Stuart Nash promoted and David Cunliffe demoted in Grant Robertson’s reshuffle leaked (again) to Claire Trevett.
There is no need to wait for Andrew Little’s announcement later today. Grant has passed it directly to Claire so that Andrew’s part is deminished.m
The Parliamentary Labour Party is continuing its right-ward shift. Those who have the temerity to actually win electorate seats, respect the wishes of the members and keep to Left Wing values are passed over.
If it’s true, it proves that Andrew Little is as much of an idiot as David Shearer was as Leader. Why would I as a party member want to stay and vote for that? I’ve voted Labour every election for 36 years. Never again if this is true. Can’t vote for idiots. Grant Robertson is a legend in his own mind! In the real world, Robertson pushed himself up at the expense of the Party vote. No care for members of the party or kiwis! And the puff piece on Ardern in the Woman’s Weekly just shows how shallow she really is! So she’ll go far. Amazing how she’s moving up when she can’t even win a seat. Then again, Little hasn’t either. Maybe having constituents is out of favour these days. They might expect their local MP to actually DO something for them!
Hami Shearlie +100…betrayal of the ‘Labour’ name and history prior to its rogering …a betrayal of Cunliffe, the grassroots choice, and the putting forward of incompetents ( i also cant be bothered voting for idiots)
really will be time to form an alternative to ‘Labour’ using the ‘Labour’ name
eg…what about the ‘Emerald Labour Mana Party’ ? (ELM NZ Party)? ….incorporating Greens and Mana and NZF….ha ha
imo the Mana Party is the real Labour Party…Littles party is now a Liberal Party
Strange interpretation from Northsider. Nash is mentioned briefly at the end of the Trevett story.
But the story starts off with Kelvin Davis replacing Nanaia Mahuta – that would be a major shift but perhaps for Northsider, Maori don’t count with Northsider!!
And there is a clear message in the Trevett story re TPPA/trade. Read it for yourself, don’t just take Northsider’s interpretation as gospel.
” Grant Robertson’s reshuffle leaked (again) to Claire Trevett.”
Why do you say Grant Robertson’s reshuffle when it is Andrew Little’ reshuffle? Based on what knowledge? Your own prejudice perhaps? Anybody with even a passing acquaintance with Andrew Little would know he would be making his own assessment based on many factors that he will know but you clearly do not.
And as for “leaked (again)” this is exactly the same prediction made by Trevett before, just rehashed because Little is announcing the reshuffle today. There is no big secret here to be “leaked” and no advantage for anybody leaking. More to the point Trevett is an experienced political journalist who will make her own predictions after talking to many different people, including MPs.
“Why do you say Grant Robertson’s reshuffle when it is Andrew Little’ reshuffle? Based on what knowledge? Your own prejudice perhaps? Anybody with even a passing acquaintance with Andrew Little would know he would be making his own assessment based on many factors that he will know but you clearly do not.”
Thanks, Karen, and Jenny Kirk. Same thoughts came to me.
As for journalists making things up, and being involved in guesswork? Has the earth stopped spinning?
Roger Douglas and Michael Bassett have been invited by Stuart Nash to break bread with Labour. Nash is promoted.
Yes, the right wing have completed their takeover.
Bullshit Bill Drees. Some people here are either very young and/or have little knowledge of Labour’s history over the past few decades… or are blindsiding themselves for political reasons.
Labour is marking a milestone in their history – 80 years since the election of the first Labour government. All past MPs (still in the land of the living) have a right to attend and were therefore issued an invitation. I hope they have a great reunion no matter what side of the Labour divide they came from.
Usually Anne we’re not too far apart on most issues. I can see your point that all ex-MP’s technically have the right to attend. In one sense it’s hard to argue with that.
On another – that govt was in reality the first (and only) ACT govt. It represented a political betrayal of the first magnitude, the likes of which most nations rarely experience, and the consequences of which still resonate with us forty years later.
On that basis I would have expected the failed pig-farmer to be a persona-non-grata. The fact that he clearly still feels comfortable, and even welcome, to turn up and scoff the Party grub, tells me something about the Party.
Thirty. Don’t make us older than we are RL, I feel old enough already.
PS. Agree totally about the betrayal and the irony of having Actoids sitting down to a dinner celebrating the first Labour Govt. Shakes head in bemusement at the doublethink required for this to be able to happen.
On another – that govt was in reality the first (and only) ACT govt. It represented a political betrayal of the first magnitude, the likes of which most nations rarely experience, and the consequences of which still resonate with us forty years later.
On that basis I would have expected the failed pig-farmer to be a persona-non-grata. The fact that he clearly still feels comfortable, and even welcome, to turn up and scoff the Party grub, tells me something about the Party.
Well put Red. Until Labour apologise for the 80s government and breaks from that, they will always be viewed with suspicion.
“Until Labour apologise for the 80s government and breaks from that, they will always be viewed with suspicion.”
They have an excellent opportunity to do that next year during the celebration of their centenary. Come clean, let it all out, face it, say sorry to the nation.
For my age group who were in our teens in the 80’s our experience of Labour isn’t one of personal betrayal, it’s more of a historical betrayal, as we moved into the consequences of rogernomics without having to adjust. Unlike the generation before us. From what I hear from this age group they are still very bitter and for good reason – everything that was once secure was pulled out from beneath them.
When I speak to older friends about politics they look at me like I’m a complete idiot for being a Labour voter and even worse, being a member.
I really do agree that Labour has to be up front about this uncomfortable past. Crosby Textor would probably suggest otherwise and say apologies look bad, and going by Key’s absolute lack of apologies to anyone except Slater, they probably do advise him to keep quiet.
But the grown up thing to do is to apologise. As individuals we know we have to do it when we stuff up, if we want to keep open and honest relationships. Surely Labour want an open and honest relationship with a group of former supporters whose trust they must regain?
Yes Redlogix, I read all of your contributions (except the highly technical musings which are beyond my comprehension) because they always gel with me. I guess I’m coming from a different perspective than most on this site.
I joined the Labour Party early in 1972 and, by virtue of my back-ground in one of the central Auckland suburbs, I came to know the likes of Bassett, the Douglas family and others of their ilk quite well. They were all ardent admirers of Michael J Savage and had the famous framed picture of him on their walls. By 1984, and for personal reasons, I had dropped out of politics so have never come to grips with what happened during the 80s decade. It was the Muldoon years which provided the catalyst for the changes and over time the whole thing spun out of control. We are still reeling from the fallout in so many ways.
So, on the basis that these people were an integral part of Labour’s history throughout the 60s and 70s (before the neo liberal era began) they are entitled to attend this anniversary. A bit like an old boys/girls school reunion in a way.
Anne,
Do you invite people to your home who are fully dedicated to damaging your family?
Douglas and Bassett are enemies of Labour. Only an idiot or a cuckoo would be party to inviting them into a Labour event.
Bill, happily Douglas and Bassett are part of Labour’s history. If we don’t remember our history there is always the risk of repeating the mistakes. I know a lot of LP members are weirded out by the invite, but it’s indicative of nothing much at all, really. Maybe only that the party has a sense of humour.
And as for inviting people to your home who are fully dedicated to damaging your family, TS is hardly immune from that issue, either.
It must be frustrating to be a Labour Party member. These leaks to the media, especially to the likes of Trevett, make the party a laughing stock.
I don’t know who is talking out of school but whoever it is, or they are, urgently needs to be found and expelled from the party. If Andrew Little can’t control his caucus and deal with disloyalty he’ll never get anywhere IMO.
Leaks have to be for a reason, some kind of advantage. There is none here.
I don’t believe those who have been spouting this line over the last week are fools necessarily. Some have other agendas.
I’d think it was politics Karen, the usual tit for tat. The occasional insider tip in exchange for anything useful to further one’s political ambitions.
An obvious advantage there would be for Trevett, leaks give her something to write about and keep her job. I’d expect there to be some kind of payback for useful leaks; a fluff piece perhaps or a subtle attack on an adversary.
One of National’s strengths is they run a tight ship. I’m quite sure they have much internal dissent but they keep it in the family. Outwardly they give the appearance of a well oiled machine and that resonates with voters.
As for agendas, yes I can see your point there’s no evidence put forward to suggest Grant Robertson has been leaking to the media and false accusations are just as bad as narking.
Frankly why would anyone give a dime about what Clare Trevett says in the NZ Herald?
Why would that be frustrating. Gosh, if it were not for the Standard I would not even know who a. Clare Trevett is, and b. what type of horse manure the Herald would try to pass of as news today.
I believe that we have an unnaturally high tolerance of cruelty and violence in this country.
The statistics on domestic violence and child abuse and murder would bear this out.
Our glorifying of a sport that condones violence, that practically deifies a player who came to prominence for his propensity for throwing aside and trampling over opposition players…
As on Sunday, TV1 – disgraceful behaviour by some/many dairy farmers. Added to the shameful use of battery cages for hens and small pens for pigs, and water pollution from cows and the nett result is an agricultural sector in dire need to some intensive regulation and supervision.
If ever anyone needed a lesson that ‘the market [does not] knows best – just look at our primary industries!
Heard the other day from a friend of friend that there is are plans being formated right now within the Department of Internal Affairs to corporatise councils’ activities.
The temptation that Baudrillard could not resist in writing these essays with these deliberately provocative titles was the manner in which the unfolding events leading up to, during, and soon after the Gulf War provided him with a perfect example for his ideas of “simulacra”, “simulation” and “hyperreality”.
He wished rhetorically to register the fact that the Gulf War was an unfolding media event, a virtual reality, with simulated reactions masquerading for the real human experience of being at war. In the midst of this hyperreality, the reality of the Iraq war was drowned.
More seriously, why doesn’t Al Jazeera have anyone on the ground checking out the story? NB the “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” is one guy operating out of a flat in England.
in what is a ‘suspected russian strike’, as per the article you linked too, its right there at the beginning of the article in case you missed it.
But then, who is not bombing syria……..here a list from 2015 (but I understand, the bombs from non russians are more civilian friendly bombs than the bombs from russia. And maybe really at this stage crying about the russians is a tad hypocrytical considering that the US and its Allies have been bombing the life out of syria since 2011, have been paying this or that or all groups to various degrees, cause profit!
In a 70th round of airstrikes on January 1, the United States and coalition partners carried out 17 airstrikes in and around Kobanî, near Deir ez-Zor, and near Ar-Raqqah. Thirteen airstrikes in and around Kobanî destroyed 12 ISIL controlled buildings, four ISIL fighting positions, one ISIL vehicle as well as striking two ISIL tactical units and two large ISIL units. Two airstrikes near Ar-Raqqah destroyed five ISIL checkpoints and struck an ISIL staging area, while two airstrikes near Deir ez-Zor destroyed an ISIL fighting position and struck an ISIL shipping container.[170]
February 2015[edit]
On February 5, 2015, Jordan elevated its role in the U.S.-led coalition in Syria, launching one of the largest airstrike campaigns since early January 2015, targeting ISIL militants near Ar-Raqqah, the de facto ISIL capital, inflicting an unknown number of casualties and damaging ISIL facilities. This was done in retaliation against ISIL’s brutal murder of Muath al-Kasasbeh.[193][194]
On February 6, a continued round of Coalition airstrikes at Ar-Raqqah killed over 30 ISIL militants.[195]
On February 21, Syrian Kurds launched an offensive to retake ISIL-held territories in the Al-Hasakah Governorate, specifically in the Tell Hamis area, with support from US airstrikes. At least 20 villages were liberated, and 12 militants were killed in the clashes.[196] In response, on 23 February, ISIL abducted 150 Assyrian Christians from villages near near Tal Tamr (Tell Tamer) in northeastern Syria, after launching a large offensive in the region.[197][198]
As a result of ISIL’s massive offensive in the west Al-Hasakah Governorate, the US-led coalition increased the number of airstrikes in the region to 10, on February 24, in order to halt the ISIL advance. The airstrikes struck nine ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL vehicles.[170]
On February 26, the number of Assyrian Christians abducted by ISIL from villages in northeastern Syria from February 23–25 rose to at least 220, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a monitoring group based in Britain.[199][200]
On February 27, the Kurdish Democratic Union Party and Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Kurdish fighters had recaptured the town of Tal Hamis, along with most of the villages occupied by ISIL in the region. At least 127 ISIL militants were killed in the clashes, along with 30 YPG and allied fighters.[201] One Australian volunteer, who was fighting for the YPG, was also killed.[202] Many of the remaining ISIL militants retreated to Tell Brak, which quickly came under assault from the YPG and allied Arab fighters.
