“Liz Kendall, with her permanent air of an office manager who has just come back from a course, couldn’t lure a voter out of a burning building – and her whole campaign is based on changing Labour to be whatever people who hate it want it to be.”
“Many people thought the Labour party would struggle to top the disaster of losing the general election, but it has silenced the doubters by somehow contriving to lose its own internal leadership election. Voters have signed up to support it, and Labour has reacted with a purge of such generalised unfairness that I’m almost starting to doubt that its leading lights really wanted to bring democracy to Iraq. ”
Frankie Boyle has some very pointed observations in his piece in the Guardian.
There are a number of similarities between the ABCs in London and in Wellington. The most obvious ones are is their antipathy towards membership power and their common background as insiders who have gone from Uni to political adviser roles to safe seats.
They are the reason the parties in both countries have been rejected by the voter for being aloof and uninspiring.
I watched a debate online between all the candidates about 3 weeks ago. As a long-time political observer (40 years) I was struck by one particular revelation. That was the similarity between what Corbyn was saying in 2015 to what Norman Kirk was saying in 1970. And guess what… Kirk went on to win the next election (1972) in a landslide!
Yes, we lost in 1975 but that was a direct result of the premature and tragic death of Norman Kirk. I believe had he lived to carry on as PM, Labour would not have lost that election to Muldoon and our political history would have taken a totally different path.
If Kirk hadn’t died I don’t think National would have been in power until the 1980s at the earliest and it would have been left to National to do the Rogernomics stuff and chances are they’d only last one term with Labour coming back in to undo their fuckups. NZ would be a vastly different place.
Yes Kirk’s untimely passing was a fork in the road alright.
At the same time I don’t think we can neglect the malign influence of neo-liberalism globally. Even if we had avoided the Rogernomic catastrophe – as Australia did – the left would still have faced some very strong head-winds.
Note the body language of one, Liz Kendall during this debate on NATO. Oh dear, petulance abounded and did I detect a hint of malice at the end? Never mind, Jeremy put her in her place.
I was reminded of a certain ‘left’ commentator in NZ.
Thanks for that link Anne. Very interesting. Amusing how Kendall quick off the mark at around eleven seconds to deploy a throwaway ‘branding’ line against Corbyn, when rebuffed (in a thoroughly gentlemanly and fairly unanswewrable way) then consoled herself with a pretty massive sulk for the next five and a half minutes. At the end of which period, lesson not learned, unsuccessfully tried the same trick again. Liz Liz Liz…..some ‘entitlement’ showing there maybe ?
Parallel personalities here anyone ? Which is what makes it so interesting, yes ?
Exceeded the maximum number of page not found errors per minute for humans.
I have quite a lot of traps for robots trawling the site. Some are for unknown robots that look like humans, or humans trying to do a site dump.
A characteristic problem is for robots to look for pages (that often don’t exist) as backdoors into the system. Especially old plugins with security holes. So the system automatically blocks for two hours any ‘human’ IP that tries to read more than 3 missing pages in a minute.
Just part of a general eternal war against idiot robots that runs alongside the war against idiot trolls and other fools.
However in all our pages we show the links and excerpts of a RSS feed to other blogs, party sites, and a couple of more general news sites. Which means that we show some of their content that is in the excerpt. Including their links to images.
There was a problem with the RSS feed from GarethWorld (Gareth Morgans blog). It had 2 links to images in 2 different RSS posts that started like
“/tmp/remote-image-cache/….”
ie they were links to local images on Gareth’s server.
Needless to say, when readers on our site tried to access these images, they found that they were completely unable to do so from our site, giving a invalid page error in each case. If people viewed two of our pages within a minute, my ever vigilant software minons locked them out of the site for two hours.
Fortunately this only became a problem for our more voracious consumers of pages in the morning. After the second post showed up, it became a more general problem. Which is when I got alerted (thank you Olwyn and Jenny Kirk) and killed the problem after work.
Now I either have to write some more code that detects invalid image links on the RSS receive and processing side, or better still report this as a bug to the person who wrote the plugin I use for this purpose.
Sorry for anyone who got caught by this bug. However it is a small price to pay compared to the damage and slowness of not dealing with the damn bots.
The Associated Press, one of the main sources for mainstream news articles in the world, is currently suing the U.S. government. It’s claim?
The FBI endangered the AP’s reputation when the federal law enforcement agency sent out a link to a fake AP article the FBI had created which was laced with a surveillance virus that would infect the computer of anyone who clicked on it, thereby enabling the FBI to spy on them.
If filtering slows flow, which it would have to to be effective, then you would risk serious flooding when it pours with rain as oulets overflow, so not sure this is solution
yes mr waghorn, and rightly so…… but why do so many farmers still cry that they should be exempt from rules like this?
btw re other commenters – there are ample examples of screens, large scale sump systems and the like that are incorporated into stormwater systems today to take out the shit and leave on ly clean water running into our waters…
I’m in no way excusing farming, just enjoyed watching townies get fired up on TV last night.
Of course the most sensible thing is for a law making all detergents for household use biodegradable but like the light bulb fiasco the fools would hate the idea.
