Key was a very integral part while he worked for Merrill Lynch selling Derivatives.
Well there are a few billion dollars worth of untargetted cuts that have to be made. And we are selling off power shares to pay for the housekeeping bill. And we are no longer putting aside enough to pay for baby boomers retirements. And there are obviously signs of major difficulties in various departments. And we have kids eating dog food to get by. And third world diseases, the types caused by grinding enduring poverty are apprearing far too frequently.
But apart from that no I can’t prove a thing.
And Pete you are trolling. You are not taking to task.
You are not taking to task.
Because you can’t or won’t back up your assertions with anything of substance?
I guess you don’t want to link to “Trev’s talking points”.
I have just given you 6 examples of where things are going wrong. So far you have provided nothing except to express a single view based on the misinterpretation of opinion polls.
Go on, argue the specifics, give it a go. Show that you are not trolling.
You need to argue specifics, you’re the one who claimed “the country is facing financial ruin because of decisions this Government has made”.
Your “examples” are weak and vague talking points and do nothing to back up your claim. If you can’t give any specifics does that mean you’re trolling?
*/repeated bashing of head on table/*
PeteG
These are examples that have been highlighted for some time. Don’t you recall posting thousands of comments in posts that dealt with these topics? Do you actually read the posts?
I’m asking for links to back up your claims, as commonly requested here.
If what you claimed is a simple fact it should be simply proven.
PeteG you are a waste of bandwidth.
You are walking around with your eyes deliberately closed and refusing to accept the truth of anything you cannot see.
I’m sure you have no idea that you’re doing it, but you are illustrating exactly the point I was making.
You expect others to take your word for being right, and get exasperated when others don’t just accept it without question. And you attack the messenger while desperately ignoring the message.
That’s the height of unintentional irony.
jesus wept pete g – you twist and turn like a twisty turny thing
Help help I am trying to understand Pete’s thought processes and my brain hurts because I cannot.
I gave you 6 different areas:
1. A few billion dollars worth of untargetted cuts that have to be made.
2. Selling off power shares to pay for the housekeeping bill.
3. No longer putting aside enough to pay for baby boomers retirements.
4. Obviously signs of major difficulties in various departments.
5. Kids eating dog food to get by.
6. Third world diseases, the types caused by grinding enduring poverty appearing far too frequently.
You replied that my examples “are weak and vague talking points and do nothing to back up your claim”.
Well feck me. This from the king of weak and vague.
You really are a waste of bandwidth Pete.
You’ve posted 6 arguable political points, some very arguable. Nothing there points to anything that tries to prove that “the country is facing financial ruin because of decisions this Government has made”.
You saying kids eat dog food is not proof. It’s you using emotive talking points to try and shame people into agreeing with you.
If your attitude remains prevalent in Labour the party is dog tucker.
You’ve posted 6 arguable political points, some very arguable. Nothing there points to anything that tries to prove that “the country is facing financial ruin because of decisions this Government has made”.
But you won’t debate any of these points. You just dismiss them because they do not fit in with your world view and then claim that I have raised nothing of substance.
You contribute nothing to a debate but always insist on having the last word.
You are trolling Pete.
I’m asking you to support your original claim which you keep avoiding.
There have been stories of people eating dog food for decades – how would you claiming kids eat dog food now be any sort of proof that “decisions this Government has made” are causing the country to “face financial ruin”?
He didn’t ask what “most people” think, he asked what you think!
PG must be that treasury official that say we are going to have 170,000 new jobs, or is he the one thats been working on NZ catching up with Australia, I think he might be the one that wrote John Keys speech before the last elections although he left out one line “for the rich” no new taxes read my lips.
Perhaps we are facing financial Hardship particislly due to the mismanagement and missed opportunities from many govts including the last labour. Your myopic view of the world separates you from total reality. Nat has continued the long line of missed opportunities and poor management. As one case our ranking in the OECD and lack of substainable areas of growth and ability to prosper in the future.all areas of failure in govt leadership.and why should anything change?
Blah blah blah … ten years of economic mismanagement … missed opportunities …
Got the old CT songbook out this morning Herodotus? Although I agree that National’s management is poor.
We have not had ten years of finacial chaos… .. yet. National furthering the same policies without any change is obvious to all except the myopic. Policies shovelling more money into the economy (to the rich) because its expanding on cheaper oil (in real terms) don’t work any more. Labour have yet to get a grip on the new language of peak oil, and policies, since even the CGT is a old policy, like roading, that we should have introduced thrity years ago.
Look we’re in transition and all the rocks, poisionous pests, are all exposed as the tide goes out. The politics of poision are now current as the losers (the rightwing revolutionaries) try vainly to shore up their flagging position. The dodo economic pundits like Brash are brought out to steady the sinking ship with their retortic (a bland rather unthink form of right wign talking points framed to lie to the masses in good times).
