Modern industrial soy is a blight on the planet. Look it up.
“..how much more proof do you need..?”
Yeah, nah.
Animal Products Linked to Cancer
December 27, 2013
Consumption of meat and other animal products is strongly linked to several types of cancer, according to an article published in the journal Nutrients. The author analyzed data on 21 different cancers in 157 countries and found that certain factors, especially diet, were associated with risk for developing specific cancers. Specifically, the association between animal product consumption and cancer was as strong as that linking tobacco and cancer. Possible mechanisms for risk include animal products’ promotion of growth and high iron and fat content. The author notes that while detection and treatment are important, animal product consumption has been recognized as a cancer risk for more than a century and needs to be addressed in order to prevent the deadly disease.
How come non-Western cultures with high meat protein diets don’t have high rates of cancer (quite the opposite)? It’s not meat eating per se, it’s how we do it. Can’t comment futher on that research until I see whether they controlled for things like refined carb intake, lifestyle, modern pollutants etc which tend to go hand in hand with meat consumption. Would also want to know if they differentiated between grass-fed meat vs feed-lot, pumped full of chemicals meat.
I said that because there is lots of dodgy research being done in the world and I’d want to see a better analysis of the reasearch than was on the page you linked to before I commented further.
to equate to proof, without any fact checking or analysis at all. Don’t worry, I see meat eaters making the same kinds of mistakes.
Do you understand how things like overall diet, lifestyle, environment could affect the outcome of research into on the health effects of a specific food? I suspect you don’t. I know I’ve asked you these kinds of questions before that you just ignore. It’s the worst kind of intellectual argument (quoting a useless source and then refusing to back it up) and I’m surprised that its tolerated by the general commentariat here. If you were making a more conventional political statement people would be all over you.
“..that has been written up in a scientific-journal..called ‘nutrition’..(with all the checks and balances that entails..)..”
Alot of medical research is done poorly and/or has been co-opted by various special interest groups. This is a well known phenomenon and is acknowleged within science and medicine.
I don’t know the Nutrition journal so am in no position to judge the value of its peer review (assuming it did peer review the research). I haven’t seen the research published. That’s all I said – that there wasn’t enough information to judge the value of it. You are quite welcome to trust it, but if you post it in a public forum then expect some analysis.
So, it’s not strawman argument. It’s based on experience and understanding. I note that yet again you fail to answer my questions and just call them horseshit, and so have just reinforced my opinion of you that you don’t really understand how scientific research works and how to evaluate it.
correction:..the scientific journal is called ‘nutrients’..
..and is described in wikipedia as thus:
“..Nutrients is an open access peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing reviews, regular research papers, and short communications on all aspects of nutrition..”
..(hope that helps..)
..and once again i have to return to the fact you seem unable to grasp..
..this is a meta-study..looking at 151 other scientific-studies..over 21 countries..
..so yr paranoias detailed in yr second paragraph ..do not/cannot apply to that..
..it is a different discipline…mainly number/stat-crunching..
..no actual on lab-table research/study..
..get that..?
..and if you can’t ‘trust’ a study/evidence of such magnitude/scope..
..and if you think that ‘vested-interests’..(who..?..the all-powerful vegan-lobby?..) have twisted this research somehow..
..best you go and stand over there with the tobacco-doesn’t-cause-cancer/the-moon-landings-didn’t-happen crew..eh..?
..and you still haven’t answered that simple straightforward question:
..do you receive/derive yr monies from the animal-flesh-trade industries..?
..and what questions of yours do you feel i have not answered..?
How come non-Western cultures with high meat protein diets don’t have high rates of cancer (quite the opposite)? It’s not meat eating per se, it’s how we do it. Can’t comment futher on that research until I see whether they controlled for things like refined carb intake, lifestyle, modern pollutants etc which tend to go hand in hand with meat consumption. Would also want to know if they differentiated between grass-fed meat vs feed-lot, pumped full of chemicals meat.
“..eating cheese/milk/meat will likely give you cancer/premature-death..”
Citation needed. And what’s with the ‘likely’ bit?
You still haven’t responded to my substantive points (not really surprised, you strike me as very dogmatic on this, so why bother with reality).
I was vegetarian for a long time (a very nutritionally well-informed vegetarian), and part of that time I was virtually vegan. My health improved substantially when I started eating meat again. I know many other people that this is true for. I also know people that do well on vege diets. One size doesn’t fit all.
How come non-Western cultures with high meat protein diets don’t have high rates of cancer (quite the opposite)? It’s not meat eating per se, it’s how we do it.
Paleo. Been holding my body together now 3 years. No sugar, no fructose, no hydrogenated oils, minimal wheat and dairy.
Lots of vegetable carbs, fermented foods, protein and saturated fats. Recent cardio test was perfect.
The big problem I’m not properly managing in my life at the moment is correct exercise, stress and inflammation.
Nice one RL. I know other people who paleo works very well for too. There are other traditional diets that have good health outcomes too. I don’t even object to people being vegan, it just irks when some claim that their way is best and that everyone else would be better off doing what they do (demonstrably false), and anyone who doesn’t is somehow bad or wrong. Veganism, as practiced by most in the West, is also pretty high in terms of environmental damage, so pah to their moral high ground.
“..do you derive your income from the income generated by the animal-flesh-trade..?”
No, I have nothing to do with the meat industry.
“..and the rage/irrationality/tone/timbre of yr responses on this subject..”
Ha, ha, I’m actually not eating meat at all at the moment. There is nothing wrong with appropriately placed anger (ts is full of it, as is the vegan movement). But by all means point out some specific examples of where I am being irrational. Things you merely don’t like don’t count.
RL I got the idea you were on a mountain somewhere. So either you are overdoing the exercise or setting a very demanding schedule. And stress, I think that a bit of meditation in a quiet safe place rests all the body, even a change, another page in the book you have chosen to read. Also a lie down where you start relaxing your whole body from your toes up. We are holding ourselves in readiness for action all the time and don’t realise it till we deliberately shed it.
Don’t the Nats have a major trust through which their campaign funds are filtered?
Yes, the Waitemata Trust. Been going for years and in that time millions of anonymous dollars have been transferred through it and used in successive election campaigns. Add to that the other ‘private’ trusts where money is deposited for special purposes, and it’s obvious to anyone with half a brain that the NZ Herald is party to a dirty tricks campaign aimed at destroying public profile figures associated with Labour and/or the Greens. All of it designed to peak just before the general election which might only be six months away.
Add to that the latest delay in the Dotcom extradition case from March to July (and if things don’t go according to plan no doubt the FBI will be willing to have it further delayed) then it will likely mean the ‘dirt and filth’ will hit their targets at the right time, leading to another election win for the Nats.
Well-put. Election anouncement shortly after a wildly-optimistic Budget sounds about right – before rising interest rates start clobbering voters with mortgages later in the year. Opposition needs to be forcefully and continually joining those dots for people and offering a credible alternative.
I am also of the opinion that the general election will be called early, Anne – probably in mid-winter from about early July (with hopes of a low voter turnout due to weather).
In terms of timelines next year:
Early April 3014- Royal visit with lots of photo-ops for Key, and warm afterglow
14 April 2014 – current scheduled date for the start of the Dotcom extradition hearing forecast to take several weeks: but expected to be further delayed again until at least July 2014 *
* Anne, I note you suggest “Add to that the latest delay in the Dotcom extradition case from March to July” . I checked Google, and the current date is 14 April 2014, and there does not appear to have been an formal decision as yet to delay until July although speculation is that this will happen.
May 2014 – Banks court case
Mid to late May 2014 – Budget.
IIRC, an election can be called on as little as six weeks’ notice, so my thinking is that Key will go for an announcement either just after the royal visit, or around Budget day to get the best PR from these two events – and to overshadow the Banks trial and any Dotcom ongoing court hearings on release of property taken (eg electronic records etc), compensation etc; and to get the election over before the Dotcom extradition hearing itself.
I don’t believe that Key will hold out for a November election for the above reasons and also because IIRC there are one or two big international conferences/events in Nov 2014 that Key would want to attend which he couldn’t go to if the election was in Nov. I recall some discussion in the media a few months ago about these events – but cannot remember what they are. It is now bugging me, so will do some research.
@ veutoviper
Yes. I was aware the the FBI have only requested a delay until July, but they’re likely to get what they want. Then, if it suits Key and co., they will go for a further delay so that Dotcom’s info. on Key doesn’t hit the air-waves until after the election. I’m sure the FBI operatives on the Dotcom case don’t want to see a change in government!
For the reasons you mention above – and others – the situation is fluid, so Key could end up out of luck. Fingers firmly crossed…
Funding is a crucial issue. Look at the mess of the USA where money literally enables the rich to buy laws. I’ve seen suggestions on this site in the past of how to fix this issue but until the general public understand what a problem it is nothing will be done. It’s not a vote getter and, in fact, as the electoral finance mess showed, it can be spun as a vote loser.
“what a corrupt little third world pacific island nation we really are..eh..?”
A sad, but true analysis. We sure have become leaner and meaner. The quick and the dead. Welcome to the future.
+1
There’s a simple measurement I usually apply – the simple and uncomplicated is usually the best
IF we wish to be included in 1st world status, but can only do so by paying slave wages; minimising long fought-for benefits in order to remain viable
THEN we aren’t and we’re only fooling ourselves. (see the other post on America)
Problem is though that the race to the bottom for the many in order for a scared few to maintain their lifestyles is not necessary – it’s only their ideologically-driven and egotistical bullshit that makes it so.
And if because of their short term view, they feel an increasing need to live behind PIN-only accessible gated communities, then more fool them.
The tragedy is that the longer it’s all propped up on a firm foundation of solid bullshit and jellybeams, the more violent the outcome is likely to be.
As the 70% or so versus the 30% moves more and more towards the 99.9 versus the 0.01% – I know where I’m putting my fiat currency. (Some smart smarmy cnut is probably already inventing some derivative in order to have a bob each way!!)
….. probably also why there are a few in the Labour Party who are desperately trying to delay the inevitable (i.e. kicking cans down roadways).
…… my suggestion to them is to just double up on your security, engage another risk management consultant, pay ’em a bundle, see a touchy feely, drop a prozac or two (up the dose if necessary), and life will remain just peachy keen,
I’ve never actually seen a time (in my lifetime) where the neo-liberal driven ideology means that the masses are ‘comfortable’ with ever-increasing disparity.
BUT just imagine how angry they’ll be when the inevitable shit hits the fan, mortgagee sales become a reality, offspring have gone all feral, and they’re all looking for someone to blame.
(There are some natural targets, and you can be sure they’ll be in that ‘economic minority’ of a 1 or possible 0.1%)
Snot Rok Soince is it?
In São Paulo, the rich live in gated condominiums with armed guards. True to form, they pay their guards a pittance so that when a building is attacked by criminals, the guards put up minimal resistance. The crims then get up to 20 filthy rich households to empty out, all at once. They usually drive off with trucks full of expensive possessions. This seems to be what the stupidly rich want for this part of the world as well.
Yesterday I drove on the brand new highway between Taupiri to central Hamilton. why was this highway built? It must have cost well over a billion dollars (at a guess).
How does the National government get so much credit for its economic management when it has built these roads at a huge cost, all of it increasing our huge debt burden…I don’t see our MSM attacking National for its inept economic management on this. The huge expenditure on roads in the Waikato and BOP I reckon will in the long term actually reduce GDP (but will improve the profit of some large trucking companies and Fonterra), I challenge any economist/anyone to prove otherwise.
National have done a tremendous job, just goes to show what can be achieved when we get some decent people at the helm, people with skill and talent.
Only a complete idiot would want labour in power, you’d struggle to find a bigger pile of know nothing, pie in the sky numpties than the current labour line up.
Skill and Talent? Really? Are you sure? Who are we talking about? Mr Brownlee, whose “political clout” has prevented countless people in Christchurch to have a roof over their heads after 3 (!) years? This is by the way inexcusable and one wonders whether we see in the run up to the election a sudden increase in Insurance payouts. Just do be clear, commercial law is passed in parliament and not by Insurance companies – or is it?
Or is it Mrs Bennett who had the benefit of the social system when it was available and used it to the full extent only to deny it everybody else since she has the portfolio? Has she found in her heart that all of her “success” is wrong?
Or lets go to Mr Bridges, who supports deep see drilling and fracking. Interesting though, I was not aware that a lawyer has such extended education to understand the issues of engineering and biology so to be able to make such decisions. Furthermore, being able to override any sovereign interest amid many documented disadvantages and just unilateral make the call?
Yes, lets keep some hope alive. I will vote green as this hopefully gives the next generation a voice.
“National have done a tremendous job, just goes to show what can be achieved when we get some decent people at the helm, people with skill and talent.”
Having lived in the Far North for years I am always in awe of Waikato roads when travelling there, even the secondary routes beautifully sealed and cambered. People who travel the South Island regularly tell a similar story of great roads in a sparsely populated landscape.
according to the Northland Regional Council…
“Of the 6,530 kilometres of road in Northland, 753 kilometres are State Highway with the remaining being local roads. Approximately 65% of these local roads are unsealed, compared to the national average of 40%. The proportion of unsealed roads, many of which have poor foundation conditions and alignments, is one of the highest in the country”.
One could make a case for Waikato and South Island as major tory voters getting special ‘two lane blacktop’ treatment. So what about the Far North? also consistent tory electorate voters (though when you add in the Te Tai Tokerau and the non national general electorate vote the numbers don’t look so good for the torys)–just the land that time forgot? The North has high suicide rates and lots of car crashes and little economic development for decades.
One could make a case for Waikato and South Island as major tory voters getting special ‘two lane blacktop’ treatment.
Not so sure about that. I live in the Waitaki electorate and our road is so bad it’s a favourite with rally car drivers. We’ve had the Rally of Otago blatt past on numerous occasions, except only from one direction. It’s too dangerous going the other. Too many cars went over banks. Bloody good job. The environment bit back.
TM, quite a few people I know in the North don’t want the sort of roads they have in the Waikato. They see one great benefit of gravel roads – they scare the Jafas into keeping their Remuera tractors south of Wellsford. On the other hand, quite a few of them would like to see decent train and bus services.
Don’t forget the North Shore tractors MO. Arrogant drivers who think they own the road and it’s the women who are the worst. One of them screamed abuse at me once for driving up to an intersection on the inside of her. Plenty of room for me to turn left and she to the right. Told her after the screaming match subsided that she was a stupid bitch. She then tried to ram me but I was too quick for her. Contemplated carrying a bag of stones in my glove box in case it happened again. A smashed rear window would have been a satisfactory outcome but decided it was too risky. It would be my luck to have a cop car come ambling past at the moment of impact.
I was out fishing with a mate once and some stupid yuppie in his 15m gin palace managed to catch a few snapper. He promptly filleted them and threw the remains overboard, which every snapper fisher knows is just not on. It puts the rest right off the bite. My mate started throwing sinkers at him, which worried me a bit, since my tinny was only 4.4m. Luckily the idiot wasn’t the aggressive type and left rather than run us over.