March 2015[edit]
On March 1, 2015, YPG fighters, aided by US airstrikes, were able to drive ISIL militants out of Tell Brak, reducing the ISIL occupation in the eastern Jazira Canton to the villages between Tell Brak and Tal Hamis.[203]
On March 6, it was reported that Abu Humam al-Shami, al-Nusra’s military chief, was killed in a US airstrike targeting a meeting of top al-Nusra leaders, at the al-Nusra Front’s new headquarters at Salqin.[35]
On March 9, the US carried out another airstrike on the al-Nusra Front, targeting a military camp near Atimah, close to the Turkish border in the Idlib Governorate. The airstrike left 9 militants dead.[204]
On March 24, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada would be looking to expand Operation Impact to include airstrikes against ISIL in Syria as well.
On March 26, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence announced the deployment of around 75 military trainers and headquarter staff to Turkey, and other nearby countries in the anti-ISIL coalition, to assist with the U.S.-led training programme in Syria. The training programme will provide small arms, infantry tactics and medical training to Syrian moderate opposition forces for over three years.[117]
On March 30, the House of Commons of Canada authorized the extended deployment of its military for one year and the war in Syria.[205]
April 2015[edit]
On April 8, Canada initiated airstrikes in Syria, with two CF-18 fighters bombing a former military installation of the Syrian government that was captured by ISIL, near its headquarters in ar-Raqqah.[205]
May 2015[edit]
Main article: May 2015 U.S. special forces raid in Syria
On May 15, after surveillance by British special forces confirmed the presence of a senior leader named Abu Sayyaf in al-Amr,[206] 1st SFOD-Delta operators from the Joint Special Operations Command based in Iraq conducted an operation to capture him. The operation resulted in his death when he tried to engage U.S. forces in combat and the capture of his wife Umm Sayyaf. The operation also led to the freeing of a Yazidi woman who was held as a slave. About a dozen ISIL fighters were also killed in the raid, two U.S. officials said. The SOHR reported that an additional 19 ISIL fighters were killed in the US airstrikes that accompanied the raid. One official said that ISIL Forces fired at the U.S. aircraft, and there was reportedly hand-to-hand combat during the raid. UH-60 Black Hawk and V-22 Osprey helicopters were used to conduct the raid, and Umm Sayyaf is currently being held by U.S. Forces in Iraq.[32][207][208]
July 2015[edit]
Following a suicide bombing in the Şanlıurfa Province of Turkey believed to have been carried out by ISIL militants on 20 July, as well as an ISIL cross-border attack that killed a Turkish serviceman on 23 July, Turkish armour and aircraft struck ISIL targets just across the border in Syria. Turkey also agreed to let the United States use the USAF Incirlik Air Base for strikes against ISIL.[7][209]
August 2015[edit]
On 21 August, three Islamic State fighters, two with UK nationality, were targeted and killed in Raqqa, Syria by a British Royal Air Force MQ-9 Reaper strike. Prime Minister David Cameron gave a statement to Parliament that one of the British nationals targeted had been plotting attacks in the United Kingdom. Another British national was killed in a separate air strike by US forces in Raqqa on 24 August.[210]
October 2015[edit]
The introduction of Russian aircraft and ship based cruise missiles in support of the Syrian Government to Syrian airspace creates new threats to the US-led coalition. Discussions are held to deconflict Syrian airspace.
On 10 October, the state run Syrian Arab News Agency reported claims that two U.S. F16 jets had “violated Syrian airspace” and bombed two electricity power plants in al-Rudwaniya, east Aleppo, “in breach of international law”.[211]
On 20 October Canada’s Prime Minister elect Justin Trudeau informed Barack Obama by phone of Canada’s intention to pull out of bombing raids in Syria. Canada will remain a coalition partner but will stop strikes.[212]
November 2015[edit]
After the deadly attacks in Paris, French President Francois Hollande sent its only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, with its 26 fighters to intensify air strikes.[213]
On 27 November, Syrian Arab News Agency reported The US-led international coalition, allegedly fighting ISIS, targeted water pumping stations in al-Khafseh area, east of Aleppo, causing them to go out of service.[214][215]
I am expecting that ISIL will be reversed in 2016 and from there reasonably rapidly contained into northern Iraq.
They are after all hemmed in on three sides by Jordan, Iraq/US, Turkey, Libya/Russia, the Kurds, and will continue to suffer massive airborne bombing degradation.
If I’m right, this makes it more likely that ISIL will continue to shift their centre of attention to Libya, which has no functioning government and is surrounded to the south, west and east by very weak governments. Plus, plenty of oil production together with full seaports to capture. Unlike Syria and Iraq, NATO has no near-Libyan solutions to build a base from.
So the west needs to prepare for a migration wave from Libya even bigger than that from Syria.
Think you’ll find that the hypocrites are the people minimising it when Russia does it, actually.
Just note that Qatar funded news sources like Al Jazeera have their own angle to put on what is happening in Syria, given that Qatar would like its own pipelines through the country and Assad gone so it can happen.
The Americans have no worries about destroying Syrian government infrastructure, bombing Syria back to the stone age and turning the locals against Assad.
The Russians on the other hand have the objective of ensuring a functioning Syrian state, ongoing civil services and minimising public ill will towards Damascus.
here’s your evidence it was russia. no reporting at all on New Pravda. That’s usually a giveaway despite RT being the most impartial, evidence based source of news on the planet..
Personally i believe that everyone who is not Syrian should stop bombing Syria.
russians, yanks, saudis, french, english, Turkey and whomever i may have forgotten.
this small country has been getting it for four years now, and we want to complain that the russians joined in the fun? WTF? We should have complained when the yanks started bombing in the first place in their quest to bring Freedom n shite as approved by Uncle Sam.
What ever happened in Syria, was a problem for syrians to sort, not for the ;western world to fuck up beyond believe, like Iraq, like Afghanistan, like they are gonna fuck up Yemen, lebanon, Somalia, Lybia, am I fogetting some? Feel free to ad.
The Russians are worse. It’s not that hard to understand. I’ve got thousands of comments on this site, feel free to find any where I support western policies in the middle east. Go on, I’ll wait.
Retreating to some pixie plan about how you want everyone out is fine, but fucked if it justifies actually defending Putin, or Assad, ffs.
The russians are as bad as the yanks, as the english, as all the others.
yada yada yada yada.
But you know what, yes, Syria under Assad was better then what is Syria now under ISis and bombing by every fuckwit with an army, fighterplanes and bombs. Fuck we support Saudi Arabia which is a fucking Islamic state beheading women, men and mere children for the fucking sake of writing a poem or having sex. But that is ok, because their terrorism is more ‘democratic ‘ than the ‘democracy’ of Assad?
And no, i am not defending Putin, i just don’t see why it is ok if the bombs come from the yanks or the poms but its not ok when they come from the ruskies. Seriously get a grip. None should be bombing Syria. full stop there. No one has any reasons to defend what fucking ever interest they have in Syria unless they are Syrians. Oh….forgot they have pretty much all left the hellhole, to rot away in some camps cause no one wants refugees from Syria cause ISIS. Fucking bullshit.
But you know what, its good for business….is it not? All those western weapons manufactures i am sure are getting their fill. Fuck it.
Why shoudln;t we support Assad? Coz he is at war with his own people, and would be losing if not for Iranian and russian support which is far greater than the foriegn support the rebels are getting from any outsiders.
And that’s before we even get into the details of baathist control. ISIS didn’t invent fear you know.
All I’m saying is put your weird little prejudgements aside, face facts.
The Putin plan will lead to what? Play it out for me. You are talking about genocide mate. That’s the end game for regime opponents. there is no other way for the regime to survive, as the rebels will. not. quit. They are done with Assad, they would rather join ISIS for now than go back to Assad. So how do you see Assad winning mate, come on.
i just don’t see why it is ok if the bombs come from the yanks or the poms
Where did I say that? I didn’t, so stop making shit up.
“Why shoudln;t we support Assad? Coz he is at war with his own people, and would be losing if not for Iranian and russian support which is far greater than the foriegn support the rebels are getting from any outsiders.”
you’re a fool. The US has just approved a further $500M in rebel funding to take out a sovereign government, which is blatantly illegal. Turkey, a NATO country allows millions of dollars of ISIS oil to cross its borders every day.
In fact you should ask yourself what is going on in Syria that the Christians, Alawite, Druze and Shia minorities are backing Assad to the hilt.
Unlike faraway Western spectators, they know that if ISIS, or al-Nusra, or Ahrar ash-Sham or any of the other “moderate Sunni terrorists” that the West supports (including the ones who killed the parachuting Russian pilot then said on camera that they should have burned him – like was done to the Jordanian pilot) actually defeated Assad and took power, all their families and villages would be torched or enslaved.
I wonder what this is about, seeing CV claims Alawites are backing Assad to the hilt.
These people are obviously CIA MOSSAD stooges or some shit. Never mind though, you can’t trust any sources unapproved by RT or Zerohedge. Just ignore it like the all the bombed hospitals and the casualty figures and the reports saying people are fleeing Assad.
in fact, you’re not just a fool, you’re a fool who claims to respect facts but in fact shits on facts.
Assad ran a highly secular, highly educated society, had women in university professorships and as Government Ministers.
But Islamist Wahabi and salafist sympathisers in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE had had enough of that, and the US wanted Libya in total chaos like Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, and so here we are.
If those “moderate terrorists terrorists” defeat Assad and takeover Syria, it’ll be the end of civilised life for women in that country, and for every ethnic and religious minority too.
You’re not a defender of the people, you are a defender of bloody chaos.
Assad ran a highly secular, highly educated society, had women in university professorships and as Government Ministers.
So did Josef Stalin. The above points are entirely compatible with being a murderous dictator who rules via well-justified fear of torture and death – being someone like Bashar Al-Assad, for instance. Your apologias for such people make me hope the Labour Party never has you in any official position, ever.
I think your milk got curdled Pascalls Bookie.
Something seems to be off in your thinking, unlike in the past.
CV seems to have a coherent argument re Syria, and thats not saying it is correct, everything is s.it there with incompatible competing sides.
Notice he still can’t bring himself to mention the hospitals being bombed by his legitimate govt, or the brread factories, or the cities.
Notice he hasn’t mentioned the thousands of Hezbollah and Iraqi shia militia that have been propping up his secular hero, or the mention the fact about which side has killed the most, or the barrel bombs, or the fact that the west hasn’t sctually been bombing Assad. ( the cia’s programme insisted fighters had to focus solely on ISIS, which is why t was such a failure, the Syrian people have largely had it with Assad, Hence the war, it’s not some dirty trick pulled by foreign agents. It’s a genuine uprising. Baath states are police states. Seriously, you can look it up. CV doesn’t mind that as they are ‘secualr’ so he loves them like he loves his Russian hero Putin)
If Assad is so popular, if he had a mandate, he would have won long ago. people are fleeing Assad. He decided that he’d rather the country burn than he step down. He started bombing cities. This radicalises an opposition.
CV admits he doesn’t read from a wide variety of sources, it shows.
Well documented that Assad released extremist Jihadis from jail, as is his tactical co-operation with ISIS (ignoring their gains while squeezing kurdish and other oppionents agaisnt them)
But several months before Abu Issa was released, he and a large group of other jihadis were moved from their isolation cells elsewhere in the country and flown to Aleppo’s main prison, where they enjoyed a more communal and comfortable life. “It was like a hotel,” he said. “We couldn’t believe it. There were cigarettes, blankets, anything you wanted. You could even get girls.” Soon the detainees were puzzled by another prison oddity, the arrival of university students who had been arrested in Aleppo for protesting against the Assad regime.
“They were kids with posters and they were being sent to prison with the jihadis,” he said. “One of them was a communist and he talked about his views to everyone. There was a guy from al-Qaida in the prison and he was usually very polite but he got angry with this guy. He said if he saw him again he would kill him.” Abu Issa and the other Islamist detainees soon formed the view that they had been moved to the Aleppo prison for a reason – to instil a harder ideological line into the university students, who back then were at the vanguard of the uprising in Syria’s largest city.
On the same day that Abu Issa and many of his friends were released, the Lebanese government, which is supported by Damascus, also freed more than 70 jihadis, many of whom had been convicted of terrorism offences and were serving lengthy terms. The release puzzled western officials in Beirut who had been monitoring the fates of many of the accused jihadis in Lebanon’s jails for more than four years. Some had been directly linked to a deadly jihadi uprising in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in July 2007, which led to 190 Lebanese soldiers being killed in battle and much of the camp destroyed. The claim that the Syrian regime aided the rise of extremism to splinter the opposition and reaffirm its own narrative that the war was all about terrorism in the first place has been widely repeated throughout the past five years. It is a central grievance of the mainstream opposition in Syria’s north, which says it lost more than 1,500 of its men ousting Isis from Idlib and Aleppo in early 2014. At the same time as the opposition was fighting the jihadis, the Syrian regime, which did not intervene, was able to advance around the city for the first time in the war. “There was no other reason for Salafi jihadis to be in that jail, and for the students to be with us,” said Abu Issa, who now lives in exile in Turkey. “They wanted them to be radicalised. If this stayed as a street protest, it would have toppled [the regime] within months, and they knew it.”