Welcome to the collapse, see you on the other side.
Micky in good times mismanagement is less evident, but in the later years of the last labour govt this for me is what nz was delivered. Life increased in difficulity
Micky in good times mismanagement is less evident, but in the later years of the last labour govt this for me is what nz was delivered. Life increased in difficulty, and remember what is not reported in any inflation, cost of living – interest cost which peaked in 2008 at 10.4percent. Given the position when labour left govt the likes of unemployment would be similar to what we have today,govt deficits would be similar given labs tax cuts that were promised.
There is this incredible article in the Herald this morning about the already wealthy and some amazing comments by those who already have more than they could ever need.
Apparently the fortunes of the country’s 150 richest people grew by almost 20 per cent over the past year but the poor dears are still calling for the easing of “constrictions” around wealth creation.
The article does not say what these constrictions are, but presumably minimum employment standards and environmental controls are the sorts of things that stop the uber rich from acquiring even more wealth.
The NBR called it “freeing up the entrepreneurial spirit”. If it was me it would be called “rampant and excessive greed that is destroying our society and our environment”.
I now await being labelled as engaging in the politics of envy.
There was a thing on the telly last night highlighting the gap on that list between men and women.
It got me wondering who the richest Maori or Pasifikan in NZ is and how did they make their dosh ?
Gooday Polly, had a look and the top 10 are the usual suspects, no TW or Psfka in view. Surprisingly I was not surprised. I am sure you will be shocked to hear that, given that I am assured by my regular reading of blogs from RWNJs that its all down to the individual. Its what you personally do, there is no disadvantage etc etc. So there!
Donna Hall (who apparently gets 10% of any Treaty claims she wish) ust be up there.
@Ianupnorth – Did you mean that the lady gets 10% of claims she WINS? Bit of proofreading needed methinks.
Do you have a link to support the assertion re Donna Hall as it does not equate with my understanding of how Treaty settlements are negotiated.
Settlements are largely the result of many years of hard work by groups of people with many dying in the process. At the negotiating table are usually kaumātua and kuia, lawyers, other professionals – so no one individual is responsible for the outcome.
The only reference I was able to find online to match your claim about Donna Hall was at http://www.treatyofwaitangi.net.nz/payouts that insinuates she earned $20,000,000 out of treaty claims. In the same websearch there is a link to a site that shows her arguing over fees of $19,000. Treatyofwaitangi.net.nz has as much credibility as Celticnz.co.nz and is hosted by the same redneck mentality.
Same as the large wealthy corporates in the USA which pay zero income tax pushing for lower company tax. GREED.
“Freeing up the entrepreneurial spirit” means unlocking the initiative and opportunities facing the bottom 95% of society,
Not reinforcing an edified moneyed aristocracy in its place.
(of course the NBR already know this but the last thing that the few at the top want is true competition from ther masses below)
+1
Our entire socio-economic system has been designed by the rich to further the interests of the rich. Time to can that design system as it just doesn’t work for the majority.
This is from that Herald article, and I note both the whinging tone, and also, the lack of meaning in Hill’s comment. What kind of decisions is he talking about?
Not to pay any tax at all I presume
Just a few of the war crimes committed by NATO the last two weeks while everybody got distracted byt the horrible events in Norway.
NATO bombed and destroyed the $ 30 million water pipe providing 70% of Tripoli with fresh drinking water on Friday 22 of July. On Saturday they bombed the factory needed to repair the water pipe.
NATO bombed a school for disabled children
NATO bombed a hospital in West Libya were there is no military presence.
Remember the UN mandated only a no fly zone as a humanitarian intervention so remind me again how this is helping to “liberate” the Libyan population who on the whole have no interest in being “liberated” by the West and who have been given millions of arms to protect their country if and when the US and NATO begin to send in the troops and guess what; They are going to be fighting women. You know? Those subdued suppressed Muslim women? Yep, those!
The main reason for this war was to allow the financial elite to seize (ahem, permanently ‘freeze’) US$90B in Libyan foreign assets.
Also of course the oil.
I’m wondering if all this wasn’t the plan from the start, when Blair et al invited Libya back into the ‘international community’.
It was. The developed nations need that oil and money to keep their delusional economies turning over just that bit longer and to transfer wealth to the already wealthy and then they’ll look for other wars to keep it going when that runs out.
We have a govt that appeals to a lot of folk who believe in the ‘I’m right jack f you all and get out of my way so I can have more more more’ and the article Mickey linked to is a sad indictment of the attitudes that are behind this govt.
