I did some considerable site pruning yesterday, trimming plugins, fixing some errors that crept into the quite old database, and generally doing a tidy on the site and the system that hosts it. It feels a lot faster and lighter after clearing away some of the old plugins.
I don't think that I broke anything because these were almost all things that I'd done on a test system first. But let me know if a feature that used to be there from last week is no longer there on the desktop site.
It is also prep for building a new theme that will
eliminate having to have a separate mobile theme. The theme should flex from larger to mobile.
Still be based on the maintainable themes from wordpress. Our current theme is based on a 'classic' theme from the 2000s and has proved highly maintainable and extensible. The new one will be based on the 2023 theme.
Should carry through most or all of the features of the existing site like the right bar. But in a more maintainable form and hopefully somewhat better because it will be accessible from the mobile side as well.
I tested all of the basics yesterday while fixing a bug that has lurked in the system since wordpress 3.6 in 2013. There was a failure in the upgrade from the MU release to the mainline that affected the creations of new multi-sites. It was still in database. Took most of last night to finally find and kill that.
I will also be collecting some of the useful old unmaintained plugins features, simplify them (generally they are coded in a manner that is unmaintainable) and wrap Standard plugins over them.
This is all being done on spare time available – which is usually short. So they may take a while. But I am actually starting to have more spare time….
Those of you who still have logins will be able to beta test and be critical of the new theme earlier. 🙂
Just looked at the numbers of posts, comments media and general storage on the site.
Posts
All (29,802)
Mine (1,125)
Published (28,307)
Sticky (1)
Drafts (1,372)
Private (123)
Trash (39)
Comments
302,346 spam comments were blocked so far. This is just one of the automatic anti-spam systems that has been in pace since about 2017. It is the 2nd from final trap.
All (1,834,676)
Mine (23,913)
Pending (0)
Approved (1,834,676)
Spam (44)
this is the final trap – these are mostly moderator caught and cleaned periodically.
Trash (613)
24515 media items – these are the sites graphics and documents – mostly used in the posts themselves. A few where an author has used a graphic in a comment. And a handful for site graphics.
There are currently about 3-4x other cached graphics used speeding the site. Different sizes of media, different forms of the media (mostly webp these days), and all of your gravators for comments in various forms.
The site lives on /dev/md0 (raid 1 of 2 SSDs and one space) which is mounted on /mnt/TS.
960 GB available
49.9 GB used (6%)
The onsite backup is currently 146 GB made up of weekly full file backups (each 10.6 compressed), hourly database backups (each ~248 MB compressed), and hourly files deltas. This is replicated in two places offsite and usually updated within 20 minutes of the hourly backup.
I keep about 8 weeks on site.
There is a 2 year off site archive (just in case of long term regression issues), I still do a yearly backup of the archive to bluray. I'm kind of paranoid about backups.
Also about privacy. All of the backups are encrypted, and so is the site.
Not sure about traffic these days. The public face is cached out at cloudflare. They report
Previous 30 days
Total Bandwidth 2.54 TB
Cached Bandwidth 74.43 GB
Uncached Bandwidth 2.46 TB
But we watch a lot of streamed TV and audio, run VPNs to work, and do a lot of work on the same link.
So far over April, we did
Domestic In: 398.57 GB
Domestic Out: 403.42 GB
Domestic Total: 801.99 GB
International In: 76.86 GB
International Out: 5.36 TB
International Total 5.44 TB
In Total: 475.42 GB
Out Total: 5.76 TB
Total usage: 6.24 TB
A lot of the international out would have been the Standard either as the site itself or as offline backups.
But we work and backup a lot of material in the cloud. All of my work goes through aussie VPNs because that is where the cloud servers are. I spend a lot of time on hooked into servers in Texas. My partners systems backup internationally and she works on sites offshore. Both of us mostly work from home.
For the longest time it has been next to impossible to use the Reply function on an iPhone or iPad because of misbehaviour by the CKEditor widget, the text area was unable to capture focus so I could not type in the comment box.
