Watkin tends to think that Brash will create more problems for National and Key than he solves, opening up questions about contentious issues that Key thought he’d laid to rest. I tend to see National as benefitting from a Brash-led Act, though.
And Watkin provides this link to an animated reminded of Brash of yesteryear:
Watkin is right – Brash gives Labour someone to discredit, whereas Rodney had already done the job (on) himself. It adds a measure of uncertainty that Brash’s opponents can use to drive their vote up.
A couple of other things that Brash has that Rodney doesn’t – (a) he has policy to frighten people with, and he doesn’t resile from it, and (b) there’s plenty of dirt on Brash that hasn’t come out, yet.
Having said that, Labour have had plenty of opportunities over the last 2.5 years and have missed more than they have hit. It seems like they forgot how to be the opposition, because they were in government for so long.
Stuff has an interesting poll on what people think of Brash as a minister. Keeping in mind that Stuff polls are not particularly reliable, it’s 20% for and 80% against. The results, as presented, indicate that it’s only the miniscule percent of the population that support ACT and less than half of National’s support that would like to see Brash as a minister. Food for thought for National.
Is John Banks peak oil aware?
Well in 2002 (ish) when he had his radio show I faxed him a 2 page version of this – http://oilcrash.com/articles/running.htm I know he at least read some of it because he read a few lines out over the air.
Not that it mattered back then or now, as the pig ignorant public don’t give a toss )
Other than giving me the opportunity to laugh at the local loons as they make goats of themselves I’ve not paid much attention to the birther issue but this bloke calls it like it is.
So, tears in my eyes, pain in my heart and rage in my soul, I composed this video message. More than written text, it comes close to expressing my full pain at witnessing a white man who was handed everything call the President of the United States (and me) a nigger.
Even the experts have no agreement.
Fran O’Sullivan: “…..Don Brash has already staked a claim for a top finance role in John Key’s next Government.”
But John Armstrong says “Key’s ruling out of any likelihood of Brash becoming the finance minister is an important signal…….”
Armstrong again: “Brash also wants Key to strip Hide of his ministerial portfolios – an option which Key has now conveniently told Brash is within the Act leader’s discretion.”
After all Hide and Brash have been friends for more than 15 years.
You could’nt spend 5 million every year.
But you HAVE to spend 50k a year to survive
And then there’s the other 70 odd% that dont even get 20k a year.
But then again no Politician seems to care, we don’t hear of them decrying these increases, and ol’ Shonkey and Blinglish will love this as it will add more fuel to their AVERAGE wages have increased by X% Bullshit.
This to me is the real gem within the article “…But John McGill, chairman of remuneration consultants Strategic Pay, says the chief executives of New Zealand’s largest firms are not overpaid, especially when compared with their counterparts overseas..” Why then do we not do the same analysis for those below the CEO level. So the CEO deserves remuneration on a international scale yet the rest of us should be paid on a domestic scale. Something is not as consistenant as it should be.
Pity many political parties will base there tax system on these few but capture so many more who are just above the waterline in maintaining the household budget.
The gilded grifter, Donald Trump, got his little waterloo this week, Joe90 linked to a great piece above that folks should check out with regard to apart of what it all means on a human level.
Johann Hari writes about what it means for the GOP, and he gets much of it dead right:
It has long claimed that evolution is a myth believed in only by whiny liberals – and it turns out it was on to something. Every six months, the party venerates a new hero, and each time it is somebody further back on the evolutionary scale.
Sarah Palin told cheering rallies that her message to the world was: “We’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American way!” – but that wasn’t enough. So the party found Michele Bachmann, who said darkly it was an “interesting coincidence” that swine flu only breaks out under Democratic presidents, claims the message of The Lion King is “I’m better at what I do because I’m gay”, and argues “there isn’t even one study that can be produced that shows carbon dioxide is a harmful gas.”
That wasn’t enough. I half-expected the next contender to be a lung-fish draped in the Stars and Stripes. But it wasn’t anything so sophisticated. Enter stage (far) right Donald Trump, the bewigged billionaire who has filled America with phallic symbols and plastered his name across more surfaces than the average Central Asian dictator. CNN’s polling suggests he is the most popular candidate among Republican voters. It’s not hard to see why. Trump is every trend in Republican politics over the past 35 years taken to its logical conclusion. He is the Republican id, finally entirely unleashed from all restraint and all reality.
As an intro to the grotesque that is the decaying corpse of the Party of Lincoln, that’s pretty much it. He goes on to describe the disease, again, pretty accurately in my view.