The games rigged with the MSM on the nats leash. Williamson this morning blah blah about the 9 years of surplus whilst he’s fronting the leaky home issue his govt created a case in point, no challenge or questions put to him about the fact he is guilty of creating it, just let the soundbite about surpluses hang there unchallenged……sad indeed.
Has Labour invited Robbie Williams out here yet? And how about kicking up about our bikkies? Asset sales are one thing, but hands off our gingernuts you tory swine.
Is there any point having Pete George here? All he does is spam us with spam links to his own site.
Leave him to it I reckon.
day three of ignoring Peter Squirreltail and my forehead bruising has completely cleared up, i can heartily recommend following Felix’s suggestion
+1
Trying to engage Pete (aka Secret Squirrel) George in a serious debate is like trying to catch a cloud to pin it down or holding a moonbeam in your hand. Unless you have an inordinate ammount of time to waste it’s best avoided.
I said that about a week ago, wants his blog stats to rocket – has he got google ads on there or something?
He does have ads, but mostly I think he just wants to give himself an air of legitimacy by boosting his page rank.
AFAIK, links from comments on this site are set to “nofollow” by default so he’s not getting any link juice anyway, so all he gains are page views when people click his links.
And as anyone who reads his comments can see, there’s really no point clicking them. 😉
Some RWReactionaryNJ who will remain unnamed today sent a pile of spammed emails informing recipients that 10% of taxpayers pay 75% of the tax……..
For my Friday fun on receipt of his email I promptly Googled a few Viagra sites and handed off the email address. He can finally fell like a real prick. Any more unsolicited emails and it 1000 automated replies….
Report the individual, spam is illegal
So, Robbie Williams is a communist – well at least his views seem left(ish)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10741562
Cripes how bloody boring. Is this what blogs are about? Somebody with a differing view and immense time to display opinions and everyone taking a nip at his ankles. Pete G is swamping the site.
It could be that he is bringing up the very same arguments that other NACTs circulate amongst themselves and it is handy to be able to get a backdoor into their brains? a bit like that film Being John Malkovich. But the brains being addressed are more like what the USA call ground beef.
The advice appears more akin to a self help suggestion to those who experience frustration and annoyance engaging with PG and a strategy which will hopefully result in less of the party political broadcast (which we get already from the MSM) type comment and link farming. He is a politician so it is understandable – however this is not his soapbox – it is a shared space. What is really boring is reading the same shit day after day.
It’s a free country though (or at least going cheap under the Nacts) so if you think Petes brain will make a nutritious meal help yourself to a scoop, however you will have to forgive me for not joining you in optimism.
CL 😀
Sending people to Coventry was very effective in England. Either ignoring Pege G and his ilk would be a sensible response, or just registering the words Ho hum so he doesn’t feel ignored. That would be a blow to enthusiasm, even putting a failing grade alone of D-.
like sandfly bites, it is simply more efficient to ignore the irritant than slowly reduce the scratching
he clearly doesn’t read anyone elses posts either – it’s all about him! (see below)
I read what I choose and skip what I want to, it’s quite easy really. That’s what most people do. Those that want to stop different points of view are usually the ones who stop and make hissy comments.
Not so easy on a blog – being seen to be ignoring someone.
BTW Ian, the post about Happy Feet is nothing about me. It’s someone else taking the piss about their own organisation, and it’s very funny for anyone with a sense of humour.
No-one criticizes you for having a “different point of view” Pete.
In fact the most common complaint I see about you is that you refuse to express any point of view.
Worse though is your habit of spreading your spam links by pretending to raise some matter of debate, but then refusing to debate it.
It’s becoming very clear to many that you aren’t here to engage with people at all, but simply to stand on a soap-box and shout at the top of your voice. And usually about nothing but your brand.
As Campbell says, you’re a politician. Way out on the margin, sure, but a politician nonetheless. I wonder how you’d react if, say, Hone Harawira spent all day every day plastering your website with links to his press releases, refusing to discuss anything, and playing the victim whenever his behaviour was questioned.
Have a think about how you come across with this approach, Pete.
Have a think about what happened here. I posted something with a link, nothing unusual, that’s common practice. Anyone can choose to read or ignore.
MS chose to respond (I doubt he read the link, but even if he did he was obblivious to the point of it). He then made a claim that he couldn’t substantiate and kept complaining, but not fronting up. If he’d offered something substantive other than repeating his opinion there would have had something debate. I eventually gave up on that and addressed one of his points and he chose not to follow up. His choice.
I don’t have any problem debating with other people in other forums.
A perfect example of Pete’s duplicitous behaviour. Look closely.
Pete appeared to reply to my comment, but actually ignored it entirely. Not one word of what he wrote was in address to anything I questioned him on. So now we have another comment full of Pete’s statements to wade through, and still no engagement from him.