This also goes against decades/centuries of engineering thinking that we must pipe everything and get it the hell out of here as quick as possible. Working with natural systems by using swales and plants/wetlands as filtration systems before water gets out to sea is only very slowly being built into infrastructure. I think the only way we will see widespread change to a logical natural way is when hydrological engineers realise they don’t have a job anymore and communities can decide for themselves how they deal with waste water.
Dimly aware that in Christchurch ponds are built to catch the daily stormwater runoff and thus catch the heavy “metals?” etc. before running into the Avon. Or maybe that is Rangiora. Think tyre debris.
Having worked for a time in surveying I have come across the problem of dealing with stormwater (we set out many a storm water drain) – One project I was working in about 2007 was a commercial development in Albany North Shore, and it had a uniquie system for dealing with the direct runnoff from roads and treating that water prior to it ending up in the ocean (as all storm water eventually does). If you go to google maps (Google Earth) Albany NZ and zoom in on Albany Lake Reserve just to the north of the two lakes you will see along with Don Mckinnon Drive, Daviis Dr and Corban Ave. Zoom in on these two roads and you will see green rectangles dotted along the roads. Instead of normal “cesspits” for the storm water – these are natural filters built to take the storm water and filter it before discharging into the Albany lakes where the water settles again before joining the main drains to the sea. These large filters are about 4 metres deep (from recollection) filled with organic humus and planted with native plants such as flax and sedges ideally suited to filtering the water naturally. The Lake reserve is also planted with native aquatic species and I remember coming across several NZ Dotterels nesting there while I was working.
So Stormwater can be successfully treated If enough thought is put in to it. The result is not only benefitial to oceans it is also benfitial to us the result is a very pleasing place to be.
Luckily in NZ we have no sign of fettering the openess of media speech by having strong bias or signs of dropping any liberal speakers or writers, or cutting off the rights to vote of any group or …. OH dear Mr Key.
North Canterbury is a classic farming regional area, filled to the gunnels with appropriate types….
But two things have gone on recently which highlight very poor standards and qualities amongst its inhabitants….
Firstly, it is dry as a bone in these lands so the farming people there, not content with already have shat on the land, cry very loudly for more and more water. They have basically fucked all the rivers and waterways for their own gain…. This is a familiar story of course and the ins and outs of it are very well known.
It is a stain on their community.
Secondly, there has been a lot of media recently about heavy racism amongst Canterbury rugby clubs. It is thick in the air. North Canterbury has been one of the culprits, the Glenmark one at Omihi singled out recently for appaling racism and general pig-behaviour (apologies to pigs)….
any link do you think? I would posit that they have been targeted for their racism…
North Canterbury eh …. I wonder if any of the locals put these things together and realise the picture that is painted of their community… I don’t imagine they do. They would look to that old fool Griz Wylie who would just stand there and grump without a clue. Poor them.
Brazilian pollution in the spotlight because a wealthy yachtie from Germany says their rotten water has resulted in nasty bacterial growths in his body when he considered he was in good health previous to sailing in Rio de Janeiro.
This is a case for having contests in countries with many poor. The wealthy are encouraged to visit and frantic efforts have to be made to improve conditions. The people who permanently live in Rio de Janeiro won’t be immune to the troubles their visitor has suffered!
Heil, who finished third with Thomas Ploessel in the 49er class, was told by a Berlin hospital that he had been infected by multi-resistant germs, the German sailing team said.
“I have never in my life had infections on the legs. Never!” Heil said on the sailing team’s Olympic blog. “I assume I picked that up at the test regatta. The cause should be the Marina da Glória where there is a constant flow of waste water from the city’s hospitals.”….
Last year biologists said rivers leading into the bay contained a super-bacteria resistant to antibiotics used to treat urinary, gastrointestinal and pulmonary infections.
The waters along Rio’s Atlantic coast, including Guanabara Bay where the Olympic sailing events will be held, have been polluted for years and successive governments have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on clean-ups to little effect….
When Rio bid to host the Games, the city trumpeted the clean-up and said it would cut the amount of sewage flowing into the bay by 80%. However, it has since admitted it is unlikely to meet that target. The amount of sewage treated before reaching the bay had risen from 17 to 49%.
From Stephanie Rodgers on the side panel: “It seems thoroughly unfair that hot on the heels of losing Dita de Boni from our political commentariat, we’re saying goodbye to Brent Edwards as political editor at Radio New Zealand.”
(Thanks Stephanie.)
Very sad but I hope his influence on fair balanced reporting continues?
I sent an email of appreciation to Brent at brent.edwards@radionz.co.nz
An fawningly approving technocratic authoritarian doozey from Fran O’Sullivan today, where she applauds a right wing technocrat’s go at a palace coup against the elected democracy of Auckland
“…What’s clear is that Town is breaking through the political stasis holding Auckland back….”
What’s clear is no one voted for this guy and his “breaking through” involves an authoritarian conspiracy of little known neo-liberal apparachiks to ride roughshod over the constantly repeated wish of Auckland voters NOT to sell assets. I wonder if he can get the trains to run on time as well?
In all this, it is clear Len Brown’s utter obsession with the CRL is now turning him into an isolated lunatic prepared to any and everything to cement in his legacy. Brown is now as big a threat by omission to our assets as Mr. Town is by commission.
….”China needs external capital. Instead, China sees capital flight. Resultant stress is everywhere one looks because debt exceeds carrying capacity.