This seems to be working a bit better. Focus is still failing about 50% of the time, but that's still a big improvement from 99% that I was experiencing. (my only option was to go into the safari settings and turn off javascript). If you want to look into it further, I found a possibly relevant thread on stack overflow…
thanks for the update, and all the mahi Lynn. Looking forward to seeing the new theme.
btw, the site has been running slow for me recently, including this morning. Usually when going to edit something or working the back end, but sometimes just pages too.
Wellington City Council seems intent on ensuring people wanting to go to restaurants, theatres, etc in the inner city have a very difficult time getting there. The people from the suburbs, Porirua, Upper and Lower Hutt will be unable to drive to and park from 7am to 9pm from Courtenay Place to Parliament if Let's Get Wellington Moving proposal is decided on. Given the bus service is unreliable and LGWM want to remove some inner city bus stops, people will find it just too inconvenient to bother. If I have misinterpreted this latest idea please put me right!
Another plan is to remove half the car parks from Molesworth Street and side streets. And to remove two bus stops from Molesworth Street. Makes no sense to me to remove bus stops for those less able to walk further, particularly in bad weather. All this to have more cycleways. I await with interest and scepticism to see all these cyclists.
I personally know a young couple living in inner city Wellington who managed to walk to work, go to cafes etc. But to visit family further afield, get groceries, go to sports practice out of the city, medical appointments etc etc was difficult. They have now got a car park in their building and life is much easier and convenient.
Eh what? There’s bugger all parking along the Golden Mile itself, it’s all on the side streets but don’t let facts spoil a rant. These days though I find it’s far easier just to go to the now council owned car park in Tory St or the one by Les Mills for cheap parking rather than circling around looking. If we’re out for dinner $5 or $8 for parking won’t break the bank.
I live in inner city Wellington too. I walk to work and have to step on to the road frequently due to over-full footpaths. Cycling is far too dangerous for me right now, but sometimes I see more bikes than cars on my walking commute.
I can't wait for the transformation – bikes and scooters separated from walkers and more room for buses to move freely, and it will be a nicer space to be in.
Agree that the public transport needs to be more reliable, but a good pair of shoes, a snapper card and the occasional use of mevos (car rental by the hour) works pretty well for the able-bodied – even if they don't cycle, and is way cheaper, and gives more freedom than owning a vehicle in the inner city.
I put a lot of this failure down to the increasingly restrictive rules being placed on landlords. This is effectively an aversive stimulus that discourages landlords from renting out their properties, or makes them extremely fussy about who they will accept as tenants. Hence, the pressure on housing increases.
If that's the case, then we should not allow one group of citizens to exercise such a powerful gatekeeping function over the ability of other citizens to be satisfactorily housed. It is an asymmetric power relationship that must be considered totally illegitimate between supposedly free citizens.
As a principle that is undeniable. But actually implementing the end of private landlordism is of course extremely fraught and dangerous. But you don't achieve it by caving in to landlord demands.
Waiting lists do change – often the biggest reason is that the definition has changed – National reduced waiting lists by excluding some categories – the same thing happened with hospital waiting lists. It was an easy "win" for National, and much easier than actually improving services. Remember also that National sold off quite a few "state houses," purportedly to local housing organisations. I have not seen any statistics on what happened following those sales, but bearing in mind that the whole state housing stock had declined in repair (which we know from those that were not sold), and that the new owners do not have the capital resources of the state, it is possible that at least some of those houses were sold to maintain the rest, or let to tenants able to pay higher rent.
Over the last few years New Zealand has seen an enormous increase in the renovation of existing houses and the building of new ones – to the extent that we are short of workers, supply chains could not cope (and that is internal supplies as well as international suppliers). That building work has been done by both government and private owners / landlords. That has increased housing supply in both cities and regional towns, and has been done by both government and private developers. Far from minimum standards choking off development, the developers have seen the opportunity for profit. Yes you can point to individual projects of government that did not produce headline completions, but overall New Zealand has a large number more dwellings than when National lost in 2017, and there have also been a large number of "state houses" renovated and more fit for purpose.