See?
As you know full well, Pete, I’m not talking about a specific conversation with ms.
I’m talking about your well established pattern of behaviour on this site over a long period of time.
Seriously Pete, think about how you would react to someone who tried this on at your site, and think about the enormous amount of liberty granted to you by the operators of this site.
It’s my opinion that you’re abusing those liberties.
felix, it’s refreshing to see you being up front with this.
I accept that I push boundaries and I know I annoy some people here (I know not everyone because I get other feedback too). Same elsewhere. If a blog or forum wants to stop me from what I do they ask me to stop, delete posts, warn me or whatever, but that’s been rare and I’ve never been banned anywhere else.
Labour complains about the lack of media coverage they get, it’s much worse for small parties, and if you’re smaller still you have to find your own ways of saying things and experimenting with what works and what doesn’t.
My “well established pattern of behaviour” here is not just me. I could easily be ignored. My pattern of behaviour fhere has a lot to do with the pattern of behaviour of others like you and MS, how you react and in particular how you attack.
You know full well you often haven’t tried to engage in meaningful debate. You don’t seem to engage in meaningful debate much at all here, you more often try to “deal with” selected commenters. Whose liberties are you abusing?
I don’t aim to piss people off, I’d prefer I didn’t piss people off, but to raise attention to issues being blunt or confrontational is sometimes necessary and it will annoy people. No one likes being told they are wrong or stupid or blind – me neither and that happens often.
In most forums I’ve participated in I’ve actually managed to get on with most ok (admittedly it took maybe a year at KB).
I find it odd that a blog in the political spectrum I’m probably closest to (or was) can be so unwelcoming and intolerant of people pre judged as “undesirable”. Partly I know that’s due to how I’ve done things, but partly I think it’s due to a high sensitivity here to criticism, particularly of Labour, and due to a posse of patch protectiveness that you often seem to ride shotgun on.
We could probably both reduce the level of conflict here.
Know your history.
Have a look back into the 2007 and 2008 archives. There were some pretty active attempts to shut this site down with quite deliberate trolling behaviors. We clamped some highly reactive and strong behavioral limits on to the site about what is permissible. This is because it fitted the time constraints that we had for doing moderation (especially mine).
And we don’t muck about when people try to violate those rules or if they try to put in their own rules. This prevented the comments from becoming unreadable and ensured that we kept authors. They remain in place because they ensure that we don’t get a repetition of the boring comments sections when the trolls ran rampant.
Most of the longer term commentators (like felix) also remember those crowds of trolls descending from clint, camerons, and davids sites, the tactics used, and act accordingly.
The specific tactic that people are talking about with you is not being “being blunt or confrontational”, but avoiding confrontation like a politician. It is also a ‘debating’ tactic that I know as “slithering”. You whack up a few general statements that are barely sketched out, and then when people start to point out the gaping holes the lack of detail and the apparent lack of any thought, you slide off onto a different topic rather than deal with it. Frequently that consists of accusations that the critics are not being upfront or are being too confrontational.
We’ve had a number of people use the technique here in the past. It is as boring as hell to read. You tend to get a lot of criticism for it.
It is also a ‘debating’ tactic that I know as “slithering”. You whack up a few general statements that are barely sketched out, and then when people start to point out the gaping holes the lack of detail
That’s what MS did, he made a way out claim and avoided backing it up. I wouldn’t say he slithered, but he didn’t seem aware that anyone should doubt his word because simply that’s what he said.
Why should I be held to a different standard?
Felix please…… don’t encourage him, I suspect he is only a computer program.
I think a computer program would probably do better 😈
I assume he did read it, and so did I… and as far as I can see, the point of it, was simply to jeer. There was no actual evidence for any of your assertions.
What I’ve said is hardly isolated “assertions”. If you want to see a growing cacophony try:
http://liberation.typepad.com/liberation/2011/07/nz-politics-daily-28-july.html
Sometimes you just need to be able to laugh about politics.
The Happy Feet Penguin Political Party (TV3)
Housing problems being addressed!! Maurice Williamson speaks positively about great National initiative. unlike Labour who didn’t exert themselves!!
This is another NZ Government shonky go at having a policy that does the minimum, on the cheap, addresses the surface iceberg that is obvious and does nothing or little for the hidden probs. It demands that people match government help dollar for dollar, and can lead people to penury without even a complete house to live in which was worse than the deteriorating building they previously had.
It would be manageable for people affected if government offered limited cheap secondary loans or capped guarantees for extra remedial work required after the walls etc were opened and the true state of the interior supports was revealed. That doesn’t deal with people who built outside the 10 year building legal liability period.
