Do you believe that the current path the Greens have taken has party wide consensus or do you think it’s what Trotter said that it’s being lead by the ex -Alliance wing within the party.
BM is showing an intense in the Green Party right now; potential supporter?
It might take another courageous action by The Green Party; Metiria in particular seems to have captured BM’s imagination (and perhaps, heart) to bring him across and I feel confident there’s more to come from them and certainly, I sense BM’s stirring. He’ll be welcomed with open arms.
I just have a sneaking suspicion we’re about to see the Greens split in two,
Turei on one side and Shaw on the other.
Quite a high chance you might see the Shaw led faction integrating with Gareth Morgans Top party and becoming the new face of the greens movement while the Turei faction reverts back into the Alliance party.
I just have a sneaking suspicion we’re about to see the Greens split in two,
Turei on one side and Shaw on the other.
It’s important to distinguish between “sneaking suspicion” and “wildly implausible wishful thinking” when you’re commenting – helps avoid looking silly.
“…it’s not hard to come to the conclusion…”
This is a truism from BM; he finds it’s very, very easy to come to conclusions, based on fluff that collects in his head, the thinnest of ideas that everyone else would struggle to entertain. “James is Metiria’s love child!”, BM concludes, having seen the two of them wearing matching Green Party rosettes!. The Green Party and Greenpeace are the same person: an inescapable conclusion reached by BM after noticing a similarity in their titles, though he was unable to pin down exactly what it is they have in common; the twin-“e’s”? The big “G”? Despite the struggle, BM still had no trouble coming to the conclusion.
I would have expected her to mention it if Labour’s leaders had subsequently authorised the somewhat erratic Willie to change from that position and notify the Greens accordingly.
Cripes if National are working on this skill it will be something really useful in a few years as our normal water course dry up through irrigation up the river, or are drawn off to be bottled and sent off to wealthier or other
luckier countries which can access our pure water while we are left with the rest. So National and their dowsing will be a leading professional group.
It is pretty irrelevent for the democrats (and for the post that you dropped it into as a diversion) – yes.
But you are completely deluded if you think that it didn’t happen, and more importantly that it won’t happen again.
Now I am sure that you don’t want to hear this, but you’ll note that congress has in the last few days in a rare bit of bipartisanship gone and extended the sanctions against Russia for this and Russia’s invasion of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine using proxy forces. While they we at it, they also made it harder for Trump to use any executive powers to reduce them. That is a pretty clear signal about who and what the senators and congress members think went on.
From what I understand, all western nations (including here) and those on Russian borders are gearing themselves up to deal with similar attacks and political interference in the future. It was bad enough when the CIA was doing this kind of juvenile crap back in the 1950s and 60s and getting to deal with those fuckwits then. But the Russians lack even the CIA level of finesse. Much like you do.
I think that the sanctions need to be increased and deepened until Russia decides that doing this plausible deniability crap is counter productive regardless how well it plays out for their internal audience and gullible fools elsewhere.
Do you think congress will apply sanctions on Russia by banning Russian exports of weapons grade uranium to the US? or prohibiting the import of Russian heavy lift rockets which are required to lift us military satellites into orbit?
The effects of sanctions by the us congress do not effect us companies they effect European countries and they are not happy ie
On Wednesday, German Foreign Ministry warned that Berlin “could not accept” the US using sanctions against Russia as a tool of industrial policy.
There is no evidence that Russia had any influence on the election debacle of 2016.
If you choose to accept the assurances of the likes of liars like James Clapper and his colleagues, well good on you. You’re in the distinguished company of such intellectual luminaries and moral exemplars as John McCain and Boris Johnson.
I agree with you that Russia’s actions in the Ukraine are reprehensible and criminal, but if there are to be sanctions against Russia, then what measures do you think should be taken against the United States, Britain and France for what they have done and are continuing to do in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, and Syria?
So? I don’t need any particular evidence to form an opinion. I only need the words of Putin who has as good as admitted the attacks on Crimea, eastern Ukraine, several cyber attacks in the baltic countries and the “private citizens” who attacked the US election.
You forgot several other overt power plays by China in the South China Sea and a quite a few other plays. But the point about the US, China, Britian, France, and just about everyone else apart from the Pakistani and Israeli intelligence is that they tend to do their shit in public where it can bee seen and discussed. The US was probably involved with the Israelis in targeting the Stux worm into Iran
Russia is the only significiant power that still does much of its shit work covertly..