What was CV’s secular hero doing? Did they dreaded West force him to put jihadis into confinement with detained leftwing rebels? Did the west *make* him then give an amnesty to radical slafists and release them all from Jail so that they would futher radicalise the opposition?
What was going on? It’s almost like Assad is an arsehole who is playing dupes like CV like fiddles.
Oh , and the conservative estimate for Iranian support for Assad during the war is around $6B PA, just to put CV’s “you’re a fool. The US has just approved a further $500M in rebel funding” in conext.
You’ll note that I never said there wasn’t foreign support for rebels, I said the regime was getting much more. Is anyone giving the rebels air support BTW? Oh yeah, nope, hence the barrel bombings at will, and the destryed cities, which CV turns his eyes away from.
Sabine: You’re right about the current situation, but don’t ever believe Syria was not one of the worst humans rights blackspots on the globe before the current “troubles”.
The police constraints on Dr Jarrod Gilbert’s research on gangs are an example of widespread and long-lasting restrictions on academic research contracts that are funded by government departments.
Contracted research routinely exercises strict control over the entire project, including many aspects of project methodology, the data gathered, interpretation, and final write-up. In particular, funding agencies regularly hoard the reports and limit the opportunities for researchers to publish their studies.
Contract providers often demand the right to approve the content of researchers’ publications and presentations, before the academic can go public with their studies and can simply deny approval if they wish.
In effect, the funders control both the project and the researcher.
The problem is that research is seen as a commodity that can be bought and owned, rather than information that should be freely available for serious inquiry and the public good.
QPEC sees two problems arising from Dr Gilbert’s case. One is that it may well be remembered and treated just as the “police issue” or the “gangs issue,” when it is actually indicative of a deep-seated injustice that runs right across the tertiary education sector.
The second is the danger to the role of tertiary institutions as “critic and conscience of society.” Media reports rightly recall this item as a clause in the Education Act of 1989. But the current Government has started moves to review the Act. It has already restructured tertiary institution councils to ensure extensive control by government. And it clearly countenances restraints on scientists’ right to make public statements.
In other words, academic freedom is at stake.
QPEC considers that the restrictions on Dr Gilbert’s research represent a serious threat to scholarship in New Zealand, which could be addressed by a model of funded research designed to serve the public interest.
What do we have to do to have a justice system in this country?
Another right wing stitch up by the looks of it.
The malaysian diplomat on trial in Welllington has offered a guilty plea to one charge ( presumably the least serious).
The prosecution (crown solicitor) offered no evidence on the other two charges so the judge had to discharge them. Must have been a discussion between the two sides who have sold the complainant down the river. Did they even ask about her views on this deal – I assume not after all the boys know best?
Now the defence are going to ask for a discharge without conviction for the guilty plea.
WTF yes you heard correctly.
So in this country you can go into someone’s house, take your clothes off and try to assault them. You can then be shipped out of the country without anyone taking responsibility for that. When you are brought back you then do a deal to ensure that effectively nothing happens to you.
The complainant on the other hand is abused, reabused by the police and MFAT and now reabused by our courts, the police and the crown solicitor.
Where the hell is the justice for her.
All she will have had is months of stress and anxiety over the whole issue.
Sorry RedBaronCV, but I disagree somewhat with the interpretation you have put on the outcome of this morning’s court hearing, based on radio and media reports I have heard/read so far.
IMO. RNZ News provides a much more balanced and detailed report on what happened and the outcome of this morning. While the defendant’s lawyers have asked for a discharge without conviction on the charge of indecent assault to which he pleaded guilty on the grounds of mental illness, this has not yet been accepted, with a disputed facts hearing to take place in the High Court on Friday. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/290901/diplomat-naked-below-waist,-court-told
Also, here are links to The Herald and Stuff reports to date:
The guilty plea to the indecent assault charge was only made public this morning, but was presumably discussed/agreed last week at the two pre-trial hearings held in the Wellington High Court on Monday and Thursday.
The trial that started this morning was originally set down as a jury trial scheduled for two weeks’ duration with Ms Billingsley and others due to appear as witnesses. The dropping of the other two charges and the guilty plea to the indecent assault charge presumably means that Tania and others will now not have to go through the stress of appearing. We don’t know Ms Billingsley’s reaction to the guilty plea etc but she may well have been kept in the picture during the pre-trial hearings and her views sought.
So lets not rush into condemning the Crown prosecutors, the court etc until a little more is known and the case reaches a conclusion/decision. As a woman who has been in a similar/worse situation, I obviously want to see justice for Tania; but I also believe in due process and the rights of the defendant to also be heard.
UPDATE – Stuff article has been updated and is reporting that Tania is thrilled with the guilty plea.
I have no problem with the guilty plea and the dropping of the other two charges if that is what the complainant wanted and she had been given adequate legal assistance to help her with her decision – I understand that these cases when defended aren’t pretty but asking for a discharge without conviction is a bit much. I too believe that a defendant has the right to be heard and did not say otherwise. I am mindful of other cases where the deals have been offered over charges- some have not been accepted but if they had then there would have been very little justice for the complainant. She had already had decisions made for her when he wasn’t originally charged and we have the example of the Pike River court cases where the families really didn’t get a word in. Hate to have a repeat of that
TIME TO ‘BLOW THE WHISTLE’ ON TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL’S ‘CORRUPTION PERCEPTION INDEX’?
30 November 2015
TIME TO ‘BLOW THE WHISTLE’ ON TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL’S ‘CORRUPTION PERCEPTION INDEX’?
I think so.
In my considered opinion, Transparency International’s ‘Corruption Perception Index’ is not worth the paper upon which it is written.
What makes it VERY difficult for New Zealand anti-corruption ‘whistle-blowers’, is the ‘perception’ that New Zealand is (now) the second ‘least corrupt country in the world’.
The recently passed legislation, (arising from the Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Legislation Bill), which was required before NZ could ratify UNCAC, still allows ‘facilitation payments’ – ie. BRIBES.
(a) the act that is alleged to constitute the offence was committed for the sole or
primary purpose of ensuring or expediting the performance by a foreign public
official of a routine government action; and
(b) the value of the benefit is small.
______________________________________________________________________________________
(My evidence, which was presented in person to the Law and Order Select Committee, which was considering the (then) Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Legislation Bill:
2) NZ does not have an independent anti-corruption body, tasked with educating the public and preventing corruption.
3) NZ members of Parliament (whom make the rules for everyone else) do not themselves have an enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’.
4) It is not an offence under the Local Government Act 2002, for NZ Local Government elected representatives to breach their ‘Code of Conduct’.
5) It is not a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government elected representatives to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.
6) It is not a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government staff, responsible for property or procurement, to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.
7) It is not a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) Directors and staff, responsible for property or procurement, to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.
8) The Public Records Act 2005, (section 3 (c) ‘Purposes of Act’
whose stated purpose is:
“to enable the Government to be held accountable by—
(i) ensuring that full and accurate records of the affairs of central and local government are created and maintained; and
(ii) providing for the preservation of, and public access to, records of long-term value; …”
is not being fully implemented and enforced, across NZ central and local government.
9) It is not a lawful requirement that a ‘cost-benefit’ analysis of NZ Central Government and Local Government public finances must be undertaken, to prove that private procurement of public services previously provided ‘in house’ is cost-effective for the public majority of tax payers and rate payers.
10) There is not a legally enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ for members of the NZ Judiciary, to ensure that they are not ‘above the law’.
11) There is no lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ Judicial ‘Register of Interests’, to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.
12)All NZ Court proceedings are currently not recorded, with audio records available to parties who request them.
13) There is no lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ ‘Register of Lobbyists, or ‘Code of Conduct’ for lobbyists.
14) There is no lawful requirement for a ‘post-separation employment’ (‘revolving door’ ) quarantine period from the time officials leave the public service, to take up a similar role in the private sector.
15) It is not a lawful requirement that it is only a binding vote of the public majority that can determine whether public assets held at NZ central or local government are sold, or long-term leased via Public Private Partnerships.
16) It is not unlawful for politicians to knowingly misrepresent their policies prior to central or local government elections.
17) There are currently no NZ laws which protect individuals, NGOs and community-based organisations, who are ‘whistle-blowing’ against ‘conflicts of interest’ and and alleged corrupt practices at central and local government level and within the judiciary.
18) There is no legislation which prevents ‘State Capture’ – where vested interests get what they want, at the ‘policy’ level, before laws are passed which serve their vested interests.
‘Anti-corruption /anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
Attendee: 2009 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2013 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2014 G20 Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2015 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference
For one thing, it scream to me like it’s an ad.
Big claims made on the basis of anecdata and roundworm models, no downsides mentioned, repeated use of brand name… oh, and the clickbait headline
I wonder if a venture capitalist has just bought metformin shares?
“To November 18, 35 people have been killed in workplace accidents nationwide in 2015.
That number is understood to be 37 with the latest fatalities.
November 25: a 54-year-old man dies in a workplace accident in Mangere involving a truck.
November 5: A 30-year-old male miner dies after an industrial accident at a gold mine in Southland.
October 23: One person is dead after a farm bike crash in rural Gisborne.
October 2: A person is killed in what’s believed to be a crushing incident by a truck on a worksite in Whangarei.
September 20: Zoo curator Samantha Kudeweh is killed by a Sumatran tiger while she was working at Hamilton Zoo.
September 15: Jamey Lee Bowring, 24, of Huntly, dies after a massive explosion at hazardous waste company Salters Cartage in Wiri.
September 9: Laurence Gerard Schwabe, of Kawerau, is killed while tree-felling in Tuhoe Forest, between Murupara and Whakatane.
September 6: Dairy farmer Ian Totty, 72, died after falling 4.8 metres from a barn roof in Staveley, near Methven.
August 28: Farm worker Russell Brooker, 45, is killed when his quad bike rolls into a drain on his Puketaha farm.
August 27: Mechanic Robert George Wallace is killed at a truck repair yard in Oamaru.
August 10: A rubbish truck overturned and rolled 15 metres down a bank on Auckland’s North Shore, killing one person and leaving another with moderate injuries.
August 6: Oamaru farmer Greg Fallon, dies in a tractor accident just outside of Oamaru.
July 5: Rebecca Anne Cunningham Byars, 32, dies in an accident on the family farm in Clements Rd, Kaiwera.
June 8: Quarry boss Murray Taylor, 56, is buried by rock in his excavator at the Heathstock Haulage limeworks in Waikari, North Canterbury.
Yet another undeclared National Party implant on The Panel.
RNZ National, Monday 30 November 2015
Jesse Mulligan, Clare de Lore, Bernard Hickey, Zoe George
Making her début on RNZ’s light chat show The Panel this afternoon is one Clare de Lore, billed by host Jesse Mulligan as a “journalist”. In fact, there is much more important information about her that Mulligan—or more likely his producers—decided not to tell the audience: she is married to the former deputy prime minister Sir Don McKinnon, a National Party grandee.
Clare de Lore therefore joins a long list of National Party insiders that have been granted a soapbox on this programme, usually without either them or the host informing us. The list is long and makes depressing reading. It includes, among others: John Bishop, Joanne Black, Michele Boag, Jane Clifton, David Farrar, Stephen Franks, Garth George (R.I.P.), Richard Griffin, Claudette Hauiti, Tau Henare, Deborah Hill Cone, Sam Johnson, Neil Miller, Chris Wikaira…. ad nauseam….
And the one or two from the left? Mike (I agree with Matthew) Williams; Brian (Michelle’s my mate) Edwards; Bomber Bradbury (oh, that’s right, got kicked off for being too left); Chris (face of the respectable left) Trotter; Josie (I’m in the wrong party) Pagani… . Says as much about Mora’s so-called panel as it does the state of the left in New Zealand. Maybe it’s because Mora hasn’t got too much to work with?
Then there are the “liberal comedians” like Jeremy Elwood and Andrew Clay, who spend their whole time on the programme trying to curry favour with the likes of Stephen Franks, Jack Anderson and Graham Bell.
Hosking holds court, as his underlings dutifully guffaw at his deliberate faux pas;
No Mihi Forbes, no John Campbell—but THESE jackasses are still on TV every night.