“just who it is who ‘owns’/’bought’ influence”. Perfectly said PU.
Without legislation along the lines you suggest we facilitate the availability of massive corruption to the often mutually inclusive wealthy and the holders of power, derived from democratic process, ironically.
Start with strict liability from the top dog down in both the donor and donee camps. Make glib lies like “the law is unclear” and “I’m a busy person I relied on assurances from my trusted minions” and “Oh I forgot” unavailable to the wealthy and the holders of power.
Deploy demonstrably heavy penalties directed according to statutory presumption in favour of imprisonment topped off with additional truly massive financial penalties for donor and donee and permanent disqualification for both from the electoral process at any level.
In cases of political and electoral corruption let judges’ sentencing notes contain stern denunciation of offending which “sheets to the core of justice and democracy”. As presently occurs in obviously far less-reaching cases of attempting to/perverting the course of justice where some fool engages falsehood given on oath to protect a family member or mate charged with an offence.
Acknowledging that for the sake of brevity I overlook Brown, why please did Mediaworks pay for the witheringly castigating holier-than-thou Cameron Brewer’s holiday on the Gold Coast ? If the motivation were truly impeccable there would be more bang-for-the-buck in widely vaunted donation to The Auckland City Mission.
That’s a risibly inadequate response/rationalisation BM.
How possibly can you distinguish between favours given after the event and favours given before the event ? The ‘distinction’ is facile and meaningless especially in the context of a course of conduct dynamic.
You’re a supporter of corruption clearly. It’s what makes the world of the wealthy and the powerful go round what ? Such a democrat you BM.
Thinking about the traditional story of Christmas and all, my pick for the Three Wise Men:
the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and Pope Francis. I’m sure they’d have a lot of fun riding across the desert together on camels.
‘What Cunliffe will be seeking this year is to capitalise on the sense rolling through the country that the National-led administration is arrogant and indifferent to the beliefs and needs of ordinary New Zealanders. But what he and the rest of us need to keep front of mind is the plight of those who cannot even aspire to ordinariness.
The Child Poverty Monitor report, released three weeks ago by Children’s Commissioner Russell Wills, shows that a quarter of our children are living in poverty, some of it severe and persistent. Poverty-related illness, such as asthma and bronchitis, reached record highs.
With every passing year, it becomes harder to be proud of a country that was once a world-leading social democracy. The small Scandinavian countries we used to rub shoulders with at the top of the league tables have maintained their positions as we have plummeted.
It is not about resources, but about political will. It’s something that politicians and voters should devote thought to as another year dawns.’
Ark! That is so annoying. Looking at the feed and considering why the Feeds (now with the bulk feeders TDB and Scoop politics separated so the smaller blogs get front billing) are duplicating.
Obvious. There are 3 web servers running (two front and one backup) all looking at the same database and set of files. It has the same problem as sphinx search had – they’re ALL updating the feed database. When they happen to coincide, I get up to three copies of the same RSS record.
Should be fixable by checking for duplicates when updating the database like the duplicate comment fix. But a better idea will be to do that update from a single server.
Will anyone in greens or labour begin to respond to this economic “good” news with
for whom. How long will ordinary nzers continue to believe and vote for the myth begun in the 80s by douglas’ mythical good news. The richardsons mother of all bad news… and so on until today. There is no evidence that this type of good news is actually good for anyone but those trumpetting the good news. The banks. The stock market. The reps of big business and politicians.
theres a reason simon power went from justice minister to westpac millionaire and it has nothing to do with wealth trickling down.
Simon Power
Realised his chance to become leader PM was gone so what’s the point of hanging round doing long hours for a relative pittance when you can get millions instead of thousands.
More liars….
No. 38 Jeremy Hansen: “I read a great column by Paul Thomas in the Herald….”
No. 37 Alan Seay: “You know, we respect the rights of people to protest….”
No. 36 Paul Dykzeul: “No we won’t be changing the Listener; it’s got a terrific editor….”
No. 35 Mark Jennings: “I think Paul’s a bright guy and he will be able to bring a discipline to his performance….”
No. 34 Willie Jackson: “I thought we’d been sensitive with her yesterday….”
No. 33 Supt. Bill Searle: “I think what’s happened here is the police officers have done their very best….”
No. 32 Sonny-Bill Williams: “It’s good to get the win over Papua-New Guinea, a strong Papua-New Guinea side, aahhhh….”
No. 31 John Palino: “Suggestions that I am somehow orchestrating some grand right-wing conspiracy to unseat Len after the election are so wrong…”
No. 30 Alan Dershowitz: “I will give $10,000 to the PLO if you can find a historical fact in my book that you can prove to be false.”
No. 29 John Banks: “I have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. And never, ever would I ever knowingly sign a false electoral return. Never ever would I ever.”
No. 28 John Kerry: “…we are especially sensitive, Chuck and I, to never again asking any member of Congress to take a vote on faulty intelligence.”
No. 27 Lyse Doucet: “I am there for those without a voice.”
No. 26 Sam Wallace: “So here we are—Otahuhu. It’s just a great place to be, really.”
No. 25 Margaret Thatcher: “…no British government involvement of any kind…with Khmer Rouge…”
No. 24 John Key: “…at the end of the day I, like most New Zealanders, value the role of the fourth estate…”
No. 23 Jay Carney: “…expel Mr Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice…”
No. 22 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton had integrity beyond reproach.”
No. 21 Tim Groser: “I think the relationship is genuinely in outstanding form.”
No. 20 John Key: “But if the question is do we use the United States or one of our other partners to circumvent New Zealand law then the answer is categorically no.”
No. 19 Matthew Hooton: “It is ridiculous to say that unions deliver higher wages! They DON’T!”
No. 18 Ant Strachan: “The All Blacks won the RWC 2011 because of outstanding defence!”
No. 17 Stephen Franks: “Peter has been such a level-headed, safe pair of hands.”
No. 16 Phil Kafcaloudes: “Tony Abbott…hasn’t made any mistakes over the past eighteen months.”
No. 15 Donald Rumsfeld: “I did not lie… Colin Powell did not lie.”
No. 14 Colin Powell: “a post-9/11 nexus between Iraq and terrorist organizations…connections are now emerging…”
No. 13 Barack Obama: “Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.”
No. 12 U.K. Ministry of Defence: “Protecting the Afghan civilian population is one of ISAF and the UK’s top priorities.”
No. 11 Brendan O’Connor: “Australia’s approach to refugees is compassionate and generous.”
No. 10 Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to look after us and keep us safe.”
No. 9 NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!”
No. 8 Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question….”
No. 7 Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.”
No. 6 Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.”
No. 5 Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.”
No. 4 Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!”
No. 3 John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
No. 2 Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.”
No. 1 Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
No. 29 John Banks: “I have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. And never, ever would I ever knowingly sign a false electoral return. Never ever would I ever.”
and the best way to ensure this would be to never ever sign something without reading it first.
No. I am saying if he truly wanted to never ever make a false return he would fucking read everything before he signed otherwise he is displaying wilful ignorance which is not the same as honest mistake.
No. I am saying if he truly wanted to never ever make a false return he would fucking read everything before he signed otherwise he is displaying wilful ignorance which is not the same as honest mistake.
Fair comment.
is english gour [sic] second language Morrisey
I accept your point, Tracey.
TRACEY: Is english your second language Morrisey?
MORRISSEY: [conciliatorily] I accept your point, Tracey.
TRACEY: [earnestly It was a genuine question morrisey. Not sarcastic. Didn’t know how else to ask. McFLOCK:[sardonically] I suspect that this universe is his second reality.
……Long pause. Silence, then a mocking slow clap can be heard……
MORRISSEY: Oh dear. Looks like we’ve just unearthed another one of the Melody Rules scriptwriters.
The WAR on WELFARE will continue in 2014, but like she did for those parents or grand-parents looking after a child (other than a foster child), Paula Bennett will try to manipulate the media and the wider public, into believing that actually “more” is being done to “support” those in need. The truth is kept from the wider public, while a nasty agenda, all based on nothing but “cost saving” and “cutting back” of services, is followed.
What does a few hundred dollars a year achieve and change, I ask? Yes, every bit of help should be appreciated, I agree. But this is “help” that patches up gaps and cracks in the income situation of many, that have been caused in another places, where households face pressures.
“Sip It Sweetie”, that is her motto now. Thank you Paula, we know it was all about YOURSELF after all.
As for the “help” for sick and disabled on benefits, we will watch with great concern how the new outsourced work capability testing will be implemented from February 2014.
For all those, that actually care to learn a bit more about all this stuff, and what is behind the “welfare reforms”, that are now affecting thousands in a very bad way, have a study of information that can be found on this small website:
That site is still a bit new and under (experiemental) construction, but accessing and using the many resources and links offered there should assist many to see, assess and understand what is really going on under this hideous government, with nothing but contempt for those at the bottom of the heap! Putting pressures, fears and expectations on sick and disabled to compete for work, and dressing this up as “caring for” and “assisting” them, that is worse than being mean spirited. It is disgustingly dishonest and criminal.
For instance mental health funding has been capped or cut for many services here in Auckland. So where is the extra “help” and “treatment” coming from? It will be GPs prescribing generic and non generic psychiatric drugs, and others sent to self help “coping groups”, to live with pain and impairments. Most extra funding has gone straight to MSD and WINZ, for more case management, none else.
Best wishes for 2014, keep up the FIGHT for JUSTICE!
I thought that Bill English has been announcing the end of the following year return to higher interest rates (as a result of his governments disinterested neglect of the economy) ever since 2009? He has built it into every budget up until 2012 when he finally became aware after the election that making a foolish prophecy wasn’t the same as making it happen.
Or have you forgotten?
I suspect there will be a slight interest rate rise next year, which will immediately stall the retail economy again. It will then stagnate for another year or so. I think that the same thing will happen offshore.
Having a jobless ‘recovery’ is a completely fragile and essentially useless recovery. Thought people would have realised this over the last couple of hundred years.
I suspect there will be a slight interest rate rise next year, which will immediately stall the retail economy again.
Which is, of course, exactly what it’s supposed to do. Raising interest rates is done to cool down an over-heating economy but, for some strange reason, it only ever seems to initiate housing bubbles as the hot money from other countries floods in fueling the money creation process by local banks.
Having a jobless ‘recovery’ is a completely fragile and essentially useless recovery. Thought people would have realised this over the last couple of hundred years.
I think you’ll find that economists and RWNJs really like jobless recoveries because it indicates an increase in profit while wages are kept down thus preventing a wage/price inflation spiral.
Yeah, causes short-term profit taking. The problem is that they run out of steam, fall back to a lower level, then repeat as a lower amplitude.
Ask the Japanese. They have had them for nearly two decades now. I’m also pretty sure that Europe would be in that state as well if they hadn’t kept expanding the size of the EU.
Yeah. Been meaning to separate the larger feed suppliers from the smaller (and often more interesting) blogs. Took the opportunity to do some upgrades to the other tabbed dialog as well – and it allowed me to dispose of some old residual jquery.
edit: opps – meant to have been a reply to weka at 21.1..
17 April. Shots of the cabinet and the ex-cabinet at Lady Thatcher’s funeral in St Paul’s just emphasise how consistently cowardly most of them were, the only time they dared to stand up to her when eventually they kicked her out. What also galls is the notion that Tory MPs throw in almost as an afterthought, namely that her lack of a sense of humour was just a minor failing, of no more significance than being colourblind, say, or mildly short-sighted. In fact to have no sense of humour is to be a seriously flawed human being. It’s not a minor shortcoming; it shuts you off from humanity. Mrs Thatcher was a mirthless bully and should have been buried, as once upon a time monarchs used to be, in the depths of the night.
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Tonight, The Civilian will be live-blogging the first of too many debates between Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and National Party leader Judith Collins, and also the last fifteen minutes of the news. Be sure to tune in from 6:45pm for regular updates, which can be accessed by refreshing this page ...
An enormous drive-in party, shown here, was held this morning on Auckland’s Harbour Bridge, where police were forced to intervene. Hundreds of Aucklanders were arrested this morning on public health grounds, after an apparent illegal mass gathering on the city’s Harbour Bridge. Police say hundreds of Aucklanders gathered in their ...
Social Distancing Be Damned - It's Jacinda! Shortly after ascending to Labour’s leadership, Jacinda described herself as a “pragmatic idealist”. It was an inspired oxymoron – packing into just two words the essence of the social-democrat’s dilemma. It was good to know that she knew what lay ahead of her. ...
For the past decade, Australia has had a racist, anti-refugee policy. Those claiming refugee status are imprisoned without trial and left to rot in the hope they would "voluntarily" return to be tortured and murdered. When the courts have granted them visas, the government has immediately revoked them on racial ...
There are a fair few misconceptions about conditions within New Zealand’s Quarantine Hotels. Madeline Grant’s misplaced accusations being one prominent example, though she is not alone. Today, I thought I’d share the inside word, so to speak. A friend of mine has recently returned to New Zealand from overseas, and ...
Last week, major newspapers carried a full-page ad as part of the campaign for a "No" vote to the referendum question about supporting the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill. The ad was authorised by the SAM NZ Coalition, which takes its name from a controversial American anti-cannabis group and includes ...
New Zealand has a serious homelessness problem, due to skyrocketing rents and a lack of state houses. One of the ways we stick a band-aid on it is to put people up in motels. Previously, they were charged full commercial rates, saddled with odious debt due to the government's failure ...
by Ani O’Brien In the absence of a better word with which to refer to the rabid activists who claim progressivism while demanding adherence to an increasingly prescriptive set of political beliefs, I call them “woke”. With its roots in Black American slang, the term originally denoted a person or ...
Over the weekend, the Ministry of Health reported a case of Covid-19 in Auckland that is not related to the current Auckland cluster. Before we start to panic, here’s how I think the case happened and how we can strengthen our current border controls. The new Covid-19 case is someone ...
Becky CasaleElon Musk reckons his Neuralink brain implant is much more than a medical device–that one day it will drive a symbiosis between humans and artificial intelligence. “Good morning! I’m Dr Benedict Egg and I’ll be supervising your Neuralink insertion today. Do you have any questions?” “Yes, Doc. ...
Many New Zealanders take a strong interest in US politics, with the death of Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg being the latest example. Liam Hehir wonders if it very wise for New Zealanders to get so worked about it.Many politically engaged New Zealanders are now furiously ...
After stamping the Coronavirus out via strict lockdown between March and May, New Zealand went through a good three months without any community cases. Then a local outbreak in Auckland rather buggered things up last month. Auckland’s been in level 3 and level 2.5 for the past six weeks. ...
Who's causing our skyrocketing emissions? As with most of our other problems, It's the rich: The wealthiest 1% of the world’s population were responsible for the emission of more than twice as much carbon dioxide as the poorer half of the world from 1990 to 2015, according to new ...
The border closure and resulting lack of foreign slave-workers is driving the fishing industry out of business: One fishing company is effectively out of business while others are bracing for large financial hits as the deepwater New Zealand industry, unable to get skilled foreign workers into the country, have ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... The tipping points at the heart of the climate crisisMany parts of the Earth’s climate system have been destabilised by ...