Quite simply you’d have to be a moron or a completely gullible fool to not look back over the history of Russian interactions over the last decade with upfront denials, and subsequent admission of maybe being involved to not see the pattern of their behaviour.
That is why they need more sanctions because the fuckwits seem to need to keep the costs of trying fuck around covertly pointed out to them. Like my handling of trolls, I’d have exactly the same view for any other idiot nations or politicians who aren’t up front about what they are doing.
Yup the cyber security experts all seem to agree its Russian funded attacks on ukraines govt departments and its power grid. They’re determined to weaken the Ukraine by all measures possible.
It’s suggested this is putins way of saying to the US ‘look what we can do’ as they’ve been effectively proving out their malware and techniques for power network disruption which has the US rightly nervous. Because that same malware has already been found in US power grids.
Xanthe… that was such a dismissive and arrogant comment I thought I’d go and read the source by the “independent forensic investigator.” It says that the file transfer was around 23 MB/s and “unlikely to have been downloaded over the internet” https://theforensicator.wordpress.com/guccifer-2-ngp-van-metadata-analysis/
This does not mean that Russian computer experts weren’t involved in the theft of the DNC data. It just suggests that the files may have been downloaded directly off the LAN so the theft may have been via access to the LAN.
Notwithstanding that, LTE is now pervasive across each of the four major carrier networks in the USA. Best ‘average’ download speeds are around 22 MB/s.
So, you’d be happy for sanctions to be placed upon the US and other members of the Five-Eyes because of their meddling in a sovereign nations democracy?
The espionage order for “Non Ruling Political Parties and Candidates Strategic Election Plans” which targeted Francois Holland, Marine Le Pen and other opposition figures requires obtaining opposition parties’ strategies for the election; information on internal party dynamics and rising leaders; efforts to influence and implement political decisions; support from local government officials, government elites or business elites; views of the United States; efforts to reach out to other countries, including Germany, U.K., Libya, Israel, Palestine, Syria & Cote d’Ivoire; as well as information about party and candidate funding.
Or is it only the Russian’s meddling that should get such sanctions because they lack even the CIA level of finesse?
I am not sure I would call Noam Chomsky a gullible fool – his is a very interesting take on the situation and deserves some attention. He believes that entente with Russia is the one good thing that Trump has achieved.
Sadly, Marcus, there is an element on this normally excellent blog which is prone to accepting anything it is told by those in “authority”. Terms like “gullible fool” are routinely used to write off the likes of Noam Chomsky, Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Jeremy Scahill, Robert Fisk, John Pilger and anyone else who dares to contradict the (evidence-free) assertions of the CIA and the GCHQ and their host of loyal media megaphones.
Vide….
So? I don’t need any particular evidence to form an opinion.
Watching Lisa Owen’s interview with Willie Jackson this morning was an exercise in self control (as in not turning off the tellie and run screaming from the room). Determined and aggressive questioning may have a point when someone’s trying to hide something, but what did she think she was up to this time? He was perfectly willing to answer her in full – and the fact that she didn’t let him complete a whole sentence rather demonstrated that she was more interested in kicking up a storm than in acquiring knowledge.
Yuck – she was like an old crow, pecking and pointing and the more open and reasonable he got the worse she got! It was just an exercise in point scoring. That’s not journalism
Just like last week. I’m afraid Lisa Owen has succumbed to Lisa Owen.
After all, we’re all more interested in Lisa Owen and how clever she thinks she is than we are in the person being interviewed.
She’s a legend
What’s her been an older women got to do with it re your reference to an old crow, ageism sexism in one hit
[Like an old crow is not the same as is an old crow. Seeing as how I’m sure you’re perfectly aware of that, I’m taking you’re comment as deliberate shit stirring. Come back tomorrow to discover the length of your ban.] – Bill
[Playing silly buggers and disregarding a ban was really stupid. Permanent.] – Bill
Looking at this headline in the Herald this morning brought back a memory from my distant past – I probably was quite young at the time, but living not all that far from Taupo there was a fair bit of angst at the time about how Keith Holyoake purchased this property. It’s obviously been an ‘astute’ purchase as the family now stands to make a very sizable return on the sale, when it happens. The name Comber also rings a bell – I think, and I stand to be corrected that he is/was Kiwi Keith’s son in law and was also a Nat MP back in the day. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11896259
The election is really highlighting the deep divisions in society. It is quite distressing to consider the lack of mutual respect between different groups of people. (I am certainly as guilty as anyone of heaping abuse on members of the current government.) I also think it is in the interest of Tory governments to maintain these divisions lest their voters who ask the question “What will I get out of a government?” instead ask the question “What does the community need from a government?”