But there have been other influences – recent storms took out a large number of houses in some areas, particularly in Auckland and the East Coast. That has put a lot of pressure on housing supply – and we can be proud of the reality that New Zealand has coped well with that pressure; most of those displaced through the destruction of their dwelling have been able to find at least temporary accommodation – but that will have also increased pressure on the supply of state housing.
Knowledge is power, no more so than in the hands of insurance companies when they can use your personal information against you and deny you coverage or hike premiums.
Reading the Sunday Star Times today, you'd think it was hosting the campaign. Luxon has entire front page, 'giving us the message' masquerading as an airline steward like mine today.
She too got the message wrong, like Luxon, saying on the flight briefing we were travelling to the airport where we were leaving from. I don't think he knows where he is going either.
Bought a copy at Wellington Airport. Only $2 rather than $4.50. Discount price to sell Luxon?
I haven’t had enough motivation to read the recent (yesterday?) opinion piece from Luke Malpass, But I guess I will just have to bite the bullet and read it.
Regarding the low effective tax rate of the very wealthy in NZ, I don’t think that it is going away as Mr Malpass seems to think (and hope?).
A Bill will then be introduced to bring these into effect and set up the reporting requirements.
I would like to see these principles enacted in a Bill before the end of the current Parliamentary term.
If Parliament passes it, the Tax Principles Act will take its place alongside the Tax Administration Act and other revenue Acts to create the tax system that New Zealanders can understand and be proud of.
Consider the alternative offered by the owner of a ute parked on the side of the road who inscribed upon his back window about the time Seymour was visiting, the following political, social and economic wisdom-
"F**k the Taxman".
I think Parker is arguing here for some kind of consensus- the consent of the governed. He's saying that smart economies and countries recognise the need for taxation. Social cohesion is a basic necessity- for all. It is brought about by fairness.
That's a good speech by Parker. The argument will be over how much will people agree is fair taxation for fair social outcomes.
The ute owner represents a stupid end of that spectrum. We have to find what is tolerable, acceptable and effective. That's about education, debate, informing. It's about what kind of a society we would have if we lost social cohesion- the consequences of poverty.
In these post covid times, with misinformation and rabbit hole craziness more than ever.
And the middle ground 'no frills' approach will help people see that their taxes are not wasted and spent frivolously but will serve that common purpose of decency, fairness, opportunity for all.
The Taxman most likely paid for the road that the ute was parked on and the roads & infrastructure to get it there and back. The Taxman, in all likelihood, also paid for the limited education of the presumed owner of the ute.
I agree with your comment and I think Parker is onto something that is or at least should be much less controversial than RWs make it out to be.
Elon sycophants are some of the most bizarre fanboys on this side of the incel world, but this wacky gem inexplicably in my timeline has entered Trump-having-lunch-with-Jesus category.
Never before has the UK had this 'pledge of alliegence' for a coronation. I find it creepy, and even creepier to think this might be CIII's idea. The UK is paying $100 mi for the event. CIII's estate runs to $1 bi, including dispensation from tax.
Don't bother with the rest of the article, just pinned it for validation.
But what you and many others fail to recognise is that the trappings of this anachronism brings a massive boost to the British coffers in the form of tourism, and also gives the ordinary citizens of Britain and millions of others throughout the world a chance to be lifted out of their relatively drab existences.
Add to that – and imo the most important feature – the enormous historical significance of many of the beautiful articles of Royal patronage since time immemorial (eg. Westminster Abbey as just one of them)) and the equally magnificent parades of horses and carriages is a sight that gives countless millions enormous pleasure. No-one in the world can do it like the British. I happily admit I am one of them.
Reading the article, it looks as though this 'pledge of allegiance' for the commoners (i.e. the general population) – is replacing the traditional oaths of allegiance of the peers at the coronation.
So, in effect, a populist move, recognizing that the peers (Lords) are no longer a significant force in the governance of the UK.