Sad very, and another case of how the RWNJ are diminishing prosperity and wealth of ordinary NZs, really because of the decreasing regulations and desire for self-policing businesses with less government monitoring. Crazy, the reason we had laws regulating stuff was because of past bad experience of failures of standards and probity with business corner-cutting, which properly policed laws would prevent.
The biggest Joke is that their not paying any one out who had a leaky home under their watch.Neither are they paying any one with structural damage cased by leaks or by poor building practice.These buildings were signed off under their laissez fair building codes and inspectors.Wheres the justice in that I suspect CHCH citizens will have a similar battle to come!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/5359391/Stuff-Top-10-What-money-can-t-buy
Really?
Yeah, bizarre.
the opinion poll:
I think that should be:
Should McDonald’s cut Happy Meals?
Which they should. Targeting children in advertising should be illegal.
I say add a $1tax per burger and/or fries sold – transfer the money straight to the Ministry of Health – less obesity as the price goes up and McD’s becomes less affordable and the country generates more than enough cash to operate a school lunch programme.
Money can’t buy poverty.
Some idiot trying to fill up the space in the newspaper.
Who would want Ritchie McCaw? Really?
Remember Lockwood Smith Speaker of the House ruling “Privatization” as a word not acceptable but rather use the newspeak word of…? Can’t remember because its meaningless verbiage, deliberately so to confuse and bewilder criticism.
The robbing of the American public’s commons continues the same as our Power SOEs are being stolen from the public of NZ.
Refer link:http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/28-10
None Dare Call It Privatization
Dispatch from a high-powered conference spelling out a new strategy for raiding the commons
“Just remember something: The term “Privateer” means PIRATE. It means someone who will steal from you without a moment’s hesitation. Kill you if need (or just plain malice) be.
Real world example: Back in 1980, Colorado spent an average adjusted $70 million per year on it’s prison system. We were sold a bill of goods that said that for profit prisons would be SO much cheaper, it would be just foolish NOT to implement them. So we did. Now, 30 years later, after all these “savings” have been realized, that has gone UP to $770 MILLION PER YEAR. Only an 11 TIMES INCREASE. And as a result, our schools are now at the absolute LOWEST rate of funding in the country.
If you allow this kind of horse shit to go on in your state, expect JUST THIS KIND of savings. You can expect EVERYTHING that your govt’ USED to do to cost you 11 TIMES more. how can it NOT? You’re adding profit to the operating expenses, which are generally as low as they will be in govt’ services, because there is NO profit motive. Add a 30% charge on top of those expenses and tell me HOW they will get lower? NOT going to happen. PERIOD.
ANYONE who wants to do this kind of thing has MONEY in the game. PERIOD. Watch out for these people, they want YOUR money and they don’t CARE how much of a hardship it puts on you, your state, your family or the country. They LIVE for the money,. and everything else be damned.
Tell these people to go to hell.
Tresser sez: “… privatization is what happens when we transfer control of public assets, infrastructure and services into the private sector …”
***
“Privatization” is itself a soft euphemism. Before its introduction to the lexicon, another word sufficed to describe this practice. That is, corporate fascism.Because the Public’s Government becomes increasingly financially powerless(Due to less and less revenue from tax cuts and public assets) and controlled by the increasing financial power of necessary corporate backers as in the U$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
Seems like the correct term would be “profitization” – adding an extra layer of cost to the public to provide sufficient profits for the (newly) private owners of (formerly) public property and services.
I don’t see how a private company can provide a service at less cost than the government. The private operator must charge enough to provide ample returns to the owners. Public operators can provide services at cost. We’re seeing this in my own state and several nearby, where private interests are taking over public services and properties. In most cases the profit operators reduce pay and benefits for the (newly) private employees while charging the government more than it cost to provide the service in-house. In many cases (some say in all cases) there are concealed price escalation clause in state contracts so that the actual cost to the government is higher than the :”bid” price on which the contract was originally based. In the case of public properties (state parks being an example) the fees charged to the public are raised as well as reducing wages and benefits, and using fewer employees.”
Why do the NZ sheople still support a Government that aims to impoverish them further by selling their assets to FOREIGNERS! Is that the price we pay for Pin Up Key our celeb PM and not too high a price at that?
QFT&E
There’s absolutely no way privatisation can make anything cheaper than what it was being provided for under government ownership. Lots of ways for it to add to the costs though and that’s what always happens.
Waging War on Beneficiaries
Earlier this year Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett, as part of National’s divide and rule agenda announced a “War on Beneficiaries.”
That’s a startling quote, Jackal. When did Bennett say that?