The difficulty is how to reach the hearts of Tory voters and raise their awareness of the human plight of others. Most of them have got, somewhere, deep down, a sense of decency and fair play. I am sure that Metiria tapped into a few of those. However the rich white male who seems to have more regard for his dog than most other people is a harder nut to crack. My small experience with this type seems to show that the environment is perhaps the only common ground of agreement as long as the word “green” never comes in to the conversation. There seems to be little understanding of the merits of our country bothering to make any effort on global warming,
I have been picking up plastic and other rubbish of my local beach on a daily basis for about 2 years. My contribution is no doubt insignificant when considered on a global scale, but I know that if this was done on every beach in the world, it would make a difference. We need to somehow reach the “why bother” people on an emotional level if we are to create a more pleasant, caring and unified society.
Hi ttm, walking behind a kitchen manager one day as a young chef, he stooped to pick up an onion skin and put it in the bin.
That act had a profound effect on me.
Leaving a rugby match many moons later, someone dropped a program, instead of remonstrating, I picked it up and put it in the bin.
Hoping it may have an effect on someone behind me.
Long winded I know, but don’t under estimate your actions on the beach.
Pakistan plunges into uncertainty as PM Nawaz Sharif ousted
ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court on Friday disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from public office over long-running corruption allegations, a decision that ousted him from the premiership for the third time.
The ruling saw political uncertainty take hold in Pakistan once again, with Cabinet dissolved and the country left without a sitting prime minister.
As the verdict was announced in Islamabad, hundreds of opposition supporters in the capital and in northwestern Peshawar rushed into the street handing out sweets, beating drums, and chanting “Go Nawaz Go” in celebration.
But in Lahore, capital of Sharif´s power base of Punjab province, sporadic protests broke out, with his supporters burning tyres, blocking streets and chanting “We don´t accept this decision”.
General elections are scheduled for next year, but Sharif now falls short of becoming the first premier to complete a full five-year term.
The allegations against the prime minister spiralled from the Panama Papers leak last year, which sparked a media frenzy over the lavish lifestyles and luxury London property portfolio of the Sharif dynasty.
Those claims prompted an investigation which said there was a “significant disparity” between the family´s income and lifestyle, and unearthed fresh claims over Sharif´s links to companies based in the United Arab Emirates.
….”
Watching Newshub tonight, it seem as if Imran Khan may get his long held wish to become Prime Minister of Pakistan. God/Allah only knows how long his tenure will be before he in turn gets turfed out.
8.35 a.m. Bill Mitchell: modern monetary theory
An emerging school of economics, called modern monetary theory, says
government surpluses can be a bad thing and a country with a fiat currency can never run out of money. Professor of Economics Bill Mitchell explains how that can work.
Mr Amano said such technology was effective in a range of fields, such as health, agriculture or the environment….
[The community’s deputy director Cameron Diver] says nuclear technology could be applied to improve soil quality, in the fight against cancer and to trace marine pollution….
Also in attendance was the French overseas minister Annick Girardin who pushed for France’s further integration into the region.
There was a NZRadio report about 6 pm today on Tagata o Te Moana 30 odd minutes report, on the inability of Pacific Islands to cope with plastic. When some have disasters like hurricanes and need water it arrives in plastic bottles but no agency then takes those away again. There is no place or way to handle this rubbish. They have been known to collect them from one side of an island where plastic has accumulated, and been taken to the other side and dumped back in the water again.
Yesterday I made a comment in the thread re rail transport and I made the claim that the Government was in the pocket of the Road Transport Forum. During this morning’s Q and A session Dr Raymond Miller from Auckland University went even further. He said that the “little known lobby group” has been led since its inception in 1992 by former Transport Ministers. It was also pointed out that the two biggest truck operators in the country (Mainfreight and Toll) don’t actually belong to the forum because their companies are integrated with rail. A further revelation was that the proposed “East West” corridor in Auckland is the least justifiable, the most expensive and the least cost effective of the ten options the government considered. All of this should be hammered out by all parties opposed to the current government over the next eight weeks. We are being led by a bunch of charlatans.