Symptoms of Too Much Debt
Yuan devaluation
Stock market prop jobs by Chinese regulators
Emerging market currency crashes
Global equity bubbles
Commodity price crashes
Junk bond bubbles
Slower global growth
Still raging property bubbles in Australia, Canada, and the US West Coast (thanks to influx of money from China)”….
( re “raging property bubbles in Australia, Canada, and the US West Coast (thanks to influx of money from China)”
…..is New Zealand also being flooded with Chinese money escaping China?…ie buy ups of NZ housing and land?
…we are a very small country…there must some restrictions on this flood…or is jonkey Nact using this Chinese buy up money to prop up his economic failures?)
Here is a just posted interview from Robert David Steele. For his opinion on TPPA, start at 8 minutes. Travellerev will be interested in this interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmJeK5M9mGE
A lawyer who has used intimidating legal requests to try to gain access to the records and emails of climate scientists has a financial relationship with a major coal company, it has been revealed.
Christopher Horner, who works with two groups to pursue scientists and environmental regulators, is listed in the bankruptcy papers filed by lawyers on behalf of Alpha Natural Resources and its 150 subsidiary companies in the coal industry.
The Heartland Institute, a “free market think tank” and major promoter of fringe views that greenhouse gases are not a problem for the planet, is also named in the papers, as are other key groups.
Investigative journalist Lee Fang, of news website The Intercept founded by lawyer and journalist Glenn Greenwald, first reported the links in two stories.
Can’t really say that I’m surprised.
It is not surprising that a coal company would support the kind of activities that Horner undertakes. It helps them attack the science, which advances their policy agenda. I think it’s also becoming apparent that most of the big players in the denial movement are indeed being paid by fossil fuel interests — via campaign contributions to sympathetic politicians and through dark-money payments to individuals and think tanks that are then used to fund useful – to them – activities. I think future generations will be disgusted by this.
I’m hoping that present generations are disgusted by this obvious corruption of the legal and political systems.
Lisa Owen is not up to the job of interviewing Helen Clark The Nation, TV3, Saturday 29 August 2015, 9:30 a.m.
Hosted by Lisa Owen and Patrick Gower, The Nation is an in-depth weekly current affairs show focusing on the major players and forces that shape New Zealand—TV3 publicity blurb.
Our former prime minister Helen Clark did not have a good relationship with high quality journalists. In 2002 she glowered with anger and tried to overtalk John Campbell when he confronted her with her dishonesty about an unapproved release of genetically modified sweetcorn. [1] During the long-running scandal of her regime’s persecution of Ahmed Zaoui, she brusquely terminated any attempts by the excellent Selwyn Manning to make her answer questions. [2]
Thankfully for Helen Clark, then, she didn’t have to put up with the indignity of being interviewed by a high quality journalist on TV3 this morning. Lisa Owen’s performance was as reliably useless as long-suffering viewers have come to expect from her. Instead of going into anything in depth, several topics were given the usual once-over-lightly treatment. This program is notorious for its low quality interviews, which are often utterly incompetent or horribly biased [3] or—as with Tova O’Brien’s outrageous performance with Murray McCully—a combination of both. [4] But, even so, this was a particularly abject performance. Here are a few selected highlights, or lowlights, complete with Ms Clark’s trademark snickering and snorting delivery….
LISA OWEN: So what can the rest of the world do, then, and why aren’t they stepping up?
HELEN CLARK:[speaking slowly and with the deepest possible tone, to indicate thoughtfulness and moral seriousness] In the short to medium term, peace in Syria would help enormously. But that’s not about to happen.
LISA OWEN: I want to talk about sustainable development…
Here Clark chuntered on in yawn-inducing officialese for a minute or so. She’s such a smooth operator that she managed to talk about the “G-7” instead of the G-8, casually accepting and therefore endorsing the U.S.-driven attempt to isolate the eighth member, Russia. Lisa Owen didn’t even notice.
HELEN CLARK: The EU’s calling for more action, the UN’s [snicker] calling for more action…. needs more commitment from countries that historically have contributed [snicker] to carbon levels. We need China [snort] to act, we need India to act….
But Lisa Owen, even if she were capable of discussing that issue in depth, had other questions she was required by management to ask. Someone had written a really pointed anti-Labour one for her to read out….
LISA OWEN:[nervously] How comfortable are you with Chinese people being singled out as an ethnic group here?
Ms Clark knows a partisan political angle when she sees it. However, instead of fixing the hapless Lisa Owen with her trademark rock-splitting stare, Clark took the bloodless option, and chewed up a couple more minutes saying something bland and non-committal. But Lisa Owen wasn’t allowed to let it go at that. She had obviously been ordered by her producers to keep banging away at this one….
LISA OWEN:[diffidently] So… are you uncomfortable with a single ethnic group, the Chinese, being singled out?
Again, Clark swatted her aside with ease.
Why can’t they get someone knowledgeable and with a bit of flair to interview a big hitter like Helen Clark? Oh that’s right—-they’ve got rid of all the good ones.
Well, seeing Lisa Owen interviewing the Serco boss on 3 news last night I thought she must be the best interviewer main stream media has got right now. I think you might be being a bit harsh on her performance on the Clark interview.