Naked imperialism.
Dog-whistled prejudice.
The raw worship of wealth as an end in itself.
The insistence that “any fact inconvenient to your world view simply doesn’t exist, or can be overcome by pure willpower”
There are a few symptoms I would be tempted to add to that list, but they are mostly subsets of those already listed. Those four are the core.
Where he goes wrong, I suspect, is in his conclusion:
Trump probably won’t become the Republican nominee, but not because most Republicans reject his premisses. No: it will be because he states these arguments too crudely for mass public consumption. He takes the whispered dogmas of the Reagan, Bush and Tea Party years and shrieks them through a megaphone. The nominee will share similar ideas, but express them more subtly. In case you think these ideas are marginal to the party, remember – it has united behind the budget plan of Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan. It’s simple: it halves taxes on the richest 1 percent and ends all taxes on corporate income, dividends, and inheritance. It pays for it by slashing spending on food stamps, healthcare for the poor and the elderly, and basic services. It aims to return the US to the spending levels of the 1920s – and while Ryan frames it as a response to the deficit, it would actually increase it according to the independent Center for Budget and Policy Priorities
I agree that Trump won’t be the nominee, but I think that whoever it is will either be just as crude, or fatally weak in support from the GOP electorate. The crudeness of Trump’s campaign is itself an expression of the fourth pillar. To be less in denial with reality is to compromise with the enemy. They are are party defined and refined into walking shibboleths. The extent to say these things is the extent to which a candidate is prepared to stick with the tribe of real ‘murkins. The extent to which they are one of ‘us’ rather than than one of ‘them’.
The reason Trump won’t get the candidacy is that, ironically enough, he won’t release his own documents, because if he did the gig would be up on his claim to be an exemplar of the third pillar.
Pity that Rodney didn’t do the same. Then there would be two fires raging. Actually I think that this close to an election the Parliament has the right to block such a by-election if 70% (?) vote to block it. After about the 20 May you can’t anyway.
However if Hone resigns on Monday and next week MPs vote to block the by-election where will Hone be afterwards? Unprecedented?
When a vacancy arises, the Speaker of the House of Representatives publishes a notice of the vacancy in the New Zealand Gazette. Within 21 days of that notice, the Governor-General must issue the writ directing the Chief Electoral Officer to conduct an election in the electorate. The writ sets out the key dates for the by-election: namely, the last day for the lodging of nominations of candidates, election day, and the last day for the return of the writ with the name of the elected candidate endorsed on its back….
…A by-election is not required if –
(a)The vacancy arises within 6 months of the date on which Parliament would expire (the six month period for the 49th Parliament begins on 28 May 2011); or
(b)The Prime Minister informs the House of Representatives in writing that a general election will be held witin 6 months of the vacancy –
and 75% or more members of the House of Representatives resolve that a writ for a by-election not be issued.
As I understand that because he is resigning slightly more than 6 months out, then the by-election must be held. That can change only if Key brings the general election forward and 75% of the house vote to leave the seat empty.
Interesting , Hone is basically calling the Nacts out on an election date or the Nacts risk a vote that they need Labours support for. Am I reading this right?
Will it mean that once Hone resigns he would no longer enjoy the benefits of being an MP?
Will his by-election be funded given that it is a new Party and will have been long gone after the registration date in March?
Graeme Edgeler on Public Address” The process by which this money is allocated is convoluted. It starts many months before the election when parties (or prospective parties) are required to advise the Commission in writing that they wish to be considered. ………
…..And on 17 March this year, just before the 5pm deadline, I asked the Electoral Commission who had applied……….. The Maori Party has applied, but Hone Harawira’s Mana Party has not (Hone the candidate will be allowed radio and tv advertising as part of his $25k spending limit, but it won’t be able to push a party vote and it won’t be publicly funded).” http://publicaddress.net/legalbeagle/adventures-in-the-oia-or-why-don-brash-wanted/
Yeah, he’s already missed the publicly funded tv stuff, so this won’t change that. He’ll still get his parliamentary funding, and I’m not sure what, if any, the effect of re-testing his mandate will be.
But if Hone is elected as a Mana Party candidate in a by-election, doesn’t that mean his Mana Party will get funding for the general election …. as he would be the sitting member for the Mana Party?
The only reason more politicians aren’t on my list is none of the others were stinking up the TV news this evening………. if they piss me off this much now I expect to be homicidal in another few months.