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
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Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
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The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
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The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
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It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
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Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
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While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 7, 2024 thru Sat, April 13, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week is about adults in the room setting terms and conditions of ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, 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. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
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Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment earlier this year, he stressed the rising danger posed by espionage and foreign interference. “In 2024, threats to our way of life have surpassed ...
The Tribunal had called on Minister for Children Karen Chhour to provide evidence at an urgent inquiry into the repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Midjourney image by T.J. Thomson As more than half of Australian office workers report using generative artificial intelligence (AI) for work, we’re starting to see this technology affect every ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Nicole Sharwood, Injury epidemiologist | Expert Witness, UNSW Sydney Sergey Novikov/Shutterstock Injuries are the leading cause of disability and death among Australian children and adolescents. At least a quarter of all emergency department presentations during childhood are injury-related. Injuries can ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Di Winkler, Adjunct Associate Professor, Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University Shutterstock/Ground PictureMany Australians with disability feel on the edge of a precipice right now. Recommendations from the disability royal commission and the NDIS review were released late ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Salman Shooshtarian, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University Salman Shooshtarian Asbestos has been found in mulch used for playgrounds, schools, parks and gardens across Sydney and Melbourne. Local communities naturally fear for the health of their ...
Family First says that the latest abortion statistics make grim and upsetting reading, with a 25% increase in abortions since the decriminalisation of abortion in March 2020. According to an Official Information Act request received by Right to Life ...
Ipsos New Zealand's inaugural participation in a global study on populism reveals a pervasive sense of societal and economic decline among New Zealanders. MORE DETAILS AND FULL REPORT HERE Ipsos New Zealand's inaugural participation in a global study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, Industry Professor and Chief Economist, University of Technology Sydney Steve Smith, one of this generation’s finest batters, has conquered much of the cricketing world during his career, and he now has set his sights on a new frontier: the United ...
Madeleine Ballard reviews the debut novel from romesh dissanayake.when I open the shop, the debut novel by Naarm-based Aotearoa writer romesh dissanayake (Sri Lankan, Koryo Saram), is a narrative of grief. Devendra loses his mother, opens a noodle shop on The Terrace, grieves, and emerges changed. But just as ...
After reading this it’s not hard to come to the conclusion that the MOU is dead and the Greens are now charting their own course.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/07/29/escape-velocity-the-greens-rocket-out-of-labours-gravity/
Agreed.
Do you believe that the current path the Greens have taken has party wide consensus or do you think it’s what Trotter said that it’s being lead by the ex -Alliance wing within the party.
I do not know.
I am aware, however, that Metiria’s actions have fired up many of many friends to vote for the Greens.
BM is showing an intense in the Green Party right now; potential supporter?
It might take another courageous action by The Green Party; Metiria in particular seems to have captured BM’s imagination (and perhaps, heart) to bring him across and I feel confident there’s more to come from them and certainly, I sense BM’s stirring. He’ll be welcomed with open arms.
Lol, yeah that’s the one.
I just have a sneaking suspicion we’re about to see the Greens split in two,
Turei on one side and Shaw on the other.
Quite a high chance you might see the Shaw led faction integrating with Gareth Morgans Top party and becoming the new face of the greens movement while the Turei faction reverts back into the Alliance party.
“I just have a sneaking suspicion…”
Lol, yeah that’s the one.
Lolz, Crosby Textor scraping the bottom of the barrel when that’s all they’ve got.
Gollum calling Sam a sneak comes to mind.
Yep bm doing the cleaning now – must have been demoted for poor performance I think.
I think that the likelihood of that happening is up there with Don Brash becoming the leader of the National Party again.
On facebook someone pointed out that Don Brash appeared to be agreeing with NZ First and some of its more covertly racist supporters (which like the spinoff author, I have never seen when reporting on their conferences). My only thought about that had the words “kiss of death” in it.
My thoughts on your idea of a green split has the phrases “wishful thinking” and “politically naive” in it.
I just have a sneaking suspicion we’re about to see the Greens split in two,
Turei on one side and Shaw on the other.