I am glad to hear that she did a good job there. Sadly, however, what I have seen of her suggests that she is nothing like the “best interviewer mainstream media has got right now.” She allowed Clark to get away with some nasty propaganda—talking about the “G7” as though she had had her comments vetted by the U.S. State Department—and boring ahead with those spurious, partisan questions, possibly written for her by Paul Henry, designed to aggravate and embarrass the Labour Party.
Further examples of Lisa Owen’s substandard performances…..
Tautoko Mango Mata – could you please put up the link to the WHO video “Are GMOs Safe to Eat” . This is a really informative doco, and I’d like to share it with people up here in the north who are strongly opposed to current govt attempts to introduce GMOs despite local councils not wanting that to happen. thanks.
ps Its okay thanks – I right-clicked onto it, and have the link now.
Thanks for putting this up.
Thank you Tautoko for link.
I’m only part way in and already I have heard that the experienced professional academic speaking has found a potato that after genetic modification tools have been used on it, has antibiotic resistance to three bacteria.
they share or codetermine those matters governing the essential terms and conditions of employment. In evaluating whether an employer possesses sufficient control over employees to qualify as a joint employer, the Board will – among other factors — consider whether an employer has exercised control over terms and conditions of employment indirectly through an intermediary, or whether it has reserved the authority to do so.
Overstaying is a crime; benes spending money on ‘luxuries’ is not.
Well, not yet but I’m sure that National, following patterns in the US as they do, are looking at it:
That “unmasking” is behind two recent bills that caught the Internet’s attention this week. Kansas and Missouri’s legislatures are working to target the social services provided to the state’s welfare recipients, limiting how people on welfare can use their assistance. In Missouri, a bill awaits Gov. Jay Nixon’s approval that would ban soda, energy drinks, cookies, and chips. Curtailing spending on snacks and soft drinks might be defensible from a public health angle (former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg would be a fan), but the state is also targeting steak and seafood—which speaks, ironically, less to concerns about welfare and more about policing what poor people do.
Actually, didn’t they give cards out to some beneficiaries to prevent then from buying luxuries?
As Barbara Ehrenreich memorably argued in the seminal Nickel and Dimed, it’s those low-wage workers who are essentially paying for everyone else’s prosperity with their cheap labor:
When someone works for less pay than she can live on—when, for example, she goes hungry so that you can eat more cheaply and conveniently—then she has made a great sacrifice for you, she has made you a gift of some part of her abilities, her health, and her life. The “working poor,” as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high. To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone else.
True. The rich get rich by taking from the poor not by working for it.
“The politics behind China’s stock market turbulence
One of the most extraordinary things about the world’s number two economy is that when it faces a crisis, the leadership carries on in public as if nothing has happened.
Decisions which affect the fate not just of 1.4 billion people in China but as we now know, the rest of the world as well, are made in secret by a handful of men.
This week, China’s top political leaders have made no mention of the crisis, flagship mainstream media avoided touching on it, and government censors constrained discussion on social media within firm boundaries.”
“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
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In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
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. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
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 ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
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 ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
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. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
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 ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
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 ...
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 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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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 ...
“Liz Kendall, with her permanent air of an office manager who has just come back from a course, couldn’t lure a voter out of a burning building – and her whole campaign is based on changing Labour to be whatever people who hate it want it to be.”
“Many people thought the Labour party would struggle to top the disaster of losing the general election, but it has silenced the doubters by somehow contriving to lose its own internal leadership election. Voters have signed up to support it, and Labour has reacted with a purge of such generalised unfairness that I’m almost starting to doubt that its leading lights really wanted to bring democracy to Iraq. ”
Frankie Boyle has some very pointed observations in his piece in the Guardian.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/27/how-will-labour-top-losing-the-election-by-losing-its-own-leadership-contest
Phil Quin, Shane Te Pou, and the Paganis are among those who support Liz Kendall for UKLP leader.
There are a number of similarities between the ABCs in London and in Wellington. The most obvious ones are is their antipathy towards membership power and their common background as insiders who have gone from Uni to political adviser roles to safe seats.
They are the reason the parties in both countries have been rejected by the voter for being aloof and uninspiring.
I watched a debate online between all the candidates about 3 weeks ago. As a long-time political observer (40 years) I was struck by one particular revelation. That was the similarity between what Corbyn was saying in 2015 to what Norman Kirk was saying in 1970. And guess what… Kirk went on to win the next election (1972) in a landslide!
Yes, we lost in 1975 but that was a direct result of the premature and tragic death of Norman Kirk. I believe had he lived to carry on as PM, Labour would not have lost that election to Muldoon and our political history would have taken a totally different path.
If Kirk hadn’t died I don’t think National would have been in power until the 1980s at the earliest and it would have been left to National to do the Rogernomics stuff and chances are they’d only last one term with Labour coming back in to undo their fuckups. NZ would be a vastly different place.
Yes Kirk’s untimely passing was a fork in the road alright.
At the same time I don’t think we can neglect the malign influence of neo-liberalism globally. Even if we had avoided the Rogernomic catastrophe – as Australia did – the left would still have faced some very strong head-winds.
Note the body language of one, Liz Kendall during this debate on NATO. Oh dear, petulance abounded and did I detect a hint of malice at the end? Never mind, Jeremy put her in her place.