It gives those who wish to participate an active part in the ceremony (albeit at a remove), rather than simply having their 'oaths' taken on their behalf by their MPs (which they do every time parliament sits).
Those who don't want to, don't have to (in fact, they don't even have to watch – and can take their holiday and go do something else)
As I understand it, the House of Lords does retain political power in forcing amendment of particularly egregious legislation. They must, like MPs, swear alliegance to the Crown on entering the House of Lords, but also on the death of a monarch. Charles is already sworn in by the peers, just not crowned.
This remains a new pledge asked of commoners. Still feels creepy to me.
The point I was making is that this pledge of allegiance by the commons, is replacing the oaths from the Lords in the Coronation ceremony.
Historically, that was a public acknowledgement by the most powerful local warlords that they would obey the King (or, occasionally, Queen). And was a truly important bulwark of the monarchy.
I'd regard the change as a symbolic acknowledgement that the Lords hold little political power any longer.
No doubt any form of formal allegiance would feel 'creepy' to you.
I suggest that you refrain from watching or reading about the coronation – or, any other political change of power, since all of the constitutional elements are likely to disturb you.
Very insightful article on the effect of social media on political life from Rafael Behr, a UK political columnist.
"The more crowded the information marketplace, the harder it is for bland facts to compete with more lurid fare. Palates that are jaded need higher doses of spice. In politics, that creates incentives to wilful provocation. One way to catch the attention of a large audience is to stir a smaller one into a lather of indignation. In politics, infuriating the other side can be an effective campaign technique to amplify a core message."
"Every second of the political day on social media is a referendum on whatever feels most urgent in the moment. The high frequency of that cycle makes it harder to distinguish between what is noisy and what is important. It militates against the debate of priorities, which is part of the negotiation of trade-offs necessary for pluralist politics to function."
The GOP strategy to gerrymander electorates to retain control of states and maximise the GOP seats in the House, and also block access to votes from younger voters and workers is becoming blatant.
Voter suppression of poor people and young people by Tories rife in the UK too, with photo id now required. The list of accredited ids is small and biased to older people and car owners, while getting valid id for voting is not simple.
In accordance with the Act’s stipulations, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has launched a Voter Authority Certificate as an alternative, a document that individuals can apply for online and which is free but requires that you already be registered to vote and supply a recent digital photo, your date of birth and National Insurance number to claim.
That looks like a very simple process to me. And would be pretty much identical to that required for any of the already-accepted forms of ID.
In addition, anyone in the younger age brackets, who wants a drink at their local pub, will have a photo ID already (that's the PASS card).
Note, getting a PASS card is indeed a quick and easy process (although they do charge a fee).
If you want to argue that requiring any form of ID is going to depress voting – that's one thing (and you should produce your argument).
But your current argument, that it's systematically unjust, just doesn't stack up.
AI-generated movies don't quite pass as live action. Yet.
Text-to-Videos are getting insanely powerful. Few years and we will watch Hollywood movies generated by AI. Here are 12 incredible use cases of #Gen-2 changing the industry very rapidly
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
I did some considerable site pruning yesterday, trimming plugins, fixing some errors that crept into the quite old database, and generally doing a tidy on the site and the system that hosts it. It feels a lot faster and lighter after clearing away some of the old plugins.
I don't think that I broke anything because these were almost all things that I'd done on a test system first. But let me know if a feature that used to be there from last week is no longer there on the desktop site.
It is also prep for building a new theme that will
I tested all of the basics yesterday while fixing a bug that has lurked in the system since wordpress 3.6 in 2013. There was a failure in the upgrade from the MU release to the mainline that affected the creations of new multi-sites. It was still in database. Took most of last night to finally find and kill that.
I will also be collecting some of the useful old unmaintained plugins features, simplify them (generally they are coded in a manner that is unmaintainable) and wrap Standard plugins over them.
This is all being done on spare time available – which is usually short. So they may take a while. But I am actually starting to have more spare time….