In the absence of national public opinion polls, we have had to make do in recent weeks with other guides to voter intentions. Those guides, such as the Auckland Central poll, the incidence of google enquiries and the responses to Vote Compass questions, have suggested, not unexpectedly, that Labour is ...
Crusher Collins - National Party leaderWe all know that the National Party is desperate to gain some traction during this election campaign and have been throwing pretty much everything at the Labour Party in order to try and undermine Jacinda Ardern and what the Coalition Government has achieved. But unfortunately ...
Much of the commentariat’s reporting of the most recent GDP figure was misleading and unhelpful. The prize for the stupidest remark about the GDP figure for second quarter 2020 (2020Q2) released on Thursday (17 Sept) goes to Judith Collins, whose response to Grant Robertson’s comments indicated she did not ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh goloing@gmail.com (19/09/2020) Che Guevara said that a true revolutionary is motivated by love i.e. love of the oppressed, the poor, the children dying from preventable illnesses. This phrase of his is true but has been used by reformists and their more hippy wing have taken advantage ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Sep 13, 2020 through Sat, Sep 19, 2020Editor's ChoiceGet to Net-Zero by Mid-Century? Even Some Global Oil and Gas Giants Think it Can Be DoneA report by a ...
With the National Party this week announcing a new policy of tax cuts to spice up the election campagin. MyThinks went along to the launch and afterwards we spoke to the party’s finance spokesperson Paul “Golden Touch” Goldsmith. MT: Thanks for speaking to us Mr Goldsmith. PG: No. Thank you. ...
Always to islanders danger Is what comes over the seas ‘Landfall in Unknown Seas’ (Allen Curnow)Six economic issues external to New Zealand, which will greatly impact upon us. 1. The Diminishing Global Dominance of the US. Since 1941 America has dominated the world economically and politically. Probably it could ...
By Geoffrey Miller New Zealand should continue to champion human rights in Belarus amidst an ongoing crackdown on protests by the country’s regime, former Prime Minister Helen Clark says. Protests in the country often referred to as ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’ erupted after the country’s disputed presidential elections on August 9 ...
Jacqui Maguire, registered clinical psychologistThis podcast episode highlights how difficult it is to have effective conversations about euthanasia due to how polarised people’s views are. I’m a clinical psychologist, with a passion for science communication. In early 2020 I founded the podcast Mind Brew, with an aim to make psychological ...
In case anyone needed further convincing, there's another example today of why we need cameras on fishing boats: reported seabird bycatch doubled during a camera trial: Commercial fishers operating off Auckland's coast around vulnerable seabirds are twice as likely to report accidentally capturing them when cameras are on ...
In the leadup to the euthanasia referendum, an array of conservative Christian political organisations is running an expensive campaign to sow doubt about the safety of assisted dying. Graham Adams argues that these religious forces know that Christian arguments aren’t convincing the public, but that it is in the public ...
Dangerous Times: This will be the choice confronting those coming of age in the 2020s. Embrace Neoliberalism’s belief in racial and sexual equality; adopt its secular and scientific world view; and cultivate the technocratic, multicultural, global outlook required of those who keep the machinery of hyper-capitalism humming. Or, throw your ...
It would be a great time to reform the benefit system, according to former Deputy Chief Economic Advisor at the Treasury, Tony Burton. He argues the complexity of benefit system means that it’s failing to achieve its difficult three core objectives, which form an “iron triangle”.New Zealand’s benefit ...
Tax Justice UK, September 2020 Serious tax reform is on the political agenda for the first time in decades due to the coronavirus crisis. As this debate hots up it is important to understand what people think about public spending, wealth and tax. Tax Justice UK, along with Survation and ...
Not Mucking Around: With upwards of 800 dead from the virus’s resurgence in the Australian state of Victoria, leniency is not on Premier Daniel Andrews’ agenda. The Victorian Police are cracking down hard on the protesters the Australian press has labelled "Covidiots".IMAGES OF POLICE, some in riot gear, others on ...
Although I had the fortune of being a graduate student of some of the foremost US nuclear strategists of the day (1970s) and later rubbed shoulders with Air Force and Naval officers who were entrusted with parts of the US nuclear arsenal, I seldom get to write or speak about ...
News that Zhenhua Data, an arm of China Zhenhua Electronics Group, a subsidiary of the military-connected China Electronic Information Industry Group (CETC), maintains a list of 800 New Zealanders on a “Overseas Key Information Database” that contains personal information on more than 2.4 million foreign individuals, has caused some consternation ...
Marie BecdelievreJanuary 2020. The number of news article mentioning coronavirus exploded and anxious voices whispered about a global pandemic.Whisper? To me, it was only a whisper. I tend to learn about the world through non-fiction books, conferences, and academic research rather than news and social media, so ...
Barbados is planning to remove the queen as head of state and become a republic in time for the 55th anniversary of its independence in 2021: Barbados has announced its intention to remove the Queen as its head of state and become a republic by November 2021. [...] Reading ...
At the 2017 election, the New Zealand Labour Party promised a Fees Free Policy for tertiary students. Basically, it would make the first year of university education free in 2018, with a second year in 2021, and a third in 2024. It also promised to restore Post-Graduate access to the ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhat is the impact of temperature increases in the tropics? ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons It felt like 100 degrees in my in-laws’ Grass Valley, California, kitchen, but at least the lights were on and for the moment we were safely “distanced” from the Jones Fire. We’d just finished dessert, after pizza and a movie ...
Nigel French, Massey UniversityGenome sequencing — the mapping of the genetic sequences of an organism — has helped track the spread of COVID-19 cases in Auckland, but it also plays an important role in the control of other infectious diseases in New Zealand. One example is Mycoplasma bovis, a ...
A key part of our electoral funding regime is a requirement for some transparency around donations, on the basis that if we can find out who has bought our politicians (typically after we have voted for them) then everything is alright. There are a lot of problems with that regime ...
On “In Defense of Looting” Matt Taibibi takes an entertaining look at this generation of woke activists and how they compare with Abbie Hoffman the iconic anti-Vietnam war counter-culture figure of the 1960s On Thursday, August 27th, the same day Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican nomination, National Public Radio ...
When Parliament introduced the Emissions Trading Scheme, it was worried that carbon prices might get too high. So it introduced a "fixed price option", allowing polluters to pay the government $25 in the place of surrendering credits. The result was predictable: after we were thrown out of international carbon markets ...
The government will finally be requiring large New Zealand companies to disclose their climate change risks: New Zealand finance companies will be made to report on climate change risk, Climate Change Minister James Shaw has announced. The policy will force around 200 large financial organisations in New Zealand to ...
By Claire Grant, Genomics Aotearoa Communications ManagerCommunity consultation is becoming an increasingly important aspect of research programmes in New Zealand, and with that comes the art of relationship building. Engagement between scientists and user-groups is certainly nothing new. But as stakeholder involvement becomes more of a requirement for science, ...
Rebels In A Wrong Cause: The truly frightening thing about Jami-Lee Ross’s and Billy Te Kahika’s success in persuading thousands of New Zealanders that Covid-19 is just another trick, just another way of stealing away their power, is realising just how many of them once marched at the Left’s side. ...
In a couple of months, the 53rd Parliament will meet in Wellington, and approximately 120 MPs will be sworn in, many of them for the first time.They will all have political goals, some aligning with their party platforms, some not, some complex, and some simple, but they will gain one ...
Media Statement For Immediate Release 10th September 2020 The income and wealth inequality lobby group, “Closing the Gap” thinks the Labour proposal a great start says Peter Malcolm, a spokesperson for the group. But they need to be aware of what many of the rich do and of what do ...
ACT is pushing a "no-nonsense climate change plan". What does it involve? Repealing the Zero Carbon Act and Emissions Trading Scheme, reversing the fossil-fuel exploration ban, and allowing mining on conservation land. In other words, repealing any policy which might actually reduce emissions. Which is the very definition of nonsensical. ...
This blog post is a follow up to my recap of Al Gore's Climate Reality Leadership Training I recently participated in. One of the exercises we were asked to complete was to write about our respective "Climate Story". This is a slightly updated version to the one I had submitted during ...
New Zealand’s media and online politics often reflect the values of liberal and progressive agendas. According to Liam Hehir, the current proposals to lower the voting age to 16 years – which the media overwhelming supports – is indicative of a wider mismatch with society, which is not good for ...
My wife and I, through a combination of good luck and good management, have managed to retire in comfortable circumstances. We celebrate our good fortune by making relatively small but regular donations to a range of good causes – to rescue services like the rescue helicopters, St John’s Ambulance and ...
Jacques Raubenheimer, University of SydneyIf we don’t analyse statistics for a living, it’s easy to be taken in by misinformation about COVID-19 statistics on social media, especially if we don’t have the right context. For instance, we may cherry pick statistics supporting our viewpoint and ignore statistics showing we ...
Over the weekend, Labour released its welfare policy: an increase in benefit abatement thresholds. And that's it. Faced with clear evidence of ongoing hardship among beneficiaries and a call from its on Welfare Expert Advisory Group to raise core benefits by between 12 percent and 47 percent, Labour's response is ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (Bogota; 09/11/2020) The murder of Javier Ordoñez in the neighbourhood of Villa Luz in Bogotá, Colombia at the hands of two policemen brings to the fore the issue of police violence and its function in society. First of all we should be clear that we are ...
Story of the Week... La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Humans exploiting and destroying nature on unprecedented scale – reportAnimal populations have plunged an average of 68% ...
Gabrielle Po-Ching In November 1918, the cargo and passenger ship Talune travelled to Apia, Samoa from Auckland, carrying a number of passengers who had pneumonic influenza. From these passengers stemmed the biggest pandemic Samoa had ever seen. With around 8,500 deaths, over 20% of the country’s population at the ...
Prof Nick Wilson*, Prof Michael Baker In this blog the arguments for and against shifting all COVID-19 related isolation/quarantine facilities to a single air force base at Ōhakea are considered. The main advantage would be a reduction in the risk of border control failures, which can potentially involve outbreaks ...
So the Greens co-leader James Shaw recently made a mistake. In his role as Associate Finance Minister approving funding for “shovel-ready” projects, he fought hard for a private “Green school” to get funding to expand their buildings and, therefore, their student capacity. There are many problems with what he did: ...
Over the last three years there have been growing calls for the government to provide dental services under the health system – universal free dental care. This is because at the moment there’s an anomaly in which teeth are regarded as different from the rest of the body which means ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Sep 6, 2020 through Sat, Sep 12, 2020Editor's ChoiceWith California ablaze, Newsom blasts Trump administration for failing to fight climate change Trinity River Conservation Camp crew members drown ...
Dear Sir, As we head into the run up to the upcoming election I feel it is my duty to draw your attention to the lack of fun we are currently forced to ensure by the Adern regime. In their efforts to keep the nation’s essential workers, health compromised people, ...
It finally happened: about 13 years after first watching Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” (AIT) in 2007 when it became available in Germany, I recently completed the Climate Reality Leadership Corps Training! Participating in this particular training had been on my to-do list for quite some time but it ...
Windows 95 is famous for requiring the shutting down the system by clicking ‘start, like stopping your car by turning the ignition key on. Why are so many interfaces so user-unfriendly? The Covid app to register your entering premises can be so clumsy. Sometimes I have signed in, sat down ...
Is the 2020 election result really the foregone conclusion that the polls and commentators are suggesting? Josh Van Veen suggests otherwise, pointing to some of the shortcomings of opinion polling, which could ready some politicians to say “bugger the pollsters” on election night. In November 1993, opinion polls foretold ...
Back in 2019, six select committees of the UK Parliament established a Citizen's Assembly to investigate how to respond to climate change. The Assembly's deliberations were forced online by the pandemic, but it has finally reported back, and overwhelmingly supports strong action: Taxes that increase as people fly further ...
I am feeling a bit impish today and so for no particular reason I thought I would share this thought, which I first posted over on twitter: “Hurricanes, wildfires, floods, heatwaves, street protests, armed vigilante militias, a lethal pandemic and a corrupt authoritarian using the federal government for partisan and ...
Wayne Mapp (Photo: Tsmith.nz via Wikimedia) A former Minister of Defence says the government was too slow to involve the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) in New Zealand’s response to Covid-19. But Wayne Mapp, a National MP from 1996-2011 who served as Minister of Defence for three ...
Transport is our second biggest polluter after agriculture, making up 17% of our national emissions. Cars and trucks emit 15 million tons of CO2 every year. So, if we're serious about tackling climate change, we need to eliminate this entirely. Public transport and better urban design will be a key ...
Five things we’ve learnt 1. We know where the virus ultimately came from We know that the virus originally came from bats, and most probably a species of horseshoe bat in South East Asia. However, the spike protein in SARS-CoV-2, which allows the virus to attach to cells and infect ...
The Greens' greatest disappointment while in government this term has been the failure to implement a ban on mining on conservation land. Promised by Jacinda Ardern immediately after gaining power, it had long been assumed that the problem was NZ First (who have a long history of environmental vandalism). But ...
Tonight was the first Leaders’ Debate, broadcast live on TVNZ 1. It was the first time New Zealanders have seen Jacinda Ardern side-by-side Opposition Leader Judith Collins this campaign. ...
Last updated 30 July 2020. The whole world is battling with COVID-19, and no country is immune. In New Zealand, our focus is getting the latest resurgence under control and making sure we put in place immediate financial supports to cushion the economic blow.As before, the best economic response is ...
Led by Jacinda Ardern, our strong, stable government has delivered results and put people first every step of the way. In health, housing, education and more, we've got a strong track record of delivering for New Zealanders. Now, we’re continuing to put people first with our decisive response to COVID-19. ...
Labour has a strong track record of making progress on the big issues facing our country. Now, as we recover and rebuild from COVID-19, we’re rolling out our plan to grow our economy, support businesses and communities, and keep New Zealand moving. If you’re still undecided ahead of this year’s ...
The Green Party is calling for Waka Kotahi the NZ Transport Agency to convert a lane over the Auckland Harbour Bridge to bus-only and make buses free to use across the bridge until all lanes are back in operation. ...
The Green Party has released its Thriving Oceans Plan, which would dramatically increase marine protected areas and ban bottom trawling on seamounts. ...
It was another busy week out on the campaign trail, with Labour focused on jobs, training, and supporting Kiwi workers. As we continue to roll out our five-point plan for recovery, we’re investing in our people, businesses, communities and vital services, so we can keep our economy moving as we ...
Our regions are a vital part of our economic recovery plan. They’re home to innovative and creative businesses, and the backbone of our export economy - which is why Labour will continue to support our regions to grow as together, we rebuild better. ...
National’s ‘alternative budget’ that includes huge cuts to the government’s operating allowance would risk gutting critical public services, and put health, education and nature at dire risk. ...
Data released this week shows that, while New Zealand is not immune to the economic impacts of the global pandemic, our strong health response has meant we’ve been able to get our economy going faster than many other countries. ...
This year’s election is on 17 October - and it’s coming up fast! With one month to go until Election Day, we’ve come up with 17 ways you, your friends and family can get involved in our campaign and help Labour keep New Zealand moving. ...