I was reminded of a certain ‘left’ commentator in NZ.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jeremy-corbyn-snaps-liz-kendall-6331863
Thanks for that link Anne. Very interesting. Amusing how Kendall quick off the mark at around eleven seconds to deploy a throwaway ‘branding’ line against Corbyn, when rebuffed (in a thoroughly gentlemanly and fairly unanswewrable way) then consoled herself with a pretty massive sulk for the next five and a half minutes. At the end of which period, lesson not learned, unsuccessfully tried the same trick again. Liz Liz Liz…..some ‘entitlement’ showing there maybe ?
Parallel personalities here anyone ? Which is what makes it so interesting, yes ?
Kendall’s sulking bad manners would earn a 13 year old in our household the confiscation of an iPhone for a week.
Well, she won’t win the leadership after that childish display. Not that she is going to win anyway – surely not. God help the UK if she did…
What was going on with TS yesterday afternoon? I was blocked out of the site! Nasty little Gremlins maybe????
Anyone else affected?
Yep – told mr I was no human and tried to access too many times!!!
@ dv (2.1) Same here.
mary_a and dv – me, too.
Ok now
me too
Yes, I loved the ‘human’ bit – thought that maybe if I went next door and borrowed their cat he’d have more luck 🙂
I have quite a lot of traps for robots trawling the site. Some are for unknown robots that look like humans, or humans trying to do a site dump.
A characteristic problem is for robots to look for pages (that often don’t exist) as backdoors into the system. Especially old plugins with security holes. So the system automatically blocks for two hours any ‘human’ IP that tries to read more than 3 missing pages in a minute.
Just part of a general eternal war against idiot robots that runs alongside the war against idiot trolls and other fools.
However in all our pages we show the links and excerpts of a RSS feed to other blogs, party sites, and a couple of more general news sites. Which means that we show some of their content that is in the excerpt. Including their links to images.
There was a problem with the RSS feed from GarethWorld (Gareth Morgans blog). It had 2 links to images in 2 different RSS posts that started like
“/tmp/remote-image-cache/….”
ie they were links to local images on Gareth’s server.
Needless to say, when readers on our site tried to access these images, they found that they were completely unable to do so from our site, giving a invalid page error in each case. If people viewed two of our pages within a minute, my ever vigilant software minons locked them out of the site for two hours.
Fortunately this only became a problem for our more voracious consumers of pages in the morning. After the second post showed up, it became a more general problem. Which is when I got alerted (thank you Olwyn and Jenny Kirk) and killed the problem after work.
Now I either have to write some more code that detects invalid image links on the RSS receive and processing side, or better still report this as a bug to the person who wrote the plugin I use for this purpose.
Sorry for anyone who got caught by this bug. However it is a small price to pay compared to the damage and slowness of not dealing with the damn bots.
Thanks LP.
I KNEW I was human, and now I you have confirmed.
Thats ok, the system thought you were a human as well
Ha Success!!!
lol
so that’s why when I opened the front page and then a couple of articles in new tabs, it kicked me out “for a few minutes”…
well i’ll be…an admin that explains the cause of problems to the users…Thanks for the detailed explanation.
I usually do. May not be until I have cleared the problem though.
Yes, that is part of my general discourtesy to robots.
I imagine that when the singularity arrives that I will be virtually put up against a wall and shot – often.
Or suffer the fact from the machines of Ted in “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”
Good. That text of that short story is online here.
I had the same – we must have been very naughty! It came right after a while, but I was locked out completely!
Dismaland – metaphor for life.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/28/joy-dismaland-mickey-mouse-david-shrigley
that is so good, thanks for the link.
art at its best.
Dismaland—AKA Great Britain.
FBI in a pickle http://www.thedailysheeple.com/ap-sues-us-govt-over-fake-fbi-news-article-booby-trapped-with-surveillance-virus_082015
The Associated Press, one of the main sources for mainstream news articles in the world, is currently suing the U.S. government. It’s claim?
The FBI endangered the AP’s reputation when the federal law enforcement agency sent out a link to a fake AP article the FBI had created which was laced with a surveillance virus that would infect the computer of anyone who clicked on it, thereby enabling the FBI to spy on them.
Of the 80,000 people who lived in the harbour catchment area, 65 per cent were unaware that stormwater drains led directly into the harbour.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/71540950/porirua-council-embraces-car-wash-ban-backlash-as-a-chance-to-educate
After years of the council trying to clean up its harbour, has anyone thought of filtering the outlets?
If filtering slows flow, which it would have to to be effective, then you would risk serious flooding when it pours with rain as oulets overflow, so not sure this is solution
Improve capacity/storage areas to offset
Another alternative are drain inlet filters
http://www.erosionpollution.com/draincovers.html
“Improve capacity/storage areas to offset”
How? Last time I lived near a body of water the stormwater drains led directly to the water. There is no storage.
Drain filters made out of plastic are going to end up either in the landfill or here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch
I can imagine farmers all over the country smilling quietly. # boots on the other foot.
yes mr waghorn, and rightly so…… but why do so many farmers still cry that they should be exempt from rules like this?
btw re other commenters – there are ample examples of screens, large scale sump systems and the like that are incorporated into stormwater systems today to take out the shit and leave on ly clean water running into our waters…
all good
I’m in no way excusing farming, just enjoyed watching townies get fired up on TV last night.