It’s important to distinguish between “sneaking suspicion” and “wildly implausible wishful thinking” when you’re commenting – helps avoid looking silly.
Dream on BM
“After reading this it’s not hard to come to the conclusion that the MOU is dead and the Greens are now charting their own course.”
Only if you don’t understand what the MoU is, or what MMP is. Or you believe that the GP will get enough votes on their own to govern.
Or you’re a right wing wind up merchant invested in undermining the left by spreading bullshit wherever you can.
Umm I pick the last one. Man this lad shows his ignorance about politics and the greens every time he comments.
“…it’s not hard to come to the conclusion…”
This is a truism from BM; he finds it’s very, very easy to come to conclusions, based on fluff that collects in his head, the thinnest of ideas that everyone else would struggle to entertain. “James is Metiria’s love child!”, BM concludes, having seen the two of them wearing matching Green Party rosettes!. The Green Party and Greenpeace are the same person: an inescapable conclusion reached by BM after noticing a similarity in their titles, though he was unable to pin down exactly what it is they have in common; the twin-“e’s”? The big “G”? Despite the struggle, BM still had no trouble coming to the conclusion.
That’s a description to frame.
…you’re a right wing wind up merchant invested in undermining the left by spreading bullshit wherever you can.>/i>
Gee, wonder what Colonel Trotter makes of Willie Jackson making up an unsanctioned policy on the telly for Greens to give up Maori electorate seats to Labour?: http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows/2017/07/interview-willie-jackson.html
What makes you think it’s unsanctioned?
What makes you think it’s not?
I don’t think either way.
See Metiria’s response to producer Tim Watkin: https://twitter.com/metiria/status/891082826837143552
I would have expected her to mention it if Labour’s leaders had subsequently authorised the somewhat erratic Willie to change from that position and notify the Greens accordingly.
Yes, and from what I’ve seen today that makes sense (all I saw yesterday was the WJ interview).
“Ignited by the fiery exhaust of the Green’s policy rocket”
Go Greens, you incendiary things!
As opposed to dowsed by the watery farts of National policy
Flaming hell, what next!
Who knows?-what does dowsed mean?
It means to find water usually with the aid of a forked stick.
Crikey, it gets worse. Robert you could please tell me where james fits into all this,=-if he does at all.
I expect, as indicated, James is at home working it out with a pencil…
Which immediately brings to mind the question:
“Did you hear about the constipated mathematician?
Worked it out with a pencil.”
Cripes if National are working on this skill it will be something really useful in a few years as our normal water course dry up through irrigation up the river, or are drawn off to be bottled and sent off to wealthier or other
luckier countries which can access our pure water while we are left with the rest. So National and their dowsing will be a leading professional group.
Dowsed? Doused?
It was such a base working class comment anyway dontcha know.
Plus we all know Gnats don’t fart anyway
Thank you all. Things have been clarified in my mind somewhat.
And sadly, instead of countering this madness, much of the Democratic Party’s “leadership” spends its time chasing the chimera of Russian “meddling”.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
It is pretty irrelevent for the democrats (and for the post that you dropped it into as a diversion) – yes.
But you are completely deluded if you think that it didn’t happen, and more importantly that it won’t happen again.
Now I am sure that you don’t want to hear this, but you’ll note that congress has in the last few days in a rare bit of bipartisanship gone and extended the sanctions against Russia for this and Russia’s invasion of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine using proxy forces. While they we at it, they also made it harder for Trump to use any executive powers to reduce them. That is a pretty clear signal about who and what the senators and congress members think went on.
From what I understand, all western nations (including here) and those on Russian borders are gearing themselves up to deal with similar attacks and political interference in the future. It was bad enough when the CIA was doing this kind of juvenile crap back in the 1950s and 60s and getting to deal with those fuckwits then. But the Russians lack even the CIA level of finesse. Much like you do.
I think that the sanctions need to be increased and deepened until Russia decides that doing this plausible deniability crap is counter productive regardless how well it plays out for their internal audience and gullible fools elsewhere.
Do you think congress will apply sanctions on Russia by banning Russian exports of weapons grade uranium to the US? or prohibiting the import of Russian heavy lift rockets which are required to lift us military satellites into orbit?