PREFU has given a good insight into what was required to ensure New Zealanders were largely supported to continue work and remain healthy during COVID-19, but it is clear we need additional revenue raising measures ongoing, Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said today. ...
The Green Party is disappointed with the Labour Party’s decision to reverse their three free years education policy and back down on their commitment to postgraduate student allowances. ...
In the first two years of our term in Government, we gave teachers record pay rises as a way of recognising the lack of adequate adjustments over the previous decade and the significant role they play in the lives of children and young people. We also increased the number of ...
Labour has a proud history of supporting working New Zealanders, whether through the implementation of the 40hr work week or the introduction of the Working for Families package. ...
The Green Party welcome Labour’s commitment to extend the living wage to Government contractors, but will push for Fair Pay Agreements across industries in the next Government so more New Zealanders can earn a dignified income. ...
The Green Party is urging the Government to act on its commitment to te reo Māori, by making it a core subject up to year 10, and including te reo courses in the Targeted Training and Apprenticeships scheme. ...
We're officially back to the campaign for the 2020 General Election. The campaign may look a little different this year, but our candidates are still getting out and about in their communities and spreading the word about how another term of Labour will keep New Zealand moving in the right ...
You might have heard a bit of discussion about Government debt lately, as experts weigh in on the COVID-19 economic recovery. If you’re wondering why it’s such a contested topic, or even if you’re unsure of what Government debt actually is, then read on - we’ve got you covered! ...
The Green Party has released its Farming for the Future Plan, including a $297m fund to support farmers and growers to transition to climate-friendly practices. ...
We believe every New Zealander deserves the chance to make an informed decision on Election Day. We’ve answered some of the most common questions on our 2020 tax policy, including how much money will be raised from our new top tax rate, and how this will be used to control ...
The Green Party says Labour’s energy policy is a step in the right direction, but the Greens would go further and faster to meaningfully tackle the climate crisis. ...
All this tax talk leaving you a bit dazed and confused? Read below to find out more about our progressive tax system and what Labour's policy means for you. ...
We’re committed to managing the Government’s books responsibly and keeping debt under control while supporting our people and our economy through the 1-in-100 year shock caused by COVID-19. ...
The Labour Party has moved towards more progressive income tax, but is not addressing the growing wealth gap and inequality in Aotearoa. Labour’s new revenue policy also doesn’t help pay for the necessary response to the COVID-19 crisis, Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said today. ...
As New Zealanders we are proud of who we are, what we stand for, and the way we weave together different worlds and cultures to create our unique national identity. ...
It is appalling and negligent that landlords are being encouraged to keep their properties cold and damp until after the election, as advised by the NZ Property Investors Federation, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
The expanded scheme will cover: People who have COVID-19 like symptoms and meet the Ministry of Health’s criteria, and need to self-isolate while awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test. People who are directed to self-isolate by a Medical Officer of Health or their delegate or on advice of their ...
The Government is putting in place a range of immigration policy changes to help fill labour shortages in key industries while ensuring New Zealanders, who have lost jobs due to COVID-19, have the chance to find new employment. “Two key sectors we are moving to help are horticulture and wine ...
The Government has established class exceptions for border entry for a limited number of veterinarians, deep sea fishing crew, as well as agricultural and horticultural machinery operators. “Tight border restrictions remain the backbone of the Government’s border strategy to protect New Zealand against COVID-19 and ensure New Zealand citizens and ...
The Crown will not appeal the Court of Appeal decision in the Dodds v Southern Response case, Grant Robertson announced today. “Southern Response will be paying the damages awarded by the Court to Mr and Mrs Dodds shortly. The Crown was already meeting their legal costs for this appeal. “The ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing nearly $30 million in a diverse range of projects that will create immediate and long-term jobs and lift economic and social outcomes for Northland and its people. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones made the announcement today in ...
The Coalition Government has committed to invest $27 million in COVID-19 vaccine development through the global COVAX Facility, Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced today. “The COVAX Facility is a key part of our COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy to obtain safe and effective vaccines. It allows us to invest in a high-quality, ...
The Government will provide up to $1.69 million through the One Billion Trees programme to Māori landowners to make their whenua more productive through the planting of forests, both native and exotic, and improve economic and environmental outcomes, Forestry Minister Shane Jones has announced. “Around 1.5 million ha of land ...
People planning to head outdoors now have a resource that lets them know how accessible an area is for people with varying levels of mobility, Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced today. The Halberg Foundation, Sensibel, and the Department of Conservation (DOC) have launched Accessibel, a new tool which helps ...
One of the most significant battle sites of the 1860s Land Wars will receive $2.96 million from the Provincial Growth Fund to improve the site and help tell the New Zealand story to visitors, Māori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. Nanaia Mahuta ...
The journey towards recognising Māori as an official language and taonga has been captured as a web series and launched today during Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, announced Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni. “Te reo Māori is a living language, and understanding its significance, and pathways to ...
Today’s better-than-forecast GDP figures show the expected impact of the decision to act quickly to protect New Zealanders from the global COVID-19 pandemic. GDP fell 12.2% in the June quarter from March, reflecting decisions to close New Zealand’s borders and enter Alert Level 4. “This result was better than the ...
The Government is investing $39.7 Million over four years to support the educational needs of Pacific learners and families in the regions hardest hit by COVID-19, with Auckland getting an immediate boost, Associate Minister of Education Jenny Salesa says. “Like all New Zealanders Pacific families want learners to do well ...
New Zealand’s goal of 100,000 kiwi by 2030 is being helped by an extra $19.7 million in funding to accelerate iwi and community efforts to protect kiwi, Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced. “$19.7 million of Jobs for Nature funding is being invested in kiwi conservation activities including increased predator ...
Ensuring New Zealanders can get the best deal on their electricity takes a step in the right direction today with the South Island launch of the EnergyMate pilot run by the Electricity Retailers’ Association, says Minister of Energy and Resources, Dr Megan Woods. EnergyMate is an industry-led programme providing coaching ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter announced today that the Government has reached its target of 50 percent on women on state sector board and committees – setting a new record level of women on state sector boards. “This Government is committed to having more women in leadership roles - ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford released today the final Government Policy Statement on land transport (GPS) 2021 which outlines the planned $48 billion investment in services and infrastructure over the next decade. “The final GPS supports our Government’s five-point plan for economic recovery by confirming our record investments in transport infrastructure ...
Three ambitious and cutting-edge research programmes that will lift New Zealand’s advanced energy technology research capability over seven years, have been supported by Government today, says Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods. The projects will each receive a share of $40.7 million investment from the Strategic Science Investment Fund. ...
The critical area for forensic examination known as Pit Bottom in Stone has been reached in what is a major milestone for the Pike River re-entry project, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little announced. “The infrastructure located in Pit Bottom in Stone is of very significant interest in ...
The Government is working on how New Zealand’s retirement income policies and settings can best support Kiwis in light of the COVID-19 economic recovery, with the help of the Retirement Commissioner’s latest review, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said. “The Retirement Commissioner’s three-yearly review into New Zealand’s retirement ...
A new digital hub and development centre in Murupara will be instrumental in growing the region’s productivity, said Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau at the official opening of two community initiatives today. “I’m pleased to be here celebrating a significant milestone for two projects set to make a ...
PREFU shows economy doing better than forecast Unemployment to peak at 7.8%, down from 9.8% forecast in the Budget Year-to-June accounts show tax revenue, debt and OBEGAL better than forecast Global forecast downgraded as COVID-19 second waves and uncertainty grows Balanced plan to support critical public services, manage debt and ...
The Kāpiti Coast town of Ōtaki will receive $1.4 million in Government funding for two projects providing scores of jobs for locals while improving community facilities, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Māoriland Charitable Trust will receive a $900,000 Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) grant to upgrade the ...
The Provincial Growth Fund will provide $11.88 million to fund fencing and waterway projects nationwide that will improve the environment and create jobs in their communities, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. “These projects will create more than 100 jobs nationwide with work starting within the next couple ...
As part of the COVID-19 recovery, the Government has strengthened its procurement rules to ensure its annual $42 billion spend creates more jobs, uses more sustainable construction practices and results in better outcomes for Māori and Pasifika, Government Ministers announced today. Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford says the $42 ...
The Government is supporting a major upgrade of Timaru’s iconic Theatre Royal and the construction of a new connected Heritage Facility museum and exhibition space with $11.6 million from the Government’s Infrastructure Fund, Jacinda Ardern announced today. “We heard the call from the community and the council. The Theatre Royal ...
Chrissy Montague (formerly Armstrong), barrister of Auckland has been appointed as a District Court Judge with Family Court jurisdiction to be based in Wellington, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Ms Montague commenced practice in Auckland in 1987 and went into general practice dealing with Wills, Estates, Trusts, Conveyancing, Relationship Property ...
A Proposal to provide for the development and operation of commercial film and video production facilities in areas of Christchurch has been given the go ahead. Hon Poto Williams, Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, has approved the Proposal, which was prepared and submitted by Regenerate Christchurch. Minister Williams ...
As part of the Government’s focus on building closer partnerships with Māori and enhancing the quality of, and access to, Māori medium education, a payment of $8 million will be made to Te Wānanga o Raukawa in partial recognition of its Waitangi Tribunal claim (WAI 2698), Associate Education Minister Kelvin ...
The Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage has announced a $19 million investment over four years in an important forest restoration project involving a partnership between the Department of Conservation, iwi/hapū, the Bay of Plenty and Waikato Regional Councils, community conservation groups and organisations such as Forest and Bird across the ...
New Zealand will be the first country in the world to require the financial sector to report on climate risks, the Minister for Climate Change James Shaw announced today. The changes build on the huge progress this Government has made to tackle the climate crisis. “Today is another step on ...
Economic activity across the Auckland region and the country bounced back to levels experienced under Alert Level 1 following Auckland’s move out of Alert Level 3, analysis in the Treasury’s latest Weekly Economic Update shows. The analysis of economic data since Auckland’s move out of Level 3 shows: Auckland card ...
Takiri mai te ata, ka ao, ka ao, ka awatea, tihei mauriora! Tātou katoa ngā iwi o Aotearoa, tēnā koutou! Tēnā tātou e whakanuia ana i te wiki nei, te wiki o te reo Māori Greeting to you all from Otepoti, Dunedin. This week is the Māori Language week and ...
More mental health and addiction services are available for young New Zealanders in Rotorua and Taupō, Wairarapa, South Canterbury, Dunedin and Southland from next month, Health Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter say. “The Government is serious about making sure New Zealanders struggling with mental health ...
The Manuherekia catchment in Central Otago is the third exemplar catchment to be targeted as part of the Government’s plan to clean up waterways by supporting community-led programmes. Environment Minister David Parker said the Manuherekia catchment is vitally important to the people of Central Otago. “The Manuherekia rises in the ...
The Government has agreed on a preferred design for the new Dunedin Hospital featuring two separate buildings, and has provided funding for the next stages of work. Minister of Health Chris Hipkins says Cabinet has approved in principle the detailed business case for the new hospital, giving people in ...
New Zealanders across the country are set to mark history as part of the Māori Language Week commemorations led by Te Taura Whiri i te reo Māori this year. Māori Development Minister, Nanaia Mahuta says the initiative will mark history for all the right reasons including making te reo Māori ...
More than 1000 teachers, support staff and school leaders have graduated from a programme designed to grow their capability to use te reo Māori in their teaching practice, as part of the Government’s plan to integrate te reo Māori into education, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Being trialled ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio, says the Toloa Tertiary Scholarships which aims to encourage more Pacific student numbers participating and pursuing STEM-related studies in 2021, are now open. “These tertiary scholarships are administrated by the Ministry for Pacific Peoples (MPP), and are part of MPP’s overall Toloa ...
Four Bay of Plenty timber businesses will receive investments totalling nearly $22 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to boost the local economy and create jobs, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Rotorua-based sawmill Red Stag Wood Solutions will receive a $15 million loan to develop an engineered ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced that New Zealand is exploring the viability of working with partners to conduct a search for the black box on the Gulf Livestock 1. “We know how much it would mean to the families of those on the ship to understand more about ...
By RNZ News The campaign for New Caledonia’s referendum on independence from France is already officially three days old with the critical vote in less than two weeks. Six political formations are registered to campaign for the plebiscite on October 4 when 180,640 voters will be asked whether they want ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor, Monash University Over the past 16 months journalists have been scouring through more than 2,000 Suspicious Activity Reports originally sent by banks to the United States Treasury, before being leaked to Buzzfeed and then passed along to the International ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Malcolm Turnbull has launched a swingeing attack on Scott Morrison’s gas-led recovery, labelling his threat to build a gas-fired power station “crazy stuff”, and his idea of gas producing a cheap energy boom “a fantasy”. ...
By The Conversation Prime Minister and Labour leader Jacinda Ardern and National Party leader Judith Collins met tonight for the first televised debate of the 2020 election campaign. With the results of the latest 1 News-Colmar Brunton poll released only an hour earlier, there was much at stake. While down ...
The National and Labour leaders have clashed in the first televised debate tonight. While Ardern shied away from a "bloodsport" mentality, Collins would have been happy to go for another hour. ...
The first leaders' debate lacked stand-out moments, but covered a wide range of topics plaguing the country as New Zealand feels the pain of the Covid recession. Laura Walters reports. Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins have gone head-to-head on inequality, infrastructure, jobs, environment and the Covid-19 border response in the first ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grant Duncan, Associate Professor for the School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University Prime Minister and Labour leader Jacinda Ardern and National Party leader Judith Collins have met for the first televised debate of the 2020 election campaign. With the results ...
Analysis - Riding high on the back of a stellar public poll, ACT leader David Seymour was the standout performer at the finance debate in Queenstown tonight. ...
Who came out on top in tonight’s leaders’ debate? Here are our debate watchers’ verdicts. A bit knackeredGiven that most of the country, most of the Covid-battered world, is basically just knackered, is it any surprise that tonight’s opening debate felt a bit knackered, tooWhether it was in an attempt to ...
Labour leader Jacinda Ardern and National leader Judith Collins are facing off in their first televised election debate at 7pm, with a new poll out at 6pm. Follow live updates here. ...
The first leader debate begins at 7pm on TVNZ 1. Ready your pencils.Judith Collins, Jacinda Ardern and John Campbell all want you to have a good time during tonight’s first leader debate for election 2020. And so do we.That’s why we (well, Toby Morris mostly) have conjured up a bingo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Harry Al-Wassiti, Bioengineer and Research Fellow, Monash University On Sunday, the Australian government announced it would put A$6 million towards the research and development of three local COVID-19 vaccine candidates, via the Medical Research Future Fund. The three candidates to share this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Larkins, Professor Emeritus and Former Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Melbourne Australian university research funding is made up of discretionary income that comes from various sources, including international student fees. This is additional to the funding, including government grants, specifically received ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Larkins, Professor Emeritus and Former Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Melbourne Australian university research funding is made up of discretionary income that comes from various sources, including international student fees. This is additional to the funding, including government grants, specifically received ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Haskell-Dowland, Associate Dean (Computing and Security), Edith Cowan University Plot twists in the TikTok saga continue to emerge daily, with a proposed deal to secure the future of the video sharing platform in the United States now in doubt. Under the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Raymond, Lecturer, Australian National University Thousands of Thai students turned out over the weekend to protest in Bangkok — the latest gathering in a long-simmering movement against the power structures that hold sway in Thailand. The three core demands of students ...
Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods has spoken about the government's decision not to appeal a landmark court case against Southern Response. ...
Dunedin general election candidates will take part in a My Votes Count forum event on 29 September organised by the Dunedin and Districts Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA) alongside Disability Information Service, People First, Blind Citizens New ...
Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods has spoken about the government's decision not to appeal a landmark court case against Southern Response. ...
Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods is speaking to media after the government revealed it has decided not to appeal a landmark court case. ...
What happened to the bridge, when will it be fixed, are we ever getting another harbour crossing – and how long will it take to get home tonight?Few of us remember a time before the bridge. Its eight glorious lanes run from St Mary’s Bay across the Waitematā harbour to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Axel Bruns, Professor, Creative Industries, Queensland University of Technology Google’s role in delivering audiences to news outlets has been under scrutiny of late. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s initiative to redirect advertising revenue from Google and Facebook to news publishers has ...
Discriminatory laws that place unreasonable hurdles to increased Māori participation in local government need to be urgently reformed, says Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese. In a Nelson City Council meeting held on Tuesday, 22 September, Council resolved ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vivienne Skinner, Industry/Professional Fellow, School of the Built Environment, University of Technology Sydney Australia’s six-month moratorium on evictions is due to end soon. Somestates have extended the moratorium, but when it ends that’s likely to force even more Australians into housing ...
On Thursday night the arts, culture and heritage spokespeople from Labour, National and the Greens will have a conversation on arts policy, facilitated by Miriama Kamo. We’ve got all their policies here, so you know who stands for what.Earlier this year, Ben Thomas wrote for The Spinoff about why politicians ...
Responding to reports that Cr Catherine Chu failed to attend over half of Christchurch City Council briefings since October , the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union says the revelation is proof elected local councillors must refuse their salaries while they ...
From next week, the scheme will cover people who have symptoms of the coronavirus and need to self-isolate while waiting for the results of a test. ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk The Tabernacle Bible Church of Indonesia’s congregation from the Intan Jaya regency in Papua has fled into the forests in fear after the killing of a pastor at the weekend, allegedly by the military, reports CNN Indonesia. The church (GKII) says it believes Rev Yeremia Zanambani ...
When we first checked the Beehive website for press statements this morning, we found just one announcement – from the Deputy PM – had been posted since September 19. His news was that the Coalition Government has committed to invest $27 million in Covid-19 vaccine development through the global COVAX ...
The government’s decision today to slightly loosen border entry restrictions to allow in certain specialised staff crucial to the agriculture and fishing industries is excellent news, Federated Farmers says. "Feds has been strongly advocating ...
We recently built our own members platform so that readers can donate to and support our journalism in a more direct way. If you’re a Spinoff Member, here’s how it affects you. At the end of last year, our team was fortunate to receive a grant that allowed us to ...
Keep New Zealand Beautiful are excited to announce that three New Zealand students have won awards at the 2020 Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) International competition. These three students were all winners from the national New Zealand ...
The government has announced more border exemptions and visa changes to help get specialised workers in the country and fill labour shortages in key sectors. ...
The National Party leader tells Duncan Greive what conviction means to her, and why she thinks she gets a different treatment to Jacinda Ardern.The first time I saw Judith Collins at close quarters, she was moving through what was inelegantly billed as the “National stakeholder party” held at parliament last ...
Being in the midst of a global pandemic does funny things to you, finds Michelle Langstone as she gives in to an overwhelming urge to return to the Auckland amusement park of her youth. I don’t know if it’s nostalgia working, but my husband and I had an overwhelming urge ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Blair Williams, Associate Lecturer, School of Political Science and International Relations, Australian National University The grand final of Plate of Origin will air on on Channel Seven tonight. Like other blockbuster cooking shows (think MasterChef, My Kitchen Rules), Plate of Origin is ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has released a list of questions that should be asked at tonight’s TVNZ leaders' debate – and at tonight’s separate finance debate in Queenstown. Questions for Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins: Is tax theft ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington The conservative tax policies proposed by Labour and National ahead of next month’s election are hard to distinguish in substance, with each party offering no more than a ...
Judith Collins says she'll be pointing out a "lack of follow-through" by the Labour leader while for Jacinda Ardern it is less about "sparring" than "directly communicating". ...
National wants to boost the capacity of managed isolation facilities by allowing private accommodation providers to join the government-controlled network and charge what they like. ...
National wants to boost the capacity of managed isolation facilities by allowing private accommodation providers to join the government-controlled network and charge what they like. ...
Covid-19 will not be going away any time soon and the National Party says we should team up with the private sector to let more workers and tourists in safely National have announced that, if elected, they will ramp up the private provision of quarantine to allow workers and long-term tourists ...
A joint statement by the national leaders of most New Zealand church denominations We urge the people of Aotearoa New Zealand to vote very cautiously in the two Referendums, because both decisions carry the risk of inflicting serious long-term damage on our ...
A celebration of 35 years working with whānau in the Heretaunga community was celebrated with a short history lesson, waiata and the cutting of the cake this morning. Iwi chair Ngahiwi Tomoana provided the history of the kaupapa Māori organisation which ...
Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell says 2019/20 was a good year for the co-op, with profit up, debt down and a strong milk price. The result, a profit of $659m, may have brought a cheer from the co-op’s farmer-suppliers and Hurrell deserves a cheer, too, for succeeding in turning around the ...
Three weeks ago, the NZ Parliament enacted new Water Laws. The WHO says 1.1 levels Nitrogen for rivers is OK. We are already at 0.6. The new Law (The Greens) wants 0.1 Nitrogen, this is impossible and absolutely ridiculous! ...
Too much news? Welcome to the only round-up you need.The election was supposed to be over by now. We were all supposed to be free but instead we’re back talking about fiscal holes and house prices. Bit of housekeeping: there’ll be no more yes, no, huh? in this column as ...
In a time of growing ideological conformity within the New Zealand media, a backlash from the public has seen media outlets seeking to proclaim themselves as the arbiters of truth. The New Zealand media industry, once renowned for impartial journalism, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Wynn, Lead Economist, CSIRO Futures, CSIRO Over the next few years, science and technology will have a vital role in supporting Australia’s economy as it strives to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. At Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, we’ve identified opportunities ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yun Jiang, Senior Research Officer, Australian National University Last month, the University of New South Wales came under harsh criticism after its media team deleted an article and tweet in which Elaine Pearson, the Australia director of Human Rights Watch, expressed concern ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Theodore E. (Ted) Zorn, Professor of Organisational Communication and Head of Massey Executive Development, Massey University When New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was named the “world’s most eloquent leader” last month it raised the question of just how important eloquence is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle Coffee is regularly in the news for its potential health benefits and drawbacks. A review of the research found drinking a few cups of coffee a day was associated with a lower ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bryan Fry, Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland Funnel webs are considered one of Australia’s most fearsome spiders, but their ability to kill humans is by accident rather than design, our new research shows. In findings published today, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Muir, Associate Professor in Mathematics Education, University of Tasmania Parents and carers were responsible for overseeing their children’s learning during the first wave of COVID restrictions in Australia. Many parents in Melbourne and some in regional Victoria will still be doing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marilyn Lake, Professorial Fellow in History, University of Melbourne Review: Vida: A Woman for Our Time, published by Penguin (Viking imprint) Australian women were not the first to win the right to vote in national elections. That world-historic distinction belongs to New ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 22, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Country outside Auckland now at level one, previewing the first major leader debate, and another error found in National’s costings.The alert levels will shift down around the country this week, with most of the country moving back into level one. Our live ...
Our Seas Our Future (OSOF) is encouraged by the Green Party’s marine policy to protect and restore our seas and oceans, as outlined in its Thriving Oceans Plan. OSOF representative, Noel Jhinku, says that the policy recognises the need to address ...
In an extraordinary exchange during a recent press conference our Finance Minister, when asked why the Reserve Bank does not write off the Covid19 debt, said “it isn’t the way we manage monetary and fiscal policy”. He did not say that it is not technically ...
“ACT has a plan to lift the restrictions holding back the tourism sector and give operators the tax relief they need after being hammered by Covid,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “I’ve travelled from Northland to Southland talking to tourism ...
With voting set to begin in under two weeks, the Howick Youth Council’s interactive candidate forums have been the first successful community meetings held virtually in the Botany and Pakuranga electorates for the 2020 general election. The youth-led ...
New Zealand is already taking risks allowing Kiwis to return, so why not rich Americans, ACT says. A Southland tourism operator says it's a bold move, but won't get the industry back on its feet. ...
We continue our week-long series on an extraordinary book of essays by Ghazaleh Golbakhsh with a memoir of the author from Golriz Ghahrman My friend Ghazaleh Golbakhsh is a film-maker, a writer, actor, Iranian, Kiwi, woman of colour, citizen of the world, and wild dreamer. Her new book of essays ...
Angela Merkel’s response to the latest refugee crisis only makes sense in an ideal world - in the real world it is dividing the EU and encouraging human traffickers, says Oliver Hartwich ...
While Covid-19 put the airline’s passenger business into a steep dive the airline’s cargo business has been climbing. It is now referred to as Air New Zealand’s green shoot.Mark Jennings reports. Aside from a massive one day sale of low priced domestic seats there’s not been a lot of good ...
Stephen Hoadley provides some context around US President Donald Trump's claimed successes in the Middle East On September 15, 2020, President Trump hosted leaders from Israel, UAE, and Bahrain at the White House. The event was the signing of agreements in which UAE and Bahrain normalised diplomatic relations with Israel. Trump characterised this ...
Kanyon Paul will wear the Warriors jersey in next month's NRL women's championship with the blessing of her late grandfather - who helped her make the decision to cross the Tasman to play. Kanyon Paul wasn’t meant to play for the Warriors women’s team this season. But her league-loving grandfather ...
Open mike 29/12/2013 
We live in strange and unusual times. It’s been a century since we’ve endured a global pandemic like this, more than half a century since we’ve had economic woes like this. So maybe we got an opening election debate for the times - because that was a strange and unusual ...4 hours ago
Tonight, The Civilian will be live-blogging the first of too many debates between Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and National Party leader Judith Collins, and also the last fifteen minutes of the news. Be sure to tune in from 6:45pm for regular updates, which can be accessed by refreshing this page ...10 hours ago
Social Distancing Be Damned - It's Jacinda! Shortly after ascending to Labour’s leadership, Jacinda described herself as a “pragmatic idealist”. It was an inspired oxymoron – packing into just two words the essence of the social-democrat’s dilemma. It was good to know that she knew what lay ahead of her. ...14 hours ago
Back in 2017, the UK announced that it would ban the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles by 2040. Its a basic climate change measure, aimed at reducing emissions by shifting the vehicle fleet to cleaner technologies. Now, in the wake of the pandemic, they're planning to bring it forward ...15 hours ago
There are a fair few misconceptions about conditions within New Zealand’s Quarantine Hotels. Madeline Grant’s misplaced accusations being one prominent example, though she is not alone. Today, I thought I’d share the inside word, so to speak. A friend of mine has recently returned to New Zealand from overseas, and ...17 hours ago
Last week, major newspapers carried a full-page ad as part of the campaign for a "No" vote to the referendum question about supporting the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill. The ad was authorised by the SAM NZ Coalition, which takes its name from a controversial American anti-cannabis group and includes ...18 hours ago
by Ani O’Brien In the absence of a better word with which to refer to the rabid activists who claim progressivism while demanding adherence to an increasingly prescriptive set of political beliefs, I call them “woke”. With its roots in Black American slang, the term originally denoted a person or ...1 day ago
Over the weekend, the Ministry of Health reported a case of Covid-19 in Auckland that is not related to the current Auckland cluster. Before we start to panic, here’s how I think the case happened and how we can strengthen our current border controls. The new Covid-19 case is someone ...1 day ago
Many New Zealanders take a strong interest in US politics, with the death of Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg being the latest example. Liam Hehir wonders if it very wise for New Zealanders to get so worked about it. Many politically engaged New Zealanders are now furiously ...2 days ago
After stamping the Coronavirus out via strict lockdown between March and May, New Zealand went through a good three months without any community cases. Then a local outbreak in Auckland rather buggered things up last month. Auckland’s been in level 3 and level 2.5 for the past six weeks. ...2 days ago
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... The tipping points at the heart of the climate crisis Many parts of the Earth’s climate system have been destabilised by ...2 days ago
In the absence of national public opinion polls, we have had to make do in recent weeks with other guides to voter intentions. Those guides, such as the Auckland Central poll, the incidence of google enquiries and the responses to Vote Compass questions, have suggested, not unexpectedly, that Labour is ...2 days ago
Crusher Collins - National Party leaderWe all know that the National Party is desperate to gain some traction during this election campaign and have been throwing pretty much everything at the Labour Party in order to try and undermine Jacinda Ardern and what the Coalition Government has achieved. But unfortunately ...2 days ago
Much of the commentariat’s reporting of the most recent GDP figure was misleading and unhelpful. The prize for the stupidest remark about the GDP figure for second quarter 2020 (2020Q2) released on Thursday (17 Sept) goes to Judith Collins, whose response to Grant Robertson’s comments indicated she did not ...2 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh goloing@gmail.com (19/09/2020) Che Guevara said that a true revolutionary is motivated by love i.e. love of the oppressed, the poor, the children dying from preventable illnesses. This phrase of his is true but has been used by reformists and their more hippy wing have taken advantage ...3 days ago
With the National Party this week announcing a new policy of tax cuts to spice up the election campagin. MyThinks went along to the launch and afterwards we spoke to the party’s finance spokesperson Paul “Golden Touch” Goldsmith. MT: Thanks for speaking to us Mr Goldsmith. PG: No. Thank you. ...4 days ago
Always to islanders danger Is what comes over the seas ‘Landfall in Unknown Seas’ (Allen Curnow)Six economic issues external to New Zealand, which will greatly impact upon us. 1. The Diminishing Global Dominance of the US. Since 1941 America has dominated the world economically and politically. Probably it could ...4 days ago