Those of you who still have logins will be able to beta test and be critical of the new theme earlier. 🙂
Just looked at the numbers of posts, comments media and general storage on the site.
Posts
Comments
302,346 spam comments were blocked so far. This is just one of the automatic anti-spam systems that has been in pace since about 2017. It is the 2nd from final trap.
this is the final trap – these are mostly moderator caught and cleaned periodically.
24515 media items – these are the sites graphics and documents – mostly used in the posts themselves. A few where an author has used a graphic in a comment. And a handful for site graphics.
There are currently about 3-4x other cached graphics used speeding the site. Different sizes of media, different forms of the media (mostly webp these days), and all of your gravators for comments in various forms.
The site lives on /dev/md0 (raid 1 of 2 SSDs and one space) which is mounted on /mnt/TS.
The onsite backup is currently 146 GB made up of weekly full file backups (each 10.6 compressed), hourly database backups (each ~248 MB compressed), and hourly files deltas. This is replicated in two places offsite and usually updated within 20 minutes of the hourly backup.
I keep about 8 weeks on site.
There is a 2 year off site archive (just in case of long term regression issues), I still do a yearly backup of the archive to bluray. I'm kind of paranoid about backups.
Also about privacy. All of the backups are encrypted, and so is the site.
Not sure about traffic these days. The public face is cached out at cloudflare. They report
Previous 30 days
Total Bandwidth 2.54 TB
Cached Bandwidth 74.43 GB
Uncached Bandwidth 2.46 TB
But we watch a lot of streamed TV and audio, run VPNs to work, and do a lot of work on the same link.
So far over April, we did
Domestic In: 398.57 GB
Domestic Out: 403.42 GB
Domestic Total: 801.99 GB
International In: 76.86 GB
International Out: 5.36 TB
International Total 5.44 TB
In Total: 475.42 GB
Out Total: 5.76 TB
Total usage: 6.24 TB
A lot of the international out would have been the Standard either as the site itself or as offline backups.
But we work and backup a lot of material in the cloud. All of my work goes through aussie VPNs because that is where the cloud servers are. I spend a lot of time on hooked into servers in Texas. My partners systems backup internationally and she works on sites offshore. Both of us mostly work from home.
Thanks for the update. It does seem faster now.
For the longest time it has been next to impossible to use the Reply function on an iPhone or iPad because of misbehaviour by the CKEditor widget, the text area was unable to capture focus so I could not type in the comment box.
This seems to be working a bit better. Focus is still failing about 50% of the time, but that's still a big improvement from 99% that I was experiencing. (my only option was to go into the safari settings and turn off javascript). If you want to look into it further, I found a possibly relevant thread on stack overflow…
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14923967/ckeditor-does-not-focus-on-ios-when-tapping-in-text-area
Thanks again for all your work on the site. Nga mihi nui Matua
thanks for the update, and all the mahi Lynn. Looking forward to seeing the new theme.
btw, the site has been running slow for me recently, including this morning. Usually when going to edit something or working the back end, but sometimes just pages too.
Can't really cache the back-end easily normally. So it is usually short-cached.
A lot of it changed last night, so what would normally cache would have required a reload.
Wellington City Council seems intent on ensuring people wanting to go to restaurants, theatres, etc in the inner city have a very difficult time getting there. The people from the suburbs, Porirua, Upper and Lower Hutt will be unable to drive to and park from 7am to 9pm from Courtenay Place to Parliament if Let's Get Wellington Moving proposal is decided on. Given the bus service is unreliable and LGWM want to remove some inner city bus stops, people will find it just too inconvenient to bother. If I have misinterpreted this latest idea please put me right!
Another plan is to remove half the car parks from Molesworth Street and side streets. And to remove two bus stops from Molesworth Street. Makes no sense to me to remove bus stops for those less able to walk further, particularly in bad weather. All this to have more cycleways. I await with interest and scepticism to see all these cyclists.
I personally know a young couple living in inner city Wellington who managed to walk to work, go to cafes etc. But to visit family further afield, get groceries, go to sports practice out of the city, medical appointments etc etc was difficult. They have now got a car park in their building and life is much easier and convenient.