I was going to write a long rant about all the reasons this by-election is a gift to the Right.
But it’s Saturday night and I can’t be bothered wasting time on such stupidity. All you need to do is ask yourselves what the media/country should be focusing on instead, and who doesn’t want to focus on those things. Yep, John Key owes Hone a big bunch of flowers.
I think more of a gift to the Right, is Phil Goff ruling out working with the Mana Party.
The Mana Party is essentially the old Alliance remember them?
Mana Motuhake
New Labour
The Democrats
The Greens
They are probably capable of taking 5% of the vote and collecting 7/8 MP’s
They will most certainly take the hard lefties from the Green with them.. Which is great for the environmentally focused Greens.
Interestingly The Greens have been moving more to the centre in recent times and now have a party to the left of them [Mana]which is very interesting in terms of perception.
It could be argued that Greens now freed up to be a more environmental party will surely mop more then a few Blue/Greens votes The Greens list for example, has more environmentalists on it then lefties, the first in a long time.
If we had a resurgent Labour Party National may well be on the ropes in November.
If..
“I think more of a gift to the Right, is Phil Goff ruling out working with the Mana Party.”
The Mana Party’s first decision was to call an expensive, pointless, distracting, self-indulgent by-election that nobody needs. This will be opposed by 99% of the voters.
If that’s the level of stupidity that the party aspires to, Phil Goff – or any other Labour leader – should treat them with the contempt they deserve.
Lynn – if you click on an authors name, it’ll take you to a listing of all of their posts.
But if their name has a space in it, eg Marty G or Mike Smith, then it just takes you to the main page. This is quite irritating, since search is broken at the moment.
Apropos of very little, Pagani’s blogging is not too bad a read since the recent fox pass – certainly prolific and arguably terriffic, worthy of a comment I thought but beggared if I can manage one, any techspurts able to enlighten a relic as to how to log in when it keeps telling you you haven’t logged in so cant log in so email but sorry havent got ur email so you cant email or something?
…same applies to TUMEKE, yet i can slip into dimpost like a suppository smeared with Key-juice….barriers, tech brothers an sisters, break em down for us ole felks
In Australia the Government actually has plans to create jobs … !!!!!!!
NZ Govt aware of Aussie jobs threat
Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said government’s budget would help create half a million jobs over the next two years to deal with a skills shortage in sectors such as mining, and to replace retiring baby boomers.
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Nothing more from me today - I'm off to Wellington, to participate in the city's annual roleplaying convention (which has also eaten my time for the whole week, limiting blogging despite there being interesting things happening). Normal bloggage will resume Tuesday. ...
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by Daphna Whitmore Twitter and Facebook shutting down Trump’s accounts after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill is old news now but the debates continue over whether the actions against Trump are a good thing or not. Those in favour of banning Trump say Twitter and Facebook are private companies and ...
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The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The whānau of Te Ahikaiata Turei supported by Māori and non-Māori staff at Unitec will take back a portrait of the Tūhoe leader who led the establishment of Te Noho Kotahitanga Marae and the values that brought the institute back from the brink of ...
A poll across the Early Childhood Education community found 93% in favour of pausing the ‘lunchbox rules’, or the Ministry of Education’s new Food Safety/choking changes to the Licensing Criteria, which came into effect on 25 January. “The message ...
Cycling advocates are calling for the transformation of urban transport, as New Zealand races to cut carbon. The Climate Change Commission will release its initial advice on Sunday 31 January. “Bikes and e-bikes are perfect for many local trips, ...
Three Ministers, led by the PM, joined in chorus today to warble about a bunch of measures aimed at helping to meet New Zealand’s 2050 carbon neutral target, create new jobs and boost innovation. Mind you, the measures mentioned seem to be more matters of decisions yet to be made ...
Michelle Kidd defines her role at Auckland’s specialist family violence court as te kaiwhakatere – the navigator. It’s a one-of-a-kind job, helping guide defendants through the court system. And there’s no one better suited to it than Whaea Michelle.First published November 24, 2020.Whaea Michelle is part of Frame, a series of short ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sallie Yea, Associate professor & Principal Research Fellow, La Trobe University Each year, thousands of men and boys labour under extremely exploitative conditions on commercial fishing vessels owned by Taiwanese, Chinese and South Korean companies. The Taiwanese fleet, which operates in all ...
Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis believes the Crown should maintain responsibility for the care and protection of at-risk and vulnerable children, regardless of their race. Moreover, he is confident his all-Maori team of advisers will not be taking race into account as they help to improve Oranga Tamariki’s care and protection of ...