Television One News (final minute) and When Hilary Met Oprah, TV3, 7 p.m.
Monday 30 November 2015
groveln. to humble oneself or act in an abject manner, as in great fear or utter servility.
6:59 p.m. The Television One news is winding to a close, but the groveling is only getting started. An ill-at-ease Thunderbird puppet swivels in his chair and addresses the coiffured, preening star of the upcoming show….
SIMON DALLOW: Coming up on Seven Sharp, an interview with Michael Bublé. I’ll bet you’re a fan, Mike! MIKE “KING OF CONTRA” HOSKING: Oooh yeah! Everybody likes the Boobs!
…..Pregnant pause….
SIMON DALLOW: Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho! TONI STREET: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! WENDY “FIST PUMPER” PETRIE: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! SIMON DALLOW: That was your David Seymour moment! MIKE “KING OF CONTRA” HOSKING: A few minutes back on the job and I’m already in trouble! WENDY “FIST PUMPER” PETRIE: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! SIMON DALLOW: Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho! TONI STREET: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
I cut away from that rubbish to have a look at what was happening on TV3. Incredibly, it was even more cringe-inducing than watching Hosking’s hapless underlings perform their duty. Hilary Barry had been granted an audience with Her Majesty Oprah Winfrey; this was a publicity exercise for Oprah’s forthcoming visit to New Zealand. Barry, embarrassingly, gushed about how nervous she was; Oprah responded by offering to give her a reassuring hug. After that, Oprah did all the talking. Hilary Barry’s part consisted of gazing at her with a desperate intensity, not even pretending to be an interviewer, but playing the demeaning role of awe-struck and reverential devotee.
But no matter how much she may have been forced to debase herself before Oprah Winfrey, it still beats her day job….
I've got one source saying more Labour MPs than expected are mulling whether to vote for the deal - including names who were not on the letter to Juncker and Tusk— Emilio Casalicchio (@e_casalicchio) 17 October 2019 I've compiled a list of possible reasons why Labour ...
On Wednesday, the government was loudly telling us that it needed to legislate to allow it to impose "control orders" - effectively a parole regime, but imposed without charge, prosecution, conviction or real evidence - on suspected terrorists because they couldn't be prosecuted for their supposed crimes. Today, it turns ...
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by John Edmundson The International Socialist Organisation (ISO) have recently reposted a February article, by Romany Tasker-Poland, explaining ISO’s position in the “trans rights” debate. It is available on their website and on their Facebook Page. The article sets out to explain why “socialists support trans rights”. It reads more ...
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Nick Wilson, Leah Grout, Mereana Wilson, Anja Mizdrak, Phil Shoemack, Michael BakerProtecting waterways has the benefits of: (1) protecting water from hazardous microbes; (2) minimising cancer risk and other problems from nitrates in water; (3) avoiding algal blooms that are hazardous to health; (4) protecting mahinga kai uses (cultural ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In a press release today Massey University announced it has decided to rebrand and reorientate after struggling to be a University for grown-ups. For some time the University has wanted to be a safe play space for wee-woke-misogynists who have been really badly triggered ...
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The government has decided that someone has done Something Bad. But despite their belief, there seems to be no evidence that they have actually broken the law. So the government's solution is to pass a retrospective law allowing them to be punished anyway, on a lower standard of proof. If ...
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I came across this song quite by accident. If it isn't one of Greta Thunberg's favourites - it should be.Video courtesy of YouTube.This post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
Last month, NZDF's shoddy coverup of what it knew about civilian casualties in Operation Burnham began to fall apart, with the revelation that a report on the matter, which NZDF claimed not to have, had been sitting in an NZDF safe for the past nine years. Yesterday, the man responsible ...
While many imagine that countries like the USA and Europe dominate space activities, in fact India is now a major player on this stage. It launches satellites for its own purposes and also commercially, and has constellations orbiting our planet and returning data of vital importance to that nation in ...
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An essay by Judith Collins MP reported on Carbon News yesterday seems to show an alarming shift in attitude within the National Party. Collins argues against the Zero Carbon Bill, the Paris Agreement, and downplays the magnitude of climate impacts. The Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 and ratified ...
When they were running for election, Labour promised to overhaul the Employment Relations Act and introduce fair pay agreements to set basic pay and conditions on an industry level, preventing bad employers from undercutting good ones. They followed this up by establishing a working group, which reported back in January ...
A list of indicators of bad science – many of these are found in articles promoted by anti-fluoride activists. Anti-fluoride activists have been pouring money into a scaremongering campaign warning pregnant women not to drink fluoridated water. They claim fluoride will lower the IQ of their future child. Fluoride ...
Nothing Left To Say: Labour's pollster, Stephen Mills, remains swaddled-up in the comforting myths of the 1980s. As if the experience of Roger Douglas’s genuinely radical post-Muldoon policy agenda was literally a once-in-a-lifetime thing – as much as the party could possibly absorb for at least the next 50 years.MEMO ...
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Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...
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A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
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We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
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New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
The Government today announced its support for a project that could substantially reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions from cattle. The announcement was made as part of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor’s visit to Nelson’s Cawthron Aquaculture Park. The Cawthron Institute will receive $100,000 from the Government’s ...
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has welcomed the first reading of the New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Legislation Amendment Bill. “Every New Zealander has a stake in New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension,” says Carmel Sepuloni. “They are our most common form of social assistance – nearly 800,000 New ...
Babies in Auckland aged six months and over can receive a free vaccination and children will all have access to vaccines, Associate Minister of Health Julie Anne Genter announced today at Papatoetoe High School. The move comes as part of Government efforts to step up the fight against measles. ...
***Check against delivery*** Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here, and to have the honour of opening this important conference on behalf of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. Let us take the opportunity to acknowledge all the people who have helped make today possible, including our special ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash says the safety of frontline officers and members of the public will be the focus of a new trial of specialist Police response teams in three of our largest urban centres. Police have this morning released details of an initiative to be trialled in Counties Manukau, ...
The Minister of Fisheries is calling for entries for a new public award to celebrate innovation in our seafood sector. “I have established the Seafood Sustainability Awards to recognise and celebrate those throughout industry, tangata whenua and communities who demonstrate outstanding dedication and innovation towards the sustainability of New Zealand’s ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter welcomes leaders in the private sector taking action on closing their gender pay gaps to ensure a fairer workplace for all New Zealanders. Ms Genter today launched a new report, Addressing the gender pay gap and driving women’s representation in senior leadership, from the Champions for ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Feedback sought– Lyttelton commercial zone parking The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to remove on-site car parking requirements for new developments in the Lyttelton commercial zone. The proposal, by Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section 71 of the Greater ...
Hon Minister Poto Williams Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration MEDIA STATEMENT Tuesday 15 October 2019 Feedback sought – Hagley Oval The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal about Hagley Oval. The proposal was developed by Regenerate Christchurch ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
The faces said it all. The smiles of the European leaders crowded round Boris after the Brexit deal was struck. The deal his opponents – no, pretty much everyone – said was impossible.So what’s in it? The detail is still opaque, but subject to gremlins in the fine print, ...
Iran attracts an onslaught of negative media in New Zealand and Western media. But is it fair or deserved? David Robie has spent several weeks travelling in the country on sabbatical and finds the media negativity far from the reality of the “most friendly” country he has ever visited ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Leigh Sullivan discusses the week in politics with Michelle Grattan. They talk about Alan Jones accusing Prime Minister Scott Morrison of failing the immediate needs of drought-striken farmers, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anita Parbhakar-Fox, Senior Research Fellow in Geometallurgy/Applied Geochemistry, The University of Queensland Last month, scientists uncovered a mineral called Edscottite. Minerals are solid, naturally occurring substances that are not living, such as quartz or haematite. This new mineral was discovered after an ...
The Auckland-based collective talk origins, ambitions and making the rave accessible to everybody.Friendly Potential is an outfit that defies easy summary. They’re among the country’s most ambitious and prolific club promoters. In their almost five-years of operation, they’ve been responsible for the local debuts of electronic music icons including Detroit ...
Analysis: Two polls show support for Labour sliding, the government is accused of breaking another promise and the Greens's refusal to back a bill forces Labour to rely on National to get it through. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kiera Lindsey, University of Technology Sydney One spring morning in 1850, over 8,000 Sydneysiders marched through town to protest the resumption of transportation – the act of sending British criminals to Australia. It was the largest protest in Australia thus far, an ...
Two shareholders of failed insurance firm company CBL are leading a class action against the firm's former directors seeking compensation for financial losses. ...
Sam Brooks recaps the third episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, and wonders why some of these queens don’t know how to sew.This episode asks, and sort of answers the main question that millions of people across the world: why would you come on Drag Race and not know how to sew?!There ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John M Clarke, Team Leader, Regional Projections, CSIRO Last month we lost Dr Penny Whetton – one of the world’s most respected climate scientists and a brilliant mentor to the next generation of researchers. Penny will also be remembered as a passionate ...
Ten moose were upended into the Dusky Sounds in 1910. Now, their descendants are getting their day in the sun.The climate crisis is affecting wildlife all over the country: rockhopper penguin populations are in drastic decline, tuatara eggs aren’t hatching females, and the ice walls keeping predators away from kea ...
Security footage of NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell being thrown out of a Tauranga bar looks unlikely to ever be aired - despite his leader Winston Peters promising a screening. ...
Amnesty International is concerned that Justice Minister Andrew Little's Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill could have the potential to undermine human rights in New Zealand. The Bill would give the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to ...
Expect the old campaigner Winston Peters to be at his belligerent best as he gears up for another election. He’s kept his party alive for 27 years and he shows no sign of quitting. The omens may be bleak—polls this week showed his party below the 5% threshold– but Peters ...
The National Party has agreed to take down any videos breaching the current rules around the use of parliamentary TV footage, as all parties try to reach consensus. ...
Recently the Health Promotion Agency released a report into hazardous drinking in New Zealand. The report shows that Māori who drink alcohol and live in deprived circumstances are less likely to have a harmful relationship with alcohol if they ...
Turkey-US joint-statement on military ops within Syria’s territory.The Turkish Embassy in New Zealand issued Evening Report this unabridged United States of America-Republic of Turkey joint-statement detailing what both sides agreed to regarding Turkey’s military operations within the so-called security zone within Syrian territory near Turkey’s southern border. It is ...
Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash didn’t mention what winners will receive, when he proudly called for entries for a new public award “to celebrate innovation in our seafood sector”. Nor did he mention the cost to taxpayers of this initiative. Point of Order’s checks with the website where more details have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona R Martin, Senior Lecturer in Convergent and Online Media, University of Sydney One of the basic tenets of the ABC Act is independence from government. Yet once again, in contravention to that principle, the federal government is trying to push through ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Lily Holloway.modernity to globalisationwhen I get there as still life and landscape and also portraitureseeking the cacti in small pots who dot the globeslices of pie offer up the vision after the sermonexpressing emotions without coherent narrative supportbecause no artist responded to this callemploying ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi to rule out any taxpayer-funded purchase or bailout for Mediaworks’s channel Three. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “For the last few months Mediaworks ...
The Police Commissioner's announcement that squadcars of officers with automatic rifles will patrol New Zealand's streets is dangerous and unnecessary, according to the criminal justice community organisation People Against Prisons Aotearoa. The ...
News broke this morning that Mediaworks is seeking to sell off, and even contemplating closing, its TV division. What might that mean for journalism?For journalism in New Zealand, the loss of Three’s TV division is a devastating blow. It is not yet known whether any of the news properties will ...
In our defence of our coalition Government policy on climate change, we fully support Government plan to use rail funding for rail infrastructure upgrades to promote use rail infrastructure for freight around NZ. ...
The billions of tonnes of plastic in our oceans isn’t going away any time soon, but innovative companies here and abroad are working together to find silver linings to this daunting problem.Fishing boats head out to sea and set their nets. They go back to shore. They head back out, ...
An EveningReport.nz investigation by Kevin ListKiwibank services. Image by Kevin List.Evening Report looks into the separation of Kiwibank from New Zealand Post, and considers the impact on the public’s access to banking services in their communities.Kiwibank. What’s going on? Kiwibank and New Zealand Post are in the ...
Local Government New Zealand today confirmed what many local election commentators have observed; that more of the voting public cast their ballots in favour of women candidates than ever before. ...
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 (this week we totted up the data a day early, on Wednesday, to let our books ed. ...
New Zealand's mineral manufacturing sector is expected to face some testing times, with softer prices, tighter margins and sluggish export markets. ...
Portugal has been painted by pro-cannabis legalisation groups as a model to follow. Yet just last month, the mayor of Porto contradicted his previous pro-harm reduction position and endorsed reintroducing criminal penalties for drug use in public spaces. ...