Hi jackal
She’s caught out there! Why would you make war on your fellow kiwis? Last year she attended the “Eisenhower Foundation” whose most prominent member is War Criminal Colin Powell who publically lied that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction despite WEAPONS iNSPECTORS having certified Iraq was in the clear. He is part of the WAR ON TERROR. Looks like poor cow Bennett has been picking up tricks while sitting on his lap! The U$$$$$$$$$$$ is a Corporate Fascist State,we’re heading that way even more if Pin Up Shonkey gets back in Power this election.We already have GruntMeister Brownlee having assumed Dictator powers due to the CHCH earthquake.
WAR ON BENEFICIARIES In the useless U$$$$$$$$, that’s already happening: they’re screwing up the courage to attack social security and medicaid by you guessed it! by screwing those same people!
@ VOR I believe Bennett made the statement earlier this year in a Parliamentary speech, so there should be a record somewhere.
Here’s a manifestation of the right wing’s war effort: http://asianinvasion2006.blogspot.com/2011/07/benefit-of-doubt-no-thanks.html
Jezuz what a vindictive old slapper she is. Just right for the ACT old men to kick around.
Today’s Press (print edition) reports from one of its polls, that 56% of women intend to vote National and 49% put Key as their preferred PM. Quite a change from the Clark years.
Speculation in the article suggests it’s because Key’s perceived as a ‘family man’, ‘loves his children’, is powerful, is wealthy, ‘charming’, ‘blokey’, ‘ordinary’, etc., etc..
Turns out that the coming election is not about choosing a government, after all. A shame, really. Perhaps we can set up a proper process to do that sometime?
if we do it American Idol styles we can maybe make some cash at the same time
And then he is going to turn into the devil incarnate after they have sold off all the Silverware and these same women are trying to make ends meet then they will know that he is cold heartless conniving prick who thinks less of the general population than he does of a dog in the street.
@ Puddleglum 1.06pm *Sigh* Depressing really. How much is it a Fairfix constructed poll? Was that the list of choices they gave people who voted? Did they mention anything about NAct’s poor record on women – re-policies and women’s roles within NAct? That record is also something that doesn’t get much coverage in Fairfix’s papers.
“How much is it a Fairfix constructed poll?”
I almost missed the spelling you were so subtle 🙂
On that point, the figures for National/Labour support are identical to the May, 2008 Fairfax poll. Perhaps they just reprinted it? (I joke, of course).
Oh, and ‘no’ there was nothing on policy in the article though it was embedded (in a formatting sense) in a story about record numbers of people leaving New Zealand. (That article is online, hence the link – but I couldn’t find the one about women voters preferring Key, online.)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/polls/5357139/John-Key-a-hit-with-female-voters
There you go.
Thanks Deadly_NZ.
I was hoping that they realised it was too much of a puff piece to bother giving it a wider audience. But what do I know? Obviously those at stuff realise the value of the old saying – no-one ever went poor underestimating the intelligence (or was it ‘taste’?) of the public.
Tram trial in Auckland this weekend:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/5360285/Warning-The-trams-are-back
An interesting development.
Jon Stewart: Special Victims Unit, the poor downtrodden, victimized conservatives.
Kos has a transcript and more.
Clearly, O’Reilly does not believe this killer’s actions or profile qualify him as Christian. Which I would agree with. But his barrier to entry is somewhat less strict when it comes to linking the Fort Hood maniac and Islam.
BILL O’REILLY (7/26/2011): I’m saying that he was a Muslim terrorist because he carried a business card that said “Soldier of Allah”. And he committed his crimes in the name of Allah.
See the difference? That guy printed up Soldier of Allah business cards! The other guy only printed up an Army of Christ manifesto! I guess, the only connection is both psychos, for some reason, spent the day at Kinko’s.
You know, I actually feel sorry for the pundits and anchors who have added this story to their file of grievances that are perpetrated against them. Not because I think they are actually victims of persecution, but because I know that the sense of grievance and victimization that appears to pervade their every waking moment is actually something they hate……………… in others.
SEAN HANNITY (1/5/2009): Liberals do make themselves out to be victims.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN (9/2/2009): … victimization thing you guys on the left come up with …
REP. ALLEN WEST, R-FL (7/20/2011): The liberals want to play victim.
MONICA CROWLEY (6/1/2011): They play the victimhood card all the time.
All the time! Victims play the victim card! Liberals play it even when they’re playing Yahtzee, which doesn’t use cards! It’s annoying.
he swings, he connects, it’s out of the park and on its way to Mars, which co-incidentally is where O’Reilly and Hannity were grown
More blatant stupidity and anti-Labour bias from the MSM:
Why would having a quarter of young people planning to leave the country cheer them up? Oh, that’s right, it wouldn’t except in some delusional journalists’ mind as he writes to get more ratings rather than to inform people.