It’s easy to sacrifice John Banks. It’s a lot harder for brands, sports organisations and government to truly stop funding racism. Are they willing to try?Yesterday John Banks, the former Auckland mayor and MP, became subject to one of the fastest firings in media history when audio covering his approving ...
A community is outraged after Auckland Council granted consent for a row of trees planted by local kids to be removed along a revitalised waterway in South Auckland, reports Justin Latif. An Auckland Council decision to give contractors the all-clear to chop down 12 mānuka and kānuka trees shading Māngere’s Tararata ...
Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu hopes that the recent changes to Oranga Tamariki leadership present an opportunity for a long overdue paradigm shift that will place whānau at the heart of the child welfare sector. Pouārahi Helen Leahy says that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rice, Professor of Management, University of New England Elon Musk is now the world’s richest person, edging out previous title holder Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. His rocketing fortune is due to the booming share price of Tesla, the maker of electric vehicles ...
There are now three returnees who contracted the virus in the Auckland isolation facility then left into the community while positive. These are some of the questions that need to be resolved. At 10.20pm last night the Ministry of Health confirmed that the two cases they’d been treating as probable ...
Having a hard time remembering to scan in on the NZ Covid Tracer app when you’re out and about? Get this song stuck in your head and you’ll never forget again.Learn the lyrics:Aotearoa, it’s time to get scanning!I mean if you think about it, it never really wasn’t time we ...
We conclude our week-long examination of New Zealand writer Roderick Finlayson with a review of his stories by John Newton Roger Hickin’s Cold Hub Press is one of the small miracles of contemporary New Zealand publishing. Over the last decade, on what can only be a shoe-string budget, the ...
Thursday 28th January, AUCKLAND: Drive Electric, the not-for-profit with one mission – making electric vehicle uptake in New Zealand mainstream, welcomes the announcement by the Government today as a sign of what’s to come through 2021, and we are confident ...
The Government announced today key policy decisions on the proposed clean car policies. The MIA has stated on many occasions that we support well thought out and constructive policies that will lead to an increased rate in the reduction of CO2 emissions from ...
Get wild, get cultured, get fed and then get to bed: the essential guide to a perfect few days in the southern city. There’s one thing that preoccupies the staff of The Spinoff almost as much as arranging popular food items into arbitrary lists, and that’s Dunedin. A quite remarkable ...
John Banks’ racist exchange with a Magic Talk listener on Tuesday was the latest in nearly 50 years of talkback controversies. Donna Chisholm has the receipts.John Banks axed over Māori ‘stone age culture’ comments on Magic Talk1972: On Radio I, sports talkback host Tim Bickerstaff launches a “Punch a Pom ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission.Two new community Covid-19 cases have been identified as the more infectious South African variant, but Auckland Mayor Phil Goff sayit would be "premature to go into lockdown now". The two new cases of Covid-19 identified in the ...
Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine in Southland to Fonterra’s ...
KiwiRail STOP Hauling COAL Today, for the second time in two months Dunedin climate protectors have locked themselves to the railway tracks outside the Dunedin Railway station to stop the KiwiRail coal train from Bathurst Resources’ Takitimu mine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Dunn, Associate professor, University of Sydney The government is rolling out a new public information campaign this week to reassure the public about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, which one expert has said “couldn’t be more crucial” to people actually getting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Therese O’Sullivan, Associate Professor, Edith Cowan University The COVID vaccine rollout has placed the issue of vaccination firmly in the spotlight. A successful rollout will depend on a variety of factors, one of which is vaccine acceptance. One potential hurdle to vaccine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bernard Walker, Associate Professor in Organisations and Leadership, University of Canterbury Kiwis know what it’s like when life throws curveballs. We’ve had major quakes, floods, fires, an eruption, a terrorist attack and now a pandemic. In those situations, it’s the ability to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Irwin, Emeritus professor, Murdoch University While we continue to be occupied with the COVID pandemic, another life-threatening disease has emerged in northern Australia, one that’s cause for considerable alarm for the millions of dog owners around the country. This disease — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cath Ferguson, Academic, Edith Cowan University Almost half of Australian adults struggle with reading. Similar levels of struggling readers are reported in the United Kingdom and United States. This does not mean all struggling readers are illiterate. It means they often struggle ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abbas Shieh, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Design, Islamic Azad University The industrial revolution transformed cities, resulting in places of residence and work becoming more distant than ever before. This spatial segregation is still largely embedded in the design of our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Review: Occupation: Rainfall, written and directed by Luke Sparke Historically, when a sequel to a film was greenlit, you could rest assured this was because the first film made a ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 28, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Tourism suffers in the shadow of Covid-19, two new positive cases in Auckland confirmed, and National will contest the Māori electorates.The front page of the January 4 Greymouth Star carried grim tidings for several of the glacier towns on the ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Two people who left managed isolation on January 15 have been confirmed as positive Covid-19 cases, with the Ministry of Health urging anyone who visited the same locations during the same time period as the infected pair in Auckland to ...