The effects of sanctions by the us congress do not effect us companies they effect European countries and they are not happy ie
On Wednesday, German Foreign Ministry warned that Berlin “could not accept” the US using sanctions against Russia as a tool of industrial policy.
http://www.dw.com/en/new-us-russia-sanctions-bill-risks-eu-anger/a-39867060
There is no evidence that Russia had any influence on the election debacle of 2016.
If you choose to accept the assurances of the likes of liars like James Clapper and his colleagues, well good on you. You’re in the distinguished company of such intellectual luminaries and moral exemplars as John McCain and Boris Johnson.
I agree with you that Russia’s actions in the Ukraine are reprehensible and criminal, but if there are to be sanctions against Russia, then what measures do you think should be taken against the United States, Britain and France for what they have done and are continuing to do in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, and Syria?
So? I don’t need any particular evidence to form an opinion. I only need the words of Putin who has as good as admitted the attacks on Crimea, eastern Ukraine, several cyber attacks in the baltic countries and the “private citizens” who attacked the US election.
You forgot several other overt power plays by China in the South China Sea and a quite a few other plays. But the point about the US, China, Britian, France, and just about everyone else apart from the Pakistani and Israeli intelligence is that they tend to do their shit in public where it can bee seen and discussed. The US was probably involved with the Israelis in targeting the Stux worm into Iran
Russia is the only significiant power that still does much of its shit work covertly..
Quite simply you’d have to be a moron or a completely gullible fool to not look back over the history of Russian interactions over the last decade with upfront denials, and subsequent admission of maybe being involved to not see the pattern of their behaviour.
That is why they need more sanctions because the fuckwits seem to need to keep the costs of trying fuck around covertly pointed out to them. Like my handling of trolls, I’d have exactly the same view for any other idiot nations or politicians who aren’t up front about what they are doing.
The pattern of their behaviour or the pattern of ‘western’ accusations? Which of the two has more connection to reality?
You know I’m of of those supposedly “gullible fools” you adore…or maybe I’m one of those deeply cynical bastards.
Anyway. The sooner the USA bans beds that don’t come all the way down to the floor, the better 😉
Yup the cyber security experts all seem to agree its Russian funded attacks on ukraines govt departments and its power grid. They’re determined to weaken the Ukraine by all measures possible.
It’s suggested this is putins way of saying to the US ‘look what we can do’ as they’ve been effectively proving out their malware and techniques for power network disruption which has the US rightly nervous. Because that same malware has already been found in US power grids.
Here is a rather more informed view of the “russian hack”
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/07/24/intel-vets-challenge-russia-hack-evidence/
Frankly i am surprised at your naievity on this matter,
Xanthe… that was such a dismissive and arrogant comment I thought I’d go and read the source by the “independent forensic investigator.” It says that the file transfer was around 23 MB/s and “unlikely to have been downloaded over the internet” https://theforensicator.wordpress.com/guccifer-2-ngp-van-metadata-analysis/
This does not mean that Russian computer experts weren’t involved in the theft of the DNC data. It just suggests that the files may have been downloaded directly off the LAN so the theft may have been via access to the LAN.
Notwithstanding that, LTE is now pervasive across each of the four major carrier networks in the USA. Best ‘average’ download speeds are around 22 MB/s.
I wonder what lprent’s view is on this?
So, you’d be happy for sanctions to be placed upon the US and other members of the Five-Eyes because of their meddling in a sovereign nations democracy?
Or is it only the Russian’s meddling that should get such sanctions because they lack even the CIA level of finesse?
I am not sure I would call Noam Chomsky a gullible fool – his is a very interesting take on the situation and deserves some attention. He believes that entente with Russia is the one good thing that Trump has achieved.
Sadly, Marcus, there is an element on this normally excellent blog which is prone to accepting anything it is told by those in “authority”. Terms like “gullible fool” are routinely used to write off the likes of Noam Chomsky, Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Jeremy Scahill, Robert Fisk, John Pilger and anyone else who dares to contradict the (evidence-free) assertions of the CIA and the GCHQ and their host of loyal media megaphones.
Vide….
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-29072017/#comment-1359085
Watching Lisa Owen’s interview with Willie Jackson this morning was an exercise in self control (as in not turning off the tellie and run screaming from the room). Determined and aggressive questioning may have a point when someone’s trying to hide something, but what did she think she was up to this time? He was perfectly willing to answer her in full – and the fact that she didn’t let him complete a whole sentence rather demonstrated that she was more interested in kicking up a storm than in acquiring knowledge.