Tax Justice UK, September 2020 Serious tax reform is on the political agenda for the first time in decades due to the coronavirus crisis. As this debate hots up it is important to understand what people think about public spending, wealth and tax. Tax Justice UK, along with Survation and ...5 days ago
Although I had the fortune of being a graduate student of some of the foremost US nuclear strategists of the day (1970s) and later rubbed shoulders with Air Force and Naval officers who were entrusted with parts of the US nuclear arsenal, I seldom get to write or speak about ...6 days ago
At the 2017 election, the New Zealand Labour Party promised a Fees Free Policy for tertiary students. Basically, it would make the first year of university education free in 2018, with a second year in 2021, and a third in 2024. It also promised to restore Post-Graduate access to the ...7 days ago
So the Greens co-leader James Shaw recently made a mistake. In his role as Associate Finance Minister approving funding for “shovel-ready” projects, he fought hard for a private “Green school” to get funding to expand their buildings and, therefore, their student capacity. There are many problems with what he did: ...1 week ago-1f82146fa0d95608c5d921931b8dd46e7f0c9b1b/537110292.jpg?format=1500w)
Windows 95 is famous for requiring the shutting down the system by clicking ‘start, like stopping your car by turning the ignition key on. Why are so many interfaces so user-unfriendly? The Covid app to register your entering premises can be so clumsy. Sometimes I have signed in, sat down ...2 weeks ago
Tonight was the first Leaders’ Debate, broadcast live on TVNZ 1. It was the first time New Zealanders have seen Jacinda Ardern side-by-side Opposition Leader Judith Collins this campaign. ...7 hours ago
The Green Party is calling for Waka Kotahi the NZ Transport Agency to convert a lane over the Auckland Harbour Bridge to bus-only and make buses free to use across the bridge until all lanes are back in operation. ...2 days ago
The expanded scheme will cover: People who have COVID-19 like symptoms and meet the Ministry of Health’s criteria, and need to self-isolate while awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test. People who are directed to self-isolate by a Medical Officer of Health or their delegate or on advice of their ...16 hours ago
By RNZ News The campaign for New Caledonia’s referendum on independence from France is already officially three days old with the critical vote in less than two weeks. Six political formations are registered to campaign for the plebiscite on October 4 when 180,640 voters will be asked whether they want ...2 hours ago
The National and Labour leaders have clashed in the first televised debate tonight. While Ardern shied away from a "bloodsport" mentality, Collins would have been happy to go for another hour. ...5 hours ago
The first leaders' debate lacked stand-out moments, but covered a wide range of topics plaguing the country as New Zealand feels the pain of the Covid recession. Laura Walters reports. Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins have gone head-to-head on inequality, infrastructure, jobs, environment and the Covid-19 border response in the first ...6 hours ago
Who came out on top in tonight’s leaders’ debate? Here are our debate watchers’ verdicts. A bit knackeredGiven that most of the country, most of the Covid-battered world, is basically just knackered, is it any surprise that tonight’s opening debate felt a bit knackered, tooWhether it was in an attempt to ...8 hours ago
Dunedin general election candidates will take part in a My Votes Count forum event on 29 September organised by the Dunedin and Districts Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA) alongside Disability Information Service, People First, Blind Citizens New ...13 hours ago
When we first checked the Beehive website for press statements this morning, we found just one announcement – from the Deputy PM – had been posted since September 19. His news was that the Coalition Government has committed to invest $27 million in Covid-19 vaccine development through the global COVAX ...14 hours ago
Covid-19 will not be going away any time soon and the National Party says we should team up with the private sector to let more workers and tourists in safely National have announced that, if elected, they will ramp up the private provision of quarantine to allow workers and long-term tourists ...17 hours ago
Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell says 2019/20 was a good year for the co-op, with profit up, debt down and a strong milk price. The result, a profit of $659m, may have brought a cheer from the co-op’s farmer-suppliers and Hurrell deserves a cheer, too, for succeeding in turning around the ...19 hours ago
The election is fast-approaching but no-one seems to care about the threat of foreign interference. ...22 hours ago
We continue our week-long series on an extraordinary book of essays by Ghazaleh Golbakhsh with a memoir of the author from Golriz Ghahrman My friend Ghazaleh Golbakhsh is a film-maker, a writer, actor, Iranian, Kiwi, woman of colour, citizen of the world, and wild dreamer. Her new book of essays ...23 hours ago
Angela Merkel’s response to the latest refugee crisis only makes sense in an ideal world - in the real world it is dividing the EU and encouraging human traffickers, says Oliver Hartwich ...23 hours ago
While Covid-19 put the airline’s passenger business into a steep dive the airline’s cargo business has been climbing. It is now referred to as Air New Zealand’s green shoot. Mark Jennings reports. Aside from a massive one day sale of low priced domestic seats there’s not been a lot of good ...23 hours ago
Stephen Hoadley provides some context around US President Donald Trump's claimed successes in the Middle East On September 15, 2020, President Trump hosted leaders from Israel, UAE, and Bahrain at the White House. The event was the signing of agreements in which UAE and Bahrain normalised diplomatic relations with Israel. Trump characterised this ...23 hours ago
Kanyon Paul will wear the Warriors jersey in next month's NRL women's championship with the blessing of her late grandfather - who helped her make the decision to cross the Tasman to play. Kanyon Paul wasn’t meant to play for the Warriors women’s team this season. But her league-loving grandfather ...23 hours ago
proof of meat/dairy-bye-product consumption having as strong a link to cancer..
..as tobacco..
(the results of this new research was just released on december 27th..
“..Consumption of meat and other animal products is strongly linked to several types of cancer –
– according to an article published in the journal Nutrients.
The author analyzed data on 21 different cancers in 157 countries –
– and found that certain factors – especially diet –
– were associated with risk for developing specific cancers.
Specifically – the association between animal product consumption and cancer –
– was as strong as that linking tobacco and cancer..”
(cont..)
..ed:..and funny story!!
..those types of cancers linked to meat/dairy consumption are cancers of which we in new zealand.have some of the highest rates in the world..
..and of course that fits in tidily with our world-beating rates of consumption of that meat/dairy..eh..?
..it’s kinda like join-the-dots..but at a pre-school level..eh..?
http://www.pcrm.org/health/medNews/
..now..how can that not be a wake-up all..?
..how much more proof do you need..?
..when you are told the risks of cancer/premature-death are as high as from smoking tobacco..
..whoar..!..eh..?
‘waiter..!..hold that bacon ‘n cheese sarnie..!..i’ll have the porridge instead..!..’
eh..?
phillip ure..
Doesn’t porridge have milk with it? As I recall it’s the reason I could never stomach porridge as a child.
@ karol..good point..
..but soy/rice/almond etc.- milk is the answer..
..vanilla-flavoured soy goes particularly well with a fruit-packed-porridge..(mmm!!!..)
..(and of course those big/fat wholemeal porridge whole-flakes..
..not that powdered muck..that just turns into wallpaper-paste..
..and if you pack enough fruit into it..(raisins/banana/apple/pear..a good porridge is just as edible sans milk…)
..i also recommend a layer of frozen/fresh-berries in the bottom of the bowl..
..a ‘surprise’…that lifts the porridge-experience to a whole new level..
..and leaves you sneering in disdain at yr bog-standard fat-soaked/greasy/slimy bacon ‘n cheese sarnie..that just leaves you feeling ‘blagh!’…
..eh..?
phillip ure..
Modern industrial soy is a blight on the planet. Look it up.
“..how much more proof do you need..?”
Yeah, nah.
Animal Products Linked to Cancer
December 27, 2013
Consumption of meat and other animal products is strongly linked to several types of cancer, according to an article published in the journal Nutrients. The author analyzed data on 21 different cancers in 157 countries and found that certain factors, especially diet, were associated with risk for developing specific cancers. Specifically, the association between animal product consumption and cancer was as strong as that linking tobacco and cancer. Possible mechanisms for risk include animal products’ promotion of growth and high iron and fat content. The author notes that while detection and treatment are important, animal product consumption has been recognized as a cancer risk for more than a century and needs to be addressed in order to prevent the deadly disease.
How come non-Western cultures with high meat protein diets don’t have high rates of cancer (quite the opposite)? It’s not meat eating per se, it’s how we do it. Can’t comment futher on that research until I see whether they controlled for things like refined carb intake, lifestyle, modern pollutants etc which tend to go hand in hand with meat consumption. Would also want to know if they differentiated between grass-fed meat vs feed-lot, pumped full of chemicals meat.
@ weka..
did you not even read what you posted..?
“..The author analyzed data on 21 different cancers in 157 countries..”
..if you claim you did..then why did you say:
“..Can’t comment futher on that research until I see whether they controlled for things like refined carb intake, lifestyle, modern pollutants etc..”
just obfuscating-bullshit on yr part..eh..?..really..
..phillip ure..
I said that because there is lots of dodgy research being done in the world and I’d want to see a better analysis of the reasearch than was on the page you linked to before I commented further.
What concerns me is that you consider this
http://www.pcrm.org/health/medNews/
to equate to proof, without any fact checking or analysis at all. Don’t worry, I see meat eaters making the same kinds of mistakes.
Do you understand how things like overall diet, lifestyle, environment could affect the outcome of research into on the health effects of a specific food? I suspect you don’t. I know I’ve asked you these kinds of questions before that you just ignore. It’s the worst kind of intellectual argument (quoting a useless source and then refusing to back it up) and I’m surprised that its tolerated by the general commentariat here. If you were making a more conventional political statement people would be all over you.
@ weka..
“..the page you linked to ..”
the page i linked to..(that you sneer at/use to dismiss the whole argument).. is a report from a physicians-group….
..alerting readers to a new/groundbreaking study..
..that has been written up in a scientific-journal..called ‘nutrition’..(with all the checks and balances that entails..)..
..so no..weka..it isn’t an article in fucken usa-today..eh..?
..it is the results of meta-research of 151 other studies..comparing cancers in 21 different countries..
..so yr..’i need more details!’..
..is just strawman-argument bullshit..eh..?
..and as for yr final paragraph..
..once again..utter horseshit..
..of course there are variables in every study..
..but once again..a strawman-argument from you..
..as this is a study of other studies..
..what are you finding so hard to grasp about that simple fact..?
..phillip ure..
“..that has been written up in a scientific-journal..called ‘nutrition’..(with all the checks and balances that entails..)..”
Alot of medical research is done poorly and/or has been co-opted by various special interest groups. This is a well known phenomenon and is acknowleged within science and medicine.
I don’t know the Nutrition journal so am in no position to judge the value of its peer review (assuming it did peer review the research). I haven’t seen the research published. That’s all I said – that there wasn’t enough information to judge the value of it. You are quite welcome to trust it, but if you post it in a public forum then expect some analysis.
So, it’s not strawman argument. It’s based on experience and understanding. I note that yet again you fail to answer my questions and just call them horseshit, and so have just reinforced my opinion of you that you don’t really understand how scientific research works and how to evaluate it.
correction:..the scientific journal is called ‘nutrients’..
..and is described in wikipedia as thus:
“..Nutrients is an open access peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing reviews, regular research papers, and short communications on all aspects of nutrition..”
..(hope that helps..)
..and once again i have to return to the fact you seem unable to grasp..
..this is a meta-study..looking at 151 other scientific-studies..over 21 countries..
..so yr paranoias detailed in yr second paragraph ..do not/cannot apply to that..
..it is a different discipline…mainly number/stat-crunching..
..no actual on lab-table research/study..
..get that..?
..and if you can’t ‘trust’ a study/evidence of such magnitude/scope..
..and if you think that ‘vested-interests’..(who..?..the all-powerful vegan-lobby?..) have twisted this research somehow..
..best you go and stand over there with the tobacco-doesn’t-cause-cancer/the-moon-landings-didn’t-happen crew..eh..?
..and you still haven’t answered that simple straightforward question:
..do you receive/derive yr monies from the animal-flesh-trade industries..?
..and what questions of yours do you feel i have not answered..?
..phillip ure..
But none of that was in the original link was it.
Here’s the full article. How about you read it and then respond to the points I raised in my first comment.
http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/6/1/163
How come non-Western cultures with high meat protein diets don’t have high rates of cancer (quite the opposite)? It’s not meat eating per se, it’s how we do it. Can’t comment futher on that research until I see whether they controlled for things like refined carb intake, lifestyle, modern pollutants etc which tend to go hand in hand with meat consumption. Would also want to know if they differentiated between grass-fed meat vs feed-lot, pumped full of chemicals meat.
i think i’ll just leave you to dance on the head of yr pin there..weka..
..but the basic message still stands..
..eating cheese/milk/meat will likely give you cancer/premature-death..
..and..as with the ciggy-smokers of yore.. it’s over to you now..
..what you (and other readers) do with that new information/knowledge/awareness..eh..?
..you have two choices..(as did the ciggy-smokers when they first got the news..)
..denial..and continuing to consume/feed yr children this proven carcinogen..
..or acceptance of the science/facts..
..and a lifestyle adjustment to take that new information into account..
..as i said..it’s up/over to you..
..i’ve delivered the message..
..that’s all i can do..
phillip ure
and as a p.s..
..all the info/recipies etc. you will need to shed the carcinogenic-diet can be found here..
http://whoar.co.nz/category/vegan-stuff/
and as an aside..there is a ‘high’ to be had from being vegan..
..a ongoing ‘high’ that not even vegetarians are aware of/experience..
..tho’ vegetarians have had a taste of it from dropping the meat..
..but the high-payoff from going vegan is much more pronounced than if dairy is still consumed..
..(i was vegetarian for 15 yrs..(and thought vegans were ‘a bit weird’..wot…?..no cheese..?..geddouttahere..!..)
..)and have been vegan for 15 yrs..
..and i mean it most sincerely when i tell you that you will feel much better..
..when you stop eating animals..
..and things processed from them..
..(and did i mention ‘the cancer’..?..)
..there is both a (high) carrot..and a (cancer) stick..
..with this one..
..phillip ure..
“..eating cheese/milk/meat will likely give you cancer/premature-death..”
Citation needed. And what’s with the ‘likely’ bit?
You still haven’t responded to my substantive points (not really surprised, you strike me as very dogmatic on this, so why bother with reality).
I was vegetarian for a long time (a very nutritionally well-informed vegetarian), and part of that time I was virtually vegan. My health improved substantially when I started eating meat again. I know many other people that this is true for. I also know people that do well on vege diets. One size doesn’t fit all.
you are attempting to complicate what is simple..
..the message is as ‘simple’ and straightforward as the ‘tobacco causes cancer’ one..
..and all the twisting/twirling in the world from you won’t change that..
..and yes..this may be called heralding a seachange in global dietary-patterns..
..and yes..it also heralds a seachange for the new zealand economy..
..we had all better crack on and copy james cameron..
..he is converting the large dairy-holdings he pruchased in the wairarapa..
..back into producing real food/crops..
..he is just being a pioneer in what the rest of the country will have to do..
..eventually..
..(and as a comparison/example of other cancer-causing info radically changing society..
..how long ago was it that everyone smoked cigarettes..?..)
..i remember that/those times..
..and how the smokers scoffed when the scientists first started going:..’um..!..hang on..!..cancer..?’..
..it may seem hard for many to grasp here/now/today..
..but the cheese-block is due to go the way of the packet of ciggies..
..it will no longer be an essential of our daily life..
..and will assume the odium of the full-ashtray..
..phillip ure..
How come non-Western cultures with high meat protein diets don’t have high rates of cancer (quite the opposite)? It’s not meat eating per se, it’s how we do it.
Paleo. Been holding my body together now 3 years. No sugar, no fructose, no hydrogenated oils, minimal wheat and dairy.