Eh what? There’s bugger all parking along the Golden Mile itself, it’s all on the side streets but don’t let facts spoil a rant. These days though I find it’s far easier just to go to the now council owned car park in Tory St or the one by Les Mills for cheap parking rather than circling around looking. If we’re out for dinner $5 or $8 for parking won’t break the bank.
I live in inner city Wellington too. I walk to work and have to step on to the road frequently due to over-full footpaths. Cycling is far too dangerous for me right now, but sometimes I see more bikes than cars on my walking commute.
I can't wait for the transformation – bikes and scooters separated from walkers and more room for buses to move freely, and it will be a nicer space to be in.
Agree that the public transport needs to be more reliable, but a good pair of shoes, a snapper card and the occasional use of mevos (car rental by the hour) works pretty well for the able-bodied – even if they don't cycle, and is way cheaper, and gives more freedom than owning a vehicle in the inner city.
Despite the promises Labour made about solving the housing crisis prior to becoming elected five years ago, the waiting list for state housing has sky-rocketed.
Back then, the media had a myopic focus on people living in cars. But now, nothing much seems to have changed.
I put a lot of this failure down to the increasingly restrictive rules being placed on landlords. This is effectively an aversive stimulus that discourages landlords from renting out their properties, or makes them extremely fussy about who they will accept as tenants. Hence, the pressure on housing increases.
If that's the case, then we should not allow one group of citizens to exercise such a powerful gatekeeping function over the ability of other citizens to be satisfactorily housed. It is an asymmetric power relationship that must be considered totally illegitimate between supposedly free citizens.
As a principle that is undeniable. But actually implementing the end of private landlordism is of course extremely fraught and dangerous. But you don't achieve it by caving in to landlord demands.
Waiting lists do change – often the biggest reason is that the definition has changed – National reduced waiting lists by excluding some categories – the same thing happened with hospital waiting lists. It was an easy "win" for National, and much easier than actually improving services. Remember also that National sold off quite a few "state houses," purportedly to local housing organisations. I have not seen any statistics on what happened following those sales, but bearing in mind that the whole state housing stock had declined in repair (which we know from those that were not sold), and that the new owners do not have the capital resources of the state, it is possible that at least some of those houses were sold to maintain the rest, or let to tenants able to pay higher rent.
Over the last few years New Zealand has seen an enormous increase in the renovation of existing houses and the building of new ones – to the extent that we are short of workers, supply chains could not cope (and that is internal supplies as well as international suppliers). That building work has been done by both government and private owners / landlords. That has increased housing supply in both cities and regional towns, and has been done by both government and private developers. Far from minimum standards choking off development, the developers have seen the opportunity for profit. Yes you can point to individual projects of government that did not produce headline completions, but overall New Zealand has a large number more dwellings than when National lost in 2017, and there have also been a large number of "state houses" renovated and more fit for purpose.
But there have been other influences – recent storms took out a large number of houses in some areas, particularly in Auckland and the East Coast. That has put a lot of pressure on housing supply – and we can be proud of the reality that New Zealand has coped well with that pressure; most of those displaced through the destruction of their dwelling have been able to find at least temporary accommodation – but that will have also increased pressure on the supply of state housing.
Have the Greens finished their list yet?
Re-ranking started Friday.
Voting closes midday on the 12th May
Knowledge is power, no more so than in the hands of insurance companies when they can use your personal information against you and deny you coverage or hike premiums.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/488907/geneticist-andrew-shelling-calls-for-ban-on-insurers-accessing-genetic-tests
It would have been nice if the article had elaborated more widely on the use of health data, e.g., from smart watches here in NZ.
Is Stuff spearheading National’s election campaign or just the Luxon Charm Offensive?
Reading the Sunday Star Times today, you'd think it was hosting the campaign. Luxon has entire front page, 'giving us the message' masquerading as an airline steward like mine today.