The watchlist of 'offensive or unreasonable' babies' names is to be reviewed, to include more names from other languages. Generations of the Īhaka family have played a meaningful role in bringing Te Reo and stories of Māori to our wider community. Archdeacon Sir Kīngi Matutaera Īhaka (Te Aupōuri, 1921-93) was known as the orator of ...
After Morocco’s flagrant violation of the terms of the ceasefire in Western Sahara on Friday 13 November 2020 war broke out between the two sides. In the midst of this war Tauranga based Ballance Agri-Nutrients has decided to carry on importing phosphate ...
Nicholas Agar suggests that our handling of the pandemic could be partly down to our distinctive Treaty of Waitangi relationship, and Māori ideas that enabled us to make it through without tens of thousands of deaths A mission for universities in the coming decade will be a deep understanding of the meaning ...
A young girl who once sent $5 to an embattled America's Cup team is now among the women on the water helping run the contest for the Auld Mug. As an eager and generous nine-year-old, Melanie Roberts posted a letter, with a $5 note, to OneAustralia’s America’s Cup team. It was 1995, ...
At 5am today, cock’s crow, the embargo lifted on the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist. Here are the books in the race, followed by thoughts from poetry editor Chris Tse and books editor Catherine Woulfe. A shortlist of four books in each category will be announced March 3, with ...
Ignoring those QR codes when you drop into the supermarket? Can’t be bothered when you grab a coffee? The people serving you notice, and you’re freaking them out.So far, New Zealanders’ use of the Covid-19 Tracer app has been notably woeful. Food industry workers who’ve watched streams of customers walk ...
Steve Braunias reveals the longlist of the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards Apart from one or two unfortunate omissions which cast doubt on the sanity and intellectual acumen of judges, especially the nobodies who judged this year's non-fiction, the longlist for the 2021 Ockham New Zealand book awards is ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea’s biggest hospital is straining to provide medical services to the growing population of the capital Port Moresby – with an estimated growth rate of 3 percent annually, a medical executive says. Port Moresby General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Paki Molumi ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Nationals who attend Thursday’s memorial service in Tweed Heads for Doug Anthony, who died last month aged 90, may muse on the contrast between the state of their party when he led it and now. ...
Returning to quarantine-free travel in 2021 doesn't just need a vaccine, but a way to check whether arriving passengers are actually immune to the virus. A smart Kiwi science start-up is working with a global biometrics giant to make that happen. A deal signed between Kiwi research and development company Orbis Diagnostics, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlyn Forster, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney This summer’s wetter conditions have created great conditions for flowering plants. Flowers provide sweet nectar and protein-rich pollen, attracting many insects, including bees. Commercial honey bees are also thriving: ...
Lotto scratchie tickets featuring the pop band Six60 are being withdrawn after a public backlash. In a statement, Lotto NZ said there had been a mutual decision made with the band to remove the tickets from sale following the negative feedback, and it offered an apology. The band faced criticism, both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Shell-crushing predation was already in full swing half a billion years ago, as our new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B reveals. A hyena devouring ...
Vodafone has suspended advertising on the radio station amid calls for talkback host John Banks to be taken off air after yet another racist outburst. Alex Braae reports. In an alarming segment of talkback radio, former Auckland mayor John Banks endorsed the views of a caller who described Māori as a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Welch, Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland When a COVID-19 case was found in Northland last Sunday, Aotearoa’s second-longest period with no detected community case came to an end. ESR scientists worked late into Sunday night to obtain a whole genome sequence ...
He has the perfect moustache, an exceptional mullet, and he uses terms like ‘face hole’ on national TV. Who or what is Dr Joel Rindelaub?I was drawn in by the moustache, but it was the mullet that really kept me there. Watching TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning I was fixated. Often, ...
We’ll never be royals with nearly a quarter of declined baby names featuring “Royal” in some form or another. Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs has released the list of names declined in 2020 by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and ...