Lots of vegetable carbs, fermented foods, protein and saturated fats. Recent cardio test was perfect.
The big problem I’m not properly managing in my life at the moment is correct exercise, stress and inflammation.
Nice one RL. I know other people who paleo works very well for too. There are other traditional diets that have good health outcomes too. I don’t even object to people being vegan, it just irks when some claim that their way is best and that everyone else would be better off doing what they do (demonstrably false), and anyone who doesn’t is somehow bad or wrong. Veganism, as practiced by most in the West, is also pretty high in terms of environmental damage, so pah to their moral high ground.
sheesh weka..i’m just the messanger..eh..?
..and ..could you plse answer the question..
..do you derive your income from the income generated by the animal-flesh-trade..?
..what else to explain yr choleric-tone..?
..you aren’t eating too much meat..are you..?
..i’ve heard it’s not good for ya..eh..?
..and the rage/irrationality/tone/timbre of yr responses on this subject..likely echo the responses to those first reports of cigs causing cancer..
..for smokers..amongst smokers..eh..?
..phillip ure..
“..do you derive your income from the income generated by the animal-flesh-trade..?”
No, I have nothing to do with the meat industry.
“..and the rage/irrationality/tone/timbre of yr responses on this subject..”
Ha, ha, I’m actually not eating meat at all at the moment. There is nothing wrong with appropriately placed anger (ts is full of it, as is the vegan movement). But by all means point out some specific examples of where I am being irrational. Things you merely don’t like don’t count.
RL I got the idea you were on a mountain somewhere. So either you are overdoing the exercise or setting a very demanding schedule. And stress, I think that a bit of meditation in a quiet safe place rests all the body, even a change, another page in the book you have chosen to read. Also a lie down where you start relaxing your whole body from your toes up. We are holding ourselves in readiness for action all the time and don’t realise it till we deliberately shed it.
I know, phillip.
My breakfast is usually some fruit, nuts, seeds – blender & almond milk + a bit of plain unsweetened yogurt.
My childhood, wretching experiences of porridge have put me off it for life.
Easily edible without any milk whatsoever
It’s the morning staple in my household where no-one is able to have milk
eat it without milk… doesn’t need it.
.. oh my god …
…saw this terrifying study….
..might be a wake up call!!!..
…100% of vegans will eventually die…
..just like everyone else…
eh?..
that’s all you’ve got there as rebuttal..?..qot..?
..that’s it..?
..so we can take the info/report as q.e.d..?..then..?
..phillip ure..
But did you know….
and that’s all you’ve got there..?..joe..?..a butchers’ blackboard..?
once again..the facts of the matter are clearly q.e.d…eh..?
..now its’ just a matter of ‘your call’..eh..?
phillip ure..
Without citing previous work on the same topic, QOT, what you have published above qualifies as plagiarism.
eh?..[1]
[1] phillip ure, various.
heh..!
phillip ure..
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11178968
The Herald’s hypocrisy over Brown is breathtaking.
“Many believe he will not see out his term at the helm of the Super City.”
Rather ironic since it’s this newspaper leading the campaign to have him resign.
Don’t the Nats have a major trust through which their campaign funds are filtered?
My thoughts also, K.
Yes. I reckon it’s time to put a cap on all campaign spending – the whole system of funding campaigns corrupts democracy.
And it’s why there’s no truly left wing viable candidate for mayor of Auckland. It all aid the interests of the wealthy ad the powerful corporates.
they all do..it is an area screaming for urgent-reform..
..when 446 grand of the seven hundred something grand brown spent on his campaign..
..came from that donor-secret slush-fund..it is clear something stinks..
..and going on browns’ actions to date..i think we all really need to know just who it is who ‘owns’/’bought’ influence with him..
..(and how that buying dictates his actions/inactions in office..)
..all political donations above a miserly small figure must be made public..
..not hidden in secret slush-funds..
..(oh..!..how the top end of town must laugh..eh..?..having all the politicians..labour..national..and the mayor of nzs’ biggest city..
..in their pockets..)
..what a corrupt little third world pacific island nation we really are..eh..?
..and i haven’t even gone near our role as a money-laundering destination/favourite..eh..?..)
phillip ure..
and i loved the rejoinder from browns’ campaign-manager..
..and that response couldn’t be a clearer clarion call for reform..
..he whined a twofer-response/excuse..
..that:..’it’s legal’..and ‘everyone else does it’…
..not really/quite enough of a reason/excuse…eh..?
phillip ure..
until we get real campaign-finance reform..this corruption/subversion of the democratic process..at all levels…will continue..
..with the interests of the people..
..continuing to be at the end of a very long queue..
..it’s as simple as that..really..
..eh..?
..we need to ‘own’ our politicians…
..at all levels..
..not have them in thrall to that top end of town..
..as is the case now..
..doing their ‘business’..for them..
phillip ure..
Yes, the Waitemata Trust. Been going for years and in that time millions of anonymous dollars have been transferred through it and used in successive election campaigns. Add to that the other ‘private’ trusts where money is deposited for special purposes, and it’s obvious to anyone with half a brain that the NZ Herald is party to a dirty tricks campaign aimed at destroying public profile figures associated with Labour and/or the Greens. All of it designed to peak just before the general election which might only be six months away.
Add to that the latest delay in the Dotcom extradition case from March to July (and if things don’t go according to plan no doubt the FBI will be willing to have it further delayed) then it will likely mean the ‘dirt and filth’ will hit their targets at the right time, leading to another election win for the Nats.
May not be bang on, but a plausible theory…
Well-put. Election anouncement shortly after a wildly-optimistic Budget sounds about right – before rising interest rates start clobbering voters with mortgages later in the year. Opposition needs to be forcefully and continually joining those dots for people and offering a credible alternative.
to give credit where credit is due..the herald on sunday today has a powerful clarion-call of its’ very own..
..(that will have national/the top end of town sweating..and should empower the labour party policy-makers/leadership..you’d think..?)
..they present a powerful/pungent call for meaningful political/policy-action to end child-poverty..
..lamenting how we are no longer like those scandanavian nations we used to be neck and neck with..
..in the ‘good-country’-stakes/rankings..
..and unequivocal in their call for us to get back there..again..
..so..a tip of the hat to them..for that..
..and let’s hope labour (finally?) realise they really have nothing to be scared of…eh..?
..that the ‘time’ for real and meaningful change…
..is now..
..phillip ure..
The HOS has a different editorial team to the weekly Herald.
I am also of the opinion that the general election will be called early, Anne – probably in mid-winter from about early July (with hopes of a low voter turnout due to weather).
In terms of timelines next year:
Early April 3014- Royal visit with lots of photo-ops for Key, and warm afterglow
14 April 2014 – current scheduled date for the start of the Dotcom extradition hearing forecast to take several weeks: but expected to be further delayed again until at least July 2014 *
* Anne, I note you suggest “Add to that the latest delay in the Dotcom extradition case from March to July” . I checked Google, and the current date is 14 April 2014, and there does not appear to have been an formal decision as yet to delay until July although speculation is that this will happen.
May 2014 – Banks court case
Mid to late May 2014 – Budget.
IIRC, an election can be called on as little as six weeks’ notice, so my thinking is that Key will go for an announcement either just after the royal visit, or around Budget day to get the best PR from these two events – and to overshadow the Banks trial and any Dotcom ongoing court hearings on release of property taken (eg electronic records etc), compensation etc; and to get the election over before the Dotcom extradition hearing itself.
I don’t believe that Key will hold out for a November election for the above reasons and also because IIRC there are one or two big international conferences/events in Nov 2014 that Key would want to attend which he couldn’t go to if the election was in Nov. I recall some discussion in the media a few months ago about these events – but cannot remember what they are. It is now bugging me, so will do some research.
@ veutoviper
Yes. I was aware the the FBI have only requested a delay until July, but they’re likely to get what they want. Then, if it suits Key and co., they will go for a further delay so that Dotcom’s info. on Key doesn’t hit the air-waves until after the election. I’m sure the FBI operatives on the Dotcom case don’t want to see a change in government!
For the reasons you mention above – and others – the situation is fluid, so Key could end up out of luck. Fingers firmly crossed…
Funding is a crucial issue. Look at the mess of the USA where money literally enables the rich to buy laws. I’ve seen suggestions on this site in the past of how to fix this issue but until the general public understand what a problem it is nothing will be done. It’s not a vote getter and, in fact, as the electoral finance mess showed, it can be spun as a vote loser.
“what a corrupt little third world pacific island nation we really are..eh..?”
A sad, but true analysis. We sure have become leaner and meaner. The quick and the dead. Welcome to the future.
+1
There’s a simple measurement I usually apply – the simple and uncomplicated is usually the best
IF we wish to be included in 1st world status, but can only do so by paying slave wages; minimising long fought-for benefits in order to remain viable
THEN we aren’t and we’re only fooling ourselves. (see the other post on America)
Problem is though that the race to the bottom for the many in order for a scared few to maintain their lifestyles is not necessary – it’s only their ideologically-driven and egotistical bullshit that makes it so.
And if because of their short term view, they feel an increasing need to live behind PIN-only accessible gated communities, then more fool them.
The tragedy is that the longer it’s all propped up on a firm foundation of solid bullshit and jellybeams, the more violent the outcome is likely to be.
As the 70% or so versus the 30% moves more and more towards the 99.9 versus the 0.01% – I know where I’m putting my fiat currency. (Some smart smarmy cnut is probably already inventing some derivative in order to have a bob each way!!)
….. probably also why there are a few in the Labour Party who are desperately trying to delay the inevitable (i.e. kicking cans down roadways).
…… my suggestion to them is to just double up on your security, engage another risk management consultant, pay ’em a bundle, see a touchy feely, drop a prozac or two (up the dose if necessary), and life will remain just peachy keen,
I’ve never actually seen a time (in my lifetime) where the neo-liberal driven ideology means that the masses are ‘comfortable’ with ever-increasing disparity.
BUT just imagine how angry they’ll be when the inevitable shit hits the fan, mortgagee sales become a reality, offspring have gone all feral, and they’re all looking for someone to blame.
(There are some natural targets, and you can be sure they’ll be in that ‘economic minority’ of a 1 or possible 0.1%)
Snot Rok Soince is it?
In São Paulo, the rich live in gated condominiums with armed guards. True to form, they pay their guards a pittance so that when a building is attacked by criminals, the guards put up minimal resistance. The crims then get up to 20 filthy rich households to empty out, all at once. They usually drive off with trucks full of expensive possessions. This seems to be what the stupidly rich want for this part of the world as well.
The land of the free.
//
http://philebersole.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/one-in-four-us-workers-are-guard-labor/
Yesterday I drove on the brand new highway between Taupiri to central Hamilton. why was this highway built? It must have cost well over a billion dollars (at a guess).
How does the National government get so much credit for its economic management when it has built these roads at a huge cost, all of it increasing our huge debt burden…I don’t see our MSM attacking National for its inept economic management on this. The huge expenditure on roads in the Waikato and BOP I reckon will in the long term actually reduce GDP (but will improve the profit of some large trucking companies and Fonterra), I challenge any economist/anyone to prove otherwise.
http://www.nzta.govt.nz/network/projects/project.html?ID=63
All this new roading development is brilliant.
For me it one of the best things National has done.
Spending billions on roads when we are so deeply in debt is NOT good economic management…clearly this proves that you are a fuckwit BM.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9560760/Welcome-to-the-boom-of-2014
National have done a tremendous job, just goes to show what can be achieved when we get some decent people at the helm, people with skill and talent.
Only a complete idiot would want labour in power, you’d struggle to find a bigger pile of know nothing, pie in the sky numpties than the current labour line up.
Compete dross.
“Compete” dross BM ? You’re doing fabulously well BM.
I guess you add a bit of colour BM…but you are as thick as pig shit (or is that Bat Shit).
Skill and Talent? Really? Are you sure? Who are we talking about? Mr Brownlee, whose “political clout” has prevented countless people in Christchurch to have a roof over their heads after 3 (!) years? This is by the way inexcusable and one wonders whether we see in the run up to the election a sudden increase in Insurance payouts. Just do be clear, commercial law is passed in parliament and not by Insurance companies – or is it?
Or is it Mrs Bennett who had the benefit of the social system when it was available and used it to the full extent only to deny it everybody else since she has the portfolio? Has she found in her heart that all of her “success” is wrong?
Or lets go to Mr Bridges, who supports deep see drilling and fracking. Interesting though, I was not aware that a lawyer has such extended education to understand the issues of engineering and biology so to be able to make such decisions. Furthermore, being able to override any sovereign interest amid many documented disadvantages and just unilateral make the call?
Yes, lets keep some hope alive. I will vote green as this hopefully gives the next generation a voice.
I suspect that boom will last until the prediction wears off – sometime in January.
“National have done a tremendous job, just goes to show what can be achieved when we get some decent people at the helm, people with skill and talent.”
Stop taking the piss BM
And here in Hawke Bay, we all love the new Rail Line to Gisborne.
Or is that Gisbin (TV weather).
YEAH RITE.
Having lived in the Far North for years I am always in awe of Waikato roads when travelling there, even the secondary routes beautifully sealed and cambered. People who travel the South Island regularly tell a similar story of great roads in a sparsely populated landscape.
according to the Northland Regional Council…
“Of the 6,530 kilometres of road in Northland, 753 kilometres are State Highway with the remaining being local roads. Approximately 65% of these local roads are unsealed, compared to the national average of 40%. The proportion of unsealed roads, many of which have poor foundation conditions and alignments, is one of the highest in the country”.
One could make a case for Waikato and South Island as major tory voters getting special ‘two lane blacktop’ treatment. So what about the Far North? also consistent tory electorate voters (though when you add in the Te Tai Tokerau and the non national general electorate vote the numbers don’t look so good for the torys)–just the land that time forgot? The North has high suicide rates and lots of car crashes and little economic development for decades.
How about the puhoi-wellsford route
http://www.nzta.govt.nz/consultation/puhoi-wellsford-2/index.html
That’s got to help speed things up.
That would be another loss making Road of National(s) Significance.
You might also find this interesting.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11096356
With the Norwegians currently looking for oil off the Northland coast, could be boom times ahead for those up North.
One could make a case for Waikato and South Island as major tory voters getting special ‘two lane blacktop’ treatment.
Not so sure about that. I live in the Waitaki electorate and our road is so bad it’s a favourite with rally car drivers. We’ve had the Rally of Otago blatt past on numerous occasions, except only from one direction. It’s too dangerous going the other. Too many cars went over banks. Bloody good job. The environment bit back.
On a positive note its a awesome part of the country to live in
TM, quite a few people I know in the North don’t want the sort of roads they have in the Waikato. They see one great benefit of gravel roads – they scare the Jafas into keeping their Remuera tractors south of Wellsford. On the other hand, quite a few of them would like to see decent train and bus services.
Don’t forget the North Shore tractors MO. Arrogant drivers who think they own the road and it’s the women who are the worst. One of them screamed abuse at me once for driving up to an intersection on the inside of her. Plenty of room for me to turn left and she to the right. Told her after the screaming match subsided that she was a stupid bitch. She then tried to ram me but I was too quick for her. Contemplated carrying a bag of stones in my glove box in case it happened again. A smashed rear window would have been a satisfactory outcome but decided it was too risky. It would be my luck to have a cop car come ambling past at the moment of impact.