Chief of Defence Force Air Marshal Kevin Short announced today the inclusion of six Cook Island First World War soldiers in the New Zealand and Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s official rolls of honour. ...
The latest statistics released by the Health Promotion Agency showing a dramatic fall in the numbers of cigarettes being sold in supermarkets, service stations, and liquor stores are being welcomed by the Vaping Trade Association of New Zealand (VTANZ). ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.NZ First Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Where to from here? How NZ First will win in ...
Aotearoa Climate Emergency (ACE), a climate change network, will host a conference in Wellington on 11 November (Armistice Day) to promote holding a Citizens Assembly in 2020, as a way of breaking the current political deadlock on treating climate ...
MediaWorks’ owners have called time after years of losses from its TV division. Sources say the company will announce it is for sale – if no buyers emerge, it will close within months.Three is facing the biggest crisis in its three decade history today, as its ownership will soon announce ...
Sam Brooks reviews Amazon Prime’s Modern Love, an anthology series based on the New York Times column dedicated to ‘love in all its forms’. A first date that ends up in the emergency room. A flagging marriage that finds new energy through tennis. The founder of a dating app who doesn’t ...
If we want to grow support for New Zealand’s aid, we need to get better at partnering with the ‘unlike-minded’ as well as the ‘like-minded’, and much better at telling people what we do with the money they give, says Josie Pagani, Executive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Orsola De Marco, Astrophysicist , Macquarie University If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.How are stars made? –Zali, age 8, Karkoo, South Australia. How are stars made? Well, stars are not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gita Mishra, Professor of Life Course Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland All women know to expect the time in life when their periods finish and they reach menopause. Many might even look forward to it. What many women don’t ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul McGreevy, Professor of Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Science, University of Sydney Since ancient times, horse behaviour, and the bond between horses and humans, has been a source of intrigue and fascination. The horse-lore that has accumulated over the centuries is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Wallis, Lecturer and Honorary Research Fellow, University of Southern Queensland A move to the country is often presented in popular culture as an idyllic life, a place where you can escape the pressures of the city. It’s in television shows such ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW The just-announced inquiry into Australia’s retirement income system ought to be anything but run-of-the-mill. Taking place 25 years after the introduction of compulsory superannuation, it provides an opportunity to either fix a broken system, or discard ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Allan McCay, Law Lecturer, University of Sydney The rise of artificial intelligence has led to widespread concern about the role of humans in the workplaces of the future. Indeed, Israeli historian, futurist and publishing sensation Yuval Noah Harari warns in his most ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Saunders, Phd candidate, University of Wollongong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains images and names of deceased people. You leave Sydney and head for holidays on the South Coast. You plan to catch a quick surf, ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Clayton Mitchell denies accusations around a night out, food insecurity on the rise, and UK PM Boris Johnson secures deal with dubious prospects.NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell has got himself in a spot of late night bother in a Tauranga ...
As the rugby world wrestles with the new reality that players can, and will, be dismissed for accidental contact with an opponent’s head it's worth pondering the fate of three All Blacks not selected for the Ireland quarterfinal. ...
A new exhibition in Raetihi offers a rare opportunity to see early, colonialism-focused works by Wellington artist Barbara Strathdee, writes Pat Baskett. ...
Italy's Ambassador to New Zealand Fabrizio Marcelli responds to Newsroom stories - and The Detail podcasts - questioning the price of imported tinned tomatoes in light of reports of slave labour in the industry in his home country. ...
A measles outbreak in Samoa suspected to be responsible for the death of a one-year-old was “inevitable”, according to an expert who thinks NZ could have prevented it. ...
The big shock of the results in the weekend’s local elections was the unseating of Justin Lester as Wellington mayor. We invited him to pen a sort-of-valedictory.My three years as the mayor of Wellington ended on Sunday and I will forever remain grateful for the experience.I’m also acutely aware of ...
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Alex Braae reviews a night spent on the Intercity overnight sleeper bus getting from Wellington to Auckland.The most important thing to understand about long haul bus travel is that it’s all about getting exactly ...
Britain and the EU have agreed new terms for divorce. But with the Conservatives’ Northern Irish support party unimpressed, can the British prime minister at last put an end to the interminable shitstorm?At last, a deal! A palpable deal! A path out of the endless brain-melt!“Where there is a will, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Government sources insist shock jock Alan Jones didn’t drive Thursday’s announcement of a cash payment to drought-striken farmers about to be turfed off their household support because they’d reached the four year time limit. They ...
The proposition that global warming driven by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a risk that needs to be dealt with has achieved a large measure of agreement among policymakers. The proposition that it has to be dealt with right now and at great cost has no such consensus.One point ...
A bill to improve the pastoral care of students living in halls of residence has flown through its first reading in Parliament, thanks to cross-party support. ...
In this week's MediaRoom column: could MediaWorks close its TV operations altogether? And the Herald restructures its newsroom to remove a layer of management and shake up its investigative team. ...
Twenty-five young people who represent the future of the Asia-New Zealand relationship have been acknowledged as ‘ones to watch’, by the Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhono. ...
The taboo that surrounds immigration and our refugee qouta, are two issues rising in New Zealand that need to start being given attention to challenge the fruit loops of the far left. ...
Winston Peters has been ordered to answer questions about whether he received a letter from MSD asking him to check details of his living arrangements, three years before discovering he'd been overpaid. ...
To celebrate 10 years since the start of New Zealand’s Next Top Model, our reality TV podcast The Real Pod is going to recap it week by week. Here are 10 of the most incredible revelations from the very first episode. 1) Colin Mathura-Jeffree was an emo kidThis was the moment ...
Open mike 30/11/2015 
Open mike is your post.
I find this unbelievable:
On Wednesday, the government was loudly telling us that it needed to legislate to allow it to impose "control orders" - effectively a parole regime, but imposed without charge, prosecution, conviction or real evidence - on suspected terrorists because they couldn't be prosecuted for their supposed crimes. Today, it turns ...12 hours ago
Yoga gurus and cult leaders – I’ve seen a few. Two weeks ago, I unknowingly joined an alleged new-age cult at the Kāpiti coast, together with a giant kraken and some neatly dressed pensioners who would make any book club proud.They were among the two hundred people of all ages ...14 hours ago
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been busy preparing for our summer paper on Science Communication. Looking for something amusing about ‘risk’ in science, I came across this neat xkcd.com cartoon about why so many people come knocking on my door (or phoning me, or emailing me) desperately wanting ...19 hours ago
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...2 days ago
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Stuart Nash promoted and David Cunliffe demoted in Grant Robertson’s reshuffle leaked (again) to Claire Trevett.
There is no need to wait for Andrew Little’s announcement later today. Grant has passed it directly to Claire so that Andrew’s part is deminished.m
The Parliamentary Labour Party is continuing its right-ward shift. Those who have the temerity to actually win electorate seats, respect the wishes of the members and keep to Left Wing values are passed over.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11553180
Uninspiring lot with no real zeal to get rid of this corrupt lot is all I can add and no surprises at all with a beltway trougher like Robertson.
If it’s true, it proves that Andrew Little is as much of an idiot as David Shearer was as Leader. Why would I as a party member want to stay and vote for that? I’ve voted Labour every election for 36 years. Never again if this is true. Can’t vote for idiots. Grant Robertson is a legend in his own mind! In the real world, Robertson pushed himself up at the expense of the Party vote. No care for members of the party or kiwis! And the puff piece on Ardern in the Woman’s Weekly just shows how shallow she really is! So she’ll go far. Amazing how she’s moving up when she can’t even win a seat. Then again, Little hasn’t either. Maybe having constituents is out of favour these days. They might expect their local MP to actually DO something for them!
Hami Shearlie +100…betrayal of the ‘Labour’ name and history prior to its rogering …a betrayal of Cunliffe, the grassroots choice, and the putting forward of incompetents ( i also cant be bothered voting for idiots)
really will be time to form an alternative to ‘Labour’ using the ‘Labour’ name
eg…what about the ‘Emerald Labour Mana Party’ ? (ELM NZ Party)? ….incorporating Greens and Mana and NZF….ha ha
imo the Mana Party is the real Labour Party…Littles party is now a Liberal Party
ELM = Goddess tree
http://www.unfading.net/elm.html
http://www.thegoddesstree.com/trees/Elm.htm
Hoheria ( Ribbonwood . Lacewood , Slippery Elm tree )
http://www.kiwiherb.co.nz/about-us/herb-profiles/hoheria/
No inspiration there at all, just the same ol same ol. Nope My vote will go elsewhere this time, for the first time in 40 years.
Strange interpretation from Northsider. Nash is mentioned briefly at the end of the Trevett story.
But the story starts off with Kelvin Davis replacing Nanaia Mahuta – that would be a major shift but perhaps for Northsider, Maori don’t count with Northsider!!
And there is a clear message in the Trevett story re TPPA/trade. Read it for yourself, don’t just take Northsider’s interpretation as gospel.
” Grant Robertson’s reshuffle leaked (again) to Claire Trevett.”
Why do you say Grant Robertson’s reshuffle when it is Andrew Little’ reshuffle? Based on what knowledge? Your own prejudice perhaps? Anybody with even a passing acquaintance with Andrew Little would know he would be making his own assessment based on many factors that he will know but you clearly do not.
And as for “leaked (again)” this is exactly the same prediction made by Trevett before, just rehashed because Little is announcing the reshuffle today. There is no big secret here to be “leaked” and no advantage for anybody leaking. More to the point Trevett is an experienced political journalist who will make her own predictions after talking to many different people, including MPs.
“Why do you say Grant Robertson’s reshuffle when it is Andrew Little’ reshuffle? Based on what knowledge? Your own prejudice perhaps? Anybody with even a passing acquaintance with Andrew Little would know he would be making his own assessment based on many factors that he will know but you clearly do not.”
Thanks, Karen, and Jenny Kirk. Same thoughts came to me.
As for journalists making things up, and being involved in guesswork? Has the earth stopped spinning?
Actuality. Trevett got some things wrong in that Mahuta stays on front bench and Davis rises to 7th place, not fourth.
She got right that Ardern goes to 5th and that Woods would go to front bench, and that Cunliffe would go lower.
Katie Bradford on TV1 news just now says that there’re no surprises.
Roger Douglas and Michael Bassett have been invited by Stuart Nash to break bread with Labour. Nash is promoted.
Yes, the right wing have completed their takeover.
Bullshit Bill Drees. Some people here are either very young and/or have little knowledge of Labour’s history over the past few decades… or are blindsiding themselves for political reasons.
Labour is marking a milestone in their history – 80 years since the election of the first Labour government. All past MPs (still in the land of the living) have a right to attend and were therefore issued an invitation. I hope they have a great reunion no matter what side of the Labour divide they came from.
Usually Anne we’re not too far apart on most issues. I can see your point that all ex-MP’s technically have the right to attend. In one sense it’s hard to argue with that.
On another – that govt was in reality the first (and only) ACT govt. It represented a political betrayal of the first magnitude, the likes of which most nations rarely experience, and the consequences of which still resonate with us forty years later.
On that basis I would have expected the failed pig-farmer to be a persona-non-grata. The fact that he clearly still feels comfortable, and even welcome, to turn up and scoff the Party grub, tells me something about the Party.
* ” still resonate with us forty years later.”
Thirty. Don’t make us older than we are RL, I feel old enough already.
PS. Agree totally about the betrayal and the irony of having Actoids sitting down to a dinner celebrating the first Labour Govt. Shakes head in bemusement at the doublethink required for this to be able to happen.
On another – that govt was in reality the first (and only) ACT govt. It represented a political betrayal of the first magnitude, the likes of which most nations rarely experience, and the consequences of which still resonate with us forty years later.
On that basis I would have expected the failed pig-farmer to be a persona-non-grata. The fact that he clearly still feels comfortable, and even welcome, to turn up and scoff the Party grub, tells me something about the Party.
Well put Red. Until Labour apologise for the 80s government and breaks from that, they will always be viewed with suspicion.
“Until Labour apologise for the 80s government and breaks from that, they will always be viewed with suspicion.”
They have an excellent opportunity to do that next year during the celebration of their centenary. Come clean, let it all out, face it, say sorry to the nation.
For my age group who were in our teens in the 80’s our experience of Labour isn’t one of personal betrayal, it’s more of a historical betrayal, as we moved into the consequences of rogernomics without having to adjust. Unlike the generation before us. From what I hear from this age group they are still very bitter and for good reason – everything that was once secure was pulled out from beneath them.
When I speak to older friends about politics they look at me like I’m a complete idiot for being a Labour voter and even worse, being a member.