Yuck – she was like an old crow, pecking and pointing and the more open and reasonable he got the worse she got! It was just an exercise in point scoring. That’s not journalism
Just like last week. I’m afraid Lisa Owen has succumbed to Lisa Owen.
After all, we’re all more interested in Lisa Owen and how clever she thinks she is than we are in the person being interviewed.
She’s a legend
What’s her been an older women got to do with it re your reference to an old crow, ageism sexism in one hit
[Like an old crow is not the same as is an old crow. Seeing as how I’m sure you’re perfectly aware of that, I’m taking you’re comment as deliberate shit stirring. Come back tomorrow to discover the length of your ban.] – Bill
[Playing silly buggers and disregarding a ban was really stupid. Permanent.] – Bill
Spitting hairs bill, unfortunately Wont be able to make your announcement tomorrow but I hope you enjoy the power and suspense
Red – please try not to make literate people wince. The difference between ‘been’ and ‘being’ really counts. Against you.
I guess your not wincing then Vino 😀
Looking at this headline in the Herald this morning brought back a memory from my distant past – I probably was quite young at the time, but living not all that far from Taupo there was a fair bit of angst at the time about how Keith Holyoake purchased this property. It’s obviously been an ‘astute’ purchase as the family now stands to make a very sizable return on the sale, when it happens. The name Comber also rings a bell – I think, and I stand to be corrected that he is/was Kiwi Keith’s son in law and was also a Nat MP back in the day. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11896259
Yes, Ken Comber was Keith Holyoake’s son-in-law and also an MP. Goodness – I’ve just looked him up – he’s been dead since 1998 – didn’t even reach 60!
Seem to remember kiwi keiths tar sealed road to property when every one else was driving on dirt roads,–nothings changed.
Ahhh, that’s it The decrypter – there was something murky about that property.
Maybe another instant kiwi citizen has made an offer she can’t refuse.
The election is really highlighting the deep divisions in society. It is quite distressing to consider the lack of mutual respect between different groups of people. (I am certainly as guilty as anyone of heaping abuse on members of the current government.) I also think it is in the interest of Tory governments to maintain these divisions lest their voters who ask the question “What will I get out of a government?” instead ask the question “What does the community need from a government?”
The difficulty is how to reach the hearts of Tory voters and raise their awareness of the human plight of others. Most of them have got, somewhere, deep down, a sense of decency and fair play. I am sure that Metiria tapped into a few of those. However the rich white male who seems to have more regard for his dog than most other people is a harder nut to crack. My small experience with this type seems to show that the environment is perhaps the only common ground of agreement as long as the word “green” never comes in to the conversation. There seems to be little understanding of the merits of our country bothering to make any effort on global warming,
I have been picking up plastic and other rubbish of my local beach on a daily basis for about 2 years. My contribution is no doubt insignificant when considered on a global scale, but I know that if this was done on every beach in the world, it would make a difference. We need to somehow reach the “why bother” people on an emotional level if we are to create a more pleasant, caring and unified society.
Hi ttm, walking behind a kitchen manager one day as a young chef, he stooped to pick up an onion skin and put it in the bin.
That act had a profound effect on me.
Leaving a rugby match many moons later, someone dropped a program, instead of remonstrating, I picked it up and put it in the bin.
Hoping it may have an effect on someone behind me.
Long winded I know, but don’t under estimate your actions on the beach.
PAKISTAN SUPREME COURT ‘SACKS’ PAKISTAN PRIME MINISTER FOR CORRUPTION!
(Imagine our NZ Supreme Court doing that! 🙂
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/219619-Panama-leaks-Nawaz-Sharif-survives-as-SC-refers-graft-case-to-NAB
Pakistan plunges into uncertainty as PM Nawaz Sharif ousted
ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court on Friday disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from public office over long-running corruption allegations, a decision that ousted him from the premiership for the third time.
The ruling saw political uncertainty take hold in Pakistan once again, with Cabinet dissolved and the country left without a sitting prime minister.
As the verdict was announced in Islamabad, hundreds of opposition supporters in the capital and in northwestern Peshawar rushed into the street handing out sweets, beating drums, and chanting “Go Nawaz Go” in celebration.