I was out fishing with a mate once and some stupid yuppie in his 15m gin palace managed to catch a few snapper. He promptly filleted them and threw the remains overboard, which every snapper fisher knows is just not on. It puts the rest right off the bite. My mate started throwing sinkers at him, which worried me a bit, since my tinny was only 4.4m. Luckily the idiot wasn’t the aggressive type and left rather than run us over.
Same.
“just who it is who ‘owns’/’bought’ influence”. Perfectly said PU.
Without legislation along the lines you suggest we facilitate the availability of massive corruption to the often mutually inclusive wealthy and the holders of power, derived from democratic process, ironically.
Start with strict liability from the top dog down in both the donor and donee camps. Make glib lies like “the law is unclear” and “I’m a busy person I relied on assurances from my trusted minions” and “Oh I forgot” unavailable to the wealthy and the holders of power.
Deploy demonstrably heavy penalties directed according to statutory presumption in favour of imprisonment topped off with additional truly massive financial penalties for donor and donee and permanent disqualification for both from the electoral process at any level.
In cases of political and electoral corruption let judges’ sentencing notes contain stern denunciation of offending which “sheets to the core of justice and democracy”. As presently occurs in obviously far less-reaching cases of attempting to/perverting the course of justice where some fool engages falsehood given on oath to protect a family member or mate charged with an offence.
Acknowledging that for the sake of brevity I overlook Brown, why please did Mediaworks pay for the witheringly castigating holier-than-thou Cameron Brewer’s holiday on the Gold Coast ? If the motivation were truly impeccable there would be more bang-for-the-buck in widely vaunted donation to The Auckland City Mission.
He was chief executive of the Newmarket Business Association for a long time.
The trip was probably a thanks from media works for Brewer pushing work their way.
That’s a risibly inadequate response/rationalisation BM.
How possibly can you distinguish between favours given after the event and favours given before the event ? The ‘distinction’ is facile and meaningless especially in the context of a course of conduct dynamic.
You’re a supporter of corruption clearly. It’s what makes the world of the wealthy and the powerful go round what ? Such a democrat you BM.
No…….piss off with your moral bankruptcy.
++ @ North
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9560760/Welcome-to-the-boom-of-2014
– Well thats a positive headline from the Herald for a change
isn’t that great..!..chris 73..!
..no more excuses now not to declare war on poverty..eh..?
..no more ‘but we can’t afford it’-whines/excuses..eh..?
..that is ‘positive’..
..those ‘boom-times’..and a financial-transaction-tax on the banksters..
..should just about get it sorted..eh..?
..no more poverty..no more third world diseases..eh..?
..gee..!..chris 73..and maybe we can start to bay back some of the $60+ billio nthis bunch of tory/clowns/fuckwits have run up..eh..?
..with their borrow and givre to the rich policies/..
phillip ure..
Its positive from the point of re-electing the National government
Ah…thought you might care about the increasing inequality.
But you don’t.
It’s all just a game to C73.
He doesn’t give a shit about people.
Kickbacks from Nactionals slush fund.
pay back to National party for bailout or was it to organize the bailout.
Mc Cready will sort it out.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9560681/Banks-nemesis-looks-for-others-to-put-in-dock
– Hes gotta pay his bills somehow I guess
Thinking about the traditional story of Christmas and all, my pick for the Three Wise Men:
the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and Pope Francis. I’m sure they’d have a lot of fun riding across the desert together on camels.
Mildly surprised by a NZ Herald editorial today:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11178946
‘What Cunliffe will be seeking this year is to capitalise on the sense rolling through the country that the National-led administration is arrogant and indifferent to the beliefs and needs of ordinary New Zealanders. But what he and the rest of us need to keep front of mind is the plight of those who cannot even aspire to ordinariness.
The Child Poverty Monitor report, released three weeks ago by Children’s Commissioner Russell Wills, shows that a quarter of our children are living in poverty, some of it severe and persistent. Poverty-related illness, such as asthma and bronchitis, reached record highs.
With every passing year, it becomes harder to be proud of a country that was once a world-leading social democracy. The small Scandinavian countries we used to rub shoulders with at the top of the league tables have maintained their positions as we have plummeted.
It is not about resources, but about political will. It’s something that politicians and voters should devote thought to as another year dawns.’
For once, they got it right.
Boringly Myopic.
No rest for the wicked.
I thought you’d be off to HawaiiKey or pukett slinking down cool drinks with Cactus Kate.
Ark! That is so annoying. Looking at the feed and considering why the Feeds (now with the bulk feeders TDB and Scoop politics separated so the smaller blogs get front billing) are duplicating.
Obvious. There are 3 web servers running (two front and one backup) all looking at the same database and set of files. It has the same problem as sphinx search had – they’re ALL updating the feed database. When they happen to coincide, I get up to three copies of the same RSS record.
Should be fixable by checking for duplicates when updating the database like the duplicate comment fix. But a better idea will be to do that update from a single server.
Will anyone in greens or labour begin to respond to this economic “good” news with
for whom. How long will ordinary nzers continue to believe and vote for the myth begun in the 80s by douglas’ mythical good news. The richardsons mother of all bad news… and so on until today. There is no evidence that this type of good news is actually good for anyone but those trumpetting the good news. The banks. The stock market. The reps of big business and politicians.
theres a reason simon power went from justice minister to westpac millionaire and it has nothing to do with wealth trickling down.
Simon Power
Realised his chance to become leader PM was gone so what’s the point of hanging round doing long hours for a relative pittance when you can get millions instead of thousands.
LIARS OF OUR TIME
No. 39: George W. Bush
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“We will be standing with the people of Afghanistan and Iraq until their hopes for freedom and liberty are fulfilled.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
—President George W. Bush, 21 September 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38139-2004Sep21_2.html
More liars….
No. 38 Jeremy Hansen: “I read a great column by Paul Thomas in the Herald….”
No. 37 Alan Seay: “You know, we respect the rights of people to protest….”
No. 36 Paul Dykzeul: “No we won’t be changing the Listener; it’s got a terrific editor….”
No. 35 Mark Jennings: “I think Paul’s a bright guy and he will be able to bring a discipline to his performance….”
No. 34 Willie Jackson: “I thought we’d been sensitive with her yesterday….”
No. 33 Supt. Bill Searle: “I think what’s happened here is the police officers have done their very best….”
No. 32 Sonny-Bill Williams: “It’s good to get the win over Papua-New Guinea, a strong Papua-New Guinea side, aahhhh….”
No. 31 John Palino: “Suggestions that I am somehow orchestrating some grand right-wing conspiracy to unseat Len after the election are so wrong…”
No. 30 Alan Dershowitz: “I will give $10,000 to the PLO if you can find a historical fact in my book that you can prove to be false.”
No. 29 John Banks: “I have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. And never, ever would I ever knowingly sign a false electoral return. Never ever would I ever.”
No. 28 John Kerry: “…we are especially sensitive, Chuck and I, to never again asking any member of Congress to take a vote on faulty intelligence.”
No. 27 Lyse Doucet: “I am there for those without a voice.”
No. 26 Sam Wallace: “So here we are—Otahuhu. It’s just a great place to be, really.”
No. 25 Margaret Thatcher: “…no British government involvement of any kind…with Khmer Rouge…”
No. 24 John Key: “…at the end of the day I, like most New Zealanders, value the role of the fourth estate…”
No. 23 Jay Carney: “…expel Mr Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice…”
No. 22 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton had integrity beyond reproach.”
No. 21 Tim Groser: “I think the relationship is genuinely in outstanding form.”
No. 20 John Key: “But if the question is do we use the United States or one of our other partners to circumvent New Zealand law then the answer is categorically no.”
No. 19 Matthew Hooton: “It is ridiculous to say that unions deliver higher wages! They DON’T!”
No. 18 Ant Strachan: “The All Blacks won the RWC 2011 because of outstanding defence!”
No. 17 Stephen Franks: “Peter has been such a level-headed, safe pair of hands.”
No. 16 Phil Kafcaloudes: “Tony Abbott…hasn’t made any mistakes over the past eighteen months.”
No. 15 Donald Rumsfeld: “I did not lie… Colin Powell did not lie.”
No. 14 Colin Powell: “a post-9/11 nexus between Iraq and terrorist organizations…connections are now emerging…”
No. 13 Barack Obama: “Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.”
No. 12 U.K. Ministry of Defence: “Protecting the Afghan civilian population is one of ISAF and the UK’s top priorities.”
No. 11 Brendan O’Connor: “Australia’s approach to refugees is compassionate and generous.”
No. 10 Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to look after us and keep us safe.”
No. 9 NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!”
No. 8 Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question….”
No. 7 Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.”
No. 6 Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.”
No. 5 Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.”
No. 4 Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!”
No. 3 John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
No. 2 Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.”
No. 1 Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
No. 29 John Banks: “I have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. And never, ever would I ever knowingly sign a false electoral return. Never ever would I ever.”
and the best way to ensure this would be to never ever sign something without reading it first.
…and the best way to ensure this would be to never ever sign something without reading it first.
Are you trying to suggest that Banks made an honest mistake?
No. I am saying if he truly wanted to never ever make a false return he would fucking read everything before he signed otherwise he is displaying wilful ignorance which is not the same as honest mistake.
is english gour second language Morrisey
No. I am saying if he truly wanted to never ever make a false return he would fucking read everything before he signed otherwise he is displaying wilful ignorance which is not the same as honest mistake.
Fair comment.
is english gour [sic] second language Morrisey
I accept your point, Tracey.
It was a genuine question morrisey. Not sarcastic. Didnt know how else to ask
I suspect that this universe is his second reality.
TRACEY: Is english your second language Morrisey?
MORRISSEY: [conciliatorily] I accept your point, Tracey.
TRACEY: [earnestly It was a genuine question morrisey. Not sarcastic. Didn’t know how else to ask.
McFLOCK: [sardonically] I suspect that this universe is his second reality.
……Long pause. Silence, then a mocking slow clap can be heard……
MORRISSEY: Oh dear. Looks like we’ve just unearthed another one of the Melody Rules scriptwriters.
🙄
Thanks, buddy. I hope you’re having a good Christmas break.
The WAR on WELFARE will continue in 2014, but like she did for those parents or grand-parents looking after a child (other than a foster child), Paula Bennett will try to manipulate the media and the wider public, into believing that actually “more” is being done to “support” those in need. The truth is kept from the wider public, while a nasty agenda, all based on nothing but “cost saving” and “cutting back” of services, is followed.
See this pre-Christmas sweetener Bennett released smartly just over a week before the holidays:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11172923
What does a few hundred dollars a year achieve and change, I ask? Yes, every bit of help should be appreciated, I agree. But this is “help” that patches up gaps and cracks in the income situation of many, that have been caused in another places, where households face pressures.
And then it comes from one with this bizarre sense of opportunism mixed with “humour”:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11176800
“Sip It Sweetie”, that is her motto now. Thank you Paula, we know it was all about YOURSELF after all.
As for the “help” for sick and disabled on benefits, we will watch with great concern how the new outsourced work capability testing will be implemented from February 2014.
Remember this:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9356043/Contractors-to-assess-sick-and-disabled-for-work
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/278489/tests-disabled-flawed-model
For all those, that actually care to learn a bit more about all this stuff, and what is behind the “welfare reforms”, that are now affecting thousands in a very bad way, have a study of information that can be found on this small website:
http://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/designated-doctors-used-by-work-and-income-some-also-used-by-acc-the-truth-about-them/
http://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2013/09/07/the-health-and-disability-panel-and-its-hand-picked-members/
http://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/medical-and-work-capability-assessments-based-on-the-controversial-bio-psycho-social-model/
That site is still a bit new and under (experiemental) construction, but accessing and using the many resources and links offered there should assist many to see, assess and understand what is really going on under this hideous government, with nothing but contempt for those at the bottom of the heap! Putting pressures, fears and expectations on sick and disabled to compete for work, and dressing this up as “caring for” and “assisting” them, that is worse than being mean spirited. It is disgustingly dishonest and criminal.
For instance mental health funding has been capped or cut for many services here in Auckland. So where is the extra “help” and “treatment” coming from? It will be GPs prescribing generic and non generic psychiatric drugs, and others sent to self help “coping groups”, to live with pain and impairments. Most extra funding has gone straight to MSD and WINZ, for more case management, none else.
Best wishes for 2014, keep up the FIGHT for JUSTICE!
chrs 4 keeping on top of all that..xtasy..
..regular updates thru the year will be appreciated..
..phillip ure..
I see parallels happening in New Zealand.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/dec/28/mortgage-rise-homeowners-perilous-debt
Too bad that hasn’t been announced for the last two years… oh wait…
I thought that Bill English has been announcing the end of the following year return to higher interest rates (as a result of his governments disinterested neglect of the economy) ever since 2009? He has built it into every budget up until 2012 when he finally became aware after the election that making a foolish prophecy wasn’t the same as making it happen.
Or have you forgotten?
I suspect there will be a slight interest rate rise next year, which will immediately stall the retail economy again. It will then stagnate for another year or so. I think that the same thing will happen offshore.
Having a jobless ‘recovery’ is a completely fragile and essentially useless recovery. Thought people would have realised this over the last couple of hundred years.
Which is, of course, exactly what it’s supposed to do. Raising interest rates is done to cool down an over-heating economy but, for some strange reason, it only ever seems to initiate housing bubbles as the hot money from other countries floods in fueling the money creation process by local banks.
I think you’ll find that economists and RWNJs really like jobless recoveries because it indicates an increase in profit while wages are kept down thus preventing a wage/price inflation spiral.
Yeah, causes short-term profit taking. The problem is that they run out of steam, fall back to a lower level, then repeat as a lower amplitude.
Ask the Japanese. They have had them for nearly two decades now. I’m also pretty sure that Europe would be in that state as well if they hadn’t kept expanding the size of the EU.
Damn – sorry about that. Some code didn’t copy over properly.
nice upgrade though. Looks good now.
Yeah. Been meaning to separate the larger feed suppliers from the smaller (and often more interesting) blogs. Took the opportunity to do some upgrades to the other tabbed dialog as well – and it allowed me to dispose of some old residual jquery.
edit: opps – meant to have been a reply to weka at 21.1..
heh
17 April. Shots of the cabinet and the ex-cabinet at Lady Thatcher’s funeral in St Paul’s just emphasise how consistently cowardly most of them were, the only time they dared to stand up to her when eventually they kicked her out. What also galls is the notion that Tory MPs throw in almost as an afterthought, namely that her lack of a sense of humour was just a minor failing, of no more significance than being colourblind, say, or mildly short-sighted. In fact to have no sense of humour is to be a seriously flawed human being. It’s not a minor shortcoming; it shuts you off from humanity. Mrs Thatcher was a mirthless bully and should have been buried, as once upon a time monarchs used to be, in the depths of the night.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n01/alan-bennett/diary