I really do agree that Labour has to be up front about this uncomfortable past. Crosby Textor would probably suggest otherwise and say apologies look bad, and going by Key’s absolute lack of apologies to anyone except Slater, they probably do advise him to keep quiet.
But the grown up thing to do is to apologise. As individuals we know we have to do it when we stuff up, if we want to keep open and honest relationships. Surely Labour want an open and honest relationship with a group of former supporters whose trust they must regain?
Yes Redlogix, I read all of your contributions (except the highly technical musings which are beyond my comprehension) because they always gel with me. I guess I’m coming from a different perspective than most on this site.
I joined the Labour Party early in 1972 and, by virtue of my back-ground in one of the central Auckland suburbs, I came to know the likes of Bassett, the Douglas family and others of their ilk quite well. They were all ardent admirers of Michael J Savage and had the famous framed picture of him on their walls. By 1984, and for personal reasons, I had dropped out of politics so have never come to grips with what happened during the 80s decade. It was the Muldoon years which provided the catalyst for the changes and over time the whole thing spun out of control. We are still reeling from the fallout in so many ways.
So, on the basis that these people were an integral part of Labour’s history throughout the 60s and 70s (before the neo liberal era began) they are entitled to attend this anniversary. A bit like an old boys/girls school reunion in a way.
inviting Douglas and Bassett to a celebration of the First Labour Govt. It’s madness. To bad Mike Moore couldn’t attend.
Anne,
Do you invite people to your home who are fully dedicated to damaging your family?
Douglas and Bassett are enemies of Labour. Only an idiot or a cuckoo would be party to inviting them into a Labour event.
Bill, happily Douglas and Bassett are part of Labour’s history. If we don’t remember our history there is always the risk of repeating the mistakes. I know a lot of LP members are weirded out by the invite, but it’s indicative of nothing much at all, really. Maybe only that the party has a sense of humour.
And as for inviting people to your home who are fully dedicated to damaging your family, TS is hardly immune from that issue, either.
“And as for inviting people to your home who are fully dedicated to damaging your family, TS is hardly immune from that issue, either.”
Quack erat demonstrandum. Q.E.D.
Touche! You quack me up, Kiwiri 😉
“happily Douglas and Bassett are part of Labour’s history.”
I think that should be, unhappily Douglas and Bassett are part of Labour’s history.
ha
Some might suspect it was a freudian slip 🙂
To paraphrase Peter Fraser
“Someone left the name labour party lying around and so some darn fool took it”
It seems the fools are still in charge of the party…
Well, you might invite the junkie cousin to Christmas dinner if he gets parole for the festive season. And hope he doesn’t show up.
But once a party starts a damnatio memoriae list, where does it stop? Warts and all is the way to go for a political organisation.
It must be frustrating to be a Labour Party member. These leaks to the media, especially to the likes of Trevett, make the party a laughing stock.
I don’t know who is talking out of school but whoever it is, or they are, urgently needs to be found and expelled from the party. If Andrew Little can’t control his caucus and deal with disloyalty he’ll never get anywhere IMO.
Troll alert!
Stop taking us for fools Karen. Trevett may have put some of it together from guesswork but by no means all.
Leaks have to be for a reason, some kind of advantage. There is none here.
I don’t believe those who have been spouting this line over the last week are fools necessarily. Some have other agendas.
I’d think it was politics Karen, the usual tit for tat. The occasional insider tip in exchange for anything useful to further one’s political ambitions.
An obvious advantage there would be for Trevett, leaks give her something to write about and keep her job. I’d expect there to be some kind of payback for useful leaks; a fluff piece perhaps or a subtle attack on an adversary.
One of National’s strengths is they run a tight ship. I’m quite sure they have much internal dissent but they keep it in the family. Outwardly they give the appearance of a well oiled machine and that resonates with voters.
As for agendas, yes I can see your point there’s no evidence put forward to suggest Grant Robertson has been leaking to the media and false accusations are just as bad as narking.
Frankly why would anyone give a dime about what Clare Trevett says in the NZ Herald?
Why would that be frustrating. Gosh, if it were not for the Standard I would not even know who a. Clare Trevett is, and b. what type of horse manure the Herald would try to pass of as news today.
Any rugby games on?
A very enlightening lecture By Dr. Michael Parenti.
In light of the media barrage on why people who don’t want the flag to change are nuts, conspiracy theorists and should be shunned by “normal” people, who understand the importance of voting, I thought I’d republish this eminently important lecture on why it pays to be aware of corporate conspiracies to gain global control. You are not nuts when you have a healthy paranoia with regards to our corporately owned government and the bankster goon, we know as John Key, running it!
There is a direct link between cruelty to animals and cruelty and violence towards people.
Watch the video, would these people treat their children like this?
Natrad has extensive coverage of this…
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201780748/animal-rights-campaigner-cruelty-inherent-in-dairy-industry
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/290877/fed-farmers-appalled-by-abuse-video
In some cases, yes.
I believe that we have an unnaturally high tolerance of cruelty and violence in this country.
The statistics on domestic violence and child abuse and murder would bear this out.
Our glorifying of a sport that condones violence, that practically deifies a player who came to prominence for his propensity for throwing aside and trampling over opposition players…
As on Sunday, TV1 – disgraceful behaviour by some/many dairy farmers. Added to the shameful use of battery cages for hens and small pens for pigs, and water pollution from cows and the nett result is an agricultural sector in dire need to some intensive regulation and supervision.
If ever anyone needed a lesson that ‘the market [does not] knows best – just look at our primary industries!
Heard the other day from a friend of friend that there is are plans being formated right now within the Department of Internal Affairs to corporatise councils’ activities.
https://mobile.twitter.com/pzf/status/671050032754356224
Russians hitting a bread factory. Damn anti-Regime Islamist radical breads!
The Paris attacks did not take place
And here they hit a crowded anti-Regime marketplace, again in Idlib. Probably selling terrorBread: (warning graphic pics)
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/20-killed-russian-air-strike-syrian-market-151129082103978.html
Must be using the American military manual.
More seriously, why doesn’t Al Jazeera have anyone on the ground checking out the story? NB the “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” is one guy operating out of a flat in England.
No shortage of locals on twitter
https://mobile.twitter.com/search?q=idlib&s=typd
and the report cites local news sources. Are you waiting for the better Russian spin to kick in?
Real time with sources.
http://syria.liveuamap.com/en/
in what is a ‘suspected russian strike’, as per the article you linked too, its right there at the beginning of the article in case you missed it.
But then, who is not bombing syria……..here a list from 2015 (but I understand, the bombs from non russians are more civilian friendly bombs than the bombs from russia. And maybe really at this stage crying about the russians is a tad hypocrytical considering that the US and its Allies have been bombing the life out of syria since 2011, have been paying this or that or all groups to various degrees, cause profit!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-led_intervention_in_Syria
January 2015[edit]
In a 70th round of airstrikes on January 1, the United States and coalition partners carried out 17 airstrikes in and around Kobanî, near Deir ez-Zor, and near Ar-Raqqah. Thirteen airstrikes in and around Kobanî destroyed 12 ISIL controlled buildings, four ISIL fighting positions, one ISIL vehicle as well as striking two ISIL tactical units and two large ISIL units. Two airstrikes near Ar-Raqqah destroyed five ISIL checkpoints and struck an ISIL staging area, while two airstrikes near Deir ez-Zor destroyed an ISIL fighting position and struck an ISIL shipping container.[170]
February 2015[edit]
On February 5, 2015, Jordan elevated its role in the U.S.-led coalition in Syria, launching one of the largest airstrike campaigns since early January 2015, targeting ISIL militants near Ar-Raqqah, the de facto ISIL capital, inflicting an unknown number of casualties and damaging ISIL facilities. This was done in retaliation against ISIL’s brutal murder of Muath al-Kasasbeh.[193][194]
On February 6, a continued round of Coalition airstrikes at Ar-Raqqah killed over 30 ISIL militants.[195]
On February 21, Syrian Kurds launched an offensive to retake ISIL-held territories in the Al-Hasakah Governorate, specifically in the Tell Hamis area, with support from US airstrikes. At least 20 villages were liberated, and 12 militants were killed in the clashes.[196] In response, on 23 February, ISIL abducted 150 Assyrian Christians from villages near near Tal Tamr (Tell Tamer) in northeastern Syria, after launching a large offensive in the region.[197][198]
As a result of ISIL’s massive offensive in the west Al-Hasakah Governorate, the US-led coalition increased the number of airstrikes in the region to 10, on February 24, in order to halt the ISIL advance. The airstrikes struck nine ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL vehicles.[170]
On February 26, the number of Assyrian Christians abducted by ISIL from villages in northeastern Syria from February 23–25 rose to at least 220, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a monitoring group based in Britain.[199][200]
On February 27, the Kurdish Democratic Union Party and Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Kurdish fighters had recaptured the town of Tal Hamis, along with most of the villages occupied by ISIL in the region. At least 127 ISIL militants were killed in the clashes, along with 30 YPG and allied fighters.[201] One Australian volunteer, who was fighting for the YPG, was also killed.[202] Many of the remaining ISIL militants retreated to Tell Brak, which quickly came under assault from the YPG and allied Arab fighters.
March 2015[edit]
On March 1, 2015, YPG fighters, aided by US airstrikes, were able to drive ISIL militants out of Tell Brak, reducing the ISIL occupation in the eastern Jazira Canton to the villages between Tell Brak and Tal Hamis.[203]
On March 6, it was reported that Abu Humam al-Shami, al-Nusra’s military chief, was killed in a US airstrike targeting a meeting of top al-Nusra leaders, at the al-Nusra Front’s new headquarters at Salqin.[35]
On March 9, the US carried out another airstrike on the al-Nusra Front, targeting a military camp near Atimah, close to the Turkish border in the Idlib Governorate. The airstrike left 9 militants dead.[204]
On March 24, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada would be looking to expand Operation Impact to include airstrikes against ISIL in Syria as well.
On March 26, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence announced the deployment of around 75 military trainers and headquarter staff to Turkey, and other nearby countries in the anti-ISIL coalition, to assist with the U.S.-led training programme in Syria. The training programme will provide small arms, infantry tactics and medical training to Syrian moderate opposition forces for over three years.[117]
On March 30, the House of Commons of Canada authorized the extended deployment of its military for one year and the war in Syria.[205]
April 2015[edit]
On April 8, Canada initiated airstrikes in Syria, with two CF-18 fighters bombing a former military installation of the Syrian government that was captured by ISIL, near its headquarters in ar-Raqqah.[205]
May 2015[edit]
Main article: May 2015 U.S. special forces raid in Syria
On May 15, after surveillance by British special forces confirmed the presence of a senior leader named Abu Sayyaf in al-Amr,[206] 1st SFOD-Delta operators from the Joint Special Operations Command based in Iraq conducted an operation to capture him. The operation resulted in his death when he tried to engage U.S. forces in combat and the capture of his wife Umm Sayyaf. The operation also led to the freeing of a Yazidi woman who was held as a slave. About a dozen ISIL fighters were also killed in the raid, two U.S. officials said. The SOHR reported that an additional 19 ISIL fighters were killed in the US airstrikes that accompanied the raid. One official said that ISIL Forces fired at the U.S. aircraft, and there was reportedly hand-to-hand combat during the raid. UH-60 Black Hawk and V-22 Osprey helicopters were used to conduct the raid, and Umm Sayyaf is currently being held by U.S. Forces in Iraq.[32][207][208]
July 2015[edit]
Following a suicide bombing in the Şanlıurfa Province of Turkey believed to have been carried out by ISIL militants on 20 July, as well as an ISIL cross-border attack that killed a Turkish serviceman on 23 July, Turkish armour and aircraft struck ISIL targets just across the border in Syria. Turkey also agreed to let the United States use the USAF Incirlik Air Base for strikes against ISIL.[7][209]
August 2015[edit]
On 21 August, three Islamic State fighters, two with UK nationality, were targeted and killed in Raqqa, Syria by a British Royal Air Force MQ-9 Reaper strike. Prime Minister David Cameron gave a statement to Parliament that one of the British nationals targeted had been plotting attacks in the United Kingdom. Another British national was killed in a separate air strike by US forces in Raqqa on 24 August.[210]
October 2015[edit]
The introduction of Russian aircraft and ship based cruise missiles in support of the Syrian Government to Syrian airspace creates new threats to the US-led coalition. Discussions are held to deconflict Syrian airspace.