It says a lot about how journalists themselves see everything as just an opportunity for political advantage. I notice the only related quote was from Parker, who called it a “shocking statistic”.
The only two people in the article who were, in fact, sanguine about the figures were Bill English – who, oddly, saw these figures as representing young Kiwis looking forward to their OE – and, also oddly, the person reporting the poll who seemed keen to play down the number of people who might actually leave (despite the real world stats for the months of May and June – discussed in the article – being the highest net exodus since 1979 and 1981, respectively).
That latter comment is odd because it undermines the meaningfulness/validity of one of the items used in his own poll. (Since, presumably, the item aimed to measure and report intentions that might reliably lead to behaviour as opposed to, for example, statistics that might generate headlines.)
Strange days indeed.
I can see the article on the Auckland Library’s website dDgital Library, Press Display – It’s available to Library Members.
There’s a quote from Sue Bradford saying he has more charm than most politicians, but he doesn’t appeal to her – that some women go for the blokey quality. And those quotes about Key’s qualities are from a Massey uni Assoc. Prof of Commendation Design (Say what?), who says Key has qualities women like “doting husband, adores his kids…. and is a nice guy.”
Strange and pathetic. Not the press blatantly lying to make Labour look bad – that’s been a given since 2004 – but Brash attacking his only cobber and making better political hay than the Labour machine can.
Cut the pleasant waffle brothers and sisters, nice was last year and they’ve picked their idol. It’s the serious drama slot; remember you’re talking to the swinging voter and tell him with conviction:
“Key promised to stop this. He promised over and again that we’d catch up with Oz, but the gap’s got wider on his watch. Bugger the polls, our kids are voting with their feet – and they won’t be back while he keeps borrowing billions to give tax cuts to his rich mates and hocking off their last assets. For our kids’ sake, we need to lock up the family silver and throw away the key.”
This ‘O.E’ thing amuses me greatly! In the late 80s, I met another solo mother at a church creche, and became friends with her. She was from an upper middle class background, and a bit stunned to have ended up on a DPB… but we had everything else in common, and so we ‘bonded’… Then one day we were talking about art, and she started enthusing about galleries in Venice. When I said I’d never seen them, she asked “But where did you go on your O.E?” She was stunned to learn that I had never had one, and still haven’t – that in common with almost everyone I had known at school, I had gone to work straight out of school, and got to Uni only 10 years later… that the O.E was a middle class kiddie thing, and not a norm!
It still isn’t. My sons both went into tertiary study and then work straight out of school (no gap years or OE for solo Mum kids!). My older son married, and he and his wife may get an OE when they retire. If the younger one goes overseas, it won’t be for years – and then, it will be to work.
I look back, and think how nice it would have been to have rich parents (or parents at all), and to have spent the years of my late teens seeing Venice! Sigh… 😀
The News of the World hacking thing just gets worse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/28/phone-hacking-sarah-payne
Not only did they gift a phone that they later hacked, they also convinced the mother that she had not been hacked and got her to write an article stating this.
What happens when you privatise energy companies?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jul/28/centrica-british-gas-profits-refuel-row-over-prices
I am saddened that all the anti-Garth George people have ignored this excellent piece he wrote about hungry children in yesterday’s Herald.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10741219
He is not evil, bad or wrong!
Yeah, he is. Sure, those people exist but they’re not “ferals” just people who haven’t been properly educated by either their parents or the schooling system.
I am amazed DtB that you picked that one paragraph out of the article, and ignored the other 90% of it. It’s as if you were looking for something to hate – but how could you intentionally ignore this?
I might choose this moment to point out that when I was on a DPB I supported one and a half children (I had regular visits from my older son, custodially stolen by my alcoholic ex, and while this son, a teenager, visited, I got no money for him at all.) None of us ever went without food in all those years. Granted it wasn’t very nice food most of the time, and it’s lucky that I don’t have the alcoholism problem that’s in the family – I tend to agree with George that some parents just can’t manage money! (I remember a solo Mum who was a friend of mine, who owned her own home so had one less expense than I did, and who was constantly visiting me to do her washing etc because she couldn’t her bills – instead she devoted her money to looking middle class – to use her own words! and to feeding and paying vet bills for a ruddy great dog… )
I didn’t – I viewed it as the same as the paragraph I quoted. The children need to be helped and so do the parents and yet he’s certain that the parents can’t be helped and so should get thrown on the scrapheap.
The fact DtB is that some parents are very difficult to help! When I walked my son to school (remember, I was a nasty solo mother on DPB, and many of the other parents wouldn’t soil their skirts, as if it was catching – it was a high SES area!) we regularly met a little boy the same age as my son at the time (about 6 years old) who wore hand-downs too big for him, and no shoes (in winter). It wasn’t my duty to help (as if I even could have – beneficiary, remember!) but the father seemed to think it was, as I was white and he wasn’t – and he was a solo Daddy. *
No shoes for the son, but two bloody great Rottweilers in his front yard. Typically, the Lady Mucks in the area were greatly concerned about the living conditions – of the freaking dogs!