Of course the most sensible thing is for a law making all detergents for household use biodegradable but like the light bulb fiasco the fools would hate the idea.
We should make all detergents biodegradable. But we’re talking stormwater drains right? and people pour all sorts of weird shit down their drains.
Every little bit helps, although car washing is a drop in the ocean compared to what would be washed off the highways every time it rains.
Have you thought of the difficulties of filtering storm water where having a blockage is contra-indicated?
This also goes against decades/centuries of engineering thinking that we must pipe everything and get it the hell out of here as quick as possible. Working with natural systems by using swales and plants/wetlands as filtration systems before water gets out to sea is only very slowly being built into infrastructure. I think the only way we will see widespread change to a logical natural way is when hydrological engineers realise they don’t have a job anymore and communities can decide for themselves how they deal with waste water.
Dimly aware that in Christchurch ponds are built to catch the daily stormwater runoff and thus catch the heavy “metals?” etc. before running into the Avon. Or maybe that is Rangiora. Think tyre debris.
I thought the suggestion of councillor Cropp to use towels as a dam to divert the wash water into the garden/lawn was smart.
I might dig a hole to act as a sump- fill with gravel and sand.
Re the suggestions of filtering – one of the problems is the soap.
I don’t think the problem is too difficult or onerous on the car washers.
Having worked for a time in surveying I have come across the problem of dealing with stormwater (we set out many a storm water drain) – One project I was working in about 2007 was a commercial development in Albany North Shore, and it had a uniquie system for dealing with the direct runnoff from roads and treating that water prior to it ending up in the ocean (as all storm water eventually does). If you go to google maps (Google Earth) Albany NZ and zoom in on Albany Lake Reserve just to the north of the two lakes you will see along with Don Mckinnon Drive, Daviis Dr and Corban Ave. Zoom in on these two roads and you will see green rectangles dotted along the roads. Instead of normal “cesspits” for the storm water – these are natural filters built to take the storm water and filter it before discharging into the Albany lakes where the water settles again before joining the main drains to the sea. These large filters are about 4 metres deep (from recollection) filled with organic humus and planted with native plants such as flax and sedges ideally suited to filtering the water naturally. The Lake reserve is also planted with native aquatic species and I remember coming across several NZ Dotterels nesting there while I was working.
So Stormwater can be successfully treated If enough thought is put in to it. The result is not only benefitial to oceans it is also benfitial to us the result is a very pleasing place to be.
Thank you Macro
+1
Canadian Election Gerrymandering. No surprises here. How the right wing corrupts democracy. http://www.theguardian.com/world/canada/2015/aug/28/all
Luckily in NZ we have no sign of fettering the openess of media speech by having strong bias or signs of dropping any liberal speakers or writers, or cutting off the rights to vote of any group or …. OH dear Mr Key.
More on that subject:
: http://nyti.ms/1LchAdQ
Enough and Janm
Please please don’t put up such links. We don’t want anyone to get any ideas to help NZ
North Canterbury is a classic farming regional area, filled to the gunnels with appropriate types….
But two things have gone on recently which highlight very poor standards and qualities amongst its inhabitants….
Firstly, it is dry as a bone in these lands so the farming people there, not content with already have shat on the land, cry very loudly for more and more water. They have basically fucked all the rivers and waterways for their own gain…. This is a familiar story of course and the ins and outs of it are very well known.
It is a stain on their community.
Secondly, there has been a lot of media recently about heavy racism amongst Canterbury rugby clubs. It is thick in the air. North Canterbury has been one of the culprits, the Glenmark one at Omihi singled out recently for appaling racism and general pig-behaviour (apologies to pigs)….
… and then this yesterday night http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/north-canterbury/71526790/all-blacks-history-destroyed-in-north-canterbury-rugby-club-fire ….
any link do you think? I would posit that they have been targeted for their racism…
North Canterbury eh …. I wonder if any of the locals put these things together and realise the picture that is painted of their community… I don’t imagine they do. They would look to that old fool Griz Wylie who would just stand there and grump without a clue. Poor them.
Brazilian pollution in the spotlight because a wealthy yachtie from Germany says their rotten water has resulted in nasty bacterial growths in his body when he considered he was in good health previous to sailing in Rio de Janeiro.
This is a case for having contests in countries with many poor. The wealthy are encouraged to visit and frantic efforts have to be made to improve conditions. The people who permanently live in Rio de Janeiro won’t be immune to the troubles their visitor has suffered!
Heil, who finished third with Thomas Ploessel in the 49er class, was told by a Berlin hospital that he had been infected by multi-resistant germs, the German sailing team said.
“I have never in my life had infections on the legs. Never!” Heil said on the sailing team’s Olympic blog. “I assume I picked that up at the test regatta. The cause should be the Marina da Glória where there is a constant flow of waste water from the city’s hospitals.”….
Last year biologists said rivers leading into the bay contained a super-bacteria resistant to antibiotics used to treat urinary, gastrointestinal and pulmonary infections.
The waters along Rio’s Atlantic coast, including Guanabara Bay where the Olympic sailing events will be held, have been polluted for years and successive governments have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on clean-ups to little effect….
When Rio bid to host the Games, the city trumpeted the clean-up and said it would cut the amount of sewage flowing into the bay by 80%. However, it has since admitted it is unlikely to meet that target. The amount of sewage treated before reaching the bay had risen from 17 to 49%.