On 10 October, the state run Syrian Arab News Agency reported claims that two U.S. F16 jets had “violated Syrian airspace” and bombed two electricity power plants in al-Rudwaniya, east Aleppo, “in breach of international law”.[211]
On 20 October Canada’s Prime Minister elect Justin Trudeau informed Barack Obama by phone of Canada’s intention to pull out of bombing raids in Syria. Canada will remain a coalition partner but will stop strikes.[212]
November 2015[edit]
After the deadly attacks in Paris, French President Francois Hollande sent its only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, with its 26 fighters to intensify air strikes.[213]
On 27 November, Syrian Arab News Agency reported The US-led international coalition, allegedly fighting ISIS, targeted water pumping stations in al-Khafseh area, east of Aleppo, causing them to go out of service.[214][215]
Think you’ll find that the hypocrites are the people minimising it when Russia does it, actually.
Now, why would it be a suspected Russian strike, do you think?
You seem to have been following the war, so come on, who would be most likely to be bombing Idlib right now?
I am expecting that ISIL will be reversed in 2016 and from there reasonably rapidly contained into northern Iraq.
They are after all hemmed in on three sides by Jordan, Iraq/US, Turkey, Libya/Russia, the Kurds, and will continue to suffer massive airborne bombing degradation.
If I’m right, this makes it more likely that ISIL will continue to shift their centre of attention to Libya, which has no functioning government and is surrounded to the south, west and east by very weak governments. Plus, plenty of oil production together with full seaports to capture. Unlike Syria and Iraq, NATO has no near-Libyan solutions to build a base from.
So the west needs to prepare for a migration wave from Libya even bigger than that from Syria.
Just note that Qatar funded news sources like Al Jazeera have their own angle to put on what is happening in Syria, given that Qatar would like its own pipelines through the country and Assad gone so it can happen.
The Americans have no worries about destroying Syrian government infrastructure, bombing Syria back to the stone age and turning the locals against Assad.
The Russians on the other hand have the objective of ensuring a functioning Syrian state, ongoing civil services and minimising public ill will towards Damascus.
QED.
Thanks.
here’s your evidence it was russia. no reporting at all on New Pravda. That’s usually a giveaway despite RT being the most impartial, evidence based source of news on the planet..
https://www.rt.com/
Personally i believe that everyone who is not Syrian should stop bombing Syria.
russians, yanks, saudis, french, english, Turkey and whomever i may have forgotten.
this small country has been getting it for four years now, and we want to complain that the russians joined in the fun? WTF? We should have complained when the yanks started bombing in the first place in their quest to bring Freedom n shite as approved by Uncle Sam.
What ever happened in Syria, was a problem for syrians to sort, not for the ;western world to fuck up beyond believe, like Iraq, like Afghanistan, like they are gonna fuck up Yemen, lebanon, Somalia, Lybia, am I fogetting some? Feel free to ad.
What about what about blah blah blah.
The Russians are worse. It’s not that hard to understand. I’ve got thousands of comments on this site, feel free to find any where I support western policies in the middle east. Go on, I’ll wait.
Retreating to some pixie plan about how you want everyone out is fine, but fucked if it justifies actually defending Putin, or Assad, ffs.
The russians are as bad as the yanks, as the english, as all the others.
yada yada yada yada.
But you know what, yes, Syria under Assad was better then what is Syria now under ISis and bombing by every fuckwit with an army, fighterplanes and bombs. Fuck we support Saudi Arabia which is a fucking Islamic state beheading women, men and mere children for the fucking sake of writing a poem or having sex. But that is ok, because their terrorism is more ‘democratic ‘ than the ‘democracy’ of Assad?
And no, i am not defending Putin, i just don’t see why it is ok if the bombs come from the yanks or the poms but its not ok when they come from the ruskies. Seriously get a grip. None should be bombing Syria. full stop there. No one has any reasons to defend what fucking ever interest they have in Syria unless they are Syrians. Oh….forgot they have pretty much all left the hellhole, to rot away in some camps cause no one wants refugees from Syria cause ISIS. Fucking bullshit.
But you know what, its good for business….is it not? All those western weapons manufactures i am sure are getting their fill. Fuck it.
Speak for yourself if you support Sauds, I don’t.
Why shoudln;t we support Assad? Coz he is at war with his own people, and would be losing if not for Iranian and russian support which is far greater than the foriegn support the rebels are getting from any outsiders.
And that’s before we even get into the details of baathist control. ISIS didn’t invent fear you know.
All I’m saying is put your weird little prejudgements aside, face facts.
The Putin plan will lead to what? Play it out for me. You are talking about genocide mate. That’s the end game for regime opponents. there is no other way for the regime to survive, as the rebels will. not. quit. They are done with Assad, they would rather join ISIS for now than go back to Assad. So how do you see Assad winning mate, come on.
i just don’t see why it is ok if the bombs come from the yanks or the poms
Where did I say that? I didn’t, so stop making shit up.
I’m remembering why I hardly come here anymore.
“Why shoudln;t we support Assad? Coz he is at war with his own people, and would be losing if not for Iranian and russian support which is far greater than the foriegn support the rebels are getting from any outsiders.”
you’re a fool. The US has just approved a further $500M in rebel funding to take out a sovereign government, which is blatantly illegal. Turkey, a NATO country allows millions of dollars of ISIS oil to cross its borders every day.
In fact you should ask yourself what is going on in Syria that the Christians, Alawite, Druze and Shia minorities are backing Assad to the hilt.
Unlike faraway Western spectators, they know that if ISIS, or al-Nusra, or Ahrar ash-Sham or any of the other “moderate Sunni terrorists” that the West supports (including the ones who killed the parachuting Russian pilot then said on camera that they should have burned him – like was done to the Jordanian pilot) actually defeated Assad and took power, all their families and villages would be torched or enslaved.
I wonder what this is about, seeing CV claims Alawites are backing Assad to the hilt.
These people are obviously CIA MOSSAD stooges or some shit. Never mind though, you can’t trust any sources unapproved by RT or Zerohedge. Just ignore it like the all the bombed hospitals and the casualty figures and the reports saying people are fleeing Assad.
http://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/anti-assad-syrian-alawites-launch-upcoming-syria-movement/480336
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/features/2015/11/28/Alawites-anti-Assad-movement-has-been-brewing-for-years-says-head-.html
in fact, you’re not just a fool, you’re a fool who claims to respect facts but in fact shits on facts.
Assad ran a highly secular, highly educated society, had women in university professorships and as Government Ministers.
But Islamist Wahabi and salafist sympathisers in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE had had enough of that, and the US wanted Libya in total chaos like Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, and so here we are.
If those “moderate terrorists terrorists” defeat Assad and takeover Syria, it’ll be the end of civilised life for women in that country, and for every ethnic and religious minority too.
You’re not a defender of the people, you are a defender of bloody chaos.
Assad ran a highly secular, highly educated society, had women in university professorships and as Government Ministers.
So did Josef Stalin. The above points are entirely compatible with being a murderous dictator who rules via well-justified fear of torture and death – being someone like Bashar Al-Assad, for instance. Your apologias for such people make me hope the Labour Party never has you in any official position, ever.
I think your milk got curdled Pascalls Bookie.
Something seems to be off in your thinking, unlike in the past.
CV seems to have a coherent argument re Syria, and thats not saying it is correct, everything is s.it there with incompatible competing sides.
And this link that OAB put up is the sort of bad news that drives us mad, particularly when good intentioned lefties go bad too.
http://grist.org/food/2010-01-15-drought-drives-middle-eastern-peppers/
Nah. CV is full of shit, as per.
Notice he still can’t bring himself to mention the hospitals being bombed by his legitimate govt, or the brread factories, or the cities.
Notice he hasn’t mentioned the thousands of Hezbollah and Iraqi shia militia that have been propping up his secular hero, or the mention the fact about which side has killed the most, or the barrel bombs, or the fact that the west hasn’t sctually been bombing Assad. ( the cia’s programme insisted fighters had to focus solely on ISIS, which is why t was such a failure, the Syrian people have largely had it with Assad, Hence the war, it’s not some dirty trick pulled by foreign agents. It’s a genuine uprising. Baath states are police states. Seriously, you can look it up. CV doesn’t mind that as they are ‘secualr’ so he loves them like he loves his Russian hero Putin)
If Assad is so popular, if he had a mandate, he would have won long ago. people are fleeing Assad. He decided that he’d rather the country burn than he step down. He started bombing cities. This radicalises an opposition.
CV admits he doesn’t read from a wide variety of sources, it shows.
And you’ll notice CV will never mention any of this stuff either:
Well documented that Assad released extremist Jihadis from jail, as is his tactical co-operation with ISIS (ignoring their gains while squeezing kurdish and other oppionents agaisnt them)
CV simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
What was CV’s secular hero doing? Did they dreaded West force him to put jihadis into confinement with detained leftwing rebels? Did the west *make* him then give an amnesty to radical slafists and release them all from Jail so that they would futher radicalise the opposition?
What was going on? It’s almost like Assad is an arsehole who is playing dupes like CV like fiddles.
Oh , and the conservative estimate for Iranian support for Assad during the war is around $6B PA, just to put CV’s “you’re a fool. The US has just approved a further $500M in rebel funding” in conext.
You’ll note that I never said there wasn’t foreign support for rebels, I said the regime was getting much more. Is anyone giving the rebels air support BTW? Oh yeah, nope, hence the barrel bombings at will, and the destryed cities, which CV turns his eyes away from.
Only a revisionist like CV could claim pre -current civil war Syria was a beacon of human rights in the Middle East:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Syria
Sabine: You’re right about the current situation, but don’t ever believe Syria was not one of the worst humans rights blackspots on the globe before the current “troubles”.
Not much has changed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Hama_massacre
That might be a clue as to why muslims of the non-Assad variety hate the regime so much.
Seen this?
FYI
“M E D I A R E L E A S E
Academic freedom under attack
30 Nov 2015
The police constraints on Dr Jarrod Gilbert’s research on gangs are an example of widespread and long-lasting restrictions on academic research contracts that are funded by government departments.
Contracted research routinely exercises strict control over the entire project, including many aspects of project methodology, the data gathered, interpretation, and final write-up. In particular, funding agencies regularly hoard the reports and limit the opportunities for researchers to publish their studies.
Contract providers often demand the right to approve the content of researchers’ publications and presentations, before the academic can go public with their studies and can simply deny approval if they wish.
In effect, the funders control both the project and the researcher.
The problem is that research is seen as a commodity that can be bought and owned, rather than information that should be freely available for serious inquiry and the public good.
QPEC sees two problems arising from Dr Gilbert’s case. One is that it may well be remembered and treated just as the “police issue” or the “gangs issue,” when it is actually indicative of a deep-seated injustice that runs right across the tertiary education sector.
The second is the danger to the role of tertiary institutions as “critic and conscience of society.” Media reports rightly recall this item as a clause in the Education Act of 1989. But the current Government has started moves to review the Act. It has already restructured tertiary institution councils to ensure extensive control by government. And it clearly countenances restraints on scientists’ right to make public statements.
In other words, academic freedom is at stake.
QPEC considers that the restrictions on Dr Gilbert’s research represent a serious threat to scholarship in New Zealand, which could be addressed by a model of funded research designed to serve the public interest.
Dr David Cooke
Vice-President, QPEC
________________________________________________________________________________
copied and pasted from http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED1511/S00141/academic-freedom-under-attack.htm
What do we have to do to have a justice system in this country?
Another right wing stitch up by the looks of it.
The malaysian diplomat on trial in Welllington has offered a guilty plea to one charge ( presumably the least serious).
The prosecution (crown solicitor) offered no evidence on the other two charges so the judge had to discharge them. Must have been a discussion between the two sides who have sold the complainant down the river. Did they even ask about her views on this deal – I assume not after all the boys know best?
Now the defence are going to ask for a discharge without conviction for the guilty plea.
WTF yes you heard correctly.
So in this country you can go into someone’s house, take your clothes off and try to assault them. You can then be shipped out of the country without anyone taking responsibility for that. When you are brought back you then do a deal to ensure that effectively nothing happens to you.
The complainant on the other hand is abused, reabused by the police and MFAT and now reabused by our courts, the police and the crown solicitor.
Where the hell is the justice for her.
All she will have had is months of stress and anxiety over the whole issue.
Sorry RedBaronCV, but I disagree somewhat with the interpretation you have put on the outcome of this morning’s court hearing, based on radio and media reports I have heard/read so far.
IMO. RNZ News provides a much more balanced and detailed report on what happened and the outcome of this morning. While the defendant’s lawyers have asked for a discharge without conviction on the charge of indecent assault to which he pleaded guilty on the grounds of mental illness, this has not yet been accepted, with a disputed facts hearing to take place in the High Court on Friday.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/290901/diplomat-naked-below-waist,-court-told
Also, here are links to The Herald and Stuff reports to date:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11553365
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/74473320/military-attache-pleads-guilty-to-indecent-assault-in-wellington
The guilty plea to the indecent assault charge was only made public this morning, but was presumably discussed/agreed last week at the two pre-trial hearings held in the Wellington High Court on Monday and Thursday.