After a raft of inquiries delving into and recommending what should be done about the politically beleaguered Orangi Tamaraki, along with the briefing papers we suppose he has been given, we imagined Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis would have no more need for expert advice. Wrong. He has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vincent Ho, Senior Lecturer and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University There’s a common assumption men take longer than women to poo. People say so on Twitter, in memes, and elsewhereonline. But is that right? What could explain it? And if ...
Just as sexuality is a spectrum, so too is asexuality. In Ace of Hearts, members of New Zealand’s asexual community talk about the challenges and misconceptions of identifying as ace.First published November 17, 2020.Ace of Hearts is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff.“A ...
Sam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time.My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda. “Since the illegal Indonesian invasion in 1963, Indonesian ...
“The Government’s failure to even conduct a standard cost-benefit analysis for the most expensive infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history is mind-bogglingly arrogant,” says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “A ...
The Ministry of Health is today drawing backlash from the local New Zealand vaping industry following its release of proposed regulations for the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act. Vaping Trade Association New Zealand (VTANZ) President, ...
Sophie Gilmour and Simon Day are joined by special guest Hugo Baird, co-owner of Grey Lynn’s Honey Bones and Lilian, to talk about opening new pub Hotel Ponsonby.Auckland is a city of many bars but few really good pubs – the kind of places you’d be just as comfortable going ...
The appointment of an advisory board for Oranga Tamariki is welcome and should be a step toward a total transformation of the care and protection system to a by Māori, for Māori approach, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said today. Minister ...
Taking control of your financial wellbeing can have cascading positive impacts for your life and it can also be fun. With the help of the team at Kiwi Wealth, we’ve compiled some simple tricks for balancing your books in 2021. There’s something about the beginning of a new year, especially after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology As we know, getting into New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult. There are practicalities, such as high airfare and managed isolation costs. And there are legal requirements, including pre-flight testing, mandatory ...
New Zealand faces the risk of a generation being locked out of the housing market unless land is freed up and more houses built, National Party leader Judith Collins says. ...
On Sunday, Stuff published a months-long investigation by Alison Mau detailing allegations of harassment and exploitation within the local music industry.The piece, ‘Music industry professionals demand change after speaking out about its dark side’, includes allegations of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power by male artists, international acts and executives; ...
“The Government is all at sea on timelines for Australia and New Zealand’s respective vaccine roll-outs, with the worst news coming from the mouth of Pfizer Australia CEO Anne Harris,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Yesterday, under increasing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised the US would demonstrate “global leadership on refugees”. Once elected, he pledged to vastly increase refugee resettlement in the US. If history is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Among the many hard truths exposed by COVID-19 is the huge disparity between the world’s rich and poor. As economies went into freefall, the world’s billionaires increased their already ...
Some interesting comments from Tim Watkin over at Pundit on Brash and Act:
http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/is-brash-really-the-saviour-of-the-right
Watkin tends to think that Brash will create more problems for National and Key than he solves, opening up questions about contentious issues that Key thought he’d laid to rest. I tend to see National as benefitting from a Brash-led Act, though.
And Watkin provides this link to an animated reminded of Brash of yesteryear:
http://www.labour.net.nz/gonebylunchtime/
Watkin is right – Brash gives Labour someone to discredit, whereas Rodney had already done the job (on) himself. It adds a measure of uncertainty that Brash’s opponents can use to drive their vote up.
A couple of other things that Brash has that Rodney doesn’t – (a) he has policy to frighten people with, and he doesn’t resile from it, and (b) there’s plenty of dirt on Brash that hasn’t come out, yet.
Having said that, Labour have had plenty of opportunities over the last 2.5 years and have missed more than they have hit. It seems like they forgot how to be the opposition, because they were in government for so long.
Stuff has an interesting poll on what people think of Brash as a minister. Keeping in mind that Stuff polls are not particularly reliable, it’s 20% for and 80% against. The results, as presented, indicate that it’s only the miniscule percent of the population that support ACT and less than half of National’s support that would like to see Brash as a minister. Food for thought for National.
From 1996: Toward an apartheid economy</a..
Is John Banks peak oil aware?
Well in 2002 (ish) when he had his radio show I faxed him a 2 page version of this – http://oilcrash.com/articles/running.htm I know he at least read some of it because he read a few lines out over the air.
Not that it mattered back then or now, as the pig ignorant public don’t give a toss )
Other than giving me the opportunity to laugh at the local loons as they make goats of themselves I’ve not paid much attention to the birther issue but this bloke calls it like it is.