Living longer>>>>>………………….
Lesotho had the world’s lowest healthy life expectancy, at 42 years, while Japan had the highest, at 73.4 years.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/282702/a-longer-lifespan-but-at-what-cost
From Stephanie Rodgers on the side panel: “It seems thoroughly unfair that hot on the heels of losing Dita de Boni from our political commentariat, we’re saying goodbye to Brent Edwards as political editor at Radio New Zealand.”
(Thanks Stephanie.)
Very sad but I hope his influence on fair balanced reporting continues?
I sent an email of appreciation to Brent at brent.edwards@radionz.co.nz
Looks like Peter Bromhead has been let go as well
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11503907
For some of the good ones it means that if not sacked they get promoted away from the Public view. Maybe?
An fawningly approving technocratic authoritarian doozey from Fran O’Sullivan today, where she applauds a right wing technocrat’s go at a palace coup against the elected democracy of Auckland
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11504525
It contains a sentence for the ages:
“…What’s clear is that Town is breaking through the political stasis holding Auckland back….”
What’s clear is no one voted for this guy and his “breaking through” involves an authoritarian conspiracy of little known neo-liberal apparachiks to ride roughshod over the constantly repeated wish of Auckland voters NOT to sell assets. I wonder if he can get the trains to run on time as well?
In all this, it is clear Len Brown’s utter obsession with the CRL is now turning him into an isolated lunatic prepared to any and everything to cement in his legacy. Brown is now as big a threat by omission to our assets as Mr. Town is by commission.
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/serco-boss-admits-interest-in-nzs-rail-services-2015082910#axzz3k9uSFISc
I propose that the new flag should have “serco” as its main emblem.
‘Steve Keen on Economic Forecasts, Ponzi Schemes, GDP, China; One Way Streets and Poison’
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/08/steve-keen-on-economic-forecasts-ponzi.html#Rpqrk3RPikCSprL7.99
….”China needs external capital. Instead, China sees capital flight. Resultant stress is everywhere one looks because debt exceeds carrying capacity.
Symptoms of Too Much Debt
Yuan devaluation
Stock market prop jobs by Chinese regulators
Emerging market currency crashes
Global equity bubbles
Commodity price crashes
Junk bond bubbles
Slower global growth
Still raging property bubbles in Australia, Canada, and the US West Coast (thanks to influx of money from China)”….
( re “raging property bubbles in Australia, Canada, and the US West Coast (thanks to influx of money from China)”
…..is New Zealand also being flooded with Chinese money escaping China?…ie buy ups of NZ housing and land?
…we are a very small country…there must some restrictions on this flood…or is jonkey Nact using this Chinese buy up money to prop up his economic failures?)
http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/wall-of-chinese-capital-buying-up-australian-properties-20150628-ghztdf.html
Here is a just posted interview from Robert David Steele. For his opinion on TPPA, start at 8 minutes. Travellerev will be interested in this interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmJeK5M9mGE
The commonality of criticism of TPPA is a pretty good indication of the potential of doing the bad stuff on the People- us!
Meanwhile….
Canada will not sign a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that would allow Japanese vehicles into North America with fewer parts manufactured here, says Ed Fast, the federal minister of international trade.
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5812122-no-trans-pacific-trade-deal-if-auto-parts-sector-threatened-trade-minister/
Oops:
Can’t really say that I’m surprised.
I’m hoping that present generations are disgusted by this obvious corruption of the legal and political systems.
Lisa Owen is not up to the job of interviewing Helen Clark
The Nation, TV3, Saturday 29 August 2015, 9:30 a.m.
Hosted by Lisa Owen and Patrick Gower, The Nation is an in-depth weekly current affairs show focusing on the major players and forces that shape New Zealand—TV3 publicity blurb.
Our former prime minister Helen Clark did not have a good relationship with high quality journalists. In 2002 she glowered with anger and tried to overtalk John Campbell when he confronted her with her dishonesty about an unapproved release of genetically modified sweetcorn. [1] During the long-running scandal of her regime’s persecution of Ahmed Zaoui, she brusquely terminated any attempts by the excellent Selwyn Manning to make her answer questions. [2]
Thankfully for Helen Clark, then, she didn’t have to put up with the indignity of being interviewed by a high quality journalist on TV3 this morning. Lisa Owen’s performance was as reliably useless as long-suffering viewers have come to expect from her. Instead of going into anything in depth, several topics were given the usual once-over-lightly treatment. This program is notorious for its low quality interviews, which are often utterly incompetent or horribly biased [3] or—as with Tova O’Brien’s outrageous performance with Murray McCully—a combination of both. [4] But, even so, this was a particularly abject performance. Here are a few selected highlights, or lowlights, complete with Ms Clark’s trademark snickering and snorting delivery….
LISA OWEN: So what can the rest of the world do, then, and why aren’t they stepping up?
HELEN CLARK: [speaking slowly and with the deepest possible tone, to indicate thoughtfulness and moral seriousness] In the short to medium term, peace in Syria would help enormously. But that’s not about to happen.
LISA OWEN: I want to talk about sustainable development…
Here Clark chuntered on in yawn-inducing officialese for a minute or so. She’s such a smooth operator that she managed to talk about the “G-7” instead of the G-8, casually accepting and therefore endorsing the U.S.-driven attempt to isolate the eighth member, Russia. Lisa Owen didn’t even notice.