She too got the message wrong, like Luxon, saying on the flight briefing we were travelling to the airport where we were leaving from. I don't think he knows where he is going either.
Bought a copy at Wellington Airport. Only $2 rather than $4.50. Discount price to sell Luxon?
I haven’t had enough motivation to read the recent (yesterday?) opinion piece from Luke Malpass, But I guess I will just have to bite the bullet and read it.
Have you read it?
Yes, just now. The middle of the road, safe, dependable, 'no frills' PM backed by politicians like Wood and McAnulty, Robertson and Parker.
Meanwhile National has to hive off to the right to protect its flank from ACT which is now making a move on a conservative's stronghold in Tamaki.
Labour's left remains unchallenged by strangely ineffectual Greens.
As Malpass asks, will it be down to who is the more dependable and trustworthy between the two Chrises?
I wouldn't trust the one who uses a phone only to speak into, and not to listen as the Sunday Star Times depicts Captain Luxon doing today.
It was pretty vanilla from Mr Malpass.
Regarding the low effective tax rate of the very wealthy in NZ, I don’t think that it is going away as Mr Malpass seems to think (and hope?).
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/shining-light-unfairness-our-tax-system
I find it interesting that “research” has now become such a loaded term.
Consider the alternative offered by the owner of a ute parked on the side of the road who inscribed upon his back window about the time Seymour was visiting, the following political, social and economic wisdom-
"F**k the Taxman".
I think Parker is arguing here for some kind of consensus- the consent of the governed. He's saying that smart economies and countries recognise the need for taxation. Social cohesion is a basic necessity- for all. It is brought about by fairness.
That's a good speech by Parker. The argument will be over how much will people agree is fair taxation for fair social outcomes.
The ute owner represents a stupid end of that spectrum. We have to find what is tolerable, acceptable and effective. That's about education, debate, informing. It's about what kind of a society we would have if we lost social cohesion- the consequences of poverty.
In these post covid times, with misinformation and rabbit hole craziness more than ever.
And the middle ground 'no frills' approach will help people see that their taxes are not wasted and spent frivolously but will serve that common purpose of decency, fairness, opportunity for all.
The Taxman most likely paid for the road that the ute was parked on and the roads & infrastructure to get it there and back. The Taxman, in all likelihood, also paid for the limited education of the presumed owner of the ute.
I agree with your comment and I think Parker is onto something that is or at least should be much less controversial than RWs make it out to be.
The Sunday StarTimes is just another Tory Rag like the Herald .
The cult of Qelon.
Elon sycophants are some of the most bizarre fanboys on this side of the incel world, but this wacky gem inexplicably in my timeline has entered Trump-having-lunch-with-Jesus category.
https://twitter.com/larryfeltonj/status/1652396939785261059
I'm going to give a php 8.1 a test with the web server. May get a few quirks.
Works ok on the test VM. But there are some old plugins – some of which may use deprecated features.
Umm. Probably not WordPress 6.2 still has it on beta with PHP 8.0 – 8.1
Double ummm "The end of life date for PHP 7.4 was November 28, 2022"
I'll try it in a ubuntu 22.04 VM with a full backup. Site will be a slightly slow because I'll do the full backup now.
Mostly deprecation notices for wordpress on PHP 8.x but I need to find the plugins that need updates.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/29/public-invited-to-swear-their-allegiance-as-king-is-crowned
Never before has the UK had this 'pledge of alliegence' for a coronation. I find it creepy, and even creepier to think this might be CIII's idea. The UK is paying $100 mi for the event. CIII's estate runs to $1 bi, including dispensation from tax.
Don't bother with the rest of the article, just pinned it for validation.
Parasites gotta do what parasites gotta do. English royalty – an anachronism from a long time ago.
Yes. You are right. It is an anachronism.
But what you and many others fail to recognise is that the trappings of this anachronism brings a massive boost to the British coffers in the form of tourism, and also gives the ordinary citizens of Britain and millions of others throughout the world a chance to be lifted out of their relatively drab existences.