* I had the experience the other night, of seeing a solo Daddy on Clive the other night, talking about his problems feeding his family. Then the following night, I switched to Close Up, when Clive’s trailer in the news, showed the heaps of presents viewers had sent for solo Dad. How nice it would be if solo mothers got gifts, not abuse! (Such as the nasty email comments Sainsbury read out about the beneficiary he’d covered!)
So yes, some parents don’t deserve sympathy, but their kids do. That’s the whole point.
Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t help them if at all possible.
I’m not the sympathetic type. If the parents can’t be helped you take the kids off them and help them directly and tell the parents to go fuck themselves but you do try to help the parents first.
Yep, that’s pretty much disgusting. It’s obviously the sexism coming through. The females are “breeding for a living” while the guy’s having a hard time through no fault of his own.
I have my own reasons for being very sour on solo daddies (my first ex got custody of our son solely because he had parents to help, and I didn’t – that was truly the reason the judge gave! My mother had just died a few months before the case came before the court, and the ensuing years showed that J., wanted custody so he wouldn’t need to work!)
But the more relevant story when it comes to differing standards is that years later, when I lived in Welly, and visited my sister in Nappy Valley, she pointed out Ross, the solo daddy who was the father of her daughter’s best friend. He’d gone to court to get the family home, and he’d got it in an ex parte hearing, as his wife Margaret had “run off” and left him… My sister and all the other neighbours, would take him casseroles, wash and mend the kid’s clothes etc…
I asked my sister to exercise a bit of caution about believing Ross’ story, especially as she had known Margaret and thought that running off and leaving three children, one of them from a previous marriage, was out of character. Well (and I credit my sister with honesty, for telling me later) it turned out that Margaret hadn’t known she was “running off” until her oldest daughter contacted her. She had cancer and had taken Ross’ advice to go home to Tauranga and live with her parents while having chemo. It was only when her father moved his new girlfriend into the family home, that the daughter (I think she was 13?) caught on to the fact that Daddy had been telling two different stories to his wife and children, and to the court and the neighbours! (I never said she was all that bright, it took months..)
The casseroles, the baby-sitting and the mending dried up then, along with the sympathy for poor solo dad doing the best he could!
I would say that your story was purely imaginary, but I know many others in the same style. True life is stranger than fiction, no doubt.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/5359870/Goff-warns-of-the-growing-divide
18 people turned up to listen…
You’ll get over it Chris.
It was the Chamber of Commerce, Chris73, and locally that is the Nactoids in business suits.
They did not want to be told a thing or two about Marlborough having the lowest wage economy in the country, the highest supermarket prices, or a shameful treatment of guest workers by using corrupt and exploitative contractors to act as proxy employers for grape growers.
They did not want to hear criticism of Marlborough being in many ways a third world country in that 80% of grapes grown in Marlborough are owned by non-Marlborough companies, many overseas owned. They do not want to hear that the Marlborough District Council has high rates in terms of national figures.
They do not want to hear of growing unemployment figures or that the local food kitchen fed 74 poor folk last week.
They do not want to hear that they are represented by an imported MP who possesses Key like qualities of geniality but who carries no weight within his own caucus nor bears any great intellectual burdens.
Of course they stayed away………… they’re not into self-flagellation.
Another comment concentrating on the banal rather than the message …
@ms The banal comment referred to was that of Mac1? I thought it was refreshing in that it talked about real issues that he/she has observed.
Having following a link to Cactus Kate’s evil little site I found this
http://asianinvasion2006.blogspot.com/2011/07/guest-post-acts-david-seymour-on-moral.html
What kind of a psycho is this little pillock?
@Vicky32 – I thought Cactus Kate was in HongKong or Singapore? How then can she be taking an anti-Asian stance for NZ?
Petulant Bean went to the U.S. to broaden her education. If it was all on the public purse can we expect her to report back to us with detail of what her courses covered and what she learnt. I expect it would be in the form of cartoon strips, and pictures but that doesn’t matter.
Edited for clarity. No thanks needed.
As an aside and further to the campaign (now at least 2 signatories if you are with me Vicky) for quality relaxing music being played while “hanging on” to a corporation phone call, I discovered that when one closes the doors on those modern street-side loos, quite a relaxing and pleasant melody ensues. Perhaps Pete George could take up the campaign.
Oh yes, I am with you!
Private prisons, not such a great idea.
.
by @DrBrash – a parody of the real thing on twitter.