HELEN CLARK: The EU’s calling for more action, the UN’s [snicker] calling for more action…. needs more commitment from countries that historically have contributed [snicker] to carbon levels. We need China [snort] to act, we need India to act….
But Lisa Owen, even if she were capable of discussing that issue in depth, had other questions she was required by management to ask. Someone had written a really pointed anti-Labour one for her to read out….
LISA OWEN: [nervously] How comfortable are you with Chinese people being singled out as an ethnic group here?
Ms Clark knows a partisan political angle when she sees it. However, instead of fixing the hapless Lisa Owen with her trademark rock-splitting stare, Clark took the bloodless option, and chewed up a couple more minutes saying something bland and non-committal. But Lisa Owen wasn’t allowed to let it go at that. She had obviously been ordered by her producers to keep banging away at this one….
LISA OWEN: [diffidently] So… are you uncomfortable with a single ethnic group, the Chinese, being singled out?
Again, Clark swatted her aside with ease.
Why can’t they get someone knowledgeable and with a bit of flair to interview a big hitter like Helen Clark? Oh that’s right—-they’ve got rid of all the good ones.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dET78Z5b5s
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeZ8yuEqZm0
[3] https://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2010/08/27/makers-of-tv3s-the-nation-refuse-right-to-reply-to-untrue-allegations/
[4] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02082015/#comment-1053747
Well, seeing Lisa Owen interviewing the Serco boss on 3 news last night I thought she must be the best interviewer main stream media has got right now. I think you might be being a bit harsh on her performance on the Clark interview.
I am glad to hear that she did a good job there. Sadly, however, what I have seen of her suggests that she is nothing like the “best interviewer mainstream media has got right now.” She allowed Clark to get away with some nasty propaganda—talking about the “G7” as though she had had her comments vetted by the U.S. State Department—and boring ahead with those spurious, partisan questions, possibly written for her by Paul Henry, designed to aggravate and embarrass the Labour Party.
Further examples of Lisa Owen’s substandard performances…..
Bamboozled by Scott Campbell….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30112014/#comment-933681
Given the runaround by Murray McCully….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-18102014/#comment-913109
A lame, unwise attempt at being witty…..
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-22112014/#comment-928974
Making vacuous comments about the London riots of 2011….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-10082011/#comment-362299
World Health Organisation only requires 90 DAYS ‘SAFETY TESTING’ ON GMOS – NOT long enough for tumours to show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D6z0HqpZWQ
“Not long enough for tumours to show?” But isn’t it the chemtrails that cause the tumours?
No it’s cell towers
Tautoko Mango Mata – could you please put up the link to the WHO video “Are GMOs Safe to Eat” . This is a really informative doco, and I’d like to share it with people up here in the north who are strongly opposed to current govt attempts to introduce GMOs despite local councils not wanting that to happen. thanks.
ps Its okay thanks – I right-clicked onto it, and have the link now.
Thanks for putting this up.
Thank you Tautoko for link.
I’m only part way in and already I have heard that the experienced professional academic speaking has found a potato that after genetic modification tools have been used on it, has antibiotic resistance to three bacteria.
“Analysis: German and Scottish GM cultivation ‘opt-outs’ could be first of many”
“Germany will utilise new EU rules to ban the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops on its territory – and other member states look set to follow.”
https://www.agra-net.net/agra/agra-europe/policy-and-legislation/biotechnology/analysis-german-and-scottish-gm-cultivation-opt-outs-could-be-first-of-many-489348.htm
Also “Latvia and Greece have both written to the European Commission requesting the use of new legislation on restricting the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in the EU.
https://www.agra-net.net/agra/agra-europe/policy-and-legislation/biotechnology/two-more-member-states-signal-intent-to-restrict-gmo-cultivation-489595.htm
Can Tim Groser show us what food labelling and food cultivation rules he has agreed to in the TPPA on our behalf?
Unions win big decision in US with the role of joint contractors in effect being joint employees .
https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/board-issues-decision-browning-ferris-industries
they share or codetermine those matters governing the essential terms and conditions of employment. In evaluating whether an employer possesses sufficient control over employees to qualify as a joint employer, the Board will – among other factors — consider whether an employer has exercised control over terms and conditions of employment indirectly through an intermediary, or whether it has reserved the authority to do so.
Background here.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/unions-plot-major-push-after-landmark-labor-ruling_55e10081e4b0aec9f35376e6
Over on the Border Fiasco thread RedLogix said this:
Well, not yet but I’m sure that National, following patterns in the US as they do, are looking at it:
Actually, didn’t they give cards out to some beneficiaries to prevent then from buying luxuries?
True. The rich get rich by taking from the poor not by working for it.
An interesting column re China from the BBC:
“The politics behind China’s stock market turbulence
One of the most extraordinary things about the world’s number two economy is that when it faces a crisis, the leadership carries on in public as if nothing has happened.
Decisions which affect the fate not just of 1.4 billion people in China but as we now know, the rest of the world as well, are made in secret by a handful of men.
This week, China’s top political leaders have made no mention of the crisis, flagship mainstream media avoided touching on it, and government censors constrained discussion on social media within firm boundaries.”
……continues http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-34071368