Add to that – and imo the most important feature – the enormous historical significance of many of the beautiful articles of Royal patronage since time immemorial (eg. Westminster Abbey as just one of them)) and the equally magnificent parades of horses and carriages is a sight that gives countless millions enormous pleasure. No-one in the world can do it like the British. I happily admit I am one of them.
Reading the article, it looks as though this 'pledge of allegiance' for the commoners (i.e. the general population) – is replacing the traditional oaths of allegiance of the peers at the coronation.
So, in effect, a populist move, recognizing that the peers (Lords) are no longer a significant force in the governance of the UK.
It gives those who wish to participate an active part in the ceremony (albeit at a remove), rather than simply having their 'oaths' taken on their behalf by their MPs (which they do every time parliament sits).
Those who don't want to, don't have to (in fact, they don't even have to watch – and can take their holiday and go do something else)
Not sure why you regard it as 'creepy'.
As I understand it, the House of Lords does retain political power in forcing amendment of particularly egregious legislation. They must, like MPs, swear alliegance to the Crown on entering the House of Lords, but also on the death of a monarch. Charles is already sworn in by the peers, just not crowned.
This remains a new pledge asked of commoners. Still feels creepy to me.
The point I was making is that this pledge of allegiance by the commons, is replacing the oaths from the Lords in the Coronation ceremony.
Historically, that was a public acknowledgement by the most powerful local warlords that they would obey the King (or, occasionally, Queen). And was a truly important bulwark of the monarchy.
I'd regard the change as a symbolic acknowledgement that the Lords hold little political power any longer.
No doubt any form of formal allegiance would feel 'creepy' to you.
I suggest that you refrain from watching or reading about the coronation – or, any other political change of power, since all of the constitutional elements are likely to disturb you.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/29/antisocial-how-putting-away-my-phone-helped-me-recover-from-a-heart-attack
Very insightful article on the effect of social media on political life from Rafael Behr, a UK political columnist.
"The more crowded the information marketplace, the harder it is for bland facts to compete with more lurid fare. Palates that are jaded need higher doses of spice. In politics, that creates incentives to wilful provocation. One way to catch the attention of a large audience is to stir a smaller one into a lather of indignation. In politics, infuriating the other side can be an effective campaign technique to amplify a core message."
"Every second of the political day on social media is a referendum on whatever feels most urgent in the moment. The high frequency of that cycle makes it harder to distinguish between what is noisy and what is important. It militates against the debate of priorities, which is part of the negotiation of trade-offs necessary for pluralist politics to function."
The GOP strategy to gerrymander electorates to retain control of states and maximise the GOP seats in the House, and also block access to votes from younger voters and workers is becoming blatant.
Only part way through the vid so not sure if he mentioned Texas' plans to limit polling places.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/texas-senate-passes-bill-end-countywide-voting-election-day-rcna80829
Also, Florida man.
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/01/florida-republican-leader-seeks-to-decertify-democrats-ban-democratic-party/69953767007/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/voter-id-rules-polling-station-local-elections-b2329402.html
Voter suppression of poor people and young people by Tories rife in the UK too, with photo id now required. The list of accredited ids is small and biased to older people and car owners, while getting valid id for voting is not simple.
Looks to me as though the UK have this covered.
From your article:
That looks like a very simple process to me. And would be pretty much identical to that required for any of the already-accepted forms of ID.
In addition, anyone in the younger age brackets, who wants a drink at their local pub, will have a photo ID already (that's the PASS card).
Note, getting a PASS card is indeed a quick and easy process (although they do charge a fee).
If you want to argue that requiring any form of ID is going to depress voting – that's one thing (and you should produce your argument).
But your current argument, that it's systematically unjust, just doesn't stack up.
AI-generated movies don't quite pass as live action. Yet.
Text-to-Videos are getting insanely powerful. Few years and we will watch Hollywood movies generated by AI. Here are 12 incredible use cases of #Gen-2 changing the industry very rapidly
https://twitter.com/heyBarsee/status/1651961767810179072