So, tears in my eyes, pain in my heart and rage in my soul, I composed this video message. More than written text, it comes close to expressing my full pain at witnessing a white man who was handed everything call the President of the United States (and me) a nigger.
Even the experts have no agreement.
Fran O’Sullivan: “…..Don Brash has already staked a claim for a top finance role in John Key’s next Government.”
But John Armstrong says “Key’s ruling out of any likelihood of Brash becoming the finance minister is an important signal…….”
Armstrong again: “Brash also wants Key to strip Hide of his ministerial portfolios – an option which Key has now conveniently told Brash is within the Act leader’s discretion.”
After all Hide and Brash have been friends for more than 15 years.
And just to make us feel better we have the Herald running this nice little gem on the Bosses wage increases.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10722406
I see the workers got 1.7%
You could’nt spend 5 million every year.
But you HAVE to spend 50k a year to survive
And then there’s the other 70 odd% that dont even get 20k a year.
But then again no Politician seems to care, we don’t hear of them decrying these increases, and ol’ Shonkey and Blinglish will love this as it will add more fuel to their AVERAGE wages have increased by X% Bullshit.
All grist to the spin mill.
This to me is the real gem within the article “…But John McGill, chairman of remuneration consultants Strategic Pay, says the chief executives of New Zealand’s largest firms are not overpaid, especially when compared with their counterparts overseas..” Why then do we not do the same analysis for those below the CEO level. So the CEO deserves remuneration on a international scale yet the rest of us should be paid on a domestic scale. Something is not as consistenant as it should be.
Pity many political parties will base there tax system on these few but capture so many more who are just above the waterline in maintaining the household budget.
The gilded grifter, Donald Trump, got his little waterloo this week, Joe90 linked to a great piece above that folks should check out with regard to apart of what it all means on a human level.
Johann Hari writes about what it means for the GOP, and he gets much of it dead right:
As an intro to the grotesque that is the decaying corpse of the Party of Lincoln, that’s pretty much it. He goes on to describe the disease, again, pretty accurately in my view.
Naked imperialism.
Dog-whistled prejudice.
The raw worship of wealth as an end in itself.
The insistence that “any fact inconvenient to your world view simply doesn’t exist, or can be overcome by pure willpower”
There are a few symptoms I would be tempted to add to that list, but they are mostly subsets of those already listed. Those four are the core.
Where he goes wrong, I suspect, is in his conclusion:
I agree that Trump won’t be the nominee, but I think that whoever it is will either be just as crude, or fatally weak in support from the GOP electorate. The crudeness of Trump’s campaign is itself an expression of the fourth pillar. To be less in denial with reality is to compromise with the enemy. They are are party defined and refined into walking shibboleths. The extent to say these things is the extent to which a candidate is prepared to stick with the tribe of real ‘murkins. The extent to which they are one of ‘us’ rather than than one of ‘them’.
The reason Trump won’t get the candidacy is that, ironically enough, he won’t release his own documents, because if he did the gig would be up on his claim to be an exemplar of the third pillar.
Hone Harawira to quit – forces By-election
http://www.3news.co.nz/Hone-Harawira-to-resign-from-Parliament/tabid/419/articleID/209202/Default.aspx
Pity that Rodney didn’t do the same. Then there would be two fires raging. Actually I think that this close to an election the Parliament has the right to block such a by-election if 70% (?) vote to block it. After about the 20 May you can’t anyway.
However if Hone resigns on Monday and next week MPs vote to block the by-election where will Hone be afterwards? Unprecedented?
Would “then this new party then lose out on funding for Nov’s general election- As they would not have a current party rep in parliament?
Here’s what the electoral commission says:
http://www.elections.org.nz/elections/by-elections/by-elections.html
As I understand that because he is resigning slightly more than 6 months out, then the by-election must be held. That can change only if Key brings the general election forward and 75% of the house vote to leave the seat empty.
Interesting , Hone is basically calling the Nacts out on an election date or the Nacts risk a vote that they need Labours support for. Am I reading this right?
Will it mean that once Hone resigns he would no longer enjoy the benefits of being an MP?
Will his by-election be funded given that it is a new Party and will have been long gone after the registration date in March?