But in Lahore, capital of Sharif´s power base of Punjab province, sporadic protests broke out, with his supporters burning tyres, blocking streets and chanting “We don´t accept this decision”.
General elections are scheduled for next year, but Sharif now falls short of becoming the first premier to complete a full five-year term.
The allegations against the prime minister spiralled from the Panama Papers leak last year, which sparked a media frenzy over the lavish lifestyles and luxury London property portfolio of the Sharif dynasty.
Those claims prompted an investigation which said there was a “significant disparity” between the family´s income and lifestyle, and unearthed fresh claims over Sharif´s links to companies based in the United Arab Emirates.
….”
We may have a buyer for the Holyoake place.
Don’t ask for what you wish for.
Not a single Pakistani Prime Minister has actually left office by being voted out.
That is no measure of a good democracy.
No doubt his family was corrupt. They should pay ill-gotten gains back.
But now, as usual, the Pakistani Army will get ready to stage the usual coup, and usurp the power of the ordinary person to vote their governments in.
Courts should not rule over democratic mandates like this.
Watching Newshub tonight, it seem as if Imran Khan may get his long held wish to become Prime Minister of Pakistan. God/Allah only knows how long his tenure will be before he in turn gets turfed out.
Tomorrow morning RNZ Wallace Chapman:
8.35 a.m. Bill Mitchell: modern monetary theory
An emerging school of economics, called modern monetary theory, says
government surpluses can be a bad thing and a country with a fiat currency can never run out of money. Professor of Economics Bill Mitchell explains how that can work.
Nuclear power in the Pacific – is this going to help them?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/335990/iaea-signs-deal-with-pacific-community
The International Atomic Energy Agency has signed a deal with the Pacific Community or SPC to provide nuclear technology to the Pacific region.
This was announced in Noumea by the head of the agency Yukiya Amano and follows the formal signing of an agreement in Vienna last month.
Mr Amano said such technology was effective in a range of fields, such as health, agriculture or the environment….
[The community’s deputy director Cameron Diver] says nuclear technology could be applied to improve soil quality, in the fight against cancer and to trace marine pollution….
Also in attendance was the French overseas minister Annick Girardin who pushed for France’s further integration into the region.
There was a NZRadio report about 6 pm today on Tagata o Te Moana 30 odd minutes report, on the inability of Pacific Islands to cope with plastic. When some have disasters like hurricanes and need water it arrives in plastic bottles but no agency then takes those away again. There is no place or way to handle this rubbish. They have been known to collect them from one side of an island where plastic has accumulated, and been taken to the other side and dumped back in the water again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch
and
Heat wave
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms16101
and
Killing Oz Barrier Reef
https://nuclear-news.net/category/1-nuclear-issues/environment-1-nuclear-issues/oceans/
and
Oil deals with Russia and Exon and Trump?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlY6g6X8D0Y
and
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/oceans-under-the-microscope.html
Jul 21, 2017 – Around 95% of the Earth’s oceans are still unexplored – in fact, we know less about the deep sea than we do about space. But although vast swathes of the …
and …
https://www.sciencedaily.com/news/earth_climate/oceanography/
and
Leatherback turtles and plastic
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090315224258.htm
and
Capturing the spectrum
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170711220514.htm
and
Worried about cigarette smoke in the car – rush hour worse.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170721135331.htm
Yesterday I made a comment in the thread re rail transport and I made the claim that the Government was in the pocket of the Road Transport Forum. During this morning’s Q and A session Dr Raymond Miller from Auckland University went even further. He said that the “little known lobby group” has been led since its inception in 1992 by former Transport Ministers. It was also pointed out that the two biggest truck operators in the country (Mainfreight and Toll) don’t actually belong to the forum because their companies are integrated with rail. A further revelation was that the proposed “East West” corridor in Auckland is the least justifiable, the most expensive and the least cost effective of the ten options the government considered. All of this should be hammered out by all parties opposed to the current government over the next eight weeks. We are being led by a bunch of charlatans.
The East-West truckway had six options of which the worst option was chosen and whose projected cost has blown out to $1.8b: https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2017/06/13/economics-east-west-link/
Haven’t watched Q&A yet but perhaps Miller was talking about the ten options in the initially-suppressed Third Main rail case (which also affects the need for the extra trucking motorway): https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2017/07/28/third-main-business-case-un-redacted-version/