The trial that started this morning was originally set down as a jury trial scheduled for two weeks’ duration with Ms Billingsley and others due to appear as witnesses. The dropping of the other two charges and the guilty plea to the indecent assault charge presumably means that Tania and others will now not have to go through the stress of appearing. We don’t know Ms Billingsley’s reaction to the guilty plea etc but she may well have been kept in the picture during the pre-trial hearings and her views sought.
So lets not rush into condemning the Crown prosecutors, the court etc until a little more is known and the case reaches a conclusion/decision. As a woman who has been in a similar/worse situation, I obviously want to see justice for Tania; but I also believe in due process and the rights of the defendant to also be heard.
UPDATE – Stuff article has been updated and is reporting that Tania is thrilled with the guilty plea.
I have no problem with the guilty plea and the dropping of the other two charges if that is what the complainant wanted and she had been given adequate legal assistance to help her with her decision – I understand that these cases when defended aren’t pretty but asking for a discharge without conviction is a bit much. I too believe that a defendant has the right to be heard and did not say otherwise. I am mindful of other cases where the deals have been offered over charges- some have not been accepted but if they had then there would have been very little justice for the complainant. She had already had decisions made for her when he wasn’t originally charged and we have the example of the Pike River court cases where the families really didn’t get a word in. Hate to have a repeat of that
FYI …..
TIME TO ‘BLOW THE WHISTLE’ ON TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL’S ‘CORRUPTION PERCEPTION INDEX’?
30 November 2015
TIME TO ‘BLOW THE WHISTLE’ ON TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL’S ‘CORRUPTION PERCEPTION INDEX’?
I think so.
In my considered opinion, Transparency International’s ‘Corruption Perception Index’ is not worth the paper upon which it is written.
What makes it VERY difficult for New Zealand anti-corruption ‘whistle-blowers’, is the ‘perception’ that New Zealand is (now) the second ‘least corrupt country in the world’.
https://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results
But how ‘transparent’ is the data upon which Transparency International base their ‘Corruption Perception Index’?
My understanding is that Transparency International’s ‘Corruption Perception Index’ is based upon the subjective opinions of anonymous businesspeople.
What are the Corruption Reality FACTS about New Zealand?
1) NZ has STILL not ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CAC/signatories.html
The recently passed legislation, (arising from the Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Legislation Bill), which was required before NZ could ratify UNCAC, still allows ‘facilitation payments’ – ie. BRIBES.
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/whole.html#DLM32876
105C Bribery of foreign public official
3) This section does not apply if—
(a) the act that is alleged to constitute the offence was committed for the sole or
primary purpose of ensuring or expediting the performance by a foreign public
official of a routine government action; and
(b) the value of the benefit is small.
______________________________________________________________________________________
(My evidence, which was presented in person to the Law and Order Select Committee, which was considering the (then) Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Legislation Bill:
http://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-nz/51SCLO_EVI_00DBHOH_BILL56502_1_A422096/1e3ea2de32e664e9aa1c1306288f8b011c3d5ab7
http://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-nz/51SCLO_EVI_00DBHOH_BILL56502_1_A422097/acac7e6b153bc419820082929f9767ab0f040c5e
2) NZ does not have an independent anti-corruption body, tasked with educating the public and preventing corruption.
3) NZ members of Parliament (whom make the rules for everyone else) do not themselves have an enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’.
4) It is not an offence under the Local Government Act 2002, for NZ Local Government elected representatives to breach their ‘Code of Conduct’.
5) It is not a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government elected representatives to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.
6) It is not a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government staff, responsible for property or procurement, to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.
7) It is not a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) Directors and staff, responsible for property or procurement, to complete a ‘Register of Interests’ which is available for public scrutiny.
8) The Public Records Act 2005, (section 3 (c) ‘Purposes of Act’
whose stated purpose is:
“to enable the Government to be held accountable by—
(i) ensuring that full and accurate records of the affairs of central and local government are created and maintained; and
(ii) providing for the preservation of, and public access to, records of long-term value; …”
is not being fully implemented and enforced, across NZ central and local government.
9) It is not a lawful requirement that a ‘cost-benefit’ analysis of NZ Central Government and Local Government public finances must be undertaken, to prove that private procurement of public services previously provided ‘in house’ is cost-effective for the public majority of tax payers and rate payers.
10) There is not a legally enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ for members of the NZ Judiciary, to ensure that they are not ‘above the law’.
11) There is no lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ Judicial ‘Register of Interests’, to help prevent ‘conflicts of interest’.
12)All NZ Court proceedings are currently not recorded, with audio records available to parties who request them.
13) There is no lawful requirement for a publicly-available NZ ‘Register of Lobbyists, or ‘Code of Conduct’ for lobbyists.
14) There is no lawful requirement for a ‘post-separation employment’ (‘revolving door’ ) quarantine period from the time officials leave the public service, to take up a similar role in the private sector.
15) It is not a lawful requirement that it is only a binding vote of the public majority that can determine whether public assets held at NZ central or local government are sold, or long-term leased via Public Private Partnerships.
16) It is not unlawful for politicians to knowingly misrepresent their policies prior to central or local government elections.
17) There are currently no NZ laws which protect individuals, NGOs and community-based organisations, who are ‘whistle-blowing’ against ‘conflicts of interest’ and and alleged corrupt practices at central and local government level and within the judiciary.
18) There is no legislation which prevents ‘State Capture’ – where vested interests get what they want, at the ‘policy’ level, before laws are passed which serve their vested interests.
………..
______________________________________________________________________________________
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption /anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
Attendee: 2009 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2013 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2014 G20 Anti-Corruption Conference
Attendee: 2015 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate
“1) NZ has STILL not ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).”
Luckily such exemplars as Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Venezuela. Ivory Coast, Myanmar, Nauru, Russia, Serbia, Turkmenistan, Zimbabwe, Yemen, Ukraine, Sudan, South Sudan, Albania, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia etc.
We have much to learn from such fine examples of how to behave in a non-corrupt fashion.
Sicilian Mafia offers Big Apple Protection from ISIS
An interesting article about Turkey’s possible reasons for shooting down the Russian plane by Gwynne Dyer.
Too many agendas, too many opportunities to play those agendas off against each other.
Here, hopefully, is the link:
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11552345
Cunliffe demoted.
Douglas and Bassett on the invite list.
What sort of message does that give you?
Thoughts?
Vote Green.
The herald continues to publish misleading drivel on medical issues..
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11553026
– perhaps they should just stick to the tabloid stuff on the rich and famous they seem to favour these days.
Why is this nonsense?
For one thing, it scream to me like it’s an ad.
Big claims made on the basis of anecdata and roundworm models, no downsides mentioned, repeated use of brand name… oh, and the clickbait headline
I wonder if a venture capitalist has just bought metformin shares?
“Have a good day at work dear….see you later…”
Not necessarily in New Zealand….
yet another workplace fatality…
http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/74565304/Man-dies-after-fuel-tank-explodes-in-Waikato
“To November 18, 35 people have been killed in workplace accidents nationwide in 2015.
That number is understood to be 37 with the latest fatalities.
November 25: a 54-year-old man dies in a workplace accident in Mangere involving a truck.
November 5: A 30-year-old male miner dies after an industrial accident at a gold mine in Southland.
October 23: One person is dead after a farm bike crash in rural Gisborne.
October 2: A person is killed in what’s believed to be a crushing incident by a truck on a worksite in Whangarei.
September 20: Zoo curator Samantha Kudeweh is killed by a Sumatran tiger while she was working at Hamilton Zoo.
September 15: Jamey Lee Bowring, 24, of Huntly, dies after a massive explosion at hazardous waste company Salters Cartage in Wiri.
September 9: Laurence Gerard Schwabe, of Kawerau, is killed while tree-felling in Tuhoe Forest, between Murupara and Whakatane.
September 6: Dairy farmer Ian Totty, 72, died after falling 4.8 metres from a barn roof in Staveley, near Methven.
August 28: Farm worker Russell Brooker, 45, is killed when his quad bike rolls into a drain on his Puketaha farm.
August 27: Mechanic Robert George Wallace is killed at a truck repair yard in Oamaru.
August 10: A rubbish truck overturned and rolled 15 metres down a bank on Auckland’s North Shore, killing one person and leaving another with moderate injuries.
August 6: Oamaru farmer Greg Fallon, dies in a tractor accident just outside of Oamaru.
July 5: Rebecca Anne Cunningham Byars, 32, dies in an accident on the family farm in Clements Rd, Kaiwera.
June 8: Quarry boss Murray Taylor, 56, is buried by rock in his excavator at the Heathstock Haulage limeworks in Waikari, North Canterbury.
Yet another undeclared National Party implant on The Panel.
RNZ National, Monday 30 November 2015
Jesse Mulligan, Clare de Lore, Bernard Hickey, Zoe George
Making her début on RNZ’s light chat show The Panel this afternoon is one Clare de Lore, billed by host Jesse Mulligan as a “journalist”. In fact, there is much more important information about her that Mulligan—or more likely his producers—decided not to tell the audience: she is married to the former deputy prime minister Sir Don McKinnon, a National Party grandee.
Clare de Lore therefore joins a long list of National Party insiders that have been granted a soapbox on this programme, usually without either them or the host informing us. The list is long and makes depressing reading. It includes, among others: John Bishop, Joanne Black, Michele Boag, Jane Clifton, David Farrar, Stephen Franks, Garth George (R.I.P.), Richard Griffin, Claudette Hauiti, Tau Henare, Deborah Hill Cone, Sam Johnson, Neil Miller, Chris Wikaira…. ad nauseam….
“Making her début ..” should maybe read…”Drawing the short straw to trumpet the National Party line on RNZ…”
They must get quite dizzy…all that spinning…
And the one or two from the left? Mike (I agree with Matthew) Williams; Brian (Michelle’s my mate) Edwards; Bomber Bradbury (oh, that’s right, got kicked off for being too left); Chris (face of the respectable left) Trotter; Josie (I’m in the wrong party) Pagani… . Says as much about Mora’s so-called panel as it does the state of the left in New Zealand. Maybe it’s because Mora hasn’t got too much to work with?
Then there are the “liberal comedians” like Jeremy Elwood and Andrew Clay, who spend their whole time on the programme trying to curry favour with the likes of Stephen Franks, Jack Anderson and Graham Bell.
Black Lives Matter is a “hate group”, according to the loons at Fox News
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/11/25/how-cable-news-covered-white-supremacists-alleg/207098
Hosking holds court, as his underlings dutifully guffaw at his deliberate faux pas;
No Mihi Forbes, no John Campbell—but THESE jackasses are still on TV every night.
Television One News (final minute) and When Hilary Met Oprah, TV3, 7 p.m.
Monday 30 November 2015
grovel n. to humble oneself or act in an abject manner, as in great fear or utter servility.
6:59 p.m. The Television One news is winding to a close, but the groveling is only getting started. An ill-at-ease Thunderbird puppet swivels in his chair and addresses the coiffured, preening star of the upcoming show….
SIMON DALLOW: Coming up on Seven Sharp, an interview with Michael Bublé. I’ll bet you’re a fan, Mike!
MIKE “KING OF CONTRA” HOSKING: Oooh yeah! Everybody likes the Boobs!
…..Pregnant pause….
SIMON DALLOW: Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho!
TONI STREET: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
WENDY “FIST PUMPER” PETRIE: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
SIMON DALLOW: That was your David Seymour moment!
MIKE “KING OF CONTRA” HOSKING: A few minutes back on the job and I’m already in trouble!
WENDY “FIST PUMPER” PETRIE: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
SIMON DALLOW: Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho!
TONI STREET: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
I cut away from that rubbish to have a look at what was happening on TV3. Incredibly, it was even more cringe-inducing than watching Hosking’s hapless underlings perform their duty. Hilary Barry had been granted an audience with Her Majesty Oprah Winfrey; this was a publicity exercise for Oprah’s forthcoming visit to New Zealand. Barry, embarrassingly, gushed about how nervous she was; Oprah responded by offering to give her a reassuring hug. After that, Oprah did all the talking. Hilary Barry’s part consisted of gazing at her with a desperate intensity, not even pretending to be an interviewer, but playing the demeaning role of awe-struck and reverential devotee.
But no matter how much she may have been forced to debase herself before Oprah Winfrey, it still beats her day job….
The Soundtrack of their lives…