Graeme Edgeler on Public Address” The process by which this money is allocated is convoluted. It starts many months before the election when parties (or prospective parties) are required to advise the Commission in writing that they wish to be considered. ………
…..And on 17 March this year, just before the 5pm deadline, I asked the Electoral Commission who had applied……….. The Maori Party has applied, but Hone Harawira’s Mana Party has not (Hone the candidate will be allowed radio and tv advertising as part of his $25k spending limit, but it won’t be able to push a party vote and it won’t be publicly funded).”
http://publicaddress.net/legalbeagle/adventures-in-the-oia-or-why-don-brash-wanted/
Yeah, he’s already missed the publicly funded tv stuff, so this won’t change that. He’ll still get his parliamentary funding, and I’m not sure what, if any, the effect of re-testing his mandate will be.
But if Hone is elected as a Mana Party candidate in a by-election, doesn’t that mean his Mana Party will get funding for the general election …. as he would be the sitting member for the Mana Party?
Not by my reading of the Edgeler post. If you haven’t applied by March 17 Hone misses out – I think.
Maybe it hasn’t arisen before Carol.
He is demonstrably a fucking halfwit
people I would like to punch in the face at the mo.
Wendy Petrie
John Key
Hone Hariwira
Don Brash
Just go easy with Don. He’s an old frail man.
Can I kick him in the butt ?
You didn’t put Winnie on that list 😈
You could probably punch him in the dick without mortally wounding him.
Who wears glasses.
But, he is willing to sell off both your children and their assets.
So, close call, surely.
The only reason more politicians aren’t on my list is none of the others were stinking up the TV news this evening………. if they piss me off this much now I expect to be homicidal in another few months.
I’ve always found Rescue Remedy good for times like this 🙂
If by “rescue remedy” you mean “pharmaceutical grade morphine” then yes, it is.
higherstandard: straddling the centre like a galoshes. Still, it’s progress…(the curse of a good memory, eh liarstan?)
Go suck the shriveled previous member for Tauranga.
I was going to write a long rant about all the reasons this by-election is a gift to the Right.
But it’s Saturday night and I can’t be bothered wasting time on such stupidity. All you need to do is ask yourselves what the media/country should be focusing on instead, and who doesn’t want to focus on those things. Yep, John Key owes Hone a big bunch of flowers.
Nuff said.
I think more of a gift to the Right, is Phil Goff ruling out working with the Mana Party.
The Mana Party is essentially the old Alliance remember them?
Mana Motuhake
New Labour
The Democrats
The Greens
They are probably capable of taking 5% of the vote and collecting 7/8 MP’s
They will most certainly take the hard lefties from the Green with them.. Which is great for the environmentally focused Greens.
Interestingly The Greens have been moving more to the centre in recent times and now have a party to the left of them [Mana]which is very interesting in terms of perception.
It could be argued that Greens now freed up to be a more environmental party will surely mop more then a few Blue/Greens votes The Greens list for example, has more environmentalists on it then lefties, the first in a long time.
If we had a resurgent Labour Party National may well be on the ropes in November.
If..
“I think more of a gift to the Right, is Phil Goff ruling out working with the Mana Party.”
The Mana Party’s first decision was to call an expensive, pointless, distracting, self-indulgent by-election that nobody needs. This will be opposed by 99% of the voters.
If that’s the level of stupidity that the party aspires to, Phil Goff – or any other Labour leader – should treat them with the contempt they deserve.
“Yep, John Key owes Hone a big bunch of flowers.”
Agreed.
Lynn – if you click on an authors name, it’ll take you to a listing of all of their posts.
But if their name has a space in it, eg Marty G or Mike Smith, then it just takes you to the main page. This is quite irritating, since search is broken at the moment.
Yes I found that one last month when I was looking for Marty G ‘s posts. I will do that today..
Apropos of very little, Pagani’s blogging is not too bad a read since the recent fox pass – certainly prolific and arguably terriffic, worthy of a comment I thought but beggared if I can manage one, any techspurts able to enlighten a relic as to how to log in when it keeps telling you you haven’t logged in so cant log in so email but sorry havent got ur email so you cant email or something?
…same applies to TUMEKE, yet i can slip into dimpost like a suppository smeared with Key-juice….barriers, tech brothers an sisters, break em down for us ole felks
Helen gives it to you straight:
Don’t eat food from Europe and don’t eat Turkish apricots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMXvpWoHzeE
In Australia the Government actually has plans to create jobs … !!!!!!!
NZ Govt aware of Aussie jobs threat
Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said government’s budget would help create half a million jobs over the next two years to deal with a skills shortage in sectors such as mining, and to replace retiring baby boomers.